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More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012 - Page 2

post #31 of 55
2/19/09 at 11:40am

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne_j
What did they do with the completed frames? The Wizard of Oz for example was restored at 4K resolution. There should be more than old 1080P masters surviving from these restorations.

I believe that they made a new negative for Singin' so they definitely have more than a 1080i master.

I personally love the old MGM musicals, chances are that they along with definitive classics such as Casablanca and Gone with the Wind are considered to be the most likely best sellers making them prime for release first.

The article said (correctly or not, I don't know) that OZ was a 2K resolution not 4K.

The article raises as many questions as it answers. When they say that OZ is being "completely overhauled" I'm not sure what that really means, but time will tell. They make a big deal about dirt and scratch cleanup but they always like to talk about that.

It will be quite interesting what they do with the color timing on OZ this time around. If George thought that people were unhappy about the Ben-Hur transfer he ought to check the blood-bath of a thread out on the last OZ release. Matter of fact, if WHV does tone down the warm colors of the last release, I guess a bunch of defenders of that release that will be saying ... what exactly?

Meanwhile, I'm really looking forward to North By Northwest's Hi-def release. Here's hoping that they keep the music-only track that was on the film's prior DVD release.
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post #32 of 55
2/19/09 at 12:46pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by rich_d
The article said (correctly or not, I don't know) that OZ was a 2K resolution not 4K.

The article raises as many questions as it answers. When they say that OZ is being "completely overhauled" I'm not sure what that really means, but time will tell. They make a big deal about dirt and scratch cleanup but they always like to talk about that.

It will be quite interesting what they do with the color timing on OZ this time around. If George thought that people were unhappy about the Ben-Hur transfer he ought to check the blood-bath of a thread out on the last OZ release. Matter of fact, if WHV does tone down the warm colors of the last release, I guess a bunch of defenders of that release that will be saying ... what exactly?

Meanwhile, I'm really looking forward to North By Northwest's Hi-def release. Here's hoping that they keep the music-only track that was on the film's prior DVD release.

Listed in the features of the Wizard of Oz Collectors Edition as reported in the HTF review:
[*] In Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration Of Oz, Ned Price and Rob Hummell appear from Warner Brothers as they discuss the restoration process from start to finish, including discussion on the elements that were used as well as the Ultra-Resolution 4K process that was used for the CE of Oz. Duration: 10:27 minutes.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...commended.html
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post #33 of 55
2/19/09 at 4:29pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

High-Def Digest has posted a clarification to this story regarding high-def audio on Warner classic releases.

Here's the updated paragraph:

"Sound issues have also drawn ire from many consumers hungry for high-def audio on Golden Age films. Some have complained about the lack of a Dolby TrueHD track on 'Casablanca' and the upcoming 'An American in Paris.' Both 'Casablanca' and 'An American in Paris' were recorded in mono, so monaural tracks were used on their respective Blu-ray discs to preserve each film's authenticity. However, Mr. Feltenstein has noted that from this point forward, Warner Home Video intends to release all catalog titles with TrueHD tracks. When original multiple channel recordings are available, the studio may produce newer, multitrack audio mixes, but whether or not the films have multitrack audio elements, the studio believes each release deserves the absolute best audio possible and will provide it in TrueHD."
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post #34 of 55
2/19/09 at 7:47pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by rich_d
The article said (correctly or not, I don't know) that OZ was a 2K resolution not 4K.

The article raises as many questions as it answers. When they say that OZ is being "completely overhauled" I'm not sure what that really means, but time will tell. They make a big deal about dirt and scratch cleanup but they always like to talk about that.

What it means is that Mr. Feltenstein and others at WB felt that especially as a Blu-ray release, that re-scanning the original negatives at 4k would not only yield a higher quality final product, but also allow them to properly archive the film with new full, film resolution elements. The Blu-ray will be down-rezzed from 4k data files. When properly handled Blu-ray is the new "Motion Picture High Fidelity."

RAH
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post #35 of 55
2/19/09 at 8:04pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Harris
What it means is that Mr. Feltenstein and others at WB felt that especially as a Blu-ray release, that re-scanning the original negatives at 4k would not only yield a higher quality final product, but also allow them to properly archive the film with new full, film resolution elements. The Blu-ray will be down-rezzed from 4k data files. When properly handled Blu-ray is the new "Motion Picture High Fidelity."

