Contact coming in October!

As someone who used to do reviews for this forum and
post screengrabs, allow me to say that they are useless.

To post pictures of particular screens in hopes of conveying
how a transfer looks does not reflect the manner in which
all of us watch film.

Now it seems there are conflicting results in separate
screengrabs so that goes further to stress the point that 
they are useless.

All the sites will be getting review copies shortly.  Why not
wait to get a collective opinion on this transfer before vowing
not to purchase it.

Just out of curiosity, Ron, any idea why the delay in Contact review copies? It streets Tuesday and IIRC, very often reviews for Warner titles pop up a week or more before their scheduled release date. It strikes me odd that Gary reviewed it on 9/25, but so far, he is the only one.

Hi Gary!

Was not aware until now there was a delay.

Our screeners get mailed out directly to the reviewer so I 
am not personally on top of what is arriving when.

However, kind of sounds from your post that screeners
are going to be delayed.

Ron, except Gladiator, i own the BD on that, have seen a few times. i also own both the original DTS edition and the extended. the BD transfer was and the screencaps did prove it.

but in most cases, i agree w/u. sometimes the DNR is so subtle u can only spot in on stills but not when it's in motion, i'm thinking of the star trek next gen BD sets (which i also have).

ok, back to Contact, yes those were BD screencaps from elsewhere on the web, but i haven't seen it for myself. my pre-order hasn't shipped from WBShop yet =(.

At least, the price for Contact is low enough that I can forgive some minor issues. I didn't see any obvious DNR problems in the limited screencaps we had. When we get the real thing soon, hopefully we'll all be amazed or at least not raving mad.

Thank you Ron.

As someone who has long stated that screengrabs are useless and has most always come under attack for it, it's nice to see someone else post the same. There are way too many variables that come into play when posting screengrabs to base any kind of judgement on an such.

As someone else skeptical of screen grabs, I've been following with interest the discussion of their utility in Robert Harris' Silverado thread.

One of their staunchest supporters has listed all of the conditions that have to be satisfied before screencaps are reliable, and after reading through the list, I'm forced to conclude that we're dealing with a purely theoretical value here. Might as well just hold off and watch the damn disc -- oh wait, isn't that what we've been saying all along? 

But if you have screen grabs, why bother to watch the disc?!??!

Beyond what was already said in the other (Silverado) thread, I'd say folks (like those on DVDBeaver) should really make sure to leave the original colorspace info intact in their screen caps, if they want to ensure highest reliability/integrity for visitors to their sites.

Like I mentioned earlier, the Contact screen caps on DVDBeaver are apparently missing colorspace info, so I could not determine if that's a potential problem w/ how we see them.

_Man_
 

I couldn't find Contact anywhere today, including Wal-Mart and Target. Anyone get it yet? Would love to know what the deal is on the supposed color timing and DNR issues. Meanwhile I'm off to Amazon to order it.

If you live near a Best Buy, go to the website, look up the BD and click on Check Shipping and Availability. It will take you to a page where you can input your zip code and it will tell you if it's in stock at any local BB. All 5 near me have it.

Watched this today imported from the US as UK does not get for another week and did not want to wait as this is one of my favorites!

Did not spot much DNR at all and colour balance looked fine to me. Picture is razor sharp in places and contains plenty of shadow grain. Some scenes look a little soft but that seems to be the source as they used a lot of greenscreen on this. The CGI effects especially the journey to Vega looked stunning and way beyond what the LD & DVD could ever show in the home. This BD is a massive step up from the DVD to me. I only have a 40" HDTV so perhaps others with larger screens will spot more issues but I would say if you did not know it was a 1997 movie it could have been filmed yesterday as that's how the BD presentation came across to me!

Audio is outstanding as well. Bass is very deep and foundation shaking and the surround sound pans are natural as is the dialogue all of it is very clear & easy to hear (unlike a lot of movies nowadays). Randy Thom was the sound designer and he is IMO up there with Ben Burtt as one of the masters of sound design. Alan Silvestri's score is very warm & natural sounding. From what I could see this BD is a 1:1 copy of the outstanding DVD as far as extras are concerned it looked on quick glance like the exact same extras. No more no less.

This movie is IMO a very underrated sci-fi alltime top 10 masterpiece and still Zemeckis best film (BTTF1 is more mainstream friendly but this is a very complex & deep movie).

I found my copy at Fry's Electronics. They had plenty.

I sampled the disc and everything looks good. No red push as indicated by the first screen caps and no signs of heavy DNR. I still trust screencaps for evaluating and still trust Gary's site, but I think there's something not right about the Contact images on there.

Audio sounds fantastic as well!

Highly recommended.

Hi Carlo, thanks, but the nearest BB to me is about 45 min. away so that was out for one BD title. I ordered it from Amazon and will just have to wait a few days to see it. Hope you're still finding some time to play your git!


Wow, thanks for the great review Paul. I suspected as much re the A/V and am greatly relieved to hear that it looks and sound so good. Now it will be much harder to wait for my copy to arrive! One question, are the extras in SD or HD? Not a big deal, just curious. I totally agree with you on this film being Zemeckis' best, and one of the best SF movies in recent times.

Edit to comment on Jeff's post-  Thanks also to you for confirming what Paul said. Alas, no Fry's near me.

