logo Sign In

Fang Zei

User Group
Members
Join date
14-Oct-2006
Last activity
3-Jul-2025
Posts
2,779

Post History

Post
#296068
Topic
Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/296068/action/topic#296068
Time
Even if downloadable movies take over, that won't make them better in quality than BD or HD-DVD. There's not much higher you can go in home video than 1080p, and it's taking people long enough just to upgrade to HDTV. By any other logic, we'll be turning around and doing that all over again in 15 to 20 years when something better, presumably 2k or 4k televisions, become available. Is there any evidence that it will actually happen?

This competition between the two formats is so intense because the studios realize that high def is it for home video, at least for quite a long while.
Post
#295946
Topic
Starwars.com survey
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295946/action/topic#295946
Time
Originally posted by: Erikstormtrooper
Originally posted by: Anchorhead
"An anamorphic version of Star Wars - unaltered from its 1977 release - will be the next thing I purchase from Lucasfilm."

I hope I made that clear enough for them.


Unfortunately, I don't think this was specific enough for them.

I know you wouldn't be happy if they made an anamorphic version based on the laserdisc master. Granted, that would be rediculously stupid, but it's possible, and definitely not below them.


I wonder if any studio has ever done that before, cropped a 4:3 letterbox master and blown it up Dr. Gonzo style.
Post
#295908
Topic
Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295908/action/topic#295908
Time
Originally posted by: lordjedi
Originally posted by: Fang Zei
Since we're never going to be able to just que up a 35mm reel or install a 2k system in our rooms (ok, I won't say never .... and I won't speak for everyone here), either of these new formats are the next best thing. If I knew for sure that one of them was going to eventually win, I'd stop buying dvd's now and just wait until I can pick up that five-disc Blade Runner set in high def. I think the studios just realize that high def is the future and - to paraphrase that WIRED magazine guy from the GOUT attack of the show interview - now that we're finally at the point where we can have all we'll ever need, they're not giving it to us.


This has got to be a joke. "We've got all we'll ever need" has been said about every new format and every single new format that has come after has proven that they just keep getting better. 8 track was the best for its time until the cassette tape came along. That was great until CDs came along. SACD and DVD-Audio were even better, but they were competing formats so neither one took off (oh, look at that, just like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray).

If one format takes off and wins, that'll be the format we'll have for the next 5 to 10 years until something even better comes along. Then we'll all want that. It's a never ending cycle, so let's not pretend that this will be the last thing we'll ever need.


Actually, my whole point was that it has become a joke and I think the reason this format race is happening is that the studios on either side realize just how much they have to lose by not winning. Whoever wins will control the format that will be around for far longer than ten years because please tell me, what exactly is going to step in to sweep away 1080p?
Post
#295865
Topic
Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295865/action/topic#295865
Time
The interesting thing about this format race is that if one of them wins then that will be all we'll ever need, and yet neither of them might end up winning. And before you start saying "but what about regular ol' dvd?", well, that's what I used to say until I found out about how dvd's compatibility with the existing NTSC and PAL analog systems introduces issues like speedup and jitters.

Since we're never going to be able to just que up a 35mm reel or install a 2k system in our rooms (ok, I won't say never .... and I won't speak for everyone here), either of these new formats are the next best thing. If I knew for sure that one of them was going to eventually win, I'd stop buying dvd's now and just wait until I can pick up that five-disc Blade Runner set in high def. I think the studios just realize that high def is the future and - to paraphrase that WIRED magazine guy from the GOUT attack of the show interview - now that we're finally at the point where we can have all we'll ever need, they're not giving it to us.
Post
#295532
Topic
Who got their membership pkg and "letter" from George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295532/action/topic#295532
Time
Of course this begs the question of just what LFL did with the actual physical o-neg once it was scanned into the computer for the lowry restoration. Since it was only mastered at 1080x1920 and the theoretical limit for a 35mm movie is, what, 4k? Then again, AOTC and ROTS are stuck at 1080, so maybe it's all a part of the revisionism keeping the OT in line with the PT.

