Gladiator (2000)

[Russell_L]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

he meant to say 19, it was a typo

Actually, BB is selling them for $23 each but with $10 off if you buy both, so I think he meant to say they're $18 each. Not including tax of course.......

[CMM]

Has anyone seen/heard anything about the UK version? Is it the same as the US release in terms of PQ?

[sfmarine]

Latest thing I heard about the UK version is that some of it is PAL incoded. Special Feature-wise. I just cancelled it all together. Sticking with the Best Buy deal.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

I cancelled my steelbook order on amazon.uk. I figured...it will most likely get another release sometime down the road(10 anniv. is coming up next year). I also doubt that Gladiator steelbook will have the $10 rebate form inside(if you own the dvd version). Best Buy has a good deal going on with the two so that's what I'm sticking to. I guess I'll have to change my avatar now lol.

Same here, cancelled my order from Amazon UK, I'll get the US release instead

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by Russell_L

As I've said before here, the reality is that most people will be happy over the PQ of 'Gladiator', marveling at how 'clean' it looks. They obviously won't know any better. One need go no further than this very site and look at the user reviews of 'Patton' to see the number of ecstatic reviews of the PQ, which was just excoriated over its excessive DNR by the "experts". I suspect the same might happen with 'Gladiator', but since it's is a much more high-profile release than 'Patton', hopefully not.

Now that Bill Hunt has weighed in on the matter (I trust him implicitly!), my initial enthusiasm over this release has been tempered a lot, and now I'm waffling over whether to get it or not on Tuesday. (And no, I don't like to rent discs.)

If you want it, buy it. If you don't, don't. As Bill Hunt and others have stated "you have been warned". Yes, the general public will probably buy this and think it looks pretty good and noticeably better than the DVD. But that is not the point really. The point is this could have looked much better, and I think the real rub for me is this whole "Sapphire Edition" BS. Clearly Paramount is not really treating the PQ of the "Sapphire Edition" any different than any other catalog release, which is just poor on the part of the studio IMHO. At least with Star Trek they discounted the movies (I think I paid about $11 on average per movie) to the point where I did not feel as bad about buying the discs...

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by Russell_L

As I've said before here, the reality is that most people will be happy over the PQ of 'Gladiator', marveling at how 'clean' it looks. They obviously won't know any better. One need go no further than this very site and look at the user reviews of 'Patton' to see the number of ecstatic reviews of the PQ, which was just excoriated over its excessive DNR by the "experts". I suspect the same might happen with 'Gladiator', but since it's is a much more high-profile release than 'Patton', hopefully not.

Now that Bill Hunt has weighed in on the matter (I trust him implicitly!), my initial enthusiasm over this release has been tempered a lot, and now I'm waffling over whether to get it or not on Tuesday. (And no, I don't like to rent discs.)

Well my initial enthusiasm has dropped but with the Best Buy deal, I think many folks will pull the trigger including myself to get a pretty good price considering it is a release day offer and it is two movies I really like. I cannot see one just buy Braveheart for $22 and change plus tax when you can get the other for not much more and it is a movie they like.

I may rent Gladiator before I actually open my purchase but I don't think I'm going to be real sorry for the price really considering the supplements and the high quality audio unless the PQ is downright awful.

[CMM]

Originally Posted by Moefiz

Same here, cancelled my order from Amazon UK, I'll get the US release instead

How come?

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by CMM

How come?

Do you think it was a mistake?

[STARSCREAM]

Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC

People miss things. They're human. Hell, I wonder how many people here would have missed this if it weren't blatantly plastered all over the forums.

Shit happens.

Guess it just goes to show people will buy anything put out and the studios know this. I'm not rewarding them for it, you guys can if you want. I'm watching on 118' screen and I can tell you for sure that when releases are DNR'd to death and have anomilies in the transfer I do notice. This is the last thing I'm gonna say on this matter. I'm not trying to butt heads with anybody on here or piss anybody off, I just think for a release this big that it's an absolute shame they handled the transfer like this.

[HDPlasma]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Is 15.5 "That" bad???? I understand people may have expected it to be right up there in the top tier etc.... and it's unfortunate that it's not..... but in the grand scheme of things..... it doesn't appear (based on the rating only) that it's a "Terrible" release, as many here are suggesting.

That's my $0.02

But what is his rating method?
Is it linear or non-linear like the Richter scale.
What his range on ratings?

