A Few Words About While we wait for A few words about...™ Lawrence of Arabia -- in 4k/UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[davidmatychuk]

I'm dithering over this - and I'll decide when I learn if you can easily opt out of the French subtitles. I have a weird relationship with Lord Jim - I really want to like it, let alone love it, yet it always lets me down on so many levels, except perhaps visually. I saw it in 70mm at the Odeon Leicester Square, London, and have never forgotten its beauty. It was the movie that made me want to go to Angkor in Cambodia, even though Richard Brooks completely squanders that extraordinary location. That man had an eye for dialogue and an ear for a picture. Even so, I hope this Blu-ray will provide me with the deeply beautiful, deeply flawed experience I crave.

In Vancouver, "Lord Jim" played at the then-new Odeon on Granville. Tickets were reserved seating (physical tickets!), and to my young mind, it was as classy and powerful an experience as going to "Mary Poppins" a few weeks earlier, and to "My Fair Lady" a few weeks later, both in old-school Vancouver movie palaces. Many years later, watching "Lord Jim" at home makes it seem to me that I was probably just thrilled to see the "Lawrence Of Arabia" guy in another big confusing exotic adventure, but count me in for that Blu-Ray.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Actually, it was White House Down that had the bit with Lawrence playing in the president's home theater.

 

[andySu]

Actually, it was White House Down that had the bit with Lawrence playing in the president's home theater.

Yeah I must been confused with both films same storyline. DIE HARD in the White House.

I bought Olympus Has Fallen on bluray and must have watched White House Down on youtube and soon forgot about how both where dreadful.

 

[ShellOilJunior]

Unfortunately coming up to 64 years old, I don't think I have 4K eyeballs anymore!I'm wondering what the French release of Lord Jim will look like. It's Freddie Young again, shooting on a large format in exotic locations only a few years after Lawrence, & with Sony's remastering it could look stunning.

Lord Jim could've been so much better if it wasn't in Richard Brooks' hands. He took an excellent novel and produced a film that's just OK (He managed to do this even with O'Toole and Young). The same may be said for In Cold Blood. Decent film but Brooks' screenplay didn't spend nearly as much time with the family and rural, small town life as needed.

I know many won't agree with my opinions here but I tend to agree with Welles' stance on adaptations - direct the film like you wrote novel.

 

[owen35]

Kevin Brownlow, Stephen Silverman. Very different, both superb.

RAH

Agreed. I would also recommend Gene D. Phillips' biography as well. Not as dense as Brownlow's, but a quick, insightful read.

 

[Dave H]

A German review site has measured both the JVC and the Sony projectors and they arrive at 8000 to 18000:1 for the VW1000ES and 23000 to 54000:1 for your projector that was called X55 over here:
http://www.cine4home.de/knowhow/Cine4Home_Edition_JVC_X-Serie_2013/JVC_X-Serie_C4HEd_1.htm
As most will want higher brightness anything more than 30000 seems rather improbable for slightly bigger screens as with such a setting and over the majority of the lifetime of your lamp light output will be reduced to less than 450 lumens which is not much by any standard and if you strive for 14 fL it is not suited for unigain screens that go above 2.3 m.

The new models are a bit better but not by much (had the X55/RS4810 side by side with the X500/???) and even with them differences are not that apparent except for extremely dark scenes. It is true that if you feel that you need the really dark parts in a movie at JVC level than there is no other option but figuring in a variety of factors I consider the Sony superior - in a black room.

By the way: The JVC is so dark that its absolute black level will even shine in a room with white walls as it only looks that stunning when there is almost no light coming from the projector and then you also have the least issues with reflections from the walls. What clearly is not so good with the JVC models is that its already lower Ansi contrast is further reduced in bright rooms when you are watching more mixed content that is also available with most movies - Lawrence of Arabia would be a good example of this. Now how did exactly this movie come to mind?

