Gladiator (2000)

[Freekman]

I bought this today and haven't seen it yet. I will decide for myself if it is worth it, not any haters or AVS Screenshots. Judgement lies in the eyes of the beholder.

[benricci]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

i could be wrong but i think he was referring to us at blu-ray.com being willing to pay $50 for Gladiator with great PQ/AQ, and I would. It isn't about the money. This is a unique product. You can't just buy a replacement product if its not up to par. ANd let's face it: we're all blu-ray nutheads or we wouldnt' be here.

Sure, it isn't all about the money, but I still highly doubt even those who frequent internet forums like this would pay upwards of $50, despite what they may say publicly...

I just feel like the same people who are on their soapbox proclaiming "I would have paid $50, $70, anything for a good transfer of this film, Paramount" would be the same to yell out "$50? Are they crazy? Let's boycott high prices and teach them a lesson!"

[Blu-Ron]

Hmmm...that's funny. I paid $12.99 for a great transfer.

[bandit29]

Originally Posted by Blu-Ron

Hmmm...that's funny. I paid $12.99 for a great transfer.

lol must have been a different movie

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

i could be wrong but i think he was referring to us at blu-ray.com being willing to pay $50 for Gladiator with great PQ/AQ, and I would. It isn't about the money. This is a unique product. You can't just buy a replacement product if its not up to par. ANd let's face it: we're all blu-ray nutheads or we wouldnt' be here.

Uh....maybe you are. I, sir, am a Blu-ray-Wacko.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by ryan11

I got a email to day from Amazon.ca saying they cancelled my order because thier supplies don't have any in stock. did anyone else get this

Man that is odd. Why would they cancel it and not just let it ride until they replenished their inventory?

Could something be in the works?

Let the rumors begin.

[Philnerd]

Originally Posted by benricci

Lol, this would sell about zero copies at $50 and you know it. Instead of complaining and boycotting because of picture quality, you all would be boycotting and complaining because of price.

Who are we trying to kid, here?

Well you totally missed my point. To reiterate, the fact that this movie is available for fairly cheap (as little as $8 with rebate and bundle pricing) *does not improve on the presentation*. The missed opportunity of having Gladiator presented in its entirety with the same quality of the Extended Edition scenes is the problem.

I personaly find little solace in the fact that a mostly botched "Sapphire" series film that won 5 Academy Awards and is an iconic favorite is being priced affordably.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Philnerd

Well you totally missed my point. To reiterate, the fact that this movie is available for fairly cheap (as little as $8 with rebate and bundle pricing) *does not improve on the presentation*. The missed opportunity of having Gladiator presented in its entirety with the same quality of the Extended Edition scenes is the problem.

I personaly find little solace in the fact that a mostly botched "Sapphire" series film that won 5 Academy Awards and is an iconic favorite is being priced affordably.

I only paid $10.00 for Dog Soldiers. That great price doesnt help me enjoy the crap PQ. Why cant they understand what you are saying?

[benricci]

I understood your point and chose to make one of my own. It's called a conversation.

No, cheap prices do not make up for poor quality. I think we can all agree on that - in fact it should go without saying.

[HAVOKK]

Originally Posted by Gremal

I haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but I do have a point that has not been made--well maybe it has but I missed it in the last thousand posts.

Unlike Braveheart, Gladiator uses immense CGI effects in most scenes. Everyone knows that CGI adversely impacts picture quality because of the processing involved in the effort of making the computer animated elements of the picture seemless with the live elements. It was evident when I saw Gladiator in the theater and on DVD. It was never the most crystal clear picture in the history of cinema.

So for those of you who've seen the BD, can you comment on whether mainly the scenes using CGI are impacted or is it more problematic. I'll be able to see this soon to come to my own conclusion but I figured this CGI question could help the discussion.

I actually thought about that after I first watched the film.. This is a movie from 2000, and if they reprocessed the image to include the CGI, what kind of quality were they aiming for? And im not very knowledgeable on how they go about storing the video after including effects/CGI, but if their main source was saved under crappy quality after the CGI was added, whos to say they can really improve the movie any more. I know with a film that is without special effects, its going to get a pure transfer from the source.. But like I said, I don't really know much about that subject.

[J.Cornelius]

Universal might have gotten the Gladiator master right....




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6DORwBzuA

[Batman1980]

I doubt it considering they're using the exact same transfer overseas, just distributing it for Paramount. On another note, has ANYONE here who contacted Paramount actually gotten a reply?

[nycomet]

When I viewed Gladiator last night, I thoroughly enjoyed the film - it has been a while since I last watched it. One area that really shines is the audio. Wow.

But I did find many scenes soft as far as PQ is concerned. What bothered me more than anything was the strong white outline that often appeared around the edges of many objects - and around the actor's as well. It wasn't constant, but it was extremely noticeable to me in many scenes throughout the film. I did not like it at all.

Overall, the experience was good -- but with room for improvement.

Despite the PQ flaws, I was immersed in the story from beginning to end.

[SBrooks1]

Originally Posted by nycomet

What bothered me more than anything was the strong white outline that often appeared around the edges of many objects - and around the actor's as well. It wasn't constant, but it was extremely noticeable to me in many scenes throughout the film. I did not like it at all.

That's called halo'ing and it's due to Edge Enhancement

[Big Z]

It almost looked like Russel Crow was green screened the entire time, like a freakin weatherman.

[HAVOKK]

Originally Posted by SBrooks1

That's called halo'ing and it's due to Edge Enhancement

Sometimes I get the feeling that we try to enhance bleep so much that it ends up looking worse than the original. Arent these "enhancements" the reason for 99% of the graphical problems on this disk? But then again, CGI needs to blend in and all so who knows how they have to go about blending real footage with the CGI..

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Big Z

It almost looked like Russel Crow was green screened the entire time, like a freakin weatherman.

Thats a great analogy.

[HAVOKK]

Originally Posted by Big Z

It almost looked like Russel Crow was green screened the entire time, like a freakin weatherman.

Well it must not have been the whole time.. unless they purposely inserted that blue jean man in the back..

[NutsAboutPS3]

Originally Posted by Philnerd

At the risk of sounding cliche, its not about the money. Many of us would have happily paid $40-50 for a version of Gladiator that looked as good as the Extended Edition scenes. The movie is just that well liked by a lot of fans. The money isn't the issue, its the lack of a proper Blu-Ray for Gladiator. $20, $8, free from a buddy; it doesn't make the presentation better.

Seriously, we're not buying movies for the second or third time on Blu-Ray because we're frugal. We're buying these because we want quality, premium presentations of these films that live up to Blu-Ray capabilities.

Exactly. As a society, we grant these companies the right to a monopoly on their intellectual property, and we do this to encourage the creation of such works, to serve the public interest. But in return for society granting them this right, I feel they have a moral obligation to make the works available to the public in the best possible presentation. Nobody else is permitted to release them, it's not as if they have the defence of "if you don't like it, do it yourself". We are 100% reliant on them to produce these releases for us, because the companies demand the exclusive right to release them. If you're going to demand that you're the only one allowed to release something, you'd better do a good job of it.

Originally Posted by HAVOKK

But then again, CGI needs to blend in and all so who knows how they have to go about blending real footage with the CGI..

Nothing to do with CGI, the version broadcast on HDTV doesn't have the problems that the Blu-ray has.

I'll be renting this to judge for myself, at least to check that the screenshots produced by others are an "honest" representation of what is on the disc.

[Bullseye]

Most people on here probably spent more money on the DVD version of this movie and I bet there wasn't the *****ing about the PQ on that LOL.