Search - Grand Canyon - The Hidden Secrets (Large Format) on DVD

Grand Tour Of The History Of A Canyon

Robert Morris | Sydney, Australia | 01/31/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have the Slingshot edition (DVD9804) of this IMAX video. The print quality is pretty good but as a few others have mentioned there are one or two scratches and marks on the print used to make this DVD which is a bit disappointing considering on the back of the case it says the title was digitally remastered. I thought that would have been the time to fix such problems. When I saw this film at my local Imax I thought it looked a bit dark. I was told by the manager that early Imax cinemas used silver instead of white screens. (Anyone know if this is correct). Early Imax films also used a different film stock (?) which resulted in the dark look on the white screen. I don't know if this effects the look of this DVD or not. Apart from the one or two little scrathes it looks rather good throughout. A 4,000 year History of the Canyon, most it European history of the last 500 years, is used to link endlessly beatuiful shots of the Canyon together. Much of the middle section of the film is a ride sequence down rapids. Its spectacular and I assume would have been extremely dangerous to film. It certainly looks dangerous. Lots of helicopter shots, some nicely executed re-enactments and thats about it. There is however a nice link between an early sequence and the end of the film which ties up the narrative nicely. Worth getting if your never likely to get to the Grand Canyon yourself. I would have liked an ambience and music option on this DVD, but sadly its not there. There is an additional 9 minute making of featurette on this edition which shows how difficult films like this are to make. Keith Merrill also made Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Magic, which is done in exactly the same style as GC."

Disappointing for DVD

Kevin E. Severson | 07/16/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD was disappointing for two reasons. One, the color, no matter what the scene is brown. Yes, I realize the Grand Canyon is brown, but its comprised of so many beautiful shades that change with the light throughout the day. None of this is captured in the film. Second, the narration is a mumble at best. It's difficult to hear & after a while, you don't even care. Overall, not a good example of IMAX technology."

Slingshot has re-done this dvd and reissued it

Kevin E. Severson | Sioux Falls, SD United States | 06/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After arguing with Slingshot Entertainments customer service person, I emailed her boss.He advised me that they were re-mastering this dvd, and reissuing a new version. He then sent me the new version, and it is a 100 percent improvement. The dark and grainy version that showed the segments of the imax screen has been replaced by a first class digitally remastered version. The cover looks different than the original. If you have problems, contact Slingshot Entertainment and request they replace your old version with the new.Thanks to Slingshot for doing the right thing."

A LOW TECH RIP OFF

Kevin E. Severson | Sioux Falls, SD United States | 06/07/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD is so dark and grainy...but then it dawns on you...you can sit and see the actual joints of the imax screen from which this was RE-filmed! This was no DIGITAL transfer, but actually FILMED INSIDE AN IMAX SCREENING! The graphic quality is horrible! The content would be fine otherwise. Thank God I got this dvd at Target for 9.99. I feel like I was robbed by the dvd manufacturer, Slingshot entertainment. Ouch!"