Remastered Classics are not truly "Remastered" at all.

[ADRIANEVERETT1]

The Big 3 of West Coast Porn, Caballero, VCA and VCX are the 3 most lying porn film companies as of late. They are not truly remastering their classic porn films. They are using shitty home release film and video source prints adjusting video and audio quality in some make shift digital editing station piss poorly and slapping a "Remastered from 35mm Film Elements" sticker on the DVD and before that VHS Box Covers. I am a big screen film buff and I know high quality restoration when I see it. And what the big 3 of porn are doing as of late with their classics is just not right. If you are going to release a classic porn film you do it right. You go find the master camera negatives and you go for broke in restoration untill the new positive print looks like it was just shot today with Uncompressed 2.0 Mono Digital PCM Sound which can be used as an audio template and then remixed into 5.1 surround sound, 6.1 surround sound and 7.1 surround sound. Lately I have been watching the Predator Ultimate Hunter Edition Blu Ray and it looks like the way a restored movie should be. The Big 3 of West Coast Porn should follow in 20th Century Fox Home Video's footsteps and just go for broke with the Heavy Duty Digital Noise Reduction and make the past come into the future bigger brighter and cleaner than ever.

[deighton2002]

there isn't much chance they are going to do all that for you when they are trying to make some quick cash

[twisted angel]

The only companies that I know of that are putting forth the effort to restore golden age classics are Distribpix (Video-X-Pix) and Vinegar Syndrome.

Anthony

[GTHOP3]

Originally Posted by twisted angel

The only companies that I know of that are putting forth the effort to restore golden age classics are Distribpix (Video-X-Pix) and Vinegar Syndrome.

Anthony

Vinegar Syndrome is releasing two XXX features per set. Supposedly un-cut and mastered from what looks like the original camera negative. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've seen clips from some of these films and they are stunning! Absolutely blows anybody else's versions away!

Unfortunately many of the Video-X-Pix DVDs are still cut. Tigresses (and Other Man-Eaters), The Erotic World Of Angel Cash and Silky come to mind. That means fistings, urination and other assorted anal accidents (that were in the theatrical prints and early VHS copies) have never been restored.

In this day & age of gonzo porn, what do these vintage guys have to fear?

[Cole_13]

I'm with you but you're being a bit unfair at least to Caballero. They usually avoid heavy digital reprocessing (leading to the washed-out colours etc...) so most of their releases keep that natural, grainy yet watchable 35mm feel. And most of their titles are now dirt cheap on the second market.
The average Caballero dvd, as well as some by VCA (major editing issues here though) are at least 600% more watchable than, say, Alpha Blue Archives.

As for Video-X-Pix, their first wave of releases was so-and-so, but now they've taken the deluxe treatment route, from the Henry Paris collection up to the recent upgrade of Wanda Whips Wall Street.

Nothing can beat the Vinegar Syndrome schedule though, even if I'm not crazy about all their releases: sure keeping it vintage and grainy is their trademark, but on some occasions, you look at the trailer included in the disc bonus section and it's got a stellar HD look and you wish the whole feature looked the same and that they'd forget about the "grain + light-looking" thing.
(go and check their latest annoucements of Tasty, Ribald Tales Of Canterbury and Sex World @their fb page: take a look at the preview pictures and then compare it with their caballero and vcx counterparts: sure it's been upgraded but between the slightly too dark image on the former discs and the slightly too light look of the forthwoming VS releases, I'm still undecided).

Until now, it's been only a minor quibble as I purchase most of their releases.

Let's not forget about Impulse (they recently released great prints of "Oui, Girls" and Same Time Every Year")

[GTHOP3]

Originally Posted by Cole_13

The average Caballero dvd, as well as some by VCA (major editing issues here though) are at least 600% more watchable than, say, Alpha Blue Archives.

Agree, but that's not the point. The editing is what keeps me away. In this day and age, there's no need for it.

The only reason to release these chopped-up, censored editions is because the original un-cut negative no longer exists and they only have the Ed Meese-imposed copy left. So yes, they'll release those and make some money on them and hope most people (who have come to these films pretty late) won't notice.

But that still makes the vast majority of these DVD re-releases suspect. Especially the VCA ones which are nothing more than copies of the later butchered-up 1990s VHS releases. Raw Talent with Jerry Butler is probably the most egregious example I can think of, offhand

As for Video-X-Pix, their first wave of releases was so-and-so, but now they've taken the deluxe treatment route, from the Henry Paris collection up to the recent upgrade of Wanda Whips Wall Street.

And I give them a lot of credit for that. Now I'd only wish they go back to those earlier DVDs (like for example, the ones I mentioned earlier up above) and re-do them. Not just reinserting the censored parts but re-mastering them as well since many looked pretty bad and suffered from combing and poor compression.

Nothing can beat the Vinegar Syndrome schedule though, even if I'm not crazy about all their releases: sure keeping it vintage and grainy is their trademark, but on some occasions, you look at the trailer included in the disc bonus section and it's got a stellar HD look and you wish the whole feature looked the same and that they'd forget about the "grain + light-looking" thing.

Well they've only been at it, what? About a year? So they take their time and get it right as possible. The Pretty Peaches 2 & 3 set and the Carol Connors Candy two-fer look particularly intriguing. Maybe they'll find good, un-cut prints of Bob Chinn's Johnny Wadd series someday. That would be a box set I'd go out and get, pronto.

(go and check their latest annoucements of Tasty, Ribald Tales Of Canterbury and Sex World @their fb page: take a look at the preview pictures and then compare it with their caballero and vcx counterparts: sure it's been upgraded but between the slightly too dark image on the former discs and the slightly too light look of the forthwoming VS releases, I'm still undecided).

I too would welcome Sex World, but I'd want the un-cut, politically incorrect version and not the sliced & diced shit VCX later released. I too have a wait and see attitude but for different reasons. I'd just as soon have a un-cut degraded picture than the censored, bastardized Ed Meese version.

Let's not forget about Impulse (they recently released great prints of "Oui, Girls" and Same Time Every Year")

Are they un-cut? What else would you recommend by Impulse?

[Cole_13]

Indeed I cannot imagine VS releasing the cut version of Sex World.

"Oui Girls" and "STEY" are the only US porn feature films released by Impulse so far, their other golden age-related releases are the "42nd Street Forever: The Peep Show Collection" (up to volume 5) I haven't seen them.
are they uncut? I dont know but I remember checking that the actual disc run time matched the imdb or iafd run time when I first watched the dvds.

[Kayden Kross]

I totally agree with you ADRIANEVERETT1, they do that to offer more stuff spending less time. Those are companies to make money not to give proper pleasure

[GTHOP3]

Originally Posted by Cole_13

Indeed I cannot imagine VS releasing the cut version of Sex World.

I would hope not, but ya never know...

Most (but not all) of these companies aren't very honest about what they release.

[jigglyz1978]

what was edited out of Sex World? I never heard of this movie being edited before. Also Silky has an "anal accident?" lol, that sounds like something definitely that should not be edited out lol