Blu Rays with Questionable Color Timing

[Atreyu]

The color on the U.S. version of The NeverEnding Story is horrendous and some scenes are so dark you cannot see a lot of the picture.
Just read the reviews and forum posts from when this first came out to see the big problem many of us NES fans had with it's release.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by mdonovan

If you ready my original post you'd see I want this thread to exclude intentional color timing changes.

Trust me. I did read your original post. And, I did see what you want this thread to exclude. Yet, I stand by what I stated.

[mdonovan]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Trust me. I did read your original post. And, I did see what you want this thread to exclude. Yet, I stand by what I stated.

I hope you are wrong :-)

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by mdonovan

The purpose of this thread is simply to discuss blu ray releases that have or 'may have' adjusted color timings different than he original release of the film.

I am not talking about obviously intentional color alterations made by the director or colorist ... I am talking about transfer errors.

The errors will be colourist errors, I don't know what a transfer error is. The trouble is when a colourist doesn't know what the film originally looked like (maybe wasn't even born then). *CLEOPATRA '63* No way should it look like that, too cold & the colour has been mucked about with, almost all the yellow has been would out, so a lot of the gold now looks like silver.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Jesus that's terrible. That movie has been crapped on in home video forever it seems like.

The Superbit DVD still looks quite marvelous I must say.

[Tech-UK]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

THE MATRIX and THE RING have both undergone major shifts from a blue tone to a green one.

The Matrix is pushed blue in the real world and pushed green when they are in the Matrix.

The real world sections still look blue to me.

[Lantz]

Diamonds Are Forever has a weird purplish push in the reds, affecting mostly skin colours. Also it's made a bit too pale for my taste.

[Lantz]

Originally Posted by Lantz

Diamonds Are Forever has a weird purplish push in the reds, affecting mostly skin colours. Also it's made a bit too pale for my taste.

...in fact, overly purplish reds seem to be a common error with bluray. I seem to find a similar thing with Raimi's 'Spider-Man' films.

[theprestige85]

I feel that Michael Mann's Heat is a bit too dark. I never saw it in the cinemas as I was too young when it came out, but I don't remember the broadcasted BBC 1 versions being so dim.

[Jerry_Dam]

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

DVD


BD


DVD


BD

[Hypnosifl]

Originally Posted by vsoba

What's astounding is that the transfer is so dark as to obscure some onscreen text that was meant to be seen.

What scene?

[Batjoke100]

The color timing for The Dark Knight is way off.

[vsoba]

Originally Posted by Hypnosifl

What scene?

They overlaid handwritten words from either a letter or a diary. The Blu-ray transfer is so dark that you can't see the words.

[Yojimbo68]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

The Superbit DVD still looks quite marvelous I must say.

The Superbit DVD of Bram Stoker's Dracula is way too "hot". If memory serves, almost everyone in the film looks like they have sunburn. I actually have a running joke with one of my friends. A form of torture would to be locked into a room with only that BS Dracula Superbit DVD. You would slowly decent into madness trying to adjust the color.

[NLScavenger]

I'm wondering which version of "Phantom of the Paradise" has the correct color timing. The French and UK transfer look very different. Then there is also the Japanese version from Fox of which nothing is known and the upcoming Shout Factory release.

[nagysaudio]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

The original release of The French Connection comes to mind. Luckily, Friedkin fixed it with the re-release.

I doubt Friedkin had anything to do with the re-release.

[Hypnosifl]

Originally Posted by vsoba

They overlaid handwritten words from either a letter or a diary. The Blu-ray transfer is so dark that you can't see the words.

I just went through it on fast forward looking for scenes with text, all the handwritten letters and diaries that I found seemed totally readable to me. It's possible I missed one, but it's also possible that your TV is just adjusted to an overly dark setting (I used the Disney World of Wonder blu ray to set colors/brightness on mine). The issue of settings also suggests that people shouldn't necessarily trust screenshots unless they've calibrated their computer monitors (something I've never bothered to do with mine, since I don't use my computer to watch movies)...after seeing the screenshots people had posted about Dracula, I was worried that a lot of scenes would be too dark to see any detail on the blu ray, but when I actually watched the blu ray a few months ago I remember I was pleasantly surprised by how it looked.

[Lantz]

Originally Posted by Hypnosifl

I just went through it on fast forward looking for scenes with text, all the handwritten letters and diaries that I found seemed totally readable to me. It's possible I missed one, but it's also possible that your TV is just adjusted to an overly dark setting (I used the Disney World of Wonder blu ray to set colors/brightness on mine). The issue of settings also suggests that people shouldn't necessarily trust screenshots unless they've calibrated their computer monitors (something I've never bothered to do with mine, since I don't use my computer to watch movies)...after seeing the screenshots people had posted about Dracula, I was worried that a lot of scenes would be too dark to see any detail on the blu ray, but when I actually watched the blu ray a few months ago I remember I was pleasantly surprised by how it looked.

Dracula on bluray took a bit of getting used to. Coppola wanted the film to look gritty and old-fashioned and therefore tweaked colours and contrast accordingly for the bluray. While I wasn't too happy at first, it has grown on me, and now I really like the transfer.

[Yojimbo68]

Originally Posted by Lantz

Dracula on bluray took a bit of getting used to. Coppola wanted the film to look gritty and old-fashioned and therefore tweaked colours and contrast accordingly for the bluray. While I wasn't too happy at first, it has grown on me, and now I really like the transfer.

So, in a way, he's just as much a revisionist as Lucas. He's also has played around with the audio on the Blu-ray release. The old Criterion Laserdisc has awesome audio. It was one of my "go to" demo discs. The Blu-ray audio pales in comparison.

[Rizor]

Originally Posted by Hypnosifl

I just went through it on fast forward looking for scenes with text, all the handwritten letters and diaries that I found seemed totally readable to me. It's possible I missed one, but it's also possible that your TV is just adjusted to an overly dark setting (I used the Disney World of Wonder blu ray to set colors/brightness on mine). The issue of settings also suggests that people shouldn't necessarily trust screenshots unless they've calibrated their computer monitors (something I've never bothered to do with mine, since I don't use my computer to watch movies)...after seeing the screenshots people had posted about Dracula, I was worried that a lot of scenes would be too dark to see any detail on the blu ray, but when I actually watched the blu ray a few months ago I remember I was pleasantly surprised by how it looked.

Unfortunately, the screenshots at AVS Forum where they were posted seem to be down, but the shot in question is @29:48 on the Blu-ray. You can still sort of make out that there's something overlaid onscreen, but the effect is certainly diminished. Here's a screenshot I made from the DVD where I can at least read some of the words:

[Show spoiler]