Why release a Blu ray version when It looks awful?

Sean Quagmire

More and More im seeing this and lately with Public enemies and Bruno. Both appear very dark and grainy. The HD was not put to use at all.
It would look a lot better on a standard DVD.

Im getting to the stage now were Im reading reviews of the film on Blu ray before I pick it up. Thats a load of b*llox. Blu rays should be 100% perfect at all times for every film otherwise if it cant be done then leave it to standard DVD.

Kipperhell

They did the same with DVDs I have a copy of "Dangerous Liaisons" that is obviously cheaply copied by the company. The released a digital remastered version some years later.

Some films I am sure actually will be a problem anyway as the source will not be crystal clear like digital images. People will still buy them for the time being.

I suspect however that media distribution is likely to slide away from hard copies. I have a tons of records and cds that cost a fortune and took a years to get. Somebody could get them free now within a month. Films are a lot more disposable and much more prone to distribution as speeds improve. Most people I would feel their DVD collection is a waste of space.

Cactus Col

Kipperhell wrote: »

Some films I am sure actually will be a problem anyway as the source will not be crystal clear like digital images. People will still buy them for the time being.

Well that's certainly one of the problems. I read recently (could even have been on boards somewhere) that the makers of the Shield weren't releasing it on Blu Ray because of the way it was filmed. The graininess wouldn't allow for an improvement in picture quality.

However, with big screen releases such as Public enemies, there is a much greater public demand for Blu Rays, and so despite not being a huge improvement in quality over a dvd, the makers will release discs to satisfy that demand, and line their pockets.

Basq

Let's not forget the Blu-ray release of '28 Days Later' which was filmed entirely used a standard-def camera! :rolleyes:

Sean Quagmire

Haven't seen that yet.. Honestly its put a serious dampner on the DVD's i wanted to buy in Blu Ray. Their should be a standard that has to be met when releasing it in HD. I read american psyco isnt a great transfer so i wont order that to avoid dissapointment.

I was cringing watching Bruno last night, and not because of the movie itself.

Maybe planet earth will cheer me up, ordered today.

rednik

Sean Quagmire wrote: »

More and More im seeing this and lately with Public enemies and Bruno. Both appear very dark and grainy. The HD was not put to use at all.
It would look a lot better on a standard DVD.

Im getting to the stage now were Im reading reviews of the film on Blu ray before I pick it up. Thats a load of b*llox. Blu rays should be 100% perfect at all times for every film otherwise if it cant be done then leave it to standard DVD.

I would have to disagree with you on this. The idea of blu ray was to show films as they were originally shown on the big screen. If film grain is removed through the excess use of DNR the film can end up looking totally washed of colours.
I have bought quite a few and normally wait for reviews to appear before I do but in the past I have bought a few on the blind.One such movie Escape from New York is dreadful and is no upgrade from the DVD and this is where I have a problem. Paying out for what you hope will be at the very least a good transfer.
Have you seen the The Godfather trilogy on blu. I personally think this is a great transfer overseen by Coppola himself. The film retains the grain it contained on release but compare the picture to the DVD and there is no comparison.
Having the director involved can be a good thing and a bad thing. William Friedkin was involved in the transfer of The French Connection and totally changed the look of the films. He came in for a fair amount of criticism and a lot of it was from people who worked on the production side of the movie. I am waiting on Heat at the moment. Michael Mann oversaw the transfer to blu and when Warner Bros put out a release that the director had overseen changes in the content there was panic for a while on the forums as to what these changes were.
I regularly read Robert Harris's forum on the Home Theatre Forum site. Robert is a film restorer and was involved in the restoration of The Godfather. It is great to get an insight from somebody on the inside of the industry as to the quality of the transfer. Robert also interacts with members answering questions and so on.
I think blu ray is the future of film as long as the original film is shown as was intended by the director on release. Fim grain is not always a bad thing.

DOC09UNAM

only blu ray dvd's i want are iron man, two transformers and the incredible hulk.

Basq

Regarding the "film grain thing", one example worth mentioning is the 'Band of Brothers' Blu-ray was criticized as it cleaned up a lot of the grain present on the HD-DVD and DVD.

faceman

Ive always felt that you can go too HD. I think the converting of non HD films into Blue Ray is more to do with commercial interests rather than any aesthetic reasons.

Otis Driftwood

Emmmmm.


$$$$

humanji

nedtheshed wrote: »

Emmmmm.


$$$$

There's also when good Blurays go bad, like the Gladiator release that they apparently did their best to make look awesome only to completely destroy it.

krudler

Sean Quagmire wrote: »

More and More im seeing this and lately with Public enemies and Bruno. Both appear very dark and grainy. The HD was not put to use at all.
It would look a lot better on a standard DVD.

Im getting to the stage now were Im reading reviews of the film on Blu ray before I pick it up. Thats a load of b*llox. Blu rays should be 100% perfect at all times for every film otherwise if it cant be done then leave it to standard DVD.

Public Enemies was shot specifically with grain, to remove that would ruin the movie, same as stuff like 300, Band of Brothers etc. its meant to look that way, Bruno was mostly shot on camcorders anyway so what were you expecting?

Nick_oliveri

Trailer Park Boys Second movie (after the B&W one) was trash on Blu-Ray. But I have to give a big kudos to those who spend hard time cleaning up classics like the Thing and Shawshank to make it almost pristine!

Voodu Child

Sean Quagmire wrote: »

More and More im seeing this and lately with Public enemies and Bruno. Both appear very dark and grainy. The HD was not put to use at all.

