Saving Private Ryan (Blu-ray) Sapphire Series - Official AVSForum Review - Page 2

Not to mention people my age (me to) crying also. If the DVD was highly rated for pic and sound, I can only imagine this Blu Ray. Thanks for the review Ralph, this one is a given!

Jeff

Thanks for the review, I can't wait to get this movie tuesday!!!

Great review as usual, Ralph.

For my Canadian friends, Costco already has it in-store at many locations across Canada for only $19.99! I picked it up today and can't wait to see it in HD.

Thanks for the review.

How can the BD look that much better when:

I know the 2nd quote is primarily about the stylist aspect of the flick; yet it all so leaves little room for: "far & away" PQ improvement over the non-DTS SD DVD.
Or, does it?!?!

that was a good review,i also own this on dvd but only dolby digital. I'll be sure to pick this one up on blu-ray.

i think it's time I revisit this movie. I only saw it once when I was 18 (in the theater) and not counting the intro, I wasn't too into it. Maybe I'd be more into with 12 years of life behind and a new found respect for the WW2 and what they went through.

Good review. I cant wait to pick it up and watch it again on Blu.

The first 20 mins of SPR-DTS on DVD was my reference scene for demoing my HT for a long, long time...I use BD films now, obviously, so it may be time for SPR to take its place as my reference demo once again!

Awesome film....awesome review!

Ralph.

We are noticing a big time flaw in a few new BluRays.

Master and Commander being a clear and tested one

A 25hz filter on the DTS-MA seems to be in place.

How does the LFE content on the standard DVD DTS version compare against the LFE in BluRay DTS-MA?

I've always wished Spielberg/Rodat had taken a different tone with this prologue, and a much better one for the sake of the "We should never forget" message, imo.

In the opening walk through Normandy Cemetery in search of a particular grave, Spielberg chooses to depict the younger generations of that family as being very much in tune with the seriousness with which the Grandfather is taking the moment. Why? Is it probable that they would? I thought the idea was to contrast our current complacency about such things with the horrific reality of what courageous men and women had to endure.

Imagine instead the teenagers in the family joking around in the background, dragging their feet, teasing each other, whispering to each other about how boring it is to spend this vacation time in a dumb old cemetery, wasting precious shopping or beach time rehashing another one of Grandpa's dull war memories...

Now cut to the horrific and justifiably heralded flashback scenes of the D-Day Invasion right there at those beaches, just as before. What a difference that would have made. A major missed opportunity, imo.

The stark contrast between the dismissive attitude of the youngsters today vs the horror and courage depicted in the flashback events would have been the much better approach, imo. But Spielberg generally cannot bring himself to criticize younger generations, particularly young Americans, for anything. In this case, for not really appreciating the astonishing sacrifices of previous generations.

So, instead, he took a rather middle of the road approach (I'm just talking about the prologue now) by suggesting that those young Americans in that family wouldn't need to be reminded of anything, that they were already sharing their Grandpa's seriousness about the whole thing. But I doubt that would have been the case very often in real life.

I suppose it depends on the family. As the son of a WWII vet (U.S. Navy, Pacific Theater) and the father of U.S. Army sergeant serving his second deployment in Iraq, my perspective may be skewed. I think even the most callous and insensitive of adolescents could be overwhelmed by the American Cemetary above Omaha Beach. Upon entering, one is confronted with thousands upon thousands of crosses, each marking the death of an American serving in Europe. I doubt most kids would be chewing gum and talking about their boredom when confronted with such evidence of mortality. Maybe I'm wrong, but I hope not.

Great review, it was awesome on my TV, the only problem was that I had audio sync issues during the first scene on the beach, after that scene was over the sync was correct.

I hope your correct as well. And tell your son thanks for his service!

Ralph,

your review seems a bit apologetic with regards to the PQ, although you aren't knocking it by any means with a 90.

While you did make mention of the stylized look, I am surprised you made didn't make mention of the scenes of the French countryside. While few, they are stunning and the colors in those scenes don't seemed to be as stylized as much if at all. The grasses, foliage on plants and more are vivid, realistic and IMO equal to some of the best nature/outdoor footage on BD. That was where I saw the most pop and looking through the window affect.

My biggest complaint, which is minor, is that the PQ which I agree is mostly a 90, but it hits 100-80-100-80...., constantly throughout.

