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

[Bobby Henderson]

Maybe I have a different disc or something because I don't see all the "edge ringing" and other problems certain people are complaining about with the Blu-ray of Baraka. The only image flaws I've seen (after watching the BD version several times) is noticeable grain on some of the rotating star-field shots. Overall, I consider Baraka to have the best image quality of any live action title on Blu-ray.

That being said, it's still even better to see the movie projected in 70mm in a good quality movie theater. 1080p is going to give you only so much detail out of the native large format image. It's still nice to see that 70mm can make a pretty noticeable difference on Blu-ray. Hopefully the impressive imagery in Baraka may inspire some filmmakers and producers to shoot some new movies in 70mm.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by micks_address

well on highdefdigest - the reviewer states

'I also have to say that, as impressive as the High-Def transfer may be in most respects, it still doesn't hold a candle to the original 70mm theatrical release. '

This is actually a complement to the source, rather than a derision of BD. 65mm is capable of delivering 8K of resolution!

If the 70mm presentation did NOT beat Blu-ray handily, that would be a mighty sad state of affairs.

It's a very great thing that BD left something for the future.

Gary

[Kris Deering]

While the 70mm presentation may have indeed showed more detail, I am not sure how much of it would translate to home theater viewing even with a 4K medium. While the benefits may show on extremely large front projection setups with very short viewing distances, I think the effort would be lost on the major majority of viewing situations in the home today.

While I am always for pushing the envelope, I am extremely skeptical of the true benefit of 4K in home theater. If anything 4K displays may help out some technical issues we have in front projection (convergence, CA) but only about .0001% of the market would benefit at all from the increase of resolution, if notice it at all.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I received a PM in regards to “what did you mean by this ^ ^ phrase? ”.
What I meant was that Batman Begins averages 1.9 sec per cut.
I didn’t mean that the shortest edit is only 1.9 sec. in duration.

For example, with the Bourne Ultimatum there are about 3200 discrete shots in 105 minutes, which yields an average of about 2 seconds per edit.
That's a bit too fast for my taste.
Maybe I'm getting too old.

I read here somewhere.....weeks ago though, that Dark City held a record for this. No?

[Penton-Man]

I’m super busy folks and I’ll answer some past queries when I get more of a chance to (Hi Kris ).
In the meantime, I wondering if our Euro friends spotted any usual appearing fellows standing in the aisles or in the backs of theaters using devices such as this……..
http://www.universalexports.net/007n...solace-piracy/

and if so, did they prove a distraction to your viewing entertainment of QoS at your local Cineplex?
Iceman.....or anyone?

Otherwise, carry on with the current discussion(s).
I’m swamped.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by micks_address

if it cant and couldnt hold a candle to the 70mm print then why mention it at all then? ?

That's easy, it's called showing off.

[Jeff Kleist]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I’m super busy folks and I’ll answer some past queries when I get more of a chance to (Hi Kris ).
In the meantime, I wondering if our Euro friends spotted any usual appearing fellows standing in the aisles or in the backs of theaters using devices such as this……..
http://www.universalexports.net/007n...solace-piracy/

and if so, did they prove a distraction to your viewing entertainment of QoS at your local Cineplex?
Iceman.....or anyone?

Otherwise, carry on with the current discussion(s).
I’m swamped.

They've been using those at press screenings for years. The Studios know from which theaters most of the bootlegs originate from, so they can figure out where to watch.

Unfortunately it's a little late on QoS, they missed someone

[Penton-Man]

Catching up with past postings in a backwards manner……….

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They've been using those at press screenings for years. The Studios know from which theaters most of the bootlegs originate from, so they can figure out where to watch.

Unfortunately it's a little late on QoS, they missed someone

Well, I know that already, heck The Dark Knight only lasted for 38 hours after its release until a pirated version was posted on the internet. Plus, there are other provincial measures utilized such as infrared cameras to catch thieves. I was asking our Euro members if these human anti-piracy measures in their local Cineplex proved to be distracting or not to their viewing, esp. since the linked article is from Sweden from which we have several forum members.

