A Few Words About A few words about...™ Oklahoma! -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Will Krupp]

So some people are actually preferring an ancient non-anamorphic DVD transfer to this Blu-ray.

I think it's just "one" people

 

[John Maher_289910]

I would call the video quality of this Blu-ray, the finest I ever saw. It's simply breathtaking, imo.

 

[Joe Caps]

I will try this again.
I have the first Oklahoma, single disc on dvd. iot IS anaMORPHIC, THE DAY FOR NIGHT IS CORRECT, iT IS RESONABLY SHARP,, THE SOUND IS EXCELLENT, THE DAY FOR NIGHT IS CORRECT.

 

[Matt Hough]

I will try this again.
I have the first Oklahoma, single disc on dvd. iot IS anaMORPHIC, THE DAY FOR NIGHT IS CORRECT, iT IS RESONABLY SHARP,, THE SOUND IS EXCELLENT, THE DAY FOR NIGHT IS CORRECT.

And I, and I'm sure others, will say that the first disc THX Oklahoma! that WE have is NOT anamorphic.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I am watching my single disc THX Oklahoma right now !!!!
Far Better sound than the blu.
More color too.

Enjoy your lovely edge enhanced picture.

 

[John Maher_289910]

I only owned it on laserdisc, so I cannot comment on the DVD; but I never saw a single DVD look 1/2 as incredible as OKLAHOMA! on BD.

 

[Rob_Ray]

The original THX DVD is the same transfer as the laserdisc and, as such, offers more stable color with less noise, but the uncompressed sound on the laserdisc has it beat.

However, the bluray is so far superior in picture quality that it's nonsense to even compare them, day-for-night errors notwithstanding. Nonetheless, my puny sound system can't do justice to the bluray's sound quality. The laserdisc does a far better job replicating the theatrical experience in my case. My argument is simply this: not everyone has a state-of-the-art sound setup. I wish they had included a more rudimentary second audio channel for those of us who can't properly decode whatever DTS format they are using.

 

[WilliamMcK]

He only thinks it's anamorphic, I'm guessing because the disc is most likely flagged as letterbox and many Blu-ray players will automatically zoom DVDs flagged as such.

Thanks for clearing that up... Despite minor quibbles I think the blu-ray of OK! is gorgeous... but prior to that I DID prefer the first non-anamorphic dvd (for the Todd-AO) to the botch that was put on the double disc re-release. Imagine my surprise a few years back when I popped in that old disc to my (then) new region-free LG blu-ray player and it played as if it WERE anamorphic (except that the blow-up was a *mass* of artifacts) -- retrying it on my non-region free Samsung produced the same non-anamorphic tiny image I had sadly grown used to.

 

[John Maher_289910]

My sound system is state of the art (Pioneer Elite SC-57), and I have no problem producing the sound from the BD; but, my ears far prefer the LD sound. It's way more spatial with higher highs, than what is on the BD. Although, the LD directional sound can be a bit unwieldy, at times, it's still the one I much prefer.

 

[CMNash]

I believe this is the non-anamorphic version that most people on here are talking about.

It was released in 1999, which I believe is the first version of Oklahoma! on DVD. I remember being very upset for giving away that version before purchasing and viewing the horrible anamorphic version. I hope I am not suffering from mass delusion in my recollection.

Update: As a matter of fact, here's what it says on the back. Found a picture of it on eBay.

Even back then, DVD boxes were very careful in its wording regarding letterboxed presentation versus anamorphic, right?

 

[CMNash]

Argh! I may have to eat my words from the previous post. I just checked my THX DVD of The Sound of Music, which was released in 2000, and they have the same widescreen wording on the bottom of the back cover. However, it is stated to be anamorphic under the description for Disc 1.

 

[Joe Caps]

The cover of Oklahoma is the cover I have. My back cover says nothing about anamorphic, but the disc is, with 5.1 sound.

OUt of that same series, I also hae a Carousel, that is also anamorphic.

 

[Matt Hough]

Nope, my first Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I , and South Pacific purchases were all non-anamorphic DVDs. The Sound of Music, at least on the 5 Star Edition that I believe was my first DVD purchase of the movie, was anamorphic.