In a related story, the o-neg of The Godfather has apparently been given a multi-million dollar restoration at the behest of Coppola and Spielberg:

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2007/08/godfather_resto.php
Post
#295471
Topic
Who got their membership pkg and "letter" from George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295471/action/topic#295471
Time
The new kinds of extras skyjedi was talking about, like the in movie experience hd-dvd is capable of, is something I was also going to bring up. It still doesn't change the fact that it's the quality, not the content, which is driving people towards the new formats.

And yes, the blu-ray and hd-dvd releases of superman the movie are indeed the 2000 cut.
Post
#295413
Topic
Who got their membership pkg and "letter" from George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295413/action/topic#295413
Time
All that space on the disc isn't to store multiple versions, it's to store the high definition picture and uncompressed (or compressed at a very high bitrate) sound. The Blade Runner Blu-ray and HD-DVD releases are five discs just like the five disc dvd set with the Deckard briefcase. I assume the Close Encounters Blu-ray will also be the same number of discs as its dvd counterpart, which at the moment appears to be only one disc.

What's selling the new high def formats isn't the amount of extras or even the number of versions of the movie, it's the 24 frame per second playback (I would think people in PAL land must be eating this up), the 1080p picture and the 7.1 audio.
Post
#295299
Topic
Who got their membership pkg and "letter" from George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295299/action/topic#295299
Time
Originally posted by: zombie84
To get back on topic in regards to movies wider than 16:9, since it's being shot in 35mm either way aren't we not really "losing" any lines of resolution unless the movie was shot in 70mm?


I'm not sure if I understand what your asking. Are you suggesting that a totally true-anamorphc HD image would be equal to the 35mm original? HD is about equal to 16mm in resolution (though IMO its actually not as good), but without the aesthetic advantages of 16mm; there seems to be a myth that HD is better or equal to 35mm film but its a total fabrication of marketing, as 35mm is roughly four times the resolution of HD, to say nothing of the technical limits and aesthetic flaws of video.


It had nothing to do with the whole HD issue, that's why I started with "to get back on topic." All I was saying was that a 1.85:1 movie utilizes practically all of the 16:9 frame (be it dvd, blu-ray or otherwise) whereas a 2.35:1 movie does not, but since both of those are 35mm aspect ratios the 2.35:1 movie doesn't really have a lower resolution than 1.85:1 movie, right?

Also, I've noticed that some movie theaters frame 2.35:1 movies by simply lowering the curtain whereas others will frame a 1.85:1 movie inside the other sized screen leaving black bars on either side.
Post
#295270
Topic
Who got their membership pkg and "letter" from George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295270/action/topic#295270
Time
I guess it just doesn't work that way since 16:9 (and not 2.35:1) 1080p is the television standard now. It begs the question of just how this whole aspect ratio thing works in relation to the resolution of digital cinema, to say nothing of actual film projection.

To get back on topic in regards to movies wider than 16:9, since it's being shot in 35mm either way aren't we not really "losing" any lines of resolution unless the movie was shot in 70mm?
Post
#295160
Topic
Part VII VIII and IX
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295160/action/topic#295160
Time
Originally posted by: bkev
7, 8 and 9 should just be the Thrawn trilogy (if at ALL executed) or something - albeit with either new actors or a rearranged plot as to make the characters older.

Pray he does not read this.


