Night of the Living Dead (1990) - Out of Print

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by psicon

When viewed on the same equipment as the blu-ray, by far the vast majority of full size screencaps posted here, or linked to here, absolutely do reflect how the image appears.

bingo

[jjdpw50]

Secondary prices have fallen into the 50's.. Too many for resale I guess, along with mediocre reviews.

[thephantomcat]

Originally Posted by psicon

When viewed on the same equipment as the blu-ray, by far the vast majority of full size screencaps posted here, or linked to here, absolutely do reflect how the image appears.

I doubt allot of people were loading up the screenshots on their tv's. I believe I only ever read one person on this board do that. The majority of people went by what their saw on their tiny uncalibrated computer screens. Yes, the image is darker and blue at times, but only a handful of images were accurate representation. And those were not that bad compared to some.

Edit: It seems the darkest of the images posted have been taken down leaving only the mostly accurate images. Except for the YouTube video for some reason. That video is not accurate in the slightest.

[Kentai]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

And with those prices im assured a great transfer THAT THEY DO THEMSELVES and amazing special features...

Eh... for every new scan from an actual print Criterion supervises, they've got at least two more based on masters that whatever studio owns the film handed them.

They do additional clean-up work when necessary, but Criterion had about as much to do with the transfer for FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS or KILLER'S KISS as Twilight Time does with anything they license.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Kentai

They do additional clean-up work when necessary, but Criterion had about as much to do with the transfer for FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS or KILLER'S KISS as Twilight Time does with anything they license.

If that were the case then why does Criterion's Fear and Loathing look superior to Universal's release despiite them using the same BD master? The review here states that "Criterion have toned down the brightness and contrast levels quite a bit. As a result, the harsh, digital look that is often present on Universal's transfer is practically nowhere to be seen.". I think i't 's pretty clear Criterion had a lot to do with how the transfer turned out, just like they did for something like Dazed and Confused which was released by Universal as well, and also inferior to the Criterion release.

[Bad Sandwich]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

If that were the case then why does Criterion's Fear and Loathing look superior to Universal's release despiite them using the same BD master? The review here states that "Criterion have toned down the brightness and contrast levels quite a bit. As a result, the harsh, digital look that is often present on Universal's transfer is practically nowhere to be seen.". I think i't 's pretty clear Criterion had a lot to do with how the transfer turned out, just like they did for something like Dazed and Confused which was released by Universal as well, and also inferior to the Criterion release.

Well, it doesn't, is the thing. There's a tiny color shift which would be equalized on either release with a few display color tweaks, and that's about it. Ditto for the Criterion Easy Rider vs Sony's, as another random example. In those cases they just made tiny, near-superfluous tweaks to masters that were already acceptable (or outright excellent, in Easy Rider's case).

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Bad Sandwich

Well, it doesn't, is the thing. There's a tiny color shift which would be equalized on either release with a few display color tweaks, and that's about it. Ditto for the Criterion Easy Rider vs Sony's, as another random example. In those cases they just made tiny, near-superfluous tweaks to masters that were already acceptable (or outright excellent, in Easy Rider's case).

They did make tweaks, that's the entire point (read what I'm replying to if you missed the context)

[Bad Sandwich]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

They did make tweaks, that's the entire point (read what I'm replying to if you missed the context)

I'd read the exchange. Your claimed Criterion had a major hand in the looks of the releases mentioned and that Fear and Loathing looks superior. In the case of Fear and Loathing, it isn't true. Dazed and Confused is another story of course

[tru blu]

Sure Twilight Time has to work with what Sony gives them. However, someone signed off on this release. And you would think that if they watched the master they were given, and had they:

A: Seen the movie on DVD
B: Looked at the trailer they themselves were putting on this release

that a flag should have gone up to let them know the picture was very different to previous releases.

Trailers for movies have been around for ages. I don't know of any trailer that exists that was not the intended theatrical look. The fact that the trailer on the discs proves what it looked like theatrically.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by tru blu

Sure Twilight Time has to work with what Sony gives them. However, someone signed off on this release. And you would think that if they watched the master they were given, and had they:

A: Seen the movie on DVD
B: Looked at the trailer they themselves were putting on this release

that a flag should have gone up to let them know the picture was very different to previous releases.

Trailers for movies have been around for ages. I don't know of any trailer that exists that was not the intended theatrical look. The fact that the trailer on the discs proves what it looked like theatrically.

Even if they hated the transfer they couldn't do anything about it if it's what the studio approved of. The only way they could do something was if there was an actual error with the master and not something intentional.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Even if they hated the transfer they couldn't do anything about it if it's what the studio approved of. The only way they could do something was if there was an actual error with the master and not something intentional.

