A Few Words About A few words about...™ It's a Wonderful Life -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[JediFonger]

i was looking forward to the film too =(. now i'm definitely not wasting $ on it. maybe i should stick to criterion ONLY lol .

here are screencaps from elsewhere on the web:
http://www.imagebam.com/image/c7a83254686732/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/bc23c954686740/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/70d0f554686754/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/e0c6a254686763/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/097b9454686783/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/83da1754686791/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/2ba64954686801/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/38188f54686812/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/d081d154686824/

 

[Robert Harris]

Unfortunately, the captures are rather misleading, as they look quite nice, but for the exception of missing facial detail. The major problem does not show up in still frames, only in motion.

Originally Posted by JediFonger /img/forum/go_quote.gif
i was looking forward to the film too =(. now i'm definitely not wasting $ on it. maybe i should stick to criterion ONLY lol .
here are screencaps from elsewhere on the web:
http://www.imagebam.com/image/c7a83254686732/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/bc23c954686740/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/70d0f554686754/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/e0c6a254686763/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/097b9454686783/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/83da1754686791/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/2ba64954686801/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/38188f54686812/
http://www.imagebam.com/image/d081d154686824/

 

[Edwin-S]

Well, maybe its my PC display but those caps look like total crap to me. When I enlarge those things it just looks like there is posterization in every image. There is one where he is standing beside a gal who is holding a bottle and a can. In that one, on my display, his face looks like it is peeling from a bad sunburn. I don't think those things can be used as any indication for the quality of this disc.

Edit: I wanted to see if it was my graphics card and display that was causing the "posterized" look that I was seeing. I checked some caps of other B&W films, especially Casablanca which I know is a pretty good transfer. I saw the same effect there as the caps of IaWL so, apparently, it is my display causing the problem. It doesn't seem to be giving a very smooth gradient of greys. The effect didn't seem quite as pronounced in the Casablanca caps, but it was definitely there, so I have to retract my earlier statement about these caps. It is my laptop display that is making them look bad. It's funny that I don't see the same effect in colour caps.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S /img/forum/go_quote.gif">
It is my laptop display that is making them look bad. It's funny that I don't see the same effect in colour caps.

Laptop display generally = crappy LCD.
I still only use a CRT for my main PC -- ain't gonna touch LCD for photo editing, etc. unless I'm gonna spend the $$$ for a top one (and even then...). The diff is quite noticeable even for visiting HTF, especially when this new format was still using the earlier brighter color scheme.
_Man_

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Originally Posted by Yorkshire /forum/thread/294790/a-few-words-about-it-s-a-wonderful-life-in-blu-ray/150#post_3628385
Has anyone seen the UK Blu-ray Disc of Time Bandits yet? It has a very 'film-like' appearence.

Looking at this capture, yes, it is filmlike, but they couldn't find a cleaner element? This one is scratched and dirty.

 

[cafink]

Originally Posted by Yorkshire /forum/thread/294790/a-few-words-about-it-s-a-wonderful-life-in-blu-ray/150#post_3628385
Has anyone seen the UK Blu-ray Disc of Time Bandits yet? It has a very 'film-like' appearence.

I can't speak for anyone else, but personally, I would much prefer dirt, debris, scratches, and other film artifacts to a perfectly clean but overly-processed, digital-looking transfer.

 

[Worth]

Originally Posted by cafink /forum/thread/294790/a-few-words-about-it-s-a-wonderful-life-in-blu-ray/150#post_3630342
I can't speak for anyone else, but personally, I would much prefer dirt, debris, scratches, and other film artifacts to a perfectly clean but overly-processed, digital-looking transfer.

I agree, although I suspect that's a minority viewpoint. For me, films on blu-ray should ideally look like a high-quality release print on opening night in a really good theatre.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S /img/forum/go_quote.gif
There is one where he is standing beside a gal who is holding a bottle and a can.

"A gal"? That would be Oscar-winner Donna Reed, thank you very much.

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by Mark Zimmer /img/forum/go_quote.gif
"A gal"? That would be Oscar-winner Donna Reed, thank you very much.

