Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: The World at War (1 Viewer)

[bigshot]

G

Originally Posted by Russell G /forum/thread/305831/htf-blu-ray-review-the-world-at-war/60#post_3751722


My issue with WAW is that it's not in it's original 4:3 aspect ratio.

That is what everyone seems to be saying except the people who produced this bluray set..The great thing about The World at War, and I know Paul Penna will back me up on this, is that the filmmakers didn't try to alter or manipulate the footage to make their points. They used it in context to illustrate their points. Perhaps that is a subtle difference to people who don't make films, but it's huge. That's the massive gulf that lies between The World at War and the Ken Burns documentaries I've seen. Too many documentary filmmakers put themselves above their subject. I always thought "Ken Burns'.Jazz" was the perfect title for that series, because it sure didn't reflect anyone else's jazz!Note: one line edited. I apologize.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by bigshot
That is what everyone seems to be saying except the reviewer.

You need to stop it! You've made your point and it's not necessary for you to keep beating up Richard.







Crawdaddy

 

[Adam Gregorich]

This is why I find this review is a fair review of what to expect, and why i think it's unfair to jump on the reviewer for not stating "Not OAR! No sale!". It's easy to think black and white, but there is never black and white standards in film making. It's always about compromise.

Thanks. That's what reviewers are supposed to do and Rich did a great job of it. Its up to all of us to take what he told us and individually decide if we want to purchase it.

 

[BobO'Link]

...That's what reviewers are supposed to do and Rich did a great job of it. Its up to all of us to take what he told us and individually decide if we want to purchase it.

I couldn't agree more with these sentiments!

The review Rich did is, quite possibly, the most balanced, fair, and overall informative as to how things truly look that I've yet read. He mentions both positives and negatives without interjecting any bias so the reader can judge for themselves if this is a product for which they'll spend their money. Because of his comments I chose to purchase the 30th Anniversary release of the set primarily due to the information dealing with the somewhat lower overall video quality (softness, contrast, and color) and *not* the cropping issue as a whole. While I *do* have problems with the cropping it has *nothing* to do with the newsreel footage as most of that *can* be cropped in a fairly unobtrusive way. I am not bothered by most of the cropping done on "WWII in Color" nor with the way Ken Burns crops, pans, etc. footage or photos because it's the way it was *originally aired*. The primary reason I object to the cropping on this release is simply because it was not *originally* aired that way. But, again, it was his comments which indicate the video quality suffers due to this treatment that was my driving factor in purchase the standard set.

 

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by BobO'Link /forum/thread/305831/htf-blu-ray-review-the-world-at-war/60#post_3751866


  Because of his comments I chose to purchase the 30th Anniversary release of the set primarily due to the information dealing with the somewhat lower overall video quality (softness, contrast, and color)

There isn't any information about the 30th Anniversary edition in his review. I'm the one who has that version and reported that it has very good image quality. If he'd like a copy to compare to the other two versions, I'd be happy to send him a disk or two to look at. A direct comparison of all three versions would be a worthwhile thing.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by bigshot
There isn't any information about the 30th Anniversary edition in his review. I'm the one who has that version and reported that it has very good image quality. If he'd like a copy to compare to the other two versions, I'd be happy to send him a disk or two to look at. A direct comparison of all three versions would be a worthwhile thing.

We appreciate the offer, but I would send him my boxset of that anniversary edition, if it was necessary to do so which at this time, HTF management doesn't think so.







Crawdaddy

 

[bigshot]

I guess I'll see if I can post some screenshots then.

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by bigshot forum/thread/305831/htf-blu-ray-review-the-world-at-war/60#post_3752053
AI guess I'll see if I can post some screenshots then.

So you can beat the dead horse deader since the initial review already established that the picture on this has issues compared to previous releases?

 

[cafink]

You're mistaken. Richard states in his review that he has not seen the 30th Anniversary DVD and doesn't compare the Blu-ray to it.

 

[bigshot]

I believe that the first DVD release (the one mentioned in the review) was made off the old video tape masters for the series. The 30th Anniversary set (which was not reviewed) was remastered from the film elements. That's why I think it would be valuable to compare the 30th Anniversary set to the bluray, not just the original DVD release.

 

[Ruz-El]

What immediately struck me, and which was driven home when I did a comparison with the original DVD set, is that the producers of the Blu-ray disc have inexplicably turned down the contrast.

So he has compared it to a previous release as I said. So again, what's the point of comparing it a second previous release when it's already understood that this Blu ray has a compromised picture? And since it's established that it's not on OAR (again as stated in the original review) so no ones going to buy it anyways, AND since an owner on the site has already said that it's not the mandate of the HTF to do picture comparison reviews...

