A few words about...™ It's a Wonderful Life -- in Blu-ray - Page 4

Cees,

Beautifully spoken.

Let's take it one small step further when it comes to expectations.

How many reading this thread would expect anything less than perfect, based upon extant film elements, from say Columbia (Sony), which has proven itself again and again in the ability to create a continuously superior product?

Or Warner Bros?  What would the reaction be if Clark Gable's head in Gone with the Wind, while moving across a neutral background had a magnetic-like force field around it?  Or Dorothy going up the yellow brick road?  Or any of the other Warner classics?

Would I hesitate one moment before pre-ordering a Columbia disc?

No.  Because I know that the quality will be intact, and that those who have created the discs take pride in their creation and stand behind them.  Personally!

There is no longer a rationale or excuse for any Blu-ray disc that doesn't look like film.

When one is paying full price, second best doesn't cut it.

Whether using Cees analogy of moving into one's new house or my earlier concept of buying a car...

My point is that there is something monumentally wrong with driving a block away from a dealership and having one's brakes fail.  No one would stand for this.  And there is no difference between water leaks in a home, failed brakes, or an amateurishly produced Blu-ray disc coming from an entity that most would presume to still be one of the great studios.

And yet there are many out there who are willing to accept a second rate product simply because it may look better than what they had. The reality is that it doesn't.  The old SDVD is a closer match to film to the new Blu-ray, as problems may remain hidden.

I'll repeat myself.

Blu-ray is not about quality.  Blu-ray is merely a bucket that holds data that can have quality.  For Blu-ray to succeed in the marketplace there must be an assumption of quality on behalf of the consuming public.  History has taught us that products that do not live up to their perceived quality force an end to production, and on a larger scale companies out of business.  

There is a reason why one doesn't see thousands of old Fiats on the road, and conversely why one cannot travel a block in traffic without seeing a Toyota, VW, Ford truck or Honda.

It's the end of 2009.  Other studios have proven both their concern for the quality of what they release to the public and their ability to create superior products.  They respect the consumer, while Paramount Home Video is building the Blu-ray equivalent of a old Fiat.

RAH

I want to be very clear about this.  The new Blu-ray of It's a Wonderful Life has nowhere near the problems of either The Longest Day or Patton, both of which were created by a firm that believed to their soul that grain was bad and had to be eliminated.  Unfortunately, they also had a poor strategy for elimination.  That was also eighteen months ago -- a huge period of time in the life of Blu-ray.  Fox has new people in place, who are doing superb work.

It's a Wonderful Life is an unfortunate case of allowing a vendor to do work on an important film -- and releasing it well after we should have been past both the learning curve as well as any technological growing pains.

Those reviewers who have commented on the new IaWL Blu-ray, and have found it pleasing are generally not incorrect in their comments. The new release is sharp, has nice and pleasantly graded gray scale and both good blacks and white.  Its problems lie beneath the surface, but are extremely obvious to anyone with a knowledge of film and the look of film.

Once again, the problem is not that IaWL is not a pretty disc.  The problem is that it is fully digital and wrong.

RAH

Paramount has no one in place of whom I'm aware that would be in the least interested.  If such a person is in place, they might make their existence and interest known.  My perception is that even with some quality technical people in place, they are probably facing an uphill battle to be enabled to create quality product.

Ned Price and Grover Crisp have been in place for long enough that they know very well what they're doing on their own.  

Although information and suggestions are occasionally offered back and forth -- going in both directions -- they, along with Fox's Schawn Belston, Universal's Bob O'Neil and Disney's Theo Gluck serve as an industry core of asset protection professionals with many decades of experience.  Mr. Crisp and Mr. Belston follow through from asset protection to final transfers, which is a superb way of handling the matter, and their efforts may be seen in current Blu-ray releases. Paramount is not set up this way.

I'll be commenting on Mr. Belston's latest very soon.

RAH