Search - Paramount Jack Ryan Collection: Clear And Present Danger, Patriot Games, The Hunt For Red October, The Sum OfAll Fears (HD-DVD), The (Special Collector + Chr(39) + s Edition) on HD DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 1/26/2022...

5/5 Rating - Clear and Present Danger - Excellent plotline with Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Joaquim de Almeida, Henry Czerny, James Earl Jones and others shining in this. A must see but watch Patriot Games first!

5/5 Rating - Patriot Games - Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Anne Archer, Patrick Bergin and others shine in this. You get to a see a very young Thora Birch if you like her films. A must for Ford, Action, Suspense and Spy movies!

High-Def Digest reports missing features

Solanio | Silicon Valley, California | 10/16/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Paramount/Technical_Glitches/Jack_Ryan_Special_Edition_HD_DVD_Not_So_Special_/1070

Just wanted to put out the word that High Definition Digest is reporting: "In what may end up being the biggest packaging blunder yet for a high-def title, Paramount's 'Jack Ryan Collection' HD DVD appears to have shipped to retail in a deluxe "Special Collectors Edition" box set that contains none of its advertised bonus features."

IF special features are important to your value of this product, you might want to wait a bit until there's some clarification or resolution about purported missing content."

The item is great. Paramount SUCKS!!!!!!!!

NT | 03/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is ridiculous, Paramount cancelling this HD DVD version of the Jack Ryan Collection even though they have 100,000's of thousands that want this on HD DVD.

Pathetic for Paramount to just flat out screw around with consumers. They've lost my business."

I Actually Have This Set on HD DVD

P. G. Keller | 03/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most people here are writing how they want this or can't wait for it, I actually have it. Someone at Wal-Mart accidentally put these on their shelves recently and I picked one up for myself. I say accidentally because they were recalled months ago because they don't include the extras they claim to have on the box and they've never been re-issued. I also know this because the sales guy had a hard time ringing it up and had to manually input it. He then told me that he wasn't supposed to sell this to me as the computer told him not to, so good for me.

I have no issues with the missing extras because I rarely watch them anyway. The discs don't have any menus either. They just boot right up without previews or a menu.

What's important is the fact that they are all 1080p and offer Dolby Digital Plus and even better Dolby TrueHD audio. So let's get to it.

These films really need no explanation. The first 3 are classic political thrillers and the 4th is a so-so attempt at continuing their success. Tom Clancy's vision is, for the most part executed well on these films.

I had the first 3 already on standard dvd so I had a nice comparison. Each transfer looks better than the one before it. That's typical as newer films upgrade easier to high def. But all of them look better than their standard counterparts. I noticed some specks on each of them but not for any reason other than I was looking for it. But these films are a difficult upgrade as most of the scenes take place inside a house, office, or outside on overcast days. So they don't give you the 3D pop your probably looking for. But they are pretty sharp and are the best transfers we'll see for a very long time. As a side note, in typical studio fashion, I'd completely expect Paramount to use these same transfers and port them over for the eventual Blu-Ray release. No studio has ever made a separate transfer for HD DVD and Blu-Ray yet, so I don't expect that to change.

The audio, well this is where these discs pop. And I mean POP!!! We're given some truly thunderous transfers here. Normally it would be fine to receive a Dolby Digital Plus track as an upgrade but I'm confused why Paramount bothered here because they also included the superior Dolby TrueHD tracks on each disc as well. These films sounded good to begin with on standard dvd (especially October) but these new transfers are just incredible. They easily trounce the old ones. The scores, sound effects, gun shots and explosions are absolutely thrilling. This is all moot if you don't have a proper surround system to decode and dish out the TrueHD tracks though. If thats the case, then you may want to consider keeping your standard discs if you have them because the audio is the clear selling strong point for the upgrade, whether it be HD DVD's or the eventual Blu-Rays.

I'm impressed and very satisfied with these discs. I'd recommend them for any HD enthusiast looking for a worthy upgrade for their favorite Tom Clancy films. Again, I stress you'll be much more impressed by the HD audio here rather than the passable but not demo worthy HD video. I give this set a 4 out of five because even though difficult, I believe if they really wanted to, Paramount could've and should've given these films a better makeover than they got. I've seen older films than these look better than these. There are also some occasional specks in the transfers and while I didn't find it in abundance or distracting, I do feel it's inexcusable at this point in the Hi Def's life cycle, especially for these movies. Overall though, I recommend them.
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