[thecardman23]

Originally Posted by thecardman23

so i actually just watched gladiator last night and just like the star treks everybody blew this WAY outa proportion. i thought the transfer actually looked quite good. the colors were bold, the picture looked quite clear. i hardly noticed any grain in the movie and other than a few scenes here and there... i found most of the pq to be quite good. i'll admit its not one that jumps off the screen at you like transformers or king kong but it definitely compares with other blu-ray releases i've seen latly. i did notice at times the excessive dnr that ppl talk about (but for the most part i thought it was done in a proportion that didnt bother me much at all) oh and the arrow/ fireball scene that people is making such a big deal out of.. i watched it VERY CLOSELY and looked and i couldnt notice ANYTHING at the reg speed of watching it. i watched the darn thing so close and didnt notice a thing (and i even knew what i was looking for) i'm not a kook so i wont go back and re-wind and play it in slow-mo 10x times to find the spot that bothers me. if i cant even notice it, then its not a big issue. for me id rate the transfer thus:


Movie 5 / 5
Video 4 / 5
Audio 4.5 / 5
Extras 4 / 5

so in conclusion.... would i buy this disc.. yeah sure (if i got it at a good price i would) do i think they should re-master it? offcourse, why not if it can be improved upon. do i think it's a rip-off for those who buy it? absolutely not! its a decent quality transfer and fans of the film shouldn't be scared away by all these nuts already condemning a movie they havnt even watched. go out rent it (its well worth those 4-5 bucks forsure) and then if you like it.. buy it. if you havnt watched it yet, dont judge it by the screen-caps cuz thats ridiculous.

Originally Posted by Elvis

You must work over at Paramount. No wait....you a poster on these boards so you will support anything the studio throws out!

my review post was not intended for you, i took the time to write it for those wondering about the gladiator pq issues etc.. i know sometimes i find the thoughts of others helpful in deciding to make a purchase or not (given all the speculation) so for anybody that was interested they could read an objective review from someone whos not anal and whos views will prob fall in line with about 80% of the publics buying opinion of this movie. sure i understand that there are people out there who are really anal about their transfers and need to know EVERYTHING is 100% perfect in order to be happy with it and thats fine i accept that, too bad for them. if you dont have something nice to say, then dont say anything at all and move on...

[HDPlasma]

Originally Posted by Russell_L

Actually, BB is selling them for $23 each but with $10 off if you buy both, so I think he meant to say they're $18 each. Not including tax of course.......

And considering the Extended DVD costs aroung $20-25 and standard DVD costs $9-15, not a bad price if you never owned it and still enjoy the story.
Also, it's the best PQ you can get TODAY on this title.

[Zoraster]

In response to aforesaid comments of PQ snobbery, "true" cinephilia, etc.:

I will likely pass on this release owing to its relatively mediocre visuals despite adoring the film, but not owing to snobbery. It is abundantly obvious by now that had the persons responsible for this product done their due diligence, it would have rivaled or perhaps even surpassed the quality of its far superior twin release: Braveheart. I object to rewarding such inexplicable laziness.

The marketing nonsense does not read "hey, it's better than your DVD!", it reads "best possible picture." It isn't. Try again.

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by CMM

Has anyone seen/heard anything about the UK version? Is it the same as the US release in terms of PQ?

Bill Hunt said in his review: "What it looks like to me, is that someone at Universal (keep in mind, it's Universal that controls the Gladiator assets for DreamWorks - not Paramount), decided to re-use the original digital master of the HD transfer done back in 2000 for the very first DVD release."

So if Universal did the transfer for Paramount for the US release, their European release is certainly going to be the same thing. I was going to get the Uni UK Steelbook, but not any longer.

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by Zoraster

In response to aforesaid comments of PQ snobbery, "true" cinephilia, etc.:

I will likely pass on this release owing to its relatively mediocre visuals despite adoring the film, but not owing to snobbery. It is abundantly obvious by now that had the persons responsible for this product done their due diligence, it would have rivaled or perhaps even surpassed the quality of its far superior twin release: Braveheart. I object to rewarding such inexplicable laziness.

The marketing nonsense does not read "hey, it's better than your DVD!", it reads "best possible picture." It isn't. Try again.

What about the cost though for a new transfer? How good could this look versus Braveheart without it?

I do understand what you mean about marketing nonsense since this is sapphire release.

[HDPlasma]

Originally Posted by thecardman23

my review post was not intended for you, i took the time to write it for those wondering about the gladiator pq issues etc.. i know sometimes i find the thoughts of others helpful in deciding to make a purchase or not (given all the speculation) so for anybody that was interested they could read an objective review from someone whos not anal and whos views will prob fall in line with about 80% of the publics buying opinion of this movie. sure i understand that there are people out there who are really anal about their transfers and need to know EVERYTHING is 100% perfect in order to be happy with it and thats fine i accept that, too bad for them. if you dont have something nice to say, then dont say anything at all and move on...

