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Author Topic: GODFATHER and a few other BDs are wonderful! Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 06-03-2009 09:45 PM                        I bought the DVD version of the restotred GODFATHER as soon as it was released because I had no intention of investing in Blu Ray at the time. Now that I have, I took the plunge and bought the high definition version too. The difference between the two is like night and day. I have seen the trilogy many times on home video on VHS, laserdiscs, DVD as well as over the air telecasts and everytime I saw it that way, I knew I was watching the films on home video but blu ray has changed all of that. For the first time, watching the movies in the HD video disc format was like watching the movies in it's original film format and I loved it. I also picked up GLORY and AIR FORCE ONE yesterday and they too were marvelous and like the GODFATHER movies, it was also like watching a film presentation. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Joe Tommassello Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 547 From: Coatesville, PA, USA Registered: Jan 2008 posted 06-05-2009 03:19 PM                  Claude - One that knocked my socks off was the HD-DVD of "The Sting". I highly recommend it when UNI gets around to releasing the BR version.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 06-05-2009 09:22 PM                        Joe, For some reason, I was never crazy about THE STING when it first came out. It was ok and I did purchase the special edition DVD when it was released several years ago but doubt I will get a HD version. I just watched both GLORY and AIR FORCE ONE during the past two evenings and I enjoyed them very much. GLORY was just absolutely AWESOME in Blu Ray! Before watching GLORY in HD, I put on the special edition DVD I bought not too long ago and the difference between it and BD is startling. AIR FORCE ONE was also great both in picture and sound. Some people are complaining about the Russian subtitles at one of the DVD/BD forums They seem to be upset about the subtitles appearing below the picture instead of within the image as the theatrical version. I had no problem with the subtitles below the picture and actually prefer it because it was easier to read. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-05-2009 10:08 PM                     Regarding subtitles, I find it pretty strange certain options on how subtitles are displayed weren't incorporated into Blu-ray (and HD-DVD) from the start. Particularly with Java technology, it shouldn't be too difficult for the movie to use scalable vector-based fonts so the user can both vary the placement of the subtitles and the size of the subtitles. I very much prefer subtitles to be displayed in the black bar area of any super-wide format movie, but I don't watch my movies via a video projector either. At any rate the issue with subtitles should NOT be handled only in a one way or the other way manner. CHOICE should be provided. Blu-ray can do that if the people developing the technology bother to do it. Back to the original topic, I agree there is a growing number of "catalog" titles (older movies) on Blu-ray that do look great. When movie studios bother to spend the extra money it takes to use the most modern film scanning and digital intermediate methods it is possible for a movie half a century old to look almost like it was produced in recent years. The Searchers and South Pacific are two good examples of that. On the other hand, there is no shortage of BD titles that have disappointing video quality. Simply put, too often old HD masters are being used as source material for new Blu-ray releases. It costs more money to mint a new master using the most modern film image acquisition equipment. This situation is very similar to the early days of DVD. For that format's first couple of years movie studios often used old Laserdisc masters and cranked out not so hot looking non-anamorphic DVDs. Eventually the movie industry unanimously embraced the approach of using HD-quality masters and authoring anamorphic DVDs. Some of those masters come from old style telecine systems where you just have what amounts to a film projector playing the movie in real time and projecting it into a HD video recording system. You're more likely to see dirt and debris with this approach. Sideweave and other image movement is common, especially in the opening and closing minutes (I don't know why this happens, but I've noticed it seems to occur more often at those points). Overall image focus is not quite 100% and can "breathe" further away from focus unless the projection system is in tip top shape and very well adjusted. With the flaws of old telecine systems, they still produced great source material for anamorphic DVDs and highly compressed HD broadcast delivery. And that's because it's a lot more difficult to see the flaws when watching the movie on DVD or HD cable. But the flaws show up very well on Blu-ray. Even with early "datacine" systems (film scanning methods), there was still room for the technology to mature toward improved quality. Quite a few people are disappointed with the image quality of the new Terminator 2 "skynet edition" Blu-ray. I suspected the "director's approved" HD master had come from a telecine source, but