The Criterion Collection

[Knaldskalle]

I don't know about you guys, but I put the blame on Mame.

[UncleBuckWild]

Originally Posted by shamdy

[Show spoiler]This is not a cry for help or rather to gain sympathy. This is my fault and only my fault.
I wrote a while back about my complaints of how the criterion Blurays have problems with their subtitles that are hard to read or follow.
Any many members named names and accused me of being an attacker on Criterion.
I respect Criterion as a company on preserving the art of foreign and obscure films but my complaints is about the bluray format in general.
In my opinion as the opinion of millions of others the bluray format since introduced, has faced so many criticism due to the digital manipulation of the film images that alters the integrity of watching the films at cinemas.
Ok maybe some older DVD's weren't that sharp but compared to many recent Blurays it feels I'm watching the desired look of the director.
What i'm trying to convey is that blurays take away from the pleasure of watching films and this includes the criterion blurays.
The criterion DVD's ( All of them ) old and new releases are superior in my opinion to the blurays. At least it make me feel I'm watching natural colors with beautiful authentic natural film grain. It was my fault in believing in the Bluray format and building a false library of a deformed format.
Please members, stop dreaming about upgrades to bluray that destroy the beautiful images of the intended film.
For example, what else do you dream to see in (Le Samourai). I have the 2005 criterion release and it looks amazing. So please when the new release comes if you don't have it buy the new DVD version and forget about the bluray which will of course has a new color scheme as well as light noise and heavy intrusive grains and many other faults.
People praise for the example the criterion bluray of ( The Night Porter ) and I don't know why. When I watched it recently I was distracted by its heavy light noise and grains in dark scenes and I didn't like the new color scheme. I downloaded the dvd version and watched the same release and was mesmerized by the picture and enjoyed the film much more on its DVD counterpart.
Many many Criterion Blurays as well as many other companies Blurays really have image problems.
So many Kino Lorber and Arrow and Maters of cinemas and BFI's bluray releases takes away from the authenticity of the moving picture.
When I started collecting criterion titles I was collecting DVD's. I had about 30 titles and was satisfied with the packaging and beautiful extras that expanded my knowledge about each film. Then I started reading about blurays in this site and the amazing picture of criterion Blurays and I wondered why not buy blurays.
I live in a third world country ( Many people will of course comment on this ....I know, so thank you in advance for your laughable comments ). I don't have the means to buy movies from stores because we don't have any so I import them online and pay a huge some of money to enjoy the films. I was able to get a region free bluray player specifically for Criterion. And when the money was available and the economy was good I bought a load of Criterion Blurays without hesitation. I watched to be honest at the beginning a small number of them and it was OK but I had my reservations.
For example I didn't find something wrong with (The Devi'ls Backbone or Safety Last or Tokyo Story ). So I bought more blurays without watching them as a way to expand my library of films I already saw like The Three colors trilogy , Ingmar bergman's movies and many many others.
I was like a guy being hypnotized by the devil into buying blurays in general without watching many of them due to other engagements in life.
Then when I had the time to sit and enjoy the library I built I was struck by the negative quality of most blurays I bought.
Ok some blurays of recent films are really a joy to watch but Old films shouldn't be watched in 1080p, their standard definition is much better.
Anyways I can go on and on about my many mistakes as I'm the only one to blame and I must suffer for my Mistakes. I won't annoy you more.
My conclusion is this : I have about 100 criterion Bluray titles that I'm willing to sell for a reasonable price or trade them for their DVD versions even if they are the earlier DVD releases. And I don't know how to accomplish this.
I live in Egypt and I used to Import the movies via a courier company called Aramex. And I know that anyone interested in the bluray titles I have will be living abroad so if there is a way for people interested in my collection to get them, I will be more than happy and a huge load will be lifted.
All my criterion Blurays are In perfect shape with the discs watched once or not at all with booklets included. I can photograph the cases and booklets for anyone interested and send them to them to know i'm an honest guy.
To anyone willing to help or interested in buying or trading I can e-mail them my entire list and find a way to make this business transaction possible.
Lastly, I'm really sorry if I brag or complain but everyone is entitled to his own point of view and I respect all members of the forum for their joy of watching a criterion Bluray and sorry for my broken English like a member commented before.
And please if there will be replies let It be a positive one about how to share my library with others who want to enjoy the blurays I have or even trade them.
Thank you again and sorry once more.

https://www.criterion.com/my_criteri...mdy/collection

shamdy.. let's take you back to the Good Ol' Days!

