Interview with the Vampire (20th Anniversary) - September 30, 2014

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I'll bet you a dollar it's the exact same video encode.

Originally Posted by jscoggins

You wouldn't be able to do much with it (0.59 pence).

I will bet £1 that it is at least a re-encode of the video.

[Geoff D]

Damn, my plan to take advantage of the exchange rate (should I lose) has been exposed. £1 it is, then.

[McCrutchy]

With a bit of research, here are the releases I found which were at least re-encoded. Every new disc was also released internationally.

[Show spoiler] vs

vs

vs

vs

vs

vs

vs

vs

And how could I forget:

vs

There ain't many, but then again, how many discs has Warner seen fit to re-release internationally as a new disc? Not many.

[MifuneFan]

That's unfortunately a drop in the bucket compared to the outdated encodes they keep re-releasing.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

That's unfortunately a drop in the bucket compared to the outdated encodes they keep re-releasing.

Well, the pool of genuine re-releases from Warner, where anything is different on the disc, is small. Taken in light of the titles that gain genuinely different discs, it's at least a good chunk of them, though.

[Geoff D]

Yes, Warners redid Lethal Weapon 2, The Fugitive and Enter The Dragon with brand new transfers, but they did it for one reason: the old masters were visibly flawed, being poorly upscaled 1440x1080, hence they were plagued with horizontal jaggies. I'm 100% positive they wouldn't have redone them if they weren't technically deficient like that. (Quite why Lethal Weapon also got remastered is a mystery, because that wasn't affected by the jaggies. Perhaps there was a 2 for 1 offer at the scanning house that day? )

I know an upgrade is an upgrade in any case, and I don't want to sound like I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth, but Warners' record for re-encoding titles that weren't fubar is very poor indeed. You can add Mad Max 2 to the re-encoded list, though.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yes, Warners redid Lethal Weapon 2, The Fugitive and Enter The Dragon with brand new transfers, but they did it for one reason: the old masters were visibly flawed, being poorly upscaled 1440x1080, hence they were plagued with horizontal jaggies. I'm 100% positive they wouldn't have redone them if they weren't technically deficient like that. (Quite why Lethal Weapon also got remastered is a mystery, because that wasn't affected by the jaggies. Perhaps there was a 2 for 1 offer at the scanning house that day? )

I know an upgrade is an upgrade in any case, and I don't want to sound like I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth, but Warners' record for re-encoding titles that weren't fubar is very poor indeed.

It's true that some of those discs had very flawed masters, but not all of them did. And again, the pool of WB releases in general is very small up until recently. We have 2,273 titles for them in the US release database, translating to about 5 pages of releases, with 500 listings on each page. 3/4 of the first page are "No release date" titles which largely haven't been released at all. But going in release date (descending) order, once the 2006 releases start at the bottom of Page 1, by the end of Page 2 we have traveled from August 2006 to March 2011, and by comparison, by the end of Page 3, we have only gotten from March 2011 to December 2012. With other words, there were very few WB releases that probably merited a re-release, because there were so few releases in general. And if many of your releases are less than four years old, it's going to be hard to justify re-releasing those titles.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

You can add Mad Max 2 to the re-encoded list, though.

Mad Max 2 is on the list.

[Geoff D]

Oh, and I don't want to make it sound like I've got some pathological need for re-encodes of EVERYTHING from EVERYONE, because other studios throw lots and lots of bits at their encodes, and always have done. But Warners were too in thrall of their HD DVD commitments to max out their Blu-ray encodes, encodes which were still being released as part of new SKUs as late as September 2013 with the Dark Knight Ultimate set, and in some ways it's a habit that they've never been able to break with the characteristic slightly filtered look that even their new Blu-rays have.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Mad Max 2 is on the list.

Yeah, I didn't clock it with the Road Warrior title.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Oh, and I don't want to make it sound like I've got some pathological need for re-encodes of EVERYTHING from EVERYONE, because other studios throw lots and lots of bits at their encodes, and always have done. But Warners were too in thrall of their HD DVD commitments to max out their Blu-ray encodes, encodes which were still being released as part of new SKUs as late as September 2013 with the Dark Knight Ultimate set, and in some ways it's a habit that they've never been able to break with the characteristic slightly filtered look that even their new Blu-rays have.

Not at all. I totally agree with you, and I dislike Warner's encoding practices in general.

But again (broken record), given that we are getting an international re-release of Interview with the Vampire which has both new extras, and new audio, I still believe we will will see at least a new video encode, since Warner have to go back to check the new dubbing tracks anyway (since this is being released in Eastern Europe for the first time).

I suppose when you get right down to it, they could indeed lay the new audio and dubbing tracks onto the existing 2008 VC-1 encode, but when you consider that they won't be giving the movie another re-release for quite a while, well, I just think everything falls into place on this one. I do expect the video to be better than the 2008 disc, even if it doesn't feature a remaster.

