HARDWARE, a Richard Stanley sci-fi horror masterpiece dvd compare

[Michael Helgeson]

First off,I know alot of you wont know what this cult classic is,so here, go check this link first:

Anyway,there are two unofficial dvd releases out there. Un-official due to the fact nothing has been done with this movie on a legal level since Laserdisc and VHS. Even though they did make plans to do a official release,it fell through,and new plans are in a pending stage.
Below you will see screen compare pics of the two dvd releases. The German Laser Paradise release has more audio options,and a slightly sharper image,darker blackness levels, and slightly better noise management in darker areas/scenes of the film. It also has a more visually complex menu with nice audio during menu selections. A really nice presentation over all.

The Euro Cult release is no frills. Just has the deleted scene compare the other one had, English audio only,and a very basic menu system with a nice pic of the Mark 13. The Euro Cult release while not as sharp looking is brighter and the color has the more correct and less red look which helps the washed out image better, as that was what the director was supposed to be gunning for. If you are into softer images you will find that a plus. Due to the brightness being up a tad, you do see more video noise in the image sometimes. As this was taken straight from Laserdisc, just like the German dvd, picture noise will always be present in both copies.

Both copies are presented un-cut.
 
The Pal German dvd will run you around $30 after shipping at times,where as the NTSC USA Euro Cult one will run you around $10-12. Both disc are professionally pressed. What you get is the disc and case with cover insert. There are no special chapter listing inserts or anything with either copy. Your only other choice is to obtain the movie on LD either cut or un-cut,downloaded in Divx or Xvid, or on VHS.

Tried to time the screen compare pics as close as possible so you could get a reasonable compare.
USA EURO CULT

GERMAN LASER PARADISE

USA EURO CULT

GERMAN LASER PARADISE

USA EURO CULT

GERMAN LASER PARADISE

[Sinistron]

I love this movie- saw it in the theatres bitd- The Mark 13 building itself back up was bad ass- very unforgettable movie on the whole ("this is what you want, this is what you get...")
I have Stanley's Dust Devil limited edition DVD- which is cool as hell as it includes three of Stanley's documentaries as bonuses- one of which I've watched so far about an SS officer who was obssessed with tracking down the Holy Grail.  I would definitely pick up an official dvd release of Hardware if one becomes available...

[nectarsis]

Going to have to bite on this one