Gladiator Master Blu-ray Comparison and Review Thread

[Whiggles]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Except that its zoomed..at least on TNT it was, IIRC.

I'll take some DNR and EE over zooming and cropping EVERY time.

I believe it's actually open matte. The UK HD broadcast by Channel 4, on the other hand, is in its correct aspect ratio AND looks better than the BD.

[RDarrylR]

Originally Posted by Whiggles

I believe it's actually open matte. The UK HD broadcast by Channel 4, on the other hand, is in its correct aspect ratio AND looks better than the BD.

But isn't changing the OAR a travesty in its own right? I guess people have to pick the least worst version then?

[Whiggles]

Originally Posted by RDarrylR

But isn't changing the OAR a travesty in its own right? I guess people have to pick the least worst version then?

It is, I agree. I wasn't suggesting it was in any way acceptable, just clarifying the specifics of the problem.

Regardless, the Channel 4 version seems to be the best of the bunch. If it comes round again I think I'll record myself a copy.

[geekyglassesgirl]

Originally Posted by deltasun

the inaccurate scissors has produced major EE on that viewer

Hee!! That's the first thing I saw on that picture as well.


On topic, both Gladiator and Braveheart were given to me as gifts last night (which was very nice of the gift-giver; we have no best buy up here and I know both discs were just shy of $30 each so there was no way I was shelling out for them right now; I had them on my zip.ca queue). I'm hoping by the end of the weekend I'll have had a chance to watch both of these.

[robertc88]

An example of something I started watching recently that I found terrible?

The Last Starfighter. Thought I was watching a regular analog TV movie! I turned it off.

Perhaps that BD was given one of the worst scores even for PQ. Gladiator just watching it was enjoyable, not hardly as distracting and basically blows it away.

Edit: Just checked. Bluray.com gave it a 3.0. So there you have it. That BD doesn't even look as good as lots of my SD DVDs upscaled.

Edit: Actually it is 2.5. Now I know folks are going to say that movie is from the 80s and Gladiator should be much better than we got but Gladiator is obviously far more watchable!

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by robertc88

Edit: Just checked. Bluray.com gave it a 3.0. So there you have it. That BD doesn't even look as good as lots of my SD DVDs upscaled.

Yeah, but 3.0 is kind of an average score, not a terrible score. Of course we want to see 5's across the board, especially for our favorite titles but 3.0 still says that it can be watched and enjoyed. And, the pricing helps a LOT. For the $12 to $13 bucks this will cost me, Im having a hard time saying no.

[sharkcohen]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Yeah, but 3.0 is kind of an average score, not a terrible score. Of course we want to see 5's across the board, especially for our favorite titles but 3.0 still says that it can be watched and enjoyed. And, the pricing helps a LOT. For the $12 to $13 bucks this will cost me, Im having a hard time saying no.

Is it an average score? What titles has blu-ray.com rated lower than 3?

[Whiggles]

My review at DVD Times has just gone live:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content/id...gladiator.html

[geekyglassesgirl]

Originally Posted by Whiggles

My review at DVD Times has just gone live:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content/id...gladiator.html

Thank you for the link, Whiggles. I appreciate your thoughts on this Blu.

[vancouver]

I'd like to hear from those who strongly disagreed with being able to tell how a BD will look using screen grabs.

Now that virtually every review has confirmed the concerns people saw from the screen grabs prior to release....have you changed your mind? If not why?

[Trackman]

Originally Posted by MovieSwede

The HD broadcast looks better.

You must have FIOS or some other service that doesn't use lots of compression. With Dish or DirecTV, the Blu Ray would have to be pretty bad to look worse than the Sat broadcast.

[MovieSwede]

Originally Posted by Trackman

You must have FIOS or some other service that doesn't use lots of compression. With Dish or DirecTV, the Blu Ray would have to be pretty bad to look worse than the Sat broadcast.

I was refering to the two broadcast versions that were posted on page one. While they are not the best this movie will ever look. I cant find any other source that look better.

Better compression doesnt help much if there is something wrong with the source.

