Beauty & the Beast DVD vs. VHS discussion

[rodis]

Normally I would take DVD over VHS any day, of-course, but there's a movie... you probably know it... Beauty and the Beast, that I would rather watch on VHS.

Out of curiosity (or boredom) I decided to hook up my old vcr and watch the original 1991 version.

It was jaw-dropping seeing it all over again in its original, vibrant, awe-striking colors. Admittedly the pan & scan presentation mars the experience but for me, it was like watching the film for the first time. That's how much I loved it.

The hues in the 2002 version differ greatly from the original.
OK I'm assuming I'm the only freak here LOL I'm very much a purist at heart...

[pap64]

I noticed it as well. The DVD transfer gives the movie a warm, red pastel tint to the original transfer and while its good I agree that the originals colors were much better.

[Drawken]

I have a DVD\VCR combo and compared BATB a few months ago. I played a scene on the VHS then compared it to the DVD. The difference I see is a VHS tape with a washed out, darkened, blurry picture and tinny sound, and a DVD with better picture and clear sound.
I personally don't see any difference in the colors, other than the picture problems I described.
I'd watch my DVD over the VHS version any day.

Has anyone compared stills from the DVD and VHS of this movie? I would be interested in seeing them.

This has probably already been discussed, but can color from a VHS tape be considered the ORIGINAL? When transfered from the original film does the VHS capture the colors 100% accurately?

[Mr. Toad]

Yet another brilliant subject title.

[Jules]

Yet another brilliant subject title.

You're right, mate. I clicked on this thread thinking I was gonna get a detailed account of all the women rodis has had affairs with ...

[Marky_198]

I'm glad to hear someone else noticed this too!

I couldn't believe what I saw when I bought the dvd.
It looks like a completely different movie. The whole atmosphere is different. The colours, the details, the lines, everything (gaston's red shirt, Belle's face, etc) have been colored all over with the computer.
This makes the movie look much more childish, simple and less interesting.

I watched the video again too and there it was again. The film I fell in love with. Beautiful vinrant colours, a red glow on Belle's cheeks, all the details, a much more realisitic look. I'm glad they didn't colour everything in with the computer program "Paint" as they did on the dvd version.

Luckily I have a dvd recorder and copied the vhs to dvd. That version just had to be saved.

I wish someone could make screenshots of both movies.

[Marky_198]

Ps. Ever compared the Cinderella vhs to the dvd?

That dvd is completely unwatchable.

[Jules]

Oh Good Lord ... here we go again.

It looks like a completely different movie.

I'm so lucky you told me. I never knew Disney was actually giving us "Beauty and the Radish" instead of "Beauty and the Beast".

The whole atmosphere is different. The colours, the details, the lines, everything (gaston's red shirt, Belle's face, etc)

Oh ... has Belle mutated and Gaston's shirt lost colour in the wash, turning it pink?

This makes the movie look much more childish, simple and less interesting.

Before you proceed, please define those adjectives, so I can be sure you know what they mean. At the least, you might try widening your vocabulary.

I'm glad they didn't colour everything in with the computer program "Paint" as they did on the dvd version.

WTF!!?

Luckily I have a dvd recorder and copied the vhs to dvd. That version just had to be saved.

Yeah. I'm sure you've authored a reference quality DVD.

What's to wink at?


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I think this has to be my most unpleasant post ever at UD, but seriously people, write stuff that makes sense!

[Matt]

Yeah, I am glad I am not alone! When I popped in the DVD to watch the new scene I was like ohh they changed the colors for it, cool lol. Now let met start it from the beginning and the bright colors would NOT go away!

I knew from the VERY beginning how different the movie was!
However, I still watch the DVD when I am bored.

[rodis]

Yet another brilliant subject title.

You're right, mate. I clicked on this thread thinking I was gonna get a detailed account of all the women rodis has had affairs with ...

LMAO! Sorry guys, it just felt like making a confession...
And I think my sex life belongs in another thread

[Marky_198]

"I'm so lucky you told me. I never knew Disney was actually giving us "Beauty and the Radish" instead of "Beauty and the Beast".

So you didn't notice the difference when you watched the dvd?
That shows a lot about how you watch Disney movies.
I think I know enough of your view on the classics then.
If you don't see this you just never payed attention to the cinema and video version, and don't know what you're talking about.
The difference is even bigger than what you say in your comment.

The whole atmosphere is different. The colours, the details, the lines, everything (gaston's red shirt, Belle's face, etc)

Oh ... has Belle mutated and Gaston's shirt lost colour in the wash, turning it pink?

YES. Belle has mutated and doesn't look like Belle anymore. Her face is couloured in with a pink shade, with no contrast whatsoever. As if it's done with "paint" on the computer. The lines are too thick. The red, natural cheeks are gone. Her eyes are completely different. Gaston's shirt lost colour and turned into an extremely bright colour indeed. I don't know what they did, but it has nothing to do with the original cinema and vhs screenshots I have from when the movie came out.
The movie on my vhs looks alive. The dvd version looks dead.

This makes the movie look much more childish, simple and less interesting.

Before you proceed, please define those adjectives, so I can be sure you know what they mean. At the least, you might try widening your vocabulary.

English is not my native language, but I know exaclty what I mean and I choose the words with care.
By "childish" I mean that all the natural looks are gone. While the cinema, vhs, laserdisc version look amazing, have a great atmosphere, and look realistic, the dvd version looks extremely childish, too bright colours, thick lines, exactly like the cartoons you see on Nickelodeon daily and the Disney sequels you see nowadays.

