TCFHE Press Release: The Robe (DVD/Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Simon Howson]

I agree with you that Blu-ray will eventually become the home video standard. If the studios want that to occur quickly, they'll price DVDs and Blu-rays the same. If they are happy having that occur more slowly, they will continue to inflate the price of Blu-rays to secure larger margins. If consumers see that they don't have to pay a cent extra for a HD version of their favourite film, then they will buy the players, because they won't see the point of buying a DVD, only to buy a Blu-ray later. If the price of Blu-rays is a lot more expensive, it is easier for consumers to hold off.

I thought I was going to buy into Blu-ray this year, but there just wasn't enough titles released to tip me over. These are titles I can think of that I'd buy, The Godfather Trilogy, Casablanca UCE, How the West Was Won. I'd like to buy Criterion Blu-rays, but they are region coded, and there currently aren't cheap ways to make a player region free.

That's all I can think of that is currently available. At least when I bought a DVD drive in early 1998, there were already a dozen or so titles available that I wanted to buy.

I agree that eventually everything will be HD, but the uptake of digital TV in Australia has been pathetically slow. I think it is still only 40% of homes. It has been so bad that digitalTV is being "re-launched" next year to try to convince more people to buy a $120 set top box. The situation in the U.S. is probably different, but this demonstrates the apathy towards HD.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

That's partly why I waited so long myself to get into Blu-ray. Another reason was the format wars... I made sure there was only one "winner". But what personally made me jump in was that the five PLANET OF THE APES movies were released to BD, and I'm a big fan of those films .. and then again, to try and tie this in with the extra features discussion for THE ROBE, it turned out that one of the APES movies had an Unrated Director's Cut which was exclusive to the Blu-ray set only. So there was added incentive for a big fan like me that had been waiting to see that footage for over 30 years. (I'm sure the SD will eventually have the Unrated Cut too, but I couldn't wait!) .

 

[Joe Caps]

Yikes. - the comments here are amazing -
Blue Ray will be standard in the future - How? Right now the economy sucks. Who can afford, the players, I will get a cheapo playuer to play a few extras I want on the Robe and South Pacific discs.

As for SD discs - I am boycotting Fox - I have cancelled all my preorders for coming Fox discs.

Who can afford a good and large HD monitor. My local area - an area of several small towns that flow into each other -- is around 400,000 people. local retailers are thinking of taking out HD monitors because ethey sold so poorly over the Xmas season.

And while over the air broadcasting is going to digital, does not mean it is automatically HD - do not kid yourselves.

Meanwhile, Fox on their own website announces we are getting something that we are not getting - both versions of the Robe that info is still on upcoming releases at Fox Studio Classics - this can now only be considered a lie - I now feel I am being crewed over by Fox AND being lied to - not good.

I have nor preordered a bungh of new titles coming from Warner with the money I saved by cancelling future FOX dvd orders (sd).

 

[Robert Crawford]

Joe,
The future is now and there is no going back as high definition isn't going anywhere except to most homes in the next several years. Furthermore, manufacturers are only making HD monitors so if those retailers want to get out of the television business then they can go ahead and remove their stock.






Crawdaddy

 

[Mark Collins]

I am so happy about The Robe and Quo Vadis words are not even there. I bought Quo Vadis on Dvd last fall I think but I will buy again on Blu-ray. The Robe has always been at the top of my film list. What a year this shall be Voyage to the bottom of the sea season 4 and hopefully Raintree County sometime. Hope Fox also will release all my Marilyn Monroe favorites and of course Laura all on blu-ray. Spoke with my source at Best Buy they are not carrying The Robe and Quo Vadis and of course Voyage they took a big hit as other retailers did so it seems. They will carry Blu-ray The Passion out next month plus all seasons of Dallas on dvd.

The Robe Voyage the Bottom of the Sea and Quo Vadis makes me a happy Man. Best Buy did say they were carring the Invaders next week I will have to run in get my copy they only had 3 last time.

The Robe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Simon Howson]

My copy of The Robe SE shipped from DVDPacifc last night, so it seems they've already got it, even though it isn't due for release for another 2 weeks.

 

[Douglas R]

Just got this and it is certainly a huge improvement on the previous DVD. Colour and sharpness are far better. The 30 minute "making of" featurette is pretty good, even though I would sooner have had a longer, more detailed look at the production. It has contributions from Scott McIsaac, Rudy Behlmer and...yes, Jay Robinson (Caligula) who has some interesting anecdotes. The Special Features listed on the box include "The Cinemascope Story" but that is not to be found anywhere on the disc!! Neither was it listed in Fox's press release, so it is yet another of the extras which are only available on the Blue-ray version. Alfred Newman's isolated score sounds great. I haven't listed to the audio commentary yet. The disc is housed in the flimsiest DVD case I have ever seen. Difficult to describe, but instead of being solid throughout, it has cut outs in the plastic on both sides of the central areas.

