The New PQ Tier thread for Blu-Ray - Discussion - Page 660

He nailed it. Nothing to add.


Tier 1.5*

Witchfinder General (region-free UK)

recommendation: Tier 3.75*

Witchfinder General is a sadistic tale set in Cromwell's England, starring Vincent Price. First released in 1968, British distributor Odeon Entertainment gave the film its only Blu-ray version, back in June of 2011 in a region-free edition where the movie will play anywhere in the world. Running 86:42, the main feature is encoded in AVC on a BD-50 at generally high bitrates, often exceeding 30 Mbps. Presented at 1080p in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which preserves the intended theatrical presentation.

Make no mistake, the film elements are in variable condition and typically look okay despite some problems. The transfer shows trace amounts of sharpening, though the biggest culprit is the presence of analog noise in the movie's grain. While I can't be positive, it suspiciously resembles the noise produced by transfers made on older CRT telecine machines. Anyone that has seen a number of Blue Underground's releases would recognize it immediately.

The sharpness is moderate at best and there are occasional focus issues, though much of the cinematography is purposely diffuse at times. A strong magenta push has been added to the color palette, making the red sleeves of the soldiers overly saturated and frankly a little garish. It also extends to the flesh-tones, adding a rosy tint to almost all of the actors' faces.

The scenes filmed day-for-night are not affected by it, but some of the interior shots have slightly clipped black levels with crushed shadow detail. Taking everything into consideration, this BD's picture quality is limited by the dated film elements. Some moments are quite nice, but they are too brief to produce the consistency of better transfers. It is apparent that Witchfinder General will not see another release on Blu-ray, so its satisfactory appearance on this BD will have to satisfy fans for now.

Brave

Pixar's latest won't win any of the super top tiers based on its darkness and general warmth due to candlelight, but it does have some superb properties. Red hair is stunning on Brave, and greens prove striking. Grass and hair looks incredibly sharp. Characters don't have the eye-popping texture to their skin, although their clothing is impressive.

Tier .75*

Black Magic Rites

recommendation: Tier 4.5*

The 1973 Italian production claims to have been mastered from the 35mm film negative on the back of the case, in this rather weak effort by Kino Lorber and Redemption Films. That claim may be true, but the picture itself shows heavy signs of speckling that practically overwhelms the 1.78:1 frame during the film's opening scene. The debris and damage does lighten up deeper into the movie, but the lack of clarity and softness are constant reminders of its low-budget origins. An unprocessed transfer from mediocre film elements doesn't turn out that well on this BD for Black Magic Rites.

Savages

Were it not for the focus, we'd be discussing a top tier title. It would be a challenge with off-hue black levels and some definite light sharpening, but the facial detail absolutely soars. Stunning definition is everywhere, and helped along by a color palette that couldn't be more powerful.

Tier 1.75*

I remember someone here recommending Boss: Season One for the highest spot in Tier 0. It also happens to be a fine show regardless of A/V quality. An elf has informed me that it will be on sale at Best Buy for Black Friday next week, at the very low price of $9.99. I imagine it might show up for that price on Amazon, if they match Best Buy.

Chariots of Fire

Ah, what a treat to finally have the privilege to watch one of my all-time favorites on Blu-ray! Our family viewed this together countless times (especially before cross-country track meets that several of our daughters ran in ) and we were always inspired by the priceless story-line and the hauntingly beautiful musical score by the famed Vangelis. I had heard that the restoration was a marvel and I was pleased with the results. It was a VAST improvement over its DVD counterpart.

Having said that, it was not without its flaws. There were inconsistencies in blacks levels (some were deep and inky, others were a dark gray, and then some were too dark resulting in crushed blacks) and in details (close-ups fared well, but midrange shots were lacking). The most remarkable details were to be seen in clothing (suits, dresses, hats, etc.). Facial details were also a mixed bag, though most close-ups of Eric Liddell (with his pitted complexion) and Abraham were demo-worthy.

Colors were muted throughout, though when primaries did break out they were vibrant (this was especially true in some of the outdoor shots of Scotland and England's countryside where greens were nice and lush). Grain structure was exemplary in most of the film...very FILM-LIKE!

Where the age of the film betrayed itself the most was in clarity or sharpness, with most indoor scenes suffering where the lighting was dim. In outdoor shots with plenty of light there was ample clarity and a good deal of depth to boot.

All the *expert* reviewers on Cinema Squid's site are giving rave reviews of the PQ with scores averaging in the 90s, but this thread is much more demanding with minute criteria to judge it by. As much as I love this film and would love to call it "demo," my conscience tells me it's not deserving of anything higher than Tier Silver, and even there it should be consigned closer to the bottom....

Tier Recommendation: 2.5*

Viewed from 7.5' using the equipment listed below....

