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Author
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Topic: My Blu-Ray Experience
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Rob Young.
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1633
From: Cheshire, U.K.
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted August 25, 2009 06:01 AM
Paul, I think there are two ways of looking at this.
Do you remember in the early days of DVD when certain titles were released with elaborate special features (the Matrix springs to mind which included a feature that would take you off into behind the scenes sections as the film was playing). Certain DVD players just refused to play these discs correctly and created quite a wave of bad feeling amongst early adopters of the format.
I remember My £400 Panasonic at the time would totally lock-up when ever I tried to play Pink Floyd's The Wall!!
Personally, I'm not fussed about the features really, but they prevented proper playback of the movie itself.
Point is, there was nothing you could do except buy a new player ![[Frown]](frown.gif) . At least now, if and when we experience play back issues with Blu-ray, hopefully a firmware upgrade will fix it.
Out of my 20 or so Blu-ray discs I've experienced one so far (Wall-E) where the DTS soundtrack would just disapper half way through. Pioneer's advice was a firmware upgrade. If you visit the manufacturer's web site, you should find a list of recent upgrades available and what they do.
You can burn a CD of the upgrades yourself if you have the right software or, certainly in my case, Pioneer were very helpful and sent out a free CD with upgrades the next day. All you do is pop it in and let it do it's stuff for half an hour or so; so no need to be a computer geek!
But, a word of warning! You have to make VERY sure that the upgrade process isn't interupted (heaven forbid a power cut half way through it) or you can "brick" the player...in other words literally turn it into a useless brick!
If you have a profile 2.0 player, you should be able to connect it directly to the internet and do the upgrade that way. HD-DVD was the same, however, I had a Toshiba that needed upgrading (wouldn't run at 24fps) and plugged it into the internet as instructed by Toshiba. The upgrade all seemed to go well, but when I plugged it back into the projector it had yellow lines all over the image. I rang Toshiba and they were very helpful, calmly told me I had done nothing wrong but that the player was "bricked"...broken and that they would send me a new one!!!
I asked whether or not there was some way to restore it to it's factory settings and they told me no way...it was now useless ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
Two days later a courier arrived and swapped it for a brand new one together with a CD to upgrade it!
So on the one hand, I think the ability to upgrade the firmware is really future proofing your machine, but on the other hand just be careful when you do it ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
On a different note, I have just seen my first real "duffer" Blu-ray. I bought my better half Dirty Dancing and the picture is a mess of jaggy edges...one of the very things HD is supposed to be devoid of...it's rubbish and obviously a problem in the master source .
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted September 20, 2009 10:21 AM
Hi Chris,
I am hoping to get my copy of Oz next week, so I will be glad to post a report. As usual with this kind of legendary film they are offering different versions available with all kinds of elaborate options such as books, lobby cards, red slippers, figurines, etc - you name it, but none come with fresh underwear ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) .
They have really gone to town on this one and I am anticipating that the BD transfer has been done with meticulous love and care and the BD of the film itself will be stunning, particularly as it originated on 3-strip Technicolor.
And lets not forget that the BD of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will be on sale here on October 2 - another eagerly anticipated release also loaded up with extras. 'Best Buy' here in the USA are already giving out free Snow White embossed metal BD boxes if you place an advance order.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted September 22, 2012 11:49 AM
I am not a huge fan of the film but I did purchase a blu ray of Cameron's epic Titanic when it was released last week. I am glad I did, as the picture quality is just incredible, revealing every little detail of the costumes down to the individual threads, the interior of the ship showing the grain in the wood of the grand staircase, and the expansive exterior deck areas of the ship. The whole thing is a sumptuous visual feast, every shot showing what blu ray can really do when care is taken. Ignore the silly romantic plot, just sit back and marvel at the picture you are seeing and the sound you are hearing.
Incidentally I read that the 3D version of the blu ray is awesome, so I plunked down an extra $7.00 for the 3D edition, just in case I get a 3D projector downstream.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God
Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted September 23, 2012 07:54 AM
That's as maybe, but the extracts you mention are still being
sought after by collectors while the videos are a well and truly
dead and buried,as will blu ray in years to come when superceded
by the next "craze".Remember the cartload of equipment that
was video making, the huge cameras and power packs that cost
a fortune and the quality that was dire, but the marketing men
still managed to convert a helluva lot of people from the 8mm
scene, it was like a new religion, and now it's blu ray's turn.I
just find it strange that dvds are compared to something that
has more than stood up to the test of time,like comparing a
genuine piece of antique furniture to something from a flatpack.
