"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

What is your opinion of the Panasonic plasmas now being used by MPI? I believe Mr. Yarbrough is responsible for the switch.

Hi Stacey
Any feedback yet on how your calibration discs are selling?

I haven’t had the opportunity yet to critique those monitors with my own eyes, with content that I am familiar with in order to make a meaningful determination of its image characteristics and overall performance.

I don’t pay much attention to published specs. All I’m familiar with is their Christie 2K projector they have (or had?) in one of their rooms.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I don’t argue.

Fair enough. It was a figure of speech. I'm just trying to understand your original statement and reconcile it with the evidence before me.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

The IMAX version was the preferred vision of Chris Nolan for this motion picture and the Blu-ray edition tried to emulate that vision as closely as possible.

I wonder why, then, the 35mm release prints weren't made from a post-DMR DI.

Whether it's the 35mm release prints or the Blu-ray which more closely match the intended look, I'm still confused by this seemingly-unnecessary discrepancy between them and, while I, again, agree with your thinking about the *scientific* viewpoint, I also understand their confusion on this same discrepancy that confuses me.

As ever, I remain

[cjamescook]

FYI: New Yorker Films is now gone.
See http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=101209654

Also, these poor guys are now looking for a distributor, should anyone be able to help them (please):
http://charlesnelsonreilly.myshopify...h-distribution

[Torsten Kaiser TLE]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I don’t argue. That’s for lawyers who stand up in court, law students and online posters with similar frustrated mentalities. If I did, I would have taken royal offense to the last line of Torsten’s post on the last page in which I think he was overly harsh to an otherwise fine in-depth Blu-ray review esp. since I was told that Rocket Post did the actual tech work starting with their ‘FAB Tech’ HD log scan of the negatives rather than anyone at the BBC……………….
(...)

Hey Penton -
"Royal" offense in connection with the classic PR&PR is actually very funny. Seriously, Penton - as you know, I do not make such comments for the sake of just making them. I disagreed with some of the comments the reviewer made; I saw things "a little" less perfect than he saw it. But I intentionally underlined that there was a significant research error in the piece concerning the mix up of distributor and source where the work and the order/and materials originated from. Not a trivial matter, and, unfortunately, not the first time that a reviewer made that kind of error.

To illustrate, I cannot count the number of times I corrected people online or in meetings who were under the impression (from reading it in reviews) that METROPOLIS was restored oh so beautifully by KINO (on Video). The fact is, KINO had absolutely NOTHING to do with the 2K restoration whatsoever. All they did was license the film and receive a ("ready made") Digital Betacam. That was it. The restoration was performed by the team of ALPHA OMEGA in Germany, headed by Film Restoration Supervisor Martin Koerber, who also was responsible for supervision of the photo-chemical restorations of VAMPYR and of M (the latter we eventually worked on as well). Examples of errors like this can be found by the hundreds online and in print magazines, on TV and radio. A&E, for instance, was many times falsely credited for performing the remastering of, among others, THE AVENGERS (actually headed by Studio Canal) and THE PRISONER (Granada).

The point in my original post was that A&E did not do or head this remastering from the 16mm negative elements. The work was done, for several reasons, by Rocket Post in London, on behalf of 2Entertain, which is part of the BBC. A&E is (traditionally) the licensee for the territory of the United States. Since they licensed PR&PR, they also received the HDCAMSR for Blu-ray. Giving them the credit of the "restoration" (actually a remastering) is simply not right, as Rocket Post deserve all the praise for it, together with the BBC for financing it.

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

What is your opinion of the Panasonic plasmas now being used by MPI? I believe Mr. Yarbrough is responsible for the switch.

Last time I looked it was Pioneer. Has a switch been made to Panasonic?

[Penton-Man]

Torsten, I like your above post better.

The wording of your first post came off, at least to me (and several people whom PMed me to consider deleting it altogether) as something of a smelly Arse Fart -
http://www.zazzle.com/ausfahrt_where...57208785974354

directed at probably one of the better written Blu-ray reviews for this title on the consumer internet sites, when one compares it to other Blu-ray reviews of P&P to date, despite the inaccuracy that you pointed out. Also, keep in mind that I doubt Vince Narduzzo gives a hoot one way or another as to who claims credit for what.

Your explanation now reads more like a helpful directional sign in Germany.
I’m all for accuracy and such but, I just don’t like seeing people even inadvertently hurt the feelings of others (esp. our reviewers) who have extremely good intentions and are providing a valuable service to this forum.

All of us insiders can correct inaccuracies, it’s just how we do it, for example……..
The Soloist is opening here in the U.S. on Friday and the imdb has it listed as having had a 2k D.I., when in reality it’s Universal Studios’ first release in 4K (according to my Uni friends), the 4k DCP having been shown not too long ago at ShoWest 2009.

