Wow, I just watched the HDDVD of Grand Prix and I was really impressed with the picture quality even on my 720P DLP projector. I had never seen this movie before but love auto racing so it was an enjoyable story as well. For a print over 40 years old this transfer really holds up. The detail and stability of the image are excellent. Its truly a testament to the quality of 65mm and Super Panavision. I heard this was filmed in Cinerama but this is not the case, it was Super Panavision so there's no lines in the frame. The F1 racing scenes with the camera on the cars are simply amazing, some of the most visceral racing shots I've seen. The colour looks a little dated but this could just be the film stocks and timing they used at the time.
My one complaint is the sound quality is limited. Its 5.1 DD+ but its derived from the original mono mix. Don't get me wrong its still good but some will consider it flat with minimal bass and surround usage. But its probably as good as they can do with the original source elements.
This type of movie demonstrates the benefits of shooting with large format film. The PQ is amazing, there's very little grain and it lasts a long time. In fact it looks a lot better then a lot of 20 year old 35mm transfers. I can't wait to see Battle of the Bulge. Who said Warner's doing crappy transfers?
My one complaint is the sound quality is limited. Its 5.1 DD+ but its derived from the original mono mix. Don't get me wrong its still good but some will consider it flat with minimal bass and surround usage. But its probably as good as they can do with the original source elements.
This type of movie demonstrates the benefits of shooting with large format film. The PQ is amazing, there's very little grain and it lasts a long time. In fact it looks a lot better then a lot of 20 year old 35mm transfers. I can't wait to see Battle of the Bulge. Who said Warner's doing crappy transfers?
