Gladiator (2000)

[SBrooks1]

Compared to the Theatrical scenes in Gladiator, Patton is still a 5 even with the small amount of DNR used.

[robertc88]

I specifically don't care what the scoring is for movies but I feel if people watch it and like what they viewed per se than that matters the most. I do give people what I would score a movie if I view it amongst the first and there aren't any reviews, I offer my opinion with a number. A good amount of time I find myself being pretty close.

I didn't like watching Patton which was given a 5.0 but so what if I didn't enjoy it. I didn't like watching The Last Starfighter and I'm sure that was not a 5.0 but so what as well. I couldn't even finish watching it.

There are going to many more folks who watch Gladiator that will end up enjoying what they viewed, not only J6P, regardless of the PQ score.

[MaCruz]

My simple review,

PQ 4/5
AQ 4/5
Movie 5/5

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by davcole

I think the bass comes through a bit muddied. Not a lot of fine detail in the bass. Now what I did notice is that I had to turn the volume up considerably, perhaps that's where you notice a lack of bass as the volume does need to be adjusted up. I don't think the track is that great.

I listen with the Onkyo SR605 AVR. The volume was set to 55 which is the norm for most movies. I did not have to turn this up at all nor adjust the volume during the movie whatsoever.

This is a Dolby TrueHD track. That said folks, make sure DRC is set to "OFF" both in the player for the audio and also the amp/avr.

I remember reading the same sort of thing about TDK. I ALWAYS make sure I check the DRC setting when I watch movies with a Dolby TrueHD track.

[davcole]

Originally Posted by robertc88

I listen with the Onkyo SR605 AVR. The volume was set to 55 which is the norm for most movies. I did not have to turn this up at all nor adjust the volume during the movie whatsoever.

This is a Dolby TrueHD track. That said folks, make sure DRC is set to "OFF" both in the player for the audio and also the amp/avr.

I remember reading the same sort of thing about TDK. I ALWAYS make sure I check the DRC setting when I watch movies with a Dolby TrueHD track.

Gladiator is a DTSMA track. What film are you referring to?

[NutsAboutPS3]

Originally Posted by bfellow

I agree new scan. Less or no edge enhancement. Turn the brightness back to normal. Keep the DNR at a minimum so we can have more detail. No more time-shifting fireball and arrows!

There Paramount should get that in its head.

Why do they need a new scan? They can just use whatever they used for the HDTV broadcast, which looks fine. For example, look at Xylon's screen cap from the HDTV broadcast here:

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/301c363c.png

then compare with the same shot from the Blu-ray:

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/9de6198d.png

All the detail is gone from her face in the Blu-ray, and the edge enhancement is much stronger in the Blu-ray.

[BaronVH]

Originally Posted by captclueless

Since the main thread seems to be about the video and whether or not paramount plans on re releasing this brand new release, I thought a seperate thread about the audio would be ok.

Is it me, or was the regular dvd with the dts 6.1 soundtrack more "bassy". At first I thought maybe the 3.0 firmware update on the ps3 had turned on something like dynamic control, but all my setting are still in tact. Then I thought something was wrong with my sub, so I popped in transformers, U571 and hitman, and there is definitely not something wrong with the sub. There is bass, during battle scenes, when the cart hits the wall just below comedus. Just could have sworn it was a little more bassy then it is.

I did a little comparison with the DVD and Blu-ray, and I found the DVD to be very harsh espacially with the bass. The Blu-ray was much crisper with the dialog as well. So, yes, I think the audio on the DVD was very bass heavy.

[tau31]

Anyone having issues with the disc? When I play the movie, some scenes just pause for about 1 sec then continues to play. I've never had this issue before. :|

[johnno1986]

Hopefully the sound will be better on the 'Universal' release. In Australia the movie is distributed by 'Universal' not 'Paramount'.

[Petri Teittinen]

Originally Posted by tau31

Anyone having issues with the disc? When I play the movie, some scenes just pause for about 1 sec then continues to play. I've never had this issue before. :|

Sounds like something to do with the seamless branching. What player do you use? That Samsung 1500 in your sig?

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by davcole

Gladiator is a DTSMA track. What film are you referring to?

Sorry, Braveheart.

I had no issues with Gladiator though.

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by tau31

Anyone having issues with the disc? When I play the movie, some scenes just pause for about 1 sec then continues to play. I've never had this issue before. :|

Maybe it's related to so much negative energy coming out of the Xbox 360 you have sitting near the Blu-ray player?

[Petri Teittinen]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

Maybe it's related to so much negative energy coming out of the Xbox 360 you have sitting near the Blu-ray player?

Who, me?

[Philnerd]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

On another forum someone stated that they heard the cost of a transfer on a catalog title is in the range of $250,000 US to $500,000 US and even more if the film elements need a lot of cleaning or other things. That`s a lot of moulah to make up trying to sell Blu-ray catalog titles these days.

