How The West Was Won - Blu ray

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

Ron was not talking about the current SD DVD release. He was talking about the previous 4:3 letterboxed version. The current SD DVD release has a high bitrate (split across two discs) downconverted version of the same outstanding letterboxed transfer as appears on the Blu-Ray, but does not include the smilebox version.

Regards,

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

If your talking about the old SD DVD, that was sourced from a 35mm CinemaScope print.

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

I just finished the smileboxed version, and what a sight to behold it was. Wow. I have never seen this movie look so good.

- Steve

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

Yes, thank you.

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

The Cinerama system had a main console that sync'ed the three projectors and routed the surround tracks; however, I don't specifically know how the sync was done.

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

Maybe some "Cinerama-gic?"

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

One of our avid, qualified readers involved with the Cinerama
process asked me to post this regarding the samples posted on
another site...

"How The West Was Won" looks amazing on Comcast HD.

If you have Comcast On-Demand, you will be able to get a very small taste, of what you can expect from the Blu-ray.

Just go to Encore HD movies.

Even with the horrible cropping to 1.78.1 aspect ratio and low bitrates, it still looks amazing. Probably, the best looking classic movie restoration by far. It's better than "The Searchers" pq wise.

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

It's done the same way that 2 projector 3D or 35mm interlock audio is done.

The device used for this purpose is a selsyn motor on each projector and the audio dubber. This device basically electrically interlocks the 4 devices so that they are forced to remain in sync.

Some pictures: Crest National Labs Builds a Cinerama Screening Room - supplement 2

Vern

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

Thanks, Vern.

Here's a nice piece on the Cinerama Dome's setup by Glenn Erickson:

http://www.film.com/dvds/story/ciner...toric/22903460

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

I watched the letterbox version last night. And then went back and watched some of the "big" scenes in smilebox.

I have a small HD screen. And while the smilebox effect worked...I don't think it would have had the same impact on my 28" HD CRT as maybe projected onto someone's 110" screen! I enjoyed the letterbox version immensely.

Both seemed to bring their own brand of distortion to the image which was especially noticeable in some scenes more than others. The restoration and removal of the Cinerama "join lines" is simply amazing.

What a fun film! I'm kind of surprised it won an Oscar for writing...but what an epic production with a huge cast, etc. And the story even started out in my own backyard--on the Hudson River in Albany, NY.

The SQ & PQ were both terrific. It was surprising to hear how active the surrounds and LFE were for that old of a film.

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

An interesting article on the Cinerama theater.

Several major differences from the original Cinerama installations, though.

1.
The original booth layout was either 3 or 4 separate booths, one each for Able Baker and Charlie projectors. In the theaters purpose built for Cinerama, thr Baker booth also contained the audio dubber and a conventional 35mm projector for the breakdown reel. In theaters that were retrofitted, the dubber and the 35mm projector for the breakdown reel were usually located in the original projection booth located way up on the back wall. The audio console was out in the auditorium. The 3 projectors were required to be positioned exactly level with the center of the screen and perfectly centered with it's respective screen panel.

2.
Large reels were used as platters were not yet invented in 1953. Using reels minimized the possibility of film damage. since mis-threaded platters are responsible for most of the physical film damage seen in todays theaters. Reel size was also the reason for the intermission in the original Cinerama features, even though they were 2 hours or less long.

3.
The original Cinerama screens were composed of many many individual strips or louvers, each one facing forward. This was done to avoid the image on the sides of the screen from washing out the image on the opposite side. I may be wrong, but I believe that the Hollywood Cinerama does not have this type of screen. Here is a picture of the remains of a louvered screen in an older installation: Pictures of Cinerama Screens

And a better picture part way down the story:
Pictureville Cinema, Bradford, England

In comparison, the Cooper Cinerama theaters had the original style louvered screens right till the day they were torn down. I believe the Seattle Cinerama also has a louvered screen.

Also, the Hollywood Cinerama has a Cinerama screens sized at 32' x86' which is the modified single strip Cinerama AR . Compare that to the Coopers at 35' x 105', or the Seattle Cinerama at 30' x 90'.

Vern

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

Good info, Vern. I grew up going to an original Cinerama theater installation in Portland, OR at the Hollywood Theater with the three booths and the louvered scree. The dimensions of that theater were considerably smaller than the Dome, so more of the seats were in the enveloping "sweet spot." It appears that in Bradford, the audience is quite a distance away from the screen which is going to reduce the effectiveness of the Cinerama peripheral vision effect.

As good as the presentation of HTWWW looked in the Dome, it wasn't nearly as engaging as the first-run presentations in the Hollywood Theater, where I saw the movie a few times.

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

I added comparison of BD to old dvd on this page htwwwdvd

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

Great comparison shots, Roland, thanks very much.

Re: How The West Was Won - Blu ray

I thought Warners did a fantastic job with this release! It looks amazing.