This for sheer beauty, also 2001: A Space Odyssey for classic restoration
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Best Blu-Ray transfers
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This for sheer beauty, also 2001: A Space Odyssey for classic restoration
Tokubetsu
Member
The Italian is the best available HD version, but it only has Italian audio.Knocks the US version out of the water, PQ wise.
It still doesn't look that great. It's marginally better. Film like this deserves a fine comb through but I'm not sure what the state the original negatives are probably in.
2perf Techniscope (the film stock it was shot on -- cheap film stock) isn't too great, and the negative is kinda damaged. Every cut jumps because the glue that holds the film together has warped the frames holding cuts together. Italian transfer is a pretty good representation of the film, but it'd probably be nicer looking if they did it in 4K or whatnot.
Tokubetsu
Member
Yeah, largest jump in quality seems to be face shots. Particularly facial hair.
Theonik
Member
Yeah I don't really think there is much that can be done to get a better restoration of the film than what we have now. IIRC they already had to go through quite large lengths to get the best sources available for negatives/prints and even then the source seems to have greatly degraded. Wouldn't hold my breath for better scans anytime soon.
In some of these re-issues they do, but there is typically massive backlash when they do so. Say like the controversy when they fixed the reflection on the glass on the Raiders DVD transfer and removed Misc cables.
I'd personally rather they left the films alone unless they also offered an unaltered version of the film on disk.
Tokubetsu
Member
Yea, it's a bit of a slippery slope. It's usually for the best that they leave it alone. Blade Runner gets a pass because A) They went to great lengths to remove it (stunt double facE) and B) They gave us ever other version of the film unaltered like you said.
The first two Alien films are almost perfect transfers, and really do deserve a re-watch just to to see how much better they look.
I agree, the first alien with that transfer has not aged at all.
It's amazing what a great transfer can do for an old movie.
NekoFever
Member
It's worth saying that although a lot of Warner stuff is quite hit and miss, when they go all out with the remastering the results can be spectacular. They went back to Wizard of Oz, cleaned up every frame and remastered it at 8K resolution, and it's beautiful. That quality job at that resolution is going to keep that movie looking good for the next century.
Is there a video game version of this?
Theonik
Member
Closest thing we have for games I guess.
It's harder to have something like that for games because of the many factors involved with how the final game looks on ones screen but this list of rendering resolutions should help as a general rule of thumb as far as PQ is concerned.
Blade Runner is the example of how changes like that should be handled imo. Not only did they fix obvious issues with the original release. (like how they re-synched the refinery fires, the stunt double etc) but they gave viewers the choice by giving every version of the film bundled. On the opposite end of the spectrum one needs only to look at the current state of the Star Wars films. What started as simply fixing some minor errors has escalated into what we have today.
Maklershed
Member
Any word on how the Casablanca 70th Anniversary blu-ray looks?
AstroNut325
Member
Avatar... simply THE best blu-ray to date. 2D and 3D.
For non-CG movies my vote goes to Ben Hur and The Social Network. Also a worthy nod to The Zodiac.
For non-CG movies my vote goes to Ben Hur and The Social Network. Also a worthy nod to The Zodiac.
SolidusDave
Member
Even after several years of watching Blu-rays I was very impressed with some of the scenes in Baraka.
Learning about the transfer process behind it explained a lot.
Learning about the transfer process behind it explained a lot.
Why is The Social Network so low on the list? I haven't seen it, for what it's worth.
After getting my plasma back in november, I'm only now starting to really discover the magic of blu-ray movies. I find it really hard to go back to dvd's tbh, it's a totally different experience.
Up was my first blu animation purchase and man... my jaw hit the floor. It's just amazing how good it looks. I'm now on a mission to get as many Pixar/Disney br's as possible. Might take advantage of the Disney sale on the TheHut right now.
This thread is a godsend btw, going to make up a list with all the mentions that interest me.
Up was my first blu animation purchase and man... my jaw hit the floor. It's just amazing how good it looks. I'm now on a mission to get as many Pixar/Disney br's as possible. Might take advantage of the Disney sale on the TheHut right now.
This thread is a godsend btw, going to make up a list with all the mentions that interest me.
