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

[madshi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I guess madshi missed that broadcast version?

Sadly, Taffy's source doesn't seem to be "available" (if you know what I mean), at least not yet. So I doubt it will be used in comparisons. The only Aliens broadcast "available" is the Japanese one, which was recorded back in 2008.

[Xorp]

Originally Posted by Taffy

I watched my ENCOR HD channel recording of ALIENS last night on the big screen HT. Impressive...most impressive indeed...and not a hint of those nasty things that posters like to talk about. Plenty of detail on most scenes as Mr Cameron shot this movie much like TV directors shoot these days.

It's highly unlikely any TV broadcaster has the new Aliens transfer. Almost guaranteed you saw an old transfer.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Oliver K-
England has Paul the Octopus now predicting other soccer related matters…..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/...news/#38791701

Well, too bad that these do not get that old so I hope he will continue to do his job as long as he is alive and healthy - de definitely seems to like it

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

And give the compressionists (as well as the QC master dude) over at WB my best too.
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Hamle.../10381/#Review

and since Blu-ray.com is somewhat restricted in posting illustrative screenshots from some studios, this is the Cliff Notes spec version - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1271078 (< a big thank you to the screenshot scientist who PM’ed me the link from AVS.)

My question is…did your buddies over there at WB accomplish this catalog compression feat all by themselves…..for a 4 hour motion picture captured with 65mm camera?.....or, are the compressionists still blaming the DNR on the operators who send them the HD masters…..produced from places like Technicolor, Company 3, EFILM, etc., as well as their own in-house facility? Funny thing is though…Sony also has received HD masters from many of these same post facilities in the past too.

P.S.
Plus, tell them I don’t think that many *enthusiasts* are “rest assured”……even 2 years later -
https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...ml#post1036822

I do not think it is fair to insinuate that Bill approves of what Warner is doing and it seems he is merely relaying info that he has been given which obviously does not really reflect reality in many cases.

As we all know that Warner regularly gives a less than optimum treatment to many of its large format releases and therefore in most cases loses valuable high frequency detail I am not surprised though and I personally rest assured that not much changes at Warner or at least that it takes a very loooooooooong time From what I have seen only The Searchers, HTWWW and The Music Man looked relatively unfiltered, all other 6 titles had issues with high frequency detail and sometimes EE.

Here is a link to a comparison that I posted of Grand Prix for illustrative purpose of what I saw with the HD-DVD (which I consider the best out of 5 efforts so far of Warner with a movie shot in 65mm) and the 70mm print of the movie as I had access to a downrezzed scan from a 70mm release print thanks to Mr. Born from the Schauburg Karlsruhe cinema:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ght=grand+prix

The interesting caps are #68 and #61. the resolution in the cap from the HD-DVD is imo very representative of what can be seen on screen with the usual slight softening compared to the movie in motion and the cap of the 70mm does of course not give the same impression that I got from watching the movie on a 50 ft wide screen.

This has been acquired in higher resolution with a high quality slide scanner and downrezzed after that in photoshop. Issues with dirt and debris aside I think the difference in resolution and texture speaks for itself. I am confident that the detail and texture of the Sony Blu-Ray of Lawrence of Arabia would come much closer to such a scan

[Penton-Man]

^
Oliver, I would assume that you would not be ecstatically happy if LoA were to receive a proportionately even lower Blu-ray bitrate budget than Hamlet ……since, after all,.....it is a shorter motion picture?

P.S.
I'm just teasing you ..... like with my recent foray into the degrain menu and parameters.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Well, too bad that these do not get that old so I hope he will continue to do his job as long as he is alive and healthy - de definitely seems to like it

Well, we’ve covered football and soccer so, let’s give a weekend tip of the hat to baseball, esp. since it’s yet another Philadelphia fan who has his priorities in order (i.e. most importantly, don’t drop the food or drink) –
http://www.the700level.com/2010/08/p...an-driben.html

seems the fans in the stands also liked it ….
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6790284n

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by madshi

Sadly, Taffy's source doesn't seem to be "available" (if you know what I mean), at least not yet. So I doubt it will be used in comparisons. The only Aliens broadcast "available" is the Japanese one, which was recorded back in 2008.