1) Turn on your Blu-ray player, go to settings > select to output 480p

2) Buy a HDMI to analog cable

3) Take out your CRT telly from the attic, retirement's over for that old fart.

4) Connect, calibrate & set sharpness to 100, that'll produce some excellent compression artifacts

So there you go.. you're now officially back in the 90s... Enjoy.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by shamdy

This is not a cry for help or rather to gain sympathy. This is my fault and only my fault.
I wrote a while back about my complaints of how the criterion Blurays have problems with their subtitles that are hard to read or follow.
Any many members named names and accused me of being an attacker on Criterion.
I respect Criterion as a company on preserving the art of foreign and obscure films but my complaints is about the bluray format in general.
In my opinion as the opinion of millions of others the bluray format since introduced, has faced so many criticism due to the digital manipulation of the film images that alters the integrity of watching the films at cinemas.
Ok maybe some older DVD's weren't that sharp but compared to many recent Blurays it feels I'm watching the desired look of the director.
What i'm trying to convey is that blurays take away from the pleasure of watching films and this includes the criterion blurays.
The criterion DVD's ( All of them ) old and new releases are superior in my opinion to the blurays. At least it make me feel I'm watching natural colors with beautiful authentic natural film grain. It was my fault in believing in the Bluray format and building a false library of a deformed format.
Please members, stop dreaming about upgrades to bluray that destroy the beautiful images of the intended film.
For example, what else do you dream to see in (Le Samourai). I have the 2005 criterion release and it looks amazing. So please when the new release comes if you don't have it buy the new DVD version and forget about the bluray which will of course has a new color scheme as well as light noise and heavy intrusive grains and many other faults.
People praise for the example the criterion bluray of ( The Night Porter ) and I don't know why. When I watched it recently I was distracted by its heavy light noise and grains in dark scenes and I didn't like the new color scheme. I downloaded the dvd version and watched the same release and was mesmerized by the picture and enjoyed the film much more on its DVD counterpart.
Many many Criterion Blurays as well as many other companies Blurays really have image problems.
So many Kino Lorber and Arrow and Maters of cinemas and BFI's bluray releases takes away from the authenticity of the moving picture.
When I started collecting criterion titles I was collecting DVD's. I had about 30 titles and was satisfied with the packaging and beautiful extras that expanded my knowledge about each film. Then I started reading about blurays in this site and the amazing picture of criterion Blurays and I wondered why not buy blurays.
I live in a third world country ( Many people will of course comment on this ....I know, so thank you in advance for your laughable comments ). I don't have the means to buy movies from stores because we don't have any so I import them online and pay a huge some of money to enjoy the films. I was able to get a region free bluray player specifically for Criterion. And when the money was available and the economy was good I bought a load of Criterion Blurays without hesitation. I watched to be honest at the beginning a small number of them and it was OK but I had my reservations.
For example I didn't find something wrong with (The Devi'ls Backbone or Safety Last or Tokyo Story ). So I bought more blurays without watching them as a way to expand my library of films I already saw like The Three colors trilogy , Ingmar bergman's movies and many many others.
I was like a guy being hypnotized by the devil into buying blurays in general without watching many of them due to other engagements in life.
Then when I had the time to sit and enjoy the library I built I was struck by the negative quality of most blurays I bought.
Ok some blurays of recent films are really a joy to watch but Old films shouldn't be watched in 1080p, their standard definition is much better.
Anyways I can go on and on about my many mistakes as I'm the only one to blame and I must suffer for my Mistakes. I won't annoy you more.
My conclusion is this : I have about 100 criterion Bluray titles that I'm willing to sell for a reasonable price or trade them for their DVD versions even if they are the earlier DVD releases. And I don't know how to accomplish this.
I live in Egypt and I used to Import the movies via a courier company called Aramex. And I know that anyone interested in the bluray titles I have will be living abroad so if there is a way for people interested in my collection to get them, I will be more than happy and a huge load will be lifted.
All my criterion Blurays are In perfect shape with the discs watched once or not at all with booklets included. I can photograph the cases and booklets for anyone interested and send them to them to know i'm an honest guy.
To anyone willing to help or interested in buying or trading I can e-mail them my entire list and find a way to make this business transaction possible.
Lastly, I'm really sorry if I brag or complain but everyone is entitled to his own point of view and I respect all members of the forum for their joy of watching a criterion Bluray and sorry for my broken English like a member commented before.
And please if there will be replies let It be a positive one about how to share my library with others who want to enjoy the blurays I have or even trade them.
Thank you again and sorry once more.

https://www.criterion.com/my_criteri...mdy/collection

Cool post, but if you think DVD is how projected 35mm film looks, pretty much everything in this post is 100% absolutely backwards. Sorry.

