The price is very reasonable at the moment, considering it's the Red Edition DVD in a different package. Hell, I nearly bought a Finnish VHS of Hardware couple of weeks ago, but backed off since it was more expensive than this!

Hmmm, anyone else notice that the 666 edition has the new laser paradise logo on the back? I thought this was being released by a totally different company?

Compare the specs / extras:

Hartbox at DTM

MARK 13 at DTM

Doesn't really matter whether it's dressed up to the nines.

Well, I hope they DO get around to it. I also hope that they use good quality elements for the transfer, and any extras are not just lifted from the Red Edition DVD...

I don't know if any of you know this but you can find a pretty good widescreen edition of Hardware on some of the torrent sites. That's where I got mine, which will hold me up quite nicely untill an official version is released.
It is being shown in Germany on TV in widescreen so this is most likely a TVrip from there, but the film is undubbed.

Is the picture quality better than the RED EDITION if you count out that this one is fullscreen? And is the widescreen version not cropped / matted?
Can you get more info on that torrent?

Are you able to post screenshots??

Could be sourced from the UK VHS / Japanese Laserdisc.

I believe the Japanese Laserdisc is fullscreen.
And if it is sourced from the UK VHS, you are better off with the Red Edition DVD!
http://www.scatsite.de/compare/m13.htm

Here are some screen caps.








This is not a VHSrip but most certainly a digital cable recording. I think the film was released open matted on home video and this is the correct ratio that it was supposed to be shown in. But I guess we know the right answer if anyone releases a proper disc.

I think the original aspect ratio is 1.85:1 and your screencaps look like 2.35:1 almost Strange!
But I believe there's a lot missing in the top and bottom if I'm correct?
Quality looks decent, but the framing is a little strange. Do you have it anamorphic?

I have compared it to the RED EDITION and it is indeed missing a lot in top and bottom. And left and right there nothing more to see in the widescreen version. So the Red Edition is still the better version even though it is fullscreen, there is more in frame!

All films crop from the top and bottom, just depends on how much. They aren't filmed widescreen. Like I said, the film was most likely released open matte, which means that it's un-cropped. A few films that are released fullscreen are open matte rather than PAN and SCAN which is much worse. But I don't know what Richard's intended ratio was. Remember, it was released at a time when very few films were released in widescreen on home video.

What do you mean, all films are cropped?? Take for example the first screenshot. You can't see what he's doing. In the fullscreen version you can see it clearly. I don't think this is the ratio it is supposed to be.

That doesn't mean it's not filmed in widescreen, they're just missing footage left and right of the frame. Maybe i'm not getting your point, I don't know?

All films are filmed in "fullscreen", with everything visible top and bottom, that's just how the film frame is. In post the film is framed according to the director's wish and the black bars are put in.
You know when you sometimes see the boom mic in the frame or something that's obviously not supposed to be there? That's when you know the film is open matted and not framed properly. But sadly most of the times fullscreen (or foolscreen as I like to call it) meant that they zoomed in on the frame, eliminating everything to the left and right. This was obviously not the case with Hardware and a few others.
Maybe Richard shot it in a way that it could both work as fullframe and as widescreen.



If the scene was just like that then it wouldn't make any sense, but you can clearly see him digging for the hand before and after that particular shot. You don't need to see everything in every single shot.