bigshot
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,933
- Real Name
- Stephen
In case anyone is interested, I'm viewing using an Epson 8500UB and a 120 inch screen. I'm sitting at a reasonable distance from the screen. Six feet from a 120 inch screen is too close. Nothing will look good that way. It should be double that for the first row. Optimal is 15 feet.
To me, the most important aspects of image quality, and the ones that don't get discussed enough, is the contrast and color balance. I have blurays that were well reviewed (Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr in particular) that are unwatchable to me because they're washed out (or have opaque shadows). Grain is the biggest problem when it's clumping and freezing from over compression. That's much more common on DVD than it is on bluray. As long as it keeps moving, i's fine.
I've noticed grain smoothing on a few titles... Evil Dead II and especially Texas Chain Saw Massacre. If it's lightly applied and consistent, it's no problem to me. It can actually help a bit. But when the level of grain smoothing varies from scene to scene, like TCM, it becomes very annoying.
I've seen reviews critical of several classic movies, and I shake my head. How much better do they expect American in Paris to look? When I think back to the wildly varying image quality I experienced watching these films on late night TV or in revival houses, I want to get down on my knees and thank the Gods for transfers like Zulu or Funny Face.
I held off for a long time buying the That's Entertainment box because of Amazon reviews saying it was no better than the DVD or laserdisc. Finally, it went on sale and I couldn't resist. The image quality varied in the film because of the age of some ofthe clips! Singing in the Rain and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas looked stunning.
Everything is relative. Some things are excellent and others are just very good. But some people have no perspective and talk as if very good is horrible. If I always demanded perfection I'd never be happy with anything.
To me, the most important aspects of image quality, and the ones that don't get discussed enough, is the contrast and color balance. I have blurays that were well reviewed (Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr in particular) that are unwatchable to me because they're washed out (or have opaque shadows). Grain is the biggest problem when it's clumping and freezing from over compression. That's much more common on DVD than it is on bluray. As long as it keeps moving, i's fine.
I've noticed grain smoothing on a few titles... Evil Dead II and especially Texas Chain Saw Massacre. If it's lightly applied and consistent, it's no problem to me. It can actually help a bit. But when the level of grain smoothing varies from scene to scene, like TCM, it becomes very annoying.
I've seen reviews critical of several classic movies, and I shake my head. How much better do they expect American in Paris to look? When I think back to the wildly varying image quality I experienced watching these films on late night TV or in revival houses, I want to get down on my knees and thank the Gods for transfers like Zulu or Funny Face.
I held off for a long time buying the That's Entertainment box because of Amazon reviews saying it was no better than the DVD or laserdisc. Finally, it went on sale and I couldn't resist. The image quality varied in the film because of the age of some ofthe clips! Singing in the Rain and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas looked stunning.
Everything is relative. Some things are excellent and others are just very good. But some people have no perspective and talk as if very good is horrible. If I always demanded perfection I'd never be happy with anything.