RAH

And we're all for a higher quality product - but as Wayne mentioned - OZ was already scanned at 4K for their last OZ release, so these recent statements seem, at best, unclear.
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post #36 of 55
2/19/09 at 9:14pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Sort of wish they revealed more about North by Northwest. Investing a million dollars certainly deserves more than a passing mention!

Looking forward to Citizen Kane, as well as the eventual 3/5 star reviews for excessively bad image quality in reel 1.

It's good that WB is even trying for more B&W 4x3 films. All the other studios are so hesitant besides Criterion.
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post #37 of 55
2/20/09 at 5:09am

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick McCart
Sort of wish they revealed more about North by Northwest. Investing a million dollars certainly deserves more than a passing mention!

Looking forward to Citizen Kane, as well as the eventual 3/5 star reviews for excessively bad image quality in reel 1.

Probably a good 40% of digital post houses would, even at this late date, budget 150 - 200 hours toward the clean up of all those scratches and dirt. Then by adjusting the gamma, one should be able to pull a clean image of Mr. Cotten out of the screening room footage.
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post #38 of 55
2/20/09 at 6:33am

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Budgell
No mention of Raintree County. Sigh.

I too would like to see Raintree County released. It was the first movie filmed in the new 70mm MGM Camera 65 process. It was only released in 35mm CinemaScope but a release on Blu-ray showing the full 2.76:1 aspect ratio like Ben-Hur would be nice.
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post #39 of 55
2/20/09 at 9:59am

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Looks like Blu-Ray classic films are a long way off.
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post #40 of 55
2/20/09 at 11:22am

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg_M
Looks like Blu-Ray classic films are a long way off.

That's because most studios don't have a George Feltenstein championing their back catalog titles. At least when they come they'll do the titles justice.

It's also good that they are looking into long-term preservation as well. Always important.

And there is no such thing as "too many musicals."
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post #41 of 55
2/20/09 at 11:47am

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewA
That's because most studios don't have a George Feltenstein championing their back catalog titles. At least when they come they'll do the titles justice.

It's also good that they are looking into long-term preservation as well. Always important.

And there is no such thing as "too many musicals."


As far as musicals go, studios usually filmed these on the better film formats - during the 1940's more musicals were filmed in color than other genres and in the 50's and 60's they were usually filmed in the 70 MM formats - so these should look better than the average film on High-Def

Not surpising these would come to Blu-Ray before other film formats, where as films from the 1970's wouldn't look at good due to the increased amount of film grain and 35MM film stock
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post #42 of 55
2/20/09 at 12:15pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

I know some guys don't care for musicals but it was what made MGM MGM in the 30's, 40's and 50's. That doesn't mean they should ignore their non-musical winners but they need to play to their strengths and depth of their lineup.
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post #43 of 55
2/20/09 at 4:23pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Anthony
Also the comments surrounding Hi Def audio are also of concern, regardless of whether the BD audio is in mono, stereo or 10.1 it should be lossless or PCM

That's exactly what I thought about when I read the article. Just because the audio's not 5.1 on a particular title doesn't mean it shouldn't be lossless. I don't get that logic, since a track with less channels should theoretically take up less disk space than a comparable 5.1 track.

Speaking of audio, WHY can't we ALWAYS get original sound mixes on discs that have newer re-done mixes as well? That practice annoys me more than anything else when it comes to DVD / Blu-ray.
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post #44 of 55
2/20/09 at 5:35pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidS
That's exactly what I thought about when I read the article. Just because the audio's not 5.1 on a particular title doesn't mean it shouldn't be lossless. I don't get that logic, since a track with less channels should theoretically take up less disk space than a comparable 5.1 track.

