I don't know if this is old news (I hadn't heard anything about it) but Sign 'o' the Times is now available on DVD. And I don't mean the dodgy brazillian pirate effort. It's been released by a Dutch company who seem to have bought the rights - it certainly seems legit, even though it doesn't say Warner Bros anywhere on the box. Dolby 5.1 & DTS, region 0, PAL. It even has a barcode. You can find it at www.videofilmexpress.nl

Hope this isn't old news.

I can nicht read nein sprechen nein type in Deutsch. What did it say?

Old news people!

Here's the review:
http://www.housequake.com...adid=16064

And some actual screenshots can be found here:
http://www.housequake.com...adid=16564



Cheers!

housequake said:

These Housquake folks are getting too cocky! Posting on enemy territory, that's crossing the line... Whaddaya say Orgers, shall we unite for ye ole fan site war and post something really new and fresh on Housquake before they can even say "shut up already, damn"!?

It is legal; distributed in The Netherlands only; quality is not what you might expect from a DVD.

Yeah, it is old news,

As to whether it's legit or not, well that's not as straightforward as it seems.
Let's just say that technically this release is legit in the Netherlands,
BUT if it were released in the US or UK it would be considered a pirate copy.

It may be a DVD, but the source material is the old original VHS release!!!
(I mean, couldn't they at least have got hold of a laserdisc to master it from?)

Vibrator said:

Say what?? Who is this Vibrator?
That's exactly why.... lol nevermind!

BorisFishpaw said:

This was really the best they could do audio & video wise. The audio is pretty good, and they tried to enhance the video quality as good as possible. Nevertheless it's a missed opportunity to give us all something decent.

No wonder "Warner" doesn't appear anywhere on the sleeve, as it was never released by Warner at teathres and home video, but MCA or Polygram, I can't remember which one. Certainly not Warner.

ivdf said:

Yeah, it wasn't originally a WB release anyway. It was made by Cineplex Odeon Films
and released by Palace Pictures through Virgin and Gold distribution.

BorisFishpaw said:

It says MCA on the Home VHS that I have

housequake said:

A few weeks old, yeah. But hey, it's to be expected--most orgers are in the US, and don't know much about the European-sourced stuff.

Besides, no one can match the hardcore fans in Holland anyhow, y'all are crazy!

BorisFishpaw said:

How do you know? UK an US are two completely different countries. Besides, UK and the Netherlands are part of the EC, an open commercial community. Why do you think a country like the Netherlands would allow pirate copies circling around? This makes no sense at all.

The dvd can be purchased in all record stores in the Netherlands. I think it's just a matter of time before you can buy it all over the world.

ben said:

so true.

BorisFishpaw said:

abosolutely right, so in essence its like converting a tape to a dvd, not remastering the print all together

well this is GREAT news because my VHS copy is getting kinda funky at the top of the screen..

and I ain't talkin about Prince Funky

okay ... I'll copy / paste my comment on this release one more time:

New release Sign "O" the Times DUTCH DVD

It sucks ...

First of all: it's sped up!! Same speed as Moonraker's "Wonderboy"

Second: it's a copy of a VHS, a bad copy! Lots of little light-dots and disturbances, and a very low resolution.

I think they really used Wonderboy to upgrade the sound-quality.

But the speed really annoys me ..... especially in "It's gonna be a beautiful night" which is sped up in the original release by purpose (why???). This DVD really contains the chipmunks-remix!

The image quality is very bad .... okay, it isn't dark like the brazilian version. but the quality of the brazilian version is better!

So after 16 years my taped TV-broadcast version of this movie is still the best!!! Correct speed and great quality.

Every version that appeared in the shops ... always something wrong with it.
There's a lot wrong with this dutch DVD release... so save your money!!!

I even prefer the Brazilian version.

what is the sound like?
Is it DTS?

it has to be older than a couple of weeks, 'cuz I bought my SOTT DVD last summer at Wherehouse music in Atlanta/ Buckhead (as my obsession grew in to a frenzy).