Gladiator Blu-ray - release date 09/01/2009 - Read before buying! - Page 3

Wow...wish I would've seen this thread five minutes ago.  I just now ordered Braveheart and Gladiator for in-store pickup at Best Buy.  I will probably take Gladiator back and keep Braveheart.

The Digital Bits has a review:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviewshd/bdreviews083109.html

What a shame. I was looking forward to this release.

I've been hunting through the thread for some addresses. How can we contact Paramount to let them know we are unhappy with their treatment of this film and would prefer to see it properly done? Paramount's website is singularly unhelpful.

cheers,
Phil

Ditto for me.

Quote:
Actually, if $23.99 is the price of a properly mastered Gladiator Blu-ray, then $12.95 sounds like it is the right price for what you are actually getting.  In that case, you shouldn't need to be buying Braveheart as well to get that price.

Quote:
PHE_CustomerService@Paramount.com

I was also looking foward to this title and I am glad I checked the forum before just going out and buying it.  I have to agree that this title is an embarasment and someone needs to loose there job for this train wreck.  How can a title like this get such a horible transfer?  Who ok'ed this release, are they blind?  This is one of the titles that is made for Bluray and I wanted to buy it on release day but now I will not buy it until it is fixed!

Here is the e-mail I sent:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I just got a read receipt back from them...

Well, according to this post, even the audio on the Blu Ray isn't impressing some people:

Sounds like Dreamworks needs to rework this title and they need to make this a reference disc.  It is sad and it doesn't help Bluray when a studio puts out such a poor quality transfer on Bluray.  

 As soon as they fix it I will be all over it!   

I don't think Dreamworks has anything to do with this title at this point.

Doug

I was going to mention the sound to, but I felt like it might be too much.
The surrounds seemed lacking to me.
Glad someone else said it because I sure was thinking it while watching.

I watched Braveheart last night, the PQ and SQ is solid, very, very impressive. Top notch! 

I've got Gladiator in my Q, but if the sound is not on par either, don't think it's even worth the $9 at this point.

Ron I'll be looking for your opinion on the sound of Gladiator, knowing how important sound is for you.

RobertR:  Since I don't know where that quote came from...can you tell me what particular scene the poster was referring-to in connection with their impression of overall sub-par audio?


Thanks!

With the $10 rebate from the DVD, it actually comes to $2.95, which is about what it is worth.  IMO, this is the worst blu-ray transfer I have seen.  It's even worse than Patton, which I was able to watch and enjoy.  The EE here is more distracting, and the lack of detail is more prominent especially when compared to the extended scenes.  One can only hope they will remaster this title and give us replacements.

Who does?  Or is the problem that no one does?  Either way I feel like I should print some custom cover art for this disc, I'm thinking an all black cover with just the word 'Buck' on it in white.  And then I think I will pass it around to all my friends.

Scott Free Productions
614 N La Peer Drive
Los Angeles, California 90069
Telephone: 310 360 2250
Fax: 310 360 2251

Paramount:

PHE_CustomerService@Paramount.com
323-956-5000

It's been acknowledged that Universal did the Gladiator Blu-ray, so any complaints should be addressed to them.

Over at AVS, someone has already written to Universal and they received the curt reply from Universal that this is Paramount's doing and that all correspondence should be addressed to Paramount. Maybe both studios are playing "tag" with this title?

Exactly.  This transfer is designed to appeal to the knotheads who can't stand grain and want it gone from their Blu-ray picture.  Well, it's gone, and so is half the detail.  Very annoying indeed.

If this transfer is indeed from 2000 as rumored, then I highly doubt it was because of "knotheads", it was because they were making a transfer (and possibly monitoring it) for DVD where these flaws wouldn't show up.  The absence of DNR/EE from the extended scenes (supposedly from 2007) and the fact that another AAA title that came out the same day (also transferred recently) looks pristine are pretty strong indicators of this.

Ugh, I'm weak and couldn't resist Best Buy's $10 off deal (making my walk out price $39 with tax). Add to that the $10 current DVD owner rebate for each, and my net will have been $19 for both.

I figure HTF and the "other" site are on the case. This has been brought to Charlie D's attention. Between all those sources hopefully Paramount/Dreamworks/whoever will rectify this situation in the future due to our combined pressure and exposure of the problem. Meanwhile, I'll have gotten a steal on the pricing, versus waiting for a corrected version (which may or may not come) and paying what will likely be full price for it then.

Did I mention I was weak?

I've done an AB comparison on the Blu-Ray versus the Signature Series DVD and the upconverted DVD actually looks better than the Blu-Ray.

Note that this is only on the first 11 minutes of the movie, I haven't checked out the rest of the Blu-Ray yet.

