Gladiator (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review - Page 2

I feel bad for Ralph. He has got bombarded with this review. I thought it was a very fair review. He gave us a very long and detailed description about the transfer and for that I respect the man and thank him for his efforts. To ask him to compare this film to another film that he gave a low video rating is rather unfair.

It seems like this film will have varying views on picture quality. I guess it all depends on ones tastes. I rented Gladiator this week and to me, I thought the transfer was decent, but I do agree that it has way too much of a polish to it. Gladiator, in my opinion simply does not look filmic (think this is the word I am looking for). I do love this movie, however, and I will probably buy it sooner or later. It is a definite upgrade over the standard DVD.

Man, such a disappointing video score. This is my favorite movie and I already have it on DVD so it puts me in a bind as to upgrading. Sounds like I'll be staying with DVD until I can get it super cheap a few years down the road.

Ralph, thanks for the informative and unbiased reviews. You're awesome!

+1. Ralph does an AWESOME job. I use his reviews to determine what's worthy of my hard-earned cash and what should be demoted to rental status. I have not yet rented a blu-ray movie that he had given a mediocre score to and thought that I should have bought it.

I believe Ralph's review is spot on and in agreement with other reviews recently published. The video elements in question are, in reality, an "eye of the beholder" issue. Some may find them disturbing, while others may hardly notice. For me, they are inexcusable. Also, almost as disturbing to me as the processing faults , is the aspect ratio of this film seems to have been changed when compared to the SD DVD, there is actually information clipped at the top and bottom of the screen. I first noticed that the black bars appeared to be larger on the BD, and after going back to the SD noticed there is actually part of the picture missing. I, for one, am terribly disappointed that Paramount would treat this title so poorly. As many have stated, Gladiator resides among their favorite films, I consider it worthy of consideration with contemporary American film greats such as The Godfather, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan as examples. As such, and considering this was used as the launch for Paramount's so-called, Sapphire Series this simply should not have happened. If this is the best that can be achieved, the studio should have added a disclaimer explaining the limitations that prevented this film from meeting the expectations of it's many fans. If better can be realized, they should step up and do as Columbia Pictures did with The Fifth Element. I love Gladiator the film, and if this BD is the best that it can be then I will learn to like it; but if not, then I will despise the effort put into this project.

+1

This has to be one of the most anticipated releases in a long time and i knew it was going to be disappointing. too bad though cause this movie was an instant classic. Hey Mr.Potts, when will you be reviewing Braveheart?

Great review. Ralph always gives some of, if not, the most fair and in-depth technical reviews anywhere. They're usually spot on.

Ralph - did you do a comparison between the DVD's audio and the Blu-ray's. I did a quick comparison and was surprised how well the DTS-ES kept pace. I think if I would have continued it would have become more difficult to tell them apart.

Ralph, thanks for the explanation. I was generalizing about the video scores, so I thank you for your reply and helping me to better understand your take. I am on vacation till Tuesday and look forward to returning home, well sought of , at least to see Gladiator and Braveheart. Keep up the good work as I enjoy referencing your reviews on occasion.

I just don't get this post...NO ONE has been disrespectful in this topic (unless posts have been deleted that I haven't seen).
Back to the topic....Amazon says the movie will arrive tomorrow...I can't wait to pop it in and see the PQ for myself

I hope it wasn't my post considered disrespectful. I actually hear that soundtrack, and so can you if you just play the part I'm talking about and listen. There is some yelling and smashing of shields & spears and the word Zulu... right from the Zulu movie soundtrack. I am not making this up! I even rechecked my DVD and hear it there also.
If nobody else wants to check, fine. Sorry I brought it up.

Damn right! If anyone does or says anything to piss Ralph off to where he's not as willing to do these reviews, you're gonna have a bunch of us to answer to!

Ralph is THE main reason I log on here every day, and nobody better screw that up!

(U da man, Ralph!!)

I have the region 2 superbit version and it blows away the older DVD. Comparing the superbit upscaled, I think it is better overall than the BD where the original theater BD portions are compared. Much better, as the flaming arrows are not disappearing......

