Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[Jeff Kleist]

I should also mention that a major classic anime series that does not involve Leiji Matsumoto (seriously, not sarcastic hinting) will be showing up on US shores finally sometime this year. Many people know it or at least know of it, and it is very important to support it when it does show if you ever want a domestic disc-based release

Sorry about it being cryptic, but I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell, the translator wasn't around I will say I am excited, and a certain producer/special features guy will be busting a nut whenever he reads his email (you know who you are)

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

does not involve Leiji Matsumoto

Rats!

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

will be showing up on US shores finally sometime this year. Many people know it or at least know of it, and it is very important to support it when it does show if you ever want a domestic disc-based release

So, this initial "showing up" will not involve a disc-based release... ? So, we're talking satellite/cable dub broadcast?

[Jeff Kleist]

Online streaming, but only a good show of interest will result in a domestic disc release

There ARE HD masters for this show, so a Blu release is POSSIBLE. Thank you film!

[Doctorossi]

Oh, Jeff, you've got my brain crankin' now!

[garytma]

Originally Posted by merrick97

To me this brings up an interesting problem with reviewing a film.

Should video quality be graded on how its intended to look or how the average reviewer will think its looks regardless of being true to the directors intent or not?

Case in point: The Godfather on bluray.
To the average person who buys a bluray expecting to be blown away by the picture and expects a crystal clear picture is going to be disappointed eventhough, the Godfather looks the best its ever going to look AND that it perfectly conveys the look Coppola was intending, which was to look like a moving photograph.

The "average person" expects to be blown away, with every Blu-ray release, because of all of the marketing that tells us we WILL be astounded with every disc.

That said, I wonder if it would be helpful to devise, and include on each movie released, a coding that would be akin to the compact disc's, "ADD", "DDD", etc. The coding would perhaps establish, via some kind of shorthand, what the vintage of the movie is, and how close the restoration/transfer comes to representing how the movie looked on original day of issue.

[MerrickG]

Just to follow up on what I was saying in regards to whether picture quality scores should reflect on whether it appears as intented OR on the actual picture quality.

In my view:

why not try and do both?

For the record, I am ALL for having the film have its intended look. The exception being the bluray release of the French Connection which Friedkin changed up the timing and it looks TERRIBLE as a result of his changes.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

In my view:

why not try and do both?

So, how would you define the criteria for the abstract "quality" rating (the one not defined by fidelity to the content)? What is "good"?

[captveg]

Originally Posted by merrick97

The exception being the bluray release of the French Connection which Friedkin changed up the timing and it looks TERRIBLE as a result of his changes.

Well, that's an issue of not being accurate to original look, but now being accurate to current reference of the filmmaker, which is an entirely different debate.

[spartanstew]

Originally Posted by iwanttobeabmoviestar

the 72 inch vizio says 3499 in press release thats a good price point for me ive been waiting almost 9/12 years for a tv and want to finally watch my blus in proper 1080p so ive been patient and its driving me bonkers and its 3d lol

You can get a 73" Mits (or 82") for less. It's 3D ready and has a better picture than the Vizio. You can't hang it on the wall, but 99% of people don't need to do that anyway.

Home Theater Magazine Review

[DanFan]

Hi Jeff,

I'm wondering if the eventual release of Weird Science on Blu-ray will correct the missing dialogue from the most recent DVD releases.

The first DVD release was the Image Entertainment version which had an alternate music soundtrack. This did have all of the dialogue intact. All versions of the second release by Universal are missing dialogue.

At 7:17 of the movie Gary says:

"Very Nice.

I'm telling you Wyatt, one thing I know is female stats.

Anything more than a handful, you're risking a sprained tongue."

This is intact on the Image Entertainment release.

On the Universal release (which has the original music soundtrack restored) the following is missing (however the line appears via closed captioning):

"Very nice.

I'm telling you Wyatt, one thing I know is female stats."

The rest of the dialogue is present.

Is Universal aware of this problem? Are they going to fix it?

If they are not aware, are you able to bring it to their attention?

Thanks

[DaViD Boulet]

The real fly in the ointment here is (if the screenshots can indeed be trusted as accurate), why does the broadcast version of FOTR ‘look better’ than the Blu-ray edition of FOTR. I would really like Robert Harris to ask the guys at MPI on the WB lot to run the broadcast HD master side-by-side with the HD master used for the recent Blu-ray movie. Shouldn’t be difficult.

