A Few Words About A few words about...™ Presumed Innocent & Frantic -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

My initial inclination upon hearing that Warner was going to release a series of full length features as double bills on a single BD-50...

was fear.

How might 247 minutes of programming plus even the most simple of menus and basic subtitles in several languages look when projected?

The answer seems to be that with proper compression and a bit of hand-holding in authoring -- just fine!

Both films appear as they might had they been released on separate discs, with Gordon Willis' cinematography for Presumed Innocent losing none of its detail or depth.

While sampling this disc, I also took a look at another double bill -- Miss Congeniality, which also (beyond some softness that seems built into the logos, just fine.

With people complaining about the cost of Blu-ray discs, Warner has upped the ante with what I hope will be a series of thoughtfully programmed double bills.

High quality image and uncompressed audio at a street price of $15 for two films.

There should be no longer be any fear as to what these will look like. I see no downside.

Recommended.

RAH

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just wait until Kelly's Heroes/Where Eagles Dare release comes out with another 55 minutes beyond these two films.

I would think a BD-50 with the proper compression and authoring should be able to handle 247 or 302 minutes without compromising PQ.

 

[Robin_B]

Do we know yet whether the Kelly's Heroes/Where Eagles Dare set will be single disc or 2 discs like the Dirty Harry set? Amazon has it listed as a 2 disc set.

I agree with your assessment Mr Harris. Both films look really good. As someone who waited many years for both of these movies to show up on a widescreen DVD, going straight from nothing to Blu Ray was well worth the wait. Hopefully Warner and other studios will step up with a lot more of these budget discs.

 

[Matt Hough]

I wasn't thrilled about having the DTS-HD MA 2.0 go to the left and right fronts and not be able to have dialogue in the center channel. I watched Frantic tonight.

Was I doing something wrong to have the receiver decode it this way?

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

Originally Posted by Robin_B

Do we know yet whether the Kelly's Heroes/Where Eagles Dare set will be single disc or 2 discs like the Dirty Harry set? Amazon has it listed as a 2 disc set.

I agree with your assessment Mr Harris. Both films look really good. As someone who waited many years for both of these movies to show up on a widescreen DVD, going straight from nothing to Blu Ray was well worth the wait. Hopefully Warner and other studios will step up with a lot more of these budget discs.

I hope that it will be two discs in the set, that would make more sense, Where Eagles Dare is so good it deserved better cover art and even a Spec. Ed. release

 

[Matt Hough]

I just wanted to mention that this afternoon, I decided to watch Presumed Innocent and tried it in a different Blu-ray player. Lo and behold, the audio track was decoded properly in Prologic, and I ended up with a proper stereo surround experience.

I don't know why the Panasonic I used last night for Frantic acted as it did with the audio feed.

 

[David Wilkins]

Just a quick note of agreement, regarding quality. I was pleasantly surprised by this worthy (and economical) addition to the library.