- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,428
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
In an effort to aid in the understanding of what makes a "quality Blu-ray," the point cannot be made too often that Blu-ray is merely a system that plays back discs on which data has been pressed or burned. It's a holding device, in many ways no different than a bottle used to hold liquid.
One can fill that bottle with pure mountain water, with impure water from a poor city system, or for that matter with a nice Chateau Petrus. It's still a bottle filled with liquid.
The nice thing about Blu-ray, as opposed to standard definition DVD, or even Toshiba's HD system, is that it can hold enough data to allow for extremely high quality reproduction of motion pictures in a home theater environment.
While a "quality Blu-ray" can be shiny, bright and clean -- think a Pixar release -- it can also be dark, grimy, grainy and low in the areas of color saturation, contrast, blacks and whites. The important thing is that it should look as closely as possible to the original film or video elements and their intended look when printed to positive stock or run as video or data.
A "quality Blu-ray" does not necessarily take on the visual parameters of a high def baseball game.
Whether mastered from 16, 35 or 65mm film, from data files or HD recordings, Blu-ray has the capability, but no guarantee of reproducing the original to a stunning degree. While the debate may continue, those with an understanding of cinema need only take a look at the dregs of data pressed to Blu-ray, ie. The Longest Day, Patton or Gangs of New York.
Case in point: Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, making its Blu-ray debut, after numerous incarnations on VHS, laserdisc, DVD and HD.
I've prefaced my comments because I'm certain that there will be comments that 12 Monkeys is soft, grainy, low in contrast in areas, has improper black levels, seems to glow in places and a myriad of other "problems." None of these are problems. To the best of my memory, 12 Monkeys looks very, very close to what we saw in theaters when it was released at the end of December of 1995. And this couldn't make me happier.
Universal's new Blu-ray has been upgraded from the earlier HD variant, and now offers uncompressed audio in the form of DTS-HD Master 5.1. Formatted properly as 1.85:1, and with the main titles opened slightly to 1.66, 12 Monkeys has finally reached its critical mass, beautifully reproduced on Blu-ray.
Those who have never seen Mr. Gilliam's work are in for a treat. Those who have can now be content that his film has finally made it to digital perfection. As an aside, and to bring things full circle, anyone who appreciated 12 Monkeys needs to get their hands on a copy of Chris Marker's 1963 short film, La Jetee, available from Criterion.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
One can fill that bottle with pure mountain water, with impure water from a poor city system, or for that matter with a nice Chateau Petrus. It's still a bottle filled with liquid.
The nice thing about Blu-ray, as opposed to standard definition DVD, or even Toshiba's HD system, is that it can hold enough data to allow for extremely high quality reproduction of motion pictures in a home theater environment.
While a "quality Blu-ray" can be shiny, bright and clean -- think a Pixar release -- it can also be dark, grimy, grainy and low in the areas of color saturation, contrast, blacks and whites. The important thing is that it should look as closely as possible to the original film or video elements and their intended look when printed to positive stock or run as video or data.
A "quality Blu-ray" does not necessarily take on the visual parameters of a high def baseball game.
Whether mastered from 16, 35 or 65mm film, from data files or HD recordings, Blu-ray has the capability, but no guarantee of reproducing the original to a stunning degree. While the debate may continue, those with an understanding of cinema need only take a look at the dregs of data pressed to Blu-ray, ie. The Longest Day, Patton or Gangs of New York.
Case in point: Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, making its Blu-ray debut, after numerous incarnations on VHS, laserdisc, DVD and HD.
I've prefaced my comments because I'm certain that there will be comments that 12 Monkeys is soft, grainy, low in contrast in areas, has improper black levels, seems to glow in places and a myriad of other "problems." None of these are problems. To the best of my memory, 12 Monkeys looks very, very close to what we saw in theaters when it was released at the end of December of 1995. And this couldn't make me happier.
Universal's new Blu-ray has been upgraded from the earlier HD variant, and now offers uncompressed audio in the form of DTS-HD Master 5.1. Formatted properly as 1.85:1, and with the main titles opened slightly to 1.66, 12 Monkeys has finally reached its critical mass, beautifully reproduced on Blu-ray.
Those who have never seen Mr. Gilliam's work are in for a treat. Those who have can now be content that his film has finally made it to digital perfection. As an aside, and to bring things full circle, anyone who appreciated 12 Monkeys needs to get their hands on a copy of Chris Marker's 1963 short film, La Jetee, available from Criterion.
Highly Recommended.
RAH