https://itunes.apple.com/movie/star-trek-ii-wrath-khan-directors/id359056546 https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/star-trek-vi-undiscovered/id359064411 Has anyone tried them? Are they worth the $15 each?
I have them and I don't find them to be worth any extra money. The clarity is nice, sure, but it's what one would expect on a modern device. I don't think it's anything to write home about. But, then again, I never saw much great value in HD to begin with. For me, the story is what you buy. If you have the films on DVD or even VHS, I say to keep 'em until they wear out and only then buy the HD or 4K or whatever is current at the time.
How do they look compared to the Blu-rays? Are the added scenes much lower quality than the rest? I don't have any copies of the director's cuts so I'm trying to decide between €11/$15 for the iTunes versions or €8-10 for the DVD versions.
I don't know how they look in comparison to Blu Rays as I avoid physical media like the plague. But from what I read, iTunes (and other digital distributors) does compress the images, with the result being some banding in gradients. I never noticed it unless I was looking specifically for it, and never found it to be any kind of detriment or distraction from the story. The added scenes in both appear to be of the same quality as the rest of the films... That, or I never noticed a significant difference. I'll give them a watch this weekend with a keener eye and let you know.
They are the same exact prints used for the SE DVD editions. Right down to the "sprocket judder" in TWOK when Kirk is viewing the Genesis tape. They are fairly dirty as well.
It's not an impeccable transfer, but it's decent -- certainly on par with any of the HD transfers used for the Blu-Ray releases, save the one for the theatrical version of Star Trek II.
I own the iTunes version of TWOK. Amazon streaming also has both movies, and I own TWOK there as well. (And both services have the TMP director's edition, too, but the HD theatrical edition is noticeably better quality.) I've never seen the TWOK Blu-Ray, but I do own the DVD. The streaming version isn't noticeably better, but I don't think it's worse. Both have an advantage over the Blu-Ray and streaming version of the theatrical cut in that they don't have the inaccurate color processing applied. The director's cut DVD has the added benefit of bonus features, including commentary. As far as Amazon vs iTunes, I pretty much just watch the iTunes version, as I am a frequent user of my Apple TV and I'm not that fond of the Amazon app built into my tv. I also get a more consistently high bitrate from my Apple TV, but maybe if you had a Roku with an Amazon app, they could go head-to-head.
As mentioned above, I own the director’s edition in HD on both iTunes and Amazon. When purchased, both were the version as originally released on DVD in 2002. I went into iTunes yesterday and discovered that they have “upgraded” me to the recent blu-ray version. Amazon still has the older version.
So they have. I have the older version downloaded so I still have this in HD with the dialogue about David being Kirk's son. But when I stream it from iTunes it's the new transfer. Neil
Was it mastered in hi-def, or was it an upscale job? I hate it when something is released in HD for streaming or download, but on physical media it only gets DVD but not blu-ray. Kor
Yes, it was the HD transfer from 2000/2002 that was on the original DVDs. The new stream is the 4k transfer used for the Blu-ray. The tendency is to master in a higher res format than your release format. We do that for many of our CD releases, too. Neil
So I've learned now that while the standalone version of the Star Trek II director's cut on itunes was upgraded to the new 4k version, the original director's cut is still available as an itunes extra attached to the theatrical version in itunes. (I certainly appreciate the bargain in being able to get two cuts for the same price, but I don't like how these versions are hidden and don't show up in searches.) The Star Trek VI director's cut is also available in this way, too. However, it seems that director's cut is no longer available as a standalone product. Edit: It looks like the director's cut of The Motion Picture is available as an iTunes extra as well.