MGM Press Release: BOND 50 (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Worth]

The Spy Who Loved Me and The Living Daylights are two of the best looking titles in the set and neither of them had 4K scans, while You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever were sourced from 4K scans, and are among the more problematic titles.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Worth /t/317593/mgm-press-release-bond-50-blu-ray/1410#post_3994822
The Spy Who Loved Me and The Living Daylights are two of the best looking titles in the set and neither of them had 4K scans, while You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever were sourced from 4K scans, and are among the more problematic titles.

That's because they scanned them at 4K and then ALTERED them using digital grading tools, i am moaning in the above post about contrast boosting and colour changes and unnecessary work since a good 4K scan and minimal work is all that should be needed, as for The Living Daylights, if it looks good for a 2K scan then imagine the extra detail that could have been squeezed out of it if they had done a modern new 4K scan, scanning technology has also evolved since 2005, indeed the process Lowry uses has evolved a lot and is considerably better, the majority of these releases could look much better.

It's the alterations on some of these films to the contrast, to the colours, to the sharpness, to the soundtrack, etc etc, all things i can and will object to, i'm not one of these "it's good enough for now" people, never will be either.

Not saying you think it's good enough for now, i'm saying i think it's not, if something is worth doing then it's worth doing right.

 

[Gary16]

That's because they scanned them at 4K and then ALTERED them using digital grading tools, i am moaning in the above post about contrast boosting and colour changes and unnecessary work since a good 4K scan and minimal work is all that should be needed, as for The Living Daylights, if it looks good for a 2K scan then imagine the extra detail that could have been squeezed out of it if they had done a modern new 4K scan, scanning technology has also evolved since 2005, indeed the process Lowry uses has evolved a lot and is considerably better, the majority of these releases could look much better.
It's the alterations on some of these films to the contrast, to the colours, to the sharpness, to the soundtrack, etc etc, all things i can and will object to, i'm not one of these "it's good enough for now" people, never will be either.
Not saying you think it's good enough for now, i'm saying i think it's not, if something is worth doing then it's worth doing right.

Just my two cents (or pence) but much as I'd love perfection I doubt we'll ever see it if for no other reason than no two people can seem to agree on what's perfection.
Everyone would have to be looking at whatever it is on the same equipment in the same environment, etc., and that just doesn't happen.
When home video first came out we accepted VHS/Beta as the best it could be even at the extaordinarily high prices at the time. Laserdiscs were a revelation. I can remember numerous occasions when a "newly restored" laserdisc of a classic film looked fabulous. When the "newly restored" dvd of the same title came out I said "how much better could it be?" Well it made the laserdisc look like a VHS dupe. I guess what I'm saying is that they can scan and rescan all they want but unless we are all to accept the word of one authority that it's the best it can ever be then we will never reach perfection (and that's ok with me).

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Gary16 /t/317593/mgm-press-release-bond-50-blu-ray/1410#post_3994853
Just my two cents (or pence) but much as I'd love perfection I doubt we'll ever see it if for no other reason than no two people can seem to agree on what's perfection.
.

No one is asking for absolute perfection, competency is what i ask for, contrast boosting, colour changes, soundtrack issues, DNR, none of that is competency, let me repeat, i am not asking for perfection, just a basic quality that is lacking on a number of these releases, if we cannot agree on that then there is no hope for better quality.

There is a standard that everyone who wishes to can adhere to, it requires calibration, all equipment can be calibrated, be it your television or projector, it can be calibrated to the same standards, calibration is pointless if the film studio contrast boosts and does other "wonderful" things to their product and thus changes the intended filmed look.

 

[DVDvision]

SPY is perfect so yes, perfection can be achieved. That box set is a hodge podge of antic transferts and hit and miss remixes. I wouldn't complain if the set was just a release, and not there to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the films franchise. As such, it's unworthy of Bond, especially when you understand that Bond stands for the best things in life.

 

[brioni]

A comprehensive review here on comparing the UE DVD’s with the US & UK Blu ray box set. Some more minor things noted were “fixed” – that people might not be aware of.
http://www.007magazine.co.uk/bond50_review.htm
There is also some comments at the bottom from Bond sound editor Norman Wanstall.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by brioni /t/317593/mgm-press-release-bond-50-blu-ray/1410#post_3996754
A comprehensive review here on comparing the UE DVD’s with the US & UK Blu ray box set. Some more minor things noted were “fixed” – that people might not be aware of.
http://www.007magazine.co.uk/bond50_review.htm
There is also some comments at the bottom from Bond sound editor Norman Wanstall.

From the review.

"In summary, the image and soundtracks (where original released sound is available) are excellent"

"on the whole the 60s films look a little too digitally scrubbed... they look clean and glossy, and frankly, like a new film that has been set in the period. A lot of the original grain has been removed and they don’t have the organic feel of a projected 35mm print."

"I am all in favour of cleaning up films and presenting them in their best light, but not at the expense of a lot of digital revisionism that changes them from what they once were intended to be."

"Some films, such as On Her Majesty’s Secret Service are a huge upgrade from the standard definition version and look superb"


Some minor contradictions going on there, i do agree with them when they say too many people moan about image quality but don't care when the original soundtracks are ditched, so true. Overall a decent review which at least mentions the film grain removal that has happened to many of these films, most reviews skip over that fact.

