Blu Ray Image Quality Sir Terrence your attention please!

[Hairsonfire]

What is the deal with the disparity in some titles I have purchased? How can Bladerunner look so awesome and Twelve Monkeys look like Standard Definition when they are both 1080P? Also, the image in Gladiator is nothing to brag about either. Is there some "standards of tolerance" when Manufacturers perform the transfers that lets them get away with calling a Blu Ray release 1080P when it hardly looks better than the SD release? I am steamed here folks. FYI, my monitor is a calibrated 2009 Samsung Plasma that has been quite well reviewed.

Any comments are welcomed! Sincerely - HOF

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

What is the deal with the disparity in some titles I have purchased? How can Bladerunner look so awesome and Twelve Monkeys look like Standard Definition when they are both 1080P? Also, the image in Gladiator is nothing to brag about either. Is there some "standards of tolerance" when Manufacturers perform the transfers that lets them get away with calling a Blu Ray release 1080P when it hardly looks better than the SD release? I am steamed here folks. FYI, my monitor is a calibrated 2009 Samsung Plasma that has been quite well reviewed.

Any comments are welcomed! Sincerely - HOF

This is a great question. I have the copy of Bladerunner and it does look very good. Bladerunner has seen a very extensive restoration process. Each and every frame was cleaned, de-popped, and had scratches re-textured smoothly. After the film stock itself was restored to pristine condition, it was scanned using a 4K scanner. That scan was then authored and compressed at 1080p(which is 2k). This process was approved at every step by the director himself.

Twelve Monkeys on the other hand is an encode taken from the exclusive HD-DVD release during the format war. Universal decided not to re-compress and re-encode its master of this movie to cut costs, so this encode is not tweaked to the Blu-ray format's higher video peak bit rate. You also have to look at the fact that Monkeys is a highly stylized looking movie, with different tints, and background colors, and the plentiful use of CGI which Bladerunner does not use.

No two movies are shot exactly alike, even if they are encoded at the same resolution. Animation is encoded in 1080p, but yet it looks more highly detailed and colorful than live action movies. The thing to keep in mind is that the Blu-ray format allows you to see subtle and large differences between shooting styles, lighting, and the quality of the backgrounds much better than DVD allows. So the fact you noticed a substantial difference shows the superiority of HD on disc next to standard definition.

Gladiator was just a plain bad release. It has way too much edge enhancement, too many halo's around the edges of images, a lot of smearing of detail, and a lot of print dirt as well. They also used the dreaded DNR to get rid of grain (and picture detail) and that forced them to use more edge enhancement to sharpen things up. Universal did not put their best foot forward on this, and it shows. However upon direct comparison with the DVD signature release, you can plainly see more detail, and a lower video noise as well.

If you directly compare the SD release of TM to the Blu-ray release, you will find similar results. The printmaster or DI the encode is derived from makes all the difference in the world on the quality you see on screen. Use a bad master, and the PQ looks like junk.

[Worf101]

Sir TT you may be crotchity and onery and extremely opinionated but when someone needs the straight skinny on this here Blu-Ray business you are da man. Thanks for educating my mush brain once again. Believe it or not I was about to ask the same or a similar question.

Thanks again.

Da Worfster

[Hairsonfire]

I appreciate your taking the time to reply. When you see how well Blu Ray can look you just want everything to look that good. But, as we know, it was not that way with VHS, or Standard DVD either. I put in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" the other night and was very impressed with the incredible detail and color saturation. It's too bad that you can't buy a Blu Ray DVD and just know there is a standard of picture quality that you can expect regardless.

[Smokey]

It's too bad that you can't buy a Blu Ray DVD and just know there is a standard of picture quality that you can expect regardless.

As you said, same problem existed with standard DVD also as not all DVDs are created equal.

The best way to get around this problem is before buying a movie (or if you buy it, don't open the wrap), go on internet and check out its video quality reviews. There are few sites out there that not only review movies, but they also rate its picture and sound quality. If picture quality review is not up to par, I took the disc back.

I already told Worf to rate picture and sound quality of movies he reviews in this forum, but said he is too lazy

[recoveryone]

I started a thread on this very same subject, about a month ago. A list was being created of Blu Rays to stay away from (BAD Transfers). maybe a mod can find it and place it as a sticky so others can add to the list and review the titles listed. And another thread can be place as a sticky as for top buys or rent only.

By the way I think I need to go to the dentist, cause Transformer 2(Blu Ray, and was only $13 bucks at Wal-mart) was sooooo sweet visually and audio wise.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I already told Worf to rate picture and sound quality of movies he reviews in this forum, but said he is too lazy

Smoke, I may take you up on that idea!

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Sir TT you may be crotchity and onery and extremely opinionated but when someone needs the straight skinny on this here Blu-Ray business you are da man. Thanks for educating my mush brain once again. Believe it or not I was about to ask the same or a similar question.

Thanks again.

Da Worfster

Ya know, I am not that bad with everyone. But when somebody who does not work in the film business gives me their uneducated opinion and assumptions, I just cannot pass up the opportunity to be nice and gentle with them. Just look at the crotchety and ornery as frustrated and exasperated and it takes the edge off. LOL Opinionated, well facts make me that way.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I appreciate your taking the time to reply. When you see how well Blu Ray can look you just want everything to look that good. But, as we know, it was not that way with VHS, or Standard DVD either. I put in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" the other night and was very impressed with the incredible detail and color saturation. It's too bad that you can't buy a Blu Ray DVD and just know there is a standard of picture quality that you can expect regardless.

The funny thing is film prints are that way too. I thought the Blu-ray release of Bram Strokers Dracula looked very bad until I saw the Coppola approved film printmaster. It was then I realized that the Blu-ray version was so close(as close as video can get to film) to it, it conveyed the exact look that Coppola envisioned. As a former Blu-ray reviewer, I found it very difficult to rate the PQ of highly stylized movies. It is difficult to envision the DP intentions without the printmaster as a reference.

[Smokey]

Smoke, I may take you up on that idea!

Thanks Sir TT. Looking forward to it.