Gladiator (2000)

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Right, I KNOW that this isn't how we watch movies but please, look at the 200% blow-up and then tell me that the US one isn't a blocky mess in comparison. (BTW I can see this blocking in the regular sized caps without any zooming whatsoever but no-one else seemingly can, so...I dunno )

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=...&l=1&i=11&go=1

[edit] But it is an odd duck. There's genuinely a smidge more detail here and there on the US, and the coarseness of the compression actually makes it look sharper from a distance, while the Euro looks much more uniform at the expense of being the teensiest bit filtered, though there's also parts of the image where it retains detail that the US does not. Either way, it kicks the ARSE of the original disc and for that we must be eternally grateful.

Yes, you're right - but I can only see this (now) on my home monitor and not on my work monitor. Odd.

[HeavyHitter]

Another 200% shot, but the DE definitely looks cleaner in a good way.

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=...2&l=1&i=9&go=1

[Brandon K]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

But it is an odd duck.

To me - and I'm sure I'm oversimplifying it - it looks like either the US has a slight sharpen (hence the compression encode trying to handle that) or the DE has a slight DNR.

But - according to the stats on the Caps site - the DE also has a lot of extra language tracks and presumably as a result of that (less space on the disc), it has quite a lower video bitrate than the US (including a lower peak).

Originally Posted by JohnCarpenterLives

I'm late to the party

I'm also late to the party, and catching up on all my favorite movies on Blu-ray. At first I figured I'd get the US one, but now I'm leaning to importing the DE release. It's insanity to be comparing international encodes and then deciding to import a movie - especially a major movie - that should just be the same great encode in each region.

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Another 200% shot, but the DE definitely looks cleaner in a good way.

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=...2&l=1&i=9&go=1

Oh, have a look in the bottom left corner (of the fullscreen comparison for that screenshot) - yikes!

EDIT:

How about this one - look along the top edge of the US - to me that's a clear sign of sharpening:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=...3&l=1&i=0&go=1

Lots of obvious macroblocking in the shadows for the US:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go...=46977&i=4&l=1

Just imagine if the DE didn't have all those extra languages, and had a higher video bitrate...

---

[Geoff D]

HH got banned? Yowza.

Yes Brandon, I said that the Euro disc does appear to be slightly filtered in comparison but it's still a masterpiece of an encode, to get almost three hours of something that grainy squeezed into a 20 Mb/s average and still look that freakin' good is amazing.

The US and International discs were released by different studios though (Dreamworks via Paramount in the US, Universal in the rest of the world IIRC) so them being very different encodes and language packages in general isn't all that surprising. Same thing happened with Minority Report, it was Par in the US and Fox elsewhere and again had quite different encodes.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

HH got banned? Yowza.

Awww. We disagreed a lot but he was a great poster. Too many bannings lately.

[TravisTylerBlack]

Looks like this edition has quietly gone out of print recently. According to Best Buy a new edition is scheduled for release in January. Possibly 4K?

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by TravisTylerBlack

Looks like this edition has quietly gone out of print recently. According to Best Buy a new edition is scheduled for release in January. Possibly 4K?

Nope. Same discs as always just boomeranging back to Paramount's home video department after a three year stint at Warner's home video AirBNB.

[thelwig14]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Nope. Same discs as always just boomeranging back to Paramount's home video department after a three year stint at Warner's home video AirBNB.

Most likely same cover art? Slipcover again?

I haven't paid attention to the paramount/wb deal.

[AG_Awesome]

I saw that my blu ray is the crap original release. Will the January one coming out be the good quality fix? Ill just buy that for 9.99 on amazon and toss the discontinued on ebay as a "limited edition". lol

[Early Memphis]

Originally Posted by AG_Awesome

I saw that my blu ray is the crap original release. Will the January one coming out be the good quality fix? Ill just buy that for 9.99 on amazon and toss the discontinued on ebay as a "limited edition". lol

Yeah, real funny. Be one of the DB clowns who make this place and eBay look bad at the same time. "Crap" belongs in the toilet, doesn't it?

[AG_Awesome]

^^ #Triggered

[AG_Awesome]

Originally Posted by yarulbcool

So walmart has added the sapphire edition to their $7 bin. I bought it a few days ago. Is it not good or something? Haven't watched this edition yet.

Does it have the yellow UPC sticker?

[AG_Awesome]

Found this on another forum:

"on the back cover, lower right, above the Paramount logo, the original says "2 disc set" and the remastered doesn't. Also, once you open the case, the remastered discs are dark gray while the original is light gray."

[AG_Awesome]

Also I don't want to be too presumptuous but I highly doubt the bad discs would be put back into circulation. Never know though.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by AG_Awesome

Also I don't want to be too presumptuous but I highly doubt the bad discs would be put back into circulation. Never know though.

Why would they? They were pressed in 2009, this is end of 2016. There is no reason for the old stock to show up nor would Deluxe even press a new batch.

[AG_Awesome]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Why would they? They were pressed in 2009, this is end of 2016. There is no reason for the old stock to show up nor would Deluxe even press a new batch.

Why would they? For no reason other than stupid stuff happens sometimes. Lol. But I like to think this wouldn't ever happen .

[Cook]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Why would they? They were pressed in 2009, this is end of 2016. There is no reason for the old stock to show up nor would Deluxe even press a new batch.

Best Buy's steelbook release of Fifth Element has the old crappy 2006 disc in it. It happens. The bad releases arent always entirely eradicated.

[AG_Awesome]

Originally Posted by yarulbcool

So is the remastered best? The walmart $7 blu-ray bin (on sale for $5 btw) has the one with the "2-disc set" above the logo and the light grey discs.

There's a good chance that's a left over old pressing then and I'd avoid it unless the replacement plan is still going on with paramount. Not sure if it is though.

[thatguamguy]

Hi, I just ordered this movie from Fry's recent sale, and when I got it I was briefly disappointed because it had a white UPC code.

But then I looked at the bottom of the back cover, and it had a 2017 printing. I'm assuming that means it will be the corrected transfer, but is there something I can look for specifically to spot check the disc?

[imsounoriginal]

Isn't there something like the old ones say 2-disc set at the bottom-right corner of the back, but the new ones don't? Besides, I'm pretty sure all the bad discs have been out of circulation for years now. If you bought a brand-new copy you should be safe.