bushikatagi
08-28-2009, 11:14 AM
Hey all, was just watching the latest episode and heard about Robert Heron's excitment for the new Gladiator Bluray release. They are calling it a "Sapphire" release which is supposed to bring the finest sound and video for a couple Oscar winning movies. Braveheart is the other Sapphire release and it looks quite excellent.
Gladiator on the other hand looks incredibly underwhelming. The studio seems to have applied some heavy Digital Noise Reduction, Edge Enhancment and possibly a dust/scratch removal filter. To the point of actually removing objects from the movie! An example can be seen from these comparison shots: HERE. (http://comparescreenshots.slicx.com/comparison/12353/picture:6) It's a mouse-over comparison from an HD broadcast and the Bluray, which was leaked early on the street. The arrows are much fainter in the Bluray. They also throw some big fireballs that kinda flicker in motion. There's a bunch of other examples similar to this throughout the film, such as spears and arrows being segmented, etc.
The Edge Enhancement is pretty bad too. You can see thick halos around the mountains and Crowe's head in this shot: HERE. (http://comparescreenshots.slicx.com/comparison/12353/picture:11)
Probably the weirdest thing about the whole thing is that the extended cut scenes (which are watched through seemless branching) are basically untouched and look excellent. So you go from one filtered version of the film to a great looking picture and back again.
Figured I'd let people over here know to maybe rent this one first. The Sapphire series comes with a premium associated with it so bad quality is a little harder to swallow. Braveheart is a good pick this week atleast.
If anyone wants to check out a whole bunch more comparison shots and some clips or get in on the conversation, check out this thread at AVSforum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1173155
Gladiator on the other hand looks incredibly underwhelming. The studio seems to have applied some heavy Digital Noise Reduction, Edge Enhancment and possibly a dust/scratch removal filter. To the point of actually removing objects from the movie! An example can be seen from these comparison shots: HERE. (http://comparescreenshots.slicx.com/comparison/12353/picture:6) It's a mouse-over comparison from an HD broadcast and the Bluray, which was leaked early on the street. The arrows are much fainter in the Bluray. They also throw some big fireballs that kinda flicker in motion. There's a bunch of other examples similar to this throughout the film, such as spears and arrows being segmented, etc.
The Edge Enhancement is pretty bad too. You can see thick halos around the mountains and Crowe's head in this shot: HERE. (http://comparescreenshots.slicx.com/comparison/12353/picture:11)
Probably the weirdest thing about the whole thing is that the extended cut scenes (which are watched through seemless branching) are basically untouched and look excellent. So you go from one filtered version of the film to a great looking picture and back again.
Figured I'd let people over here know to maybe rent this one first. The Sapphire series comes with a premium associated with it so bad quality is a little harder to swallow. Braveheart is a good pick this week atleast.
If anyone wants to check out a whole bunch more comparison shots and some clips or get in on the conversation, check out this thread at AVSforum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1173155