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James Bond on Blu-ray/4K

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  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited June 2014 Posts: 28,694
    chrisisall wrote:
    Question: does Blu Ray make the rear projection in early films look more fake?
    It's probably more apparent/obvious due to the improved picture clarity, yes, though I don't mind. I love the back projections, myself. It's all a part of the charm of those films.
  • Ed83Ed83
    Posts: 1,181
    Yes, it will stand out to you far more on Bluray. Yeah I agree it does add charm to the early ones. It's pretty amazing what they were able to do with limited resources in the beginning.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Ed83 wrote:
    Yes, it will stand out to you far more on Bluray. Yeah I agree it does add charm to the early ones. It's pretty amazing what they were able to do with limited resources in the beginning.

    I like older cinema because filmmakers had to think creatively on their feet to find solutions to problems like shooting a scene in a car without actually having the actor drive it on a road. Nowadays it's just CGI this, CGI that. Snore...
  • fire_and_icefire_and_ice
    Posts: 6,432
    Managed to pick up Bond50 on bluray shortly after release for £80 due to local HMV having a fire sale. still the crown jewel in my boxset collection lol
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Well these days, shooting scenes are done on rigs, where the car is actually moving, yet it's attached to a rig driven by someone else. This allows them to get all the angles while the vehicle is actually moving down a road. Granted, you still have your fair share of obvious rear projection (whether it's used to fit with the aesthetic of the film or not) and horrid CGI.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited June 2014 Posts: 28,694
    Creasy47 wrote:
    Well these days, shooting scenes are done on rigs, where the car is actually moving, yet it's attached to a rig driven by someone else. This allows them to get all the angles while the vehicle is actually moving down a road. Granted, you still have your fair share of obvious rear projection (whether it's used to fit with the aesthetic of the film or not) and horrid CGI.
    I wasn't just referring to modern cinema as a whole, where films like Star Wars used creative ways to bring alive fantastic worlds while films of today rely way too much on computer effects and less on make-up and sets. It takes all the fun and creativity out of it when effects do it all.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Speaking of 'Star Wars,' while I'm not a fan of the series, I read the other day that Abrams is going for much, much more practical effects/animatronics/etc. in 'Episode VII,' much like episodes IV-VI, as opposed to the CGI-riddled trilogy of the last decade.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Creasy47 wrote:
    Speaking of 'Star Wars,' while I'm not a fan of the series, I read the other day that Abrams is going for much, much more practical effects/animatronics/etc. in 'Episode VII,' much like episodes IV-VI, as opposed to the CGI-riddled trilogy of the last decade.
    Yes, and the recent set photos attest to that. I'm happy for all the Star Wars fans.
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    chrisisall wrote:
    Question: does Blu Ray make the rear projection in early films look more fake?
    No it doesn´t.

    I´ve seen a number of brs where the cleaning-up made the discrepancy between foreground and (projected or not) background look more fake, but I haven´t seen any such effect on the Bond brs so far.

    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    Creasy47 wrote:
    Well these days, shooting scenes are done on rigs, where the car is actually moving, yet it's attached to a rig driven by someone else. This allows them to get all the angles while the vehicle is actually moving down a road. Granted, you still have your fair share of obvious rear projection (whether it's used to fit with the aesthetic of the film or not) and horrid CGI.
    I wasn't just referring to modern cinema as a whole, where films like Star Wars used creative ways to bring alive fantastic worlds while films of today rely way too much on computer effects and less on make-up and sets. It takes all the fun and creativity out of it when effects do it all.
    It all depends on how well it´s done. The CGI in Jurassic Park hasn´t aged much, from where I´m standing. But for some reason at least 90% of CG effects in films are done sloppily. The matte painting effects in films like Blade Runner, or Escape from NY haven´t aged a bit and look better than any CG painting.
    I think it´s a marketing gag, like 3D. In reality, it still takes much more time and money to render all those CG effects properly than most productions have. Hence in many films there are one or two really good effects and a number of lousy ones.
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    I am a newbie to both buying widescreen TVs and BluRay. I have a lot of catching up to do, but I wonder if anyone can help me with some questions?

    Re the screen ratio mentioned above, it is a bit of a headhurter. For one thing, the square-ish Academy ratio is used by old classics and the first 3 Bond films. Of course, that makes for nasty black borders down the side of a widescreen movie, somehow more offputting than a letterbox border. I am surprised there is no way around this, and no new flatscreens offered in that Academy ratio expressly for watching those lovely old movies like Casablanca. I saw GF in the cinema recently and it was annoying with those black borders. I'd want to rig up a sort of curtain thing in red velvet for watching those films on Blu Ray or DVD, just to obscure those borders.