If the new HD master used for the Blu-ray edition is indeed better or at least on par with the old broadcast master, well, I think you can “guess” what happened further on down the pipeline during the encoding process………….if the screenshots are to be trusted and the broadcast encode wasn't sharpened.

This is my question as well... I'm less concerned that WB didn't try to do a new telecine/recomposition with Fellowship than I am that HDTV MPEG2 low-bit-rate broadcast reveals more real picture detail than the high-bit-rate VC1 blu-ray Disc. That should be troubling for everyone if it really is the case. If this is indeed the case (which it sadly probalby is as there are no obvious signs of edge sharpening in the HDTV broadcast and the improvement in real picture detail, at least in the screen captures, is indisputible), the rhetoric of "new master" does not absolve the parties responsible for this BD edition from owning up to the shortcomings and promising to correct these mistakes on the next (EE or theatrical reissue) release.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I do want to say that once we got people at Fox out of their foxholes(no pun intended), there was a lot of constructive dialog. The fastest way sh*t DOESN'T get done is when certain screenshot scientists wheel out the battleship and start a shore bombardment and get an angry mob in the landing craft. This goes for all the studios. The fastest way to be listened to is to be calm and constructive.

Do you think you should say this over in the battle zone, uh, I mean the LOTR BR release thread?

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by radagast

Do you think you should say this over in the battle zone, uh, I mean the LOTR BR release thread?

Would it really help calming things down?

[DaViD Boulet]

Originally Posted by radagast

Do you think you should say this over in the battle zone, uh, I mean the LOTR BR release thread?

When you have respected persons posting not just random screen captures, but *comparisons* between the Blu-ray and HDTV braodcast, frame for frame, from various scenes, the issue begins to look legitimate, even if various forum members post from a place of emotional extreme given their very understandable frustration.

While it's incumbent for forum members to stay calm, professional, and respectful of studio persons, it's also incumbant upon the studios to look to address real problems and come up with real long-term solutions to improve their mastering work-flow. The very fact that an overcompressed HDTV MPEG2 videofile contains more real picture detail than a top-tier blu-ray blu-ray release is exponentially more troubling than the fact that some forum memebers post from a place of emotional frustration about it.

I'm not condoning the bad behavior on the board. But I do feel that being a studio rep is somewhat like being a politician... you have to be able to bear both the praise and rancor from your constituants and not take it personally. Hopefully as more facts come to light, the issue will settle down, ease emotions on the board, and also help ensure that WB delivers blu-ray discs that don't lose picture detail due to DNR/DRS or compression-friendly HF roll-off.

[garyrc]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Or there could be separate scores - one for the actual Picture Quality on Blu-ray (not taking into account the quality of the source - just how good it was compared to all other titles) and another score (1-20) for how closely it matched the source/original film - so even if the original source was really bad quality the second score could still be 20 if it matched it exactly.

I like this two rating proposal (!) PROVIDING that the reviewer states how, when, and under what circumstances, s/he viewed the original source. This would mean that the second rating would not be included in a good number of reviews, if the reviewer did not have access to the original source, preferably now, or in the well remembered past. Yes, oddly, I might trust the memory of the reviewer (and my own memory) of the look of the Godfather if had been experienced in more than one theater (i.e., more than one print).

I have never seen a waxy face on a theater screen. I've seen acutance, resolution, brightness and contrast vary, presumably both intentionally and accidentally, but I've never seen "waxy" except on our home disks. Why any disk maker, for any reason, via whatever process, would want "waxy" faces is beyond me.

[Jeff Kleist]

I need to know the specific HDTV source. Channel, country etc

[Stinky-Dinkins]

DISH, PPV, USA, around 7 or 8 years old.

[Jeff Kleist]

Well, I'm not going to render any opinion on this only having a netbook to look on. I won't be back until next Wednesday

[androvsky]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I should also mention that a major classic anime series that does not involve Leiji Matsumoto (seriously, not sarcastic hinting) will be showing up on US shores finally sometime this year. Many people know it or at least know of it, and it is very important to support it when it does show if you ever want a domestic disc-based release

Sorry about it being cryptic, but I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell, the translator wasn't around I will say I am excited, and a certain producer/special features guy will be busting a nut whenever he reads his email (you know who you are)

...

Legend of Galactic Heroes? I know several heads that'd explode if that ever happened. And though I'm not a big fan of streaming, it'd certainly beat having to pre-order a $1000+ box set*.


*Not an exaggeration.

[Jeff Kleist]

Yeah, I know how much it costs Sorry I can't comment further on the identity.

LOGH does look pretty on Blu tho, I saw a copy a few days ago