A Few Words About While we wait for A few words about...™ Ken Burns' The Civil War -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2015/09/04/25-years-after-the-civil-war-ken-burns-is-finally-making-his-dream-movie/

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Don't need much incentive to double dip for the BD on this one. Mine eyes have seen the glory.

 

[Carabimero]

This was such an influential series to me, both as a Civil War buff and a filmmaker. Very life changing. It sparked me to not only learn more about the war, but to eventually make documentaries. Ironically, I ended up learning so much about the war that to my disappointment I discovered this series is full of inaccuracies, attributing quotes to people who never actually said them, exaggerating time frames, stuff like that. When I was recently at Gettysburg, our private expert guide came right out and said the same thing about the series to a much larger degree than I realized; for instance, not very many glass negatives were used in greenhouses. Very few images were lost. Still, there's no doubt this is a great series and a no-brainer buy. There's so much to learn from how this film was made. And it continues to influence how documentaries are made today.

 

[Robert Crawford]

One of the best documentaries ever made as Blu-ray will be the third video format that I added this title to my library. Furthermore, I watched the series when it first televised on PBS.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oooooh. Maybe we'll get Ken Burns' Baseball sometime not too far down the road...


But I'll be in for this. Amazingly, I've never seen a minute of it. I'm kinda ashamed to admit that. Not really sure how it happened.


Baseball, I've watched several times.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Oooooh. Maybe we'll get Ken Burns' Baseball sometime not too far down the road...

But I'll be in for this. Amazingly, I've never seen a minute of it. I'm kinda ashamed to admit that. Not really sure how it happened.

Baseball, I've watched several times.

Will probably get this - and I agree 100% on baseball. I've owned that on both VHS and DVD and would gladly upgrade it. Phenomenal.

Civil War ain't bad either

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, the great Baseball documentary is probably next for the 1080p conversion.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Oooooh. Maybe we'll get Ken Burns' Baseball sometime not too far down the road...


But I'll be in for this. Amazingly, I've never seen a minute of it. I'm kinda ashamed to admit that. Not really sure how it happened.


Baseball, I've watched several times.

You can rectify that issue starting on Monday with this restored documentary on PBS again in 1080. Since the Fall shows don't start until later in the month, I'm going to watch this series again with my DVR. This should hold me over for when this new HD release drops in price. However, if I'm overly impressed by the HD presentation, I might say the hell with waiting on any price drop.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I forgot PBS was re-airing it - thanks for the reminder!

 

[Reed Grele]

I can't believe that it's been 25 years since I first watched this!


Hopefully, my pre-order will help not only the HTF, but will provide an inducement for the film makers to undertake the restoration and release on Blu-ray of all of Ken Burn's wonderful documentaries.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Not sure if they can do Baseball in 1080p based on the fairly large amount of analog video it uses in the later episodes.

 

[Dee Zee]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2015/09/04/25-years-after-the-civil-war-ken-burns-is-finally-making-his-dream-movie/

Thanks for the link, sounds good. Did they shoot 16 or 35 at the time?

 

[Dr Griffin]

I was at the 150th Gettysburg anniversary two years ago and marched Picketts Charge with Ed Bearss (Of Burns' The Civil War), we were marching with Kemper's Brigade. Bearss was 90 at the time and didn't look a day over 70 . The best memory of the day was looking southeast across the field and seeing, and feeling, Union cannon fire at us, it was a thrill. Then 4 months later saw Burns at Gettysburg for the Address anniversary, where he was promoting memorizing the speech. We finally get this great film in HD. One of the more important films in the home library.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Gettysburg is a must visit for anyone wanting to get a sense of perhaps the most pivotal days in the fate of America as one country. I remember playing in Devil's Den when I was 10, but I took my own son back to that hallowed ground when he was 10 and he ran across that field toward the ridge. I still get goosebumps there. There's hardly any awareness of the history or the magnitude of the Civil War out West, but growing up in the East where almost every state had staggeringly bloody battles, the residue of those events still haunts the land. Burns captured that haunted feeling with this epic, but you need to visit some of these sites to keep them sacred another 150 years.

 

[Dee Zee]

Thanks for the link, sounds good. Did they shoot 16 or 35 at the time?

My bad, I see now 16mm.

 

[PODER]

I still remember watching the first episode of Ken Burns' THE CIVIL WAR during its first airing. I was living at Manhattan Plaza in NYC at the time, and had my windows open. By the time that the reading of the Sullivan Ballou letter, which closed the episode, was finished I could hear broken-hearted sobs coming from almost every apartment near mine. It remains the single most moving moment in a lifetime of TV watching.

 

[Douglas_H]

I read an article on the restoration a few weeks ago. Very light on any kind of details but it was touting the fact that the 16mm negative was getting a 4k scan.

4k scan for a 16mm 4:3 negative?

Isn't that like quadruple overkill?

Does a 16mm even resolve 2k?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Does a 16mm even resolve 2k?

Check out the Walking Dead Blu-Rays to see just how good 16mm can look in high definition.


At a certain point, the law of diminishing returns probably does apply scanning 16mm at 4k, but I would imagine that a 4k scan of 16mm -- even if the effective picture detail isn't substantially greater -- would still look more organic than upscaling a 2k scan of 16mm.


And while the 16mm filmed segments might not benefit so much from 4k, a lot of the archival materials included like the old, large format photographs might.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I still remember watching the first episode of Ken Burns' THE CIVIL WAR during its first airing. I was living at Manhattan Plaza in NYC at the time, and had my windows open. By the time that the reading of the Sullivan Ballou letter, which closed the episode, was finished I could hear broken-hearted sobs coming from almost every apartment near mine. It remains the single most moving moment in a lifetime of TV watching.

I don't remember that name and was not sure what episode a certain letter was read in, but based on your description, I'm pretty sure I know what letter you are talking about. Incredibly moving experience.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Gettysburg is a must visit for anyone wanting to get a sense of perhaps the most pivotal days in the fate of America as one country.

I remember playing in Devil's Den when I was 10, but I took my own son back to that hallowed ground when he was 10 and he ran across that field toward the ridge. I still get goosebumps there. There's hardly any awareness of the history or the magnitude of the Civil War out West, but growing up in the East where almost every state had staggeringly bloody battles, the residue of those events still haunts the land. Burns captured that haunted feeling with this epic, but you need to visit some of these sites to keep them sacred another 150 years.

Well said. Antietam is another battlefield worth visiting.