Are there any movies better on DVD than Blu-Ray?

I happily own eagle rock "SD-Blu-rays" concert releases from the Stones and Who.

I thought the "SD blu-ray" releases by eagles rock of documentaries of Floyd, Bee Gees and maybe Joni Mitchell to be excessive.

 

I think almost all DVD releases is better than their bluray counterparts. Many blurays are released with new color timing (they are almost always slightly or grossly teal/orange-ized), noise reduction, boosted sharpness, boosted contrast and paled colors (for some reason some people think that it is more realistic). It's the same thing that happened with music when remasters in the 90s started to appear.

Studios/labels want to convince us that we get something totally new with the latest releases. The result is almost always a "modern", trendy, artificial, unnatural and disgusting mess. Nowadays TVs also show films this way. I can't even watch an action film like The Specialist because they totally ruined it with the teal-orange look and contrast boosting (this one is the worst trick). It's sad because it was a beautifully photographed film which used nice and expressive colors.

I think we should make copies of our DVDs (and our CDs from the 80s) because one day every f**king film and album will be the same: unnatural, artificial and disgusting.

 

Finding Nemo looks stinkin bad on dvd IMO.

 

I didn't say that every single film is better on dvd than on bluray. For example, Straw Dogs MGM bluray looks pretty good. It's funny that it looks very-very similar to the dvds. The only real difference is the resolution:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare6/strawdogs.htm

I think that's how every single bluray should be released.

And this says a lot about those cases when "the bluray is so much better". When it has "much more realistic colors than the DVD release". I'm pretty sure that it's just an illusion (a marketing trick) thanks to modern mastering techniques that make films look "modern", artificial and bad.

 

The blu-ray is much better, but it's not "stinkin' bad".

 

Which casablanca is this? Criterion collection?

 

The Casablanca 70th is from Warner, and apparently also available in a double feature with 'The African Queen', or the Bogart collection which also includes 'the Maltese Falcon' and 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre'.

 

Sadly no BluRay releases of Terminator feature the mono track which is a shame, for purists like myself at least. Wasnt a fan of rerecorded sound effects. All Region 1 DVD releases of Terminator however include the mono track.

 

Not true about the mono soundtrack -- it is on the DVD I have (2001 release IIRC), one of the first DVDs I bought. The 5.1 mix is missing some elements, e.g. a scraping percussion noise that can no longer be heard during the opening credits. Gunshots also sound more realistic in 5.1 but lack the explosive quality of the original mono effects (which seemed to have been inspired by the gunshot sounds in "Shane"). However, I understand that the 5.1 mix on current blu-rays has been tinkered with since the version I'm familiar with.

Cover of the DVD I have looks like this:


I always thought this transfer looked pretty good, but I haven't actually seen any other (except for the old Hemdale pan-and-scan VHS tape, of course).

 

Back when I posted about the Terminator blu, it was in reference to the picture quality of the latest release which is exceptional, far superior to the first blu release. Regarding the original mono track, it is not on the blu releases which is a shame. But yes, it is on the main DVD releases which I did not mention. Off the top of my head, I thought that the laserdisc was the last time it was included.

Personally, the picture quality is more important to me than the sound, but it would have been nice for them to have included the original mono track on the blu releases. It's not like there wasn't plenty of disc space, it's strange that they left it off. The 5.1 isn't bad though, and from what I understand, Cameron spent a lot of time and effort creating it.


In the case of another Arnold classic which we have discussed here, the much maligned "Ultimate Hunter Edition" of 'Predator' has excellent sound to accompany the awful picture, but I much prefer to watch the original blu of it with the sub-par soundtrack because the picture is so much better. Next time I'm in the mood for some 'Predator' awesomeness, maybe I should hook up 2 blu-ray players at the same time and sync up the discs so that I can watch the original blu and play the audio on the "Hunter Edition."

 

Never understood WHY Fox DNR'd the ultimate edition to death. Predator is an ugly looking movie in terms of grain, etc.mbut it's an ugliness that is part of the picture and I wouldn't trade it for the world. If properly transferred and with better grain management it could look very nice indeed.

I agree about The Termimator blu--it's such a big upgrade visually.

