Predator 3D Blu-ray (1987) [Region Locked]

[jonmoz]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

VC-1? is it 2008??? AVC and a new master would make the grain less clumpy, it would be finer but there still will be a ton.
If a film like Evil Dead can look like a new release there is no reason Predator with the same care cannot look better.

I never said it would or could not look better,the issue is I don't feel it will look as people want or expect,when 'Predator' was originally shot the makers used a specific film stock with a color temperature that required little filtration or expensive lighting equipment,this will always cause issues with the transfer no matter what format,you can't put this movie in the same camp as others that were not filmed in the same way.

[Ill_Be_Back]

Guys I have already seen pages of this in The Terminator thread we don't need it in this thread as well.

[jonmoz]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

People said the same thing about The Terminator and look how well that turned out.

Predator can easily look just as good if it was transferred properly from the OCN.

I think if you are expecting a "Terminator" like improvement you are setting yourself up for a disappointment.

I do of course hope I am proved wrong in this department but I very much doubt it

[jonmoz]

Originally Posted by 42041

No one's expecting it to look like Oblivion or whatever.
I want it to look like a modern transfer, not a modern film.

I watched Oblivion last Saturday and I have still not picked my jaw up from the floor,the movie was pure picture perfection in every single frame.

On the same day I watched "The Fog" Blu-ray and still found it to be impressive based on it's own individual merits,I still think we have to judge these older catalogue releases based on their source and filming conditions,instead we always seem to judge them on other catalogue movies that look great and not take anything else into consideration,almost as if every older movie was shot using the exact same lighting,film sock and budget.

[jonmoz]

Originally Posted by Old Bones

EXACTLY There's no making a silk purse out of a sows ear

It never stops people wanting them to though

[jonmoz]

Originally Posted by Ill_Be_Back

Guys I have already seen pages of this in The Terminator thread we don't need it in this thread as well.

This happens in pretty much all catalogue Blu-ray threads,some people will be happy with the transfer and some will not,some people will complain the color timing is different to when they watched it in the theater all those years ago, while some will not even be able to remember he color timing of a movie they watched a week ago !

We will debate the merits of the movies source back and forth,and some will always mention "Blade runner" and "Lawrence of Arabia as examples of older movies that look great on the format,so why can't this 80's movie look just as good if not better.

There will of course be multiple screen shots from various sources that will incite even more debate and cause uproar when they reveal a slight "teal" push to the proceedings,then the members with the elephant like memories will always make the same ludicrous claims that they can remember exact color and brightness levels of a movie they saw in the theater over 25 years ago

And to be honest I would not have it any other way,as where would all the fun be then ?

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

Did you look at those links I sent?

Yeah I did, the colouring looks really good in the "corrected" version but it also looks really good in the official release too imo. Did you do the colour correction yourself?

I personally don't know which one is more accurate as I never saw the film theatrically because I wasn't even born yet lol.

Thankfully the skintones were left intact on the official release and don't look orange.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by jonmoz

I think if you are expecting a "Terminator" like improvement you are setting yourself up for a disappointment.

I do of course hope I am proved wrong in this department but I very much doubt it

Who knows what will happen, the film will never look completely pristine because of the way it was shot. If I remember correctly, loads of shots were zoomed in which made the film grain heavier.

As good as the 2008 release is, you can clearly see that it's from a HD master that's seen better days. A new HD master from the negatives would definitely bring some improvements, probably not huge ones but they'd definitely be there. Scanning technology has a come a very long way in the last few years.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

Yeah I did, the colouring looks really good in the "corrected" version but it also looks really good in the official release too imo. Did you do the colour correction yourself?

I personally don't know which one is more accurate as I never saw the film theatrically because I wasn't even born yet lol.

Thankfully the skintones were left intact on the official release and don't look orange.

No that is not my version but is close, the colours are corrected to the 80's look it was an 80's film and should look like it.
Same goes for Predator

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

No that is not my version but is close, the colours are corrected to the 80's look it was an 80's film and should look like it.
Same goes for Predator

I see, fair enough, I can personally live with the slight colour changes but I fully understand if you're not a fan of it. After all we're all entitled to our own opinions.

I'm personally more annoyed with the lack of the original sound mix. But that discussion is for a different thread.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

I see, fair enough, I can personally live with the slight colour changes but I fully understand if you're not a fan of it. After all we're all entitled to our own opinions.

I'm personally more annoyed with the lack of the original sound mix. But that discussion is for a different thread.

