Anyone pick up PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (BBC) today?

[Ernest Rister]

Pre-ordered it for my wife a few months back. It's her favorite film of all time, and she was ecstatic when I told her it was coming to Blu...in fact, I used the possibility of seeing the BBC Pride and Prejudice on Blu as an incentive when trying to sell her on the HDTV and Blu-Ray when we married.

Anyhoo, she'll be getting it today, didn't know if anyone else had it and wanted to comment. I know this board skews largely male and few here will have purchased it, but if you are one of those fe who did, please share your thoughts.

[HumanMedia]

I picked it up last year from the UK.

The biggest hurdle is getting over the shrieking mother at the beginning, but once you do its a really great miniseries.

If you do like it check out Bleak House, which is slicker and very dark.

[bluskies]

I'm a straight male but still loved this mini-series. My copy should be arriving from Amazon in a few days. I think Colin Firth was the best Darcy.

[DIY_HD]

I just got the Email from Amazon that my order has shipped. With any luck I'll have it by the weekend. My wife still does not know I ordered it. It will be a big surprise. I actually hated this feature when I first saw it, but my wife watched it so much that I actually got into the story. We now both recite lines along with the dialog. It kind of grew on me. Yes, Mrs. Bennett is a real piece of work, but now I see she is the comic relief. This disc will be played often.

[goodluckchuck]

I will stick to wait for my Keira Knightley version

[nerdboyrockstar]

I've had an early copy for a few weeks ago and they did an astounding job on the transfer. I mean, it's not reference quality.. but it's leaps and bounds over any previous edition of the film.

The featurette on the restoration work for the Blu-ray has to be seen too. I love seeing films like these and even older ones get such a good treatment on Blu. It makes me excited for what's to come in the future.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by nerdboyrockstar

I've had an early copy for a few weeks ago and they did an astounding job on the transfer. I mean, it's not reference quality.. but it's leaps and bounds over any previous edition of the film.

Specifically, that since the videotape couldn't be remastered for Blu, they reportedly restored the 16mm film prints for hi-def...
If this works, there could be hope for more vintage non-HD series on Blu.

(Don't get my Netflix copy till tomorrow, so I'll have to take it on good word.)

[Deciazulado]

They restored from the original negative, which is better than prints.

[kevinbr100]

Originally Posted by goodluckchuck

I will stick to wait for my Keira Knightley version

yeah me too

[4K2K]

It's been slowed down by 4.096%

[Deciazulado]

It looks better than it's ever been seen.

Blu-ray.com Review

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

It looks better than it's ever been seen.

Blu-ray.com Review

Shouldn't the 4.096% slowdown of all Blu-ray releases of the title be mentioned in the technical aspects of the review like in the video and/or audio sections?

Releasing a Blu-ray title at a totally incorrect frame rate and audio speed seems quite a major issue.

[bbeck]

The Blu-ray spec does not support 25p. Hence the 4% slowdown for 1080/24.

Don't feel too bad - our UK friends have to put up with it too, same as with Planet Earth and others.

[bookcase]

How does it compare to the Kiera Knightley version? That's the only version I've seen and I absolutely love it (own it on HD DVD). I just wonder if it feel dated -- production wise, not the story itself, which is classic.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by bbeck

The Blu-ray spec does not support 25p. Hence the 4% slowdown for 1080/24.

Don't feel too bad - our UK friends have to put up with it too, same as with Planet Earth and others.

The Blu-ray spec supports 1080/50i with progressive flags, which, when de-interlaced gives 1080/p25.

The nine inch nails disc was filmed at 1080/p30. Look at the disc review and comments on blu-ray.com and it says 1080p. It's encoded at 1080/60i but if de interlaced properly should give the correct 1080/p30 frame rate.

The HDscape discs are encoded at a claimed 1080/p30. Since 1080/p30 doesn't exist on Blu-ray, they too must be encoded 1080/60i with progressive flags (despite the fact that some of them were recorded with interlaced cameras, and if they did convert them from 1080/60i to 1080/30p they'd have lost half the temporal resolution and gained no spatial resolution).

The Blu-ray spec supports both 1080/50i and 1080/60i, and, therefore 1080/p25 and 1080/p30 in these formats.

See this post:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=8463

Originally Posted by Torsten Kaiser TLE

mastering P&PR to 23.976psf is, of course, the wrong choice to make (re: speed down thus lowering sound pitch). This BBC production was made at 25f/s

Remember, the US Samsung BD players can play back 50hz (and therefore 25p) content.
I think they might play it back at 60hz so you don't need a 50hz compatible HDTV. So if they had put it on Blu-ray at 25/50i it could be played back with Samsung players with the correct audio pitch/tempo and timing, though it might look even better on TVs and players which support the original frame rate.

I think there are other US players that can read 50hz (and therefore 25p) too, and some have a source redirect to convert it to a different rate if a TV isn't compatible with that.

Here's a related poll about US 50hz compatible HDTVs:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=94378

Here's a thread for US 50hz compatible Blu-ray players:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=95245

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by bookcase

How does it compare to the Kiera Knightley version? That's the only version I've seen and I absolutely love it (own it on HD DVD). I just wonder if it feel dated -- production wise, not the story itself, which is classic.

The Kiera version is, um....pretty far off the mark, and generally praised by those who HAVEN'T seen any other version, 'cause, like, the costumes were so pretty.
(When we see long shots of our troubled couple on windswept cliffs, most of the critics complained, "Uh, guys, that was 'Wuthering Heights', and that was a different author!...I know they confused you too, in high school lit! ")

We haven't had a movie adaptation of P&P as good as we've had as the Emma Thompson "Sense & Sensibility" (and hey, I liked the Gwynneth Paltrow "Emma"!)--
But A&E pretty much founded an entire Austen-adaptation cottage industry on how well the cable P2 was received, and it's considered to be the default adaptation, even including the 30's MGM version.

[javabear]

Absolutely, I picked one up today. This is a great production with great acting. I love the movie version with Kira as well. But, this TV mini-series version is not to be missed.

[Jimbo976]

I would have but the price in Canada scared me off. It was $40 at the store I saw.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

I think there are other US players that can read 50hz (and therefore 25p) too, and some have a source redirect to convert it to a different rate if a TV isn't compatible with that.

Well right now the situation is that if the disc had been encoded in 25/50, in America, 90% or more of the people that would buy would be returning it the next day because there's no real support for 50Hz here.

In region Region B it might be different.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Well right now the situation is that if the disc had been encoded in 25/50, in America, 90% or more of the people that would buy would be returning it the next day because there's no real support for 50Hz here.

In region Region B it might be different.

They could release a firmware update for the US players that aren't 50i compatible. Many Blu-ray titles come/came with a sheet inside telling you that you need to "ensure that you have the latest firmware" or "...It is possible this Blu-ray disc was manufactured after your Blu-ray player. To ensure the best possible viewing experience, your Blu-ray player may need a firmware update...". When the James Bond Blu-ray titles came out, weren't many/most Blu-ray players incompatible with them? But the player manufacturers worked to ensure they worked correctly with those discs. The same could be done for those manufacturers (eg. Sony) still not supporting rates that are valid in the Blu-ray specification.

They could have released it in 25/50i in Europe since all of Europe is compatible.

They could have released it in 60i in the US, and there would have been no need conversion of the running speed or audio pitch/tempo.

They could start un-disabling 50hz compatibility in the US HDTVs and non-compatible players (eg. Sony).