Tintin Forums

Oh this is excellent news! :-D

number1fan asked: Will I be able to buy them from an Australian website? Is their currency the same as U.S. dollars?

Yes: ezydvd.com.au, sanity.com.au, devoteddvd.com.au, jbhifionline.com.au all accept international orders.

Currently, one Aussie dollar is worth around 0.89USD (Source: xe.com).

My copies arrived this morning from EzyDVD so a quick review. I can happily confirm that they're region free (tried and tested in a DVD player and laptop, both without problems despite the case saying Region 4) and contain English subtitles. Unfortunately there's no English soundtrack, just the original French.

Picture quality is good, not great - there's the occasional motion blur, but nothing terribly distracting; I don't know if that's present on the French release. They're very watchable, though, especially with the added benefit of finally being available in English!

Do both disks have an English dub, where you can hear English spoken?

Here's my Mini DVD Review of the two discs that I just received. Now, I don't know what Richard is talking about - I think he's a bit overjoyed of getting them English subtitled. I have a multi-region DVD player and I would also like to add that I have a Region 1 USA DVD player and a laptop set to Region 1 and they did not play on them. These DVDs are labeled as PAL REGION 4. I have an HDTV, so if you still all watch VHS tapes, then you should be happy with the quality of these two DVDs:

I got the two live action Tintin movies in the mail, and I must warn people - the DVD anamorphic video quality sucks! It's like a copy of a VHS tape. Excellent English subtitles though and decent French audio.

I'm extra disappointed with the Australian releases because I have the Swedish anamorphic version of Golden Fleece (it doesn't have English subtitles), in which the video quality of this one is pretty good. I think the Swedish versions were remastered from originals. While the Australian ones look like they copied a VHS tape, it's dark, smeary, dirty, grainy, and looks like it's interlaced rather than anamorphic.

I only recommend buying these Australian DVDs if you are a serious Tintin fan like me, because these are pretty funny movies. But if you are a casual or curious fan, stay away from these!


SWEDISH ANAMORPHIC VERSIONS (no English subtitles):
Video: 7.5
Audio: 8
French subtitles: ? (don't know french that well)

AUSTRALIAN ANAMORPHIC VERSIONS (with English subtitles):
Video: 5
Audio: 7
English subtitles: 9



AND NO ENGLISH DUB ON THESE AUSTRALIAN DVDS!!! Just French Audio, English subtitles, and some trailers for other movies and that's it...

number1fan
Do both disks have an English dub, where you can hear English spoken?

If you read back, Richard makes it quite clear in his post that the DVDs have only English subtitles, no English soundtrack, so you don't hear spoken English at all.

In my opinion the best way to watch a foreign language film is generally with the original audio plus subtitles in your own language. However, in the case of The Golden Fleece the dubbing artistes did such an excellent job of the English dub it's a shame Umbrella couldn't get permission to use it (or didn't know it exists).

toddly6666 said:
I have a Region 1 USA DVD player and a laptop set to Region 1 and they did not play on them.
The fact that Richard could play them on his laptop but toddly6666 could not suggests that they may be coded as Region 2 & 4.

Yes, that's right. I played them successfully on my multi-region DVD player, but they did not play on my Region 1 encoded DVD player and Region 1 encoded laptop DVD player...Whoever orders these dvds, I really hope you have a multi-region DVD player instead of taking a chance and hoping it plays on your Region 1 DVD player...

And once again the DVD is clearly labeled as a DVD-5 Region 4 PAL DVD.

Quite a lot of R2/4 DVD are encoded for both regions, not sure why this is

R

Looks like I messed up a bit there! I was just surprised that I was able play them with no problems and presumed it was region-free. Sorry for any confusion that I might have caused US members.

I don't have copies of the French or Swedish releases, so I can't compare the picture quality (although I admit some remastering wouldn't go amiss here). These Australian DVDs are still the only English language releases available, and for that fact alone they should be of interest to fans.

I got my copies yesterday. I am glad to say that they are not too bad, considering the fact that these are 1960's prints, and probably taken from VHS.

I have a multi-region DVD player, so I had no problem playing those having region 4 encoding.

The English subtitles are good. These are must for any Tintin fans. I ordered them from Atlantic DVD, Australia.