The Plauge of MoserBaer DVD's

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SharekhaN

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I have been a passionate buyer of original content. I do buy them whenever I can because I genuinely love movies and I want to appreciate them as best as possible. I have tried to buy them in hope that I can see them in all their grand as the original makers would have hoped them to have seen. So I have been collecting original DVD ever since they have been available. I have a small collection that is of little envy however it is something I have pride over.

Even though I love Hollywood movies for their production values, It is the older Hindi movies I really treasure. Some of them are real gems, like the Rishi Kapoor starrer Rafoo Chakkar, Amol Palekar in Chhoti si Baat, and undoubtedly Sholay, something that needs no explaining.

Off late, I am not able to buy anything than Moserbaer. Of course their collection is increasing but I question their quality when it comes to movies. Yes they are cheap, at the same time the picture quality also spells just one thing, cheap.

They have most definitely no post production standards. They do very poor transfers of the sources. Most of them are hybrids, with lot of interlaced artifacts. mono or sub standard audio. Almost all DVD are NTSC 29.976 frames while It would really would have been 100% better with PAL and progressive transfers. Most of their widescreen movies are all pan and scanned. Ie not true anamorphic widescreen movies.

I would have been fine, if Moserbaer would have continued this for the segment that is going in for piracy but they do not have any product for the consumer segment which demands Quality. At the same time, there is no other company which offers the titles apart from Moserbaer. It is very obvious that its only Moserbaer that has taken up rights for DVD in India for the most part. I see very few banners that do not release on Moserbaer, most notable like Yash Raj Films and BIG films.

If you know, Eros is a brand which was in to selling Hindi DVD. They had a lot of titles, but now the same titles are sold by Moserbaer with no releases from Eros. Even reputed stockists like Planet M have only these crap DVD with no other option in terms of brand or quality.

Just to show you an example, here are some comparative screens from the movie Sholay. The ones in top are from the Eros source while the ones below are from the Moserbaer source.





















So there you have them. Sorry its a long rant, but I think its a valid one.

What do you guys think?
 
SharekhaN said:
They do very poor transfers of the sources. Most of them are hybrids, with lot of interlaced artifacts. mono or sub standard audio. Almost all DVD are NTSC 29.976 frames while It would really would have been 100% better with PAL and progressive transfers. Most of their widescreen movies are all pan and scanned. Ie not true anamorphic widescreen movies.
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NTSC plays on PAL players but not the other way around, considering lowest common denominator of player available in the US.

Arguably the larger market is in PAL, if you include the subcontinent & the UK yet all suffer for the sake of the US market whose cheap(er) DVD players don't do PAL. This does seem to be a dubious decision. Surely they could have made two seperate versions.
SharekhaN said:
It is the older Hindi movies I really treasure.
Click to expand...

Interesting, so those movies have crossed the generation gap then ?

Much better story telling than nowadays perhaps. If so it would be a pity because one would not say the same of Hollywood barring the odd few exceptions.
SharekhaN said:
If you know, Eros is a brand which was in to selling Hindi DVD. They had a lot of titles, but now the same titles are sold by Moserbaer with no releases from Eros. Even reputed stockists like Planet M have only these crap DVD with no other option in terms of brand or quality.
Click to expand...

Must have shifted into the export market as they could not make the numbers here.

SharekhaN said:
Sorry its a long rant, but I think its a valid one.
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I thought it was a god post :)
 
Putting in a quick word, I prefer the second set of screens. I'm looking at it on an IPS monitor and the second set has a more natural tone, whereas the first is oversaturated and has a pretty prominent magenta/red cast, and harsh edges of an over-sharpened image. The first set has better contrast, which is probably where it's better than the second set.

But then again, I'm looking at a still image on screen that is very different from yours.

I'm so lucky I don't watch movies...
 
^^I see it as the second set is washed out and very soft. If you can buy the dvd, costs 45 rupees, you can see it for yourself why I despise it so much. color is treatable, streaks, mosquitoes and scratches are not when it comes to viewing.

On the comparisons between different sources of Sholay, the above print comes out as one of the best compared across the board.

zulm.net • definitive indian dvd guide
 
Err, Its not that i mind the price and quality of Moserbaer discs. I hate the fact that there is NO other choice...see Eros cannot sell Sholay DVDs anymore, Not while Moserbaer is selling them.

