Info: James Bond - Laserdisc Preservations: 1962-1971 — Page 13

Just received three Lasers in the mail, ironically three of the rarest titles: AVTAK, TLD and the rarest TMWTGG.

I'll do full on reviews later but here are some quick 1st impressions:

AVTAK and TLD had the most impressive original audio tracks on the UEs. AVTAK has tremendous bass in particular and I was curious as to how the LDs would sound.

In a word, flawless. The compression down to 192 kpp/s 2.0 ac3 must have done something to bloat the bass, because on the LD AVTAK is fully defined with an incredible spatial definition for Dolby Stereo. The bass is much more refined and wipes the floor with the DVD's 2.0 audio.

TLD is perhaps even better mixed, with the dialogue crisp and the spatial definition even better.

Of course the coloring looks spot on on both. Really nice to see the original color and lighting back after being stuck with UEs for so long. Both also have their original opening logos.

I'm still debating on TMWTGG-It's still sealed in the shrinkwrap and looks like it was just off the LD store shelf.

Cost? $13 shipped. Not buying Bond50? Priceless. ;)

Interesting tidbit FF: It is reputed that the wipe at the end of FRWL is actually not present on the initial CBS/Fox VHS release. I'm currently looking for a copy to verify, but it is supposed to be the copy with Connery firing the flare gun on the cover:

Back to your regularly scheduled endless transfer discussions:

I am torn between the Bond 50 set and getting some of the old Lasers. Never had any but I am a sucker for original audio mixes and older prints without "remastering". Are all the Bond LDs good? There are sometimes so many I wouldn't know where to begin lol.

Here's my thoughts and the screencap comparisons on the unreleased 9:

captainsolo said:

Okay, here goes:

YOLT
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146293/picture:0

OHMSS
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146305/picture:0

DAF
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146309/picture:0

The Spy Who Loved Me
Set 1
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146533
Set 2
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146534

Octopussy
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146326/picture:0

AVTAK

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146331

The Living Daylights
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146334/picture:0

Goldeneye
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146274/picture:0

Goldeneye vs. HDTV:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146323

Tomorrow Never Dies
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146280/picture:0

 

What we're seeing here are some general tweaks, with vast amounts of picture detail for the ones with a 4K scan, and a relatively unimpressive look for those from the video masters.

YOLT looks far improved, and I'm quite surprised at how well these caps look. It isn't fully there with the 60's Technicolor look but it is a thousand times better than the UE. It also reveals that some of these transfers have contrast boosting.

OHMSS is along similar lines, color miles better but still not fully accurate. That said the boosting is far worse here:

ZE COUNT SAIS YU SHOULD HAFF A VERR NICE SUNTAN SAIR HILLARY!

Also it has vertical lines in places as have been seen on YOLT and a few other titles in this remastered series.

DAF was one of the few stunning UE titles, and I was looking forward to see how it made the jump to BD. I still don't know what to make of it. The colors are different, the blacks are very deep, detail incredible but overall the image appears different. What this could be is detail and visuals coming off the negative that haven't been seen since 1971 theatrical prints, but I'm not so sure.

To my eyes it appears that on these early titles the BD team tried to go for a general look more akin to Technicolor printing of the era. While not quite successful, it is commendable that they tried to somewhat represent the film's intended visuals, despite their favoring of contrast. And again, on DAF I still don't know.

 

Then we come to the problem child. TSWLM has looked horrible on video since it's fist appearance on disc/tape. The print was always worn, hazy, washed out in places and never provided an experience of a lavish Bond adventure. The UE made massive color shifts and changes in addition to being riddled with edge enhancement. So, since this was still an "unrestored" title coming from a video master I wasn't expecting anything other than heartbreak again.

I don't know how they did it. Some kind of magic has been worked here, because this is the best Spy has ever looked on video. Gone almost completely are the color problems, gone is the massive EE and fine detail is actually present. The film was shot with quite a bit of diffusion and soft lighting, and this is finally showing up for the first time in ages. Colorwise this is pretty accurate, and further underlines all the inherent flaws of the UE.

OP and AVTAK look like more detailed versions of their UE counterparts. AVTAK still has the heavily cropped teaser opening and slight cropping for the feature. Both retain their modernist color leanings.

TLD looks like a higher res version of the UE, and for that I'm glad. This UE like LTK was a little different in color but all for the better in most cases. Glad they didn't fix what wasn't broken.

Goldeneye looks to be a big problem again, but not for the reason you would think. The cropping has been fixed...but at a cost. The film has been riddled with DVNR so much that even in screencaps the compressed and cropped HDTV cap blows it away. I was personally stunned to see the amount of grian in motion on the HDTV version a short while ago and looked forward to the BD just for this. Guess not!

TND looks rather bland actually, just 1080p over 480p.

Singles over time with custom covers for me.

On the LD front, I watched TMWTGG which I bought still sealed. It is indeed the same source as the SE DVD with the cue marks all intact. The titles are uncropped, and this appears to be the intended 1.85 framing as opposed to the DVD's 1.78:1. Color was perfect with the film having an overall light grain cast. Sound equally good with the mono finally having some breathing room in PCM. Barry's score really comes across along with the wonderful lower tones of Lee's voice.

Nice to finally see the rarest of the LDs. I'll post on AVTAK and TLD later.

Would LDs still look decent on a plasma HDTV? I'm tempted to pick them up over time, if I can find them.