I find that DVDs do still look pretty good, especially if the bluray player had a good upscaler. Im not going to replace my DVDs, but all new movies are bought on blu-ray.
Some people irl have said they dont see a difference... I have stopped arguing with them about it. I should show this thread.
Banding (this is a big issue with ultra clean digitally shot stuff, as well as clean digital animation) and lacking black levels I'd imagine.
crazy monkey
Banned
Kung fu panda 1 and 2 are awesome
I've enjoyed slowly replacing my collection. Some of my favorite films will most likely never come out on bluray, which is a shame, but generally they've rolled them out over the years slow enough that replacing them has been a joy.
Net_Wrecker
Member
DVD's look okay, but it's really hard to go back to most of them. A lot of stuff probably won't get a Blu release, or won't for a long time, so it's inevitable to have to pop in a DVD once in a while, but I avoid it as much as possible. Currently in the process of repurchasing my favorites. Honestly, the differences in some are like watching a movie for the first time.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
It's clean, sure, but it has pretty flat contrast and inconsistent black levels. In some screens the picture's black levels look kinda greyish and in some there's just flat out black crush. And some banding in a few instances.
There are actually downsides to these digital cameras, you know.
DVDs only look okay to me if I get to about 4-5' away from my 32" TV. At my usual 2.5'-3' distance, they look quite bad.
Guerrillas in the Mist
Member
I usually don't feel the need to pick up a movie again on BR, but this is one of the exceptions.
Alien looks stunning. It's hard to believe it was filmed in 1979. Those shots from Zulu look incredible as well. I never though it could look that good, having only ever seen it on TV.
You know that TSN was shot on the RED One MX, not the EPIC right?
Really? 2001 is more than ten years older, and I would say looks better.
AndyMoogle
Member
That guy with curly hair and glasses is in every movie ever. It's like he doesn't age either. He's probably a robot extra.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
I did after I looked it up on Wikipedia last night.
OK, so it wasn't the EPIC. That just means all those movies I listed are going to look even BETTER than TSN.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
I do not accept that answer.
Care to provide examples of banding (in any movie)? I can't recognize it. I assume it's when a gradient is choppy and uses less colors instead of a smooth gradient?
I did notice the black levels in some instances, but that's the nitpickest of nitpicks, and easily fixed by future models.
I did after I looked it up on Wikipedia last night.
OK, so it wasn't the EPIC. That just means all those movies I listed are going to look even BETTER than TSN.
Epic-M came out last year, Epic-X came out in the late summer, and the Scarlet-X in November.
He didn't want to shoot on the RED ONE until after the MX sensor upgrade. Seems he's a believer now.
BTW, I have a Scarlet. Fantastic camera.
Messofanego
Banned
Soderbergh movies are RED, so what are the reports on the Che blu ray?
I have the DVD collection of both movies, but would like to know before I jump on the blu ray.
I have the DVD collection of both movies, but would like to know before I jump on the blu ray.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
You... own a Scarlet?!
I want one but I probably won't get a RED camera for at least five years, probably more.
Hopefully they'll be down in price by then...Universal's catalogue releases generally suck ass. All of their restorations use way too much DNR. Just look at some To Kill a Mockingbird screenshots. Almost all of the film grain has been smeared away. Warner, Sony, and Criterion are the only studios worth anything when it comes to catalogue titles.
You... own a Scarlet?!
I want one but I probably won't get a RED camera for at least five years, probably more.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Dayyyum.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
OMG OMG OMG! Thank You.
I would be very surprised if Spielberg didn't oversee the restoration of Schindler's List - especially after seeing to it that Minority Report and A.I kept their respective grain.
Still want Munich though, goddammit. But getting Schindler in the next year is too exciting.
WeAreStarStuff
Member
Took a couple of images with my phone. I think all of these movies look phenomenal. Avatar also looks amazing but I couldn't bring my self to put it into my player.
Pirates 2:
Planet Earth:
Tron (if only a picture could capture Dat Soundtrack):
Pirates 2:
Planet Earth:
Tron (if only a picture could capture Dat Soundtrack):
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Nappuccino
Member
dat grain <3
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