Battle of the Bulge - Very Impressed

[dk3dknight]

Those who obtained it through a store or other respectable
distribution systems, how was the picture and sound quality.

Ive heard lesser things said about Warner's questionable encoding
so I wanted a more honest opinion on it.

I made the mistake trying to read some of the hd reviews on it..
One so reviewer spent 90% of the review damning the movie to
the darkest pits of heck. (If you did not like the classic why would
you review the remaster) The reviewer went out of his way to find
everything horrible ever posted about the movie. The movies is not
a documentary theres no reason to go out and try to find technicalities
based on history.

I decided this was going to be my first blu-ray movie to start off with.
(I loved the original)

[Knight-Errant]

Well I love it and it's a really good transfer. The sound is awesome.

I'll leave it to someone more technically minded to talk about the encoding but it was a great experience for this movie lover.

Seriously what's not to like about this film? Great cast, amazing battles, beautiful direction.

[dk3dknight]

Thanks Knight-Errant thats good enough for me.

[Knight-Errant]

Oh and the bit where the tank rolls overhead and we're plunged into darkness is a surround sound gem

[dk3dknight]

nice...

Unfortunately where I live surround sound = police giving you a ticket
for sound violation.

But it will be something I will look foward to... when I move to somewhere
else.

I cant imagine that being too far off... just got to save up.

Im buying for not just now but for the future that is why I support Blu-ray.
Thats also why I support Sony.

Thanks

[Knight-Errant]

Originally Posted by dk3dknight

nice...

Unfortunately where I live surround sound = police giving you a ticket
for sound violation.

But it will be something I will look foward to... when I move to somewhere
else.

I cant imagine that being too far off... just got to save up.

Im buying for not just now but for the future that is why I support Blu-ray.
Thats also why I support Sony.

Thanks

Hope you get to experience it soon buddy.

[amtctt]

Originally Posted by Knight-Errant

Well I love it and it's a really good transfer. The sound is awesome.

I'll leave it to someone more technically minded to talk about the encoding but it was a great experience for this movie lover.

Seriously what's not to like about this film? Great cast, amazing battles, beautiful direction.

anybody know if they used the 65/70mm prints or did they use a 35 mm one for the transfer, i'm just curious.

[KenThompson]

Peter Bracke at HD Digest said the transfer was fabulous and gave it 4.5 stars. He actually praised Warner for their efforts in remastering that title.

[dk3dknight]

Yes but peter also said he disliked the movie.

Okay well I bought it at frys, for 19.99, picked up
some essentials, jolt cola mints etc etc ps2 games.

Anyway heres my little pseudo review of it.

I must say that it was a great picture for my low end equipment,
but I would make notice it did seem it was bit starved, and there
was a few scenes that suffered from (I dont recall the technical
term) a set of brightness coming from the left side that washed
some of the picture out. Minor but noticeable. It appears first during
the inital flight scene and a few other scenes, I let it pass on it being
a "old movie" I can imagine that the master might have degraded.

Going back to bit starved the video dipped into 12 and keyframed were
found to be at 22 24 and most 26 "I believe". Rest of the frames were
sporadic between the dips and the keyframes, where the lowest part usualy
occurred before the keyframe. That of course is my opinion, Ill have to rewatch to reverify.

I must say Warner Did a great job with keeping it to the original, having
a (for lack of better term a session of music played while the audience sat down) including a intermission in between keeping that authentic feel.

One thing I noted that "standard" dvd fuzz was gone it was crystal clear.

I definitely plan to continuously rewatch this movie to death a classic reborn.

Another slight bug I noted while the menu would come down while playing it would not work so well on the extras hitting the menu would stop the extras from playing and take you to a static Image.

So what does anyone else think?

[Knight-Errant]

I know what you mean about that colored haze creeping in from the edges.
That to me kindof looked intentional like the way it was shot. Maybe they used a diopter or something (I'm a little hazy on the technicals too hehe).

Anyway it was overall a great experience. A real classic.

[Deciazulado]

I haven't opened this yet (just got it last night), but this film was shot in the widest of film formats (barring certain Napoleonic wideness ): UltraPanavision 2.75 wide 70mm, and the case spec does say that on it, so if the movie is in its correct aspect ratio this would be the most letterboxed BD you'll probably seen up to now (near 700 x 1920 pixels) so take that into account

[ra1024]

I thought it was a pretty good transfer considering the age. It was Warner sharp in most scenes but a little soft in others. I think this had more to do with the shot than the encoding though. Having just seen The Road Warrior last night, I'd say BOB was a better improvement over dvd than TRW ( I'd give BOB a tier 2 rating personally ). TRW was a definite improvement but not something that really showcased high def. On the other hand, I think BOB shows what HD can do for older titles.

[Knight-Errant]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

I haven't opened this yet (just got it last night), but this film was shot in the widest of film formats (barring certain Napoleonic wideness ): UltraPanavision 2.75 wide 70mm, and the case spec does say that on it, so if the movie is in its correct aspect ratio this would be the most letterboxed BD you'll probably seen up to now (near 700 x 1920 pixels) so take that into account

I found the images awe-inspiring at times. The big battle on the rolling hills was incredible.

[Wheelman1970]

I finally had a chance last night to sit down and watch about an hour of "Battle of the Bulge" with a glass of Wild Turkey and I must say, for a movie originally released in 1965, the PQ transfer to BD was fantastic!

I had to have the volume down low and can't comment on the AQ but was blown away for a 42 year-old movie.

Any other opinions/comments?

[Wheelman1970]

Anyone else buy this movie and what did you think? Man, Charles Bronson used to be young?

[dannyboy104]

I was very impressed with the picture quality as a presentation. I love war movies ,such as Where Egles Dare ,Patton , Battle of Britain etc but I found the acting a bit dodgy,the casting strange, and the tanks were not right.

[Deciazulado]

Movies shot in anamorphic 70mm (UltraPanavision 2.75) like Bulge should look great on High Definiton . Little grain from large format elements. One thing I found interesting when watching it reminded me of this fomat war, specially the German soldiers trained to pass as US soldiers mingling among them till the right moments to divert and sabotage the efforts of our side to win the war. But they ran out of time. And gas.

[vsbdtv]

I thought the PQ was okay, after lasting through the beginning credits and opening music that seemed to go on forever.

My first reaction was that this was another so-so transfer. But 15 minutes into the movie I couldn't stop watching. I must have seen this film on TV dozens of times, but it was great to watch without the washed out colors and pan-and-scan of TV.

[dannyjl]

Glad to hear all the positive reaction to this movie. I've been on the fence with this one after reading the review at High-Def Digest. Don't see any reason why a very old film can't look good on blu. Now, as for sound - well there's only so much that can be done. Next BOGO sale I'll look for this.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by Wheelman1970

I finally had a chance last night to sit down and watch about an hour of "Battle of the Bulge" with a glass of Wild Turkey and I must say, for a movie originally released in 1965, the PQ transfer to BD was fantastic!

I had to have the volume down low and can't comment on the AQ but was blown away for a 42 year-old movie.

Any other opinions/comments?

Thanks for the heads up. This is one of the titles that I ordered from the Warner BOGO, and I have yet to watch it. I will wake up early tomorrow to enjoy it, can't really concentrate with my wife (NOT her kind of flick) and my 5 year old son going beserk