Sergio Leone Blu Ray News

[Lil Brutto]

In a linking mood:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/1233

If you don't have a home theater system you probably won't notice much of a difference.

However, if you do...the difference is clear.

[drinkanddestroy]

In a linking mood:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/1233

If you don't have a home theater system you probably won't notice much of a difference.

However, if you do...the difference is clear.

I have a 36" HDTV, and I hooked up a pair of small BOSE speakers (the tv sound is pretty bad, so I hooked up the speakers, which are good. Very bassy.

is lossless good or bad?

[Lil Brutto]

Lossless (formats: PCM, Dolby TrueHD, DTS Master HD) is great; superior to lossy (Dolby Digital).

When you get the FOD blu-ray, pick your favorite scenes and toggle between the audio tracks. Don't worry about the language difference, just listen to the score, sound effects, etc. and you'll notice that the sound is fuller with the PCM track vs. Dolby.

[stanton]

E. g. MP3 is a very lossy format.

A lossless compressed download format is flac.

[drinkanddestroy]

Beaver says that The Man With No Name Trilogy on MGM Blu Ray has a lossless audio, so does that mean that the audio is worse on the FOD Blu Ray that I just bought?

(the lossless audio Beaver is discussing is "a DTS-HD Master 5.1" so he is not talking about the Mono. Is the Mono lossless also? I use the mono audio wherever it is available).

[Lil Brutto]

MGM's lossless 5.1 audio is obviously not original. Such a shame they could not offer a PCM or DTS-HD mono track, only lossy Dolby Digital.

Can't blame RHV, they obviously prioritized the Italian language over the English track.

The only source (for consumers) for the PCM mono track is the laserdisc.

[drinkanddestroy]

The main reason I purchased this FORD BR is cuz I was HORRIFIED to see read that on the MGM version, the image is cropped. And it appears to be very significant, on all four sides. That means that until now, I have not seen the image as Leone intended 

As of now, I'm not (yet) nerdy enough to go after region B stuff, Italian audio, stuff like that. But the cropped image bothers me greatly: we haven't seen the full image that was shot and intended to be seen, plain and simple. So if there is any other Leone movie in which the American version is cropped but the Italian version shows the full picture, and is region-free and with English audio, then I'll get that.

Maybe one day I'll have the equipment/knowledge to do my own fan edits, combining the English audio with Italian image (where it's superior to the American image). For now, I'll have to settle for the best commercially-available disc that has English audio, and is playable on my Region A Blu ray player. I'm more than happy to pay for fan edits but I don't know any fan editor; if any of you are willing to sell me a copy of a fan edit, please IM me.

--------

Finally, I have an unrelated but very important question: Is there any reason to get the single-disc bare-bones dvd's of FOD and FAFDM that were released in the late 90'?

FOD http://www.amazon.com/A-Fistful-Dollars-Clint-Eastwood/dp/B00000K0DM/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1340922899&sr=1-4&keywords=for+a+few+dollars+more+dvd

FAFDM: http://www.amazon.com/For-Dollars-More-Clint-Eastwood/dp/0792839056/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1340923031&sr=1-1&keywords=for+a+few+dollars+more+dvd

The only dvd versions I have of FOD and FAFDM are the MGM Special Edition discs (in The Sergio Leone Anthology boxset). Is there any reason (audio, image, cut) to purchase the single discs as well?

[dave jenkins]

Dollars Trilogy on Blu for US$ 24.99: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EYEF2S/

UPDATE: Now it's 19.99!

Now up to $27.99

[drinkanddestroy]

Now up to $27.99

But you are referring to the official list price from Amazon. Individual sellers are selling new copies for as little as $17.95 (plus about $3 for shipping). I generally buy from whoever is selling it cheapest, with no preference for buying directly from Amazon as opposed to buying from individual sellers  (Of course, there are other factors to consider, including shipping costs -- Amazon sometimes gives free shipping if you order directly from Amazon for over $25; possible sales tax if you order directly from Amazon and live in New York City; an individual seller's negative feedback; difference in price of new vs. used; pre-ordering an item before it is released, etc.)

[Cusser]

Best Buy advertised GBU Blu-Ray 2-disc for $9.99 last Sunday. 

