Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[The Great Owl]

I went back to Movie Stop during lunch to buy Motel Hell, and I also stumbled across a used copy of The Island.

I pulled the trigger on both of them.

I've been looking for The Island for a while now, because I fondly remember parts of the movie from childhood, and, although it's not quite what I consider to be horror, I like it for the same reasons that I like The Deep.

[Sinep]

Im starting to think some of the people complaining about Scream Factory just dislike them for whatever reasons. I see too many comments that are conflicting with these compression issues such as Motel Hell. I cannot help but to feel as if people who dislike scream factory will always write negative comments about their releases - there are anti-scream citizens around.

[Sinep]

Originally Posted by Stefan1

I recently watched SF's Lifeforce (Great wild movie) but the PQ was terrible....it was so grainy and blurry I was expecting crystal clear bluray transfer...is this the "compression" people are talking about?

Nonsense ! Lifeforce looked terrific

[spawningblue]

Originally Posted by Sinep

Im starting to think some of the people complaining about Scream Factory just dislike them for whatever reasons. I see too many comments that are conflicting with these compression issues such as Motel Hell. I cannot help but to feel as if people who dislike scream factory will always write negative comments about their releases - there are anti-scream citizens around.

I don't know if they are anti Scream, but I do think people greatly exaggerate the issues, or just aren't aware of how some of these films were shot. Mind you, I'm not defending Scream's compressions issues, and would love to see them deal with / fix this issue, but I also don't think it's as bad as some would have you believe. People saying Lifeforce looks terrible are crazy. Does it look a little worse than Arrow's release, yeah sure, is is that much of a difference though, not really. And I guarantee Motel Hell is the same.

[Gerby]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I went back to Movie Stop during lunch to buy Motel Hell, and I also stumbled across a used copy of The Island.

I pulled the trigger on both of them.

I've been looking for The Island for a while now, because I fondly remember parts of the movie from childhood, and, although it's not quite what I consider to be horror, I like it for the same reasons that I like The Deep.

I watched it recently...Its not that great, there are some great gore scenes in it though & the sight of Michael Caine machine gunning all the pirates is pretty awesome!

[Marsupial Werewolf]

Originally Posted by Sinep

Im starting to think some of the people complaining about Scream Factory just dislike them for whatever reasons. I see too many comments that are conflicting with these compression issues such as Motel Hell. I cannot help but to feel as if people who dislike scream factory will always write negative comments about their releases - there are anti-scream citizens around.

You can look through my collection to see how much I "dislike" them.

And, again, it doesn't change the fact that some of their stuff is disappointing.

Being critical of their work does not equal being "anti-Scream" in the least.

[Marsupial Werewolf]

Originally Posted by spawningblue

And I guarantee Motel Hell is the same.

How can you make that guarantee?

[Rocky01542]

Originally Posted by Sinep

Im starting to think some of the people complaining about Scream Factory just dislike them for whatever reasons. I see too many comments that are conflicting with these compression issues such as Motel Hell. I cannot help but to feel as if people who dislike scream factory will always write negative comments about their releases - there are anti-scream citizens around.

What an inane statement. Most of these negative comments left by those "anti-Scream Citizens" as you like to call them, are mostly, in my opinion, justified as Scream Factory undoubtedly has troubling compression issues that are visible on most of their titles and some of the transfers they have used have been very, very poor yet those who do nothing except express their love and adulation for Scream Factory will still praise it, but if a company like Universal released them, they would be panned beyond belief.

I could make the argument that there are extremely pro-Scream Factory citizens around that will praise anything if it has a Scream Factory logo printed on it, and who get upset when the Anti-Scream citizens point out troublesome issues and will try their best to silence those who oppose by telling them to stop complaining and even resorting to insults.

Me, I wouldn't consider myself either. I'll praise them if they do something great and I'll criticize them when they something bad. If I see extreme macroblocking and other video artefacts which I notice on most of their Blu-rays then I'll bring it up, I also won't hold back and make excuses for them if they use crap transfers which they've done for most of their titles licensed from Universal. I won't say something like "It's not their fault, they can't afford to remaster every title" if they use crap transfers, because that excuse doesn't erase the edge enhancement, DNR, sharpening and contrast boosting seen in They Live, Prince of Darkness, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Psycho II and III, and I'm sure there are others that I can't think of off the top of my head.

I think that some people just get overly defensive of Scream Factory and sometimes can't handle the criticism and have to resort to name-calling and branding people as "Scream Factory haters" and the like.

