Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

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Morbii
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#126 Post by Morbii » Fri Dec 22, 2017 4:46 am

dwk wrote:Synapse posted the following on December 13th:
All web orders for SUSPIRIA should start going out via our distributor, Cav Distributing Corp​, shortly. Many of you have or are about to receive emails with shipping and tracking information (we were previously told there would not be any tracking info, but that seems to not be the case). Copies will go out in the order they were approved/received by Paypal.
Some kinds of paypal payments aren't "approved" right away, depending on the payment method. That's the only thing I can think of, assuming they followed what they said they were going to do.

I know I ordered mine on like the first day, and I got it on the 19th.

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MichaelB
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#127 Post by MichaelB » Fri Dec 22, 2017 4:56 am

Morbii wrote:I know I ordered mine on like the first day, and I got it on the 19th.
Same here, and I'm based in the UK.

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tenia
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#128 Post by tenia » Fri Dec 22, 2017 5:29 am

They probably all got dispatched over a very short period of time anyway. I ordered mine at DVD Diabolik on Nov 24th, it got shipped on Dec 18th-19th, and it currently is in Paris (so it'll probably wait for me next week at my local post office since I'm leaving home for the whole of next week).
Seeing how expensive the shipping fees were, I'm also quite happy to have a tracking with my package.

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dwk
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#129 Post by dwk » Fri Dec 22, 2017 11:16 am

Morbii wrote:
dwk wrote:Synapse posted the following on December 13th:
All web orders for SUSPIRIA should start going out via our distributor, Cav Distributing Corp​, shortly. Many of you have or are about to receive emails with shipping and tracking information (we were previously told there would not be any tracking info, but that seems to not be the case). Copies will go out in the order they were approved/received by Paypal.
Some kinds of paypal payments aren't "approved" right away, depending on the payment method. That's the only thing I can think of, assuming they followed what they said they were going to do.

I know I ordered mine on like the first day, and I got it on the 19th.
I ordered early in the morning on the first day and my order shipped yesterday. So even if it took a bit longer to approve the payment, it still should've happened before people that ordered in October.

But it has shipped, so that is all that matters.

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MichaelB
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#130 Post by MichaelB » Sun Dec 24, 2017 2:34 pm

A direct comparison between the TLE and Synapse restorations.

For me, it's absolutely no contest - my two 35mm screenings may have been over three decades ago, but I remember those electric blues like they were yesterday. I favoured the Synapse primarily because it contained my personal Holy Grail of the original four-track cinema mix (and my God was it worth the wait), but it's very clear to my eyes that it's the most accurate version visually too.

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Drucker
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#131 Post by Drucker » Tue Dec 26, 2017 3:47 pm

Watched this last night and have to agree with Michael that the audio is equally worthy of praise as the image quality is. While I don't have a 4.0 set-up, even on my stereo set-up it's night and day when compared to the Blue Underground DVD I have. I've seen the film theatrically and never had noticed the audio jump out and attack like it does now.

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Feego
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#132 Post by Feego » Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:19 pm

I'm glad that Synapse finally gives me a release where Pat's dialogue is audible during her first appearance in the storm. The mix included on the old Blue Underground edition obscured what she's saying with thunder and wind effects. For the longest time, I thought Argento was "cheating" in the way he did with The Bird With the Crystal Plumage by having the protagonist piece together something that was impossible for the audience to notice before. But now, in Pat's very first scene, we can clearly hear her say
SpoilerShow
to turn the blue iris.
I've waded through most of the supplements now, and the featurettes on Disc 2 feel a bit lightweight compared to the 25th anniversary doc on the Anchor Bay/Blue Underground editions, with no input from anyone involved in the film except the actress who plays the small role of Olga. Her interview is fun, though, and I enjoyed Troy Howarth's commentary. Still, this was worth the price just for the restoration, which does indeed look and sound amazing. This should absolutely be the definitive release as far as picture and sound quality are concerned.

M Sanderson
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#133 Post by M Sanderson » Thu Dec 28, 2017 7:32 am

Very colourful, sharp, precise.

A very persuasive restoration by Synapse.

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tenia
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#134 Post by tenia » Sat Jan 06, 2018 1:30 pm

I just treated myself this afternoon with the Synapse BD.

I can't really talk about the PQ part of the release. It looks certainly very nice detail-wise, and the color-grading makes the movie pop in an incredible way. I'm used to screen-capturing the hell of Terrence Malick's movies BD releases because they just have so many gorgeous shots, but I could (and probably will) do the same here.

But the real treat for me was the AQ of the 4.0 mix. I'm used to audio restorations still sounding relatively dated. They often sound muffled, with a limited dynamic, dialogue lines sometimes can sound mumbled (even if they aren't !) and most of the time, high-frequencies have been filtered out. On top of that, many tracks are just mixed too low, and I have to increase a lot the volume of the receiver, which will also increase any background noise.

Here, it's just tremendous from start to finish. I originally wanted to push the sound a bit but ended up putting it back to the usual because it's already so energetic. The sound just fills the room on all adequate channels, with a very pleasing spatialisation and dynamic. It's not muffled, it feels very well mixed. While the PQ is "just" a competently done 4K restoration, the AQ seems even more worth the entry price because it's a rarer thing to get.


Like others however, I'm a tad disappointed by the extras (especially since I don't listen to audio com' anymore), including the booklet (though I liked the American Cinematographer reprint). I'm most especially surprised by the lack of any details on the restoration work. This is by far the longest restoration performed by Synapse, and Don May Jr has from time to time updated his blog with details about the findings on the element, the work on the restoration and the results. But while TLE has produced a 57 min extra on their restoration (included on the UK release), all Synapse offers is 3 pages about the sound restoration. It's very surprising but it also further make the whole package feeling too expensive. At a $60 price point, one expects a bit more. For instance, I'm very surprised that the Variety ITW of Argento hasn't been included here. It would seem logical : Variety is a US magazine (so same country as Synapse), it was made for the 40th anniversary / 4K resto of the movie, and it's included in the UK and the Australian releases.