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Graham Ritchie
Film God
Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted September 23, 2012 02:10 PM
When VHS pre-recorded tapes came out they were expensive and the quality was poor, but for the masses owning a video player and watching them on a tv in those days with a max size of around 26inch was something. Super8 400ft was around $80, Universal 2-400footer $135, Marketing 3-400 $245 NZ dollars so even that was expensive. However you could own a film and project it just like at the movies in your home on a much larger screen than TV.
At the moment home entertainment has never been so good. Its cheaper than ever, with large TV screens, dolby digtal sound and with blu-ray picture quality thats either on a HDTV or projected on a video projector its really good. The thing is also cost, blu-ray titles are cheaper and much better than VHS ever was.
So where does that leave film, well for me I still enjoy projecting film and the natural image quality that it gives.
The sad part about loosing Kodak or Fuji, is film is still the only way to preserve a natural looking image for the long term, thats why I still take 35mm slides. ![[Smile]](smile.gif) The Digital camera has its use also, eg this forum or internet use, but digital as we know is not suitable for long term storage...thats down to film.
The thing is, enjoy what is on offer "today" with both digital and film ![[Cool]](cool.gif) and not worry to much about tomorrow, we cant change it. The one thing we are all short of is "time" believe me, it passes us by, way to quick.
Graham.
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted September 23, 2012 06:34 PM
Michael has made the most important point here. Namely that DVD and Blu Ray have made available thousands of film titles that would never have seen the light of day on 8mm or 16mm film. I have had a digital projector for 7 years now, and during that time I have been able to see, and buy, hundreds of great films, which are available for a few dollars on disc.
This thread is not knocking film. After all this is the 8mm forum, so anyone reading or posting here is doing so because they love film. So we all really lament the loss of Kodak and Fuji film, and treasure the printed films and projection equipment that we posess, but that does not preclude an honest appraisal of the extraordinary image quality now obtainable with home digital technology.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God
Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted September 23, 2012 06:55 PM
That is very true Michael and the same was true of the video cassette tape, but remember the harm it did to the hobby as
many people didn't operate both film and video, so sold all their
films and ancillary equipment to embrace the new technology
thus sales of cine film and package movies were lost to the cine
suppliers until we're at the present stage with a minority following
and very few releases and no processing labs in the UK.I know
you can't stop progress, but the damage was done by video back in the '80s, even Sony tried to destroy S/8 once and for
all with it's launch of 8mm video.As for the better quality that
blu ray offers,well joe public hasn't exactly been over enthusiastic, there are quite a few like me who are happy with
the std DVD and the greater choice of titles, plus they're also
cheaper.I do the same as yourself Michael, and view otherwise
unavailable movies on DVD,tending to favour the European film
but given the choice, I much prefer the whirr of a projector
to any of the other methods of viewing.As a case in point,I just
bought off ebay a 16mm feature "The Master Touch" in 'scope
Agfa colour for $99.00 plus $78.00 postage and £30.00 this
end import duty, for a film I could have gotten from Amazon for
£10.00 on DVD, but it wouldn't have been the same.
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Michael O'Regan
Film God
Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted September 24, 2012 03:01 AM
Hugh,
I agree. Given the choice and given unlimited financial resources I would own as many 16mm original prints as I could of whatever titles are available of my favourite films. But, that ain't gonna happen.
As I've said before, from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, the digital image is sharp, colourful, but ultimately, for me anyway, lifeless. Film looks better to me. The films I'm most interested in were designed, lighted (or maybe lit!) and shot with film in mind, therefore the medium is important. It's the difference between an original painting and a reproduction print of that painting.
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Timothy Ramzyk
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 220
From: Milwaukee,WI,USA
Registered: Nov 2006
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posted October 12, 2012 02:47 AM
I love film, but I can no longer agree that the digital image still has that "lifeless video look." IMO on the right projector (I have a JVC 1080P DLP). This is also a matter of some serious restoration on the part of studios. For instance it's really not fair to compare something like a blu-ray of Warner Brothers WIZARD OF OZ restored from the original Technicolor camera separations and a Derann Super 8, or the recent restoration of the hand-colored TRIP TO THE MOON Blu-ray from Flicker Alley to a 16mm Blackhawk print from 1970.
Most mediums hit the peak of their brilliance just before they go under. I consider some of the Derann prints I bought in the last decade, light years ahead of the MGM features I was buying in the early 80's. The last print I bought from Derann was VAMPIRE CIRCUS and LONESOME GHOSTS, both of which could pass for 16mm if you looked only at the screen and not the projector.
All I can say now is that times are tough, but I'm still able to afford the UK import of the Blu-ray UNIVERSAL MONSTERS BOX, which by all accounts offers a stunning revelation for every film therein, and for roughly $8 a feature. I'm looking forward to this with the same anticipation I had for the arrival of my first two Castle digests, ordered out of the back of Famous Monsters.
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You have to conclude that this kind of thing is going to turn off a lot of people from BD.
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