Screen shots for Tabaahi The Destroyer and Sazaaye Kalapani DVDs by Captain DVD, show good PQs. Mamta too, by Captain DVD is listed at 150 min, much longer than other versions. Mamta too might have good PQ.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13179
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4117

I hope other Captain DVDs are equally good or better.

Similarly, some screen shots for PEN DVDs too are excellent.

Let's name, good or potentially good, Captain DVDs and PEN DVDs in this thread.

(Many PEN DVDs are mentioned in another thread under one film DVD, let's compile them here)

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Also see:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12691&p=104087&hilit=mere+sanam#p104087

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3663&p=103183&hilit=seeta#p103183

The PEN Divyashakti DVD is decent as well, screenshots here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13181

I picked up some PEN DVDs.

So far, checked a few DVDs for PQ. All DVDs that I checked, have a similar video pattern, 3 combing, 3 no combing, frames. (What video sequencing gives this pattern, I haven't figured it out yet, nor am I sure if it represents 4% speed up or not).

Sure PQ on these PEN DVDs is better than run of the mill other Indian brands, but these PEN DVDs are no match to DEI/ BEI Progressive, Super Digital Progressive DVDs. (Picked up PEN Aatish for comparing with DEI Aatish and hence the conclusion that PEN no match to DEI/ BEI/ SD).

Most of the titles that I wanted, initially I couldn't find them in the store. Found only a few new movie DVDs and a couple of old films. And then, I noticed PEN logo on a couple of Moserbaer DVDs and searching thru Morerbaer DVDs, found most of the PEN DVDs, that I couldn't find under PEN, as MB-PEN. Looks like, PEN passed rights for non-performing titles to Moserbaer, for cheaper/ wholesale DVDs. I haven't checked any of these MB-PEN DVDs yet but will check later-on if MB retained PEN encoding or is it a new encoding Moserbaer standard as opposed to superior (marginally) PEN encodings.

When i think of comparing dvds I would like to compare those that are watchable like Sazaa starring Dev Anand, Unfortunately I had to end up with MB Bees Saal Baad as the DEi one freezes and company has disappeared or maybe set up shop in India under another name

I remember you telling us that the TIME version of Sazaa had excellent PQ. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12280&hilit=sazaa+dvd#p102782
Do you still have it? How does it compare to the PEN version?

I had found one title under PEN and also under Morerbaer-PEN logo. I bought both to check if MB retained PEN encoding. Here is my finding:

PEN original had 3-3 pattern (Pseudo-Progressive).

MB-PEN version is fully field blended.

Both versions are exact same length and both have the same PEN logo throughout in the picture.
Not much is different in PQ, but comparing carefully, PEN version is a tad better (obviously, due to Pseudo-Progressive encoding versus the field blended).

I expect the same result from other MB-PEN DVDs as compared to solo PEN DVDs.

(Reminds me of a familiar old saying: Nakal Ke Liye Bhi Akal Chahiye. Why couldn't MB keep the same encoding ?? )

How has your experience been with Audio on PEN DVDs? I've personally only seen Sholay by PEN, and it's totally lacks in the audio department. Wondering how other titles sound.

Sorry it was a Pen dvd of Sazaa
I watched an old movie on a DEI/Eros dvd and they had the trailer of Sholay; Wonder if it is available on a DEI/EROS dvd and if anyone has a copy

Checked other "PEN" and "MB-PEN" DVDs and confirm my suspicion that MB-PEN DVDs are not as good as PEN DVDs.

BTW, at PEN India website, looks like, most of their titles/ videos are available for free ??
Due to my Web Browser issues, I could not watch any of the videos except the their perhaps the best content, RANG RASIYA full movie.
https://www.youtube.com/user/PenIndiaPvtLimited
Don't know how long it will be avail for free ??
I pressed D-Load button and auto D-Load was for 250 GB content (all of their titles ??) I selected a few and it did D-Load and all are playable.
I'm not sure if I still got the same quality as the orig PEN DVDs ?? D-Load dialog Box mostly stated 4.3 GB for each movie but the D-Loaded version was mostly less than 2.5 GB ?? Orig PEN DVDs, I think all are aprox 6 GB.

sasural
I have the DEI version of Sholay.
Hi Rana,
This is Anil. Remember me. I made a list of DEI titles in 2002. We used to discuss those. I’m into Blu-rays now. A few days ago, I started a topic on DEI DVDs on Indian section of Bluray.com forum.
I retired recently. I have started ripping my old DVDs to hard drives now. I’m so glad that I have most of DEI and Yash Raj titles. I don’t think we are going to get their HD versions.

Welcome back Anil.
Your DEI list has been very helpful. I, with the help of other zulm friends and starting from your list, was able to acquire and back up all (except one or two) known DEI DVDs.

I'm not too impressed with many Bollywood Blu Rays (still got most of them). I rather prefer DEI Progressive 480P encodings to Field Averaged 1080P (Progressive garbage). Some Blu Rays are excellent but many are field averaged.
Some are even up-scaled from field averaged 480i source. Have you seen Hollywood version (is it Columbia Tristar or fox ??) Three Idiots DVD, compared with Bollywood Blu Ray release ??

Thanks! You are right that Bollywood BRs are not that great. But for the new movies they are not bad. After Sholay’s failure at the box office and then not getting any BR release, I’m not very hopeful for old movies future on BRs. Today’s generation has no interest in old movies anyway.
As I am free now, I watch most of the movies at the theaters. I don’t worry that much about the quality of BRs either. We Indians have no concept of quality and so I have to live with it. Hopefully one day it will change. With Netflix, ErosNow, Amazon Video, Scores of Indian channels on Dish, Internet videos, cricket going on all the time, there is so much to watch. I just try to enjoy as much as I can.
Thanks for reminding me about 3 Idiots DVD. I have it but never compared it with the Blu ray. What DEI DVDs are you missing in your collection?

Hi Anil,

DEI DVDs that I would like to have working orig code copies are:

1) ABHAY (version that I/ we have, does not play properly in the last 60-70 min. Does your copy still work in the 2nd layer ??)

2) Tumko Na Bhool Paayengay (I/ we have a repaired version that originated from stretched picture and converted to anamorphic. Not sure if it came back to orig DEI encoding/ PQ. The stretched picture DVD was still Progressive, though)

Rana,
Wow! You got all of them except just two. Abhay never worked for me. I actually got its Tamil version. The other one is no good either. I spoke to the owner of the store from where I buy my movies, he says that his Abhay disk is fine. I’m going to check it out. I’ll try other stores too for these disks.
I have problem with a lot of my disks. I just started ripping them while you probably did it years ago. I started my ripping process from my oldest movie. I have done about 150 so far. I tried a few of them on my system, and they didn’t look too good including some of the BEI ones. Only very recently, when I compared DEI DVDs to Eagle’s BRs I realized that I can use them in my system .
I also noted that Lagaan and Mission Kashmir and a few others are made by US companies. Both of these are good. Do we have any list of DVDs made by US and other foreign companies? There is such a list for BRs. If there is none, we should try to make one. Thanks!

I am going to start ripping my DVDs. Now everything is moving slowly from physical disc to streaming I am hoping that I can setup a server at home so I can stream movies to my TVs rather than relying on a DVD player and disc. Also means I don't have to sit through the adverts and can dip in movies and play songs when I want to. Not sure if that was your intent also?

I am thinking of how to fix some of the issues that Indian DVDs have. Pal speed up and the DEI squashed picture for anamorphic movies. Any hints and tips would be welcome.