As you brought it up I doubt Predator will have its original sound mix either, the previous discs did not

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

As you brought it up I doubt Predator will have its original sound mix either, the previous discs did not

Didn't the UHE have the the original 4.0 mix as an option? I used to own the disc and I swear that it was on there.

I think the 5.1 mix on the current editions is very well done though and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets ported over to this release.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

Didn't the UHE have the the original 4.0 mix as an option? I used to own the disc and I swear that it was on there.

I think the 5.1 mix on the current editions is very well done though and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets ported over to this release.

Actually I have no idea about the UHE no way was I buying that

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

Actually I have no idea about the UHE no way was I buying that

Lol I regret buying it myself, what a waste of money.

[42041]

Originally Posted by jonmoz

I still think we have to judge these older catalogue releases based on their source and filming conditions,instead we always seem to judge them on other catalogue movies that look great and not take anything else into consideration,almost as if every older movie was shot using the exact same lighting,film sock and budget.

Certain things just don't vary much. The film stocks are pretty much the same, the lenses are all perfectly capable of laying down far more resolution than blu-ray can reproduce, etc. There are many situations in which you won't be getting their full performance of course, but unless it's a deliberate choice it's unlikely that a movie won't have at least some material that benefits greatly from a top-notch remaster. A well-exposed day exterior in Predator with solid depth of field is not much different than a well-exposed day exterior in any other mid-80s movie (unless it's one of the re-framed shots). Predator isn't a pretty movie by any stretch but it still has footage that can fully utilize the capability of the format.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

VC-1? is it 2008??? AVC and a new master would make the grain less clumpy, it would be finer but there still will be a ton.
If a film like Evil Dead can look like a new release there is no reason Predator with the same care cannot look better.

Agreed and let's keep VC-1 in the coffin - way too many smoothed over discs (in part) from it.

[jonmoz]

Originally Posted by 42041

Certain things just don't vary much. The film stocks are pretty much the same, the lenses are all perfectly capable of laying down far more resolution than blu-ray can reproduce, etc. There are many situations in which you won't be getting their full performance of course, but unless it's a deliberate choice it's unlikely that a movie won't have at least some material that benefits greatly from a top-notch remaster. A well-exposed day exterior in Predator with solid depth of field is not much different than a well-exposed day exterior in any other mid-80s movie (unless it's one of the re-framed shots). Predator isn't a pretty movie by any stretch but it still has footage that can fully utilize the capability of the format.

I have said there is always room for improvement but in this case how much remains to be seen,and as you said Predator is never going to be a "Pretty" movie.

I have watched the original Blu-ray release many times on my system and even though it's not perfect it's pretty decent in my opinion,yes the master/source is a little dated but it may be the best that's available without a very expensive restoration process,and to be fair I can't see a movie like Predator receiving this.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by jonmoz

I have said there is always room for improvement but in this case how much remains to be seen,and as you said Predator is never going to be a "Pretty" movie.

I have watched the original Blu-ray release many times on my system and even though it's not perfect it's pretty decent in my opinion,yes the master/source is a little dated but it may be the best that's available without a very expensive restoration process,and to be fair I can't see a movie like Predator receiving this.

Purely speculation, but it's quite possible that the new transfer might have gone through some sort of restoration process.

The film's certainly popular enough to warrant it. If it wasn't that popular it wouldn't have been released twice already on Blu-Ray, not to mention the upcoming 3D release.

All the film really needs is some slight clean up work done to remove dirt whilst retaining the film grain and some slight and I mean slight colour correction. The colour timing is already pretty good on the 2008 disc but it does go a tad washed out in a few shots.

Encode the disc with AVC and give it a high bitrate to avoid compression artifacts and you're pretty much good to go.

Fox tried to "pretty" up the image with the UHE but they failed miserably. The film's not meant to look vibrant and shiny. It's meant to look gritty.

[jonmoz]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Agreed and let's keep VC-1 in the coffin - way too many smoothed over discs (in part) from it.

The original 2008 released used the MPEG-2 codec which does tend to make grain more blocky,the ultimate edition used the MPEG-4 AVC codec but to be fair either the AVC or VC-1 codecs should offer improvements over the MPEG-2 codec.

[HeavyHitter]

If it's done right, I think it will be a substantial improvement as Terminator showed. I was one of those people who said the original Terminator couldn't look much better because of the source, blah, blah, and I was completely wrong. We can no longer make those kind of assumptions. Don't under-estimate 35mm films (even ugly ones) which has far more resolution than BD as has been pointed out.