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false_dmitrii
PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2003 9:29 pm 
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Hi, I'm reposting this in full from the BollyWHAT board as this forum seems more appropriate for my question.

I'm grossly ignorant about Indian films in general, but I recently bought the gray-box DVD of Kandukondain Kandukondain at a local video store for full price (needed it fast for the holiday). The case had a hologram sticker and showed no obvious signs of piracy, but the disc's quality made me wonder whether it's authentic or bootleg. I don't have any similar discs (e.g. other Ayngaran releases, other bootleg recordings) to compare it to. Could someone with the same release please compare their experience with mine? I've e-mailed Ayngaran sales but don't know when to expect a reply.

I noticed the following things:
- No paper insert in DVD case...should there be one?
- Crosshatch "silkscreen" pattern on disc decoration
- No option for "trailers" on title menu...should there be one?
- Opening Ayngaran logo was of poor quality--shaky, with horizontal scan lines
- Opening and closing text/credits jittery on the horizontal plane (from compression, not overall screen movement). Similar jitter when switching menu screens
- Numerous artifacts from the original film media, including a couple of vertical bars at specific spots in the movie; not enough to overwhelm the image
- Very subtle grainy or "speckled" appearance throughout the film; barely noticeable compression "ghosting" on occasion
- Pronounced aliasing on many but not all diagonal or curved lines
- A momentary break in the audio during Srikanth's watery rescue scene
- My 4x3 television has a 16x9 enhanced mode; this didn't seem to work despite the Anamorphic Widescreen claim on the case

Despite these problems, the overall image and sound quality were high enough that it could still be the authentic release. It's not quite as bad as it sounds from my list. I've never viewed other Ayngaran discs, and it wouldn't be the first time false claims were made on a DVD case. Also, subtitle English quality matched what I remember from the movie screen. Without a reference point, I can't tell if my disc is authentic...what do you think? Should the disc have been nearly perfect? I really liked the film and don't want my money going to a bootlegger.

Thanks for your input,
false_dmitrii

(watch out for bounceback if you e-mail me--my account keeps filling with spam daily)
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DragunR2
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2003 9:48 pm 
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Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 3:16 am
Posts: 4259
false_dmitrii wrote:
- Opening Ayngaran logo was of poor quality--shaky, with horizontal scan lines

The Ayngaran logo on many of their DVDs is of poor quality. They only recently started to use a better one.

What does it say on the bottom of the disc in the inner rim? People who own either the first or second release might be able to tell you whether or not you have a pirate copy.
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false_dmitrii
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2003 12:00 am 
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Inner layer, upper side: KANDUKONDEN KANDUKONDEN LAYER 1 G.F.M INTL *0036 DVD9

Inner layer, lower side: same, but LAYER 0 and *0037

1FPI 5Q93 on lower side near center hole


Part of the problem is that I'm not technical enough to interpret the low bit rate mentioned in Kabir Ahamed's review. I assumed it would aggravate graininess and aliasing during motion, but didn't know the extent or what effect it would have on credit text. For what it's worth, my HP-licensed PowerDVD software reports a bitrate of 9Mbps/30fps MPEG2 with 6-channel Dolby AC-3 audio--but I don't know how accurate that is.

What about visual artifacts? A prominent one is the vertical green line that appears during the title song on shots of Srikanth playing the flute. It comes and goes with those shots, so it was surely present on the source media. There are many white specks that show up throughout the film, which made me wonder about the "clear" transfer others have mentioned. Are these present on the official release?

The sound dropout I found occurs in Chapter 10, just as Srikanth lifts Meenu out of the water. There's total silence for a second or so. Is this on either official disc?

Is it possible I have a "red box" disc packaged in a gray box? I gather that would explain the apparent lack of widescreen support.

If I have an authentic disc, I don't mean to disparage the quality--on the whole, it's sharp and free of blotchiness with clear audio. I realize it's nearly impossible to flawlessly recreate what the camera first shot. There's just enough iffyness on my copy to make me hesitate.
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darius25
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 4:44 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2001 2:36 am
Posts: 435
You have the authentic disc. I have the same version and I bought it from Ayngaran Canada. As for the gray box and red box versions, don't worry they're all the same. Even though your version may say DTS on it, there is no DTS option on the disc. And as for anamorphic widescreen versions - no such version exists. Despite the claims, all versions of this movie have a cropped transfer and just the usual (but original) DD 5.1 soundtrack.


As this is the only version out there for this movie, I suggest that it's the only option we have for the time being. And don't hate Ayngaran as they have increased their quality and their new releases are really awesome - especially their last major release, KAAKA KAAKA.
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