Not trying to debunk your review but there's a big difference when viewing titles like this with average PQ on a 45" screen or larger where a good transfer matters.
I agree that those with 45" or less and a viewing distance of 6 feet will think the PQ is adequate and probably think these guys on the forums are being over critical.

Another thing to consider is those who enable the feature of 120hz or faster framing on their sets probably won't even notice anything wrong as they are using "soap opera" mode to mask the true film presentation.

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by HDPlasma

But what is his rating method?
Is it linear or non-linear like the Richter scale.
What his range on ratings?

According to Jeff Kleist, he cannot even recall rating a Blu-Ray that low before (15.5). It is bad. Better than DVD, but not by much.

[thecardman23]

Originally Posted by Shanester

Thanks for the honest review.

So your saying it's not demo material by any means but is it substantially improved over the dvd??

yes. i own the dvd and i thought this was a definite improvement. which has already been pretty much established even by professional reviewers. i guess ppl are dissapointed that its not reference material which i can understand, but when ppl go so far as to call the disc "defective" and all this other nonsense as to say 'might as well buy the dvd' i have to strongly disagree. i enjoyed it.. would i shell out 30 bucks for it? probably not. but like i said, if there was a deal like you US buyers are lucky enough to get 2 for 36 for gladiator and braveheart (making each only 16 a piece brand new on release day) heck yes id pick it up.

Originally Posted by bypass

"i hardly noticed any grain in the movie and other than a few scenes here and there... i found most of the pq to be quite good."

I hardly consider this to be a solid and accurate review. No offense to The Card Man, but he makes the lack of grain out to be a good thing. It seems that he doesn't understand why grain is normally prevalent in a movie, or why grain would actually be missing (DNR, which typically sacrifices sharpness to remove grain). I believe that the folks over at Digital Bits have nailed it, and we'll be seeing a lot more reviews like that from other learned reviewers. Also, perhaps his lack of a larger display is why he gave it a better review, because the larger the screen the more apparent flaws tend to be.

your correct when you say i look at the lack of grain as a good thing. i myself and not a grain lover. most of the transfers i think are excellent have very little grain. i find the image looks much newer and clearer (as opposed to grain infested ones) of the past.. ex) Unforgiven (dvd is a total grainfest and unwatchable to me) but when you look at the blu.. most of it has been removed i the remastering of it, but a little still kept to preserve the effect of the film. i do understand that some grain is important bcuz it adds a cinematic look to the movies (as they were meant to be seen in theater viewing experiences etc) which is fine. for me i am just not as sensitive to the lack of it as others may be as its presence is more important to them. which works in my favor i guess. and your right... some of the experience i'm sure is dependent on the size of the display each person has at their homes and their experiences will differ as such.

Originally Posted by robertc88

He said he didn't hardly notice grain but I'm not sure I agree he makes it out to be a good thing. What I'm getting is he liked watching this movie on BD and his opinion is it isn't as bad a viewing experience as perceived.

precisely!!

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by ack_bak

If you want it, buy it. If you don't, don't. As Bill Hunt and others have stated "you have been warned". Yes, the general public will probably buy this and think it looks pretty good and noticeably better than the DVD. But that is not the point really. The point is this could have looked much better, and I think the real rub for me is this whole "Sapphire Edition" BS. Clearly Paramount is not really treating the PQ of the "Sapphire Edition" any different than any other catalog release, which is just poor on the part of the studio IMHO. At least with Star Trek they discounted the movies (I think I paid about $11 on average per movie) to the point where I did not feel as bad about buying the discs...

I really cannot see one just buying Braveheart though considering the Best Buy deal. You get Gladiiator for not much more and there is supplements and AQ to consider as well. And I don't think Gladiator is going to look downright awful, at least not on my 40" inch display. Much better AQ is the bang for the buck on most every catalog title IMHO.

I'm just saying. I'm not here to argue with anyone and I respect the discussion and viewpoints by folks on both sides.

[Bullseye]

Originally Posted by HDPlasma

Not trying to debunk your review but there's a big difference when viewing titles like this with average PQ on a 45" screen or larger where a good transfer matters.
I agree that those with 45" or less and a viewing distance of 6 feet will think the PQ is adequate and probably think these guys on the forums are being over critical.

Another thing to consider is those who enable the feature of 120hz or faster framing on their sets probably won't even notice anything wrong as they are using "soap opera" mode to mask the true film presentation.

I would suspect that the majority of people own a 40" and smaller and thus will probably be happy enough with this.