Gangs of NY - Major Edge Enhancement (and other issues) (MERGED THREAD) (1 Viewer)

[Ray H]

The movie data, however, resides on a single layer on each disc. The other layer on each disc consists of special features.

Maybe the second disc, but the first disc has a layer change during the church dance scene at about the 64 minute mark when Johnny's music box comes on the screen.

 

[David_Beamish]

I have heard mixed things about this to be honest.
One of my friends said there were layer changes on both discs, you say on the first disc and David Susilo posted this here a few days ago:

None of the discs are single layer. They are BOTH DVD-9.

The movie data, however, resides on a single layer on each disc. The other layer on each disc consists of special features.

So I just went with that at the time..

 

[David Susilo]

Although you may be right, I don't understand why there will be a layer change if the movie is only 3.7 Gb (including DD 5.1) + about 0.5 Gb for DTS? It's less than 4.7 Gb and they spread it into two layers?

I'm confused.

 

[PhilipG]

I am going to have to watch the fight scene tonight tho. I guess I never pay attention for EE. I didn't notice any, but I wasnt looking for it either.

Adam, do yourself a favour: if you don't see the EE, don't look for it!

 

[Larry Talbot]

I knew from reading the reviews that this title had major EE, and it does. Projecting onto a 65 inch diagonal screen I can see little gray lines around the titles and many objects within the frame. But I wasn't prepared for how bad the picture looked overall: many scenes seem overly saturated, with unnatural fleshtones and a generally ugly look to them. This is the worst recent release in terms of video quality that I've seen on my setup so far. Which leads me to my question: is this a problem with the DVD - or my setup? I know my grayscale isn't perfect, but most movies look a LOT better than this on my projector.
Anyone else think Gangs looks terrible?

 

[DeeF]

There are quite a few people who feel the same way.

I started a thread called "1960 vs. 2002," comparing the transfers of Gangs with King of Kings.

I still don't understand why the EE knob is turned up so high on some contemporary films.

 

[Larry Talbot]

They feel the same way about the EE, but do they feel the same way about the transfer overall, the colors, etc?

I've done a google search and read several online reviews ALL of which PRAISED the picture quality: "lifelike fleshtones," etc. Some mention EE and a little artifacting, but that is as far as the criticism goes...

Thanks for responding, DeeF. I'll hunt for your earlier thread.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Gangs of New York has a hideous amound of ringing.

I really wonder why they even bothered to split the movie. In comparison, Warner's Amadeus: SE is a 180 minute film on a DVD-9 with only occasional hints of ringing (and is nowhere near the severe amount).

 

[Andy_MT]

easily one of the worst looking recent releases (if only ringing was the only problem). i have dvds from 97/98 that look better. and to top it off, they split it over 2 discs to give us ... optimum picture quality ... WTF ?

 

[Larry Talbot]

"(if only ringing was the only problem)."

So are you saying ringing (EE) IS the only problem? I think the EE is a given: My question is, does anyone else think the picture quality OVERALL is terrible? Harsh, oversaturated, unnatural looking fleshtones, etc?

 

[JonZ]

One thing I noticed with this disc was some poor black levels in some scenes.Its almost like the contrast was too high.

Its not my setup,I was watching Dark City and Apocalypse Now just this week and both have alot of dark scenes in them and didnt look the way GONY did.

I noticed this towards the beginning, I cant give chapters and times right now becuase Im at work.

I didnt notice EE,but I dont have a large TV (still slumbing it was a 32 inch)and as someone else said, I wasnt looking for it.

 

[Larry Talbot]

Well, I guess I feel a little better about my setup now. Thanks mods for merging these threads - I can see a lot of people thought the picture quality was as bad as I thought it was...Still don't know if others thought the fleshtones were off as well though.

By the way, I looked at the previews included on the video, Kill Bill, etc, and picture quality there was fine. Fleshtones on the "making of" documentary looked a little purple to me though...

As for the controversy over online dvd reviewers and whether they should be trusted, NONE that I read gave enough space to the issues concerning image quality with this disc, IMO. EE was mentioned in PASSING by a few reviewers, but not with nearly enough emphasis, considering how terrible the picture is (almost like a VHS copy of the movie!)

Others, as I said before, went out of their way to actually PRAISE picture quality, which boggles my mind.

I myself have reviewed films in the past (in print, not on the net) so before anyone accuses me of being "anti-reviewer," bear that in mind.

 

[Andy_MT]

...went out of their way to actually PRAISE picture quality...

so as not to upset the studios i would imagine. either that or they don't know how to tell the difference between a good and a bad dvd. neither way is a happy ending (for us) because we're being misled.

 

[Larry Talbot]

"nope, not what i said. i said words to the effect that i wished it was the only problem. there's plenty more wrong with it. it looks like over-processed video. very, very ugly."

Thanks for clarifying Andy! Now THAT was what I was waiting to hear, whether someone thought overall picture quality was as terrible as I did...

Here is a snippet from the worst offender, as far as inaccurate online reviewers goes...This is from DVD Review:

"Buena Vista Home Entertainment is presenting "Gangs Of New York" as a 2-disc release to make sure the materials has plenty of breathing room to also accommodate a DTS audio track. The movie is presented in its original 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio in a transfer that is enhanced for 16x9 TVs. The presentation is simply marvelous. No speck, no blemish is evident in the print and the picture revels in details and definition. Colors are superbly rendered, reproducing every little nuance the filmmakers have put in place. Michael Ballhaus’ camera work is once again a highlight of the move as he frames the image with wonderful details. Angles and movement of the camera are always designed for maximum impact, helping to turn "Gangs Of New York" into a feast for the senses. Black levels are absolutely solid on this release, rendering an image with deep, solid shadows that never break up. No edge-enhancement is evident and the compression has also been handled perfectly, without introducing distracting artifacts."

http://www.dvdreview.com/fullreviews...new_york.shtml

"No edge-enhancement is evident." Did this guy, Guido Henkel, get a "special" copy of the disc to review, or what? On MY copy, EE is evident from the get-go, with obvious lines surrounding the opening credits...

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Maybe the edge-enhancement was added to create the illusion (on cheap displays and for uneducated viewers) of more detail; detal that was lost when bits were wasted on a DTS track.

Just kidding. There's no excuse for this set to not look much better than it does.

 

[Julian Lalor]

DVD Review is known to be a shill of the Studios. I stopped reading their reviews years ago.

 

[TonyD]

old thread.

i just started watching this on Starz-hd.
wow this looks beautiful, and compared to the miserable image on the dvd it is immaculate.

i still havent watched the dvd or the movie all the way through because i couldnt stomache the EE.
so now i can finally watch the whole movie.
shh, don't tell anyone but,
getting only the star-hd chanel on comcast philly, but i think it's by accident. they had a free preview last week but this week the hd channel is still there

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I was hoping that elegant looking box set from France that was initially proposed would've been released and we would've seen a much more quality transfer. I still haven't picked this up due to the image quality of the DVD and I loved the movie... Unfortunately I don't see much chance of a rerelease anytime soon.

 

[Andy_MT]

even the WMV-HD edition suffers from heavy ee. what a waste of money that was !

 

[Jeff(R)]

I've read that the original running time for this film was to be an hour more than the current length. I hope that we get to see more of it some day...