Upscaled SD Content Blu-rays

[Jompa]

Originally Posted by DarknessBDJM

What's the deal with so many upconverts released in Germany?

Actually all the BD releases of The Fog (80) is upscaled.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Ricky Oh: The Story of Ricky

Sadly I'd already ordered this before I got to know. I wait for the day we get a proper HD transfer for this classic of badassery.

[dougotte]

What about Near Dark? Most reviews agreed how horrible it looked, but I don't know if it was ever confirmed to be from an SD source.

[notops]

Scream looks particularly bad.

[PrestonXI]

Originally Posted by dougotte

What about Near Dark? Most reviews agreed how horrible it looked, but I don't know if it was ever confirmed to be from an SD source.

I only paid $5 for my copy and I still feel like I was ripped off. I am willing to bet that the DVD would look better than the murky, overly dark Blu Ray.

[OrlandoEastwood]

I'm working on a Blu-ray release on the films I am making for my studio. Movies are slightly upscaled from 720p to 1080p.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by morriscroy

Any extremely egregious cases worth mentioning?

Yes, be extremely leery of most catalog efforts from Echo Bridge before reading a qualified review. They licensed a number of movies from Miramax where they had no access to a decent HD master and released a bunch of dodgy transfers. Many of their horror releases, like the Prophecy franchise, are from very poor and dated sources.

Originally Posted by MOONPHASE

Any Funimation title that says SD Remaster on it plus some of their older titles before they mentioned that on the packaging like Gunslinger Girl and I think Tsubasa.

Funimation used to be reliable about noting the differences, but they've become less reliable in their veracity in the past few months. I won't name which releases, but they've listed at least a couple of different Blu-rays as native HD when they are clearly not.

Originally Posted by joltman

This brings up an interesting question, if a film or TV show was shot in SD, would a studio done upscaled Blu-ray be better than a Blu-ray player or HDTV doing the upscale?

Yes, a professional encoder will outperform any sort of conversion done by a home player's hardware.

Originally Posted by dougotte

What about Near Dark? Most reviews agreed how horrible it looked, but I don't know if it was ever confirmed to be from an SD source.

If it is from a HD source, it's in the most mediocre condition and heavily dated in terms of the telecine's age.

[bigdaddyhorse]

Originally Posted by PrestonXI

I only paid $5 for my copy and I still feel like I was ripped off. I am willing to bet that the DVD would look better than the murky, overly dark Blu Ray.

Maybe my TV isn't calibrated properly, but I'd take that bet as I own both and have compared them somewhat. The blu is far better in all the scenes I tried, maybe a bit dark, but much clearer and sharper. I don't understand why it's hated so much, maybe the horrid Twilightish cover makes the film look worse to some? Watched it twice since getting it and have very little issue with it except it's too dark in some spots.

[Jompa]

I don't think Near Dark is upscaled. Look here: http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...less=0#auswahl

I has more details than a upscaled BD could produce.

[dougotte]

Originally Posted by Jompa

I don't think Near Dark is upscaled. Look here: http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...less=0#auswahl

I has more details than a upscaled BD could produce.

Thanks for the link. The BD does look slightly better (and IMO a BD in motion can often look much better than screenshots). There's slightly more detail, and the DVD looks overly bright in comparison. Maybe it's time to splurge on it!

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

and the U.K. release of Escape From New York.

I've seen the UK Blu-Ray release of Escape From New York. Its so laughably artificially sharpened and contrast boosted with overblown blacks to give the fake illusion of more detail that I actually think the special edition DVD upconverted on my DVD upscaling player has better picture quality because it actuelly looks more natural with superior black levels and well saturated colours with heaps of detail for an older film on DVD. That's why I made the wise decision to just rent the Blu and then buy the DVD. 99% of the time its normally the other way around as you'd expect, this was a rare exception, but I just couldn't stand the Blu-Ray, it looked like shit.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Blu-21

I've seen the UK Blu-Ray release of Escape From New York. Its so laughably artificially sharpened and contrast boosted with overblown blacks to give the fake illusion of more detail that I actually think the special edition DVD upconverted on my DVD upscaling player has better picture quality because it actuelly looks more natural with superior black levels and well saturated colours with heaps of detail for an older film on DVD. That's why I made the wise decision to just rent the Blu and then buy the DVD. 99% of the time its normally the other way around as you'd expect, this was a rare exception, but I just couldn't stand the Blu-Ray, it looked like shit.

Now, the U.S. BD on the other hand looks remarkable.

[movie]

Grumpy Old Men. Maybe not an upscale but is shows so poorly that it might as well be one.

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Now, the U.S. BD on the other hand looks remarkable.

Yeah I've seen screenshots of that new U.S version and it does look great. Very faithful to the source material with more detail then ever without any signs of digital manipulation. Unfortunately I don't live in the U.S and we don't share the same region coding, so it wouldn't work on my Blu-Ray player anyway. The DVD is well mastered, so I'm content with that upconverted.