Family Viewing Blu-ray - David Hemblen

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by Atom Egoyan
Canada 1988

Ignore the title: Family Viewing makes for fascinating viewing, though it is not designed as entertainment for the whole... family. This Canadian film stars David Hemblen as Stan, a profoundly disturbed young man. Upon the disappearance of his mother, Stan feverishly tries to piece together existing clues. He's not sure he likes the outcome, but given the extent to which his family has disintegrated, he's not surprised, either. Family Viewing was expertly filmed on a wafer-thin budget by independent Canadian director Atom Egoyan.

Posters

Theatrical Release: 1 September 1988 (Australia)

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Comparison:

Zeitgeist Films - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas and Gary Tooze for the Screen Caps!

(Zeitgeist Films - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - RIGHT)

Box Covers
Distribution	Zeitgeist Films Region 0 - NTSC	Artificial Eye Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:26:18	1:26:24.929
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.72 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 15,530,676,216 bytes Feature: 15,081,019,392 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Average Bitrate: 21.99 Mbps
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Zeitgeist Films
Bitrate: Artificial Eye Blu-ray
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono	Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles	English, French, none	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Zeitgeist Films Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by director Atom Egoyan • Behind the Scenes (4:3; 12:38) • Atom Egoyan's Early Short Films: • - 'Open House' (4:3; 25:47) • - 'Howard in Particular' (4:3; 12:36) • - 'Peep Show' (4:3; 7:12) • Director Biography/Filmography • Photo Gallery DVD Release Date: 26 June 2001 Amaray Chapters 24	Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 15,530,676,216 bytes Feature: 15,081,019,392 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Average Bitrate: 21.99 Mbps Edition Details: • None Blu-ray Release Date: June 24th 2013 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 12

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Artificial Eye - Region 'B' Blu-ray - July 2013': The Zeitgeist DVD always looked a little vertically stretched to me. The image quality of the film is at the mercy of the limited budget resources and hence - even in 1080P the original 16mm can look video-ish. Still the Blu-ray improvements are evident in texture, color, detail - the HD visuals are rich and thick. This is only single-layered with a modest bitrate but I don't know that dual-layering would do much more for the video presentation. It is consistent and seems a strong replication of the original appearance. Like The Adjuster and Speaking Parts, Artificial Eye's audio has not taken advantage and exported a lossless sound and there are still no extras nor subtitles. So Zeitgeist with the Egoyan commentary etc. wins hands-down for the supplements but the superior image is on the region 'B' Blu-ray disc.