Friday The 13th 1980 Blu: I am not impressed

[FendersRule]

Granted this discussion is only for PQ purposes only because my sound system is minimal (I have a stereo hooked up to my TV) and I have also never seen this movie on DVD. I did think the sound was stellar though...for an older movie.

Some scenes in Friday the 13th look great. Mainly it's the close-ups of Jason's Mother, and of other charactors.

[Show spoiler] Did you notice that Jason's mom was a man when she was decapitated?

The film really has troubles with it's blacks. I found a lot of grain (grain isn't bad, but when you can see oddly colored grain over your blacks, it is bad) in the night shots. I also found uneven lighting in just about all of the night shots that kept detracting me from the movie.

The lake, trees, forest, etc have the detail of an upscaled DVD, with slightly better detail. I clearly was not wowed at anything in the movie, except of close facial shots. I do understand what an upscaled DVD looks like since I have an eye for these kinda things. The detail in the environment in Rambo (yea, even with crappy Lionsgate remaster) takes a walk on this one.

A quick journey over to Blu-ray's review, and the PQ gets a 4.2 from the members, and a 4.0 from the reviewer. I highly disagree with this. If you disagree with me fine, but please do not use these excuses/responses:

(1) This is the best way to watch it.

I understand that this is the best way to watch it, and that the BD is obviously the one to get. However, I cannot help but notice that most of the scenes product a very similar look to upscaled DVDs, and black lighting is atrocious. This is a probably since most of the scenes are shot at night.

(2) This is a 30 year old movie, what do you expect?

Granted, I completely understand this too. 2001 is a 50 year old movie, and it ranks upon the most cleanest of films I have ever seen on BD. Look at Halloween for BD, and you will see that it is much better quality than Friday The 13th. The Autumn trees, the deep blacks of the night, the detail is astonishing.

So, was the film that was shot in this movie worse than Halloween? I guess the remaster of Halloween completely had my expectations high. I'm not trying to make this off as a "Bad remaster". It's just a decent one, but I think a 4.0 is a bit misleading given what I have mentioned above.

I would recommend a pickup for this movie once it hits a lower price point ($19.99 might set your expectations a little too high).

[FendersRule]

I also found this:

http://fridaythe13thfilms.com/blog/f...framing-issue/

I was also able to piece from the internet a DVD screenshot, and a Blu-ray.com screenshot, and thankfully, they are of the same frame (or pretty close).

DVD:


Blu-ray:


Granted for some reason, the DVD screenshot has better colors (who knows, but I highly doubt this). However, since we know that the Blu-ray.com screenshot is captured at 720p, and the other image is captured at 540p, we can somewhat get a close comparison of the resolution. However, 720p in itself will look sharper than 540p given it's a higher resolution, so please keep this in mind.

This should be a good example of how the resolution in the new Friday The 13th just isn't up to snuff. I mean, it's a little better...

[Blu-Ron]

Golly...you already own the remake on Blu?

[FendersRule]

Originally Posted by Blu-Ron

Golly...you already own the remake on Blu?

Dang-gone-it...I meant to put "remaster"...ughh!

[DennisPBG2007]

Does the Blu-ray have that extra 10 seconds? I can't believe that's all they could come up with...10 seconds? Well, I hope those 10 seconds are enjoyable.

[RustyK94]

The DVD colors are just warmer to try and make them look better to the untrained eye. The Blu-ray is far more accurate and natural and has greater detail.

[cdot2four]

Your trying to compare B to A without even seeing A??

[DetroitSportsFan]

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread....ht=friday+13th

[djluis2k6]

Can't be too picky with catalog titles, especially titles this old.

[LUkassZ]

Originally Posted by djluis2k6

Can't be too picky with catalog titles, especially titles this old.

This simply drives me nuts! When I complained about the horrid quality of christmas story this is all I heard. I complained about the stereo audio and I heard things like "do u really need to hear ralphys red ryder bb gun in 5.1 dolby digital. Well obviously no. But with bluray they set a new standard. HIGH DEF PICTURE & HIGH DEF SOUND and when I buy a bluray that is what I'm going to expect.

I would never buy a mercedes and be happy that it is "a bit better than a hyundia".

I guess my main point is, I do understand the fact that films are old, were shot with a small budget, etc. If that is the case DON'T F*CKING RELEASE THEM ON BLURAY. As the old but annoying saying goes, you can't polish a turd, so why are they trying with blurays?

[howarmat]

Originally Posted by LUkassZ

This simply drives me nuts! When I complained about the horrid quality of christmas story this is all I heard. I complained about the stereo audio and I heard things like "do u really need to hear ralphys red ryder bb gun in 5.1 dolby digital. Well obviously no. But with bluray they set a new standard. HIGH DEF PICTURE & HIGH DEF SOUND and when I buy a bluray that is what I'm going to expect.

I would never buy a mercedes and be happy that it is "a bit better than a hyundia".