I had the sense that there may have been filtering on Garfield and Stone as well at times to make it seem more plausible that they were the right age to be in high school. Definitely agree about Sony's standard middle-of-the-road parameters. Nevertheless, I agree on the bottom line.

Tier 1.5*

You beat me to the punch, I had been meaning to review Chariots of Fire for awhile now in the thread. I concur with everything you said about the movie and the disc itself. A pleasing film-like transfer at an unusually high 29.88 Mbps for the AVC video encode. Warner definitely treated this film with more care than their average catalog property.

BDInfo scan (courtesy of Cinema Squid):
http://www.cinemasquid.com/blu-ray/movies/releases/chariots-of-fire/336b46db-e52a-40cd-90f6-d28c50b8d1ad

Chariots Of Fire

Recommendation: Tier 2.5*
That is a very plausible reason for the filtering I had not considered, both Garfield and Stone are a bit too old to pass for high school students without a little digital help.


This is not directly related to Blu-rays but I thought some readers here might like to know about the following service. The following link is a webpage that lists practically all holiday-themed television episodes and specials for each day through Christmas. It's quite thorough and this year they have added Thanksgiving-related specials to the mix.

http://christmastvschedule.blogspot.com/

Here is today's schedule as an example:

Saturday, November 17
6:00am - November Christmas (2010, Sam Elliott, John Corbett) (Hallmark)
8:00am - Karroll's Christmas (2004) (FMC)
8:00am - Fallen Angel (Gary Sinise) (Hallmark)
9:00am - Holly & Hal Moose: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure (HUB)
9:00am - Saved by the Bell (Christmas) (MTV2)
10:00am - A Dog Named Christmas (2009) (Hallmark)
11:00am - Rawhide (Christmas) (Encore Western)
12:00pm - Deen Brothers Thanksgiving (FOOD)
12:00pm - The Christmas Secret (2000, Richard Thomas, Beau Bridges) (Hallmark)
12:00pm - A Different Kind of Christmas (1996, Shelly Long) (Lifetime)
1:30pm - Boy Meets World (Thanksgiving) (MTV2)
2:00pm - Unwrapped (Thanksgiving) (FOOD)
2:00pm - The Wishing Tree (2012) (Hallmark)
2:00pm - All She Wants for Christmas (2006) (Lifetime)
2:00pm - A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas: Max Final Cut (MOMAX)
3:00pm - Dear Food Network: Thanksgiving Disasters (GAC)
4:00pm - The Parkers (Christmas) (BET)
4:00pm - Annie Claus is Coming to Town (Vivica A. Fox) (Hallmark)
4:30pm - Dan Vs. (Thanksgiving) (HUB)
6:00pm - All I Want For Christmas (2007) (Hallmark)
6:00pm - A Boyfriend for Christmas (2004) (Lifetime)
8:00pm - Matchmaker Santa (2012, Florence Henderson, Lacey Chabert) (Hallmark)
8:00pm - Holiday High School Reunion (2012, Marilu Henner, Harry Hamlin) (Lifetime)
9:30pm - Everybody Loves Raymond (Thanksgiving) (TV Land)
10:00pm - A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011) (Cinemax)
10:00pm - Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade (2012) (Hallmark)
10:00pm - George Lopez (Thanksgiving) (Nick)
11:33pm - Friends (Thanksgiving) (Nick)
12:00am - Santa Jr (2002, Lauren Holly, Judd Nelson) (Hallmark)
12:00am - Holiday High School Reunion (2012, Marilu Henner, Harry Hamlin) (Lifetime)
2:00am - Eve's Christmas (2004) (Hallmark)
2:20am - A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011) (Cinemax)
4:00am - Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage (2008, Peter O'Toole) (Hallmark)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

The Man From Nowhere

recommendation: Tier 2.5

A slick Korean thriller in the mold of The Professional, the Blu-ray for it has one of the wider variances in picture quality seen on the format. The disc is currently ranked in Tier 2.75 and that is a very equitable ranking for it, due to the disparity between its best moments and worst scenes. A reviewer could easily cherry-pick the best screenshots, which possess the clarity and detail of a disc in Tier 0. The digital video cinematography is very inconsistent and many of its worst traits manifest in the darker scenes, from slightly crushed black levels to video noise and ringing. There are several scenes where the action is obscured on the screen due to the teal color grading and overall darkness.

Well Go USA unfortunately crammed a 119-minute movie on a BD-25, resulting in a video encode that averages a paltry 18.44 Mbps. It doesn't significantly impact the visual quality, though a hint of compression noise does pop up at times. No, the main problems with the picture seem to have occurred during the original photography and production. In that regard, I think this BD is probably as good as the movie will ever look in 1080p. A pity that the video quality of the stylish action scenes don't carry over into the rest of the movie.