It's funny. I watch quite a few movies but I really don't follow actors or actresses that much. There are a lot of movies I like but I couldn't name some of the actors that are in them. The actor has to do one hell of a job portraying a character in order for me to actually pay attention to them as someone other than the character they play. That is why I didn't know who she was or what awards she has won. Who she was didn't interest me enough to bother looking her up. Sorry about that.

 

Question: During the last eight or so minutes of the film, there is a vertical line running along the right edge of the frame. I never noticed this before. Is this a scratch on the film or is it a digital artifact? The end credits and Liberty logo do not have the line.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Question: During the last eight or so minutes of the film, there is a vertical line running along the right edge of the frame. I never noticed this before. Is this a scratch on the film or is it a digital artifact? The end credits and Liberty logo do not have the line.

I never noticed it.




Crawdaddy

 

Yeah, it runs across the right side of the frame from the point where Bert the Cop is shooting at George and stays on screen until the end (it does go away for a few shots.) Anyway, the colorized version is also like this, so it must be a scratch on the film.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

Eric, I watched the BD of this last evening, and I also noticed the scratch. I don't remember seeing it on the previous DVD release.

 

I checked the previous release, taken from the same restoration and the scratch is there. I'm thinking that maybe very little cropping was done on the right edge of the frame. Scratches are prevalent in that area...maybe?

 

[Michael Reuben]

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard /forum/thread/294790/a-few-words-about-it-s-a-wonderful-life-in-blu-ray/150#post_3640694
Question: During the last eight or so minutes of the film, there is a vertical line running along the right edge of the frame. I never noticed this before. Is this a scratch on the film or is it a digital artifact? The end credits and Liberty logo do not have the line.

It is noted in my review, where I said it struck me as more digital than analog, but I couldn't be sure.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Steve Christou /forum/thread/294790/a-few-words-about-it-s-a-wonderful-life-in-blu-ray/90#post_3627702
I've had a look at some of the online reviews of the blu-ray and was surprised to discover many are calling it a "stunning transfer", "better than any BW transfer I've ever seen",

If that is the case, then they clearly have not seen Casablanca, or even The Day The Earth Stood Still for examples of how truly "stunning" (and film like) a B&W film can look on blu-ray.
Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Yorkshire /forum/thread/294790/a-few-words-about-it-s-a-wonderful-life-in-blu-ray/150#post_3628385
Thanks for the reply, and I take your point.
As I understand it from Robert's comments, he feels this disc looks the same as the DVD, only with better contrast and more detail. Film is more detailed and has better contrast and more detail than SD video, so it is more film-like in those respects.

60I HD video also has better contrast and more detail than DVD. This however doesn't make it look film like.
Doug

 

After watching the entire disc, the most disturbing parts of the transfer are the dnr and the scratch I mentioned, because it is distracting at the most crucial (and best) part of the film. I wonder if Paramount would ever go through the trouble of creating a new master? Because if they don't, then the dnr is here to stay.

 

I brought this up last year, but didn't really receive a definitive response. Can someone tell me what the weird line is on the right of the screen about 9 mins. before the end of the film when George is on the bridge wishing for his life back? Is it film damage, or something digital? My sister saw this in the theatre last night and said there was no such line on the print. Help!

 

[Michael Reuben]

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard
I brought this up last year, but didn't really receive a definitive response. Can someone tell me what the weird line is on the right of the screen about 9 mins. before the end of the film when George is on the bridge wishing for his life back? Is it film damage, or something digital? My sister saw this in the theatre last night and said there was no such line on the print. Help!

This was first flagged in my http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/294800/htf-blu-ray-review-it-s-a-wonderful-life-not-recommended
I thought the film looked great. I'm pleased that Paramount released this in time for my celebrations this year. I'll be having friends over to watch it!

About a month later, you noticed the problem and came here to ask about it, where I repeated what's said in my review -- namely, that it doesn't look like print damage.

Now, short of getting word from the people who worked on the Blu-ray (and I doubt they'll be speaking up, for reasons that should be obvious), I don't see how we're likely to get anything "definitive".

I have Republic's DVD from 2001, which is listed as being "Digitally re-mastered . . . from the original film negative". The vertical line does not appear.