 

[Worth]

I saw a screening of Thunderball just last week and the sound effects referred to in that article were still there:

It should be noted that Mi Casa’s horrendous remix on Thunderball heard on the Ultimate Edition DVD has been consigned to the rubbish heap of history and the BOND 50 version (and earlier Blu-ray release) uses the more sympathetic 5.1 mix created for the 1995 laserdisc. Thunderously stupid sound effects were added to the opening of the secret door into SPECTRE’S Parisian HQ by Largo early in the film.

It seems that the DCPs still have the inferior mix.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Worth /t/317593/mgm-press-release-bond-50-blu-ray/1410#post_3996784
I saw a screening of Thunderball just last week and the sound effects referred to in that article were still there:
It seems that the DCPs still have the inferior mix.

As Bond would say, s[COLOR= rgb(51, 51, 51)]hocking! positively shocking![/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(51, 51, 51)]Edited to remove additional shocking moments as per BBFC request.[/COLOR]

 

[Bryan Tuck]

A comprehensive review here on comparing the UE DVD’s with the US & UK Blu ray box set. Some more minor things noted were “fixed” – that people might not be aware of.
http://www.007magazine.co.uk/bond50_review.htm
There is also some comments at the bottom from Bond sound editor Norman Wanstall.

Thanks for posting. That is fairly thorough, but there are couple of other minor things discussed in this thread that aren't mentioned in that review.
- On the mono track for Goldfinger, the end credits music fades out before the final notes are heard (this wasn't the case on the UE, where the music played out over the Lowry credits). I know it's nit-picky, but it seems like such a careless mistake, and that's on one of the previously-released Blu-rays.
- On Goldeneye, the teaser trailer is shorter than the one on the UE and SE. It freezes after "Only One Man" becomes "007," and then goes straight to the gunbarrel transition. Pierce Brosnan stepping toward the camera and saying "You were expecting someone else?" (the best part, IMO) is completely missing for some reason.

 

[Peter Neski]

The spy who love me has plenty of flat grainy shots,a cheap job from MGM UA

 

[DVDvision]

Peter, these are the way they movie was shot. SPY is the best looking of the whole bunch of the old series. It just had a fresh transfer.

I'm rewatching them all in order with my daughter who wants to discover the series, and all the old 2005 transfers really aren't up to current quality anymore. They may have looked nice on DVD, but here in HD, they literaly look digital and video. Plus add the original soundtracks problems, add on top of this the color shifts (some of those FRWL night scene look so dark, you can't see anything anymore) and this whole set truly needs a remake / reboot.

 

[Sumnernor]

I have all (?most) of the James Bond films. Are all the extras on the early JB films included of the Bond 50?

 

[Nelson Au]

I watched The Spy Who Loved Me last night. I want to play the earlier DVD's of this and GoldenEye to compare.
I saw Spy as a young teen in the theater that summer. Twice I think! Of course I cannot remember exactly what the film looked like then. My first reaction to the new blu ray was that it looked less vibrant in color. But i want to add that I think it was supposed to look that way. There was vibrant color and skin tones looked great to me. I may be just used to modern films. During the shots at the Sphinx when Jaws kills Fekkesh in the ruins I would have thought the colored lights used to illuminate the pyramids and the sphinx would have been more saturated. But again, it may be wishful thinking. The dancing troup at the Mojaba Club were certainly very vibrantly colored!
The sequence in Italy at the hotel when Anya sees the lighter and realizes that Bond killed her lover was a surprise. In that sequence, Roger Moore is wearing a black shirt and black slacks. I never could see before that he's also wearing a black sweater over the shirt. The improved image allowed that distinguishing of the blacks of the shirt and sweater.
The level of detail in fabrics, hair and skin detail is very nice on this disc. I remember the earlier DVDs were highly criticized for the edge enhancement. Especially that long shot of Bond while in Egypt framed within that ached column in the city of Egypt. I couldn't really tell if there was any enhancement in that one shot.
Overall, it is a really satisfying disc and of course, likely mastered in 2005.

 

[Mikey1969]

SPY is one of the better-looking of the recent Bond blus and a significant upgrade over the murky looking SE and UEs. It actually looks better than some of the later ones like Tomorrow Never Dies and (especially) Goldeneye.

 

[DVDvision]

Nelson, I'm not sure SPY was mastered in 2005, there was another inferior HD transfer that was used for the UEs and aired on TV and was shown in theaters before this one just popped out on the Bond 50 set. I think they remade it somehow, recently.

 

[Worth]

Nelson, I'm not sure SPY was mastered in 2005, there was another inferior HD transfer that was used for the UEs and aired on TV and was shown in theaters before this one just popped out on the Bond 50 set. I think they remade it somehow, recently.

I saw Spy yesterday on the big screen and it looked horrible - clearly taken from the same DNRd, edge-enhanced master as the UE DVD. The blu-ray looks miles better.

 

[Peter Neski]

put on the first 16x9 dvd of Spy,and it seems its the same source as the BR,but they pushed the color up so the flesh tones look better ,and it doesn't show off the so so source as the cleaner sharper
BR I am still not sure which I ratter watch,but its the source that's faded and grainy in spots and only because some of the other bond titles are even worst that people think it looks good

 

[Bryan Tuck]

I think Spy looks great. An anamorphically-shot film from the late 70s should have a fair amount of grain present, and the color really doesn't look faded to me. I can't see how this would be from the same master as the old DVD; if so, it would look like Goldeneye.

 

[Peter Neski]

http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/film/all/00399/facts.the_james_bond_archives.htm
this book is really Nice,expensive