In any case the X55/RS4810 is a great projector and would have been my choice in its price class, very nice unit and if not optimized for maximum contrast one can go up to 2.6m wide on an unigain and with higher gain screens up to 3.5m wide.

I couldn't care less about white walls as my dedicated room is completely black; black carpet, Rosco black velour paint, and 30" of Protostar light absorption around the screen. The JVC is FAR better for contrast and blacks than any Sony under these conditions. Zero comparison. If you spend any amount of time in the AVS front projection forums, a number of people have compared the 4K Sonys to the JVCs - and the Sonys get smoked when it comes to contrast and blacks under the "dark" conditions. I've also talked to my professional calibrator who has done many JVCs and a number of Sony 4Ks. The Sony does offer a lot more brightness IF you need it. I suppose if you are suffering with white walls, you will need it, but white walls are far from ideal for any FP really.

As far as brightness, I am more than happy with 11 to 12.5 ftL in MY environment. I could go much higher on my RS4810. Anything brighter is eye strain for me with a screen of my size and seating distance.

Contrast is the most important factor for image quality. Other things are important, but contrast always stands out which is why a good plasma is so much better than a good LED.

 

[OliverK]

I couldn't care less about white walls as my dedicated room is completely black; black carpet, Rosco black velour paint, and 30" of Protostar light absorption around the screen. The JVC is FAR better for contrast and blacks than any Sony under these conditions. Zero comparison. If you spend any amount of time in the AVS front projection forums, a number of people have compared the 4K Sonys to the JVCs - and the Sonys get smoked when it comes to contrast and blacks under the "dark" conditions. I've also talked to my professional calibrator who has done many JVCs and a number of Sony 4Ks. The Sony does offer a lot more brightness IF you need it. I suppose if you are suffering with white walls, you will need it, but white walls are far from ideal for any FP really. As far as brightness, I am more than happy with 11 to 12.5 ftL in MY environment. I could go much higher on my RS4810. Anything brighter is eye strain for me with a screen of my size and seating distance. Contrast is the most important factor for image quality. Other things are important, but contrast always stands out which is why a good plasma is so much better than a good LED.

Dave, there is ANSI contrast and there is On/Off contrast - the JVC only has higher On/Off contrast but less ANSI which is evident in mixed scenes. So it would help if you would not continue to just say that the JVC has higher contrast - On/Off yes, ANSI not.

 

[JoshZ]

Dave, there is ANSI contrast and there is On/Off contrast - the JVC only has higher On/Off contrast but less ANSI which is evident in mixed scenes. So it would help if you would not continue to just say that the JVC has higher contrast - On/Off yes, ANSI not.

DLP fans like to boast about the high ANSI contrast on their projectors, but the reality of the matter is that On/Off is the more important contrast stat. Pretty much any projector, even a low-end LCD, will look good when displaying bright imagery with little bits of black in it. Your eyes are naturally drawn to the bright parts of the image, and the blacks will always look dark enough in comparison.

When you talk about a projector having "good contrast," what you really want to know is how it fares when viewing a predominantly dark scene. A projector with high ANSI contrast is still going to have milky, elevated black levels in nighttime scenes, and that stands out much worse than poor black levels in a bright scene.

I own both a JVC D-ILA and a DLP. Both projectors have their strengths and weaknesses, and I like them both. But there's no question that D-ILA trounces everything else when it comes to contrast performance, ANSI be damned.

 

[OliverK]

DLP fans like to boast about the high ANSI contrast on their projectors, but the reality of the matter is that On/Off is the more important contrast stat. Pretty much any projector, even a low-end LCD, will look good when displaying bright imagery with little bits of black in it. Your eyes are naturally drawn to the bright parts of the image, and the blacks will always look dark enough in comparison. When you talk about a projector having "good contrast," what you really want to know is how it fares when viewing a predominantly dark scene. A projector with high ANSI contrast is still going to have milky, elevated black levels in nighttime scenes, and that stands out much worse than poor black levels in a bright scene. I own both a JVC D-ILA and a DLP. Both projectors have their strengths and weaknesses, and I like them both. But there's no question that D-ILA trounces everything else when it comes to contrast performance, ANSI be damned.

