A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Robert Harris · 01-06-2008, 03:12 PM

Bringing CE3K to high definition (Blu-Ray) disc would not be a feat for the faint of heart if only releasing a single version.

To bring all three versions to BD disc at the same time, and on the same disc is begging asking for trouble.

But, with what must have been an enormous amount of technical planning, this release has come together without a hitch.

The film itself has not had an unproblematic history. Beyond it's overall scope and the sheer number of optical (pre-digital) effects shots the film stock chosen for those shots -- Kodak's CRI -- was stock known for it's quick fading characteristics. This is something that needed to be dealt with.

With the exception of a handful of shots which exhibit small technical problems which apparently could not be solved digitally, and an occasional blue sky which seems to have a bit of odd shading, this huge release has arrived in absolutely glorious form. Let me be clear, whatever problems there are miniscule and as far as I can tell, unavoidable.

CE3K is a most own disc -- a huge production, brought to high definition with the highest of quality, inclusive of the interweaving of all three different versions. On the audio front, be forewarned that sonically, this is a disc that will clean the lint out of one's speakers.

CE3K from Sony / Columbia Pictures comes Extremely Highly Recommended as one of the top high definition releases of 2007.

RAH

RickyB · 01-06-2008, 11:41 PM

WTF is CE3K???

BrettB · 01-06-2008, 11:50 PM

What the heck is "WTF"?

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Michel_Hafner · 01-07-2008, 07:10 AM

Watched it some days ago. I think it looks like the film. In this case the original photography is such that maybe a third of all shots have blurry tops and bottoms from the anamorphic Panavision lenses. Only the middle part is in focus. I found it irritating. But that's how it was shot. :-)

Robert Harris · 01-07-2008, 11:06 AM

Anamorphic Panavision lenses are not blurry from top to bottom.

**HTF Ads**

Craig_Ehr · 01-07-2008, 12:47 PM

Thank you very much, Mr. Harris.

I agree wholeheartedly, and I was particularly amazed this title looks as good as it does in HD. I know time has not been kind to the particular stocks of that era, unfortunately (especially considering the exceptional quality of much of the content.) And if anything, I was even more impressed with the audio...kudos to Sony for not one, but two lossless audio presentations.

Watching the disc a couple months ago when it was released had a special resonance for me, having just returned from a marathon trip around the West which just happened to include a stop in Northeastern Wyoming at a particular monolith of note (not to be confused with a certain other monolith from a certain other sci-fi film of note.)

Felix Martinez · 01-07-2008, 02:22 PM

I think this is an absolutely beautiful set. The image quality on this HD release is magnificent - one can now see Zsigmond's use of (what appears to be) a vignette filter in certain scenes.

Douglas Monce · 01-07-2008, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michel_Hafner

Watched it some days ago. I think it looks like the film. In this case the original photography is such that maybe a third of all shots have blurry tops and bottoms from the anamorphic Panavision lenses. Only the middle part is in focus. I found it irritating. But that's how it was shot. :-)

Robert Harris is right Anamorphic Panavision doesn't have blurry tops and bottoms. They do tend to have a fairly shallow depth of field when compared to spherical lenses.
But the plain of focus is sharp across the whole frame unless a split diopter is used.

Doug

Felix Martinez · 01-07-2008, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

Robert Harris is right Anamorphic Panavision doesn't have blurry tops and bottoms. They do tend to have a fairly shallow depth of field when compared to spherical lenses.
But the plain of focus is sharp across the whole frame unless a split diopter is used.

Doug

While there is split diopter use, the "blurry tops and bottoms" is - what I think is - the use of a vignette filter.

Peter Overduin · 01-07-2008, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

On the audio front, be forewarned that sonically, this is a disc that will clean the lint out of one's speakers. RAH

Thank you! Maybe...FINALLY I can get my wife to STOP using the damn vaccum cleaner on my Paradigm Monitor 11s! Argghhhh!

AlexCosmo · 01-07-2008, 10:37 PM

I have a dumb question. I love this disc, I love how it looks, in terms of retaining that "film" texture, how do they do that? Do they not use a Lowry type process, or do they just do it more carefully, or what? I'm just curious what the pipeline is, in general terms, from a 30 year old faded, problematic film stock to the final result.