Brian Hulnick Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 It's the same interview I read here it is. Ever since 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment announced that it would be releasing the eagerly-anticipated Alien Anthology Blu-ray boxset this October, tech-heads across the internet have been wondering how the studio will be handling James Cameron's Aliens in hi-def. After all, the film has always looked incredibly grainy and, as shown by Fox's recent re-release of Predator, the studio isn't afraid of hitting the big old DNR button while mastering films for Blu-ray in order to scrub away film grain (and fine detail). After a month of speculation, we now appear to have an answer straight from the horse's mouth, so-to-speak. During an interview to promote the upcoming cinema release of the special edition of Avatar for ComingSoon.net, James Cameron was asked if he'd been involved in the Aliens Blu-ray and here's what he had to say... 'I just did a complete remaster of Aliens personally, with the same colourist I worked with on Avatar. And it's spectacular. We went in and completely de-noised, de-grained it, up-rezzed it, colour corrected it end-to-end, every frame. It looks amazing, better than it looked in theatres originally. Because it was shot on a high-speed negative that was a new negative that didn't pan out too well and got replaced the following year. So it was pretty grainy. We got rid of all the grain. It's sharper and clearer and more beautiful than it ever looked. And we did that to the long version, to the director's cut or the extended play'. So, should we expect a DNR'd wax-fest like the Predator Blu-ray? I guess we'll only find out for sure when Blu-ray review copies arrive at the HCC office. And rest assured that we'll let you know exactly what the film looks like, and provide some hi-res screenshots, as soon as they turn up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted June 15, 2011 Premium Member Share Posted June 15, 2011 Compression may be part of the problem. It'd be entirely possible to sit in a telecine suite and degrain your movie quite carefully and appropriately, using techniques which effectively rely on identifying and averaging-out things that are: a: Small b: Move quickly By these techniques you could reach a point where it all looked pretty good, without excessive artifacting, smeariness or loss of fine detail. Then someone else, who you probably aren't supervising, will be responsible for fitting your two-to-six-terabyte finished grade onto a twenty-five gigabyte blu-ray disc. The techniques involved in doing this rely on the viewer's tolerance for a lack of details which are: a: Small b: Move quickly I'm sure you can see where this is going. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I totally see where you are going with this. Many things happen between the Telecine Suit and the Blu-ray authoring facility. However, I have to say that I am pleased with how Aliens looks on Blu-ray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I am hearing that the (Director approved) transfer of LOTR- Fellowship Of The Ring (Extended Blu-ray)is seriously screwed up. Way too green. Can anyone confirm this. I want to order the extended set, but not if everyone in Part one looks like Yoda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris D Walker Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I had just read the same thing last night about The Fellowship of the Ring being messed around with. I have been waiting for the extended edition box set, not for the films themselves but rather for the extras across several discs. I've seen both versions of all three films a number of times and I prefer the theatrical cuts of each installment far more; the additional and extended scenes stand out in comparison because they disrupt the momentum of the story for me. Peter Jackson and Andrew Lesnie have supervised a new transfer of the extended editions; entire scenes have changed in hue and saturation. From what I've been reading Fellowship is the worst affected; one scene in particular on the snowy mountain tops before the fellowship enter Moria has gone from clean white snow and blue sky to a cyan/green hue over the whole picture. There are theories abound that Jackson's attempting to establish a continuity in look from Return of the King back to the two Hobbit films being made now. People who claim there was a problem during the transfer I ask them to look at The Dark Knight, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien on Blu-ray and claim there was a problem during their transfers; the Lord of the Rings went through quality control, they signed off on it, what you see is what they want you to see. I doubt the extended edition box set has the theatrical cuts unaltered, so I may buy the Blu-ray of the theatrical cuts that's been around for a while and stick with the extended edition extras from the DVD version which I've had for years. Saying all this, this doesn't detract the Lord of the Rings from being a great trilogy of films. Whatever Jackson and Lesnie may do to them now and in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 There is talk of a recall of FOTR in response to viewer and reviewer complaints. I'm holding off till a decision is made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markshaw Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 With regard to FOTR here is an article from thedigitalbits.com. All right... I'm sure this announcement is going to liven-up discussion around the Interwebs. As many of you are aware, Warner's new Blu-ray release of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy - Extended Edition finally arrives in stores tomorrow. It's a damn fine box set, that we think you'll all enjoy (see our review here). Meanwhile, a few of you may be aware that there's been some controversy regarding screenshots and the color timing of the new 2K-remastered presentation of Fellowship of the Ring. Our feeling here at The Bits is that it's been blown out of proportion, as things tend to be these days. However, just to be sure, we started a process a couple weeks ago (before we posted our review) to encourage Warner Home Video and Wingnut Films to investigate the matter to make sure that the discs streeting tomorrow truly and accurately represent the creative vision of director Peter Jackson and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie. That process has been on-going, involving Wingnut and the filmmakers, and it appears it's finally concluded. Here's the studio's official statement on the issue, as of this afternoon: "Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group confirms that The Lord of the Rings The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition Blu-ray accurately represents the intended look of each of the three features. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring™ was remastered from the original digital production files in order to reproduce the full color imagery of the feature." So there it is. We have little doubt that the controversy will continue in some quarters, and that those who are convinced there's a problem here will continue to feel that way. Nevertheless, we are told that the filmmakers have checked the discs and confirmed this is the intended look. We suspect that when the discs are actually in YOUR hands tomorrow, the vast majority of you will be very happy with them. We further suspect that many of those who've been following the controversy for the past couple of weeks will wonder what the fuss was about. It shall be interesting to see what the 'morrow brings. Much rejoicing (and a bit of talk about 'revisionism'), we predict. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Having seen several screenshots of the offending scenes I am happy to purchase the set to be honest. It's not nearly as green as all the fear mongers were saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I decided to buy the LOTR box set last week, seeing as the price was dropped by 14 note just before launch date. I have to say that I don't really notice any excessive green tint, even in the snow/ mountain scenes. I think it was all blown way out of proportion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Andre Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 http://digitalcontentproducer.com/cg/video_rings/ in that article, it talks about Fellowship not being entirely digitally mastered, while the Two Towers and presumably Return of the King was. perhaps thats where the subtle difference comes from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 He is obviously very proud of the work he and his team did during the filming of the trilogy. There is no way he would have allowed the EE Blu-rays to be released unless he was 100% happy with the way they looked. So that's good enough for me. Don't listen to the naysayers who run down the color of FOTR, trust Jackson and Lesnie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 On your advice I went to order from Amazon and they only went and hiked the price up $20 for the set. I'll look around to see if I can find it locally for less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markshaw Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 My advice: Ignore all those who say the image is far too green. The image is fantastic and clearly what the director and DOP intended. BUY BUY BUY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I bit the bullet last week and purchased the LOTR EE Blu-rays and I am totally happy with the way ALL 3 movies look. My only complaint is that there are 9 DVD's in the set. Why could they not use BD's, even if the extras were standard definition? Could have saved 3 discs. WB are a strange beast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Warner Bros did the same with the harry potter ultimate editions and also the Matrix Collection. Simply reuse the same DVDs that were in the initial DVD release. Cheapskates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markshaw Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 I would much rather they just release the Blu-rays of the movies only, I already had the supplements DVD's from the extended editions years ago. If you are gonna release a much loved and anticipated movie on a superior format, go all the way, don't jerk around WB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Samuals Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I have about 200 Blu-ray movies of which about 5 came with DVD's/ Digital Copies. As I have no desire to go back and watch DVD's I am giving them to family. I would much rather they chop $5 off a New title than throw in USELESS Standard Definition copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 DVD's and Digital copies are the studios way of luring Joe-6 pack into embracing Blu-ray. It keeps the wife and kids happy. Especially if they travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Samuals Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Still don't like them. Wish all the studios would release a version with DC/ DVD and 3D and one version just the movie with extras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris D Walker Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I'm surprised no-one has made a mention of what is happening with the Star Wars Blu-ray. George Lucas has made more alterations in addition to what was already done in the '97 Special Editions and the DVD release. The Ewoks now blink, Darth Vader cries "Noooo!" before he throws the Emperor into the reactor, there are more X-Wings in the battle of Endor, and there's a reverse 'Planet of the Apes' zoom when C-3PO and R2-D2 approach the door to Jabba's Palace. That's only from 'Return of the Jedi'. It wouldn't shock me if more has been changed that hasn't officially been announced yet. Beyond the alterations, the image quality should be excellent for 'Attack of the Clones' and 'Revenge of the Sith' since they will be direcetly transferred from the HD masters. 'A New Hope' should look great since Lowry Digital did a 4K cleanup job with it years ago; hopefully 'Empire' and 'Jedi' have gotten similar love. Segue: which Blu-rays have you been pleasantly surprised by? Where you didn't expect a significant difference jumping from DVD to High Def but which made an impression? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 You forgot about the blinking Ewoks, no literally, he has them blinking now. He added some CGI rocks for when C3PO and R2D2 are hiding from the Sand People. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Was seriously impressed with how the Star Wars movies looks and sounded, especially the original trilogy. Seriously mind blowing. I don't actually mind the changes. I love the movies but I'm no SW NUT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Just got my new Projector delivered, just need to set it up and calibrate it then it's movie time. Got a major backlog of movies to catch up on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markshaw Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Segue: which Blu-rays have you been pleasantly surprised by? Where you didn't expect a significant difference jumping from DVD to High Def but which made an impression? Ben Hur looks awesome on Blu-ray. They did a great job of cleaning it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I watched Star Wars Episode 4 through my projector Yesterday and it looked amazing. For a 35 year old movie it looked unbelievable. Colors were great, image was sharp, but not artificially so and the audio was through the roof, literally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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