Speaking of audio, WHY can't we ALWAYS get original sound mixes on discs that have newer re-done mixes as well? That practice annoys me more than anything else when it comes to DVD / Blu-ray.
I suppose an argument could have been made that they didn't want to sacrifice video quality with DVD. However with Blu-Ray, there's plenty of room to include both a new 5.1 and original mono mix in lossless. I thought I read that BD has a separate allocation of bandwidth for audio, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
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post #45 of 55
2/20/09 at 7:45pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

The one i'm excited about that nobody seemed to mention is Woodstock in July. The have not released much detail on it but from what I heard I can't wait.
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post #46 of 55
2/20/09 at 8:26pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Husar
The one i'm excited about that nobody seemed to mention is Woodstock in July. The have not released much detail on it but from what I heard I can't wait.

Yes and then you can play the Woodstock drinking game. Every time 10th time someone says 'man' you down a shot.

There's a rumor that someone made it through the entire film with those rules but I kinda doubt it. They probably couldn't even count to ten by the halfway point of the film.
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post #47 of 55
2/21/09 at 5:55pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by rich_d
Yes and then you can play the Woodstock drinking game. Every time 10th time someone says 'man' you down a shot.

There's a rumor that someone made it through the entire film with those rules but I kinda doubt it. They probably couldn't even count to ten by the halfway point of the film.


OK now that's alcohol poisoning. The Blu Ray is going to be a new 4 hour cut. I would love to know how Warner's is doing the transfer. I know Michael Wadleigh is coming out of hibernation to do an audio commentary. But I would love for their to be a making of the film as I think Woodstock has as many technical achevements as Star Wars does. It's the longest optical effect ever. (Shot in 16 mm, multiple images, designed to be in a 2.35 aspect ratio, special mattes were created for the 35 optical for the 16 mm multiple images to conform to single doubel or triple frame. The ong was photographed with the mattes in an optical camrea with a Techniscope 2 perf pull down.) I think I got that right.
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post #48 of 55
2/22/09 at 3:53pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Adkins
However with Blu-Ray, there's plenty of room to include both a new 5.1 and original mono mix in lossless.

That's what I mean. There's no excuse for not including the original mix at this point, other than laziness.
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post #49 of 55
2/23/09 at 1:44pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Not sure if it belongs here, but when William Friedkin introduced Sorcerer at the Harvard Film Archive the other night, he mentioned that his next project after wrapping the 200th episode of CSI would be the Blu-ray of The Exorcist, which would be released for Halloween (unfortunately, no-one thought to ask which cut(s) would be included).

Interestingly, he loves Blu-ray. As in, the night before, he had the HFA project The French Connection off BD rather than a 35mm print.
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post #50 of 55
2/23/09 at 2:20pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Would that not have been to show off his new colour palette, rather than necessarily preferring the format itself?
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post #51 of 55
2/23/09 at 4:59pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

He went on for a bit about how he really wouldn't miss 35mm; the idea that how a given print looks might vary depending on the conditions in the lab on the day it's struck seemed pretty crazy to him.
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post #52 of 55
2/23/09 at 8:18pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

As someone who has held off making the leap to BD because of cost and the relative lack of classics I applaud WHV making additional titles available.

I do admit to not being a fan of musicals so I hope that releases aren't too concentrated in that genre. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and SINGING...RAIN are two great titles though that appeal to those not normally inclined to buy musicals.
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post #53 of 55
2/24/09 at 9:25am

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Harris
Probably a good 40% of digital post houses would, even at this late date, budget 150 - 200 hours toward the clean up of all those scratches and dirt. Then by adjusting the gamma, one should be able to pull a clean image of Mr. Cotten out of the screening room footage.

LOL. First HTF chuckle I've had in awhile.

Off topic, but wouldn't it be nice to see The Magnificent Ambersons accompany the Kane release.

Right.
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post #54 of 55
2/24/09 at 5:01pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick McCart

It's good that WB is even trying for more B&W 4x3 films. All the other studios are so hesitant besides Criterion.

Eh; everyone on this forum can rattle off the names of at least 100 B&W 4x3 catalog studio films they'd want to own on BR. Most of my list never even made it to vhs or SD. There's quite the unserved market there....
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post #55 of 55
2/24/09 at 6:04pm

Re: More Warner classics revealed as in the works for 2010-2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ethan Riley
Eh; everyone on this forum can rattle off the names of at least 100 B&W 4x3 catalog studio films they'd want to own on BR.
Most, maybe, but I can name absolutely none that I'm interested in. Or indeed, any movie before 1968 (1964 if you include TV too).
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