*** Official Warner Archive DVD Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[wesaussie]

Yes you could do that but these dvd's should be right in the first place.Surely someone is in charge of quality control and if it's not right they shouldn't allow it to be sold until it is right.

 

[Robert Crawford]

John,
I have to apologize because I don't have this disc. I mixed up this title with "Return of the Badmen" which I have from Warner Archive. However, I did check AFI and the listed runtime for "Badmen's Territory" is 97-98 minutes. Judging by what Mike's been posting, the disc is matching that time.





Crawdaddy

 

[John Hodson]

Robert, in all likliehood any cuts (if they exist on the print used) by the BBFC will only amount to a few seconds, I don't usually get too wound about this kind of thing (and less so on a disc I can't even get at), but odd times it results in a poor edit which can be jarring.

 

[Simon Howson]

I completely agree with you. As I pointed out in this post, these discs are being encoded to a shonky public domain standard. Most likely they are being encoded by people at Allied Vaughn who have no idea what they are doing.

Warner should have these discs encoded by the same people who do their regular releases, and NOT using constant bitrate encoding which they would never use for regular discs.

 

[Mike Kuhns]

BILLY THE KID (1941). Robert Taylor as Billy and Brian Donlevy as a character based on Pat Garrett. The transfer is acceptable but not much more. This is one of the rare color westerns from a period when the color was great; it would have been a perfect candidate for full restoration, but alas. . .

 

[KELLYBOY]

BROADWAY RHYTHM. This is a gorgeous looking three-strip Technicolor print that is comparable to some of the MGM box set musicals in picture and sound quality. I watched the DVD twice. Once on my DVD machine and again on my newly hooked up Blu Ray and it seemed to take the quality up a few notches. There is minor print damage, but not enough to bother about. The last time I saw this film was on its VHS release and this DVD certainly towers over that video.

 

[John Hodson]

DVD Savant's review of The Rain People.

 

[Simon Howson]

I'm wondering if anyone who has bought Mr Lucky can compare it to these screen caps? I recorded it off digital TV last Saturday, and am curious if this is the same transfer used for the Warner Archive version. It had a lot of speckles all through it, which suggests to me it is a pretty old transfer. I selected some with large scratches, if these are also in the Warner Archive DVD, then that would confirm it is the same transfer. Click the captures for larger views.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Screen caps are screen caps so I don't know how you compared them to moving video on just a few select caps except if they both have same defects beyond just some speckles. Chances are they both came from the same transfer for this RKO release in which it has been stated that these particular (RKO) film elements are in terrible shape and full restoration can only do so much with them.

 

[Simon Howson]

At the very least a new element could be wet gate printed to remove all the minor speckles. The more severe scratches would probably require digital restoration ('painting' good frames over bad).

 

[Robert Crawford]

I already know that, but I'm talking about film damage beyond removing speckles.

 

[Simon Howson]

Thanks!

 

[Tim Tucker]

I watched my first two Archive DVDs this past weekend: Wichita and Westbound. I was impressed with both the films and the transfers. They looked as good as any DVD in my library.

One thing though. I was watching them on my sister's Samsung HD TV and Blu-ray player. I've noticed that whenever a SD DVD is played on their setup, the DVD intermittently looks videoized, instead of having the film-like look I'm used to on SD monitors. Does their HD TV need adjusting, or is this the result of the upscaling?

 

[Joseph Bolus]

It depends on a lot of factors:
1. Is the HDTV 1080p native or 720p native? Upscaled DVD looks much better on 720p native HDTVs.

2. What kind of Blu-ray player does she own? Until just recently, the only Blu-ray "player" that did a really good job of upscaling DVD was the PS3. According to what I've been reading, the recently released Samsung (BD-P3600 & BD-P4600), Panasonic (DMP-BD60), and Oppo Blu-ray players also feature outstanding DVD upscaling. Almost any other standalone BD player seems to come up short when it comes to upscaling DVD.

3. It's possible that -- as discussed earlier in this thread -- those Warner Archive transfers may have been encoded interlaced; that alone will limit how much like "film" they can look when upscaled.

 

[BillyFeldman]

Yes, your friend needs to adjust her TV, just as I had to. Have friend go into settings, click on Mode, find picture options - there your friend is probably still on the factory setting of standard - have friend set that to custom - the jutter and motion blur are set to five - have friend set jutter to 0 and motion blur (I think that's what they call it - but whatever the other one is) to ten. Voila - film look rather than hi-def video look. I found that info on the AVS and it worked perfectly for me.

 

[Brian McHale]

They probably have AMP on, which utilizes a frame insertion technology to reduce motion blur. It has the side effect of making film look like video (often referred to as the Soap Opera Effect). It can be turned off or lower, if desired. A lot of people like it, but movie lovers tend to prefer not to use it.

 

[Mike Kuhns]

PARTY GIRL (1958): A gangster film with the color and glitz of an MGM musical, even featuring a few dance scenes, it features Robert Taylor as a mob lawyer who decides to go straight, Cyd Charisse as his girl, Lee J. Cobb in a colorful performance as a syndicate boss, and John Ireland as a thug. Directed by Nicholas Ray.
I don't think many will be disappointed with the picture quality of this enhanced widescreen release. It's one of the better ones I've seen.

 

[KELLYBOY]

Yes, the print quality of PARTY GIRL is quite excellent. I have no complaints. And they even included a trailer. Unlike others I have had no complaints with the many DVD's I bought from the archives. I have ordered three times and all three times the discs were sent to me with no trouble!

 

[smithb]

That's what it sounds like to me. Great for sports but lousy for movies when the film look is desired. However, I'm not sure what is meant by AMP? I've just seen it listed with TV's as having a 120Hz mode. But it sounds like the same thing.

 

[borisfw]

Watched Tarzan's Magic Fountain last night. To my uneducated eye ,it looked pretty good. Good Tarzan movie about fountain of youth in the jungle. Pretty good supporting cast with Albert Dekker,Evelyn Ankers,Charles Drake and Alan Napier among others.Pleased with the quality of both picture and the movie itself.