an video industry fellow at Blu-ray.com told me a Spirit datacine system scanned the film. The HD master was produced over 6 years ago originally for the "Extreme Edition" DVD release in 2003. There's a pretty strong possibility the original source material is just kind of soft looking. Super35 can have that problem, especially Super35 material produced nearly 20 or more years ago. Still, I have to wonder. How much better will Terminator 2 have looked if a brand new HD master was made? The newest datacine scanners certainly have to be a lot better than the ones introduced 6 or 7 years ago. Anyone want to buy a 6 year old computer or 6 year old D-SLR camera? Probably not since 6 year old computers and digital cameras totally suck compared to the new ones available now. The positive side to all this is most Hollywood studios (with possibly the exception of Warner Bros. from time to time) understand the demands Blu-ray makes on the original source material. A lot of old movies are getting entirely new film scans and masters created. Lawrence of Arabia is one of those titles and may be available on Blu-ray within the next several months.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 06-06-2009 02:01 PM                        Bobby, Your post was a very interesting and I agree with everything you had said. Beside many new stuff like DOUBT, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON and a few others, I have been replacing a few of my favorite movies I have on DVD with Blu Ray. In many cases, these catalog titles like the recent GREASE, ROXANNE,MRS DOUBTFIRE and many others could have been better but I have been more than pleased with them because the are so much better than the DVD.s Among these is the recent release of the first six STAR TRECK films in a box set. Only THE WRATH OF KHAN has been fully restored but the others were not but they still look great in my opinion. Another nice thing about many of these BD catalog titles is the improved sound especially when they feature full DTS bit rate sound. Yes, Warner Brothers does a nice job with their catalog titles such as the Stanley Kubrick films. I have THE SHINNING and CLOCKWORK ORANGE in Blu Ray and both are superb! I do not ever recall these films looking so wonderful even in the theatres when I saw them both at the Waikiki theatres. Other gorgeous WB release is the directors cut of TROY as well as HOW THE WEST WAS WON, and CASABLANCA. Fox's THE ROBE and SOUTH PACIFIC are also great and was wondering how the picture quality is with THE SAND PEBBLES. I have the two disc special edition of the movie on DVD and the picture quality of the 70mm road show version is very badly faded but the 35mm version is gorgeous.! Do you know if the BD features a newly scanned transfer or if the material from the DVD was ported over to BLu Ray? -Claude  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-06-2009 05:06 PM                     I don't know if 20th Century Fox created a new HD master for The Sand Pebbles. The disc has received generally good reviews for the video quality. In the case of South Pacific, that's another 65mm-originated title that received the Baraka style treatment: an 8K resolution scan and new digital intermediate.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 07-08-2009 10:45 PM                        I have been eyeballing the Star Trek trilogy but as my wife reminds me I have the directors versions of those and prefer them to the theatrical versions and in her words "You will just buy the directors versions on BluRay as soon as they come out so just wait." Not good at waiting! I try to be but it is difficult! I am trying to move her to not waiting and I think her resolve is beginning to wane! Oh on a not related problem has anyone had their PS3 just refuse to boot up? It has happened twice now and I had to shut it down turn off the power on the back, let it sit for a day and then plug back in. It has to then be updated but works fine. What gives with that? I think I saw that the Dirty Harry series was all on bluray in a single pack. I feel pretty luck on that way that I can go ahead and make my day because a man has got to know his limitations. Marvelous, swell and oh well you got the point.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-09-2009 09:18 AM                     quote: Ron Funderburg Oh on a not related problem has anyone had their PS3 just refuse to boot up? It has happened twice now and I had to shut it down turn off the power on the back, let it sit for a day and then plug back in. It has to then be updated but works fine. What gives with that? That sounds pretty strange, especially the part where the PS3 console has to be updated after refusing to start. Is the system reverting back to its original setup when shipped? I thought once a system software update was applied the change was permanent. Is the PS3 getting too hot or possibly being fed inconsistent power? I have my home theater gear hooked up to a power conditioner that automatically shuts off if the voltage levels dip to 117V or rise above 123V. It's possible the power supply in the PS3 could be going bad. Do you use the PS3 a lot? One of my coworker's PS3 went on the blink. The Blu-ray drive failed in that PS3, but that particular coworker uses his PS3 a LOT. He also chain smokes and cigarette smoke is just plain awful for all consumer electronics and computing gear. I don't know if his living room is air conditioned very well or not, but Oklahoma's heat could be another factor. Thankfully your PS3 isn't giving off the dreaded "YLoD" error. It's the equivalent of the XBox360 "Red Rings of Death" error. In both cases motherboard design flaws lead to the systems crapping out and needing to be sent off for repair or replacement.  