If at all executed should've been all in caps. If the saying oft spoken on this site that EU and PT fanboys are one and the same, Lucas isn't very well going to bother adapting any pre-existing stuff into episodes 7, 8 and 9. My theory has actually been revolving around the 100 year time gap between legacy of the force and the legacy comic series, but seeing as how that's all still in the "legacy" era and both the OT and the PT have their own eras, I should probably take it as a sign that there still won't be any post-ROTJ movies.
Post
#295076
Topic
Who got their membership pkg and "letter" from George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/295076/action/topic#295076
Time
Originally posted by: Mike O
Originally posted by: generalfrevious
Lucas virtually bypassed DVD for the OOT- all we got in 2006 was just a smaller laserdisc. The reason we may get a letterboxed Blu-ray of the OOT because one would think that it's impossible, but it will horribly happen because Lucas is there. Optimism died in 1997 for SW fans in relation to the OOT. Iv'e accepted that SW is dead because Lucas has proven once and for all that nobody cares about the OOT because he literally rigged the GOUT in order to justify his continuous destruction of the largest block of pop culture in the last 30 years. He deliberately chose to relase the GOUT to both a) intentionally make the GOUT bomb and b) forestall everyone's predictions of a 30th anniversary boxset by stating that "we jumped in the saarlacc pit too many times" with a completely intentional marketing failure. The OT today has now become an afterthought to the PT, just some straight to DVD work of what could of happened after Anakin fell to the dark side. Lucas has now based his entire life purpose on a trilogy of absolute cinematic failure(the PT) instead of the OT that has, for better or for worse, shaped our culture. That's why he can wear a "Han shot first" T-shirt because he knows that he has defeated the fanbase for the OOT and the original cuts no longer bother him because everybody has accepted the SE and no one, in his mind, can challenge him. He can personally insult the fanbase whenever he wants. Now every fan of the OOT has become bitter at the acceleration of home theater systems because every film except three of them will be shown in optimal digital quality. We might as well go insane and live in an early 90s time warp.


Depends on how far the mainstream the PT fans take him.


Interestingly enough, whenever my manager at the lego store is working the register he'll always ask kids trivia questions when they're with their parents buying something, always making sure to ask them first what they're favorite movie/tv show is (he's a self described nerd so he's usually well prepared). If they answer star wars he'll usually ask the question "who are darth vader's children?" and they always know the answer, but just the other day he switched it up and asked a kid who darth maul's master is. Now, this kid couldn't have been older than TPM itself and yet he still knew the answer! It really made me feel old actually. I was 13-just-about-14 when TPM was released. I can still remember about a week and a half before 5/19/99 being at the crown books that's now a booksamillion, getting my mom to buy me the novelization with the obi-wan/qui-gon cover and then not finishing it out of a desire to be slightly unspoiled going in.

The whole reason I bring this up is twofold.

1. I can remember back in the early to mid 90's, before "one last time" and "the way it was meant to be experienced," Star Wars was considered quite cool. Star Trek was at its all time popularity high and even then was heavily frowned upon! But then Star Wars just got too damn popular. Before TPM was even released people hated it, and the timing of The Matrix's release didn't help much. Before the PT, there was just that amazing period of time where kids born two years after the movies were released treated them like modern day classics. You don't see many films endure like that. I wonder whether or not that kid who knew the name of Darth Maul's master was a microcosm of star wars fans his age, but then again, he was the PT equivalent of people born in 1977 or so. It's the people being born this year who will be the PT equivalent of people my own age.

2. While I'm on the subject of everyone knowing who Darth Vader's children are, I must admit it sometimes makes me cringe to hear kids give the answer. Mainly it's because of everything I've learned in recent years about the making of the OT. It almost does make today's Star Wars fandom sound like a religion, Jedi the first step on that long revisionist path, and cements Star Wars and Empire as a one two punch. So, and this is mainly a question for the older people, how would you compare Star Wars in 2007 to Star Wars in 1985? Jedi wasn't even released on video until '86 for starters.
Post
#294751
Topic
I say forget the OOT on DVD, lets target HD-DVD/Blue Ray Now
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/294751/action/topic#294751
Time
Originally posted by: zombie84
And regular 30 FPS is really just 29.97! And 60i is really 59.98! OMG!

Actually, Fang, those decimal numbers don't really mean anything. They are just pull-down issues from video fields. Its complicated but 23.98 is effectively 24 frames running by your eye per second.


This is why I started a thread about it in the tech section. Let me ask it a different way,

If I were to start playing the NTSC transfer and the HD transfer of the same movie at the same time, would there be a delay by the time I got towards the end?