Well that would sure have a lot more weight to it if we didn't have catalog films like Ghost Busters, Ghandi, Princess Bride and Big Trouble in Little China all with incredibly detailed and filmic transfers. All those films were either freshly scanned and restored for their Blu-Ray releases or were at the least properly scanned at the last go around.

The problem here is that Paramount just sucks. No really, Paramount literally can't be bothered to take care of Gladiator as well as Fox takes care of movies like Princess Bride. Paramount is so cheap that not only did they refuse to scan in a new master for Gladiator, they didn't even pay the labor to have *supervised* scratch/damage removal done on the DNR/EE'd master.

Other studios like Warner understand that these titles will generate income for years and years to come. These films are valuable properties and business assests. Its worth spending the money to do proper 4K (or even 8K) scans on these films even if it means they don't make that money back in the next friggin Quarter. Paramount management are running the studio with an Enron business mentality that is 100% concerned with maximum profits today, regardless of lost income, customers or business relationships tomorrow.

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by Deads3t

My quick late night thoughts:

Let's get the easy part out of the way:

Sound - rocked.

Now onto the picture.

Video - 3.5/5 - the picture looks scrubbed and uneven, parts look fantastic while others look Overall though, it's very watchable for lack of a better term. I thought the dream sequences looked the best. I watched the entire extended edition and found that the more fleshed out story added to the film.

Is it better than the DVD? YES
Is it ref quality? No
Am I disappointed? No - from what people are saying it's the worst transfer ever and that simply is not true. It's not fantastic and it's not terrible. It's right in the middle.

Screen shots do NOT do the movie justice.


The movie content makes up for it and you really loose yourself in the movie and stop nit-picking every detail. Some of you people must not enjoy films, some are probably the gaming type that buy games based on graphics. I found the blu-ray to be a great addition to my collection.

Enjoy Sussudio, I highly recommend watching the extended cut. Loved the extra little bits of story.

You saved me some typing - I agree with all your comments. After all the prerelease negativity, I was skeptical. But Gladiator looks good and sounds great, and I was not disappointed. I didn't see the halo effect as well as others and I couldn't really tell by the PQ which scenes were extended ones(on my Sammy 40" LCD 1080p). The review here at bluray.com is quite accurate in my estimation.

[Mokus76]

Originally Posted by STARSCREAM

You better throw the PS3 in there, SERIOUSLY!!! I have compared it up against stand alones and it exceeded every single one of them.
also, I think you just opened up a whole can of worms.

Alright I maybe forgot about the PS3, because obviously I have that too, and yes it loads faster and is better then the cheap panny's and samsungs, but it doesnt come close to my Denon 2500 but I agree it is better then the cheap crap.

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by Petri Teittinen

Who, me?

Sorry it was meant to be a reply to this post...

Originally Posted by tau31

Anyone having issues with the disc? When I play the movie, some scenes just pause for about 1 sec then continues to play. I've never had this issue before. :|

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by Philnerd

Well that would sure have a lot more weight to it if we didn't have catalog films like Ghost Busters, Ghandi, Princess Bride and Big Trouble in Little China all with incredibly detailed and filmic transfers. All those films were either freshly scanned and restored for their Blu-Ray releases or were at the least properly scanned at the last go around.

The problem here is that Paramount just sucks. No really, Paramount literally can't be bothered to take care of Gladiator as well as Fox takes care of movies like Princess Bride. Paramount is so cheap that not only did they refuse to scan in a new master for Gladiator, they didn't even pay the labor to have *supervised* scratch/damage removal done on the DNR/EE'd master.

Other studios like Warner understand that these titles will generate income for years and years to come. These films are valuable properties and business assests. Its worth spending the money to do proper 4K (or even 8K) scans on these films even if it means they don't make that money back in the next friggin Quarter. Paramount management are running the studio with an Enron business mentality that is 100% concerned with maximum profits today, regardless of lost income, customers or business relationships tomorrow.

Yep it seems that we'll get top notch Blu-ray releases only for those that the studios put the money into. I wonder what criteria they use for deciding these things. You would think that Gladiator would be one that they would spend the money on a new transfer for.

[NutsAboutPS3]

Originally Posted by Philnerd

Paramount is so cheap that not only did they refuse to scan in a new master for Gladiator, they didn't even pay the labor to have *supervised* scratch/damage removal done on the DNR/EE'd master.

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

Yep it seems that we'll get top notch Blu-ray releases only for those that the studios put the money into. I wonder what criteria they use for deciding these things. You would think that Gladiator would be one that they would spend the money on a new transfer for.

Please see my post above. There is nothing wrong with the master used for the HDTV broadcast. Look at the two pictures I posted links to and see if you still think it needs a new transfer.

[Philnerd]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

Yep it seems that we'll get top notch Blu-ray releases only for those that the studios put the money into. I wonder what criteria they use for deciding these things. You would think that Gladiator would be one that they would spend the money on a new transfer for.

Were this a Sony or Warner release we'd have absolutely gotten it