Studio Canal / Kinowelt / Optimum

[EddieLarkin]

25mpbs should in theory be adequate for most content, but only if you've got someone like David M at the controls. Once you give a blind chimp this sort of bitrate to work with the results can be disastrous. Criterion's War and Peace averages at over 20mbps and it is easily the most noticeably horribly compressed disc I've seen in recent memory. The majority of the film is a blocky digital soup of shit, and it's a tragedy that Criterion didn't go for 3 discs over 2, as although pretty much everything they compress is crap, being able to have a bitrate in the 30-40 range would have helped massively.

[tenia]

In France, we routinely see BDs with sub-optimum compression at 35 Mbps, so here you go.
And Criterion and Shout also regularly show what can happen despite such an almost maxed out AVB.
So when you can get this, dropping to 25 Mbps just is an additionnal obstacle to overcome.

[Stefan Andersson]

Tavernier box (German).
https://www.media-dealer.de/index.php?c ... 3539690706

There's a picture of the back cover. It dosent promise good. Only one film has Englsih subs. If its accurate.

If you click on the "Specifications" tab in the table next to the graphic, you will see that Subtitles are provided in German and English.

Under "Spezifikation" it says: "SDTV 576i (PAL)" - does this mean 25fps video masters? I´m a technical layman, hence the question.

Another source:
https://www.arthaus.de/bertrand_tavernier_edition
Under "Mehr infos", it says: "1080/24p Full HD" - list of extras also included

[Stefan Andersson]

A 4-film Jacques Becker Arthaus Bluray box with English subs:
https://www.arthaus.de/jacques_becker_edition_box

No English subs on the separate releases of Le Trou and Grisbi:
https://www.arthaus.de/detailsuche?q=Jacques+Becker&t=p

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver....The Servant 4K UHD

[kekid]

Des Enfants Gates is the only disc in the Tavernier box that does not have any subtitles, not even HOH.
Since I use OPPO's built-in feature to superimpose subtitles on the video, I am out of luck with this film.
For that feature to work, the disc needs to have some subtitle.
I do not understand the rationale behind (seemingly) random decisions made vis-a-vis subtitles in this box.

[Fiery Angel]

And that film had English subtitles in the Tavernier DVD box many years ago.

[tysony]

Sorry to comment on old releases but does anyone have the Melville and Godard UK boxsets from a few years back - still worth trying to track them down or is it a better idea to wait for 4K releases at this point? Also I read that there are issues with the encodes on these releases but I can't find a lot of information about that.

[nitin]

Both box sets are likely to be pretty cheap again come Black Friday/Christmas time, some of the included movies in both are from 4k restorations too. I think they are worth grabbing as I cant see 4k releases for all, at least not all together anyway.

Which titles in particular interest you?

[dwk]

A warning about the Melville set, Un flic is 1080i / 25 fps.

[nitin]

Thanks David, that's good to know. Unfortunately we didnt have Canal port over The Servant and The Ladykillers on UHD, we just got the remastered blu rays only.

[Dr Amicus]

Tavernier films are starting to appear on the BBFC website, submitted by StudioCanal. So far I can see Laisse Passer, Une Semaine de Vacances and (most surprising) La Guerre Sans Nom.

[M Sanderson]

Anyone know how the picture quality is on The Howling 4k?

Apparently Shout are using the same restoration for their upcoming 4k release.

[Finch]

It's among the Reference titles in the UHD Titles worth/not worth upgrading thread, and being UHD it's region free so there's little reason to wait for Shout's, especially given their very patchy record of encoding their discs.

EDIT 2/26/22: in case not everyone is reading the UHD upgrade thread, the Scream Factory is actually a port of the Studio Canal with strong authoring but it has the original mono and more extras, so it replaces the Studio Canal as this film's definitive release.

[kekid]

Update on the German edition of the Tavernier Collection:

Even though the description says "English Subtitles", 3 of the Blu Rays in this box do not have English subtitles.
1. The Clockmaker of St. Paul
2. A Sunday in the Country
3. The Judge and the Assassin

Thus there are only 2 Blu Rays in the German set that have English subtitles, which did not have the same in the French box:
1. Coup de Torchon
2. Let Joy Reign Supreme

[Dr Amicus]

Further to the BBFC entries for Tavernier, Que la Fete Commence went through a few days ago. Looks like a version of the boxset may well be on the way in the UK (unless this is purely for streaming) as I can't see these getting individual releases (especially The Undeclared War).

