Monty Python's 'Life of Brian' on Blu-Ray (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

*shrugs*

I thought Life of Brian looked just fine. It had grain detail enough for me, and I don't need it to look "Discovery Channel".

 

[Rachael B]

(Brian) "...there's no pleasing some people" (beggar) "That's just what Jesus said...."

 

[Geoff_D]

Very droll, Rachael.

Brian looks as good as it ever will on the Blu-ray, and that can't be denied. But I simply don't understand why Sony did what they did, given that this flick will never be pretty to look at no matter how much it's fiddled with, and HDM generally has enough bandwidth to deal with authentically grainy encodes anyway.

And it may be blasphemy to say this, but IF an outfit feels the need to apply DNR to something then I wish they'd do it properly. Dawn Of The Dead has noticeable motion blurring, and some Paramount titles have the frozen grain issue (Black Rain for one). And their Sum Of All Fears HD DVD carries the worst HD encode I've yet seen (out of 275+ titles across three formats), being a smeary, jaggy, artefact-filled horror show.

But others from Paramount have few visible artifacts and one or two have even got the thumbs up from our own RAH (e.g. Top Gun). Just to reiterate: I'm not condoning the DNR process, but if they're gonna do it they may as well do it as best they can.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I hope it's not as bad as some suggest. I finally bit the bullet and bought this one in the latest Amazon B2G1 deal yesterday. Never even owned it on DVD before.

_Man_

 

[Rachael B]

Geoff, I've only seen the thang a few hundred times. Try the "Wolf Nipple Chips" and "Jaguar's Earlobes"...."they're lovely...."

 

[Jeff Robertson]

I believe they have with the Life of Brian BD. I do not see any artifacts as a result of DNR. Perhaps I shouldn't look for them.

 

[RobertR]

Do you see EE?

 

[Matt Hough]

I've only watched it once since I got it, but I was so impressed at what an improvement it was over the DVD I had that maybe I didn't look closely enough for problems.

The film never really looked great to my eyes, even in the theater. I'm well satisfied with the Blu-ray version.

 

[Jeff Robertson]

That is sometimes hard to tell with my particular display device. It is a Sony CRT rear projection and creates its own "ghosting" effect under certain conditions. This can give the appearance of edge enhancement.

I can view the disc again and see if anything stands out.

 

[Jeff Robertson]

That is precisely the experience I had.

 

[BennyBlu]

Same here. I have seen it in theaters several times over the years, and never thought it could look so good.

 

[Geoff_D]

I buy these things to watch my favourite movies in the best quality possible, which is why we're all here, right? That being the case, I make no apologies for calling a transfer on its faults, which in Brian's case doesn't require an AVS level of nit-picking but rather my own two eyes.

Static grain patterns in moving shots is wholly unnatural and for me is easily spotted. I watched Bonnie and Clyde earlier and thought to myself 'THAT's how it should be done'. The source is pristine and the HD encode retains the grain structure beautifully.

 

[Jeff Robertson]

I used the same criteria in finding *no* faults. I do not deny that you are seeing something. I am only saying that I am not. Perhaps it comes down to what display technologies people are using. An LCD or Plasma might reveal these artifacts better than a CRT.

 

[RobertR]

The fact that Bonnie and Clyde was done right makes me even more annoyed. It seems that Warner would rather do it right, whereas Sony would rather make it shiny for their buyers who are into video games.

 

[Jim_K]

Have you even seen the BD of Life of Brian so you can at least have a somewhat informed opinion? or since you're condeming all Sony BD's, their other older titles like Close Encounters, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Passage to India?

In other words, do you have anything productive to add?

Just curious.

My opinion - while I didn't notice any "ghosting" or EE it seems they went a little overboard on cleaning this up "grain wise". Though on the other end of the spectrum it shouldn't look like ass ala the crummy Criterion DVD.

 

[RobertR]

Exactly where did I condemn "all Sony BDs"? I was referring to this title. The question remains: Why do it right on other titles, and wrong on this one? And why are critical comments intended to get a studio to do things right labeled "nonproductive" by you?

 

[Paul Arnette]

I think the issue with Life of Brian was that it was in pretty bad shape. When the restoration was done, they may have over did it a bit. Wasn't it Lowery who did the restoration? If so, this wouldn't be the first time someone has taken issue with their 'improvements'.

Anyway, the bottom line is that issues such as these aren't the exclusive province of any one particular studio. In fact, we may be discussing a similar issue when Warner Bros. releases Clash of the Titans on BD, as it has been alluded to by Bill Hunt that the current condition of that film wasn't suitable for a BD release based on Warner Bros. impression of what the BD consumer base finds 'acceptable'.

As for the little spat here recently, I think users would be wise not to 'paint with such a broad bush (i.e. labeling the BD customer base 'buyers who are into video games'), nor be so quick to jump to conclusions when someone does. We're all in this together, fellas.

 

[Jim_K]

Again you avoided my question. Have you watched this BD yourself to even have an opinion? or do you pass judgment on things based on others opinions?

To answer your question - Criticism is great, and I'm somewhat siding with those that have actually watched the BD and do have a problem with this release.

Blanket statements like the above and uninformed armchair criticism is what rubs me the wrong way.

 

[RobertR]

I can see how you interpreted it that way. But I haven't made the same comment in threads about other Sony releases. If a studio does it right, they should get praise. If they do it wrong with a subsequent release, they should get criticized. Since you side with those who have a problem with this release, we really don't differ that much.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Is there some way for us paying customers to provide feedback about what we actually want to see w/ these restoration-type jobs (among other things)?

I recently ordered this title and will have it for myself soon. Does this one come w/ any feedback postcard or the like just for that kind of purpose? I know Disney likes to go that route for feedback on occasion, particularly during the early years of the format -- I seem to recall them doing it on occasion for DVD and also on occasion for BD now.

If the studios would actually provide an effective way for paying customers to give them useful feedback, then it would make the whole process a lot more productive me thinks. I guess it could also help if the studios actually keep tabs on sites like HTF to get a better sense of what paying customers want from them (on top of something like the inclusion of a feedback postcard in their BD packaging)...

_Man_