While we await more opinions of the transfer at least the
very first person to have reported seeing it here has very
encouraging comments. May be too early to say this
absolutely, but perhaps we put too much faith in the
screenshots, created hysteria, and are going to get a
transfer that we are all going to be happy with.  

Let's hope this is the case.  So far...promising.

Aye, so far, the actual BD (vs the screen caps at DVDBeaver) sounds promising enough -- and that's actually *TWO* individuals reporting here that the BD actually looks fine.

I really want to own this one -- and the current street price is not bad at all, if the quality is there.  Can't wait to hear more...

_Man_

My Amazon order for this (along with Snow White) changed to shipping soon. If they follow SOP, which is to update it to shipped late tonight, and hopefully out of the Nevada area hub, it should be here by Thursday. Can't wait, this is one of my favorite sci-fi movies as well. Good to see some initial positive impressions, especially after the Gladiator fiasco. I still haven't been able to watch it all the way through because of the less-than-stellar transfer.

Bought this today -- for what it's worth, it looks fantastic on my setup.  I see no evidence of DNR, film grain is apparent where appropriate, high-frequency detail is definitely there, and the color is spot on from what I can tell. 

Thanks Josh. I trust your, or any film fan's, eyes far more than screengrabs any day.

This is very encouraging news! If the positive reviews continue and I can track this down locally in the next couple of days, I'll be taking the plunge, too. I echo Jeff's sentiments re: DVD Beaver. I think Gary does a great job in general and his site remains a valuable resource for me, but it would appear that something may have gone awry with his review this time around. What's a bit frustrating is that if his wasn't the only review out there for so long, this issue could have been put to rest several days ago. I still wonder why Warners was sitting on the review screeners for this release...

I should have my screener in a couple days as well.

As I said in the Silverado thread, his caps rarely, if ever, reflect what the actual disc looks like.  Otherwise, yes, it would be a very valuable sight.  I'm watching Contact right now and it's superb - very sharp, perfect color, and great-sounding.  In fact, I could not imagine a better presentation of this film on disc.  While I don't really agree with the "masterpiece" comments, it's an interesting film and no one who loves the film will be disappointed with this Blu-Ray.

That is excellent news. Even with the possible red push, the price for this disc still made it worth getting. I never canceled my preorder and anxiously await its arrival. I wonder why Gary's screenshots are so off. I wonder what he used to capture it. Perhaps his capture techniques are flawed. The screenshots, at the very least, should be a reflection of what the disc looks like.

I can't say this is one of my favorite films (it'd take a lot to be there), but it is one that I like a lot. It's a very good story and a wonderful adaptation from the book. Although there are many changes from the book, they are all for the good of the movie. Each version is great in its own way.

That opening shot in the film where they follow the history of radio traffic through the galaxy is absolutely amazing. There were several groundbreaking shots in this film that viewed today might seem commonplace, but were quite novel at the time.

So here we go a few screenshots from the US Bluray all heavily compressed jpegs @ 1920x1080 and

they are not as sharp as the actual Bluray the compression removes a layer of sharpness

but you can still judge some of the stunning detail Contact can now display in your

own HT:
 

This one is for all the grain enthusiasts!!!










 

 So because the Beaver said there is a "red push" somehow this becomes fact?  I'm sorry, there is no "red push" whatever that means.  The film looks like the film is supposed to look.  Really, these people who fancy they should write comments like these after admitting that they really have no expertise is never short of astonishing.  And the people who are just ready to believe what they read is equally astonishing.  One's own eyes are usually a good thing to trust.  Red push.  Unless he thinks the film is some sort of Communist tract. :)

We love the guys over at DVDBEAVER, but I think
single-handedly they started a pandemic of fear about
CONTACT weeks prior to the BD release to the point
where many were looking to cancel their preorders.

Now it seems Warner is having the last laugh.

This is why screen grabs are a bad thing.  They don't
always tell the truth.  The only instance I can think of
where they actually did help was Paramount's BD of
GLADIATOR.  However, in that case, there were a lot
of screenshots and agreed opinions that there was
something wrong with the transfer.

So happy to hear that CONTACT looks this good.
I received my copy yesterday, and though it will be
a few days before I get to watch it, I am really looking
forward to seeing this again after so many years.  It
is a wonderful Zemeckis film and probably the only
good film that Mattherw McConaughey has ever been
in (though I am sure I missed some real gem of his
somewhere in my recollection).

He was pretty good in "A Time to Kill", but I've always felt that he was horribly miscast in "Contact". McConaughey is the weakest link in the film for me.

Edited by dpippel - 10/7/09 at 9:41pm

Ordered from amazon this morning, so glad the issues turned out to be nonexistent.  A little sad to retire the original, as it was THE first DVD I bought, but its time has come.

Screenshots are GREAT to point out problems people spot on a transfer while watching the film, but not a great place to judge when starting from zero.  I fell into that trap in this thread.

Oh, by far the weakest link.  I said he was in a good film,
not that he was good himself. 

He's not exactly my favorite actor but he's in a horror movie called Frailty that I think is overlooked and quite good. He's funny (and gross) in Dazed And Confused. Also, I liked Lone Star but I haven't seen that since it was in theaters.