Magical Mystery Tour + Let It Be DVD Releases - Thanksgiving 2K12

I noticed the animation suddenly becomes focused a split second before the animated stars start to fall and we see the bus (just after the 9 second mark)!

On the original movie and in the 1988 remix, Lennon's "Roll Up! Roll Up! Roll Up!" words are even animated on the screen! Paul's two Roll ups aren't even close to being in sync with the animation on the new version.

 

I believe the Mix with John was in Mono only,and since all the tunes are in Stereo now,the only remedy they'd actually had was to use the Lp version,sadly.

 

Well, Ron was able to use Lennon's intro in the 1988 stereo remix on Laserdisc and VHS, thus it was either an error or a poor decision for the 2012 DVD/Blu-ray. I'm guessing Lennon's lines probably were on the same audio track as the "When a man buys a ticket..." part a bit later in the song, so I don't see how it could have been so difficult to use the proper intro.

 

It was in Stereo on my VHS WITH the Lennon intro, as well as many audio bootlegs of that version, so your reason for the change is a very poor excuse, my friend !!

 

Hmm,wonder if this was Paul's desicion to do this? If so,it's purty sad to have done this,and do those other changes,either his or Giles!

 

My opinion is either documented in this thread or have been removed, but i feel an amount of revisionism has been done, yes !

 

I'm wondering if they might have used the very poor quality 1997 DVD as a reference since they first used the wrong intro on that one.

 

Okay, I agree that is irritating.

 

That is indeed possible. It seems like the wonderful 1988 remix was either forgotten about or intentionally disregarded, possibly because it wasn't done by an "in-house" engineer at the time?

An unfortunate result either way.

 

I don't know if this has been said here already but there's something missing from the Magical Mystery Tour DVD/BR: the complete promo films of Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane and Hello Goodbye (plus the alternate versions). After all, those songs were on the album version of MMT.

 

Jeez they really DNR'd any grain out of the image didn't they? What a mess.

 

I don't even plan on watching the stupid film. I'm only buying the deluxe for the marbles and scarf.

 

I haven't seen the MMT blu-ray yet. Does anyone like it??

 

I haven't looked at it carefully, but from what I have seen so far, yes...I do like it, myself.

In a bit of defense of this version...I have to admit I only skimmed through most of this thread and not sure if the following points have been brought up..there are some things to keep in mind.

"MMT" was shot on 16mm color reversal film, often in less than optimal conditions. On a technical level, it is very much a "home movie." I think they were faced with a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" technical situation. Blu-ray/HD is pretty dang revealing, and it may have been deemed that the intrinsic technical flaws were too distracting in the HD format so they needed to be cleaned up.

The consensus in this thread seems to be that the 1988 VHS/LD and clips in "Anthology" look better, but those weren't in HD. Maybe this is a case of NTSC and standard def hiding flaws that would have been too much for a HD transfer. (I'm assuming all technical decisions for this transfer were made only with Blu-ray in mind.)

There's also the fact that almost 25 years have passed between Ron Furmanek's restoration and this box set. That's a long time for any film element, especially one that was apparently treated a bit cavalierly in the past. Color fading and deteriation of the film may have occured, despite the best efforts of Apple in the intervening years. (Film deteriation is impossible to stop. You can slow it down, but eventually it will become severe.)

Again, just playing devil's advocate here.

As to the soundtrack...does anyone know if the film's 2.1 channel soundtrack is a separate mix from the 5.1 or is it a downconversion of the 5.1? I ask because a lot of the comments about the way elements are too loud, or too buried or have off-kilter balances suggest a downconversion. (I'm not talking about the totally missing or substituted elements.)

This is a complaint I have about most movies and TV shows I watch these days since I don't have a 5.1 system (yet) but on those rare occassions I do see/hear the same program or movie in true 5.1 somewhere else, I notice those issues aren't there. It's hard shoehorning a 5.1 mix to 2 channel stereo and have it sound "right." How many here who have issues with the soundtrack's balances are hearing it in 5.1?

 

I do. It is what it is.

 

yes picture, and perhaps more important, audio are excellent, imo. very pleased
the vhs was rough. the mpi dvd was rough. bluray is a major upgrade all around

viewed once/5.1 DTS-HD

 

Is the Blu-ray 16:9?

 

No - it's the correct 1.33:1...

 

Yeah, thankfully they at least they got that right.

 

And you don't need the BR; you can tell in the DVD version even.

I have not listened to it in 5.1, only the stereo audio track.

 

That is a reasonable theory, empirelvr. What they should have done was use the 1988 Furmanek remix audio solely for the 2.1 stereo audio, and the new remix should have been limited to the 5.1 audio. Now, the stereo audio over-emphasizes minor, background talking and mumbling at the expense of the incidental music. See the beginning of the Marathon sequence for an example of this.

 

I have a technical question about what was shot, edited and transferred to video. MMT was shot on 16mm film, that much seems clear. Was it color negative or reversal (I see an above post says reversal)? Was it then blown up to 35mm for editing to the final version that ended up on TV (the MPI VHS/LD mentions a 35mm original)? Or were the original 16mm camera elements edited together? If it was blown up, was the new HD transfer from the 35mm? Or did they go back to the raw camera footage? Thanks.

 

MPI made an error in their statement about a 35mm original. It was 16mm all the way.

In the promo film for "Hello Goodbye" on the blu-ray set it sure looks like The Beatles are handling 16mm film in that editing room.

 

Prepare to feel really stupid when you open it up.

 

The only problem with that theory is that film elements should last longer than VHS video tape, right? Yet, when I put on my 24 year old, often-played '88 VHS MMT just now, the colors still look brighter than the new DVD.

The similar-age Help! also looks much better, visually, than MMT. I believe more work was put into that restoration, as explained in the bonus material, than for MMT. IOW, MMT could have looked better than it does, IMO.


(that's a lot of acronyms...)