I saw For a Few Dollars More on HDNet this last weekend. WOW! is how good it looked. I have FIOS cable, but this really looked good. I wish many of the mediocre BD titles looked this good. The only downside was the mono track. Even that would have been ok, but I had to keep turning down the volume as my center speaker even with dialogue was bugging my ears. :eek: Now I like my movies very loud, very loud, but the center channel almost has a shrill to it.

Anyway what a great transfer for such a wonderful film. THose spaghetti westerns from Leone really put you there and in a certain frame of mind. Great stuff. Keep the quality coming HDnet.

This is by far my favorite spaghetti western and one of my top 5 movies of all time. I always thought it got the short shrift because people always talk about G,B&U. But that one ran a little long for my taste. FaFDM had the guts to let Lee Van Cleef share the stage with Clint and, at the end, eclipse him. Indio is one of the best villains in any movie. Crazy enough to keep you off guard, but still haunted by his deed.

Awesome, awesome movie. And you're right - the picture quality was phenomenal.

Yeah, gorgeous presentation. What makes some of these older films they show on HDNM look so good? Is it that they were originally filmed on 70mm or something with insane resolution? The brilliant colors of the Technicolor process?

Speaking of "G,B&U"... has it been on any of the HD channels lately? If so, how did it look? I'd love to get a good HD capture... one of my top 5 all time favorite films.

Tuco: "God is on our side because he hates the Yanks".
Man With No Name: "God is not on our side because he hates idiots also".

Speaking of "G,B&U"... has it been on any of the HD channels lately? If so, how did it look? I'd love to get a good HD capture... one of my top 5 all time favorite films.


It's run on HDNM before, but it's been a couple of years. I have it on my DVR's expansion drive. It was gorgeous as well.

Yes... FaFDM is great... I can never decide if it is better than Once Upon a Time in the West, though... really want to see that one in HD also.

It's run on HDNM before, but it's been a couple of years. I have it on my DVR's expansion drive. It was gorgeous as well.
Wow... thanks. I'll put it on my TiVo wishlist!

There's a section on cinematography "deep focus" within Wikipedia. It mentions that the Italian westerns used this technique that tries to maintain sharp focus from foreground to background--compared to selective focusing that deliberately blurs lots of image areas to concentrate viewer's attention on selected areas such as an actor. Deep focus, coupled with HDNetM's generally higher bit rate delivery, sure does enhance PQ.

Still, wouldn't be surprised to learn, after spectrum analysis of such films even from master tapes, that maximum effective horizontal resolution is under 1100 equivalent lines per picture width. That's assuming an earlier analysis finding 800--1100 lines (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9314235&&#post9314235) maximum is typical of telecined 1080/24p movie master tapes, (with ~1300 lines for some computer-generated images).

A comparison of scenes in the HD DVE test DVD, supposedly ~1100 lines maximum, according to Widescreen Review editor Gary Reber (see link), might provide a interesting crude visual comparison. Theoretically, HD discs made from 4k downconversions should deliver up to 1920 lines effective horizontal resolution, matching the format resolution, if such resolvable detail exists anywhere in the 4k recording used. King Kong is one of the HD discs based on a 4k digital intermediate recording AIUI, and others can be found by searching the imdb.com technical section for "4k." Despite enthusiastic reviews of some HD discs, somehow doubt anyone is viewing details out to the equivalent of ~1920 lines effective horizontal resolution. -- John

...Once Upon a Time in the West, though... really want to see that one in HD also.

Missed this also although I believe it was shown a few months ago. I'm hoping HDNM will show it again! :)

Yeah, gorgeous presentation. What makes some of these older films they show on HDNM look so good? Is it that they were originally filmed on 70mm or something with insane resolution? The brilliant colors of the Technicolor process?

No. It was shot in the Techniscope process, which is a two-perf 35mm format, and should theoretically not give such great results, as it uses only half the vertical 35mm negative frame.
Maybe this tape was made from the original Techniscope negative. Digital restoration from these negatives can produce remarkable results, much better than the anamorphic prints we used to get in theaters.