Best Blu-ray ever? [Archive]

Craig Ryan

12-16-2008, 08:17 PM

Check out these screen caps from the "How the West Was Won" release...quite amazing.

scroll down:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews40/how_the_west_was_won_blu-ray.htm

I've never seen a picture that clean and clear without too much DNR...this is incredible.

Tom Lowe

12-16-2008, 08:51 PM

This looks spectacular. The frame grabs are off the charts.

I bet Mullen will upgrade his TV to 1080p for this. :gun: :)

Christian Edwards

12-16-2008, 09:13 PM

Very Impressed !!!!! Thanks for the heads up

DRappazzo

12-17-2008, 07:14 AM

Thanks for the heads up, looks even better than I had hoped. I just might have to get Blu-Ray on of these days. Very Cool.

David Mullen ASC

12-17-2008, 08:40 AM

It looks great on my current 720P monitor!

The Cinerama Adventure documentary is well worth watching as well.

Two years ago, I saw "How the West Was Won" in brand-new 3-panel prints, projected in the original Cinerama format at the Cinerama Dome (the first time actually the Cinerama Dome had ever shown Cinerama - despite building the three projection rooms for the process, by the time it opened in 1963, Pacific Theaters had ditched the three-projector process for 70mm print projection.)

It was amazing, almost IMAX in quality, but very widescreen. The three projector system was ideal for a curved screen presentation since each projector only had to maintain sharpness on one-third of the very wide screen.

Tom, you should definitely take a look at this new Blu-Ray version.

You have to remember that three 6-perf 35mm Full Aperture frames is a total negative of around 72mm x 27mm. 5-perf 65mm, in comparison, is 52mm x 23mm.

Craig Ryan

12-17-2008, 06:28 PM

Thats awesome; I'd love to catch it in cinerama.

I wonder if there's ay home theater solution to make appropriate use of the curved version of the film; maybe a projector screen curved in a similar manner? In the future, we'd obviously just use a fold out OLED screen :).

Roberto Lequeux

12-17-2008, 08:03 PM

Wow... nice.. were the cameras S35 cameras?

David Mullen ASC

12-17-2008, 08:18 PM

It was a single camera with three 35mm movements, three gates, three magazines, and three lenses (each 27mm) -- each 35mm frame was a little bigger than S35 being 6-perfs tall instead of 4-perfs tall. A 27mm lens in S35 has a field of view of around 48 degrees, so three together provided a view of 146 degrees -- for a single lens to do that in S35, you'd need something like a 8mm lens.

See:
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingcr1.htm

Peter McCully

12-17-2008, 08:50 PM

Thanks for finding this Craig. This release is on my to-buy list. The film blew my socks off as a kid with the wrap-around screen and six channel sound. The Blu-ray is a reminder of how that felt. These days though who can take it seriously as history? Especially when Debbie Reynolds bursts into song.

Brandon Fraley

12-17-2008, 10:52 PM

I've never seen this film. Besides the photography, is the flick good?

...and three lenses (each 27mm)

3 lenses? so that means you couldn't focal lengths? every cinerama film was shot entirely with 27mm lenses?

Roberto Lequeux

12-17-2008, 10:59 PM

Lovely... totally awesome... Red should make the 3D plate able to take three cameras and do the 45 degrees inward with the two on the exterior... then shoot "How Hollywood was Won" using three 617's :)

Peter McCully

12-18-2008, 01:18 PM

I've never seen this film. Besides the photography, is the flick good?

3 lenses? so that means you couldn't focal lengths? every cinerama film was shot entirely with 27mm lenses?

If the film is supposed to be a fictionalised "history" of how the west was actually won then it's bunk. But as a fairy tale its ok if you accept Debbie Reynolds bursting into song is still a "western".

As I understand it the configuration of the lenses and the angles of the 3 cameras made it impossible to change lenses. Everything was blocked out to place the actors closer to the camera for a close-up. But if you were sitting in the right spot in the theatre it all looked totally natural to the viewpoint. If there was a "process" effects shot then 65mm cameras were used such as in the rapids scene which was back-projection I think. These scenes would be printed later to the 3-strip prints.

Sanjin Jukic

12-18-2008, 01:28 PM

Kubrick collection and Godfather Coppola Restoration is must have on Blu-ray for every serious RED user.

Brent J. Craig

12-18-2008, 02:45 PM

Looking forward to Santa bringing my Bluray player to complete the home theatre.

I have heard that Wall-E is a must-own, simply because the computer animated stuff looks so amazing on Bluray. No grain, no film artifacts, etc.

Does anyone have opinions on the Imax films that have been released on Bluray? I saw an HD broadcast of Hail Columbia last week and it was very disappointing. It was an out of registration telecine with only a stereo soundtrack. I know that for a long time Imax films were optically reduced to 35mm for video transfer because no one could scan 70mm. Are the more recent Imax films treated better?