[ack_bk]

Originally Posted by MovieSwede

I was refering to the two broadcast versions that were posted on page one. While they are not the best this movie will ever look. I cant find any other source that look better.

Better compression doesnt help much if there is something wrong with the source.

I am a Dish customer, and to the best of my knowledge, the only time I have seen Gladiator on Dish was on TNT HD. And it was not in the OAR. It was also edited for time and content and had station logos, and animated ads popping up. I honestly could not watch it in this manner. I also don't remember the PQ being that great (obviously the AQ was less than stellar and there is no access to extras). I can only imagine that the BD would be a much better experience vs the above. The DVD is a better experience IMHO. But I am also the type of person that is more affected by OAR than I am EE/DNR

[Mark Booth]

Originally Posted by oink

Precisely.
You fail to understand.
For many on this forum, Gladiator is a favorite film...worthy of many re-watches.
Remember it won the AA for BP (and NOT that long ago)?
Consequently, it should be given the respect and care it deserves on its initial BD release.

BTW, are you employed by Paramount/Universal?

Gladiator is a favorite film of mine too, which is exactly why I wanted it on Blu. Had it turned out to be the total pile of garbage some of you think it is, I would be upset. BUT IT ISN'T! Sure, I saw the weird pixel effects in the smoke in the opening scene. Yes, I saw some amount of plastic pastiness on some of the actors faces. Yep, I also saw some of the white ringing around the edges at times. But all of that stuff that stood out to me, combined, was less than 15 minutes worth of the entire 3 hour movie! The other 2 hours and 45 minutes looked very good to me!! If you knock out that 15 minutes worth of noticeable problems, I'd upgrade my video rating from a 7.5 to an 8.5 (out of 10) for the other 2:45 worth of movie.

Sorry, but as a definite fan of the film, there's no way I'm passing on having this in my collection! Those of you with "higher standards" can boycott the title all you want. In the meantime, I've added it to my collection for $7.98. If Paramount ever does a new transfer, sure, I'll buy it. But, between now and then, I can at least watch the damn movie in high def if I'd like. And it looks and sounds WAY better than the DVD as far as I'm concerned, particularly on a 70" screen!!

Finally, no, I don't work for any studio. In fact, I don't work at all. I retired in May at the age of 52. So I have all kinds of time to watch as many movies as I want, whenever I want, and I'm glad Gladiator got to be one of them!

Mark

[MovieSwede]

Originally Posted by ack_bk

I am a Dish customer, and to the best of my knowledge, the only time I have seen Gladiator on Dish was on TNT HD. And it was not in the OAR. It was also edited for time and content and had station logos, and animated ads popping up. I honestly could not watch it in this manner. I also don't remember the PQ being that great (obviously the AQ was less than stellar and there is no access to extras). I can only imagine that the BD would be a much better experience vs the above. The DVD is a better experience IMHO. But I am also the type of person that is more affected by OAR than I am EE/DNR

There are broadcast version with the correct aspect ratio. As demonstrated on page one.

The question remains, why can a broadcast version look better then a BD?

[Upinit]

I bought Gladiator and Braveheart yesterday and popped both of them in my PS3 to check out the PQ. Both played fine for the few minutes I watched them.

Last night I watched Braveheart with no issues. Tonight I tried to watch Gladiator and it won't play. It gets stuck on title 73 and wont go further than this. Basically its not getting to the Paramount splash screen.

I have tried power cycling my PS3 and reseating the power cord as well but no luck. I even went down to Frys and exchanged it with another copy and this one is doing the same thing. I put Braveheart back in and it is working fine so its just this particular movie. Anyone have any ideas as to what I can try? I'm wondering if it could be an issue with the DVD resume playback option but I have no idea where I can go to clear out those files.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Mark Booth]

Originally Posted by Upinit

I bought Gladiator and Braveheart yesterday and popped both of them in my PS3 to check out the PQ. Both played fine for the few minutes I watched them.

Last night I watched Braveheart with no issues. Tonight I tried to watch Gladiator and it won't play. It gets stuck on title 73 and wont go further than this. Basically its not getting to the Paramount splash screen.