Do you understand my predicament?
 
i am not sure but EROS DVDs are primarily for the international market. Off late many movies are coming on Eros to be released in India but still they cater more to the NRI audiences.

This is evident from one fact that few months back whenever a DVD-Rip of a bollywood movie came on popular indian torrent sites they were of Eros Made while we used to see that same movie dvd is being sold by say Tseries etc here.
 
Yeah, so what a company changes for the local market, I am fine with that.

But why a huge change in the quality of the content?
 
^^ probably because they (as they call) re master the original content on their DVDs and in the process loose out on the quality or is it just the disc quality that is causing issues.

But the bottom line is that only videophiles will understand this difference and anyone one (and i mean 99% of junta) would never even notice the quality degrade.

We all have met noobs saying "Yeh DVD hai, isme picture quality ekdum mast hota hai".

I mean so what, i bought a 50 bucks DVD having all james bond movies with the crappiest quality.
 
the second set looks blurry and washed out and seems to have been cropped too. all pics are zoomed in by some percentage.

edit: just noticed the diff resolutions on the first set of scans.
 
raksrules said:
But the bottom line is that only videophiles will understand this difference and anyone one (and i mean 99% of junta) would never even notice the quality degrade.
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Somehow doubt that, if you look at the two pics the difference seems obvious even to the untrained eye. That too for a still frame. Imagine the difference when watching the actual movie.

I think moserbaer has tried to get the monopoly on national distributor and edged out Eros.

Until the market discriminates there wont be an improvment. The only catalyst to this is if & when HD TV comes out and then ppl see the diff and demand it with DVDs.
 
The first source when played on a media player shows a skewed aspect ratio which I have to manually correct. This is why the resolutions are different.

This is not a problem I face on a SAP.

Only while a transfer to HDD that this problem arises, which I am willing to live with as long the out put quality is good.
 
blr_p said:
Somehow doubt that, if you look at the two pics the difference seems obvious even to the untrained eye. That too for a still frame. Imagine the difference when watching the actual movie.

I think moserbaer has tried to get the monopoly on national distributor and edged out Eros.

Until the market discriminates there wont be an improvment. The only catalyst to this is if & when HD TV comes out and then ppl see the diff and demand it with DVDs.
Click to expand...

True but here since sharekhan has given the frame by frame comparison and hence we are able to make out difference. Also there are few who actually would care about such things. People excitedly watch predvd and cam rips (read mediocre to pathetic) also.

Also as blr_p pointed out, i dont see (and this is only my opinion) most of the people going for HDTV for HD, but just because they can afford (at least 32" ones are quiet affordable now). In fact they wont even understand 1080p Full HD, 60000:1 Contrast ratio and all this stuff. Also majority of people still own normal cable at their homes and AFAI have heard the signals look real crap on HDTV and especially when screen size is large.

I my self want to buy a 46" HDTV by year end and the research is on, i know that things selling now would become obsolete. Currently accumulating the software (HD Content) for it (read: counting chickens before they hatch) :ohyeah:
 
raksrules said:
^^ probably because they (as they call) re master the original content on their DVDs and in the process loose out on the quality or is it just the disc quality that is causing issues.

But the bottom line is that only videophiles will understand this difference and anyone one (and i mean 99% of junta) would never even notice the quality degrade.
We all have met noobs saying "Yeh DVD hai, isme picture quality ekdum mast hota hai".
I mean so what, i bought a 50 bucks DVD having all james bond movies with the crappiest quality.
Click to expand...

I'm not videophile, but I still notice considerable loss of quality in Moser Baer DVD's. I once got 5 DVD's at one go, only to realize my folly the moment I put one into the player/watched it on my computer. It isn't a question of lower quality just because of the lower price. I guess if they can re-master it *properly* once, the results will be there to show.

Till date I've about 7 DVD's and the quality of each is poor when compared to DVD rips of the same movie.
 
raksrules said:
True but here since sharekhan has given the frame by frame comparison and hence we are able to make out difference.
Click to expand...

Hmm, you are saying the opposite here.

That just because he posted a frame by frame comparison the difference is apparent. Yes, he tried to highlight his point.

That once watching you might not feel the difference so much and only AFTER experiencing real HD does one notice. Yeah, it all depends on the viewers experience.

So naturally the masses who have not experienced HD yet won't be any wiser. therefore Eros does not make the numbers nationally and decided to opt out.
 
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