Tom Lowe

12-18-2008, 07:22 PM

Here are the titles I want on 1080p Bluray...

The New World
The Thin Red Line
Barry Lyndon
In The Mood For Love
Koyaanistqatsi

Joseph Ward

12-18-2008, 10:01 PM

I always wanted to see this in a dome theatre, until then, this is a must!

Kemalettin Sert

07-13-2010, 02:12 PM

Here are the titles I want on 1080p Bluray...

The New World
The Thin Red Line
Barry Lyndon
In The Mood For Love
Koyaanistqatsi

i watched Barry Lyndon on Canal + FilmHD channel (nordic)
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/blu-ray-wish-lists/95595-barry-lyndon.html

Emanuel A.

07-13-2010, 02:29 PM

This looks spectacular. The frame grabs are off the charts.

I bet Mullen will upgrade his TV to 1080p for this. :gun: :)I will ;-)

Stephen Lovett

07-13-2010, 08:20 PM

Here are the titles I want on 1080p Bluray...

The New World
The Thin Red Line
Barry Lyndon
In The Mood For Love
Koyaanistqatsi

I'll be getting this as the standard def DVD version I have is absolute crap.

There are several scenes where the three screens don't align and Jimmy's head appears to have been cleft by some random Indian. It's really quite a bad transfer and I loved this movie as a kid.

Great list Tom, I'm wait listed / pre-ordered for the blu-ray release of Road to Perdition coming out soon. Off the top of my head I'd also add: Three Colors Bleu, Amélie, and Lawrence of Arabia, and the extended versions of the LOTR trilogy

Kemalettin Sert

07-13-2010, 09:12 PM

I'll be getting this as the standard def DVD version I have is absolute crap.

There are several scenes where the three screens don't align and Jimmy's head appears to have been cleft by some random Indian. It's really quite a bad transfer and I loved this movie as a kid.

Great list Tom, I'm wait listed / pre-ordered for the blu-ray release of Road to Perdition coming out soon. Off the top of my head I'd also add: Three Colors Bleu, Amélie, and Lawrence of Arabia, and the extended versions of the LOTR trilogy

Three Colors aired on nordic movie channel SilverHD.Also Amelie is on bluray by multiple distributors (each one has different transfer and PQ)
http://forum.blu-ray.com/2637528-post1713.html check here (i prefer japanese release it looks better than these)

Subhadip Sen

07-13-2010, 09:42 PM

The best Blu-ray by far is Baraka. In addition to being a quite spectacular film, it is 65mm brilliance scanned at 8K.

Kemalettin Sert

07-13-2010, 10:20 PM

The best Blu-ray by far is Baraka. In addition to being a quite spectacular film, it is 65mm brilliance scanned at 8K.

There are many blurays scanned at 8K (lowry,fotokem etc.) My fav blu is Bigger Than Life,criterion did excellent job on this.
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdreviews19/bigger_then_life_dvd_review.htm

Michel Hafner

07-14-2010, 01:38 AM

The best Blu-ray by far is Baraka. In addition to being a quite spectacular film, it is 65mm brilliance scanned at 8K.
I don't think so. It was one of the first 8K to 1080p jobs and they had issues with the downfiltering. It looks good but there are unnecessary sharpening halos which should not be there. The same goes for the IMAX shots of "Dark Knight". Oversharpened on Blu Ray (same as the 35mm parts). And yes "Bigger Than Life" is excellent 4K to 1080p job.

Kemalettin Sert

07-18-2010, 12:01 PM

Gladiator 10th Anniversary Remastered bluray out in holland..
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/8676/68176129.png
GRAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!! I love this so much

Kemalettin Sert

07-18-2010, 12:05 PM

Old transfer vs Remastered
http://comparescreenshots.slicx.com/comparison/68319/picture:0

this will be epic...
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8295/15427432.th.png (http://img689.imageshack.us/i/15427432.png/)http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9374/31683724.th.png (http://img199.imageshack.us/i/31683724.png/)http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1685/41599926.th.png (http://img130.imageshack.us/i/41599926.png/)http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/6299/93588160.th.png (http://img42.imageshack.us/i/93588160.png/)

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6042/58389158.th.png (http://img215.imageshack.us/i/58389158.png/)http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3604/50878508.th.png (http://img210.imageshack.us/i/50878508.png/)http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4264/67084257.th.png (http://img94.imageshack.us/i/67084257.png/)http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/4018/66525869.th.png (http://img716.imageshack.us/i/66525869.png/)http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3560/73416745.th.png (http://img203.imageshack.us/i/73416745.png/)

