The Hunt for Red October (Special Edition)

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Summary: A great movie ruined by the conversion to DVD.
Review: The Hunt for Red October is a great movie that was made nearly worthless when it got converted to DVD. The nearly every scene has obvious dust specks as if you were watching it at a cut-rate theater 6 months after it came out. The compression scheme leaves other scenes so pixelated it looks like you're watching the movie over the internet. Also, "Hunt" does not take advantage of some of the greatest features of DVD as it is broken into only 13 "chapters" and the sound is nothing to write home about. Save your money and record it off of HBO.

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Summary: listen up
Review: Stop complaining about the 2-3second pause...it's normal because the dvd has to switch layers becuase of the lenth of the movie. If they didnt use rsdl then you would have to flip the disc....

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Summary: Movie (AWESOME) Conversion (POOR)!!
Review: Paramount's role on the transfer of format on this movie is absolutely disgraceful. It will be a long time before I purchase any additional title from this Co. (I'll rent it first)

Rating:
Summary: Paramount's Heart Isn't Into DVD's
Review: It is obvious that Paramount's late entry into the DVD format and lack of support shows on this movie. It is not anamorphic transfer but a second generation print used for making VHS tapes..hence the poor video and dust specks. Sound is also lacking it's depth of realism though it is Dolby. I have also noticed a "pause" when the layer change occurs. This seems to be common on all of their releases thus far and hope that they would take a second look at their quality -vs- the demand by the public for DVD titles. The $29.95 MSRP for the movie is NOT worth it's features or quality and unless you can find it on sale somewhere, would pass on it until Paramount can become serious with their DVD's.

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Summary: Technical problems aside, owning it is a must...
Review: The Hunt for Red October features superb acting on the part of Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. The scenes are well thought out and the action sequences believable. I agree with other viewers that the DVD quality is not that of other films. My original copy was defective but the second works fine. (NOTE to PC DVD users... you may need to request newer drivers to view Paramount DVDs)

Rating:
Summary: Horrible transfer to DVD
Review: I had been eagerly awaiting the release of this movie on DVD. Apparently I'm not the only buyer who is disgusted with the lack of quality in the transfer of the film to DVD. It seems Paramount was willing to do the job on the cheap. In my case the DVD reverts back to the main menu at the end of the first chapter on every attempted play. It's sad that Paramount missed a great opportunity to do justice to a great movie.

Rating:
Summary: great movie...lousy quality dvd
Review: THE FILM DESERVES 4 STARS BUT PARAMOUNT SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. WHAT A POOR QUALITY TRANSFER/DVD ENCODING JOB. THE LASER LOOKED BETTER. I AGREE WITH THE OTHERS REGARDING THE ERROR, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT ALL ABOUT?? WHEN CAN WE EXPECT A REMASTERED COPY...ONE WORTHY OF THE DVD FORMAT. IF I HAD KNOWN BETTER BEFORE BUYING THIS DISC, I WOULD HAVE WAITED FOR A BETTER QUALITY DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie / Lousy DVD
Review: This DVD looks like it was transferred from a print that had been projected 200 times. From the end to end white "lint & dust specks" to the abrupt missing two seconds at the end of a chapter this is a major disappoitment for anyone who loves this movie and has eagerly awaited it's release on DVD. Pass it up until Paramount re-issues a remastered version.

Rating:
Summary: The movie is great - the video quality is poor
Review: While this movie is a very thrilling and well done piece, the transfer quality to DVD is awful. I thought I was watching it on tape or that the DVD was defective. Audio is fantastic. I hope it is re-released with better video.

Rating:
Summary: A Cold War cat-and-mouse gripper, but a murkfest on DVD
Review: From my favorite book by my favorite author, I bite my nails off every time I see The Hunt for Red October. I loved submarines growing up, and this one tops them all. Connery is his usual brilliant self, and Baldwin plays Jack Ryan exactly as I had pictured him (unlike the grisly Harrison Ford, later). The film features a great supporting cast with the exception of the sniveling Tim Curry, who delivers one particulary lame line that makes me cringe: "Captain!" Rick Ducommon's comic relief was also memorable. I have to dock this DVD for the relatively poor image quality. The underwater scenes were realistically murky, stressing my LCD projector's blue range. But the rest of the film crawled with compression noise, detracting from our enjoyment. Several SFX shots were obvious blue screens, with the seams visible as halos. In fact, the moonlit epilogue scene was unnecessarily fake. Granted, this movie was made "way back" in 1990, but a story this good deserved better treatment. I had wondered why this DVD cost less than most others, and now I know why. Shame on Paramount. This film was worth remastering.