It's been done, and real LD fans buy all kinds of line doublers and scalers to have the best image possible.

I think they'd look okay depending on player/setup but of course you're going to have all the format's limitations magnified. If you've got a player, see what a disc looks like on your TV. That will tell you most of all. Try with composite and s-video, though composite will give a better image on modern displays.

Also keep in mind each player has a different quality, with some being better in image than others.

I went the route of getting a late model CRT set via craigslist, and actually got mine for free.

Hmm my Panasonic only has component or HDMI. Bummer for me.

Stamper said:

In the meantime, anyone can upload all the mono tracks that are only available on the US Blu-ray release, so that we can sync them to our crappy euro releases? That would be ace while waiting ;)

No, because that would be piracy. 

Buy the US release instead.

captainsolo said:

... If you've got a player, see what a disc looks like on your TV. That will tell you most of all. Try with composite and s-video, though composite will give a better image on modern displays.

How so?

Typically s-video wants to use the player's own comb filters which will be inferior to things nowadays. Composite will bypass this and use whatever the player is hooked to. However, some players will have pretty good filters or the hdtv will have none so it really just depends on which is better case by case.

I've tried both several times and usually don't notice much if any difference.

Actually, I've read that most players run the signal through a comb filter regardless, do some chroma and luma processing, then recombine for the composite output.

Only top of the range players, like the X0, or some industrial models give a "clean" composite output.

I wasn't even aware that the BluRays were finally coming out.

Shame that Goldeneye is still messed up, though in a different way than we were expecting =/

Good thing that I picked up the old SE version at Big Lots not too long ago \m/

Has anyone ever checked out the earliest LD release of FRWL for this? They generally used the same video master across all formats back then.

Moth3r said:

Actually, I've read that most players run the signal through a comb filter regardless, do some chroma and luma processing, then recombine for the composite output.

Only top of the range players, like the X0, or some industrial models give a "clean" composite output.

You find something new about this hobby every day...so of course I fiddled with s-video and composite cables back and forth for a good 30 minutes today. ;)

SilverWook said:

Has anyone ever checked out the earliest LD release of FRWL for this? They generally used the same video master across all formats back then.

That's an idea. It would correspond to the initial CBS/Fox pan n' scan LD with Connery at the gypsy camp on the cover, which was later repackaged for MGM with the flare gun cover.

Figured I go ahead and give a quick rundown on the other Laser titles for those interested:

AVTAK: Has that softness of the first three Glen directed Bonds and in fact looks wonderful. Some moments it even looks like film instead of video, with color accurately represented instead of the sometimes garish hues inserted for the UE. Also present is the haziness that has always been a part of the film's visual look which may be due to it being printed by MGM. The sound is phenomenal, very natural warmth and range to this track which really comes across in Barry's hugely underrated score. (especially the Stacey themes!) Wipes the floor with the pitiful DD track on the UE. Oddly I did notice what appears to be a camera originated negative scratch on a shot in the Main Strike mine. Cropping is looser and accurate unlike the unnaturally tight UE.

TLD: Of the three discs I bought, this one was a risk being a former rental, but was still in shrinkwrap and I had wanted to see this disc for so long that I gave it a shot. Damn glad I did. Though I have not yet seen the LDs for LALD, Moonraker, Octopussy and the MGM Licence to Kill, I'm going to go ahead and proclaim this the best looking of all the pre-90s era on Laser. For once a 2.35 film looks good on CLV without tons of noise. Full of shots that look like film, full of moments restored that were tweaked by Lowry unnecessarily, almost completely free from video noise and with sound so good it's almost as if you've had veils off your ears. One scene at the fair even has audible background noise that can quickly be recognized as a game of Galaxian. Even the ghetto blaster and Necros' Walkman have punch and clarity. This felt like listening to a vintage 1st press LP of a favorite album mostly, but with the experience of the original presentation to match. I love this movie.

Man, I must get a LD player... but my TV only has component or HDMI inputs! :(

Why not try one of the older SE DVDs first? They're the same masters just with some added compression and edge enhancement. But it will give you the idea of the LDs and original color timing, though some don't feature original audio and DN, FRWL, GF, LALD, TMWTGG are cropped to 1.78:1.

But compression and EE is bad, isnt it?

If one had to make a set of DVDs using the SEs and UEs, which would you choose from each set to make a "best" set?

GavSalkeld said:

Man, I must get a LD player... but my TV only has component or HDMI inputs! :(

Both my Samsung flat panels do composite video through one of the component terminals. Check to see if one of the three component connectors has a yellow marking, or consult your manual.

GavSalkeld said:

But compression and EE is bad, isnt it?

If one had to make a set of DVDs using the SEs and UEs, which would you choose from each set to make a "best" set?

 I've got a few of the SEs, and they're not bad, they're just not amazing. Not that the UEs are amazing, but some of them look pretty darn good, problems aside.

You want to see bad, see the original DVD of Throw Momma from the Train =( That's one double-dip I was very happy to make.

But back to your question, I think the general opinion is that Live and Let Die looks a lot worse on the UE. The other DVDs tend to be a matter of weighing the pros and cons.

Asaki said:

But back to your question, I think the general opinion is that Live and Let Die looks a lot worse on the UE. The other DVDs tend to be a matter of weighing the pros and cons.

Yeah thats true, I know LALD has a lot of red in the titles. How would you do it?