- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,393
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
In an effort to aid in the understanding of what makes a "quality Blu-ray," the point cannot be made too often that Blu-ray is merely a system that plays back discs on which data has been pressed or burned. It's a holding device, in many ways no different than a bottle used to hold liquid.
One can fill that bottle with pure mountain water, with impure water from a poor city system, or for that matter with a nice Chateau Petrus. It's still a bottle filled with liquid.
The nice thing about Blu-ray, as opposed to standard definition DVD, or even Toshiba's HD system, is that it can hold enough data to allow for extremely high quality reproduction of motion pictures in a home theater environment.
While a "quality Blu-ray" can be shiny, bright and clean -- think a Pixar release -- it can also be dark, grimy, grainy and low in the areas of color saturation, contrast, blacks and whites. The important thing is that it should look as closely as possible to the original film or video elements and their intended look when printed to positive stock or run as video or data.
A "quality Blu-ray" does not necessarily take on the visual parameters of a high def baseball game.
Whether mastered from 16, 35 or 65mm film, from data files or HD recordings, Blu-ray has the capability, but no guarantee of reproducing the original to a stunning degree. While the debate may continue, those with an understanding of cinema need only take a look at the dregs of data pressed to Blu-ray, ie. The Longest Day, Patton or Gangs of New York.
I much prefer viewing series television on Blu-ray, generally waiting until seasons appear and then jumping in.
Battlestar Galactica is totally new to me. While I'm aware of its various incarnations and permutations, 1978 TV movie and TV series, the 2003 mini-series, and most recently the series that ran from 2004 through March of 2009, I'd never seen a moment of it until earlier today when my son suggested I take a look after he heard that I had Season 4.5 in my possession.
First, something that will be no surprise to fans of the series, I like it. This is superb entertainment. Second, let's discuss the look, textures and audio of BG on Blu-ray from Universal, and why I've appended the same prologue that I've used for 12 Monkeys and Midnight Express.
According to Imdb Pro, Battlestar Galactica is shot both on 35mm film (kodak Vision 500T) as well as HD, with the final results taken to D5, and then down to what we're seeing on Blu-ray.
Those results, when projected on a screen of reasonable size work beautifully, allowing for an image of far greater resolution and detail than seen in HD broadcasts. What one will also see, especially in dark scenes, is a healthy amount of noise, but that noise is part of the image, as intended by the filmmakers, and as made. Well lit sequences, and they abound -- are gorgeous -- not gorgeous as in Lost, but gorgeous as in Battlestar Galactica gorgeous. Am I making my point? Audio, reproduced uncompressed as DTS-HD Master data is perfect.
My sample viewing comes from the Blu-ray Season 4 release, and I'm now realizing that I've got to go back to the beginning before I get further into this, and start correctly with 2004 and Season 1.
Am I slightly embarrassed not to have been exposed to this earlier? Possibly. What matters is that it's now available on Blu-ray, as it was meant to be seen. Fans of the series are going to be thrilled.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
One can fill that bottle with pure mountain water, with impure water from a poor city system, or for that matter with a nice Chateau Petrus. It's still a bottle filled with liquid.
The nice thing about Blu-ray, as opposed to standard definition DVD, or even Toshiba's HD system, is that it can hold enough data to allow for extremely high quality reproduction of motion pictures in a home theater environment.
While a "quality Blu-ray" can be shiny, bright and clean -- think a Pixar release -- it can also be dark, grimy, grainy and low in the areas of color saturation, contrast, blacks and whites. The important thing is that it should look as closely as possible to the original film or video elements and their intended look when printed to positive stock or run as video or data.
A "quality Blu-ray" does not necessarily take on the visual parameters of a high def baseball game.
Whether mastered from 16, 35 or 65mm film, from data files or HD recordings, Blu-ray has the capability, but no guarantee of reproducing the original to a stunning degree. While the debate may continue, those with an understanding of cinema need only take a look at the dregs of data pressed to Blu-ray, ie. The Longest Day, Patton or Gangs of New York.
I much prefer viewing series television on Blu-ray, generally waiting until seasons appear and then jumping in.
Battlestar Galactica is totally new to me. While I'm aware of its various incarnations and permutations, 1978 TV movie and TV series, the 2003 mini-series, and most recently the series that ran from 2004 through March of 2009, I'd never seen a moment of it until earlier today when my son suggested I take a look after he heard that I had Season 4.5 in my possession.
First, something that will be no surprise to fans of the series, I like it. This is superb entertainment. Second, let's discuss the look, textures and audio of BG on Blu-ray from Universal, and why I've appended the same prologue that I've used for 12 Monkeys and Midnight Express.
According to Imdb Pro, Battlestar Galactica is shot both on 35mm film (kodak Vision 500T) as well as HD, with the final results taken to D5, and then down to what we're seeing on Blu-ray.
Those results, when projected on a screen of reasonable size work beautifully, allowing for an image of far greater resolution and detail than seen in HD broadcasts. What one will also see, especially in dark scenes, is a healthy amount of noise, but that noise is part of the image, as intended by the filmmakers, and as made. Well lit sequences, and they abound -- are gorgeous -- not gorgeous as in Lost, but gorgeous as in Battlestar Galactica gorgeous. Am I making my point? Audio, reproduced uncompressed as DTS-HD Master data is perfect.
My sample viewing comes from the Blu-ray Season 4 release, and I'm now realizing that I've got to go back to the beginning before I get further into this, and start correctly with 2004 and Season 1.
Am I slightly embarrassed not to have been exposed to this earlier? Possibly. What matters is that it's now available on Blu-ray, as it was meant to be seen. Fans of the series are going to be thrilled.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
