Spartacus (1960) (Restored Edition)

[Brian81]

Was thinking...

Wouldn't SPARTACUS be a film that would be best scanned at 8K instead?

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

As mentioned above, the HD DVD is better but not really in a good way, if that makes sense. It's an old transfer plagued with noise, noise which was then blasted away for the Blu-ray which makes it look even worse. But I kept the HD DVD anyway.

I think I know what you mean. The HD-DVD looks more detailed but itself is a ugly transfer for different reasons.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all the DVDs, HD-DVDs and Blu-Rays from the same master that was originally used for the Laserdisc?

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by Brian81

Was thinking...

Wouldn't SPARTACUS be a film that would be best scanned at 8K instead?

Technology will improve over time. 8K scanning in a few years' time will be better than 8K scanning in 2015, so Universal will wait until home video has caught up to 8K before creating an 8K scan.

[Geoff D]

For the purposes of oversampling I'm pretty sure they'd scan it at 6K or 8K for a 4K finish. IIRC Warners' recent restoration of Ben Hur was scanned at 8K for a 6K finish.

[EVERYONE LIES]

Originally Posted by rkolinski

Joy to the World that a Remastered BD of Spartacus is in the works! I was overjoyed when I first saw this relatively new thread so I'm looking forward to the release of a BD where I don't have to say in the headline of my review GIVE IT A RENT! I just LOVE this movie and if Universal said it would cost me $100 to own it, it would be a day one purchase. It will make a wonderful addition to my Spartacus collection which includes: 4 original one sheet movie posters, a complete lobby card set, a hardcover theater book, the original release hardcover novel with original dust jacket, a 1960 tie-in Spartacus gladiator model (still unbuilt) and all of these autographs https://www.blu-ray.com/community/ga...&folderid=1777.

Nice collection. Nice to see a another old movie poster collector on here.

[Christian Muth]

Originally Posted by Brian81

Was thinking...

Wouldn't SPARTACUS be a film that would be best scanned at 8K instead?

Robert Harris posted over at HTF that this new SPARTACUS was scanned from original Technirama elements (i.e., NOT the 65mm IP he created photochemically via optical recombination of the black-and-white separation masters in 1991) at 4K X 6K resolution. Since the amount of "Ks" in a scan are measured perf-to-perf (and here perf-to-perf is the HEIGHT of the frame, not the width since it's 8-perf 35mm), while this is "technically" a 4K scan, the width was scanned at 6K.

Chris

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

Robert Harris posted over at HTF that this new SPARTACUS was scanned from original Technirama elements (i.e., NOT the 65mm IP he created photochemically via optical recombination of the black-and-white separation masters in 1991) at 4K X 6K resolution. Since the amount of "Ks" in a scan are measured perf-to-perf (and here perf-to-perf is the HEIGHT of the frame, not the width since it's 8-perf 35mm), while this is "technically" a 4K scan, the width was scanned at 6K.

Chris

Thanks. Didn't he say in the past that the original elements were in really bad shape back when he did the restoration in '91?

[Christian Muth]

Originally Posted by Brian81

Thanks. Didn't he say in the past that the original elements were in really bad shape back when he did the restoration in '91?

Back in 1991, the yellow layer of the negative was faded, so he had to go to the black-and-white seps and recombine them optically to create a new 65mm IP. I imagine this time around they've scanned the faded negative and whatever B&W seps they need to reclaim the color and have recombined them digitally.

Chris

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by Brian81

Thanks. Didn't he say in the past that the original elements were in really bad shape back when he did the restoration in '91?

If you look about five minutes in on this restoration clip, you can see the sort of thing they can do these days.

Universal Centennial - Restoring the Classics - A Lifetime of Memories - YouTube

[Riddler95]

I'm happy to hear that Robert Harris is involved with this new restoration of Spartacus. I am really looking forward to the new Blu-Ray edition coming out later this year.

[Ray_Rogers]

I too will be buying this and wonder if Crterion is going to license their special features to Universal or will Universal create their own features theirselves?
I wouldn't mind if both Universal and Criterion shared the 4K Remaster and also offered vastly differing extras on their releases. Would be the same for me owning/going to own both the Universal and Criterion releases for Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and a few other titles for more compilations for my collection.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Riddler95

I'm happy to hear that Robert Harris is involved with this new restoration of Spartacus. I am really looking forward to the new Blu-Ray edition coming out later this year.

From what I've read, he's not hands-on involved. He's just giving them some pointers, presumably by telephone.

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

I too will be buying this and wonder if Crterion is going to license their special features to Universal or will Universal create their own features theirselves?
I wouldn't mind if both Universal and Criterion shared the 4K Remaster and also offered vastly differing extras on their releases. Would be the same for me owning/going to own both the Universal and Criterion releases for Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and a few other titles for more compilations for my collection.

Given that in every instance where there are essentially simultaneous Criterion and studio releases of a title the studio disc looks better, it's frustrating they don't work something out where there's like a shared disc 1. Have the studio handle all the encoding.

[Riddler95]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

I too will be buying this and wonder if Crterion is going to license their special features to Universal or will Universal create their own features theirselves?
I wouldn't mind if both Universal and Criterion shared the 4K Remaster and also offered vastly differing extras on their releases. Would be the same for me owning/going to own both the Universal and Criterion releases for Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and a few other titles for more compilations for my collection.

I'd also love it if all the Criterion extras were included!

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

From what I've read, he's not hands-on involved. He's just giving them some pointers, presumably by telephone.

That's not entirely promising...

[Professor Echo]

For the most part, I probably watch extras once, maybe twice, so having decent ones already on the Criterion DVD are good enough for me, even in SD. Above all else, I just want an exceptional transfer of the film itself.

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by Riddler95

I'd also love it if all the Criterion extras were included!

Yeah, fingers crossed! This must have cost Universal a lot of money (they've been working on it it since last July), so I'm sure it'll be a big expensive package. I'm hoping they can do a bit of horse trading with Criterion, but if not, the film's the thing.

[Dubstar]

given how long Harris has been involved with 'My Fair Lady' and we STILL have not seen that release - Universal should just wait and release this on both regular bluray and 4K bluray.

[bigdaddyhorse]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

From what I've read, he's not hands-on involved. He's just giving them some pointers, presumably by telephone.

Nothing could go wrong by phoning in any subtle changes.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by bigdaddyhorse

Nothing could go wrong by phoning in any subtle changes.

. Let's hope he's more involved than that.