I found Public Enemies to be a very acceptable transfer. It has its issues, but is definitely not a movie I would use as an example of a 'bad' BD transfer (Gladiator etc).

Necronomicon

I was disappointed with Pitch Black, there was a lot of grain in the darkness (so, the whole movie). Wasn't sure at the time of seeing it if it was just my television not handling it well, still not actually.

jaykhunter

Probably just depends on the whim of the director and who's in charge of the Blu-Ray release. Some films really benefit from Blu-Ray (Dark Knight, Terminator 2), some films looks marginally better than the DVD-Release (Ghostbusters 1) and some look the same (Batman Begins, 300)

Film grain is a bollox, when I buy Blu-Ray I expect films to look super-sharp and vibrant, and to put DVDs to shame. But not all Blu-Rays are the treated the same. Best to just read reviews and ask around before purchasing.

krudler

jaykhunter wrote: »

Probably just depends on the whim of the director and who's in charge of the Blu-Ray release. Some films really benefit from Blu-Ray (Dark Knight, Terminator 2), some films looks marginally better than the DVD-Release (Ghostbusters 1) and some look the same (Batman Begins, 300)

Film grain is a bollox, when I buy Blu-Ray I expect films to look super-sharp and vibrant, and to put DVDs to shame. But not all Blu-Rays are the treated the same. Best to just read reviews and ask around before purchasing.

I wouldnt want to watch Band of Brothers or something old like Casablanca without grain, its meant to look that way

rednik

Band of brothers is a fantastic transfer that retains the image containing film grain yet is a great upgrade with a great soundtrack. This is another issue I have all blu ray releases should contain a lossless track and nothing less. I buy the discs not just for the picture but also the soundtrack. I will think twice about buying if there is no lossless track.

Klingon Hamlet

Any grain is from the source. Old films suffer due to the source being analog. Some like the Godfather Trilogy were scanned, stored and cleaned, which is like manual Noise Reduction without loss of clarity.

The simple fact is that the higher the definition, the more obvious the faults. Also some HDTVs can have their contrast settings or sharpness set way too high (usually optimised for displaying upscaled images) so try adjusting the settings first.

I love grain. It gives the film life.

rednik

By the way for anybody interested Play.com are offering Band of brothers on blu ray at 23.49 which is a steal.

jaykhunter

It's just a personal preference. I HATE film grain. I want to be transported into the world of the film, not 'told' I'm watching a film, for example, Death Proof's constant bloody film grain. I get it, you're cool and retro, now why am I watching this in on Blu-Ray? Same with 300... It must be painfully obvious I'm a HD whore. I just want everything to look as close to "reality" as it possibly can. I love visual clarity and images that pop. HD whore.

IMO, I don't understand why filmmakers took so long to start filming using digital storage, instead of "classically" using film. To me, liking film grain is akin to preferring VHS to DVD, because VHS was used in a film's original release...or you like the tracking lines or fuzzy sound....crazy! Way over my head :P:pac::pac::pac:

Klingon Hamlet

jaykhunter wrote: »

It's just a personal preference. I HATE film grain. I want to be transported into the world of the film, not 'told' I'm watching a film, for example, Death Proof's constant bloody film grain. I get it, you're cool and retro, now why am I watching this in on Blu-Ray? Same with 300... It must be painfully obvious I'm a HD whore. I just want everything to look as close to "reality" as it possibly can. I love visual clarity and images that pop. HD whore.

IMO, I don't understand why filmmakers took so long to start filming using digital storage, instead of "classically" using film. To me, liking film grain is akin to preferring VHS to DVD, because VHS was used in a film's original release...or you like the tracking lines or fuzzy sound....crazy! Way over my head :P:pac::pac::pac:

The film grain of Death Proof and 300 was a director's choice, it came as part of the film. Death Proof used old filming technologies to give it a genuine retro feel, and indeed overal was successfully retro, in that it was ageneric lacklustre B-grade sh!t movie, but I digress.

Digital storage has its problems. It too has grain. Take Collateral or Public Enemies, and you will see the issues: digital grain, along with pixellation in fast-moving shots. Digital also IMHO leads to slightly artificial skintones, although this has as much to do with digital grading in the intermediate.

DVDs didn't quite present the same level of grain due to DNR. Also the inferior resolution meant the grain was almost negated anyway.

Get a good 200/240Hz LED with 24 real frames per second, and you're seeing the film the way the director designed it, whether you like it or not:pac:Don't like grain? Reduce sharpness right down, activate noise reduction, and live with it:D

kumate_champ07

any movie that was filmed on 35mm film should be suitable for whatever replaces blu ray in 10years or so, I can scan cheap 35mm frames and get excellent quality 3000by2000 pixel images.

kumate_champ07

I dont much much experience with blu ray but I remember renting pans labyrinth on dvd and the quality was horrible, it was badly compressed. lots of digital artifacts. I presumer blu ray also uses lossy compression?

Voodu Child

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

I dont much much experience with blu ray but I remember renting pans labyrinth on dvd and the quality was horrible, it was badly compressed. lots of digital artifacts. I presumer blu ray also uses lossy compression?

Blu-Ray mostly uses improved codecs compared to DVD (with some exceptions, especially early releases). The size of the discs also allow for massive bitrates. Technically the Blu-Ray specs allow for great quality and there really shouldn't be any compression artifacts - most of the time when a BD is 'bad' its related the source, or poor handling of the transfer (like Gladiator where they just ran it through an a bunch of automated DNR filters etc).