I did notice a lip sync/more of a dub issue I think it was when Hanks was speaking to Giamatti prior to meeting Danson. It was brief and seemed like more of a dub over issue as the sound seemed to be studio recorded and dubbed. It was like Giamatti's words were garbled and made no sense towards the end of the sentence. I think it was when Hanks and him were by or in front of the wall. There were also some seemingly unintentional lens flare issues that IMO were left in for the integrity of dialogue in a couple of scenes. Although brief, removing the lens flare scenes, which were only two seconds each, would have caused important integral dialogue to be discarded. One is @ 00:25:29-31.


Maybe I just really love this film and am a bit biased by it, although I have it on DVD and have seen it often in HD on my fiber cable co, this BD is far better.

Ralph, you hit the nail on the head on all points...well said, well put, an amazing bluray on all levels.

Sounds like you have a fairly dark view of today's kids.Of course they're unlikely to have the same appreciation of the gravity of what was happening as would older folks but,imagining that Grandpa did,on one or several occasions,tell in some detail of his experiences and those of his peers I think that any reasonably well brought up kid would behave with noticeable respect.Of course that can be contrasted to "Walt's" grandchildren in the funeral scene of "Gran Torino".

Mine shipped today. Really excited to get this on BD at last.

But would it have been too much to ask that this disc have been in the original aspect ratio? Now that I have a 2.40 screen, it would be really nice if LONG-awaited classics like this were in the ideal presentation format.

Also, its more than a little concerning to hear about these audio sync issues when they have had SO long to get this disc ready.

Hmmmmm

What are you talking about? The original AR is 1.85:1 and that is what the AR on the blu-ray is. Sounds like you wish it were in scope presentation which would not be the director's intent.

Just wondering if you guys noticed the image on the blu ray was weird?? I just was watching the first 20 mintutes and at times the lighting was weird and bright!!!!!!!! This happen to you guys or should I return my copy and get a new one????????????

This has nothing to do with a dark or light image of today's kids. I'm talking about dramatic counterpoint.

I thought it was a weak framing device to show all three generations (in fact, everyone in the movie) totally in tune with Grandpa and fully appreciating the sacrifices made without enduring so much as a minute of the graphic, realistic-seeming images of horror we are about to see.

The younger generations in his movie don't appear to need to see what we're about to see in order to fully appreciate the sacrifice. If that is true, then was the graphic violence that follows primarily meant to provide little more than shoot-em-up thrills and titillation? I got the impression the movie was primarily supposed to be about something more than that. But, in dramatic terms, the framing device Spielberg settled on worked against it.

I'm not saying it destroyed the movie. Just that it was a major missed opportunity to rile up the audience's stake in more actively wanting that younger generation to "get" what Spielberg's chosen framing device tells us they already "get" just fine without having to see one drop of blood onscreen.

The disc I rented from Netflix had this issue for sure. I have a LG 390 player and the sound was way out of sync on the lattter part of the movie. I tried a reboot of the player and still had the same issue. Great movie though..although the PQ as noted is not reference quality. The sound (when in sync) was awesome.

This WAS the movie that inspired me, in the 1st 20 minutes at the theater, made me absolutely decide that I had to be an early adopter of DVD....it took almost 3 years to get that disk for my 1st generation flagship Toshiba player at that time....
wow, that is so mid 1997 ish... LOL .. I had to watch my vcr tape from DISH for a couple of years.

This is one of the handful of movies that I will own in every worthy new, truly improved, format whatsoever....period.

Ralph, this bluray is amazing, no complaints, better than I expected considering the stylization, and your review....dead on... I bought mine at lunch the day of release last week and have watched it twice since. I had to take breaks and catch some "Longest Day" on bluray.

Thanks again for your efforts.

None. I am using the Sony s550, running the 2nd FW update...via basic hdmi to 4 & 1/2 yr old Sony rpLCD....5.1 rca's for the DTShd....

Awesome sound...still make's me wanna duck!

I was to engrossed in the movie to notice any lip sync issues. And the LFE is so much clearer than the DVD.

Jeff

If you had the disc I had, you could not have been engrossed enough to not notice the lip sync issue..it was beyond bad..not subtle at all. The worst I have ever seen.