[Penton-Man]

And speaking of film restorationists and 4k restorations as well as reputedly 4k releases, I’m wondering if RAH is going to be in L.A. the first week of June for the ‘4k exhibition’ of The Godfather?

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

reputedly 4k releases

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

‘4k exhibition’

Sounds like we have a skeptic in our midst!

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Torsten Kaiser TLE

...Examples of errors like this can be found by the hundreds online and in print magazines, on TV and radio. A&E, for instance, was many times falsely credited for performing the remastering of, among others, THE AVENGERS (actually headed by Studio Canal) ...

Which reminds me, does anyone know the scoop with The Avengers?
Your posting alludes to it being restored, but some reviewer comments on Amazon for various DVDs claim poor quality, if not outright errors.

Just curious before I buy.

[Penton-Man]

There you go again with that “sounds like” stuff.
You are one cynical soul.
I was referring to all the other film exhibitions in the past that despite the fact of them having a history of being processed in 4k, they were never really exhibited in 4k.

For the transcriptionist of Penton’s deposition……
I have no reason at this time to believe that The Godfather won’t be released in 4k this June, unless RAH says it aint so(i.e. there is no 4k DCP being worked on or currently already in existence).

[Penton-Man]

I’ve received several PM’s regarding 3D and Blu-ray….given the Digital Cinema Summit at NAB.

All I can say is that Philips recently announced that they are getting out of 3D activities, so there may be after all, only one 3d implementation on Blu-ray which would be a good thing.

I defer all other questions about 3D to kjack or Jeff Kleist.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

You are one cynical soul.

Hey, I'm just cuing off of you! Out of context, your post was a little too vague to pick up the backstory about previous releases.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

All I can say is that Philips recently announced that they are getting out of 3D activities, so there may be after all, only one 3d implementation on Blu-ray which would be a good thing.

Did I miss something about the Samsung system being cancelled as well?

[bbeck]

Since we have more than a few people reading this thread who are knowledgeable about the recent Pride and Prejudice restoration, I wonder if any of you could shed light on the question of why the BBC release got a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack and the A&E version got PCM 2.0?

The restoration featurette on the disc briefly mentions repurposing sound mixes for 5.1 when source elements are available. So, is the surround mix on the BBC release just a gimmick that anyone with decent faux-surround processing on their A/V receivers would be able to duplicate with the PCM track, or was the new mix part and parcel of the restoration effort that A&E cheaped out on when they acquired the rights for the U.S. release?

(Also, though the BBC box mentions DTS-HD MA, at least a few anecdotal comments on various message boards indicate the actual codec is DTS-HD HR.)

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Hey, I'm just cuing off of you! Out of context, your post was a little too vague to pick up the backstory about previous releases.

If I had a dollar for every time somebody on some forum claimed they saw this feature or that feature exhibited “in 4k” at their local digital Cineplex (having a Sony 4k projector), just because they had prior knowledge of a 4k restoration or a 4k digital intermediate post production process, or capture by a 4k acquisition device………

I would be a rich man by now and not be asking Esox for financial advice.
(I’m in the rhyming mood).
There are literally only a tiny handful of feature films that have ever been exhitibed in 4k, anywhere.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by bbeck

Since we have more than a few people reading this thread who are knowledgeable about the recent Pride and Prejudice restoration, I wonder if any of you could shed light on the question of why the BBC release got a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack and the A&E version got PCM 2.0?

The restoration featurette on the disc briefly mentions repurposing sound mixes for 5.1 when source elements are available. So, is the surround mix on the BBC release just a gimmick that anyone with decent faux-surround processing on their A/V receivers would be able to duplicate with the PCM track, or was the new mix part and parcel of the restoration effort that A&E cheaped out on when they acquired the rights for the U.S. release?

(Also, though the BBC box mentions DTS-HD MA, at least a few anecdotal comments on various message boards indicate the actual codec is DTS-HD HR.)

I know nothing of the sound.
Torsten?
Dr. Atanasov?
RAH?........I’m told you just did a very favorable review on this Blu-ray.

[Penton-Man]

b.t.w. – where is Spears?

Who did the authoring on your calibration disc?....I’m referring to the individual, not the company.

[horseflesh]

I presume you didn't get to see the Arse tonight???

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

I presume you didn't get to see the Arse tonight???

You mean the Arse-shavin?

[bbeck]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I know nothing of the sound.
Torsten?
Dr. Atanasov?
RAH?........I’m told you just did a very favorable review on this Blu-ray.

Sorry Penton for unloading this question in your thread. I have an unfortunate tendency to kill threads with questions like this . . . or, if nothing else, to stop the thread for a little while, before it resumes again and people pretend the question never happened.

Hopefully someone in the know will chime in here. I figured the collective brain trust residing in this thread will be able to come up with an answer, or at least be able to contact others who might.

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."