 

[Charles Smith]

Last night Reed and I reviewed the Todd-AO Blu-ray, and paid a years-long overdue visit to the Todd-AO laserdisc. Reed makes an adjustment to the basic projector setting that yields a surprisingly watchable (and admirable for its day) LD image. The color on this one was way oversaturated (at least when compared to that of The Alamo, the only other LD we checked out), which would be easily dealt with if one were going to sit there and actually watch the film on it. No reason to do that any more, with this incredible BD.

We then compared -- very unscientifically -- just going back and forth, adjusting volume levels, and using our ears -- the DTS and LD tracks. The results? Nothing too profound here ..... they are both GREAT. They are, of course, two different animals, and that's as it should be. In the end, we didn't bother with the SPL meter or any other doodad. It's easily apparent that there's a difference of several decibels between the two, and that's totally fine. Each track serves the film beautifully. With help from just the receiver's on-screen display (and again, our own ears) to listen at close to the same level for each, the results coming out of the amp and speakers were just perfect in every way.

 

[Reed Grele]

I'm in total agreement with what Charles said above. The only thing that I will add is a big THANK YOU to Charles for bringing his THX laserdisc of Oklahoma, as well as his Lexicon AC3 demodulator so that we could listen to the DD5.1 track of The Alamo laserdisc.

 

[Dave MJ]

Watched this today (thanks to the $50 sale on Friday). The picture looks amazing. Such an incredible improvement over the DVD. I'm no expert on the film, but the sound is very good on my system in DTS-MA. I have a powerful Onkyo receiver and excellent Klipsch speakers. I Watched in 5.1 and the music sounded very good and dialogue and vocals weren't tinny at all. I had to turn it up maybe 8 clicks louder than most movies, but had plenty of volume to spare. I'm very happy with the entire presentation.

The color timing for the scene following the intermission looks the same as the DVD to me. The DVD may be slightly darker, but I think that is more due to bad quality than a difference in timing. It's definitely not day for night. Or am I missing something?

 

[Mark Booth]

Watched this today (thanks to the $50 sale on Friday). The picture looks amazing. Such an incredible improvement over the DVD. I'm no expert on the film, but the sound is very good on my system in DTS-MA. I have a powerful Onkyo receiver and excellent Klipsch speakers. I Watched in 5.1 and the music sounded very good and dialogue and vocals weren't tinny at all. I had to turn it up maybe 8 clicks louder than most movies, but had plenty of volume to spare. I'm very happy with the entire presentation.

The color timing for the scene following the intermission looks the same as the DVD to me. The DVD may be slightly darker, but I think that is more due to bad quality than a difference in timing. It's definitely not day for night. Or am I missing something?

On my set, the scene following the intermission is MOST DEFINITELY brighter and looks like broad daylight compared to my old THX DVD. Even on the DVD it's clear the scene WAS shot in broad daylight (you can tell by the sharp shadows). But on the DVD the scene has been artificially darkened in post.If the TODD-AO Oklahoma in your set is truly darkened, just like the THX DVD, then perhaps Fox has made a correction to the next batch of discs?

As new people receive the set from the latest Amazon sale prices, SOMEONE needs to post a screenshot of that scene to verify.

Mark

 

[Robert Crawford]

On my set, the scene following the intermission is MOST DEFINITELY brighter and looks like broad daylight compared to my old THX DVD. Even on the DVD it's clear the scene WAS shot in broad daylight (you can tell by the sharp shadows). But on the DVD the scene has been artificially darkened in post.If the TODD-AO Oklahoma in your set is truly darkened, just like the THX DVD, then perhaps Fox has made a correction to the next batch of discs?

As new people receive the set from the latest Amazon sale prices, SOMEONE needs to post a screenshot of that scene to verify.

Mark

You'll have to verify how each of us have are displays set at? IMO, where we have our HT's calibrated at has great influence on why we see some scenes differently.

 

[Mark-P]

I don't think he's talking about the THX DVD but rather the 50th Anniversary DVD. I concur that the Blu-ray and the 50th Anniversary DVD look roughly the same (in brightness) in terms of the scenes following the intermission. I don't own the THX DVD to see if it really is darkened in those scenes.

 

[Mr. Jingles]

Picked this set up during the sale.

I haven't gone back to read this entire thread but a quick question:

What is the difference between the Todd-AO (and non) version? I am guessing it's a broader widescreen version since the format was developed to compete with Cinerama?