I have tried power cycling my PS3 and reseating the power cord as well but no luck. I even went down to Frys and exchanged it with another copy and this one is doing the same thing. I put Braveheart back in and it is working fine so its just this particular movie. Anyone have any ideas as to what I can try? I'm wondering if it could be an issue with the DVD resume playback option but I have no idea where I can go to clear out those files.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Do you have the latest firmware for your PS3?

Beyond that, I will say this... Both Braveheart and Gladiator took longer to load than is typical for Blu-rays I put in my Panasonic BD-35. And BOTH titles momentarily displayed a pink band of noise at the bottom of my screen while loading. I've never seen that before and it worried me (for a couple of seconds) that the disc weren't going to load. But load they both did, and they played fine.

Mark

[Morpheo]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

And BOTH titles momentarily displayed a pink band of noise at the bottom of my screen while loading.

There's still noise left in that disc?

[petmic10]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

Gladiator is a favorite film of mine too, which is exactly why I wanted it on Blu. Had it turned out to be the total pile of garbage some of you think it is, I would be upset. BUT IT ISN'T! Sure, I saw the weird pixel effects in the smoke in the opening scene. Yes, I saw some amount of plastic pastiness on some of the actors faces. Yep, I also saw some of the white ringing around the edges at times. But all of that stuff that stood out to me, combined, was less than 15 minutes worth of the entire 3 hour movie! The other 2 hours and 45 minutes looked very good to me!! If you knock out that 15 minutes worth of noticeable problems, I'd upgrade my video rating from a 7.5 to an 8.5 (out of 10) for the other 2:45 worth of movie.

Sorry, but as a definite fan of the film, there's no way I'm passing on having this in my collection! Those of you with "higher standards" can boycott the title all you want. In the meantime, I've added it to my collection for $7.98. If Paramount ever does a new transfer, sure, I'll buy it. But, between now and then, I can at least watch the damn movie in high def if I'd like. And it looks and sounds WAY better than the DVD as far as I'm concerned, particularly on a 70" screen!!

Finally, no, I don't work for any studio. In fact, I don't work at all. I retired in May at the age of 52. So I have all kinds of time to watch as many movies as I want, whenever I want, and I'm glad Gladiator got to be one of them!

Mark

I respect your opinion although reviews are starting to trickle in
that say otherwise all that matters is what you think and what
your eyes see.

...to me, the EE was all over this movie(except the extended scenes),
especially during daytime scenes and there were many daytime
scenes.

Enjoy your retirement.

[Beta Tester]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

I've added it to my collection for $7.98.

Even strong supporters of this "mess" believes you should pay no more than $7.98. Then there are those (like me) that will not buy this at any price. So the average consensus is that $3.99 is a fair price.

[ack_bk]

Originally Posted by MovieSwede

There are broadcast version with the correct aspect ratio. As demonstrated on page one.

The question remains, why can a broadcast version look better then a BD?

I understand there is a a broadcast version available with the correct OAR, but I have not seen it up on Dish in recent months. I am only going off of what I have actually seen available via my provider.

As to your question, there is really no excuse and nor am I trying to make one. Clearly Parmount dropped the ball with Gladiator. But, for me right now, if I want to watch Gladiator at home, most likely, the best version available is the Blu-Ray version. Especially when you take into account AQ+ extras.

[Mark Booth]

Originally Posted by Beta Tester

Even strong supporters of this "mess" believes you should pay no more than $7.98. Then there are those (like me) that will not buy this at any price. So the average consensus is that $3.99 is a fair price.

Well, I sold my DVD version (of course, I cut off the UPC first) to a friend for $5 so my net net price is $2.98. So, I got Gladiator Blu for better than a fair price! Damn, you just made the movie look even better! Thanks!

Mark

[Upinit]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

Do you have the latest firmware for your PS3?

Beyond that, I will say this... Both Braveheart and Gladiator took longer to load than is typical for Blu-rays I put in my Panasonic BD-35. And BOTH titles momentarily displayed a pink band of noise at the bottom of my screen while loading. I've never seen that before and it worried me (for a couple of seconds) that the disc weren't going to load. But load they both did, and they played fine.