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 07-09-2009 09:24 AM                     Couldn't get my copy of GHOSTBUSTERS fast enough. Its grainy as hell, but grain is reality!  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 07-09-2009 11:59 AM                        WE use it several nights a week to watch movies or TV on DVD. It could be my incoming power I have a surge protector on it. I have debated either a batter backup or power conditioner. It can't be heat my wife keeps the house way cold for me at 70 degrees all the time in the summer and about 65 in the winter. I have read about this on the net after the first time it did it. I don't know that it lost the original set up information I just checked for updates when I got it to boot. Seems to me all the things I personally set are still set the same so probable only did the update because there was new one out there. I don't do games just the use it for DVD's and bluray movies.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-09-2009 12:49 PM                     I'm kind of babying my 80GB PS3 since Sony doesn't make that model anymore (the one with the flash card slots, 4 USB ports and SACD compatibility).  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-09-2009 01:03 PM                     Damien, Even the original 70mm blowup prints of Ghostbusters have golfball sized grain. The movie was just poorly photographed. That's why I roll my eyes every time I see Ghostbusters included at various 70mm revivals. The average flat 35mm high speed release print today looks WORLDS BETTER than Ghostbusters does in 70mm. Imagine a shot on video Screenvision ad blown up to 70mm. Just because it is in 70mm doesn't mean it won't look like shit. Bobby, Terminator 2 did not have soft focus.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-09-2009 01:13 PM                     I didn't think it did, but I'm trying to understand why all these excuses are being thrown out to defend the new T2 Blu-ray's use of what appears to be a shitty HD master, even if it is "director approved." I haven't seen a film print of T2 in a long time, but don't remember it looking soft at all. If a brand new HD master was created using an entirely new film scan we might see a pretty significant improvement. I wouldn't put it past Lions Gate to pony up the bucks for a new 4K scan and DI for the movie's 20th anniversary (2 years from now). T2 is one of home video's champions of double dipping anyway. A 3rd version on Blu-ray would fit right into that.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 07-09-2009 01:40 PM                        Bobby, They stopped making the bigger harddrive PS3? What the heck are they thinking? I didn't get that one but if you were a gamer that would be the one to have.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 07-09-2009 02:39 PM                        A added a lot more Blu-Ray title to my collection since I started this thread and I am sill very amazed how wonderful high definition television is. Although movies on laserdiscs and DVDs looked very good on my excellent standard definition television set, the picture quality was never like watching it in a motion picture theatre. I hope I do not offend many of you in the motion picture exhibition business when I say the Blu-Ray picture quality I am now enjoying is just as good or even better than some recent movies I have seen in theatres. Part of the problem are the projection lenses used by many theatres that does not do what they are suppose to do by projecting and image that is vibrant with excellent contrast. On the other hand, I have become addicted to Blu-Ray because of the very fantastic picture and sound quality. One good example is Peter Yates 1977 Movie THE DEEP that just came out this week on BD starring Jacqueline Bisset and Nick Nolte. I thought the picture quality was going to look like "shit" despite the fact it was on Blu-Ray but I was wrong! I was just amazed when I saw the movie last night after I had rented it from Blockbuster. The picture quality looked like it was a brand new movie that made Ms. Bisset more enticing in her wet T shirt. Another BD movie I enjoyed was AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. I grew up watching movies shot in inhibition three strip Technicolor and still remember how striking the color was and no matter how hard they tried, IB Tech movies DVD and laserdiscs never looked as good as they did in theatres. With Blu-Ray, it comes very close. I am getting the 1938 ROBIN HOOD on Blu-Ray from AMazon today and I was told the color on that disc is superb! AMERICAN IN PARIS is a great movie and BD made watcing it a wonderful treat. So was GIGI, CASINO, THE DIARY OF ANN FRANK, THE MATRIX, THE SHINING, EYES WIDE SHUT, CLOCKWORK ORANGE, THE ROBE and so many others I had recently added to my collection. -Claude  |  IP: Logged

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