An Open Letter to the Folks at Paramount Home Entertainment (1 Viewer)

[marshman1138]

What, no Indiana Jones requests?

 

[Angelo Colombus]

What was wrong with that one that had it looking as bad as it did?

A lot of artifacts and a blotchy image especially during the night scenes with a lot of noise? Some scenes are ok especially in daylight but overall it's not good. I know it was shot with a soft look but as others have said it's a upscaled dvd.

 

[bmasters9]

A lot of artifacts and a blotchy image especially during the night scenes with a lot of noise? Some scenes are ok especially in daylight but overall it's not good. I know it was shot with a soft look but as others have said it's a upscaled dvd.

That's what I wanted to know-- was the film stock not taken care of too well?

 

[Angelo Colombus]

That's what I wanted to know-- was the film stock not taken care of too well?

I think so but not a expert on how it looked originally in the theaters. Noticed some film damage and the night & dark scenes are the worst so having a lot of films from the 1970's in my library i think Paramount could have made it look better.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I will say one thing about the Imprint release of Day of the Locust is the commentary which was good and informative and a nice interview with actor William Atherton.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Pull On A Clear Day You Can See Forever off the market- redo it and issue a free exchange. It’s easily one of the worst looking Blu Rays out there. There’s no excuse for putting out a DVD master on a Blu Ray and posing it as HD.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think there’s some confusion about what a “DVD master” can mean.

No major studio is taking standard definition masters of films, upscaling them to HD, and then putting that on a disc.

Rather, for the past twenty years or so, it’s been standard industry practice to create home video masters at HD resolution or higher. That master is then down-rezzed to standard definition when it’s to be used on a DVD.

For a lot of these new Blu-rays based on older masters, it simply means that they’re returning to the HD scan done years prior and putting that out. It’s not fake HD. It’s not an upscale. It’s simply an older HD master that had been originally created with the purpose of making a DVD and/or having a master ready for licensing for television and cable markets which were already broadcasting in HD long before there was an HD disc format.

Now in some cases, when they’d make an HD master with an end goal towards releasing a DVD, they’d scan the film in HD but then perform any minor cleanup or color correction on the standard definition down-rez of the master. This was because it was cheaper to work in SD vs HD; less resolution means the fixes took less time/effort/money. So in those cases, when they return to the HD master now to make a new Blu-ray, those masters didn’t have any of the cleanup that was done for the DVD, so those masters can give the appearance of being in poorer condition than what was on the DVD.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with an older master by virtue of age alone. It’s all about how that master was originally created and what if any steps were taken to prepare it for being put on a Blu-ray. It’s quite possible to have a great Blu-ray from a ten year old master and a crappy Blu-ray from a new master. It’s not really the age, it’s about what they did or didn’t do before authoring it to a disc.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I think there’s some confusion about what a “DVD master” can mean.

No major studio is taking standard definition masters of films, upscaling them to HD, and then putting that on a disc.

Rather, for the past twenty years or so, it’s been standard industry practice to create home video masters at HD resolution or higher. That master is then down-rezzed to standard definition when it’s to be used on a DVD.

For a lot of these new Blu-rays based on older masters, it simply means that they’re returning to the HD scan done years prior and putting that out. It’s not fake HD. It’s not an upscale. It’s simply an older HD master that had been originally created with the purpose of making a DVD and/or having a master ready for licensing for television and cable markets which were already broadcasting in HD long before there was an HD disc format.

Now in some cases, when they’d make an HD master with an end goal towards releasing a DVD, they’d scan the film in HD but then perform any minor cleanup or color correction on the standard definition down-rez of the master. This was because it was cheaper to work in SD vs HD; less resolution means the fixes took less time/effort/money. So in those cases, when they return to the HD master now to make a new Blu-ray, those masters didn’t have any of the cleanup that was done for the DVD, so those masters can give the appearance of being in poorer condition than what was on the DVD.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with an older master by virtue of age alone. It’s all about how that master was originally created and what if any steps were taken to prepare it for being put on a Blu-ray. It’s quite possible to have a great Blu-ray from a ten year old master and a crappy Blu-ray from a new master. It’s not really the age, it’s about what they did or didn’t do before authoring it to a disc.

Ok so it’s an HD master using 20 year old technology along with bad film elements that was probably never intended to see the light of day as a native HD product for sale except perhaps maybe for broadcast on HBO-Z. And now sold 20 years later.
Sorry I misspoke- it’s a travesty nonetheless.

 

[Nick*Z]

Lots of titles for Paramount to tinker with and include in their 'Paramount presents line-up.