If Scream Factory were releasing titles up to the standards of Arrow Video then I would be overjoyed and would have no complaints but when most of their releases have the same compression problems (which I don't think have been addressed) and overly processed transfers which some people even say that can't look better due to their budget and age which is absolutely ridiculous, especially when there are better alternatives out there that look much better and more natural.

[jthefrank]

I consider myself neutral. I don't know if my setup isn't good enough, or I'm just ignorant, because my naked eye generally can't detect any of the problems people claim. Not that I'm saying they don't exist, but whenever my friend Mr. Kriztoffer Swank aka Chris Jacobson links me screenshots or caps-a-holic, I can never tell what I'm supposed to be seeing.

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...sless=&image=5

[Rocky01542]

Originally Posted by jthefrank

I consider myself neutral. I don't know if my setup isn't good enough, or I'm just ignorant, because my naked eye generally can't detect any of the problems people claim. Not that I'm saying they don't exist, but whenever my friend Mr. Kriztoffer Swank aka Chris Jacobson links me screenshots or caps-a-holic, I can never tell what I'm supposed to be seeing.

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...sless=&image=5

Guess it depends on size of your tv and your settings. I know if I decrease the brightness on my set then some of the compression in the dark areas disappears, but I shouldn't even have to do this anyway and it does affect the whole picture.

Sometimes it's just better to just not try see these things because once you see them, it will be impossible not to. I used to not see edge enhancement, but when I read about it and looked at pictures showcasing it I was shocked at how obvious it was and how I never saw it before, and it's particularly annoying because studios seem to love using it. I wish now that I didn't look up on these things as now it can really bring me out of a film.

Stuff like DNR, sharpening, bad compression and black crush are always something I've noticed though.

[StingingVelvet]

I only have a few Scream discs so far but I can definitely see some compression on the Halloween 2 disc. Someone posted a screenshot in the Halloween collection thread that made it really obvious, mostly in the dark pavement on the ground at the end of the movie. It was pretty bad. Probably barely noticeable when viewing for most people, but still, it's there.

If they refuse to use 2 blu ray discs they should be putting the special features in SD. That would help with compression and at the end of the day I don't really care if the documentaries are in HD.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Rocky01542

I could make the argument that there are extremely pro-Scream Factory citizens around that will praise anything if it has a Scream Factory logo printed on it, and who get upset when the Anti-Scream citizens point out troublesome issues and will try their best to silence those who oppose by telling them to stop complaining and even resorting to insults.

All of my favorite Blu-ray studios have at least one shortcoming.

I wish that Olive Films Blu-rays had subtitle options, but I still love the releases and support the company.
I'm not crazy about Twilight Time's limited edition business model, but I still love the releases and support the company.
I wish that Kino would be a little better about releasing transfers that are on the level of their counterpart releases from the overseas label, Masters of Cinema, but I still love the Kino releases, and I support the company.
I wish that Criterion had not gone the Dual Format route and released clunky packages that take up too much space on my shelf, but I love the releases and support the company.
I wish that Scream Factory had access to better transfers than the ones that are often provided to them, but I still love the releases and support the company.

I guess that, when it comes right down to it, this isn't Burger King and we cannot always have it our way. With all of the above studio releases, though, the goods outweigh the negatives by a long mile.

Maybe I'm painting too rosy a picture of these Blu-ray studios and their releases, but I guess that I'm just grateful that someone somewhere out there still cares enough to release Blu-rays of movies like Without Warning (Scream), Private Hell 36 (Olive), Separate Tables (Kino Lorber), Ministry of Fear (Criterion), and Violent Saturday (Twilight Time) in an age when most potential consumers are content simply to play with their smartphones and watch embarrassingly bad reality shows.

[jthefrank]

See even EE I've failed to understand. There is probably super glaring halo'ing here, but I can't see it:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...hd_multiID=156

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Sinep

Im starting to think some of the people complaining about Scream Factory just dislike them for whatever reasons. I see too many comments that are conflicting with these compression issues such as Motel Hell. I cannot help but to feel as if people who dislike scream factory will always write negative comments about their releases - there are anti-scream citizens around.

And I'm starting to think Helen Keller had better eyesight than some of the Scream champions.

Look, they've put out great discs and they've put out lousy discs. From Beyond, my favorite disc of theirs, isn't plagued with compression issues. Terrorvision/The Video Dead is another winner. For every one of those, however, there's a Nosferatu or a (gasp) Motel Hell. Their compression sucks far too often and they refuse to address (and their responses to consumer complaints are hilariously snippy). Many of the transfers they use suck, too, but people take them with a smile. Ravenous? Cat People? Yuck.

