Alien vs Predator 1 & 2 on Blu - quick thoughts (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

I never like going off of memory (and I don't know how dark the Blu Ray is) but I do remember thinking that the movie was exceptionally dark in the theater.

 

[troy evans]

The transfer on the Blu-ray of this movie is stunning. Very detailed, even in scenes like where the little girl is looking through her nightscope. If you look, you can see all the little hexagons in the green image. The problems start when, even in daylight, the dark late afternoon/early evening lighting in scenes that should have a little more punch, just don't. Then, when it is dark, it seems like everything is in endless shadow. If this is what the films director intended, so be it. However, one has to wonder why someone would put effort and money into scenes and effects shots just to have those shots shadowed all the hell up. Sometimes to the extent of not knowing what the f**k is happening on screen. Why not just leave them out to begin with? The sd dvd is better in the fact that you can see more of what's going on. However, the Blu-ray is a far better transfer as to detail and color. So, you have to decide what's important to you. I can live with the darkness to have better details. I want to make clear that the Blu-ray IS a very good transfer. It's just too dark.

 

[troy evans]

That is a good point. Maybe on the upconverted image of the sd vs. the 720p image of the Blu. For my testing I used the film on the same Blu-ray player. Then, I popped the sd into my HD DVD player. The upconversion seemed simular at least to the darkness of the sd dvd on both players. I made no adjustments to either player and the sd dvd seems to be a few degrees brighter to my eyes. Also to note, this was on my plasma 720p display.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Hmmm...

I'm thinking I could buy one and rent the other to compare, and since I really want the BD copy anyway, ...

One other option that I hate to mention, is that just when watching this movie, we could bump up the brightness some. Shouldn't need to do that, but ...

 

[Jari K]

I don´t see the need to do that. It´s a dark film - on purpose. It *should* look dark (certain scenes).

I personally "calibrate" my TV once (perhaps fine tuning it a few times along the way, though) and then I won´t touch the settings. If too much light is coming to the room (some did during my 1st time with AvPR - I have now actually watched it 3 times when Audio commentaries included), it´s best to wait and watch this film when it´s 100% dark. It´s still dark film, though.

Oh boy, I can already see the complains on "Godfather". There are some dark, low-lit scenes on that one.. Probably grain too..

 

[TonyD]

a bit condescending there.

 

[Grant H]

I concur the black levels on AVPR were HORRIBLE in the theater.

I'll never watch the film again for many reasons, but it doesn't sound like a video problem to me. In many of the Alien vs. Predator fight scenes I could see next to nothing because of how dark the film was, and I saw it in a good theater.

Even what should have been the cool or "good" moments of the movie were spoiled by the fact you couldn't really see the action.

The original delivered far better in this regard.

I stand by my statement that AVPR makes AVP look like a masterpiece all around. It had one good contribution in the last seconds of the film (pre-credits). But even that was tacked on compared to the other half of the equation AVP contributed.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Looking dark is one thing. Not being able to make out detail that should be visible is another.

For the people who have compared the BD to the DVD, if the BD does look darker to you, it is darker because the detail is still there, just that it's darker? Or the detail has been lost because the mastering has black crushed it? I'm assuming the former, but no one has actually said ...

 

[Jari K]

Sure, but my point was, that perhaps it´s best to "blame" the DOP Daniel C. Pearl if people don´t like the "look" of the film. He wasn´t interviewed in the extras (I believe), though.

But yes, I have made my point (of view) and not much left to add. It´s not that we all have to agree on every transfer out there anyway. People like different things.

 

[Bryan^H]

I hated AVP so much, I vowed to never watch the sequel. I really feel it's time for Aliens, and Preadator to have dedicated films for each franchise again.
I long for the days of good monster movies(Predator)with solid stories, and plenty of atmosphere and suspense(Aliens).

 

[Ray_R]

Although AVP and the sequel, of which I haven't even seen yet, pale in comparison respective of their individual series are just fun rides. All they are. If I'm just futzing about on my computer researching random things or what have you, these two films are the type of movies which are more for background noise.
FOX totally and completely bungled up PREDATOR on Blu and so what that means is the inevitable double dip.
Out of the ALIEN series, I'd go for the first three film with seamless branching for both cuts. And if the extras won't fit on a BD-50, put all the extras excluding the commentaries on a BD-25. Make it two discs, especially for ALIEN, so it can have both cuts and the extras.
This is what I want for ALIEN in terms of content: (from the DVD's of course with suitable modifications to BD. BUT original lossless audio AND AVC or VC1 video!)