Of the BDs i have that Ralph has reveiwed, using his scale as an approximation on PQ, it appears to me that where he places a BD is about the same as i would place it as a comparison to other BDs. However except for Gladiator, the lowest rated is 81. So I have not seen a 74(or any that he has given a similar score--except Gladiator).

perhaps there is some sort of averaging on the score as the added in portions are much better than the portions of the original dvd release, but the original release portions are terrible on the BD. So part gets an 88 and other parts gets a 60--that is how i would do it.

If you must have the best, go with the superbit (if u can find it), but figure out how to deal with the region code issue.

As to labelling, due to threats of litigation and issues with the FTC in the very early 1980's as well as copyright issues, cd makers started putting fairly detaled info on the where, how, when and so forth the particular cd orignated. (analogue copy, digital original, etc). Seems DVDs have escaped such scrutiny to date.



grubavs
Zulu? I have been haunted by the famailarity of that from the first time I heard it, and sometime ago, when I was watching Zulu, i thought----where have i heard that before???Then sometime later, it dawned on me. Is it a direct steal from Zulu? I do not know, but it is certainly a repeat of the same sound, for sure.

Based on your review Ralph I'm going to pick this up at Best Buy. I've been reading your reviews since the beginning at The Home Theater Spot and have always trusted your views and you've never steered me wrong toward a purchase. I own the DVD but really want the DTS-MA track along with improved video. Thanks for the review!

Ralph, as usual your review is well written and thorough.

I too had issues with the Video presentation of this BD and hated the fact that the extended footage seemed to be cleaner and better resolved than the original footage. I was expecting so much more from this BD release as it is my favorite movie of all time!

However, I still have the DVD release of this movie and I have to say that I believe that the DTS-ES soundtrack on the DVD is superior to the DTS-MA of the BD.

I really hope this film is given a second look for the release (re-release) that it rightfully deserves. Gladiator should be the BD to rule all BD. (at this point)

TAT,
I totally agree with you. This is my favorite movie and it does deserve a treatment that would make this the ultimate hi-quality video/audio experience. That said, I bought it any way. I buy almost any tru new effort of that movie.

I have the DTS ver, I also have the extended ver w/o dts. I have not watched the whole bluray yet bet I will say: although I was hoping for the best , most eye-popping blu of all time (so far)...it did not achive that but it is stilla worthy step up from the excellent extended ver which in my opinion was the best video quality so far.

Ralph...once again, simply awsome review. We appreciate your resilience and backbone when the drama builds but...I never doubted your armour anyway.
Thanks.

Ralph, another thing I found is the volume level on the BD is about 5dB too low in comparison. When I volume matched, the bass response was nearly identical, but I felt the DTS-ES mix was a bit on the hot side (not a bad thing ). Where the new lossless track excelled was in frequency response across the mid-range--it sounded smoother and less bright by comparison. Regardless, both are excellent surround mixes

Gladiator is a Dreamworks/UNIVERSAL release whereas Braveheart is a Dreamworks/PARAMOUNT release. Hence the DTS track compared to Braveheart's True HD track. Perhaps the mastering was done by Universal for this title and by Paramount for the other and that's where the difference in quality comes in. Let's not blame Paramount for the poor quality video unless we're sure where it was mastered. If it is Universal, then sounds like it ranks there with Spartacus and Traffic as a botched mastering job from the video department.

Ralph's statement is correct. No one had exceeded the boundaries in this thread. But, my concerned stemmed from the other Gladiator fights spilling over into this area. Plus, we've had some rather nasty comments and conduct recently in the review area...this being for the first time. I felt the need to put out the general warning. I made the decision for better or worse. I didn't mean to come across like we were sending in a swat team to issue a j-walking ticket. Please remember that as moderators we see the nasty side of AVS...many posts that never are seen by the general membership (since they are deleted) have really degenerated over the last couple of years. The lack of civility is frightening. So if I come across as heavy handed I do apologize.

