Will you still be buying Gladiator despite the PQ findings? - Page 3

I bought it and watched over an hour of the extended cut on my HD750/BDP-09FD elite combo... Quite frankly, I wish I had not bought it!! The bad PQ is already known but I thought the audio would be phenomenal on this blu-ray, but seriously, I am not overly impressed with the audio! I heard crackling on dialog for example, and the bass is not very impressive either from what I heard so far.

Save your money people.

These results so far ain't even close compared to bluray.com poll.

Maybe I should tell my store you got this deal!

Thanks guys I'm not picking this garbage up....What the hell is up with these studios, cutting back on pristine films like this, no way am I giving my hard earn dollars for crap. A real shame, as I was waiting for this for sometime.

Djoel

I voted no. I did purchase it initially so that I could base my judgement off of watching the movie. After watching, the flaws that have been mentioned were just as evidident in the film as they were in the screen captures. So, I returned the movie.

Thank you. I think you're the first that mentioned the audio upgrade.

The way I look at it, it cost me $3 more then it would have cost me to buy Braveheart alone.

Had that deal not been there, I probably would have passed.

Not on this specific thread but I mentioned this was my priority for purchase, for most any catalog it IMHO is the better bang for buck versus a PQ upgrade.

I bought Gladiator yesterday and watched it last night on my Pioneer PRO-151FD (60" plasma) I sit back 9 feet. Anyhow I gave my DVD away last month so this was a must buy. It looked and sounded great, a solid upgrade from the DVD. Was it reference, absolutely not but its better than the DVD by a good margin.

A better transfer down the road would be great, I would gladly buy it again as Gladiator is one of my favorite movies.

Sorry, I was just referring to what I read in this thread.

I agree entirely on catalog titles - although I was in shock at how great the PQ of Braveheart looked. I did buy that one for the audio first too (though I couldn't pass up the glowing reviews of the PQ as well). Seems we are in the minority though.

no!But I may rent it from NetFlix

Hard to resist at $7.99 (final price) at Best Buy. Hopefully a recall will ensue - and the $7.99 will end up being $ well spent (LOL)

Nope. If I am going to replace a DVD with a blu-ray, it needs to be at least a good quality disk.

Exactly why I voted yes. And if I factor in that I'll be getting a great BD version of Braveheart for the same price by buying both, then it's almost a no-brainer. Or I can consider it as $16 for Braveheart and a BD copy of Glad-he-ate-her for free. So, technical I should have voted "no" for a purchase?

I still hate what the studio is putting out (Shaftfire Series?), but it has to be better than my DVD.

I agree with the previous comment regarding the early adopters. This title represents a lazy effort at best. BD, even with catalog titles going back many decades, can look spectacular. We deserve better. I'm definitely not buying.

Art

I got Gladiator from Amazon for $1.48 after an existing credit from my account was applied. The $10 rebate means that Paramount will be paying me about $8.50 to own a copy of the movie, and I can live with that.

If you had a credit, that was your own money you paid. You could have used that credit to buy food. You didn't get anything for $1.48. Don't fool yourself.

Hoping the Uk disc is better

I did the same and will return it unopened. BB splits the $10 combo rebate to $5 off for each title on the receipt, so hopefully I'll keep the $5 off for Braveheart...yes, I know, MMMV...

This was in the "marginal" category for me so it was an easy choice to not buy it. If it were "critical" I might have bought it.

However, my basic feeling is that I should pass on something that doesn't have top-rate image and sound.

Maybe a better way to send a message is for everyone to return it, knowing you'd have to take another of the same. Keep returning them till they run out. Won't they send them all back as defective?

How many stores allow someone to return opened Blu-rays?

I was going to but I think I'll hold off, I don't want to deal with a reissue later and have to get THAT too. Braveheart will be all I need for now. Hells bells, I still have like 30 something BluRays I haven't even watched yet. I need to catch up on those before I get crazy on anything else.

What are the odds of a reissue, anyhow?

I was able to return mine at the local Best Buy.

Ouch. I would have, as well, but this poor transfer killed my faith in Paramount "Sapphire" line.

I'm not going to get Gladiator until they release it again with a quality transfer. Braveheart was going to be a day one, but I'm passing until I see a good Christmas sale or something. I'm not going to support this line at the ridiculous price they're asking when I can't be confident of the PQ and AQ.

This issue isn't whether soley of the transfer is poor or not. If this was an earlier single disc release, and now I am upgrading to the "SAPHIRE Series" with an all new HD transfer minted. That would be one thing....but the IS the transfer for the SAPHIRE Series...that is the major issue.

I have paid my hard earned money for a 2 disc top notch special edition and it simply isn't that.

Don't really have a choice since I sold all my DVD's. LOL

I got it cheap, should arrive in a few days. I can always sell it later on when/if another copy gets released.

I do not buy many discs, but I bought this with no regrets. At this point, I'm just happy to have quality catalog films on Blu-ray. I was not satisfied with the PQ, and as previously mentioned, the AQ does lack in bass and has parts with a bit of crackling, but I still find it much better and far more engrossing than watching it on DVD. Yes, I'm playing the "best version available to me" card and I always will based on the content.

Perhaps better wording for the poll would have been, "Yes, I'm buying despite the PQ issues" and "No, I'm not buying because of the PQ issues". I'm not buying but not because of PQ. While the film was visually gorgeous and the characters well played, the story was completely and utterly predictable. I saw it in the theater knowing only that Ridley Scott had directed it and thus had high hopes for it. However, as each scene started, it was completely obvious what each character was going to do in the course of the film. I really wish directors would reign in the spectable and start bringing the story back into movies. We're getting such great-looking but completely forgettable movies since CGI started replacing drama.

I hate myself but I bought it.
The Best Buy deal plus rebate was worth it for the Blu-Ray upgrade alone, plus I never owned the Extended Version.

is PQ really the most important factor though?...yes the Gladiator PQ is far from reference quality BUT do you only buy Tier 0 Blu-Rays?...what about the quality of the movie itself disregarding the Video?...there are very few truly amazing movies and Gladiator in my opinion is one of them

so having to sacrifice a bit PQ wise to get an absolutely fantastic piece of filmmaking is something I am willing to sacrifice