I ordered Bajrangbali from musicindiamovies.com (they're fantastic if you live in NY) thinking I was going to get the DEI version they advertized here: https://www.musicindiamovies.com/php/pr ... php?id=853

However, much to my surprise, I found a more attractively packaged yet frightening Spark label disc. Having owned a Spark branded Dil Chahta Hai DVD, I'm a bit concerned this title will also suffer from disc rot. I've also read Spark transfers are the same quality as DEI/BEI. Is this true?

Should I go ahead and open the packaging on this disc, or return it right away?

[DVD screenshots below]

At the time of DEI-BEI name change, some batches of DEI/ BEI Bajrangbali were on Rot-able Silver media (Media Dimension) discs. After my first disc rotted, eventually, I got hold of Gold media disc. Many spark discs are same as DEI/ BEI and most likely Spark DVD of Bajrangbali is same DEI/ BEI authoring. Newer BEI discs were on OK media. Most likely your Spark disc must be from newer batches. Unless, it's old stock of 2-3 yrs back ??

The Spark DVD case had a 2003 copyright, so it seems a bit old. I wish I'd waited a bit longer, or you'd posted a bit earlier, since I went ahead and exchanged the Spark disc for a BEI one. However, something about the BEI disc itself makes me think it's not an original. It has less information and a poor print quality on the actual disc compared to another BEI title I have.

Moreover, the picture, while great in some places, has serious brightness/contrast issues. It even looses the green and blue input in one scene! I have a downloaded copy of this film in really poor quality, and the original source on that disc didn't have these issues. I wonder if the Spark disc would have been any different.

I began watching the BEI version of Bajrangbali and noticed the subtitles were very different from the version I downloaded of the internet. Thus, I reordered the Spark version from musicindiamovies.com I because I wasn't entirely convinced that Spark is simply rebranded DEI for UK and overseas. Lo and behold, my suspicions are confirmed! They are two entirely different transfers which seem to be mastered from different source materials. How do I know for sure?

1. Duration: The films run different lengths. The BEI disc clocks in at 3hrs 9min, while the Spark version is 2hrs 56min. I'm inclined to believe that at 20 reels, the Spark version runs the correct duration while the BEI version at 23fps (vs 29.97 on the Spark) has been stretched somehow because the audio pitch seems a bit low.

2. Subtitles: The Spark disc has a superior translation, by far. I was left wondering if the person responsible for the BEI subtitles was actually fluent in English.

3. Picture: Both discs have their own image problems. On the Spark disc, the image flickers and you can see the black part of the film in certain scenes (see the first set of pics below). Overall, the flesh tones are normal and the colors are bold, although the image is not very sharp. In contrast, the BEI picture has a much crisper image but the colors and contrast is off. Many scenes contain a hued tint or seem to be missing one of the RGB inputs. Take a look for yourself.

Top image - BEI, Bottom image - Spark
















Is it possible the BEI disc is not an original? The packaging is convincing enough, and the picture rendition is clear enough to make me think it is. Maybe I got a bum disc? What do you guys think--is there any point in trying to contact them for a replacement?

My BEI disc has the same problems. I have got it from indiaweekly.
It does not look different from my other BEI discs, so I haven’t had suspicions until now.

Hmm...either we both have pirates or the mastering source is pretty flawed. It's a shame the BEI contact details on the DVD covers are always invalid.

Looks like one or more of the RGB color streams is missing in BEI screen shots. I came across similar problem, at many instances (not all the disc) in BEI Ram Aur Shyam DVD as well. Recall, most of the DEI Ram Aur Shyam have rotten and the replacement BEI one has this problem. I don't recall having seen this problem in the DEI disc when it used to play. And, I watched this DEI disc many a times when it worked. May be, when outputting BEI disc, one color srtream got left out ??

Does any one still have a working DEI Ram Aur Shyam to check this out ??

can you specify portion of ram shyam, so it could be checked