[url=http://20th%20Anniversary%20Edition%20R1]20th Anniversary Edition R1[/url]
Collector's Edition R1
And from the bonus 9th disc of the "Quadrilogy" (The real term is Tetralogy, dammit!)
-“Alien Evolution” -documentary (64 min)
-“Experience in Terror” -1979 promotional featurette (7 min)
-Ridley Scott Q&A video (15 mins)
-“1992 Alien: Special Widescreen Collector's Edition” laserdisc archive: contains all still and video material from LD release, accessible in the original linear experience format of through a table of contents
-2 theatrical trailers
-2 TV-spots

There's a reason why I've kept both the above editions. It's a personal 3-Disc Ultimate Edition set. Of course including all the LD content for ALIEN from the "Quadrilogy" Bonus 9th disc.
Yeah, right! FOX would probably set the MSRP at an arm and a leg, AND more! No reason for me to buy ALIEN: Resurrection. Unless the CE has the other cut through seamless branching which is better. Fuck, ALIEN³'s Special Assembly Cut which was 145m made me appreciate the film so much more. It's the preferred version I watch when I choose it from the version menu. And for ALIEN, I prefer the custom 136m Extended Edition. Holy shit it's awesome! Far superior compared to Ridley's Studio recut which wasn't really a Director's Cut but is called such anyway.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Beating a dead horse now...

If the SD DVD and BD both have the same transfer in terms of "darkness", then I'm a happy camper because then there's nothing intrinsically wrong with the BD transfer. However, at least 2 people have said that the BD transfer looks too dark. In other words, there might be something specifically wrong with that transfer that isn't wrong with the DVD. A mistake was possibly made.

 

[troy evans]

I believe the detail is there. This reminds me of what happened with the Bram's Drac Blu-ray release. Forum member Dave Mac made a solid case for lost detail because of the darkness levels. The black levels there were possibly done intentionally to give the film a darker edge than the previous sd dvd releases. With this release of AVP:R we have a dark film which IMO has sacrificed exsisting details to make it creepy, scary( with things coming out of no where at times) or possibly to set a mood. If people never know the detail is there to begin with I guess it won't be missed to the masses. Here on the forum, crap like that doesn't fly. I think we here expect more and notice details that others just don't see. Even with all that, I feel this film is very dark and many of my friends, 14 to be exact, who have the Blu-ray of this are wondering WTF? To each his own, but, it is dark.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Troy- Appreciate your comments.

 

[TonyTone]

For those of you who own a Panasonic BD30 BD player and are less than thrilled with how "dark" AvP-R looks--supposedly the gamma output on the player is not quite correct/accurate...so suggest that you bump the gamma setting to 5 and see if it helps. Not saying that doing so is a panacea to the AvP-R "too dark" issue, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

Note--gamma setting is accessible only when playing a disc...i.e., it is not in the player Setup menu.

 

[Dan M]

I have the Panasonic BD30 player and I never had issues with films being too dark until this one...

This reminds me of Peter Hyams The Relic on dvd a few years ago. Artistic intent is probably the reason but I just think some directors over do it with black levels unnecessarily. Even daylight scenes look crushed.

I'm also tired of shakey cam movies as well. I felt neauseated watching Cloverfield....

 

[Dave Moritz]

One thing I have noticed is that AvP story line does in no way line up with the Alien movies. In the Alien movies no one has ever heard of these creatures on Earth. But in AvP both movies have happened on earth, go figure.

While I enjoyed the original alien and fist predator movies more than I did AvP. They where entertaining and the audio and video is well done on the Blu-ray versions. It seemed though in the second AvP that the predator was very sloppy and shot at anything that moved most of the time. And you would think the predator would want to keep a low profile, but no he nocks out a power plant. Again it is entertaining but it just seems the director did not really think some things though. I would like to own the other two predator movies in HD and the original Alien movies as well on Blu-ray.

Has anyone heard anything about a release date for the Alien Quadrilogy Blu-ray box set? I can wait for the other two Predator movies but I would really love to own all 4 Alien movies on Blu-ray with DTS-HD MA.

 

[EnricoE]

guys, you should check out the trailers that are on avp-r. the movie looks so much better in the trailers. it's not so freaking dark. i wished fox and/or the directors would've used that setup for the movie.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Damn, I was coming in here to ask if the black level on the BD edition was improved over the unwatchable DVD edition (you can't see jack shit!!) but it sounds like it's the same. :frowning:

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Just FYI but out of curiosity I decided to rent the AVP-R BD just to directly compare it to the DVD and to my eyes I do see an ever so slight improvment in the black level on the BD, it doesn't have that 'can't see my hand in front of my face' look and feel of the DVD.

I don't know if it's all that extra resolution that's making the blacks a lot less murky and muddy or what but it does look a little better in that regard, otherwise it's a beautiful looking disc, I think i'm going to take the plunge and replace the DVD.