That shows you how uneducated I am as to all these HD sources which you guys watch. At first glance when I read Taffy’s post late last night, I didn’t realize he was referring to a cable channel - I thought he was referring to a broadcast version that Encore (a post facility in Hollywood) had made -

http://www.encorehollywood.com/

Nevertheless, I think the screenshot analysis of Aliens is going to be an interesting read.....given Jim's comments, who is no techno slouch
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20100110204

Jim basically does exactly what he wants to do when it comes to his motion pictures.

[sharkshark]

fyi, sitting here at the half, watching TFC get slaughtered (2-0 and counting) by Henry's new team.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

^
Oliver, I would assume that you would not be ecstatically happy if LoA were to receive a proportionately even lower Blu-ray bitrate budget than Hamlet ……since, after all,.....it is a shorter motion picture?

Sony racing Warner to be the studio with the lowest average bitrate - great idea

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

P.S.
I'm just teasing you ..... like with my recent foray into the degrain menu and parameters.

I know, unfortunately with other studios there is no teasing but so-so or really bad Blu-Ray releases of large format movies

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

So, is it OK to modify aspect from the (second-run) theatrical presentation, even if you're making it wider and back to the original? (he asked, provocatively... )

As the movie was composed with a wider presentation in mind it imo is a very good idea to restore it to the aspect ratio that it was intended for before those nasty optical tracks were put back on Cinemascope movies.

There are two other movies by the way that were shot in Ultra Panavision 70 (2.76 to 1, projection ratio most of the time at about 2.5 to 2.6 to 1) and never shown that way - Raintree County and Fall of the Roman Empire. I would certainly be happy if we finally get these in 2.5 to 1 or wider.

[johndoyle123]

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI COVER ART IS INCREDIBLE ....

YOU GUYS DONT **** ABOUT

[sharkshark]

yeah, that looks killer. But I'm still seeing no mention of all the stuff on the 2 disc set (that I got rid of last week)

[sharkshark]

hey, I just had a brilliant idea... I accidentally loaded the theme for "This is It" on my PS3 from the BD, and decided to look again to see if there was any nice (free) theme content I could load up that wasn't geared towards 13 year olds.

Alas, it was the same usual stuff, but it got me thinking - how fun would it be for Sony to throw together a PS3 theme for some of their classic films? I'd certainly DL a Strangelove theme, or a LOA theme, and everytime my PS3 would boot I'd be reminded of the studio that made theme possible.

Sure, there might be rights issues to use the photos, but I'd think that would be worked out as part of a usual marketing budget (esp. if they were free).

So, P, can you pass that on to somebody that might be the first to say it's a stupid idea?

cheers

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

yeah, that looks killer. But I'm still seeing no mention of all the stuff on the 2 disc set (that I got rid of last week)

Now that is where you have to have a little faith

And yes, that set does look killer! I am impressed and I know that this time the disc itself will also look killer which of course is the most important thing here.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

Pention,

I assume you were talking about "The Big Butt Book," which looks like a must read!

Please, please, I implore you to put your beer goggles on and stay on topic, as this is a nerd forum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIT3WlIyy1Y

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Please, please, I implore you to put your beer goggles on and stay on topic, as this is a nerd forum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIT3WlIyy1Y

Pretty damn funny, but I like the butt book better

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

Pretty damn funny, but I like the butt book better

I couldn’t have written better taglines than this…..“The Kama Sutra gives detailed instructions on how to spank it. Contemporary Italians touch it for luck before placing a bet. Americans are having it cosmetically enhanced at rates approaching breast enlargement surgery”.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Sony racing Warner to be the studio with the lowest average bitrate - great idea

Could never win the race as they’ve always had an unfair head-start with a hotline to Amir when he was a V.P.

Now don’t be too hard on them as perhaps they lost it (the detail) in the lights….watch the clip to the very end – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlqmRQaKG50

I’m on a beer/baseball theme this weekend.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

....So, P, can you pass that on to somebody that might be the first to say it's a stupid idea?

cheers

Done!

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Done!

sweet, cheers.