I guess my main point is, I do understand the fact that films are old, were shot with a small budget, etc. If that is the case DON'T F*CKING RELEASE THEM ON BLURAY. As the old but annoying saying goes, you can't polish a turd, so why are they trying with blurays?

you arent being forced to buy them, quit complaining

[ckent22]

Originally Posted by LUkassZ

This simply drives me nuts! When I complained about the horrid quality of christmas story this is all I heard. I complained about the stereo audio and I heard things like "do u really need to hear ralphys red ryder bb gun in 5.1 dolby digital. Well obviously no. But with bluray they set a new standard. HIGH DEF PICTURE & HIGH DEF SOUND and when I buy a bluray that is what I'm going to expect.

I would never buy a mercedes and be happy that it is "a bit better than a hyundia".

I guess my main point is, I do understand the fact that films are old, were shot with a small budget, etc. If that is the case DON'T F*CKING RELEASE THEM ON BLURAY. As the old but annoying saying goes, you can't polish a turd, so why are they trying with blurays?

Or don't buy them on Blu-ray and then you won't complain about them. Sound reasonable?

Your expectations are off especially with older titles because sounds weren't always as full as they are today. So, it's often times impossible to get 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio on older titles such as this.

As far as the PQ goes, there is only so much you can do with an older title. If you don't like, then don't buy it.

[dgator783]

its a low budgety 1980s slasher horror movie...it wasnt going to get the Godfather treatment...its a 200% improvment over the DVds, the cropping really has 0 effect on the movie and you wouldnt have noticed if some videofile didnt discover it in the first place.....if you dont like it, please sell it to an actual fan of the series and plus theres already a F13 blu-ray thread already....everything you have said has been discussed to death already, you have brought noting new to the table (as a senior member you should know better then this, dont say I used a search, as a senior member, you should know how to search)


and remember 2001 was made with a $20 budget....low budget films look low budget for a reason

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by LUkassZ

This simply drives me nuts! When I complained about the horrid quality of christmas story this is all I heard. I complained about the stereo audio and I heard things like "do u really need to hear ralphys red ryder bb gun in 5.1 dolby digital. Well obviously no. But with bluray they set a new standard. HIGH DEF PICTURE & HIGH DEF SOUND and when I buy a bluray that is what I'm going to expect.

I would never buy a mercedes and be happy that it is "a bit better than a hyundia".

I guess my main point is, I do understand the fact that films are old, were shot with a small budget, etc. If that is the case DON'T F*CKING RELEASE THEM ON BLURAY. As the old but annoying saying goes, you can't polish a turd, so why are they trying with blurays?

I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down, kinda. There are quite a few catalog releases that are done exceptionally well (Godfather, for one, which is twice the age of A Christmas Story) that it's frustrating to get catalog stuff that was shorted in the quality department. Age is obviously no excuse for poor quality, as some would like you to believe.

I would have to disagree that if the limitation truly lies in the source elements that they shouldn't be released on Blu-ray, though. They're still going to be the best that they've ever been.

[ryoohki]

Yeah it's like wanting Evil Dead 1 looking as good as the James Bond Remaster, it just won't be possible because the material they worked with sucked (because of budget)...

I found the colors ok on my display...

[goodluckchuck]

Whatever the reasons are, I dont think the DVD can be better than the blu. Im sorry, but I hate those comparisons. Blow up that DVD on a 50" HDTV and you will see how horrible it looks, compared to that piece of heaven the blu is, for those of us who like the 1980 movie. I still own some horrible HD DVD's, but even there I trashed the silly-blurry-looking DVDs.

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by BStecke

I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down. There are quite a few catalog releases that are done exceptionally well (Godfather, for one, which is twice the age of A Christmas Story) that it's frustrating to get catalog stuff that was shorted in the quality department. Age is obviously no excuse for poor quality, as some would like you to believe.

Yes it is... especially FRIDAY THE 13th. Most horror movie in early 1980 where shot on 3rd rate material and are impossible to remaster at the lvel of superproduction like Godfather simply because they bought the cheapest available film stock at that time..

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by FendersRule

The lake, trees, forest, etc have the detail of an upscaled DVD, with slightly better detail. I clearly was not wowed at anything in the movie, except of close facial shots. I do understand what an upscaled DVD looks like since I have an eye for these kinda things.

the lakes, trees, forest, have the detail of WHICH upscale DVD??? not Friday the 13th, as you said you've never watched it. So whaht DVD have you used as a comparison standard?

to suggest all DVD's will look alike, just doesn't hold water IMO.

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Yes it is... especially FRIDAY THE 13th. Most horror movie in early 1980 where shot on 3rd rate material and are impossible to remaster at the lvel of superproduction like Godfather simply because they bought the cheapest available film stock at that time..

I wasn't speaking really about Friday the 13th, more in general. From the screenshots I've seen, Friday looks about like I'd expect it to. I'm just saying that age does not automatically trump quality, and shouldn't be a reason to automatically dismiss problems.

[Blu As Hell]

Originally Posted by LUkassZ

I guess my main point is, I do understand the fact that films are old, were shot with a small budget, etc. If that is the case DON'T F*CKING RELEASE THEM ON BLURAY. As the old but annoying saying goes, you can't polish a turd, so why are they trying with blurays?

Cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it.