    Of course, some flatscreens do come in different ratio. There are two Samsungs in John Lewis, one is a bit deeper than the other, the narrow one I guess would be better for Panavision movies. But wouldn't that make ordinary TV a bit odd, doesn't it stretch the picture a bit when you are watching routine rubbish like the News?

    I bought a CRT Bang and Olufsen on eBay recently, it is a square set I got for watching those old style classics. Have to say, the picture is lush and rich, real classy. The old sets really did have better 'cinematography' for want of a better word, with far better depth. The modern ones bang on about clarity like it is the only game in town, but I'm not sure if Samsung doesn't look a bit gaudy and tacky to me, the people can look a bit plastic. I just don't get the same sense of choice with modern flatscreens, that you got with CRT Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic or Mitsibishi. What do others think of the choice in picture quality regarding the modern flatscreens?

    Finally, I may buy a region free DVD to play American films on; my Dad is a fan of Esther Williams but her films all tend to be Region 1 (for American players only). But if some DVD players exist, and can be bought from Richer Sounds, why aren't they all made region free? And do region free Blu Ray players exist?

    Sorry to bang on, but none of this is cheap and I don't want to make the wrong decision!
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    As for aspect ratio, pretty much any tv you get to buy these days should have a number of zoom options, which accordingly will reduce black borders, cut off parts of the picture in order to have no black borders, or stretch the picture until there is no more black border.

    Modern tvs have a nauseating variety of picture tuning options. The downside is you need a month to find out the best setting. The upside is that even many cheap tv sets offer the possibility of a marvellous picture quality.

    The system of having different regions for discs seems to have a political/financial background, region-free players would be counterproductive in that sense, so I wouldn't wait for one to come out. With dvd players, many times the really cheap ones (like 35Euro or around that) could play all regions or could easily be made to play them. I have no information whether a similar phenomenon exists for br players.
    One thing is for sure: Your dvds will look a lot better on a br player than on a cheap dvd player.
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    Thanks. It turns out there is a region-free BluRay player, as well as region-free DVD player, but if these exist and are legal, why aren't they all made region-free?

    I know you can mess about and distort the picture options, but I don't really want that, rather I want the picture in the original scale and am surprised with all the niche interest out there that there isn't a flatscreen TV available in the 'Academy' ratio. Otherwise, the black bars down the side could be obscured with plastic attachments to the telly, or my elaborate fantasy of swishy red velvet curtains on a rail! That would make it look less odd imo.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    I got Outland from a fellow in the UK, so I had to hack my player to accept it. Wasn't difficult, just an hour tracking down the proper code to punch in on different hacker sites. All players can be made region free with a simple code entered into them changing the region to '0'..
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    Oh, that's interesting, so you just keyed in the name of your BluRay and did a Google search for the hacking code?
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    NapoleonPlural wrote:
    It turns out there is a region-free BluRay player, as well as region-free DVD player, but if these exist and are legal, why aren't they all made region-free?
    Good question. If you ask me, this whole region thing is a bit sad. When DVDs started to be released, I was so happy and felt connected to the whole world, because I thought with one DVD you get all kinds of languages, be it dub or subtitles. But it turns out that for instance German DVDs or BRs often don´t even contain English subtitles. Which is really annoying, because sometimes I find the English hard to understand (e.g. Filth), and it´s so much better to listen to the spoken English and simultaneously read it, than read the subtitles in a different language.

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    NapoleonPlural wrote:
    Oh, that's interesting, so you just keyed in the name of your BluRay and did a Google search for the hacking code?
    Well, I hacked my DVD player, but basically yeah, it was pretty simple, just took more time searching than I would have liked. It was like turn on your player, press eject, press subtitle, enter 4542, scroll to "0" press enter. Finding the code was the hard part.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    I thought I've heard something about hacking your blu-ray player to make it region-free, I just hear it can really mess up your player if you don't do it right.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited June 2014 Posts: 17,801
    I found a code for one of my other DVD players that turned out to be completely ineffective, but the player still works as before. However, Blu Ray players might be more twitchy....
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    boldfinger wrote:
    chrisisall wrote:
    Question: does Blu Ray make the rear projection in early films look more fake?
    No it doesn´t.

    I´ve seen a number of brs where the cleaning-up made the discrepancy between foreground and (projected or not) background look more fake, but I haven´t seen any such effect on the Bond brs so far.
    I must correct myself. The rear projection in YOLT looks not really more fake but more obvious than on dvd. And the space capsule shots look kinda cute on br. But it´s not a big problem, because the rest looks so much grander than dvd.
    I´m not sure if it´s due to the clearer picture on br, but this time when watching YOLT, Connery seemed totally uninterested in every scene. It´s funny in a way to see how Connery is on fire in all the first four films, and then suddenly he looks as if he´s bound by a contract.

  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    But do his tats show up more?

