Universal's Spartacus - Page 2

Paul_Scott · 11-04-2006, 12:40 AM

Tony, how are you distinguishing between video noise and grain?
And are you against grain as a matter of course?

FWIW, I watched the first 10 minutes of 12 Monkeys too and thought that was excellant as well. Apart from some miniscule jaggies I saw on Willy Wonka in about 3 or 4 scenes last night, I'm just not seeing the issues with these discs that others are- and whats more, the criticisms I'm seeing seem to be pans of particular movies filming styles i.e. choices of film stock and lighting, or the condition of the prints used (in the case of Spartacus).
The big problem I noticed with Spartacus is that the black and shadow levels in scenes seems to be wonky now...which I'm taking to be due to some kind of degeneration of the original elements (rather than a poorly telecined master).

again, I wish someone with proper experience could come in here and set everyone(including me) straight.

TonyD · 11-04-2006, 12:47 AM

i would love to see robert harris chime in.

i'm have no problem with true film grain\

what i should have said is the grain LOOKS more lke video noise then film grain as it is moving like mosquito noise.

all i can do is compare to other movies on hd dvd such as blazing saddles and
the searchers.

campared to those sparticus is a disgrace

Vincent_P · 11-04-2006, 01:28 PM

People keep harping on that quick shot of the ship. That shot was STOCK FOOTAGE. Robert Harris even identifies it as such on the commentary of the Criterion DVD. That shot will never look very good.

Vincent

TonyD · 11-04-2006, 02:40 PM

true, but it is there.

i guess the video is fine but fine isn't really very good on something like this.

the beginning of the movie looking at the blue sky looks more like a projected backround, not natural.

then a few minutes later looking at the sky all i see is what looks like electronic vdeo noise not grain.

i guess the pq will be passable for the majority but i think it could have been SO much better then what it is.

it's truly mediocre and it should be terrific

Flemming.K · 08-26-2007, 08:27 AM

Been a long time since this thread was active. I would love getting Spartacus on HD, but the reviews just keeps me from it.

Nothing "in the works" of a new restauration, anything? Since so many Kubrick movies comes this fall to HD, then maybe Spartacus, Lolita, The Killings and Barry Lyndon could be up, for a second wave?

Ronald Epstein · 08-26-2007, 08:34 AM

I have on very good word that most everyone directly familiar and
responsible with this release is aware that it was poorly done.

Paul Arnette · 08-26-2007, 10:16 AM

Thanks for sharing that Ron, but I'm not sure how the makes feel. It certainly doesn't make me feel better about having bought it that's for sure. Perhaps Universal could take a page from Sony and redo this title while offering a trade-in program similar to The Fifth Element?

Jim_K · 08-26-2007, 11:18 AM

I wonder why Universal never really got the same amount of heat for this as say Sony did with the original Fifth Element release. Maybe if they did we'd have seen a corrected release by now.

Spartacus is a much more important film than FE in the grand sceme of things.

Paul_Scott · 08-26-2007, 12:46 PM

Maybe because the print used on this is not visibly worse than the the print used on the preceding DVD release- or it could be that while it was "poorly done", it wasn't rife with with macroblocking and other plainly visible compression artifacts. The one cryptic comment I've run across with this from Mr Harris seemed to imply to me that the problem was at the original telecine transfer stage- but
I still don't know what the exact issues are with this disc, and to my eyes it still looks better than the Criterion dvd. If its an issue of color timing- I never noticed the difference in one vs the other.

Also, if people 'in the know' are going to criticize it, I wish they would do it in the open to educate us all. In the absence of that , all I can conclude is that the problems with it are not that serious after all.

Jim_K · 08-26-2007, 01:34 PM

Curious. Every professional review I've read of this pretty much panned it (which is why I avoided it), Ron states Universal acknowledges it was "poorly done" so this is the first I read that implies that the issues are basically negligable. Not that you're wrong but definately in the minority I guess.

I'd hate to think I was unnecessarily turned away from this release for whatever purpose but I still think I'll err on the side of caution and skip it since that seems to be the general consensus from most everyone else.

I don't know what it is but lately I'm having a hard time believing anything posted on the internet these days so yes It'd be very nice if someone "in the know" (hint*Mr Harris*hint) can chime in and educate all of us on this release.

Steve Schaffer · 08-26-2007, 03:17 PM

I'm thoroughly convinced that Spartacus on HD DVD won't look any better unless further restoration is done on the source print and and a new HD transfer is struck.

We know that Sony already had a better source print for FE than the one that was used for the first BD release--we've seen it on the Superbit version.

So for Universal to re-do Spartacus would involve considerably more expense than that incurred by Sony for FE.

It should also be pointed out that FE had a reputation for being one of the best pq releases on SD, Spartacus did not. There isn't anything wrong with the HD Spartacus release that isn't also wrong with the SD release, whereas the original FE release was in many respects inferior to the SD versions available at the time.