On a unrelated note, the Synapse steelbook looks sold out at DVD Diabolik. However, Amazon now have some copies of it.

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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#135 Post by _shadow_ » Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:15 pm

It is disheartening that "'just' a competently done 4k restoration" is in fact vanishingly rare, to the point that this film is only available in this one release in anything approximating its correct appearance, and it has otherwise been made available around the world through one wreckstoration that shows what happens when you turn all the knobs too high, and another that dials everything back to the other end of the wreckstoration spectrum that insists every single movie ever made should have exactly the same jaundiced appearance with flattened contrast.

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tenia
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#136 Post by tenia » Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:19 pm

There probably are probably at least 100 4K restorations competently done per year since roughly 2013-14. I wouldn't call that rare.

I'm also quite sure the TLE restoration will be perceived as having plenty of merits already. It's not a case of, say, Purple Noon Criterion vs Studio Canal restorations.

black&huge
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#137 Post by black&huge » Sat Jan 06, 2018 4:02 pm

Am I the alone in thinking the pq wasn't all too impressive? I gave the synapse blu a watch last night and it just wasn't consistently impressive. Not much grain to be seen and sure the colors looked nice but there wasn't much detail to be seen through them . As for the special features I gave the first two a watch and the 40th anniversary special was just completely useless and boring. It is essentially a bunch of fans talking about how much they love Suspiria. What even is the point?

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Drucker
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#138 Post by Drucker » Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:37 pm

The PQ was incredibly impressive. A 4k restoration of a film from the OCN where all of the elements are in great shape won't necessarily yield very apparent grain.

I popped my BU DVD of it in afterwards and it was no contest. The impact of the widescreen ratio and the depth of the image was miles ahead of what I'd seen on DVD, and even to a degree theatrically.

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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#139 Post by black&huge » Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:51 pm

Drucker wrote:The PQ was incredibly impressive. A 4k restoration of a film from the OCN where all of the elements are in great shape won't necessarily yield very apparent grain.
Ah. I should have admitted earlier I'm not too knowledgeable about film grain or even restorations for that matter. Also I assume this was because of the lenses they used but the frame had blurs on the top and I think bottom but it's something I never noticed on any previous dvd releases. Also the part where Suzy enters the mother's room and stands still the entire frame looked blurry until she walks over a few feet in the same shot. Any details on why the lens did that blur (on the top and bottom and in that one scene) or is it something else causing it?

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MichaelB
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#140 Post by MichaelB » Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:36 am

Some shots in the film are blatantly out of focus, and there’s nothing any restoration can do about that, short of inventing a time machine, going back to the shoot and hoping that you’re not thrown off the set for your presumption.

You can absolutely trust me on this: this is a benchmark restoration. An incredible amount of work went into this, and it really showed.

black&huge
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#141 Post by black&huge » Sun Jan 07, 2018 6:07 am

Yeah I wasn't saying it bothered me to the point of wanting it to be digitally altered and it didn't bother me at all I just never noticed the blurring ever before so it was a little distracting. i realize how much work synapse put into it no doubt which is why my mind rushed to realize it was a problem during the actual filming.

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tenia
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#142 Post by tenia » Sun Jan 07, 2018 6:40 am

Many shots are out of focus, and many darker shots prevent grain to be as apparent as usual. However, it is indeed here in a natural amount and as a whole, as I wrote, it's a competently performed restoration.

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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#143 Post by swo17 » Sun Jan 07, 2018 11:59 am

At least it's not as bad as the BFI's "restoration" of Decasia.

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MichaelB
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#144 Post by MichaelB » Sun Jan 07, 2018 1:41 pm

black&huge wrote:Yeah I wasn't saying it bothered me to the point of wanting it to be digitally altered and it didn't bother me at all I just never noticed the blurring ever before so it was a little distracting. i realize how much work synapse put into it no doubt which is why my mind rushed to realize it was a problem during the actual filming.
Arrow had a similar problem with the underwater scenes in Zombie Flesh Eaters, where the negative had suffered some kind of chemical damage way back in 1979. The resulting yellow streaks are visible in every previous video version, but they’re a lot more apparent in Arrow’s restoration because the damage is more clearly reproduced.

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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#145 Post by Robin Davies » Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:04 pm

swo17 wrote:At least it's not as bad as the BFI's "restoration" of Decasia.
What's wrong with it?

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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#146 Post by swo17 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:38 pm

You've just walked into a bad joke, son.

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Drucker
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#147 Post by Drucker » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:49 pm

The Caps-A-Holic is up and it's quite clearly no contest.

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jsteffe
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#148 Post by jsteffe » Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:16 pm

Drucker wrote:The Caps-A-Holic is up and it's quite clearly no contest.
Hmmm... I wonder whether there was a color space conversion problem with the UK Blu-ray. Maybe someone who knows more on the technical end of things can weigh in. It's hard to believe that all the clipped highlights are deliberate.

Regardless, I could hardly be more pleased with the Synapse restoration of SUSPIRIA. It looks and sounds spectacular!

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Cronenfly
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#149 Post by Cronenfly » Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:40 pm

Has anyone done a comparison with the new Cult Films Blu? I’m leaning in that direction given the cost of the Synapse, and just wanted to make sure I was not making a mistake.

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Drucker
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Re: Synapse: Dario Argento Limited Editions

#150 Post by Drucker » Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:44 pm

The Synapse is the way to go. If you love the film, get it. The restoration they've done is exclusive to their release. It's still available for basically retail on ebay.

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