Plus, protection from low quality camcorded copies with heads bobbing in the foreground or popcorn in the air secondary to kids throwing it at each other, is just one aspect of the multiple defensive mechanisms. From a quality standpoint, the most important challenge is prevent theft of pre-release material because that can be of superb SR 444 video copy quality which is accomplished by having a unique traceable, invisible code burned in the material, amongst other ways.

[Bobby Henderson]

I laugh at anyone willing to waste a couple hours of their life watching a crappy bootleg of a movie shot with a camcorder in a movie theater. Anyone willing to do that has no viewing standards for movies whatsoever. It certainly negates any bragging rights they have on seeing the movie first. Whoopie doo.

Duped DVD screeners, often boasting DD 5.1 audio, are a bigger threat in terms of piracy. With Blu-ray and BD Live, it would seem feasible to create a screener disc that has to phone home and validate itself before it will play.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I read here somewhere.....weeks ago though, that Dark City held a record for this. No?

I don't know, I would have to research it.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by iceman

What I meant with older Bond movies were the ones during the Roger Moore/Sean Connery era. I didn't have a problem with Pierce Brosnan, just that maybe the scripts he had to work with were so-so.

Casino Royale was very good -sort of refreshing and "suitable for our time"- and it's a beauty on Blu-ray and I don't have a problem with the rougher James Bond as long as the other "Bond-components" are there, but I think they took it too far in Quantum of Solace. I think everyone understand that MI6-jobs aren't exactly as glamorous as in the Bond movies, but the idea is to entertain. Like Jeff put it: Bond should be Bond and Bourne should be Bourne, Bond has gotten a cult status because he is Bond

Anyway, this is all subjective, so I will shut up now

No need, see my post above.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by scott1256ca

Josh Zyber finding a reason to piss on a blu-ray release: There's a shocker.

Like Grubert said, don’t be too tough on ole Josh Z. as I’m told that he could be the only Great Hope to save the *science* forum from self-destruction by being one of the few sane voices left in a house of noise.

I’ll take a formal review from a “nit-picker” any day of the week over the online rantings of loonies, even though I disagree with regards to his presumed definition of “distracting”.

Josh has come a long way since the conclusion of the format war.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

some times I think there is a "game" on AVS, the first to see (make up) DNR, EE or bad colour or some other issue with BD wins.

I agree, and it seems that artifact hunting for banding on Blu-rays has for, some reason, gone out of style, despite the fact that it also can be an encoding issue in some instances.

They’ve actually taken the game a step further, because if one doesn’t *see* the perceived artifacts, then it is insinuated that one is not an astute or *educated* movie watcher.

So, the ‘losers’ of the game, or those unable to quickly identify the alledged imperfections (which are invariably due to either incompetence or devious intentions on the part of the technicians involved )……….. those “blisfully ignorant” members are subtely encouraged to look harder! because they have no right to be truly happy while watching suboptimal (in their opinion) Blu-ray movies…..that could have been better!

In regards to Baraka, I’m now told the criticism has extended beyond the technical personnel involved to even Roger Ebert for ‘over-hyping’ the Blu-ray!

[Penton-Man]

Lunchtime.

[SquidPuppet]

Penton, Bill, Jeff or any insider,

It is evident that Warner Brothers is able and willing to go to great lengths and deliver an outstanding product for some releases. They have also surprised us to the down side on some "Big" titles. Is there any chatter in the industry regarding the source material, authoring etc., that may shed some light on the upcoming Wizard of Oz release?

Thank you!

[Jeff Kleist]

Wizard of Oz was restored using WB's ultra resolution process for the last DVD issue. Other than that, no.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They've been using those at press screenings for years. The Studios know from which theaters most of the bootlegs originate from, so they can figure out where to watch.

Unfortunately it's a little late on QoS, they missed someone

Yes, but keep in mind, it is considered a successful deterrent (financially) if a distributor can delay that type of illegal activity just long enough to protect the opening weekend’s box office.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Wizard of Oz was restored using WB's ultra resolution process for the last DVD issue. Other than that, no.

Check you PM's.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Wizard of Oz was restored using WB's ultra resolution process for the last DVD issue. Other than that, no.

Thanks Jeff. Curious though, I am ignorant about that process, and have never seen The Wizard of Oz DVD, can you expand on the quality of that restoration?