Criterion Press Release: Days of Heaven (Blu-ray)

I was this close to opening my old dvd.

I never bothered getting the Criterion DVD because I always felt that it would be a likely candidate for a Blu-ray. I'm glad I waited.

February is going to be a fantastic (and expensive) month for Criterion Blu-rays!

This announcement makes me so happy! Days of Heaven is one of my favorite films, and one of the films that inspired me to make my own short films. This will be my first Blu Criterion purchase.

I want to pick this up for two reasons:
1. It's Criterion; and
2. To remember what the area around my home town looked like in 1977-78. I actually remember going out to the area where the house was built, as well as when the person who bought the house moved it to a new location. What a gorgeous piece of architecture.

The Criterion DVD has some obvious haloing that infects quite a few shots. It is readily noticeable  anytime a figure or object is shot against the open sky- which as fans will know is quite often.
I'm guessing the ringing is 'baked into' the master and will be on the Bd as well, although it's my hope they will  much diminished with the higher resolution.
If Criterion can exorcise them entirely for the Bd...

As eager as I will be to get this, I may try to hold out until June to see if B&N has another sale.

Haloing on a DVD doesn't neccessarily mean it's "baked into" the High-Def master.  Many Blue Underground DVDs had obvious haloing, but their Blu-rays have been pretty much absent any trace of edge-enhancement.  In many cases, I think any "haloing" is often added during the HD-to-SD downconversion and/or encoding.

Vincent

I hope that's the case Vincent.
The reason I assumed it might be inherent to the master, is some of the reasons I've heard given for the EE still appearing (though in a much diminished capacity) on many Sony titles, despite that studios seeming highly conscious approach to laying off most of the digital artificial sweeteners.

Also-it seems from the promotional material that the new high def transfer for DOH and other Paramount licensed titles that these are being created under the direction/supervision of Criterion in conjunction with any available creative people from the film (director/cinematographer, etc)- and yet they all still have obvious ringing. It's not like this can't be done for standard def, Mondo Vision, a 2 year old company putting out Zulawski movies on DVD, is able to release films on dvd totally sans all this digital toolbox crap. But they seem to be going in with the  no nonsense mindset from the very start of the process starting with the film transfer. So I have to wonder if that is where some of the problems with the Paramount/Criterion dvds are starting.

Again, I hope you are right and this will all be a moot point come end of March.

 One of the first advance reviews of Days of Heaven has appeared at the DVD Beaver website. Gary W. Tooze gives the new Blu-ray his highest recommendation. It will be interesting to read the feedback from others about the new BD.

WOW, those caps look good to me. I'm really looking forward to this disc. I still only have the Paramount version. So either Criterion version would be a big upgrade for me.

EDIT: The captures from Bigger Than Life look excellent as well!


Edited by BethHarrison - 2/27/10 at 9:42pm