Starting with:
Ordinary People
The Country Girl
The Greatest Show on Earth
Funny Face (new scan)
The Day of the Locust (definitely new scan)
A Place in the Sun (desperately needs a major restoration)
William Wyler's Carrie
The Matchmaker
Elephant Walk
Witness
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
Half a Sixpence
Detective Story
Hud
Come Back Little Sheba
The Rose Tattoo
Blue Hawaii
The Five Pennies
A Breath of Scandal
The Pleasure of His Company
Alfie
Darling Lili
Play It Again, Sam
Murder on the Orient Express
Mommie Dearest
Regarding Henry
Dead Again
The Brady Bunch Movie

 

[Steven Good]

Dragonslayer (with help from Disney?)
Children of a Lesser God
Young Sherlock Holmes

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Was watching a few nights ago Charade and noticed James Coburn and it would be nice for The President's Analyst to have a new release on disc.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

And here's some suggestions for possible releases of TV shows on DVD:
TV MOVIES
Seven in Darkness (1969)
The Silent Gun (1969)
Quarantined (1970)
Weekend of Terror (1970)
Assault on the Wayne (1971)
Dr. Cook's Garden (1971)
Escape (1971)
Terror in the Sky (1971)
Women in Chains (1972)
Night of Terror (1972)
The Heist (1972)
The Weekend Nun (1972)
Poor Devil (1973)
A Time for Love (1973)
Egan (1973)
Paper Moon (1974) as part of the TV series of the same name
The Underground Man (1974) as part of the Archer (1975) TV series
Kate McShane (1975) as part of the TV series of the same name
Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night (1977)
True Grit: A Further Adventure (1978)
Flesh and Blood (1979)
Letters from Frank (1979)
The Gift (1979)
Top of the Hill (1980)
The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything (1980)
The Girl, the Gold Watch and Dynamite (1981)
Command Five (1985)
Roman Holiday (1987)
Shooter (1988)

TV SHOWS
Funny Face (1971)/The Sandy Duncan Show (1972)
Me and the Chimp (1972)
Love Story (1973-74)
Paper Moon (1974)
Archer (1975)
Kate McShane (1975)
The Cop and the Kid (1975-76)
Serpico (1976-77)
Blansky's Beauties (1977)
Brothers and Sisters (1979)
$weepstake$ (1979)
Out of the Blue (1979)
Goodtime Girls (1980)
Foul Play (1981)
Making the Grade (1982)
Star of the Family (1982)
Renegades (1983)
Ryan's Four (1983)
The Cavanaughs (1986-87, 1988-89)
Gung Ho (1986-87)
Duet (1987-89) / Open House (1989-90)
Hard Knocks featuring Bill Maher (1987)
Marblehead Manor (1987-88)

Thank you!



~Ben

 

[Dick]

Dragonslayer (with help from Disney?)

Disney would have nothing to do with a Blu-ray release. They co-financed it in exchange for foreign distribution rights, as I understand it. Paramount would hold the cards domestically.

 

[Osato]

Star Trek the motion picture directors cut in 4k and all of the classic Trek films in 4K please.

The Saint with Val Kilmer too. Include the alternate version / ending that the director Philip Noyce mentions in the dvd audio commentary too.

The Assassination Bureau too.

Please release films in 4K on disc.

 

[dana martin]

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

 

[dana martin]

the Naked Jungle

 

[Nick*Z]

The Ghost and the Darkness - great underrated movie. Spooky as hell!

 

[FanboyZ]

as I have said prior, my needs wants and desires are what's commercially relevant. You're all locked in here with me...

 

[RobertSiegel]

What a wonderful letter to Paramount, actually the reason I ended up here is that I was searching for a way to contact Paramount Home Entertainment to write something very similar. After purchasing and watching such films as Barefoot in the Park, On a Clear Day you can See Forever, Popeye, among many other great releases of late, it is obvious that something changed drastically at Paramount Home Entertainment. It would seem to me someone took on a very specific position who would have the ability to make a decision to begin releasing catalog titles. Maybe that's now how it happened, but whatever did happen, I give Paramount a HUGE HATS OFF and a bow for making this move. I of course have my own list and there are too many to name, but a few of the most wanted include a 4k Ten Commandments, blu-rays of Darling Lili, Paint your Wagon, The Greatest Show on Earth, Neil Simon's Out of Towners, Plaza Suite and Last of the Red Hot Lovers, There are so many wonderful titles in their catalog, and Paramount: I will be in line for many of these titles. A Big thank you, as big of a thank you as I can possibly make!

 

[Dick]

A Place in the Sun

The Day of the Locust

Looking for Bobby Fischer

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

Paper Moon

Nice list. The title is actually SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISHER, a very fine movie.