Blu-Ray General Discussion Part 3

[iainl 312]

It’s Hopper being hammy I really don’t like. That stuff can work in some contexts, but just seems way out of place when they’re trying to play it serious in so many other aspects of the story. 

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

US will get a Batman TAS set without the paraphernalia in late November:

 

 

This and the ltd ed are still released on the same day in the UK this month.

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

Well damn. Good thing it's cheap because it looks like little effort has been made with Prince of Egypt as it's clearly struck from an old master, and not a new anniversary master you'd have to assume had been made for its anniversary theatrical re-issue. Bizarre.

 

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=12427&d2=12426&c=4890

 

Suspect that guarantees Antz will come from an old (film) master too.

 

 

[Romier S 1,791]

 That sucks. Very little in the way of an upgrade there.

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

It’s an improvement I’ll take, but yeah... lazy stuff. It’s Universal, so I’d be lying if I said I was shocked. At least they didn’t take the old master and smudge it to buggery with DNR. 

[iainl 312]

The big difference there seems to be actually framing the disc at 1.85:1 rather than vertically stretching to 1.77 for a full screen, rather than any improvement in detail. Unless that's an artifact of the way they've dealt with PAL screengrabs.

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

Good news! More Dreamworks animated discs are on the way. Best Buy have January listings for Road to El Dorado and Chicken Run on Blu-Ray (and Joseph King of Dreams). Bad news, I wouldn’t expect any more effort than ended up going into Prince of Egypt. Still, I’ll take them, and I’m more hopeful than ever that Wallace and Gromit will not be far behind this next wave.

 

Apparently Antz looks... ok. As I expected it’s seemingly mastered from a 35mm source and not the digital files. There’s never been a master of the movie from the native source though, and 20yrs on one wonders if they even exist anymore to have done one anyway. 

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

Arrow’s Crimson Peak has been bumped to January. That’s a shame as I tend to flock to gothic ghost stories over Christmas. 

[Angel P 307]

Ridley Scott’s Someone to Watch Over Me finally getting the bluray treatment in 2019 thanks to Shout! Factory.

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

Shout’s getting a lot of stuff lately. Really not my favourite label as they’re not the best when caring for masters and encoding. Hopefully that one turns out OK.

 

Kino mentioned another company had picked up Terminator and I wondered if it might be Shout. I hope it’s Arrow though, especially since Arrow confirmed they are doing Robocop next year.

[Angel P 307]

Word over at bluray.com is that Arrow will be having a Christmas sale from Dec 12 - Jan 9.

[Angel P 307]

Just arrived. 

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

Willow is being re-issued on Blu-ray in the US, now via Disney, on the 29th of January. Will include a Movies Anywhere code.

 

 

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

Received Arrow’s Crimson Peak today which does in fact retain the DTS-X and HeadphoneX audio tracks (there was some uncertainty when it was announced).

 

I doubt there’s much here not on the original Blu, which I never owned, but the packaging is beautiful. Still think this could be great on UHD for high dynamic range, but even if that disc happens someday this will be a nice companion piece for the presentation and handful of new extras.

[JoeyN 655]

44 minutes ago, Angry the Clown said:

Received Arrow’s Crimson Peak today which does in fact retain the DTS-X and HeadphoneX audio tracks (there was some uncertainty when it was announced).

 

I doubt there’s much here not on the original Blu, which I never owned, but the packaging is beautiful. Still think this could be great on UHD for high dynamic range, but even if that disc happens someday this will be a nice companion piece for the presentation and handful of new extras.

 

That would be the HDR demo disc if it ever came out.

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

3 hours ago, JoeyN said:

 

That would be the HDR demo disc if it ever came out.

 

If it’s accurate that Universal are doing a Waterworld UHD this year, despite Arrow’s three disc Blu-ray coming in a couple of weeks (which I also have ordered), then a Crimson Peak UHD might not be beyond the realms of possibility. The Arrow Crimson Peak appealed as I never got round to buying Universal’s disc. I’d double dip for a UHD without question while holding onto the Arrow version. Again though, I see little of value on the Arrow disc for those who own the existing release.

 

It upsets me Arrow have yet to do UHD’s themselves. I am desperately hoping their release of Robocop later this year might be their first, particularly since the previous MGM Blu-ray is already decent.

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

Comparison shots for Arrow’s Waterworld Blu-Ray out next week vs the existing Universal disc:

 

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/127660

 

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/127664

 

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/127662

 

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/127663

 

Looks spectacular. Really looking forward to the documentary and seeing the alternate cuts.

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

The Disney re-issue of Willow restores the old Warwick Davis commentary that was curiously left off the Fox Blu-Ray if anyone feels compelled to double dip. File size and average bitrate is a little bigger on the older disc but that may not amount to any obvious difference. Apparently all the original logos are left intact too so it’s most likely coming from the same master as the Fox/MGM disc, which if memory serves was from a 4K scan.