    I am using this site to assess reviews of all blu ray films, not just Bond.

    http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Moonraker-Blu-ray/3732/

    But for the above review, it suggests they are talking about the US release (Region A: locked). Does this mean the UK Blu Ray would be any different to look at, or do I have to wait for them to review that separately?
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    edited June 2014 Posts: 5,767
    NapoleonPlural wrote:
    But do his tats show up more?
    I think not, because I instantly noticed lots of more details in nearly every frame, but the tats didn´t catch my eyes.

  • nobodydoesitbetternobodydoesitbetter
    Posts: 1,021
    For those of you who don't already own a copy and live in the US (for the cheaper postage) the US site AMAZON is currently offering SKYFALL on bluray for $4.99http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/Skyfall-Blu-ray/ref=&%74%61g=%62l%75r%61y%2d030%2d20?SubscriptionId=AKIAIY4YSQJMFDJATNBA&tag=bluray-030-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B007REV4YI&ASIN=B007REV4YI&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    I use the bluray.com site for reviews, but I have to say their screengrabs, used to illustrate how wonderful the blu ray picture is, don't always look that great to me (responding to the guy who said The Spy Who Loved Me screenshots looked a bit washed out). The Sound of Music gets their best vote, five out of five for both visual and audio, but their screenshots don't look too stunning, I must say.
  • nobodydoesitbetternobodydoesitbetter
    edited June 2014 Posts: 1,021
    @napoleonplural bluray.com is my go to site when ever I am considering an upgrade of a film from DVD to bluray. Most new releases on blu are likely to get 4 or 5 in the picture / audio department. Also I think their screenshots are 720p and not 1080p and there is a disclaimer stating that the images don't always represent the actual image on the blu-ray (or i might be confusing this with another site) Other go to sites for blu-ray reviews are highdefdigest.com and I also rate dvdbeaver quite highly. I think when considering upgrading well loved films from DVD to blu-ray its important to have these reviews. I have held back on certain films because the picture quality has not been the best. A lot of these older films have stunning quality pictures when done right and its a shame when certain films have less than perfect blu-ray releases. Luckily for us Bond fans the blu-ray releases were treated with care (apart from maybe GOLDENEYE)...
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 4,043
    As for the subject of Blu ray players playing discs from around the world, unlike DVD players BR's need proper hardware upgrades to play multi zone discs.

    I've just had to buy a new player and because I have quite a few locked discs the new bit of kit set me back nearly £200.

    DVD could be done with a remote control hack, BR unfortunately had the manufacturers make sure other countries playing discs not specific to their zones not such an easy option.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited June 2014 Posts: 40,976
    Yeah, I figured region-free blu-ray players were pretty expensive. Again, there are certain 'hacks' you can do to make your blu-ray player region-free, but you seriously run the risk of messing it up so it won't work any longer.

    Region-free blu-ray players are pricy, but if you purchase one, you never have to worry about the region code of a film again. I might buy one one day when I have the money.
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    edited June 2014 Posts: 512
    Well, there's this one on Amazon:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BSYR4QU/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2RM6REO1OWNJK&coliid=I12HQ9UDF0EJB8

    It's the Sony BDP-S1100 Multizone All Region player, around £200.

    Good reviews, will look at reviews further afield. There aren't many reviews, but this one is a good one:

    http://www.regionfreedvd.net/reviews/region-free-sony-bdp-s1100-review.html

    BTW, when Bond films are shown on telly these days, are they the Blu Ray versions?

    I only have Dr No on Blu Ray currently, in anticipation of getting the player (!) but am a tad put off by the covers, I mean GF has the dare I say iconic shot of Bond leaning back on his Aston, but it is a rubbish, doctored picture, almost deliberately made to look like a bootleg imo.

    Thanks for those other recommended sites, NobodyDoesItBetter....
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    NapoleonPlural wrote:
    I only have Dr No on Blu Ray currently, in anticipation of getting the player (!) but am a tad put off by the covers, I mean GF has the dare I say iconic shot of Bond leaning back on his Aston, but it is a rubbish, doctored picture, almost deliberately made to look like a bootleg imo.
    I guess nobody really knows why they couldn´t just take the original poster artwork. As if that isn´t timeless enough. The dvd covers weren´t that fantastic either, but the brs really do have odd covers. One more reason I´m happy I got the box set so cheap, this way I can argue my way around criticising the cover artwork ;-).

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited June 2014 Posts: 40,976
    Some of the 50th Anniversary blu-ray covers are terrible, and some of them are fantastic. The one that stood out to me that was simplistic yet looked really well was GE. Then, you had other covers that were very uninspired.
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    What I don´t appreciate very much is that those blu ray covers disregarded the values of the old films by having every Bond have a Craig-like posture or face, as if they couldn´t stand on their own.
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