Ayngaran have shown me the preview master digitbeta tapes for thier forthcoming DVD of the highest grossing Tamil film of all time "Padiyaapa" After watching it in I was in quite a mixed mood.

The telecine transfer was done by Phonix (UK) who was responsible for Ashoka DVD for Meterodome, and while the picture was similar in quality the source used (taken from the original negative in India) was badly damged due to lack of care on the producers part who wouldn't foot the bill for a lab to look after it. Now the film is damaged for life, and the high amount of restoration work would cost more then 10 million.

They tried to find cinema prints to compensate for some scenes, but then there was further problems with the sound, colour, grading and so much more. The only clean print in is a verison of the film that was trimmed down by 20 mins and has two songs cut. With much film grain and wear and tear problems it looks like Aynagran will have to settle for thier director's cut version.

But if the DVD quality is anything to go by then it should be similar to Ashoka, with extra film dirt! Also the film is presented in its original aspect ratio 2.35:1, and is anamorphic enhanced. The soundtrack on the digibeta was mono, but they will replace the sound with a 5.1 Dolby track from the orignal DTS 5.1 master mix from a hi-8 source.

The DVD will be ready by Oct 2002.

Sunny will it be encoded using a P or I mode ?