Is it good that they're releasing genre titles that wouldn't otherwise be given releases? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean quality control should go out the window and be forgiven by their customers simply because they have fond memories of the movies themselves.

[Sinep]

Originally Posted by dissention

And I'm starting to think Helen Keller had better eyesight than some of the Scream champions.

Look, they've put out great discs and they've put out lousy discs. From Beyond, my favorite disc of theirs, isn't plagued with compression issues. Terrorvision/The Video Dead is another winner. For every one of those, however, there's a Nosferatu or a (gasp) Motel Hell. Their compression sucks far too often and they refuse to address (and their responses to consumer complaints are hilariously snippy). Many of the transfers they use suck, too, but people take them with a smile. Ravenous? Cat People? Yuck.

Is it good that they're releasing genre titles that wouldn't otherwise be given releases? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean quality control should go out the window and be forgiven by their customers simply because they have fond memories of the movies themselves.

As well it shouldn't.. but as others have stated, some people are not seeing these compression issues or have no issues when viewing the movies which led me to wonder if some people are just complaining because they dislike Scream Factory entirely. More or less the opposite of the fanboy who loves everything. Anyway it made for an interesting discussion since

There hasn't been any NEW announcements for weeks

We need our fill !!!

[Hellraiserfan]

Originally Posted by jthefrank

See even EE I've failed to understand. There is probably super glaring halo'ing here, but I can't see it:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...hd_multiID=156

Same here. I tried looking at example pics online a couple of years back but still couldn't notice it on my Blu-rays. Even Batman Begins which is supposed to be one of the worst offenders. It might just be my TV size for all I know. I only have a 46" so maybe if I had a much larger screen EE would show easier.

[Liquid_Swords]

Hopefully Motel Hell will have a comparison on caps a holic soon

[BLUgrass]

i have noticed blocking/blockage/whatever it's called (is that compression?) on a few of my SF titles when watching them on my 32" 720p Sony Bravia in the bed room. I don't recall really noticing them much on the 48" 1080p Sony Bravia in the living room.

I bought TV's at the wrong time; the year just before LED's dropped in price (had I waited a year, I could have had a bigger, LED TV at the same price). Anyway, I didn't stress over the fact that the smaller TV in the bedroom was only 720p because my research at the time told me that due to the size, I wouldn't notice the difference in HD picture quality.

Could some of the blocking that I'm seeing on the 32" have to do with the fact that it is 720p?

Overall I've been very happy with my SF blu rays.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by jthefrank

See even EE I've failed to understand. There is probably super glaring halo'ing here, but I can't see it:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...hd_multiID=156

When the film is in motion edge enhancement becomes even harder to detect unless your using a large projection setup, or the movie scene lends itself to making it more apparent. In the case of the image you linked to... Look at the black gentleman in the black coat to the right of Mr Roddy Piper. If you look at his elbow, you'll notice a white halo between his jacket and the road. It's one of the clearest examples I saw on that picture.

With that said, I have a calibrated 2012 Samsung PN60E7000 plasma, arguably the best tv of 2012 right up there with the Panasonic model of that year, and even knowing what to look for, it's rare that I take the time to really look for flaws like this. Some people will always look for the flaws in everything, some wouldn't notice if a title was upscaled. Screams disks look consistently good... Never great, rarely bad, but always worth the price of the film. Is compression an issue? Yes, but not to the level that many make it out to be. Many if not most flaws are easily overlooked by fans of the films themselves... Fans of Blu Ray the medium however are harder to please and it's their right to have that opinion, but it's one that is often the vocal minority. As a film reviewer I expect that such flaws will likely be pointed out and dissected by the more bit rate obsessed members, but that rarely sways my opinion on the disk/film. Most of these movies were throwaway popcorn flicks from a long gone era in film. As long as the release is an improvement on what's come before it, I'm generally happy.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by BLUgrass

i have noticed blocking/blockage/whatever it's called (is that compression?) on a few of my SF titles when watching them on my 32" 720p Sony Bravia in the bed room. I don't recall really noticing them much on the 48" 1080p Sony Bravia in the living room.

Yes, blocking like that is a sure sign of compression. It's especially noticeable on iTunes or illegal downloads that are compressed to hell and back to fit a small download size. Sometimes when too much is put on one DVD or BD it can cause the same thing. A lot of people think several Scream Factory discs have this issue.

Brightness can effect how obvious this is in dark scenes, so your two TVs might have different brightness settings. Also the light in the room, other settings, etc.