Mark

Yes I do. In fact I updated to the latest firmware immediately before attempting to play either one.

[RDarrylR]

Originally Posted by MovieSwede

There are broadcast version with the correct aspect ratio. As demonstrated on page one.

The question remains, why can a broadcast version look better then a BD?

I think this is something that we really need to get an answer from someone inside or with contacts from someone inside. Is there really an intermediate version out there that has the whole extended version with top quality that they could have used instead of what they did. There has to be some reason why they didn't use it if it exists.

Is the broadcast version the extended one? Maybe that is part of the reason? Does it have some other limitations that would make it not good enough to use for a Blu-ray release?

[cakefoo]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

Gladiator is a favorite film of mine too, which is exactly why I wanted it on Blu. Had it turned out to be the total pile of garbage some of you think it is, I would be upset. BUT IT ISN'T! Sure, I saw the weird pixel effects in the smoke in the opening scene. Yes, I saw some amount of plastic pastiness on some of the actors faces. Yep, I also saw some of the white ringing around the edges at times. But all of that stuff that stood out to me, combined, was less than 15 minutes worth of the entire 3 hour movie! The other 2 hours and 45 minutes looked very good to me!! If you knock out that 15 minutes worth of noticeable problems, I'd upgrade my video rating from a 7.5 to an 8.5 (out of 10) for the other 2:45 worth of movie.

Sorry, but as a definite fan of the film, there's no way I'm passing on having this in my collection! Those of you with "higher standards" can boycott the title all you want. In the meantime, I've added it to my collection for $7.98. If Paramount ever does a new transfer, sure, I'll buy it. But, between now and then, I can at least watch the damn movie in high def if I'd like. And it looks and sounds WAY better than the DVD as far as I'm concerned, particularly on a 70" screen!!

Finally, no, I don't work for any studio. In fact, I don't work at all. I retired in May at the age of 52. So I have all kinds of time to watch as many movies as I want, whenever I want, and I'm glad Gladiator got to be one of them!

Mark

Out of curiosity, how far away do you sit from your screen? Based on the fact you noticed the flaws only part of the time, I'm guessing you sit somewhere not too far, but also not close enough. So I'm guessing 10 feet away? How'd I do?

[tvine2000]

Originally Posted by Whiggles

Personally I don't care what size someone's screen is. I've looked at GLADIATOR on my 27" desktop monitor and it looks like garbage on that from over six feet away (approximately twice the recommended viewing distance). Telling someone with a 50" television that their display is too small to appreciate the problem is just crazy IMO.

do you know what ''he was kidding

[tvine2000]

Originally Posted by RobertR

I'm well aware that many people use DVD as their reference for quality. The problem is, Blu Ray is supposed to be FAR better than that. It's SUPPOSED to be compared to FILM, not DVD. That's what was promised, and that's what the studios are capable of delivering. As I said in a previous analogy, when you're in a 5 star gourmet restaurant, you don't ask yourself if the meal is better than what's at Burger King. You ask yourself if it delivers what that high end chef is PERFECTLY capable of delivering.

RIGHT ON and if people just want something a little better then dvd,maybe they ought to pull the plug on blu-ray,whats the point.

BLU-RAY won't be perfect,noting is.No doubt bd is capable of delivering stunning picture and sound.if they ever get to that point it will make the best bds look like dvds.

[tvine2000]

Originally Posted by MEC2

With such different equipment and viewing environments, I am not so surprised really, each viewing medium has it's vagaries that lend themselves to perhaps hide, or exaggerate, what we might considering shortcomings in the material.

MEC2

I'm sure your right,but in this case the best can't help this title.
Crap in , crap out

[tvine2000]

Originally Posted by Whiggles

My review at DVD Times has just gone live:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content/id...gladiator.html

Good review and honest too.I hope paramount does the right thing.
Somehow i doubt it.

[fpconvert]

Originally Posted by tvine2000

Good review and honest too.I hope paramount does the right thing.
Somehow i doubt it.

He doesn't make any reference to the equipment he used to review the disc with.