I would far sooner have bought the Blue-ray version but Fox, in their wisdom have decreed that it be locked to Region A despite not making the disc available in Europe. Their attitude seems to be "we don't think it's worth releasing classic films in Europe and we're jolly well going to make sure you don't import them either."

 

[John Hodson]

It's now 15 months or more since Fox released any new classic title in the UK, SD or BD, and they still pursue this practice which can only serve to hobble the Blu-ray format; shame on you Fox.

For shame.

 

[Simon Howson]

I would love to see some screen captures if you could post them. It is easy to do in VLC Media Player:
VLC media player - Overview

Just go File, Open Disc, change Disc Device to the drive letter of your DVD drive.

Then the menu screen should start. Then just go Video / Snap Shot to take captures.

I'll post captures from the original DVD to compare if you like.

 

[Alan Tully]

Yes Fox were so good a couple of years ago (all those Studio Classics). The thing is, they've spent all the money (resoration & transfer) for the American releases, so it's cheap to release them in Europe. Maybe they don't need to make anymore money. I'd buy "The Robe" if it was released in England, but I don't want it enough to import it.

 

[Douglas R]

I've not done this before. Hope it works!

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I know it's hard to judge from screen shots, but the color looks really great on this release. Hopefully it will be stunning on Blu-ray.

 

[RolandL]

Comparison of the old DVD to the new - therobe2 . A little bit more picture info on both sides and top of the new DVD.

 

[Joe Caps]

On your screenshots, the OLD dvd looks sharper and with a lot more color.

 

[Jack Theakston]

Pffft... no comparison. The new DVD looks waay better.

 

[Simon Howson]

Thanks very much. I'll put up some more comparisons with the old DVD soon. I think it looks way better, the colour looks great, grain is reduced, and it doesn't have that strange boosted brightness look.

Great work Fox and Lowry, congratulations to everyone involved with it!

LEFT, OLD DVD (PAL version), NEW DVD (NTSC) on RIGHT

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Old on left, new on right (look at purple sky on the old one, whereas the new one has a proper blue sky. And the old image looks dark and dirty.)

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Not only is the old DVD cropped on the sides, it is also cropped on both the top and the bottom perhaps to preserve the 2.55:1 ratio, but not the actual image. The new transfer has more of the original image on all four sides.

 

[BillyFeldman]

I'll just remind that it is simply impossible to tell much from screencaps. I'm sure the new DVD looks great - the old DVD certainly did not.

 

[Simon Howson]

How do you know this other than by comparing the above screencaps?

Are you just assuming that since Fox spent millions of dollars on the restoration that it must look better?

 

[BillyFeldman]

No, Simon, I've talked to someone who's actually seen it and compared it - you know, not with a screen capture program, none of which, as you well know, are optimal, and most of which don't usually resemble accurately much of anything. As an example, on that site DVD Beaver, there is a comparison of Kurosawa's Ran. According to the site guy and the screencaps, the new Optimum transfer is the clear winner. So, I ordered it, being a big fan of the film and all. Well, it isn't the clear winner - the Criterion is the clear winner but you wouldn't know that from the screencaps on that site. You would know it by running the two transfers side by side, where the winner is instantly clear.

 

[Simon Howson]

Of course screen captures aren't definitive, but to say they have no use at all in comparing transfers is an exaggeration. I understand different MPEG2 codecs decode slightly differently, so you can't be completely sure that the data will be represented properly off the disc. I also appreciate that the eyes and brain respond differently to moving pictures than to stills, but if you are comparing the same frame, this doesn't really matter.

That comparison of Ran doesn't say that the Optimum version is easily better, it just says that the reviewer feels it is more authentic to how the film looked theatrically. I also think that PAL DVDs tend to look more desaturated compared to NTSC discs, whether this is a side effect of the extra resolution or the way the colour is encoded I don't know.

But as always, 'buyer beware!'. Moreover, differences in well made transfers may come down to a personal preference, but this comparison of The Robe is something different, it is a comparison of an early "let's release this film anyway we can" DVD, compared to a restoration that will be the definitive version of this film on home video for perhaps the next decade or more.