 

Last of the Mohicans -If you want the original Theatrical version (And you do as it is superior to any director cut) you need to get the UK DVD
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Mohica...eywords=The+Last+Of+The+Mohicans+[1992]+[DVD]

 

I'm just repeating what I read elsewhere, but apparently the blu-ray of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958) slightly enhances the flaws in the original movie special effects (it was a cheap movie to begin with) so that some viewers will prefer the marginally less-detailed DVD.

 

I found this a bit interesting. Heres a few quotes from Van Ling, who was involved in the creation of T1’s 5.1 mix, and also pushed for the mono track to be included on the MGM SE DVD. I guess hes been outvoted on subsequent releases.

" a new sound mix a nice, true 5.1 We even had composer Brad Fiedel come back in and remix his music masters, and MGM hired Gary Rydstrom at Skywalker to do the overall remix on my recommendation. So MGM really put their money where their mouth was on this title."

" Yeah, the movie was mono originally. And there were a number of faux-stereo things out there. In my discussions with Lightstorm and talking with Cameron about it, we would always say that it would be cool to have something in stereo, but only if it was done right;and doing it right require some diligence, because you want to stay true to the mix and stay true to the balance that people have come to expect. But at the same time, you want to broaden the soundtrack a little bit. You don’t want to do something that is totally different because maybe part of the appeal was a way it sounded in mono. And that’s one of the things that was really important and one of the things that led Jim to say, “If you’re going to do it, do it right.” Its not just a matter of panning the mono right and left like some of the earlier faux-stereo mixes. And if I have my way on the disk configuration, MGM will also include the original mono audio as a separate track for the real purists."

Another one from over a year ago where he even says he prefers the mono.

“A tough question, but I think I lean towards the mono just because it was the original. I was the producer of the initial remix done by the great Gary Rydstrom back in 2000, and while I think he did an excellent job, there is something monolithic yet raw about the original mono mix that fits the film. Also, we found out later that there was a glaring omission in the remix, which was the metallic sounds—almost like that of a sword being drawn from a scabbard—of the letters in the title sliding past each other in the main titles. It turned out that the reason they were missing in the remix was that they were not on either the sound effects or the music masters for the film… they were on the dialogue stems for some reason. And those stems had been muted during the remix since there was no dialogue during the main titles! Lame explanation, but true.”

One more from 2011.

“I plead not guilty! I had nothing to do with the release of the Blu-ray version of Terminator – even though the publisher included part of my bonuses off the DVD edition. You may remember, when this disk was released in 2006, there were so many problems with the Blu-ray format (which was not ready and was rushed to avoid HD-DVD taking its place), that the programmers cut the discs down to the bare minimum. I don’t understand why they cut out the bonuses. Probably to save space…. They only used an extract of my documentary. Why not use it all? Well, it’s all in the past, a new HD digital restoration of the film, re-mastered using the original negative has been launched. I will do my utmost to ensure that the original mono mixing is on it, all the old bonuses incorporated and include new ones, such as unseen TV trailers for example or live BD extras. It should also include a bonus tribute to Stan Winston. We were in the process of working on it last year when we had to stop following MGM’s financial problems. So, for the time being the project is mothballed.”

 

Movies captured in SD tend to smear if they're put out on an HD format. I think it's better to simply let your hardware upscale the DVD rather than it be upscaled in mastering in HD.
http://www.kentaiblog.com/2013/05/part-man-part-borg-manborg-dvd-vs-blu.html?zx=b0ec4f76e64e953a

 

????? its 1:85:1 on the BR what it should be

 

Not sure what version you have But the MGM one released by Fox is better than the dvd ,not sure what you are talking about ,both don't look great

 

This Talk is pretty crazy !!!

 

The fact that a lot of Special Edition dvds have extras which never show up on BR is a good enough reason to hold on to those dvds, The Witness BR is missing all the extra features from the dvd SE which was pretty nice

 

in some of the extras ,they are viewing the direct transfer of the film ,before they digitally enhance it ,to me it clearly looked better but I don't think it looked that way on any version

 

Saving Private Ryan
DVD problem interior scenes with supposed daylight in the background( tungsten studio light. I suppose).

 

that's good to know...

 

really? it looked fine to me...but, I'm sure it will pop on Bluray.

 

For some reason the image on the BD release got cropped on the sides and then stretched horizontally, objects that were once perfectly round are no longer that and people and objects are slightly shorter and fatter. Event Horizon suffered a similar fate, it was stretched vertically instead.

 

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I knew that when it was originally released, people commented on the problem. That's why I always kept my DVD.