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But ever since the advent of HTDVs displaying the full image on screens, picture boxing is really no longer necessary. You were never meant to see those black borders on the sides of old TVs anyway, but now with HDTVs it’s hard not to see those black borders.
Ah, yes - forgot about the limitation of CRT TV sets. But why does the Blu-ray have it (and the UE DVD for that matter)? Surely the need for picture boxing was gone by the time the Blu-ray collection was released?
As for why it was kept on blu-ray, I dunno. For all the fixes they made that’s just something they glaringly overlooked until 4K.
Wow, as late as 2008? Would have thought that the various distributers would be quick to drop the picture boxing as soon as the HDTVs became the standard.
Picture boxing seems like a pretty big thing to overlook for Blu-ray, as it's so noticeable. Did they overlook the picture boxing on any of the other Blu-ray releases as well?
That's very strange! Wonder why they weren't consistent with it.
I see, that might explain it. Anyway, it's nice to see that for OHMSS at least, the 4K release sorted out the picture boxing!
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2000 MGM Special Edition DVD
2009 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
The differences are fairly subtle to me. In fact, I'd go with any of these versions and be satisfied. I think the tint on the Blu-ray, especially in that shot of M probably looks the closest to the theatrical version.
I remember the film looking slightly greenish in the cinema, especially during the Istanbul sequences and in the banker office. Also, the contrast on this film wasn't very deep compared to other Bonds.
The cinematography wasn't particularly striking and the colors didn't pop. Not exactly washed out, but certainly not vivid like the Connery films.
That reminds me of a comment Robert Mitchum made when discussing his film noir era at RKO: "The big studios had all the lights. We lit ours with cigarettes."
The cinematography in both TND and TWINE lacked punch as Carver might say.
I pretty much share your opinion that I would not be bothered with any of the three versions. The SE looks quite dark here in comparison, but I own the SE and always thoroughly enjoyed the colours and brightness. I wouldn´t throw the 4K version out of the window, but I´m also not in awe, to me it looks a tiny bit artificial in comparison with the other two, like it did already in some instances before.
No problem. I went back and trimmed some of those quotes out. Save some space. My apologies for the inconvenience.
I had a typo in my post, I meant I´m not bothered by any of the three versions. Forgot the "not" ;-).
Yes. Unlike some of the Connery/Moore films, the TWINE differences in transfers are subtle. I imagine DAD to be more or less the same.
As odd as it seems, Lowry "remastered" the film for the Ultimate Edition DVD and Blu-ray sets even though the first DVD was only 3 year old at the time and is arguably one of the best DVDs as far as picture quality goes for that format. The only difference I can notice in the blu-ray is that there was a tiny bit more information on the top and bottom but it's extremely minuscule. And I guess it wouldn't be blu-ray without having the skin tones appear with a magenta push. Also Lowry restored the original burned in subtitles for establishing shot and foreign dialogue. As for the 4K, there's a more noticeable difference in that the images appear to be brighter and there's extra information on the bottom and right sides, and the skin tones look much more natural.
This was the last Bond film to be mastered on film rather than digital like future Bonds. My understanding is that certain scenes such as those set in North Korea were digitally graded, but that's about it.
Anyway, here's DAD.
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
2003 MGM Special Edition DVD
2008 Fox Blu-ray
2017 iTunes 4K
So that's that. I tried screencap samples of CR last month. The DVD and blu-ray were from the same exact transfer, so the only difference is inherent to the formats so it's not even worth comparing. I even looked between blu-ray and iTunes 4K and from what I could tell it's exactly the same, if maybe a tad brighter and that's not even in HDR. So because of that, I'm not going to be doing anymore comparisons. I don't even have the equipment to do screencaps of the actual 4K/HDR discs anyway, and we've pretty much reached an era in digital filmmaking where what you got in theaters will more likely look like what you get on home video. I shouldn't expect future Bond films to look dramatically different on home video in the same way that the Connery and Moore films did. The Brosnan era wasn't all that dramatic from format to format, so it should be even less so for Craig's run.
Your efforts on this thread are very much appreciated.
Oddly I don't expect any of the Craig films to be worth an upgrade when they're not exactly old.
I find the '62-'89 the most fascinating in terms of comparing the different transfers.
A topic I've been interested in ever since the films were re-issued for VHS in '88.
Awesome! Thanks! Just checked and whilst Spectre is still HD, CR and QoS are showing to be 4K with HDR! :D
It's the HDR conversion rather than the uptick in resolution that makes Spectre look so good.
That’s because they’re laaaaaaame.
I remember a lot of the bitching about the GF Blu ray restorations being idiots that were disappointed that it didn't look like it was made that year.
I was under the impression with Blu ray and 4K (although not always achieved) is to return the film to as close to the original cinema presentation as possible.
The brief but informative doc Emulsional Rescue goes into this.
A good number of reactions to the magnificent restorations of GF 1 & 2 were people who were clearly not understanding what the purpose of the process was trying to achieve.
The best catalogue 4K releases are doing this even more so or should be.
I will be interested to see how much different the 4K Godfather versions differ to the excellent Blu ray versions.
Can't believe it's been over a decade now since that blu-ray was released. Still looks great.
I think it is if I remember rightly.