Oldboy (Blu-ray SteelBook) (Plain Archive Exclusive No. 30) [Korea]

[teddyjun]

Release date: November 7, 2016
Purchase links: Type A - Type B - Quarter Slip - Dual Pack - Triple Pack - (Pre-order on September 29, 2016)
Price: Type A: $46.89 - Type B: $46.89 - 1/4 Slip: $45.69

Type A: 2,000 copies - Type B: 2,500 copies - 1/4 Slip: 1,000 copies

Spoiler

- The steelbook illustration is by Krzysztof Domaradzki.
- The artwork for the slipbox was used previously for the Oldboy vinyl LP. It was co-ordinated by Nicolas Winding Refn, the director of Drive, and illustrated by Laurent Durieux. The director of Oldboy Park Chan-wook wanted one of our editions to feature this artwork so we reached out to Milan Records and illustrator Laurent Durieux. You'll be able to see more of the artwork since parts of the top and bottom were cropped out for the vinyl LP.



Old mock up

 

[Flloydo]

Okay so I'm extremely dissapointed,

Has anyone watched the remastered film yet or checked it out?

I wanted to check it out to see how good the new picture is.

I was disgusted at how grainy it is, it's very disappointing and I want to know if anyone else has seen it?

I ended up taking a photo of the same scene from the DVD, the first Steelbook and the new remastered edition. On the new edition every scene looks like it has moving worms all over the screen and I grainy as hell

DVD: a bit blurry with larger more blurry subtitles

Standard Blu Ray (I think this picture is much better than the new one)

Remaster
Now it does have a bit more colour and to be honest the grainy picture you need to witness with your own eyes but the whole wall moves like it has creepy crawlies all over it

Had a look at some other scenes and it's all the same. Very annoyed

Did they run out of budget before they started remastering?

Would love to hear some other opinions on this

 

[Punker76]

Okay so I'm extremely dissapointed,

Has anyone watched the remastered film yet or checked it out?

I wanted to check it out to see how good the new picture is.

I was disgusted at how grainy it is, it's very disappointing and I want to know if anyone else has seen it?

I ended up taking a photo of the same scene from the DVD, the first Steelbook and the new remastered edition. On the new edition every scene looks like it has moving worms all over the screen and I grainy as hell

DVD: a bit blurry with larger more blurry subtitles
View attachment 277017


Standard Blu Ray (I think this picture is much better than the new one)
View attachment 277018


Remaster
Now it does have a bit more colour and to be honest the grainy picture you need to witness with your own eyes but the whole wall moves like it has creepy crawlies all over it

Had a look at some other scenes and it's all the same. Very annoyed

View attachment 277019


Did they run out of budget before they started remastering?

Would love to hear some other opinions on this

I have the play.com steel and have been meaning to do a comparison.... Will check and come back to you.

 

[Flloydo]

I have the play.com steel and have been meaning to do a comparison.... Will check and come back to you.

I'm watching it now and some of the day scenes are ok and I suppose at times clearer that the old Blu Ray but the majority of it really is a bad picture.
His suit looks like it's just tv static and the scene when he imagines the ants over him may as well been skipped over in this release. You can't see a thing.

The scene when he first meets Lee woo Jin in the honeycomb patterned room with his blonde assistant (54 mins) is horrendous. It's feels like a bootleg

Truly annoyed

 

[StifflersDad]

Okay so I'm extremely dissapointed,

Has anyone watched the remastered film yet or checked it out?

I wanted to check it out to see how good the new picture is.

I was disgusted at how grainy it is, it's very disappointing and I want to know if anyone else has seen it?

I ended up taking a photo of the same scene from the DVD, the first Steelbook and the new remastered edition. On the new edition every scene looks like it has moving worms all over the screen and I grainy as hell

DVD: a bit blurry with larger more blurry subtitles
View attachment 277017


Standard Blu Ray (I think this picture is much better than the new one)
View attachment 277018


Remaster
Now it does have a bit more colour and to be honest the grainy picture you need to witness with your own eyes but the whole wall moves like it has creepy crawlies all over it

Had a look at some other scenes and it's all the same. Very annoyed

View attachment 277019


Did they run out of budget before they started remastering?

