Far From The Madding Crowd (John Schlesinger) - 1st June 2015

[James78]

Reviewer Dr. Svet Atanasov: "I have the Warner release. It is not from the new 4K restoration. In fact, the transfer is sourced from a very average old master." https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=16281

The StudioCanal release is absolutely stunning in my opinion.

[Olmo]

Originally Posted by James78

The StudioCanal release is absolutely stunning in my opinion.

I'd second that, along with Tales of Hoffman (also StudioCanal) and Criterion's One Eyed Jacks it's the best I've seen.

[Hintermann]

Sorry for rejuvenating an old thread but having recently received and seen the Warner AC version of FFTMC, I am convinced of a few things that have caused confusion in the past.

As we all know, Picture Quality of blu-ray films is something that has caused a lot of debate with various older films and in the case of FFTMC, views are completely polarized with arguments for and against on both sides. The existence of this poll itself proves that.

I used to own the Studio Canal Vintage Classics version BD of the fim and just about the only positive thing about it was the extras package. If the TVs were set to Standard or especially 'Cinema' setting, the picture was way too dark and skin tones came out an unhealthy, bloodless greyish-green - in short, awful. I hated it and told myself that anyone who thought that this was a good transfer was either colour-blind or a UK-release fanatic. It was that bad.

I feel all the bullcrap about source of the transfer etc is just eyewash and means nothing except to convince a gullible buyer that they have a good product. It is all in the eye of the beholder and as far as I was concerned, the PQ on the Studio Canal version was awful. Period.

I did not immediately get the Warner because of my OCD against double-dipping; but when my sister-in-law, who loves the film and not too discerning about PQ, asked for it, I happily gave away the Studio Canal BD and ordered the Warner. I have received and seen the latter and am very happy with both the PQ (especially the warmer skin tones that make people look alive than bloodless zombies) and audio;it is Region Free too.

I feel that there are too many important variables for any viewer to decide about PQ based on just reviews or screencaps.

- TV type and Picture Setting: The 'Cinema' mode makes images look darker and colder. Fine for modern films but certainly not for older ones like FFTMC.

- Ambient Light in the room: We tend to watch movies in very low light with the TV placed so that there are no reflections to affect image.

- Personal Choice: I think this is probably the most important. FFTMC convinced me of something that I already believed - in addition to the usual personal preference thing, there are significant ethnic colour perception differences. I am of Indian origin and have noticed over the years that we prefer richer, more vibrant TV colours than our white friends. For me personally, natural looking skin tones as though viewed in bright sunlight for outdoor scenes is important. That's why I hated the tones in the Studio Canal version of FFTMC.