Region 4 Winners and Losers

     A Room with a View has been released previously in Region 4 by Roadshow in 2005. The average bitrate for the video transfer is 6.73 m/b per sec. Despite a lower bitrate than the 2010 Umbrella release, the transfer is identical with the same flaws. A Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track and an audio commentary featuring Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, Tony Pierce-Roberts (cinematographer) and actor Simon Callow was also included. Although this commentary is rather lacklustre, it's hard to understand why it was dropped from the 2010 Umbrella release.

     The Region 1 United States 2-disc Special Edition includes the audio commentary, Spanish and French Dolby 2.0 tracks, three short interviews - two with Simon Callow, one with Daniel Day-Lewis, a short news report on popularity of the film in the US, a profile of the Merchant/Ivory team and a BBC produced tribute to E.M. Forster.

     The Region 2 United Kingdom release has limited extras; a photo gallery, cast and crew filmographies and the original theatrical trailer. The video transfer for this release is not 16x9 enhanced.

     The Region 1 US Special Edition therefore remains the best available release on DVD.