BDInfo scan (courtesy of Cinema Squid):
http://www.cinemasquid.com/blu-ray/movies/releases/the-man-from-nowhere/e441359b-aed2-4abb-a7e4-5dc0672b72e0#specs

Deep Rising

Mostly up to date master that loses out from compression. Grain is coarse and unnatural. Black levels are fine but play host to some additional noise. Damage is high, and color don't pop, but they look natural to the source. Facial detail isn't always there, but when it is, touchdown.

Tier 3.0*

I have wanted (desperately) to watch Lawrence of Arabia, but with it having a running time of nearly 4 hours I simply haven't had the time. I did manage to watch the first two scenes this evening and after being thoroughly impressed with them I did jump ahead to catch a few more snippets. Let me make this preliminary judgment...if the whole film is consistent with what I've seen, this will easily be the BEST CATALOG TITLE to make its way to Blu-ray! This would be quite the feat, for outstanding works have already come forth, such as Ben Hur and How the West Was Won (the latter being the better of the two). I'm leaving early tomorrow for at least 4-5 days in Minneapolis (to enjoy Thanksgiving with our daughters and their families), so I may have to wait until next week to view the whole film.

I'd like to wish all my friends at AVS a blessed Thanksgiving! In spite of a floundering economy (and other areas of concern) we still live in the best country in the world and we should count our blessings, which are MANY.

As always, have a safe trip and enjoy the holiday. Lawrence of Arabia should look great, Sony has only been talking about it on Blu-ray since 2007 and promised the moon. With the recent deals for the upcoming Black Friday, I should have some interesting movies to review very soon for the PQ thread, including Cabin In The Woods and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, among others.

If anyone was wondering, there should be an update to the tiers in the next week or so.

The Expendables 2

This will be interesting. I'm calling this the worst brand new release of the year. Despicable noise, compression,and filtering to such extremes, this is barely watchable. The few sharp moments stand out because they're the exception. Fine detail is alarmingly poor. The color scheme is ugly. Nothing looks like film.

Here's the kicker: I had a rental copy. It also cuts the DTS-HD tracks. However, the video bitrate is quite high, and I don't think there would be two different encodes.

Regardless, this should never happen:



Tier 4.0*

That screenshot is positively horrible! If that is typical of the whole film I may be recommending the garbage bin (Tier 5).

I watched this last night and was surprised how ugly it was for a newer release. There were a few scenes like when Stallone and the kid are outside the bar talking near the beginning of the film that were WAY out of focus.

Like you mention, lossy audio as well which seems to be a new trend for Lionsgate for the rental version going off the last 3 releases (Cabin in the Woods and forget the other one) which is a bummer.

That's not even the worst shot. I couldn't get it because the playlist mess Lionsgate creates on their titles, so grabbed what I could out of sequence.

There are a handful of impressive moments. Exteriors can look great. It's enough to salvage it from the bottom, if just barely.

That screenshot looks positively awful, I am stunned a new Hollywood film with major stars could look that poor in 2012. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving and saves room for dessert.

A Blu-ray with fantastic picture quality, the first season of Boss (a political drama starring Kelsey Grammar) has been dropped in price as a Black Friday special on Amazon, to $9.99.

http://www.amazon.com/Boss-Season-Blu-ray-Kelsey-Grammer/dp/B005S97UY2/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1353630202&sr=1-1&keywords=boss

The Cabin In The Woods

recommendation: Tier 2.5*

I thought the Blu-ray was a shade better than prior reviews in the thread, though I agree the black levels in the film's second half are a problem. It looks less like a black level problem and more a situation with the overall contrast, as the action settles into night. There is a moderate amount of ringing but it also looks like some minor filtering has been applied to the digital intermediate. While the picture is razor-sharp and pristine, I would not agree that high-frequency content is all that great for a modern movie. What pushed me to place this a little higher is the excellent depth and dimensionality, particularly in its first half. A serious sense of depth and pop are present before the main characters get to the cabin.

I Spit On Your Grave (2010)

recommendation: Tier 0 (below Rushmore)

Abhorrent subject matter presented in perfect and graphic detail. From the opening minutes, the stunning consistency of the digital cinematography provided by the RED ONE camera is picture perfect. One of the best-shot digital movies on the format, the transfer has practically no superfluous processing and regularly produces the looking-out-a-window effect so prized by the average person for HD. It's amazing that a relatively low-budget film from Starz such as this could produce better picture quality than many of the Hollywood blockbusters. I suspect the lack of CGI and FX helped make a contribution to that result.

The AVC video encode, which averages 27.64 Mbps, is a strong effort that preserves whatever detail can be found on the digital intermediate. The digital color grading does tend toward cool blues and a restrained color palette, though it is not drained of all warmth like so many other modern thrillers.The blemish-free picture is almost clinical in its gaze, as it is hard for me to cite any negatives among the video's many virtues.