[theater dreamer]

I respectfully disagree that classic films look better on DVD. It's not even close, in my opinion. A blu-ray issue, with properly executed post-production processing, with will look better than the DVD ever could, even with upscaling.

Take a film like Casablanca. I still have the original issue DVD, and the blu-ray with its 4k scan.



Again, a properly-handled release, where the color timing is not borked, and there's not egregious noise reduction that destroys the natural film grain inherent with the source material, will look better than the DVD every time.

Are there blu-ray releases where the color timing is off? Yes, certainly. Are there blu-rays where the noise reduction was done to a ridiculous extent, and the picture quality suffered as a result? Again, yes. But that's not the format's fault. Blame that on those that oversaw the individual problematic release.

[ajabrams]

re: WB and Criterion - there are two words that I can't repeat enough --
THE DEVILS.

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Cool post, but if you think DVD is how projected 35mm film looks, pretty much everything in this post is 100% absolutely backwards. Sorry.

Could be his local theater projects DVDs and he thinks it's 35mm. If so, then DVDs are more accurate to his theatrical experience. Still, I don't see how anyone can deny Blu-ray's superiority over DVD.

[CineSicko]

Originally Posted by ajabrams

re: WB and Criterion - there are two words that I can't repeat enough --
THE DEVILS.

The word is that one of the guys who runs the show at Warner is a devout Catholic who finds THE DEVILS to be an attack on Catholicism that should be buried forever. BFI must have offered a lot of money to get the rights for their DVD release several years ago. I guess the only hope for the film is if the Warner exec who is blocking THE DEVILS becomes an atheist. A shame, because it really is a great film, and in my opinion is Ken Russell's magnum opus.

[Rory]

I bought the 2012 BFI 2-disc PAL DVD edition of THE DEVILS because I'd never seen the movie and as a serious film buff I thought I should own it.

Not sure I needed to bother. That is one strange movie. I love Ollie Reed, but that is one hard movie to warm up to. And I'm an atheist, by the way.

[jedidarrick]

Originally Posted by CineSicko

The word is that one of the guys who runs the show at Warner is a devout Catholic who finds THE DEVILS to be an attack on Catholicism that should be buried forever. BFI must have offered a lot of money to get the rights for their DVD release several years ago. I guess the only hope for the film is if the Warner exec who is blocking THE DEVILS becomes an atheist. A shame, because it really is a great film, and in my opinion is Ken Russell's magnum opus.

Well, WB did let Shudder have The Devils, so...

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by jedidarrick

Well, WB did let Shudder have The Devils, so...

The chopped down version of it, sure.

[mja345]

The dude who posted about subtitles and the BD format in general posted a similar post 3 or 4 months ago. It's like some guy who posts, "I'm having trouble getting it up and it's destroying my life, blah, blah, blah..."

People go, "Okay, man, not sure how to respond to that. You do you."

Then he goes, "I posted this a few months ago, but I'm still having trouble getting it up, blah, blah, blah..."

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by mja345

The dude who posted about subtitles and the BD format in general posted a similar post 3 or 4 months ago. It's like some guy who posts, "I'm having trouble getting it up and it's destroying my life, blah, blah, blah..."

People go, "Okay, man, not sure how to respond to that. You do you."

Then he goes, "I posted this a few months ago, but I'm still having trouble getting it up, blah, blah, blah..."

Will someone please send some Viagra to Egypt

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by CinemaBlu

Could be his local theater projects DVDs and he thinks it's 35mm. If so, then DVDs are more accurate to his theatrical experience. Still, I don't see how anyone can deny Blu-ray's superiority over DVD.

No local theater projects NEW movies from a DVD.

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

No local theater projects NEW movies from a DVD.