Why beat the dead horse by going to the trouble of posting screen caps exactly? If I'm mistaken because I posted "releases" (since I lumped in the opinion that the 30th anniversary picture didn't suffer the softening on the blu ray either) instead of "release" (as stated in the review) then really, you're scrambling over the pedantic for the sake of worthless arguing.

 

[cafink]

Yes, Richard compared the Blu-ray to a previous DVD set. Not to the 30th Anniversary DVD from which Stephen would like to post screenshots. It seems to me that there might be some interest in comparing the various versions which are available. Since the review only compared two of the three, what's the matter with Stephen offering information about and screenshots from the third? It's not "beating a dead horse," because Richard's review, which was quite thorough otherwise, didn't say anything about the 30th Anniversary DVD. Why is it so difficult to imagine that some of us might be interested in such a thing?

 

[Ruz-El]

Alright, you guys have fun with giving yourselves more reasons to not buy the blu ray the majority of the users are not interested in buying due to OAR issues, despite the review already giving you that impression...

 

[bigshot]

I've been thinking about the reason why they would release a cropped version of this on bluray when they say that the full frame was captured in high definition, and I think I figured it out...
I bet they made the deal with Discovery to remaster the series in hidef widescreen. They did a telecine transfer of the full frame to 1080p and struck a submaster to crop. After the pan and scan was completed, they did the restoration. (Why spend money restoring a third of the frame that was going to be cropped off anyway?) When the job was all done and delivered to Discovery, some executive said, "Now that we have a hidef master, let's recoup some of the cost of restoration by releasing this to bluray." The people who did the mastering were left in a pickle... They had a hidef full frame telecine master with no restoration, and a cropped one with restoration. So they shifted to damage control and started doing press releases on how skillfully the pan and scan was done and how cropping was a commercial necessity. These justifications got picked up by the press and repeated. But the real reason the bluray is cropped is because they didn't go the extra mile of restoring the full frame because no one would see it on Discovery anyway.
Perhaps someday a restoration crew with more foresight will come along and re-restore all 38 hours from the full frame hidef telecine master, but I doubt it. The argument against remastering will be "We already have a perfectly good hidef master we did for Discovery."
The only reason they would chuck that master and do it again properly is if consumers and critics reject the badly planned restoration and loudly demand it be released in full frame. That seems to be happening on Amazon. If it sells poorly and people tell them why they aren't buying it, they won't have anyone to blame but themselves.

 

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by Russell G /forum/thread/305831/htf-blu-ray-review-the-world-at-war/90#post_3752107

So again, what's the point of comparing it a second previous release when it's already understood that this Blu ray has a compromised picture?

To determine whether the 30th Anniversary set's restoration is comparable to the bluray restoration, and to see if it has the same problems with contrast, color and sharpness as the reviewer speculates in his review.No one has done a side by side comparison between the currently available DVD set and the new bluray. That would be a valuable comparison to consumers trying to make decision between the two available versions.

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by bigshot forum/thread/305831/htf-blu-ray-review-the-world-at-war/90#post_3752135
A
To determine whether the 30th Anniversary set's restoration is comparable to the bluray restoration, and to see if it has the same problems with contrast, color and sharpness as the reviewer speculates in his review.No one has done a side by side comparison between the currently available DVD set and the new bluray. That would be a valuable comparison to consumers trying to make decision between the two available versions.

I guess that would be interesting to compare those caps with the blu ray ones in the review... wait a minute....

 

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by Russell G
Alright, you guys have fun with giving yourselves more reasons to not buy the blu ray the majority of the users are not interested in buying due to OAR issues, despite the review already giving you that impression...

This isn't a popularity contest or a pile-on-the-reviewer situation as you and others keep implying if not stating so directly. It's about providing potential buyers with useful information on which to base their decision. Verbal descriptions of what one person sees and their personal reactions to it are all well and good, but examples of what's actually to be seen provides us with more objective information. Why else do you think people find dvdbeaver useful? I myself don't rely strictly on either verbal reviews or dvdbeaver; I find them both useful. In this case, when the image has been significantly altered, a direct comparison would be particularly valuable.

 

[cafink]

Originally Posted by Russell G
Alright, you guys have fun with giving yourselves more reasons to not buy the blu ray the majority of the users are not interested in buying due to OAR issues, despite the review already giving you that impression...

I'm not interested in "giving myself more reasons not to buy the Blu-ray." I'm interested in learning more about all the different releases of the title, and how they compare to one another. How can this possibly be a controversial idea--and at the Home Theater Forum, of all places?

 

[bigshot]

I think Paul is right. Some people seem to see this as criticism of the reviewer, when it's actually just an attempt to clarify and fill in gaps in the review. That is the reason there are comments attached to reviews in the first place.
When I post the screen caps, I'll indicate the episode and time code where the image appears. Hopefully, someone who has the bluray and cares about this series like we do will jump in and provide the corresponding frames from the bluray.

 

[Ruz-El]