BDInfo scan (courtesy of CinemaSquid):
http://www.cinemasquid.com/blu-ray/movies/releases/i-spit-on-your-grave/328a4ff9-8cac-48d5-8996-6fcf4037a25d#specs

U-571

Yeah, I know, I'm about 3 years too late with this review! For whatever reason, I never watched this, but I couldn't resist grabbing one out of the Best Buy "bucket of cheap Blu-rays" the other day. I had heard the audio was awesome so I especially wanted to see it for that reason.

I'm simply going to agree with its current placement, which, I assume, was determined a few years ago. Let me just say that I still believe it deserves that ranking, so that's quite a statement 3 years later. The details, clarity, and depth won the day!

Tier Recommendation: 1.75

PS The audio was superb, most notably the last two "depth charges" scenes!

Viewed from 7.5' using the equipment listed below....

The Puppet Masters

Surprisingly strong Mill Creek catalog effort considering it's crammed into a two-pack. Nice detail and grain with few moments of compression. Light edge enhancement is visible early and then carries no effects into the rest of the film. Blacks are solid, but color is dry.

Tier 2.75*

eXistenZ

recommendation: Tier 3.25*

Echo Bridge has released this 1999 Miramax film in a solo edition on a BD-25. The movie is presented at 1080i resolution, indicating the source for the transfer was originally intended for broadcast distribution. The lack of print damage and generally decent high-frequency content in close-ups makes for a solid viewing experience, though the AVC compression is oddly inferior to the multi-pack version of the film also released by Echo Bridge. That version also features a darker transfer, probably closer to the intended appearance by Cronenberg. Unfortunately Echo Bridge failed to include lossless audio on the multi-pack edition, so fans will have to pick which fault they can tolerate more. This version of eXistenZ doesn't look horrible, but it will bite some that it could have been easily improved.

ParaNorman

One of my surprises of the year in terms of movie quality ends up a looker too. Perfectly sharp and intensely detailed, the stop motion puppets looks outstanding in HD. There's a ton of detail to appreciate. Darker scenes lost a little oomph in the blacks and the tone can be muted overall, the only detriments.

Tier 1.25*

Frankenstein

recommendation: Tier 3.75*

In some respects, this transfer possibly merits a higher placement. Universal's Frankenstein has superb black levels and the actual amount of detail for a 1931 movie with parts of the original negative missing are quite impressive. The increase in clarity and definition over SD is truly a marvel to behold at times. More of the famous make-up work and set design is visible than ever before in the velvety shadows. The studio has also given the video encode a top-notch compression effort, averaging 32.32 Mbps over the course of its 70 minutes.

The level of print damage and age-related wear is kept to such minimum levels that I have to believe some degree of filtering has been used on Frankenstein's transfer. The grain might actually be too consistent in appearance for such a vintage film and it bears the hallmarks of digital grain having been artificially added back into the film, after the full grain has been cleaned up by the digital processing. That process is not uncommon on older film transfers, though its use here can be questioned. There is also the presence of slight ringing as some scenes actually become too sharp.

For a Universal Blu-ray, Frankenstein exhibits a fairly strong restoration and transfer, even given my reservations.

BDInfo scan (courtesy of CinemaSquid's website):
http://www.cinemasquid.com/blu-ray/movies/releases/universal-classic-monsters-the-essential-collection/e6e2a8ef-8cd2-4c63-9725-a4e1c768048a#specs

All I want for Christmas is for the rating list to be updated. But seriously, anyone know when the next update might be coming? Thanks!

My pre-orders of Finding Nemo and The Dark Knight Rises will be released next Tuesday and I can hardly wait. I still believe Finding Nemo will find its way close to the top of Tier 0 (it may even rival Madagascar 3) and from what I've read about TDKR it could easily be Tier 1 material, and it may even have a shot at Tier Blu. For those interested in the audio end, both of these titles have very active material in the surrounds and the LFE, so that's the "icing on the cake."
Edited by djoberg - 11/29/12 at 8:27am

+1!!! Looking forward to both of these! To finally see/hear Nemo in high def.............

Watched The Adventures of Tin Tin last night and was extremely impressed with the PQ! One of the better looking discs I have seen lately.

I have been wanting to see Finding Nemo in HD ever since the Blu-ray format "won the war." And then I purchased my SVS sub last year and read about the amazing LFE (I believe many were talking about the amazing *thuds* in the "aquarium" scene ) and so I'm just as psyched to hear it! I can't imagine what you'll experience Toe with your FOUR SVS Ultra subs plus your two buttkickers...I'm extremely jealous!!

Yes, TAOTT was a great-looking title. I tried a Search to see what I had written on my review, but for some reason the Search turned up empty.