EVITA on Blu-ray - Finally! (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Pennington]

So I got my EVITA Blu-ray at the amazing price of $12.99 from Amazon.com. I can now retire my anamorphic Japanese DVD from long ago (the only US release was non-anamorphic widescreen from 1999).
All I expected was a new HD transfer and DTS-MA 5.1 audio, but the disc also has a teaser trailer, music video, and an abridged version of "The Making of Evita" documentary. I haven't read anywhere online about the documentary being edited, but I can confirm that it is when compared to the version on the Criterion Laserdisc. More on that later...
I have read some reports online expressing disappointment regarding the Blu-ray transfer, something I don't understand. I think it is marvelous (with reservations regarding the compression - a lot of blockiness can be seen in the dark backgrounds if one is looking for it). Even one of my friends commented that it looks "very soft focus, grainy, and low contrast," though he was only looking at screen captures. I think revisiting the DVD and comparing it is in order.
I made the following comparisons by upscaling the anamorphic Japanese DVD and compositing it against the full 1920x1080 Blu-ray captures (all captures made in VLC with the same settings). DVD on the left, Blu-ray on the right. Any softness can be attributed to the original photography, I think. And if people think the Blu-ray is soft, they should check out the DVD! The images are downscaled for posting here, but I think the resolution is still high enough for people to easily discern a difference.

The sound is great and the voices don't sound as wholly removed in tone from the rest of the soundtrack as was evident on the previous releases.

 

[KPmusmag]

I watched Evita on blu-ray this past weekend and thought it looked the best I have ever seen this film look. It has been a long time since I could lose myself in this film without being constantly distracted by the poor quality of the dvd. Some of those early Disney non-anamorphic DVDs were pretty sad, but especially Evita. For $12.99 I thought this was a huge bargain and I am totally satisfied with it. It's a great feeling when you can just relax into a movie and the technology becomes secondary.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

I never even bought the DVD, I'm sure my Criterion LD would have put it to shame. Interested to hear more about the edits to the doc...

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I never even bought the DVD, I'm sure my Criterion LD would have put it to shame. Interested to hear more about the edits to the doc...

The sound on the Criterion Laserdisc, yes, but not the picture. Even it being non-anamorphic, the same video transfer was used for both the DVD and LD, and the higher resolution and greater image stability of the DVD effectively trumped the Laserdisc in the video department.
Here is the footage cut from the documentary on the Blu-ray. It is present in the documentary on the Criterion Laserdisc, which is where I culled this excerpt:

 

[Craig S]

Already being discussed here (where the consensus is the new Blu is excellent in both video and audio quality):

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/319181/evita-bluray-5-22-12

Maybe a mod can merge these threads??

 

[Chuck Pennington]

What does everyone think of the segment cut from the documentary on the Blu-ray that I posted? Such a shame to lose that casual, bonding moment with Madonna and the cast.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Originally Posted by Chuck Pennington /t/321773/evita-on-blu-ray-finally#post_3942325
What does everyone think of the segment cut from the documentary on the Blu-ray that I posted? Such a shame to lose that casual, bonding moment with Madonna and the cast.

After watching the YouTube video above, first thought was that it's a music licensing issue.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

the footage that was cut from that Making of is what I recalled most from it years ago! But Yeah i Bet that is why it got cut.