A really bad one might. And who said anything about NEW movies. He said he lives in a third world country, so who knows what his frame of reference is. Bottom line is he's wrong.

[theater dreamer]

Forget the Viagra. He's a classic film lover. Tell him to put on his blu-ray of Gilda. If Rita Hayworth slinking around in glorious high definition doesn't do the trick, a little blue pill certainly won't.



I love when she does that shit with her hair.

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Will someone please send some Viagra to Egypt

[theater dreamer]

It's too bad, too. He has a really nice collection started. I have 70 of the 153 issues in his Criterion collection, and after the Flash Sale, I'll likely have half. I've watched a great many of them, and I've not seen a single release that looked anything like he described.

In fact, I recall a few of them--Bergman's Persona, Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success, Kubrick's Paths of Glory, and Chaplin's The Kid--that I'd consider examples of reference quality video. The source material for these films are fifty or sixty years old, and in the case of the Chaplin masterpiece, we're talking almost a full century since the movie was shot. They beautifully demonstrate what is possible with high definition when you have competent artists handling post production. When done correctly, these iconic films will look as good as they ever did in the theaters, if not better. And don't even get me started on what high definition makes possible from a sonic perspective. The dynamic audible range possible shames anything you could get from a DVD playback.

I'd estimate I've invested at least $12k in the last few years on my blu-ray collection, if not more. Certainly the Criterion issues, as well as releases from other boutique labels like Kino and Twilight Time, raise the average cost. If you ask me, it's one of the smartest investments I've ever made. I will always have these wonderful works of art at my fingertips. I'm not subjected to the whims of online providers, or technical issues with my ISP. I can watch any scene, or any film, over and over, whenever I please, and nobody can take them away from me. Even if I ignore, for a moment, the quantum leap in quality that blu-ray has made possible, the additional storage inherent with these discs have exponentially enhanced my love of film. The documentaries, the director commentaries, cast and crew interviews, etc are sublime. I watched Lawrence of Arabia again a few nights ago, with the graphic track enabled. I love watching a scene, and being able to read additional information germane to what I am viewing.

Originally Posted by mja345

The dude who posted about subtitles and the BD format in general posted a similar post 3 or 4 months ago. It's like some guy who posts, "I'm having trouble getting it up and it's destroying my life, blah, blah, blah..."

People go, "Okay, man, not sure how to respond to that. You do you."

Then he goes, "I posted this a few months ago, but I'm still having trouble getting it up, blah, blah, blah..."

[mja345]

Yeah, it seems like a personal issue he's having with the blu-ray format in general. I'm not really sure how one responds to that when almost no one else seems to have those same issues. I'm not dismissing his problem with the format, but it's difficult to really understand an issue that seems very personal.

[theater dreamer]

I'm puzzled, as well. He references how these blu-rays, through digital manipulation, alter the integrity of the filmmaker's vision. A lot of the discs the Criterion Collection issues are remastered with the approval of, and often direct oversight from the very directors, or cinematographers, who were responsible for the film.

I'm not looking to dismiss his problem, either. I just don't understand it. There are people who frequent our thread with a more discerning eye than I will ever have. While, occasionally, they will take issue with things like incorrect aspect ratios (ie The Last Emperor from the Criterion Collection, or Eight Men Out, issued by Olive Films), or issue-specific problems like black crush, or color timing (think of the Studio Canal issue of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, discussed with several screen caps here) , the format as a whole is pretty much universally celebrated.

Originally Posted by mja345

Yeah, it seems like a personal issue he's having with the blu-ray format in general. I'm not really sure how one responds to that when almost no one else seems to have those same issues. I'm not dismissing his problem with the format, but it's difficult to really understand an issue that seems very personal.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by CineSicko

The word is that one of the guys who runs the show at Warner is a devout Catholic who finds THE DEVILS to be an attack on Catholicism that should be buried forever. BFI must have offered a lot of money to get the rights for their DVD release several years ago. I guess the only hope for the film is if the Warner exec who is blocking THE DEVILS becomes an atheist. A shame, because it really is a great film, and in my opinion is Ken Russell's magnum opus.

Such an utterly ridiculous reason, and unfortunately a very believable one.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

Such an utterly ridiculous reason, and unfortunately a very believable one.

I believe Guillermo del Toro has mentioned that "The Devils" is being buried by some powerful execs at WB. He has some pretty interesting comments about it.