Would love to hear some other opinions on this

wow that looks pretty CRAP

 

[Flloydo]

wow that looks pretty CRAP

It's hard to show in the last pic because you can see its a bit more colourful but if you zoom in and just look at that wall. Also I paused the film, when watching it everything that's not supposed to move moves! Don't know whether to laugh or cry


Seriously watching this you would of thought they filmed it in the 70s

In fact I've seen films from the 70s with a better remaster than this

 

[Actarus]

@StifflersDad question for you ...not that I am interested in this release, just trying to get more familiar with Plain Archive pre-Orders and stuff...but this release is not on their website ...the 2 other release that I bought from PA are there even if sold out...I looked everywhere on their website could not find it

 

[Flloydo]

@StifflersDad question for you ...not that I am interested in this release, just trying to get more familiar with Plain Archive pre-Orders and stuff...but this release is not on their website ...the 2 other release that I bought from PA are there even if sold out...I looked everywhere on their website could not find it

Strange

It was there a few hours ago

 

[Zyrin]

Did they run out of budget before they started remastering?

Would love to hear some other opinions on this

Wow, that looks godawful. Wasn't the remaster supposed to be director approved?

 

[Flloydo]

Wow, that looks godawful. Wasn't the remaster supposed to be director approved?

This is what I thought

Also the directors 2 min Intro has no English subtitles it's becoming more of a fail every second

(Unless that was announced before hand and i missed that info but it's not hard to translate 2mins of dialogue for the wider audience)

 

[satanclaus]

Strange

It was there a few hours ago

Perhaps they pulled it because it's a gigantic turd?

Jeez, never thought I'd say that about PA!

 

[Zyrin]

This is what I thought

Also the directors 2 min Intro has no English subtitles it's becoming more of a fail every second

(Unless that was announced before hand and i missed that info but it's not hard to translate 2mins of dialogue for the wider audience)

Here's the web cache for the dual pack. It lists it as a director approved remaster - they seem pretty proud of it since they have a bonus feature specifically about the remaster process...

I'm having a hard time imagining a director approving something that looks like that though.

Edit: they list the intro as having english subs, too.

 

[Flloydo]

Perhaps they pulled it because it's a gigantic turd?

Jeez, never thought I'd say that about PA!

Here's the web cache for the dual pack. It lists it as a director approved remaster - they seem pretty proud of it since they have a bonus feature specifically about the remaster process...

I'm having a hard time imagining a director approving something that looks like that though.

Edit: they list the intro as having english subs, too.

Oh really, well that's very odd!!! Because it comes up with no subs for me

I'm wondering if they have made an error on the discs but surely that would of been checked over


The envelope also does not have a hand made wax seal!!

Something very odd about this release

 

[Sigill]

@StifflersDad question for you ...not that I am interested in this release, just trying to get more familiar with Plain Archive pre-Orders and stuff...but this release is not on their website ...the 2 other release that I bought from PA are there even if sold out...I looked everywhere on their website could not find it

It disappeared earlier on today, not sure why. The out of stock items usually stay on the website.
I got my 1/4 slip today, it's a nice release but definatly not one of Plains best. The steelbook does look very muted, for a glossy Steel you would expect it to pop more. The debossed title looks good though. There isn't anything special about the 1/4 slip, some embossing would have been nice.
The booklet is really good, lots of pics and English text. The envelope was a let down though, mine had a few crease marks and a bent corner. I'm guessing because of the way it's packed behind the 1/4 slip. It's definatly not one of their best releases but overall I'm still happy with it.

 

[severo]

ok regarding the screenshots, i rather trust what i can see on caps-a-holic

Spoiler

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&a=0&d1=9043&d2=9044&s1=87109&s2=87127&i=6&l=0

than pics taken directly from a tv screen. @Flloydo probably a combination of a grainy, low quality film stock scanned at best quality with original grain resolved + tv settings that try to "fix" or "polish" the picture? do you have any automatic filters or noise reduction settings switch on on your tv?

regarding the package, looks good, still waiting for mine. but very disappointed by NO wax seal as promised and advertised. the whole production of the project took them so long that probably they had to rush it to have some time to sell before the licencing contract runs out!?

 

[Flloydo]

ok regarding the screenshots, i rather trust what i can see on caps-a-holic

Spoiler

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&a=0&d1=9043&d2=9044&s1=87109&s2=87127&i=6&l=0

than pics taken directly from a tv screen. @Flloydo probably a combination of a grainy, low quality film stock scanned at best quality with original grain resolved + tv settings that try to "fix" or "polish" the picture? do you have any automatic filters or noise reduction settings switch on on your tv?

regarding the package, looks good, still waiting for mine. but very disappointed by NO wax seal as promised and advertised. the whole production of the project took them so long that probably they had to rush it to have some time to sell before the licencing contract runs out!?

