Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[Nick Graham]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

What I've seen of Kathryn Bigelow's previous work is the only reason I haven't seen The Hurt Locker yet.

You need to see Near Dark. Just, for the love of all that is holy, do NOT buy the atrocious Blu-Ray of it. You're better off finding the old Anchor Bay DVD.

[moonstruck]

Jeff...what is your take of the blurb about William Friedkin having control over "every single frame" of The Exorcist when it's released on blu ray? I seriously doubt Warner Bros. would give him that control and home video wasn't really even thought of in 1973 when his contract for the film was being formulated. It it just his over-inflated ego talking? Personally, I would hope they'd allow someone else to control the project.

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Point Break is too much of a classic for me!

I loved "Point Break" when I was younger, but I watched it a couple of years ago and thought to myself "Did I actually like this???"

[Uxi]

Heh, one of my friends was going through the FBI tryouts and lots of us were tossing out the Keanu-accented "Oi ahm an Eff. Bee. Eye. Aye-gent!"

[Jeff Kleist]

eff...what is your take of the blurb about William Friedkin having control over "every single frame" of The Exorcist when it's released on blu ray? I seriously doubt Warner Bros. would give him that control and home video wasn't really even thought of in 1973 when his contract for the film was being formulated. It it just his over-inflated ego talking? Personally, I would hope they'd allow someone else to control the project.

He's guaranteed that in his contract with the DGA. I really don't think there was anything he could really do to harm that movie anyway, I think it's only interesting and/or scary if a part of you actually believes it could happen

[moonstruck]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

He's guaranteed that in his contract with the DGA. I really don't think there was anything he could really do to harm that movie anyway, I think it's only interesting and/or scary if a part of you actually believes it could happen

Oh, yeah...forgot about the DGA. Believe what could happen? Demonic possession?

BTW...I agree with you. Up should have totally won Best Picture.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

You need to see Near Dark. Just, for the love of all that is holy, do NOT buy the atrocious Blu-Ray of it. You're better off finding the old Anchor Bay DVD.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll give it a shot. I do get the impression that her biggest problem might simply be a lack of taste regarding material. In other words, connect her up with a good script and she'll do fine.

Is the BD really worse than the DVD or is it just terribly poor by BD standards (ie. only slightly better than the DVD)?

[Jeff Kleist]

I love Point Break, and I have a lot of respect for Keanu Reeves. He may be limited as an actor but he stretches himself, not always successfully, but he also knows his limits. He's also a pretty good guy from what I can see.

So I'm a fan, no matter how fun it is to make fun of the way he talks Especially if he makes Bill and ted 3

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I havent seen Hurt Locker yet, but perhaps I should now. Im mostly a fan of Kathryn Bigelow's work.

no wonder you thought the Oscars went as they deserve. I have not seen all 10 but I think anyone of them deserved it more, and would even go as far as saying that I don't even think it deserved the nomination.

[iwanttobeabmoviestar]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

send it to bill billhunt@thedigitalbits.com

thanks emailing now

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

So I'm a fan, no matter how fun it is to make fun of the way he talks Especially if he makes Bill and ted 3

Doesn't Keanu try to pretend that the Bill and Ted's don't exist and that he's a "serious actor?"

I liked him in the Matrix and I always loved the Bill & Ted's, too, but a bit annoyed at his pretentiousness.

[Vincent Pereira]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

What I've seen of Kathryn Bigelow's previous work is the only reason I haven't seen The Hurt Locker yet.

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

You need to see Near Dark...

Agreed. NEAR DARK is a masterpiece, and IMO Bieglow's best film even in light of her well-deserved win for Best Director for THE HURT LOCKER.

Vincent

[Vincent Pereira]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

...
Is the BD really worse than the DVD or is it just terribly poor by BD standards (ie. only slightly better than the DVD)?

Re: NEAR DARK- the BD is mediocre by BD standards but still much better than the DVD, as evidenced by the standard-def extras present on the very Blu-ray which include clips from the main movie in SD that don't look nearly as good as the HD movie itself.

Vincent

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Vincent Pereira

Re: NEAR DARK- the BD is mediocre by BD standards but still much better than the DVD, as evidenced by the standard-def extras present on the very Blu-ray which include clips from the main movie in SD that don't look nearly as good as the HD movie itself.

Seeing as the film is reeeeally low budget, how good could it look?

[Jeff Kleist]

Doesn't Keanu try to pretend that the Bill and Ted's don't exist and that he's a "serious actor?"

No, he never did. There was the problem of him being too expensive, aka his agent won't let him take the money they'd have for B&T 3. Now he's at the point in his career where he can call the shots and go to whatever agency he wants to, so financially the project is much more viable. Plus with the new "low down payments" salary structure, it also works better

[DaViD Boulet]

Hey all,

Just learned that Paramount's long-awaited Classic title "The African Queen" only has lossy audio... just like their "It's A Wonderful Life" Blu-ray. What gives? Is the studio clueless? I think we all assumed that the Wonderful-Life issue was an anomoly that would be addressed properly with future classic releases... but now this?!?

Before someone assumes that "it doesn't matter with old soundtracks" you can brush that myth right off the table from the start. Even inferior optical mono soundtracks sound better when presented losslessly than when presented lossy... because lossy compression introduces even more compromise. Just like making a tape of a tape... you get even more loss.

Bottom line: who is talking to Paramount? Can we get them to answer for this issue? Can we get a committment for lossless on all future releases?

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Just learned that Paramount's long-awaited Classic title "The African Queen" only has lossy audio... just like their "It's A Wonderful Life" Blu-ray. What gives? Is the studio clueless?

Quick- trade them your clue for their loss!

[Nick Graham]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Seeing as the film is reeeeally low budget, how good could it look?

In this instance it's a transfer from the UK in which DNR appears to have been applied over and over and over. I am not as anal as many when it comes to DNR, but this disc makes the worst of the original crew Trek movie set look like reference material.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Before someone assumes that "it doesn't matter with old soundtracks" you can brush that myth right off the table from the start. Even inferior optical mono soundtracks sound better when presented losslessly than when presented lossy... because lossy compression introduces even more compromise. Just like making a tape of a tape... you get even more loss.

It's not quite that simple (for one thing, analog tape has loss because it's analog).

Yes, I agree it should be lossless.

However, I disagree that we may be missing anything. AC-3 compression works in bands, and there isn't multiple tracks and bands on these old recordings...usually the frequency response is quite limited too. So out of the available data pool there's enough data.

Take the lossless TrueHD 2.0 track of Grumpy Old Men. It averages about 658kbps, and that's a fairly modern recording.

Again, I would prefer lossless, but lossy audio on a title like this isn't some kind of travesty or crime against humanity.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Again, I would prefer lossless, but lossy audio on a title like this isn't some kind of travesty or crime against humanity.

Even if the difference is incredibly slight, the aim should be the best the medium can afford. This is Blu-ray, not DVD.