Actually CRT still has the best contrast of all projector technologies - I still have 9" CRT and its black level trounces even the D-ILAs

 

[AdrianTurner]

I'm going on a little Lawrence trip this week - Clouds Hill, Moreton and Wareham.

 

[Dave H]

DLP fans like to boast about the high ANSI contrast on their projectors, but the reality of the matter is that On/Off is the more important contrast stat. Pretty much any projector, even a low-end LCD, will look good when displaying bright imagery with little bits of black in it. Your eyes are naturally drawn to the bright parts of the image, and the blacks will always look dark enough in comparison.

When you talk about a projector having "good contrast," what you really want to know is how it fares when viewing a predominantly dark scene. A projector with high ANSI contrast is still going to have milky, elevated black levels in nighttime scenes, and that stands out much worse than poor black levels in a bright scene.

I own both a JVC D-ILA and a DLP. Both projectors have their strengths and weaknesses, and I like them both. But there's no question that D-ILA trounces everything else when it comes to contrast performance, ANSI be damned.

Thank you.

 

[FoxyMulder]

DLP fans like to boast about the high ANSI contrast on their projectors,

I think what you will find is that DLP projector owners will boast about the perfect 3D, zero visible crosstalk, absolutely stunning 3D, that's one area where other projector technologies are playing catch up, they will probably never catch up and if Texas Instruments are wise and have a 4K solution in the pipeline it's possible they will improve black levels with that 4K solution, of course improving black levels is also down to the design of the projector model and light path, but if that happens and it eventually filters down ( over many years - not talking about this decade ) to the cheaper brands then it can only be good for consumers.

Of course if you don't care about 3D then it doesn't matter, i love good native shot 3D films.

 

[JoshZ]

I think what you will find is that DLP projector owners will boast about the perfect 3D, zero visible crosstalk, absolutely stunning 3D, that's one area where other projector technologies are playing catch up,

Yes, and that's exactly why I have two projectors in my home theater.

 

[Robert Harris]

http://petapixel.com/2014/06/13/first-image-sonys-revolutionary-curved-sensor-released-photo-nerds-giddy/?hq_e=el&hq_m=2898376&hq_l=22&hq_v=d625a6b6ee

 

[Moe Dickstein]

But will it warp in the desert heat?

 

[Robert Harris]

But will it warp in the desert heat?

A '58 Buick would warp in the desert heat...RAH

 

[bruceames]

The server was quite cheap (relatively speaking) when it came out: 10 free movies were preloaded and all of that at a cost of 500$ when you already had a Sony display or projector.

I could be wrong, but I heard someone say that those 10 free movies on the X1 were not 4K, just regular HD quality. Anyway the X10 is coming out next month with more features but no free movies included.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I could be wrong, but I heard someone say that those 10 free movies on the X1 were not 4K, just regular HD quality. Anyway the X10 is coming out next month with more features but no free movies included.

Pretty sure they were 4K otherwise they would just have provided them via the usual disc route.

 

[bruceames]

Pretty sure they were 4K otherwise they would just have provided them via the usual disc route.

You're probably right, as I just heard it from one poster. Anyway I really am looking forward to watching It Happened One Night and especially Lawrence of Arabia in 4K when I get the X10 next month.

 

[OliverK]

You're probably right, as I just heard it from one poster. Anyway I really am looking forward to watching It Happened One Night and especially Lawrence of Arabia in 4K when I get the X10 next month.

You should also check out The Bridge on the River Kwai!From what I hear you get to download for free a small sniplet of each movie and then you can do your own comparison of how much difference you are seeing. The "problem" with 4k is that there is not much difference if you are not at an appropriate viewing distance of about one screen width away, maybe 1.2 screen widths tops in most cases.