I'm glad they didn't colour everything in with the computer program "Paint" as they did on the dvd version.

WTF!!?

Yes, that's what it looks like.
Obviously you never payed attention to the cinema, vhs and laserdisc versions, so you don't realize the difference.

Luckily I have a dvd recorder and copied the vhs to dvd. That version just had to be saved.

Yeah. I'm sure you've authored a reference quality DVD.

Absolutely. My vhs was in perfect shape, had a glorious image and wonderful sound. It actually looks and sounds like a dvd.
I'm glad I have it on dvd now.

What's to wink at?

The other readers. I know it's not allowed to copy Disney movies. But as I see the 2 Beauty and the Beasts as 2 completely different movies, I'm forced to do it. It's the only way to save the original.





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I think this has to be my most unpleasant post ever at UD, but seriously people, write stuff that makes sense! [/quote]

[ichabod]

Whilst this is slightly wandering off topic. I've heard in numerous places that the Region 2 DVD has a much better print of the film than the Region1, however I have never seen any direct comparisons of screencaps to vouch for the truth of this.

Just to see whether this is true or not, would someone take some screencaps of the US R1 DVD and put them up here, then I'll find the corresponding frames from my R2 and we can see if there is a difference?

[2099net]

You do realise that Beauty and the Beast was all done on CAPS - Disney's "Computer Aided Production System" (I think). As such it's likely these colours are the "original" colours.

The cinema, VHS and LD releases were all made from film, not the digital files. And in the process of transferring the digital image to film, colours may have altered.

Now, there is an argument the creators would have known this would have happened - even old cel based Disney movies were coloured slightly different because they knew film reproduced colours differently to the originals. But CAPS was still a new system then (it has previously only been used in a segment of The Little Mermaid and The Rescuers Down Under).

I don't think we'll ever know which colours were or weren't intentional, because they don't mention the colours on the DVD, yet the filmmakers seem happy with the "restoration" of the film. Being as the frames were stored digitally, I would imagine it would be child's play for the colour saturations to be altered for the DVD.

Personally, I think the "new" colours are a huge improvement on the outside scenes, but the scenes that should be set in darkness (including the "step into the light" bit, which is totally ruined by having a visible Beast at all times) look worse.

As for Cinderella, this has been discussed before:
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... chnicolour

My view is Cinderella was a Technicolor film filmed when, perhaps the Technicolor look was at it's height (1934-1954). Technicolor had its own look and style. Colours were highly exagerrated with Technicolor. Look at any of Warners restored Technicolor films, such as The Adventures of Robin Hood or The Wizard of Oz, and the colours look "hyper real". When the Aviator was made, the filmmakers specifically over-saturated the colors for the 1940's - as Wikipedia puts it "Many of the scenes depicting events occurring after 1935 are treated to emulate the saturated appearance of three-strip Technicolor". And of course Technicolor is also used as a figure of speech to describe any garish colour or colours.

So in short, I believe it is possible - and maybe even probable - the original theatrical screening of Cinderella was closer to the DVD restoration than the copy most people are used to from VHS.

You can learn more about Technicolor here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technicolor

And The Adventures of Robin Hood DVD also has an insightful documentary called "Glorious Technicolor" which shows most of what I have mentioned.

[Jules]

So you didn't notice the difference when you watched the dvd?
That shows a lot about how you watch Disney movies.
I think I know enough of your view on the classics then.
If you don't see this you just never payed attention to the cinema and video version, and don't know what you're talking about.
The difference is even bigger than what you say in your comment.

I'm not colour blind. Yes, I did see a difference when I watched the DVD, but please distinguish between "a difference" and "a completely different movie".

Absolutely. My vhs was in perfect shape, had a glorious image and wonderful sound. It actually looks and sounds like a dvd.

Come again?

[ichabod]

You do realise that Beauty and the Beast was all done on CAPS - Disney's "Computer Aided Production System" (I think). As such it's likely these colours are the "original" colours.

The cinema, VHS and LD releases were all made from film, not the digital files. And in the process of transferring the digital image to film, colours may have altered.

There's no "may" about it. No one with more than 4 brain cells would consider a 15 year old VHS as being even slightly close to being a good enough source to verfiy the true colours of a digitally produced film.

Here are some comparisons of the original theatrical trailer (probably taken from a video source for the release, which in turn would have been from a film version in turn made from the original CAPS system) and the DVDs presentation of film.

If the aspect ratio of the DVD is not quite right, that's my fault. I have to resize them.









Aside from the inherrent fade and darkening with the aged trailer, they don't look like different colours to me.

[Mr. Toad]

Quite frankly the DVD looks closer to what we originally saw in theaters than the VHS does.

[SpringHeelJack]

Yeah... thought the DVD suffered a bit from trying to put three versions of the film onto one disc, the colors and textures seem right on.

[Marky_198]

I like the video screenshots much better.

The video I have is much sharper though.
And of course the laserdisc and theatre version too.

If you take that first screenshot and draw her hair over with the program "paint" you get the same result as the dvd screenshot.
And what's with her lips? So pink it hurts my eyes.

The first screenshot looks like an animated movie. The second one looks like the cover of my 5 year old niece's pink Disney Princess color book.

No way it looks even close to the version we watched in theatres and have on laserdisc.

[Mr. Toad]

Quite frankly the DVD looks closer to what we originally saw in theaters than the VHS does.

[Marky_198]

NO

The first screenshot looks like an animated movie. The second one looks like the cover of my 5 year old niece's pink Disney Princess color book.

What we saw in theatres was an animated movie.