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5283/71879157.th.png (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/71879157.png/)http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/9702/64782498.th.png (http://img594.imageshack.us/i/64782498.png/)http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4636/46819226.th.png (http://img96.imageshack.us/i/46819226.png/)http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2844/34536229.th.png (http://img155.imageshack.us/i/34536229.png/)http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/785/60607828.th.png (http://img153.imageshack.us/i/60607828.png/)

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/4475/89564219.th.png (http://img248.imageshack.us/i/89564219.png/)http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/9823/70398119.th.png (http://img651.imageshack.us/i/70398119.png/)http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/851/72249215.th.png (http://img801.imageshack.us/i/72249215.png/)http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/3593/14658399.th.png (http://img716.imageshack.us/i/14658399.png/)http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/1571/59049092.th.png (http://img704.imageshack.us/i/59049092.png/)

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1174/37206889.th.png (http://img713.imageshack.us/i/37206889.png/)http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6598/89296663.th.png (http://img69.imageshack.us/i/89296663.png/)http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/7187/16339316.th.png (http://img534.imageshack.us/i/16339316.png/)http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/64/69561636.th.png (http://img706.imageshack.us/i/69561636.png/)http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/3866/56164809.th.png (http://img293.imageshack.us/i/56164809.png/)

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/1699/45878560.th.png (http://img94.imageshack.us/i/45878560.png/)http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/5619/66844887.th.png (http://img267.imageshack.us/i/66844887.png/)http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1185/87542528.th.png (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/87542528.png/)http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/8574/47139321.th.png (http://img690.imageshack.us/i/47139321.png/)http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6053/41517885.th.png (http://img155.imageshack.us/i/41517885.png/)

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/8281/35106476.th.png (http://img517.imageshack.us/i/35106476.png/)http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1579/14197048.th.png (http://img130.imageshack.us/i/14197048.png/)

(thanks for the caps BsRoz from AVS)

Craig Ryan

07-19-2010, 12:34 AM

Nice! Glad they remastered Gladiator. What a relief...

Yeah..Baraka looked incredibly disappointing for an 8k master. Talk about NR and Sharpening. Yuck. The amount of REAL detail in How The West Was Won sets the bar I think. Clean organic images without a hint of artificial processing.

The IMAX stuff from The Dark Knight didn't look bad...it was the 35mm stuff that looked bad.

Michel Hafner

07-19-2010, 01:01 AM

Alex G. Cohn

07-19-2010, 02:47 PM

Tom Lowe

07-19-2010, 06:47 PM

That Gladiator screengrab looks sick.

I agree that the Baraka Bluray is not that stellar. I would expect more from 65mm 5-perf to 8K to 1080p.

I am convinced that material acquired digitally just looks superior to film when it comes to Bluray. WALL-E is cleanest and best-looking Bluray in existence, I think. The images and details are off the charts with WALL-E.

Peter Chang

07-22-2010, 06:14 PM

Red Cliff I & II (http://www.yesasia.com/us/red-cliff-blu-ray-hong-kong-version/1011915563-0-0-0-en/info.html) (HK Mei Ah release, UK release is also decent)
The Good, the Bad, the Weird (http://www.yesasia.com/us/the-good-the-bad-the-weird-blu-ray-korea-version/1022329519-0-0-0-en/info.html) (Korea CJ Entertainment)
Goemon (http://twitchfilm.net/news/2009/03/new-trailer-for-kaz-kiriyas-goemon-is-the-best-yet.php) (Japan)

Animation-wise, the new Nausicaa JP disc (from a 6K scan) is pretty spectacular.

Peter Chang

07-22-2010, 06:34 PM

For those who bought the mediocre original US bluray release of Gladiator, good news!

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa182.html

Paramount Home Entertainment is about to initiate an exchange program for anyone who would like to swap their previous Gladiator Blu-ray for an otherwise identical disc with the new transfer. Here's their official statement:

"We are implementing a limited exchange program. This program is only for those consumers that may have preferential issues with some of the technical DVNR (digital video noise reduction) and EE (edge enhancement) choices made in the original source transfer, and so would prefer to exchange it for one that addresses those preferences in a different manner.

While the version that we originally distributed was of the highest quality, some enthusiasts may prefer to view it without the Edge Enhancement and DVNR implemented as standard process in bringing the film to hi-def. This new master resolves those issues."

[Editor's Note: You can call Paramount Home Entertainment's REVISED customer service hotline number (323-956-3010 - give them a couple days to get things together) to arrange the swap. Replacement discs will be available soon. For those in the U.S. and Canada who don't yet own the disc, a running production change has been initiated, so future copies shipped to retailers will include the new transfer. Rest assured, we'll post details as to exactly how you'll be able to identify the new discs (likely via some kind of packaging marking) when they start becoming available in stores in the coming weeks. And for those of you in other countries around the world, the new disc is being gradually rolled out in each region, so contact your local distributor for the details.