Image Ent.

Region 0 - NTSC

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 8.65 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.70 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.67 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

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Starmax - Korean

Region 0 - NTSC

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 7.23 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: N.A. mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.71 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes

Image Ent. (DTS - 2 Disc Ed.)

.

Image Ent. (THX - 1 Disc Ed.)

MGM (Special Ed.)

Starmax - Korean (Director's Cut Disc 1 & 2)

Image Ent. (Laserdisc Director's Cut)

Unavailable

Starmax - Korean (Theatrical Cut Disc 3)

English DD 5.1

English DD 5.1

English 5.0

English DD 5.1, DD 2.0

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Movie issued in 2 parts;
• Disc 1 - 2:01:48 8.59 mb/s
• Disc 2 - 0:58:50 8.78 mb/s
• comm. by Dir. Kevin Costner and Prod. Jim Wilson
• Text Filmographies

DVD Release Date: 01/26/99
Cardboard case holding 2 Snappers

Chapters 25
 

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Movie issued on 1 disc;
• Disc 1 - 3:00:42 5.70 mb/s
• comm. by Dir. Kevin Costner and Prod. Jim Wilson
• Text Filmographies

 

Chapters 25

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Movie issued in 2 parts, Extras on Side 2 & Disc 2;
• Side 1 - 2:15:36 6.44 mb/s - Director's Cut
• Side 2 - 1:40:36 6.96 mb/s - Director's Cut
• comm. by Dir. Kevin Costner and Prod. Jim Wilson
• comm. by DP Dean Semler and Ed. Neil Travis
• Original Making of doc. 20:55 min.
• John Barry Music Video 3:50 min.
• The Creation of an Epic doc. 81 min.
• Photo Montage with Ben Glass 9:19 min.
• TV Spot Courage & Passion 0:30 sec.
• TV Spot Academy Campaign 0:30 sec.
• Threatrical Trailer 2:35 min.
• Platoon Trailer 1:19 min. & Windtalker Trailer 1:09 min.
• Poster Gallery - 4 stills
• 4 page insert
 

Chapters 32

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Movie issued in 2 parts;
• Disc 1 - 2:15:28 6.98 mb/s
• Disc 2 - 1:40:30 7.49 mb/s
• comm. by Dir. Kevin Costner and Prod. Jim Wilson
• comm. by DP Dean Semler and Ed. Neil Travis
• Limited Special Edition issued in 4 discs
• Contains both Dir. & Theatrical Cut with Extras
• Issued in a Special Leather Pouch that holds
• 2 Clear Slim Plastic Cases that hold 2 disc each
• 10 small Postcards and a 6 page booklet in Korean

DVD Release Date: 10/02/03
Leather Pouch - Clear Plastic Cases

Chapters 32
 

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Movie issued on 3 laser discs, 5 sides;
• The Making of Dances with Wolves 20 min.
• The Illustrated Story of the Epic Film - 144 page book
• Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD - 53 min.
• 6 movie still posters - 11

 

Chapters 43

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Movie issued on disc 3, Extras on Disc 4;
• comm. by Dir. Kevin Costner and Prod. Jim Wilson
• Original Making of doc. 20:54 min.
• John Barry Music Video 3:50 min.
• The Creation of an Epic doc. 81 min.
• Photo Montage with Ben Glass 9:18 min.
• TV Spot Courage & Passion 0:29 sec.
• TV Spot Academy Campaign 0:29 sec.
• Threatrical Trailer 2:34 min.
• Following 4 items are not on the US MGM Edition;
• TV Spot 1 Style 1:30 min.
• TV Spots 13 Styles of 30 sec.ea. - 6:42 min.
• Neil Travis edited film rush 5:10 min.
• 4 location filmings 9:41 min. total - Forced Korean Subtitles
 

Chapters 25

There is a lot of color disparity here and it is impossible to know which is absolutely correct, but we can say a few things. Old "warm" style vs. the new "cool" colors. To me the Starmax Directors Cut is sharpest but the Starmax Theatrical cut, which is also the darkest, looks the best (contrast wise). The Image Entertainment versions looks slightly saturated. Overall this is a very hard decision and I'll leave it to you to choose what is best for you individually. The MGM also looks quite good, but I don't trust the colors... they look manipulated. I could be wrong, but have some experience with MGM (other comparisons) in this department.

Gary W. Tooze

Cropping ? Little more image on the right with DTS, little more image on the left with MGM, a little more on top with the MGM.

Old reviews of DTS note that Image had 2 version, DD 5.1 that was THX certified and DTS that was not. Some moments looked better on THX, other moments looked better on DTS.

A problem is that the English translation of Sioux dialog is not defaulted in the Korean versions... you must turn on English subtitles for the duration of the movie to see them. The MGM and Image Entertainment DVD's will automatically show the subtitled Sioux dialog.

Enrique B Chamorro

DANCES WITH WOLVES – Originally dubbed “Kevin’s gate” under the assumption it would be another Western that would bomb big like Michael Cimino’s incredibly maligned and underrated Heaven’s Gate (1980), Costner’s film went on to be a mega-hit and mega-award winner.  Along with The Silence Of The Lambs, those blockbusters still did not stop the great Orion Pictures from going out of business, but both are living testament that they were the best studio in Hollywood to the very end.  Dances was shot by Dean Semler, A.S.C., in real anamorphic Panavision for 70mm blow-up and is one of the too-rare no-holds-barred uses of the scope frame in recent years.  In all honesty, none of the DVDs really cut it for picture, though the warmer colors on Image/Orion versions are more accurate, while the MGM/Starmax versions (and that LaserDisc version for that matter) are too flat, like the badly telecine-miscolored HD-derived Divimax Halloween DVD set Anchor Bay just issued.  It is going to take a High Definition presentation to really do justice to this film, so it will be a matter of personal preference for the picture, but without a doubt, the extended DTS on the Image/Orion set (and Starmax set) is the only way to go for sound.  Like Heaven’s Gate, Dances had its best sound designed for 70mm Dolby magnetic stereo blow-up and it took advantage of Dolby’s SR technology and other upgrades since 1980.  Both were also 4.1 sound releases in those blow-ups, but an incredible 5.1 remix was done that captured the power and excitement of those mag stereo prints and then some.  Besides the clever sound design, the score by John Barry is outstanding and any Dolby playback to date cannot cut it for what Barry achieved.  Barry’s score has also been issued in the Super Audio CD format by Columbia Records and is the only way to hear the music better than on that DTS DVD set.  A DTS clip of the film was also featured on the promotional DVD from DTS Entertainment’s 5.1 Channel Demonstration DVD #4 if you are curious for an example, though the picture is not too good.  Too bad MGM could not have had the extended version in DTS for the first time, but the three commentaries and their aversion to the format prevented this.  Like the Korean Region 1, 3, 4 Superbit Deluxe Edition set of Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down (2001), which dumped the three commentaries from the U.S. 3-DVD set for an incredible DTS soundtrack and also had far better picture than any other version, MGM ought to offer a limited extended edition down the line with DTS when the extended version goes out of print, if not sooner.  The current MGM edition is obviously the one for extras, if missing the nice case that old LaserDisc set came in.

Nicholas Sheffo from FulvueDrive-In.com