Well those pics look much clearer than what I'm witnessing with my own two eyes. Hell I can take a photo of a hd film from my tv screen that's no where near as bad as this and you will see the difference. But then you can tell that front the screen shot of the play.com steel. But I I get what you mean with the phone photos

No nothing like that on my tv, just some settings for picture mode which I've gone through them all and all is the same.

I'll have a play around but I've turned it off now as it was getting on my t*ts

But I'm really interested in what others are seeing when they watch it

On a side note the old days doc seems cool. Checked out about 15 mins of it

 

[Fisheds]

I still can't get over the freaking CAST poster! There was so much good artwork for this release and they chose an insanely boring, lifeless photo of the cast standing around?

 

[Actarus]

It disappeared earlier on today, not sure why. The out of stock items usually stay on the website.
I got my 1/4 slip today, it's a nice release but definatly not one of Plains best. The steelbook does look very muted, for a glossy Steel you would expect it to pop more. The debossed title looks good though. There isn't anything special about the 1/4 slip, some embossing would have been nice.
The booklet is really good, lots of pics and English text. The envelope was a let down though, mine had a few crease marks and a bent corner. I'm guessing because of the way it's packed behind the 1/4 slip. It's definatly not one of their best releases but overall I'm still happy with it.

Thanks for the info ...sorry though that your release wasn't perfect. I was under the assumption from what I have been hearing for the past year, that PA was 100% on TOP in terms of Quality (they were for my 2 Scanavo Case Purchase). But at least I know now that it disappeared and I can stop searching ...not that I was interested in this title though, but wanted to just know what was happening as for my next purchase from PA I want to be on top of my game

 

[Flloydo]

@severo i went back and had a fiddle with some enhancements and and dynamic contrast on the tv etc and it's made it a little better and a little less grainy but still not great and what I was expecting (or like those pics on the link you posted)

Problem is i sorted all my picture settings out a few years back and depending on the film I change between a selection. I've never had issues like this unless the PQ is common knowledge bad or it's a really old film. And I watch a lot of films and barely ever change the settings.

Sometimes all I do is switch between picture mode depending on the tone of the film ( movie, dynamic, standard) and what looks better on my eyes (for example I have pixars and marvel a bit brighter the same as i would have avatar or Transformers)

And although I did have a change around anyway before you mentioned it you reminded me of edge enhancements etc so it's helped a little but I'm still dissapointed with this (and even at the little things like no subtitles on director intro, no hand sealed wax on eneveloe etc etc etc )

Also I noticed on those pics on caps o holic they are actually okish on my screen before I changed all the setting except picture 7 - hammer time. So again unless they have just picked the less grainy scenes to show it off im not sure. Just thought I'd mention that

 

[Sigill]

Thanks for the info ...sorry though that your release wasn't perfect. I was under the assumption from what I have been hearing for the past year, that PA was 100% on TOP in terms of Quality (they were for my 2 Scanavo Case Purchase). But at least I know now that it disappeared and I can stop searching ...not that I was interested in this title though, but wanted to just know what was happening as for my next purchase from PA I want to be on top of my game

To be fair PA are spot on with quality control. I've never had any other issues and I have ordered quite a lot from them. I think the creased envelope was just one of those things. The contents are mint so I can live with it! No worries, you don't have to worry about the QC, they are superb from my past experiences!

 

[Sigill]

@severo i went back and had a fiddle with some enhancements and and dynamic contrast on the tv etc and it's made it a little better and a little less grainy but still not great and what I was expecting (or like those pics on the link you posted)

Problem is i sorted all my picture settings out a few years back and depending on the film I change between a selection. I've never had issues like this unless the PQ is common knowledge bad or it's a really old film. And I watch a lot of films and barely ever change the settings.

Sometimes all I do is switch between picture mode depending on the tone of the film ( movie, dynamic, standard) and what looks better on my eyes (for example I have pixars and marvel a bit brighter the same as i would have avatar or Transformers)

And although I did have a change around anyway before you mentioned it you reminded me of edge enhancements etc so it's helped a little but I'm still dissapointed with this (and even at the little things like no subtitles on director intro, no hand sealed wax on eneveloe etc etc etc )

Also I noticed on those pics on caps o holic they are actually okish on my screen before I changed all the setting except picture 7 - hammer time. So again unless they have just picked the less grainy scenes to show it off im not sure. Just thought I'd mention that

I think they showed the beeswax seal originally and then changed it. If you look at the OP now the images show more of a sticker. I agree though, it is disappointing, I know the Amaray edition got the beeswax seal so this should have done aswell really.