What a great review. As I have been reading the AVSforums for many bits of useful information on every level of home entertainment, I have found Mr. Potts reviews to be exemplary, and keep me coming back to AVS weekly. I often read his auido and video parts of a blu-ray, before I will buy it. I don't buy movies that aren't the most pinnacle of transfers, for that particular film.

I already have a commendable copy of Gladiator on DVD, so I can wait (hopefully) until they get it just right.

I am eagerly anticipating Ralph's Braveheart review.

I didn't watch the whole movie yet, but i did skip around for about 15 minutes.
It's a little uneven....some scenes have the amazing bluray pop....but some scenes are pretty soft and could be mistaken for a very good DVD.
After all the people throwing fits over this one...I guess I was expecting even less...so I'm pretty content.

Yep, thanks Ron. And thanks to the other Mods as well for trying to keep the garbage at AVS to a minimum.

ralph potts, do you know if this blu ray disk includes the original teaser trailer with the basil poledouris conan theme music? that alone for me would be worth the purchase. probably the best teaser trailer i have ever seen.

this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYKQYAl90pc

I'm going to hold off replacing the dvd for now in the hopes that a rerelease is forthcoming.

I remember that trailer. Gonna go check it out now.

i think paramount has to take some blame.one is somebody should have looked at what was done by universal.two maybe they did and signed off anyways.

the big reason is they promised a step above the rest in pq and aq.the pq did not live up to the hype.knowing paramounts track record noting will be said or done,which is wrong.besides this, like the startrek 6 movie box set will be forgotten soon, which paramount is counting on.

paramount imop has the worse customer service out of all the studios.i hope they do the right thing,but i doubt it.

I thought Gladiator looked pretty good but then I can remenber watching Ben Hur on a 27" sony xbr via Lazer Disc and thinking "can it get any better?". However for what its worth I was reading a okd av magazine in my labrary the other day and a writer in the magazine felt the orifinal Gladiator dvd was stellar. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But what about the 10$ rebate if you own the previous version.EXCELLENT!

Braveheart is a Fox/Paramount release ( not Dreamworks ) Here in the UK Fox will be releasing that with a DTS-HD master audio track in November. Hopefully the brief 1 second cut will be restored as what was deemed unacceptable for a 15 certificate in 1995 is very acceptable by todays BBFC standards and all it takes is the studio to pay for reclassification and i'm sure they will.

As for Gladiator. Not much i can say that hasn't already been said countless times already. I dislike edge enhancement and feel it shouldn't be on high definition releases. Sharpening is not needed for HD content if done right. On large screens EE is annoying and detracts from the viewing experience.

I think what is getting people's backs up about this release is the fact that Paramount have called it The Sapphire series and marketed it as the very best image quality the Blu Ray format can offer. No doubt just being the major profile title that it is would have seen it receive heavy criticism at these forums anyway but to release on such a high profile label and then not actually strike a new master seems to have been a major error on the part of the studio who did this ( Dreamworks/Universal/Paramount )

I also can't understand why they did not include a 6.1 mix ? Many Blu Rays seem to offer only 5.1 or a 7.1 remix but few offer 6.1. Yes there are some but for films which originally had 6.1 it should then be offered on the Blu Ray.

Suffice to say Ralph's review gives one of the lowest scores he has ever given for image quality and that sums up issues with the transfer which he also points out. it's up to the individual as to whether you can live with those issues. I cannot. So i won't be buying this. I may rent one day.

I was wrong - Braveheart is an ICON/LADD Company/PARAMOUNT release here in the USA. Not Dreamworks (as was Gladiator). Perhaps in the UK Fox has distribution rights - lucky for you you get a DTS track. But that brings up an interesting point concerning release variations and who calls the shots. Because Gladiator was Universal/Dreamworks it gets a DTS track - Braveheart here is Paramount so it gets a True HD track, but if Fox releases it elsewhere it gets a DTS track. Which studio is actually in charge of overseeing these variations and who has the final say or "OK's" the thing for release? Who supplies the film master used for the Blu-Ray - which company is used for the encoding/mastering - somebody Dreamworks prefers, Universal prefers, Fox prefers or more than one?