But had they noticed the difference they could have at least informed customers ahead of time. Best case they might have been able to include both versions in the release similar to how TT is planning on having two versions for the Major Dundee release.

[Kentai]

Yeah... TRAFFIC says hi.

Have you actually seen both transfers for F&L? THE DIFFERENCE IS MARGINAL. They're both clearly made from the same HD tape master of the same 35mm print, both have a fairly similar bitrate... about the only thing you can complain about in regards to the Universal release is that the contrast is slightly blown out, and even that could be the fault of a compressor setting rather than CC going out of their way to "improve it" (or, perhaps, UNI tried to improve it on their end and just went too far in the process).

To be more direct, QUADROPHENIA looks pretty "meh" whether you pay for the Criterion name or not. I'll give you DAZED AND CONFUSED, but... come on, the Universal Blu-ray is an HD-DVD port, while Criterion had access to a brand new master five years later. (Cripes, how could they NOT top it?!) More importantly, do you think CC or UNI did the actual 35mm scan? I'll give you a hint; unless Criterion brags about doing the film work in the booklet, odds are overwhelming they had nothing to do with it until they got an HDCAM SR tape in the mail.

No, what I'm talking about are when Criterion do their own film transfers. When they released the "Americanized" print of GODZILLA and did a brand new scan of a 35mm master. When they do their own work from the ground up, they're absolutely worth praising and throwing money at. When they're just tweaking whatever MGM and Universal hands them... eh, whatever. Discs like THE GAME, LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST or KILLER'S KISS are fine in their own right, but had the studios that owned them released them the results would have been pretty much the same thing.

Twilight Time has yet to "tweak" any materials directly, but... they don't author their discs in-house, either. TT is trusting Sony and whoever their post house is that everything they're handed is as it should be. For better or worse, that's mostly held up. For whatever valid complaints reviews have leveled against, say, COVER GIRL, the HD master is what it is; Sony said it was as good as it was going to get, and TT said "good enough for us".

Obviously that doesn't mean they can let bulls**t like NOTLD '90 happen and not notice, but it's a hell of a lot easier to tweak your own transfers when you have a dedicated authoring staff on hand versus needing to go to a separate facility somewhere else in the country, just to peek over the tech's shoulder and play backseat colorist... I'm sure they post house they're using would just love Twilight Time if that was their usual M.O.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

But had they noticed the difference they could have at least informed customers ahead of time. Best case they might have been able to include both versions in the release similar to how TT is planning on having two versions for the Major Dundee release.

Yeah I agree. I think, if they played their cards right, they could have even marketed it as something that people would be falling over each other trying to buy

"In 2010, for the film's 20th Anniversary, Sony, and Director of Photography Frank Prinzi went back into the studio, and completely remastered Night of the Living Dead to give it a darker, grittier look that zombie fans will surely love. This Never Before Seen transfer is presented exclusively to Twilight Time, and limited to 3,000 copies worldwide"

I think the reaction to that would certainly be much better than what it is now. More people may even prefer it to the other and feel special knowing they have something never released before, rather than the feeling that someone ****ed up royally on this, etc...

[Bad Sandwich]

I agree with most everything you said, Kentai, but I thought I'd read Criterion's The Game is in fact a new scan. Going by the comparison with the previous Universal, to me the tweaks don't look like anything that couldn't conceivably be accomplished with the same master, but I've read otherwise. At the very least their version is supposedly Fincher-approved, so maybe people have erroneously assumed that inherently means a new scan or something.

Edit: And sorry for pushing this thread any further OT

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Originally Posted by jjdpw50

Secondary prices have fallen into the 50's.. Too many for resale I guess, along with mediocre reviews.

Yes, far too many, anyone wanting to resell for a bigger price is going to have to wait a couple months. for the herd to thin out. However those are bidding, you can still get 70 from buy it nows. Still, 50 would be better than trading it in. The sad thing is Twilight Time is actually encouraging this. Obviously they don't want returned discs. But saying things on Facebook like "they are sure to skyrocket in value in the coming months" doesn't exactly discourage people from scalping in the future.

[tru blu]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Even if they hated the transfer they couldn't do anything about it if it's what the studio approved of. The only way they could do something was if there was an actual error with the master and not something intentional.

That's true. But maybe let the customer know it's been tinkered with.

[HorrorBlu]

Just for laughs

[HyperRealist]

Bruce Pullen is a tool. I can't stand reading TT's facebook. Every other post is that clown brown nosing.

[DetroitSquirreL]

Originally Posted by HorrorBlu

Just for laughs

So... Limited to 3000 +

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by DetroitSquirreL

So... Limited to 3000 +

Not to mention the "promo" copies they print for directors, actors, actresses, employees, studios, etc.