Equipment:

For the upconverted DVD I used an HD-XA2 HD-DVD player running firmware 4.0 as the source outputting at 720p.
For the blu-ray I used a PS3 running firmware 3.0 outputting at 720p.

Both are connected via HDMI to the following chain-> Denon AVR-2807 -> HDMI -> Optoma HD70 @720p front projection to a 106" screen.

Right away on the blu ray, the opening text on the smokey background kind of "bounces" around very slightly like you see when a film is getting threaded correctly on the reel.

The DVD text is rock solid and does not move.


On the blu-ray the "GERMINIA" subtitle flickers and has black spots that come in and out of the text, especially at the right side.

The DVD subtitle is completely solid throughout the duration.


On the brief panning shot of the field with the fireballs and flaming arrows streaking across,on the DVD you can clearly see a lot of flaming arrows sweeping across the sky for the duration of the shot.

On the blu-ray, only a few arrows are actually visible with fire at the beginning of the shot, and you can't really see any of them at the end of the shot.  All you see is a sky full of smoke trails.  Also the fireballs kind of flicker in and out, while on the DVD they remain solid throughout.


Pretty sad state of affairs here, the blu ray is actually worse than the old DVD.  Again take the disclaimer that I only have watched the first 11 minutes.


Edited by Jeff Cooper - 9/2/09 at 3:35pm

Braveheart got, Gladiator not...What a shame since it is also a favorite film of mine. I will wait for the eventual re-release.

It's the opening battle scene.

Got both Gladiator and Braveheart for net $7.98 each (after all rebates) from Best Buy. Watched Gladiator yesterday and Braveheart today.  Braveheart has an OUTSTANDING transfer.  10 out of 10 as far as I'm concerned.

Gladiator, on the other hand...  (wait for it)... looks better than I expected given all the hype!  Sure, I can see the EE and the effects of DNR in some areas but it is far far far from a pile of garbage.  I guess I made the mistake of watching the movie (eg, the story) instead of incessantly watching for defects because, frankly, the defects just didn't bother me.  I give the Gladiator transfer 7.5 out of 10.

It is most DEFINITELY an upgrade from the DVD.  Any fan of the movie should go ahead and add it to your Blu-ray collection because, frankly, I don't expect we'll see a remaster for years and years to come.

Mark

Practically any Blu Ray is an upgrade from DVD, so that's hardly saying anything at all.  What I want to know is, how how close does a Blu Ray come to FILM (which is the whole point of hidef)?  On that score, I haven't seen anyone dispute that this BR is a failure.

I've not been the biggest fan of Gladiator, in fact it's only been in the past couple of years i've begun to appreciate the film. When I saw it theatrically, I remember falling asleep a couple of times. Subsequent viewings didn't do alot to shake my initial feeling, however last year I saw it on Cinemax and began to appreciate it. No, I don't think it's great cinema, however it's a fair Hollywood film. I still think I get creeped out by the brother/sister relationship. Still and all, a decent if not great film. 

I remember when I saw the film on Cinemax I thought to myself what a nice transfer it had. It was better than i'd seen on any of the DVD's i'd rented, so I was expecting a pretty stellar transfer on BD in it's proper aspect ratio. I've read so many of the reviews and looked at the screenshots and while there are some definite opinions to the absence of quality, figured I better take a look at it myself. 

My opinion? 

Count me in the disappointed category. 

No, it doesn't look like an upscaled DVD, in fact there are some moments of sharpness in the film, in fact I can't say it looks all that soft, there is even some detail that shines through from time to time. What holds this transfer back is that it definitely looks "digital" and that's not a good thing. Don't get me wrong, you can see a Lowry transfer that doesn't look exactly film-like, but it always looks good. This one doesn't look that great. Yes, there is DNR and some definite edge-enhancement. I do believe as has been suggested that they used the 2000 transfer and added the extended edition material which looks much better into the master. One thing for sure a missed opportunity. 

I was really curious about the audio and while that's gotten pretty good reviews, I can't go there. Yes, there are some really powerful moments of this sountrack, but where was the inner detail? Honestly this track sounded harsh, congested to me, I didn't sense any openess in the mix. I really expected Zimmer's best score to shine through but it felt restrained. Oh, why did I have to boost the DTSMA track about 5 clicks over standard? I got a feeling that Paramount may have "dialnormed" this one as I suspect Warner did with "Watchmen" and what I suspect Disney does with their DTSMA titles. One thing for sure I was underwhelmed. 

Not an ideal way to launch a "Sapphire Series".

BRAVEHEART is on its way to me , but I cancelled my GLADIATOR pre-order. Subpar transfers on a film of this scale just aren't acceptable on BD at this point.