Got my copy in the mail a whole 3 days in advance.

I hate to say it, but there is some bad with this release.

While the theatrical cut looks stunning, the 5 hour cut on one disc is far too compressed. In scenes without movement, it is acceptable (and to be fair, most of the film is stationary with an objective camera), but there is macroblocking abound in scenes with any movement.

The easiest example is the first shot of the film with the running water over the waterfall and the title. The water is in pixelated blocks and practically pulling the letters off the screen along with it.

Grain is intact, but even that seems compromised when viewing the 3 hour cut.

I won't write this off totally. There is a lot to be proud of. But overall, I question CC's decision to place a 5 hour film on one 50 gig disc.

I haven't received my set yet, and it's a terrible shame to hear that it's not all it could have been.
Seems like it would have been much better to divide the full version in two parts as on the DVDs, including The Making of "Fanny and Alexander" with one part and the rest of the supplements with the other part. The 5+ hour version should have at least one break/intermission anyway (in Bergman's opinion, which I happen to agree with) and that's typically how it's done when this has been screened theatrically. Distributing the content that way should have allowed the bitrate to be high enough. If not, the best solution IMO would be the option to buy a 3-disc set with only Bergman's preferred version and the supplements, without the 3-hour version.

I don't want to come off as alarmist. It's still a great set, and the five hour cut actually looks better than I ever thought a 5 hour film on a 50 gig disc would look.... but again, it isn't perfect and I question CC's decision here. To be fair, it is about the same quality of The Last Emperor BD (which was a 3 hour film).

Is it at least an improvement on the DVD?

*
Night and Day


*1st World Problems

When I heard the whole TV cut was to be on one disc I remained cautiously optimistic, but now that we have all the bitrate information and first-hand comments I'm a little let down. Of the two versions to max out the bitrate on, why choose the theatrical version? The theatrical cut and the Making Of doc should've shared a disc to let the TV cut spread out over two discs. Criterion might as well have put the entire Three Colors trilogy on one disc.

Indeed, with a making of having, as an "extra feature", a lower bitrate, 3hr of theatrical cut + 1h40 of making of on one disc would have probably saved some space for the TV version. In fact, if they really wanted not to add up a 4th disc, the best idea would have been to split the extra features over a 2-disc TV version.

In the end, I'm a bit sad that Criterion chose not to use a 2nd disc for it, probably to keep the price down. I think we can all agree that a 4 disc edition would have been the most logical, and that we would probably all have paid for the oncost. It is a nice idea from them trying to keep the price point down, but it should never be done by compromising the technical quality of the set.

Now, unfortunately, the set will stay as it is, and it is sad to think that the quality is very unlikely to be better than this, where the TV Version being the most awaited thing from this boxset, and having a clearly non-optimum quality. It is indeed disappointing.

Fortunately, Jerome Soulet from Gaumont said that Gaumont is finally clearing the rights for a French release of the TV Version (likely for 2013), we will see what happens here.