I watched Ashoka last night. I enjoyed the movie as it is for the visuals and songs. And also I for one believes a movie should bring entertainment and this movie just do that. Rightfully this movie’s claim about the fictions story is indeed true. While I personally think Santosh Sivan should have chosen a different name for this love story as it is no way justifies the Ashoka’s History except the Kalinga war. I don’t want start arguing about any movie as I always stay away from that kind of arguments. Even you can find people who hate the Matrix and Gladiator as well

I am with Ali 100% about the dvd quality as it has dynamic, lively and scintillating sound track but the PQ is as good as or slightly below than Mission Kashmir Dvd. As Santosh Sivan mostly used close up shots (not many aerial shots) makes the visuals in the dvd feels like really exceptional.
The surround effect is so good that on one scene with waterfall felt like my theater room was flooded with water.

Thank you guys for the recommending this dvd. I believe this can be easily added to our short list of dvd’s.

I am compelled to add this text that I have copied from some website that explains about Ashoka’s importance to India.




Edited By ganti on July 17 2002 at 12:27

I am glad, ganti, we were of some help,u got a good deal, u believed in better quality of r2 disc, u were able to watch and feel it and now recomend it too,
i agree close ups of MK are Extremely CLEAN, just like u see in theatre or on par with some of HDTV transmission..but U will find ASOKA's Sound more Dynamic and Iively, breath taking comparatively to MK! :love: mas:

Just purchased asoka (metrodome) from bensonsworld for very cheap

However I don't think it is such a great dvd. The print used has scratches and blemishes thru out the film. Print steadiness is terrible. Dark scenes have no detail which I blame the Indian lab too for that. Anyway sound is quite good although this movie has little subtle moments which makes me feel tired after a while with the loud noises...I still think Lagaan or MK is far better... Ali how about having a poll of which is the best dvd of all time?

Congress, come on! it is hindi film dvd..Did u notice blemishes in CT Crouching tiger DVD, Lagaan and MK, thats what u have to work with, It is below ur expectations..hmm, go look some where else lol? :vangry: :angry:

I think, put ur feet to GROUND! apni MADAR BHOOMI ki ZAmeen!

I don't think it is as bad as I put it but I have read on another thread that this is the best Hindi dvd...How can that be possible?

...Nevertheless I am still proud of this dvd as it is still an achievement.

Perhaps I might have said something of that nature.

Most likely what I said was "the best that I have seen among Hindi DVDs".

Why:
For the first time, I was playing a PAL DVD (PAL has higher res than NTSC) and that too on a PC-DVD. The monitor res was set at 1600 x 1200 so the picture was being scaled to 1600 x 1200 res (computed up-conversion). Compre this picture quality to my NTSC interlaced TV with a 480 lines of res and all the flicker, the Computer Monitor picture (progressive) was mind blowing.

Rana

That is true, Rana, as PAL has greater number of scan lines and watching on PC definitely enhances the picture but I was refering to the print source used on the dvd . Although a progressive scan display would look amazing it still can't hide the prints faults. For me it was quite unbearable to watch on my tv due to the flicker so I watched on my PC anyway. I still think the print could have made a lot of difference. A good comparison would be the Lagaan R1 NTSC dvd and Lagaan R2 PAL dvd as both prints are the same but with different video system.

I must add, I was so glad to see this DVD playable on my PC DVD which it was not supposed to.
The alternate, that regulations tell us to watch, was a New Line release, which was a copy of the Metrodome DVD. As metrodome DVD is in PAL, Newline versions must have gone through PAL to NTSC conversion and the picture info too may have been re-compressed. All this gave an un-acceptable DVD that we are supposed to watch in North America. PAL to NTSC conversion also meant that we can’t get the original film frames back, by weaving the video fields, for the progressive display. In comparison to all this, the Metrodome DVD was a bliss.

Rana

Rana and Congress I always use HTPC to drive my projector rather than my Progressive dvd player.
Quite frankly I was disappointed with both MK and Ashoka but only when compared to the Hollywood dvd’s. They both are not sharp and not detailed. And I think Ashoka is less sharp and detailed than MK. But I am not bothered with scratches and blemishes, as they did not distract me as much. And Ashoka has terrible EE also so as Star Wars TPM.


But again when compared to the other Hindi dvd’s there are miles ahead and on par with the best DEI transfers. I am happy that I brought them.
Thanks to ALI and all the Zulimi’s for helping me to understand the Indian dvd quality.

Ali/Arsh, Well I finally went out and ordered the Asoka DVD from IW. One thing I have to mention is the subtitles are removable and are in English and Malay! Not like posted in the review by Ali HERE! In the special features section is where you can select the 2.0 sound or 5.1 along with subtitles (eng/malay).



Edited By urbanlegend on Aug. 06 2002 at 19:08

kool! lol! u look like, now i remember! Ethan hawk from training Day! yaadasht Waa[pis Aagaeey!

I hope u enjoy it! It is, R2, a GREAT DVD! I watched it on my XBOX in interlaced video, as XBOX does not do Prog scan, But believe me it is 1000X better ,undoubtedly, from all other EROS?VS/SPARK anamorphic shit put together and displayed with PROG scan player!!! mas:



Edited By arsh on Aug. 06 2002 at 22:16

i too have the asoka dvd from IW but there are no malay subtitles, and the english subtitles are not removable.

looks like IW has two versions, and i believe yours is the pirate (or maybe both of ours are pirates!).

i'll check my dvd one more time to make sure.

The subtitles I have on the DVD are in yellow color and can switch from English and Malay.

Dont know what is pirate these days...anyhow as long as the subtitles are removable that is the main thing and the video looks good to me and the sound is AMAZING!

I'm sure one of them is the unauthorized release converted from R2, while the other version is the authorized American release. The difference, however, is one is an uncut version, while the latter is cut.

Urban Legend, is your cover the same as this