Kubrick's 2001 - drop in quality at the beginning of "Jupiter"

[UniSol GR77]

Hello guys,

I truly think the blu-ray of "2001" is stunning and gorgeous. But I also "detected" an irritating and noticeable drop in image quality at the very beginning of the section called "JUPITER AND BEYOND THE INFINITE": I mean in the sequences before David Bowman is "sucked" inside the Stargate. You can notice washed up colors and halos and edge enhancement, especially around the planets and the sun. I'm talking about the sequence where the third Monolith is travelling "inbetween" the planets to reach Jupiter and Bowman.

[Talal86]

you in danger girl

[hendersd]

I'd have to watch that section again to see if I notice anything. I was fortunate enough to see the film when it premiered on a Cinerama screen. Wow. I'm still bewildered that the film hasn't been given a fancy treatment (at least packaging wise) on BD. The extras are good, but it's just the flimsy blue case. So many lesser films have gotten at least a digi-book. Maybe they'll do something for the 50th anniversary.

[Stratton]

I did notice that in the sequence you are referring to! I wondered about it myself when I saw the halo imaging around the curcumference of Jupiter. I saw it in its initial cinerama debut and on lesser high quality release prints in revival houses, and I believe the haloing may have been part of the original film!

It isn't something I see and think 'That looks f@#$%n awful! I believe it is what it is! But I could be way out of line for feeling like this!

[UniSol GR77]

Originally Posted by Stratton

I did notice that in the sequence you are referring to! I wondered about it myself when I saw the halo imaging around the curcumference of Jupiter. I saw it in its initial cinerama debut and on lesser high quality release prints in revival houses, and I believe the haloing may have been part of the original film!

It isn't something I see and think 'That looks f@#$%n awful! I believe it is what it is! But I could be way out of line for feeling like this!

It's not just the halos... the whole sequence looks washed out and not "vibrant" like the rest of the movie...

[Grand Bob]

I have not noticed the degradation.

[noddinoff]

During the dawn of man sequence you can see what looks like dirt/dusty smudges on the mattes in the background. Sometimes too much clarity in an old movie isn't always good. Of course Id prefer it to be as clear as possible dirt and all.

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by noddinoff

During the dawn of man sequence you can see what looks like dirt/dusty smudges on the mattes in the background. Sometimes too much clarity in an old movie isn't always good. Of course Id prefer it to be as clear as possible dirt and all.

I saw that too. And considering that there aren't such smudges during the rest of the movie, I think it's because the dirt is a part of the background slides themselves (the backgrounds for the Dawn of Man sequence are high resolution photographs of African landscapes), and if so they are within the film stock itself.

[format916]

i was watching yesterday and thought i saw a slight freeze frame during one of the opening ape shots, kinda like those notld ones where they had a missing frame.

[Cvalda]

The transfer is quite dated looking now -- I don't think it was even made from one of the 70mm prints. I saw the Blu-ray master projected on a huge cinema screen when national cinema chains were showing the film a year back, and it definitely did not look great compared to more recent transfers like Alien. I'm sure Warner will remaster it and quadruple dip eventually.

[Rory]

The current Blu-ray is a now dated 2K transfer from the middle of the last decade. Though once impressive, it now pales alongside more recent 4K scans of 65mm films. I've read that a 4K restoration of 2001 has been done, but what is keeping Warners from releasing it (it was rumored for late 2013), I have no idea. But it will come sooner or later.

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by Cvalda

The transfer is quite dated looking now -- I don't think it was even made from one of the 70mm prints. I saw the Blu-ray master projected on a huge cinema screen when national cinema chains were showing the film a year back, and it definitely did not look great compared to more recent transfers like Alien. I'm sure Warner will remaster it and quadruple dip eventually.

It's still way better than A Clockwork Orange and Warner didn't give us the 4K transfer on that one even though they included clips from it on the featurette on the very same disc so they could troll extra hard.

Warner have only given us new transfers if the first releases had SERIOUS issues - which 2001 doesn't have. The only way I see us getting a better transfer is when 4K blu rays are released.

[UniSol GR77]

Originally Posted by Rory

The current Blu-ray is a now dated 2K transfer from the middle of the last decade. Though once impressive, it now pales alongside more recent 4K scans of 65mm films. I've read that a 4K restoration of 2001 has been done, but what is keeping Warners from releasing it (it was rumored for late 2013), I have no idea. But it will come sooner or later.

This is one of the most important movies of all times, forget the Godfather. We need a better transfer...

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by Cvalda

The transfer is quite dated looking now -- I don't think it was even made from one of the 70mm prints. I saw the Blu-ray master projected on a huge cinema screen when national cinema chains were showing the film a year back, and it definitely did not look great compared to more recent transfers like Alien. I'm sure Warner will remaster it and quadruple dip eventually.

and release Full Metal Jacket yet again!

[Mateo Sanboval]

I just saw this at a "friends and family" showing st a small, but well-renkowned art house theater. It looked spectacular. Well better than the blu-ray release I have. I was curious how non-disc digital films worked in the projection booth so the owner of the theater showed me the hard drive it came on. He showed me the hard drive and, while chatting about the print, mentioned it was 4K. I didn't think much of it until seeing this thread.

[Todd Tomorrow]

Originally Posted by UniSol GR77

This is one of the most important movies of all times, forget the Godfather. We need a better transfer...

Apparently there only can be one.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by Cvalda

I'm sure Warner will remaster it and quadruple dip eventually.

You're half-right.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Mateo Sanboval

I just saw this at a "friends and family" showing st a small, but well-renkowned art house theater. It looked spectacular. Well better than the blu-ray release I have. I was curious how non-disc digital films worked in the projection booth so the owner of the theater showed me the hard drive it came on. He showed me the hard drive and, while chatting about the print, mentioned it was 4K. I didn't think much of it until seeing this thread.

That is the transfer we need on BD. The present transfer was made from a 2K master for HD DVD. Warner then threw the same lackluster transfer on the BD.

[bootsy]

People complaining about the way this movie looks on BD. Man be happy with what you got because it looks pretty damn good. If another one comes along fine but the current transfer is fine.

[victortubeman]

Originally Posted by Cvalda

The transfer is quite dated looking now -- I don't think it was even made from one of the 70mm prints. I saw the Blu-ray master projected on a huge cinema screen when national cinema chains were showing the film a year back, and it definitely did not look great compared to more recent transfers like Alien. I'm sure Warner will remaster it and quadruple dip eventually.

It was scanned at 6k from OCN 65mm for a 4k DI then down sampled to 2k ,the hd DVD and bluray came from this master.