It's also worth pointing out that, while we have seen a press sheet, I don't believe there has been an official press release and announcement yet.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

It's true that some of those discs had very flawed masters, but not all of them did. And again, the pool of WB releases in general is very small up until recently. We have 2,273 titles for them in the US release database, translating to about 5 pages of releases, with 500 listings on each page. 3/4 of the first page are "No release date" titles which largely haven't been released at all. But going in release date (descending) order, once the 2006 releases start at the bottom of Page 1, by the end of Page 2 we have traveled from August 2006 to March 2011, and by comparison, by the end of Page 3, we have only gotten from March 2011 to December 2012. With other words, there were very few WB releases that probably merited a re-release, because there were so few releases in general. And if many of your releases are less than four years old, it's going to be hard to justify re-releasing those titles.

I don't expect them to re-release everything, that's not my point. My point is that when they DO re-release something, they invariably use existing encodes/transfers/disc images which are less than optimal. I mean, for the money they were charging for the Dark Knight Ultimate set, they couldn't have sprung for new editions of BB and TDK?

[edit]The tide is finally starting to turn, granted, with new encodes if not new transfers. But seeing as Interview's video encode takes up a piffling 17GB I don't think adding on the extra Euro languages, the new extras and lossless audio will be too much of a problem. Heck, even if they do re-encode it or even do a new transfer I'd be amazed if it's on a BD50.

[lolwut]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

I never disagreed with you.

I merely pointed out that generally, as in not always, WB catalog titles that get re-released worldwide, which have had upgraded audio from lossy to lossless, and which have new extras as well, also have re-encoded video. I did not say the video would be remastered, nor did I say it would be any better in a realistic sense. Having said that...

...the examples you cite have either had recent re-masterings, or are, by their very age, probably not viable for remastering. The Harry Potter series is not one I am well acquainted with, but it does seem that only one HD master exists for each film. I imagine you will get your remastered video in 2021 or 2026, to celebrate the 20th or 25th Anniversary of the series.

Now, it may well be the case that back when the 2008 Blu-ray of Interview with the Vampire was created, a new HD master was produced. My understanding is that both DVDs (I only ever owned the later DVD) came from the same master, and if that is the case, the DVD master dates back to 1997. Based on the reviews of the Blu-ray, it doesn't sound (to me) like it was sourced from a 1997 master, but I could be wrong, since I'm going off comments made in 2008. So if the HD master was created for the first Blu-ray, then we are probably looking at a re-encode of that master for this 20th Anniversary BD, if the HD master was created, say, a few years before that, or is the one used for the DVDs, then I should think even Warner would have to go back and re-scan the film elements.

Either way, I seriously doubt we will get the same 19.93 Mbps VC-1 video encode this time, given what we know about this re-release.

I haven't found that to be the case at all. The vast majority of WB reissues are the same exact VC-1 encode. As has been posted on this page only 8 titles have had new encodes. If you've been following WB's track record, you wouldn't be surprised at all if this was the same encode.

[I KEEL YOU]

You can also add this one:



In general, there has to be something seriously wrong with the picture quality of a Warner title before they give us a new master, or just a new encode. I'm hoping that it things will change now that we're in the second half of 2014 and picture quality standards have risen.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by sky_captain

remaster, or gtfo.

+1

[StingingVelvet]

Terrible cover, as said.

I hadn't gotten around to picking this move up yet, however, so this might be an easy buy for me. Assuming they didn't remaster it, was the original transfer that bad? I'm not as picky as many others on here. I'll have to read some reviews.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Terrible cover, as said.

I hadn't gotten around to picking this move up yet, however, so this might be an easy buy for me. Assuming they didn't remaster it, was the original transfer that bad? I'm not as picky as many others on here. I'll have to read some reviews.

Someone else already posted this link, but here it is again:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...D=1114#auswahl

US BD vs. German DVD

[Lutz]

The picture quality on the original release is excellent it's just the audio that's bad.

This is another of those scenarios where some think soft and grainy film transfer = bad.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yes, Warners redid Lethal Weapon 2, The Fugitive and Enter The Dragon with brand new transfers, but they did it for one reason: the old masters were visibly flawed, being poorly upscaled 1440x1080, hence they were plagued with horizontal jaggies. I'm 100% positive they wouldn't have redone them if they weren't technically deficient like that. (Quite why Lethal Weapon also got remastered is a mystery, because that wasn't affected by the jaggies. Perhaps there was a 2 for 1 offer at the scanning house that day? )

I know an upgrade is an upgrade in any case, and I don't want to sound like I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth, but Warners' record for re-encoding titles that weren't fubar is very poor indeed. You can add Mad Max 2 to the re-encoded list, though.

Warners also redid the 1st Lethal Weapon movie as well.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

You can also add this one:



In general, there has to be something seriously wrong with the picture quality of a Warner title before they give us a new master, or just a new encode. I'm hoping that it things will change now that we're in the second half of 2014 and picture quality standards have risen.

That was another one of those piss-poor 1440x1080 masters, it had a fair bit of banding too. To be fair to Warners they fixed that one very quickly, but it's mystifying why it took them so long to redo the others that were similarly affected.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

Warners also redid the 1st Lethal Weapon movie as well.

I know, that's why I put the bit about 'quite why Warners redid Lethal Weapon is a mystery' in parentheses, I was talking about the 1st movie.