The Ultimate 3-D Experience (Razor Digital)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Films: C+

 

 

Several companies have issued 3-D DVDs and even equipment to enjoy them with.  In the case of Razor Digital, they have issued a 14-DVD set called The Ultimate 3-D Experience, which comes with some familiar and very unfamiliar titles.  The hardware included in its own box offers an AC converter, two battery-powered 3-D glasses with flicker capacity that is activated by an infrared signal from the 3-D box you have to plug in.  This includes RCA plugs to go from the DVD player, to the box, then to the TV.  There is even a remote control and an S-Video option, though S-video cords are not included.  The catch is that this is a system only good for analog CRT picture tube TVs.

 

With that said, the 3-D only works so well, creating some depth in the image, but not the kind of total anaglyphic effect where images are really popping off the screen.  We even tried out the system on a digital HDTV with a CRT picture tube, thinking this might improve the effect, but there was no change.  However, it is a set up that is amusing to experiment with, including all kinds of adjustments you can make to the image when you try to maximize the effect.

 

Our set came with two Apt 1.5 titles that feature two puppets doing a very poor man’s version of Mystery Science Theater, who never let the film just play through.  Devil Bat and Robot Monster get butchered when they should have just been left alone.  The first four chapters of Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (the full version reviewed elsewhere on this site) fare a bit better, while a few IMAX programs are also included from the Slingshot catalog.  George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead gets its own 3-D treatment, but it is too bad the print is so dull, though even Elite’s Millennium THX disc would not have fared much better.

 

As for sound, much of it is Dolby Digital 2.0, but where there is Dolby 5.1 on the IMAX features, there is also DTS 5.1, though nothing too sonically impressive, unfortunately in either format.  The discs are all pretty basic, 3-D versions notwithstanding, and there are even some new productions.  Unfortunately, the whole affair is gimmicky overall, but you might have some fun with it if you still have an analog TV.  If you get it, at least you can experiment with it while supplies and analog sets last.

 

As for the newer titles, critic David Milchick gives his opinions on several of them in a set razor issued dubbed Blood, Guts & Vampires.  You can read that review at:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2552/Blood,+Guts+&+Vampires+3-D

 

 

We fared better with the Amityville 3-D import set he also reviewed on the site, which used simpler but more effective blue/red cardboard glasses!  You can read that review at the following link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1899/Amityville+3-D+(Region+Zero/PAL)

 

 

Be sure to check back at the site for more reviews of 3-D product wherever we can get it.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo