Night of the Living Dead Blu-ray Releases

[Norbie]

Originally Posted by HDvision

Can someone issue NOTLD in widescreen? Thank you.

PS: do not give a toss if the director does not agree. Public domain pal! Better wide than cropped top bottom left and right.

I thought the movie was shot full-frame, so if you wanted to watch it widescreen you would need to crop the top and bottom?


Be nice

[HDvision]

Nope you can't because most releases are cropped already on all sides. I think as it was talked here until the HDD crashed, the Optimum version is the only one which could support being reframed wide. I think 1.66:1 should work fine. The above wide version is really done harshly.

[joltman]

Ideally, someone should do like Anchor Bay did for Evil Dead, have a director-supervised widescreen version made, but still include the full frame version.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Atari Charles

The closest to widescreen available for purchase is this NOTLD Widescreen releases which is in HD-DVD. As one of our experts here pointed out, the widescreen cropping is not the greatest and should have been framed better. This info was on this thread until the great harddrive death of June 2012 decimated 7 weeks of data.

Just from looking at the framing from the first 2 shots, they need a projectionist:.

projectionistwanted.jpg

should be this
projectionistatwork.jpg

[Atari Charles]

Originally Posted by Jompa

Happinet:

Disc Title: NOTLD
Disc Size: 49*087*309*548 bytes
Protection: AACS
BD-Java: No
Playlist: 00003.MPLS
Size: 31*190*814*720 bytes
Length: 1:36:27.781
Total Bitrate: 43,11 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 38000 kbps / 1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Audio: English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Audio: English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Subtitle: Japanese / 18,807 kbps
Subtitle: Japanese / 40,985 kbps
Subtitle: Japanese / 34,524 kbps

Thank-you. This info has be added to the 1st page of this thread.

Can someone post the same specs of the Forgotten Films release?

Can someone post the same specs of the Optimum release?

Can someone post the same specs of the Network release?

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Norbie

I thought the movie was shot full-frame, so if you wanted to watch it widescreen you would need to crop the top and bottom?


Be nice

I'm experiencing déjà vu

That's how you watch most non anamorphic shot widescreen movies: exposed the full frame, the theater crops the top and bottom with the projection lens. This is the way flat Widescreen films are made.

Originally Posted by HDvision

Nope you can't because most releases are cropped already on all sides. I think as it was talked here until the HDD crashed, the Optimum version is the only one which could support being reframed wide. I think 1.66:1 should work fine.

The Network.

The Optimum is = Dimension/FF/Happinet

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by joltman

Ideally, someone should do like Anchor Bay did for Evil Dead, have a director-supervised widescreen version made, but still include the full frame version.

^^ that 'full frame' is cropping slightly some of the sides compared to the Widescreen version too. Maybe due to the actual width of film projected is 0.825" (20.96mm) no matter what format/ratio (even if a film was shot theatrical for what we call "full frame", which means Academy, then it would be projected at 1.37 wide (0.600" x 0.825") not 1.33 so a 1.33 version is "A video version" - version made for 4:3 video/TV. (Which SMPTE specs the TV transmitted area for a 35mm print to 0.594" x 0.792", out of 0.600" x 0.825", which crops at least 4% of the sides automatically, if on top the telecine operator doesn't start to zoom in more and play with moving around the image to make "This movie has been formatted for your TV"

Otherwise is a movie made for TV.


On evil dead I counted only about a dozen shots that weren't framed/worked within the widescreen area out of 11 hundred+ (These dirty dozen were mostly from the same camera set up) which would make sense if the film expected a theatrical release in the 80's.


Like the never ending ongoing discussions on Beatle movies, Disney Movies, Kubrick movies, public domain movies or horror movies (Plan 9/NotLD/ED), What you saw for decades on a TV screen/VHS/broadcast of these movies is the "video" version transfered for TV seen and burned into memory for 30-60 years. What should be on BDs is what was on theater screens, which basically after the mid fifties projected widescreen movies. (Lots of Bob Furmanek research posts lost on the crash)




Theatrical Widescreen Area.gif->TV-video version.jpg

Red: Theatrical widescreen composition -> Blue Green: Reframing for 4:3 video version


optivstheat.jpg

[Atari Charles]

The question is, when NOTLD was shown in theatres during it's initial release in theatres, or how about at it's premier, was it shown in the theatres in exposed full frame, fullframe, or projected widescreen format?

And was this Romero's(young Romero, not 2012 Romero) intent for NOTLD to be shown in the theatres in projected widescreen when he released this film in theatres back in 1968?

---
and

We don't know 100% conclusively that the Forgotten Film's release in indeed the same as the Dimension/Happinet/Optimum/Umbrella minus the missing seconds. I am still waiting to hear from Forgotten Films about this.

[Deciazulado]

Didn't we talk about that in the lost weekend?

I wouldn't think it was made for TV in mind. As posted elsewhere or lost in time I don't think that film's images woulda gotten near a TV transmitter back then.

Of course the movie was shown on theaters, and yes the question is if it was shown either Widescreen or Academy (not "exposed full frame, full frame or projected widescreen format"). Theaters in 1968 would be set up to project movies in Anamorphic/Scope (2.35 then) or Flat Widescreen (normally 1.85 in most theaters) because those were the movies being released by studios then and that paid the rent for the theater (the box office receipts), having a lens for each and a wide screen to accommodate them. There might been some theaters either not up to speed (but after 15 years...) or the better theaters that might exhibit re-issues from decades past that would have the third lens needed for projecting movies shot in Academy, which is the format that was adopted in 1931, like playing Casablanca on a revival/reissue or something. Even in 1954 Gone With the Wind was shown in widescreen and they inserted some shots hard matted into widescreen onto the printing negatives to guide projectionists. So most movies made would be known to end up being shown in widescreen.

For example movies being made or playing while NotLD was being made include Bonnie & Clyde, Batman, The Dirty Dozen etc, not counting the wider Scope movies. From most of the captures from the Network and Elite transfers, including the title card, it looks to me that many of the shots were blocked with widescreen in mind.

You have the Network and the Elite, no? Find which of the two shows the widest image (crops less of the width) in most shots (which since I only found one capture that had the same scene from the Elite | DimensionOptimumFFHappinet | Network, indicated that the Network was the widest over the Elite, but that was only one shot so others might be zoomed in or out slightly against the Elite) and watch it in widescreen (either using the on screen display letterbox black bars if you have the PS3 or using the widescreen 1.33x 'zooming' function on your HDTV display (which hopefully has a minimum of overscan).

Probably frame it starting with something like this:

[Show spoiler]projectionistatwork.jpg

If the zoom function has up or down scroll buttons too and the image consistently looks slightly too high or too low, you can scroll it up or down a couple of notches if needed (just like a projectionist does in the theater when setting up the first projection) setting it up there in a preliminary run, and not touching it again for the duration, watch your own screening of a widescreen theatrical presentation as an experiment. Probably sit closer to the screen too . may not be exact but it'll give you an idea of how it shows on a widescreen theater, and let us know.

Network/Elite owners can see for themselves if most of the movie shots work/were done within the widescreen area like this, taking into account low budget movie shooting might have some errors/oinconsistencies or changing horses in mid stream or that the transfer operator may selectively zoomed or tilted in on some shots to crop something out (the sort of thing like boom mikes and similar not seen in theater's widescreen presentations).

The screencap I widescreened from the DimensionOptimumFFHappinet transfer (which is one of the shots that doesn't seem to be extra-zoomed) works fabulously in widescreen. Makes me wanna watch the movie.


And we do know that the FF release comes from the same basic transfer as the OptimumHapinet etc discs used. The screenshots show it to have the same cropping of the "Dimension" transfer Master. You see, a transfer is made ("Master") and copies derived from it are distributed and used by others that license, pay rights to use it etc, including TV broadcast channels, that make "encodes" from the copy of the master for the different media they print it on and their bandwidth.

Originally Posted by JetJagga

Damn... and I heard so much about the FF featuring a ton more information on the edges. :\

Also, I wouldn't take everything in Boxoffice Magazine as gospel, since they didn't always report the correct aspect ratios. I've read several reviews where they list 1.85 ratios for 'scope films.

That could happen, typos are everywhere but normally a movie is either done flat widescreen or anamorphic scope so sounds like a case of mistaking one format for another (or not knowing so you use the most common , like people use 1.78 for BDs they don't know the ratio yet today) (JetJagga is referring to this listing for Night of the Living Dead from 1968 which says 1.85: clipping)

[bgart13]

Aw fer Christ's sake... I'm done with this thread until a US bd is released. If Atari Charles wants to continue this BS, so be it. What a waste of bleeding time...

[Leterface]

Yeah, I feel I'm done too. But in the end, I'm thinking of grabbing the Network BD because of the widest AR, when I find it really cheap (I don't have any version of this film yet so I don't want to compare it to any better looking versions).

[retablo]

Originally Posted by bgart13

Aw fer Christ's sake... I'm done with this thread until a US bd is released. If Atari Charles wants to continue this BS, so be it. What a waste of bleeding time...

I think Charles has good intentions, and not trying to de-value any of the work hes put into this thread, but even after it's been proven that the FF and Optimum have the SAME cropping, he's still pushing the FF release (even though it's missing 30 seconds when the other versons do not)... He's already admitted to knowing and talking to whoever made the FF release, so it's pretty apparent he seems to just be playing favorites at this point, and trying to drive business to his friend.

The Happinet is the best overall disc, especially in regards to extras, but for someene who's spent $100 on 10 different discs already, he's adamant to not pick it up because it's "too expensive", lol.

Go with the Happinet if you're in the US or the Optimum if you're in the UK.

[Atari Charles]

Everyone has their personal preference in regards to which NOTLD blu-ray release is the best in their mind. I have emailed with Jared of Forgotten Films, but to say that I know him is an extreme stretch of the imagination. I still like the Forgotten Films release and for the price it is a great buy. I am not trying to drive business anywhere. As for the Happinet release, I want it but the price does make me unhappy. And I don't mind having the blu-ray releases of NOTLD in my collection.

I don't get the whole missing seconds of the Forgotten Films release and how this could have occurred or why this was purposely done if the transfer is the Dimension Master Transfer? Why omit 30 some odd seconds?

As the Lost Weekend seemed to render posts missing in the recesses of time, I would like to see someone who actually has a Forgotten Films blu-ray to do a screen capture of the same scenes that have been compared to in the Optimum print. Not a few seconds out but of the exact point in time so that we can properly compare the Optimum and the FF releases.

I have no problem finding out the truth behind the Forgotten Films release, but lets make sure these are the screencaptures from these exact releases(Optimum and Forgotten Films) and of the exact second. This is why it is important to 100% make sure that these screencaptures are actually from the Optimum and from the FF discs and that the images are from specific points in the film not just approximations.

When I hear from Forgotten Films, I will relay the message on this thread whatever it is.

I still need the specs on the following:

Can someone post the specs of the Forgotten Films release?

Can someone post the specs of the Optimum release?

Can someone post the specs of the Network release?

[psicon]

Optimum

                                                                                                                Total   Video                                             
Title                                                           Codec   Length  Movie Size      Disc Size       Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track                          Secondary Audio Track
-----                                                           ------  ------- --------------  --------------  ------- ------- ------------------                        ---------------------
00000.MPLS                                                      AVC     1:35:52 17,500,895,232  20,885,234,374  24.34   20.99   DTS-HD Master 2.0 1572Kbps (48kHz/16-bit)

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     NIGHTOFTHELIVINGDEAD
Disc Size:      20,885,234,374 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BD-Java:        No
Extras:         50Hz Content
BDInfo:         0.5.8

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00000.MPLS
Length:                 1:35:52.788 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   17,500,895,232 bytes
Total Bitrate:          24.34 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        20993 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             English         1572 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1572 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio             English         448 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps

[psicon]

Network

                                                                                                                Total   Video                                             
Title                                                           Codec   Length  Movie Size      Disc Size       Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track                          Secondary Audio Track
-----                                                           ------  ------- --------------  --------------  ------- ------- ------------------                        ---------------------
00004.MPLS                                                      AVC     1:35:12 16,270,006,272  16,785,083,450  22.78   20.00   LPCM 2.0 1536Kbps (48kHz/16-bit)

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     NOTLD
Disc Size:      16,785,083,450 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BD-Java:        No
BDInfo:         0.5.8

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00004.MPLS
Length:                 1:35:12.540 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   16,270,006,272 bytes
Total Bitrate:          22.78 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        19999 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
LPCM Audio                      English         1536 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit

[Atari Charles]

Thanks! This is excellent. I have updated page 1 with the data.

So far for specs, the Happinet blows the competition out of the water.

We need the same data for:

Forgotten Films
Umbrella

Also for the mainland European releases, specs would be appreciated.

[anet99999]

Originally Posted by Darthvong

Yep. That's the one I have. I did own the Elite version too.

I have the Millennium Edition. Is this edition, with Romero's signature, superior?

Despite the fact that this film has fallen into public domain, I've always held out hope for a Blu-Ray release that was restored and remastered from the best available elements, that was supervised and endorsed by Romero.

A few years ago I would have called this a pipe dream, but then we got Blu-Ray releases of "Night of the Creeps" and the original "Fright Night"...

[Atari Charles]

I personally like the Elite DVD release the best as it is not cropped and in the correct aspect ratio.

If you are buying a NOTLD release for the best extras, then Happinet seems to be the one to go with if you are willing to spend the money.

Again it is all personal preference. Id' still like to see screencaptures of both the Optimum or Happinet release with the exact same screencaptures from the Forgotten Films release(from someone who actually owns a FF disc) and compare the two, before we conclusively decide that the Forgotten Films release uses the Dimension transfer. I still don't get why the FF release would be missing 30 someodd seconds if it is indeed using the Dimension transfer.

[Deciazulado]

Just open these two captures on two tabs and switch from one tab to another

Capture A
Capture B

[Geoff D]

I'll be keeping the Elite DVD, but for the extras only. When the guy who did the transfer says how bad it is, you know the game's up. The Optimum BD will do me just fine.