[GaryC]

Of course, by the time I get hold of this and even watch any of it, we might know if StudioCanal have any plans to release any of these in the UK. I somehow doubt they'll go for an eighteen-film or even eleven-film set, especially as by my reckoning six of the eighteen haven't had UK commercial releases before so will need to be BBFC-certified. (Que la fête commence and La guerre sans nom have had UK television screenings, though. As the latter is a documentary, it may be able to be BBFC-exempted depending on its content - I haven't seen the film.)

And indeed the UK set, out on 18 April, comprises eight films (nine discs):

Que la fête commence
Une semaine de vacances
Coup de torchon
L.627
La guerre sans nom
Ça commence aujourd'hui
Laissez-passer
La princesse de Montpensier

If Amazon is to go by, this is slightly more expensive than the 11-film German set at the current sterling/euro exchange rate. There is also the issue of subtitles and whether you need them or not. Two of the films included don't apparently come with English subtitles on the French set - and the one English-language film (La mort en direct/Death Watch) is only on that set. Also, which extras are included, though those that are will be English-subbed if they're not English-language.

I now need to decide which of these to buy. I've been wanting Une semaine de vacances on Blu for years, likewise the not-included Sunday in the Country. Of the eight in the UK set there are two I've not seen and everything else I've seen before on DVD and/or in the cinema.

[domino harvey]

I now need to decide which of these to buy. I've been wanting Une semaine de vacances on Blu for years, likewise the not-included Sunday in the Country.

Kino out the latter out on Blu recently

[Finch]

I don't understand why the Clockmaker of St Paul and The Judge and the Assassin are missing (unless some other UK label has the rights). I have the Kino of the former and was really keen on seeing the latter. I wonder how they arrived at which films to port over for the UK market...

[GaryC]

I don't understand why the Clockmaker of St Paul and The Judge and the Assassin are missing (unless some other UK label has the rights). I have the Kino of the former and was really keen on seeing the latter. I wonder how they arrived at which films to port over for the UK market...

Back in 2008, when the label was called Optimum still, I reviewed five Taverniers that they released on DVD, and those two films were among them. So unless StudioCanal don't have the UK rights for them any more, I don't understand why they aren't included. The other three from 2008 are in this box set (L.627, Coup de torchon, Ça commence aujourd'hui). All of those DVDs had extras, including commentaries and/or introductions by Tavernier.

[domino harvey]

I mean, if they're going to cut titles, I'd rather they be ones like those that are easily acquirable with English subs on Blu, right?

[senseabove]

New 4k restoration of I Am a Camera coming to BD

Been curious about this one for a while...

[M Sanderson]

Red Sonja 4k, according to Dawn of the Discs. Will be glad to see some Fleischer, in UHD.

[eerik]

Red Sonja 4k, according to Dawn of the Discs. Will be glad to see some Fleischer, in UHD.

*according to French retailers who put up the pre-order listings earlier this week

Amazon: https://www.amazon.fr/Kalidor-4k-Ultra- ... B09YB5XQQZ
FNAC: https://www.fnac.com/a16987846/Kalidor- ... Blu-ray-4K

[rapta]

StudioCanal have started a new strand in the UK entitled 'Cult Classics', and are starting with Walter Hill's Extreme Prejudice and Enzo G. Castellari's High Crime and Kill Them All and Come Back Alone. All three will arrive on June 6th.

I had previously hoped Extreme Prejudice might be coming from Indicator, considering they had already done Geronimo (and I was hoping for more Hill from them after that brilliant release). Still, happy to see a UK release either way (I guess SC are working with Vestron as a dual territory project; the extras seem to be the same for both releases so chances are it could even be the exact same disc). Perhaps Indicator might get a different Hill film from StudioCanal, such as Johnny Handsome since The Driver is presumably a no-go (either that or Crossroads from Sony).

PS: I also predict that Cold Sweat will likely appear via this Cult Classics range, rather than become another prospective Bronson title for Indicator (unless they already secured it before this strand was dreamt up).