I don't have Blu-Ray player, have read that BR picture is better but only noticeable on screens like 60 inch or larger, and mine is 46 inch rear projection (9 years old, they don't make them anymore, but nice large forward-facing speakers with great sound underneath the screen.  I'm still going to attempt to put the Frayling GBU audio commentary onto disc, be patient guys.

[drinkanddestroy]

well blu ray technology allows for much more information on the disc -- a dual layered blu ray disc can hold up to 50 GB of information, far more than on DVD's. So the picture is generally much sharper on blu rays. But there are still people who disagree with how a particular movie was done. On GBU, there is no doubt you can tell a difference in the quality/sharpness of the image. But it has been criticized for lack of grain and for using DNR. Also, the faces in the blu ray are very red. The feeling I get from these boards is that many fans are unhappy with the American blu ray of GBU.

I own a 32" HDTV and i see a difference with blu ray. Though perhaps not as big a difference as someone who has a 60" HDTV.


I'd recommend getting a blu ray player; they are so cheap now. I bought a nice SAMSUNG for about $60 online from Best Buy.

[dave jenkins]

I have a 46" plasma, and I can definitely tell the difference between watching a DVD and a Blu-ray on it.

[drinkanddestroy]

I just received the RHV blu ray of FOD. (I placed the order on Amazon on June 25th from a seller in Italy -- so the shipping was damn fast!)

I just started watching it. The picture looks beautiful. I can't compare it side by side with the MGM Blu Ray cuz can't I only have one blu ray player, but Beaver has comparisons in his review on MGM's Dollars Trilogy blu ray set http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare10/for_a_few_dollars_more.htm and he also has an extensive, separate review of the RHV blu ray here http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/dvdreviews42/fistful_of_dollars_blu-ray.htm

The main reason I bought this is that there is more information in the image. Specifically, In all 3 screengrab comparisons provided by Beaver, the RHV image has more information on top, bottom, and on the right side. And in the first screen grab(of TMWNN), the RHV clearly has more info on the left side as well.

 In the second grab (of TMWNN and Silvanito), I think the MGM version has more on the left side, and in the third grab (of TMWNN and Silvanito riding in the mountains), I think the RHV has more image on the left side; but the difference on the left side in these second and third images is tiny.


You'll notice in the screen grabs that RHV Blu ray image certainly looks sharper than the MGM Blu Ray in some places. Specifically, in the first and third screen grabs, the RHV image is much sharper IMO; in the second image, IMO the RHV image is too dark, I prefer the brighter MGM image.

So while there's no doubt that the RHV image is better in the first and third screen grabs, the fact that it is darker in the third makes me wonder RHV darkened the image during restoration; again, it gets back to the old question of at what point does making the best color possible cross the line into actually changing the color? And IF the RHV did farken the image during restoration, does that make it a different color than Leone intended? or do you say you prefer the nicest, sharpest color, even if that makes it look different than how the movie would have looked if you'd seen it in a theater when it was first released. To be sure, I am not accusing RHV of darkening the image. I know that many different prints exist of the movie, and no two prints will look exactly alike in every regard. I am just wondering IF they did darken the image, and if so, are they improving or changing how the movie looks?


Interestingly, in the credits of the RHV version, the movie is still directed by Bob Robertson. After the movie did well on its initial run, Leone reverted to using his real name in the credits (although he kept the other fake American names); all the versions of the movie I'd seen previously use Leone's real name. But the RHV version uses Robertson, so I wonder if they either used an older print than the MGM transfer used; or if perhaps in Italy he never used his real name on the credits, it was only in America that he used his real name after the initial run? To those of you who've seen the Italian dvd, does it use his real name or does that say Bob Robertson too?

Thanks to Novocento and Honest Farmer for providing me with the info and advice to make this purchase!

[drinkanddestroy]

I wrote this review of the movie on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Per-Un-Pugno-Di-Dollari/dp/B00416RQLA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341970905&sr=8-1&keywords=per+un+pugno+di+dollari+blu+ray (I think all my info is correct, I hope that Honest Farmer, Novocento will correct me if it's not).

so now I have to turn my attention to the other Leone blu ray discs: I have 'em all, but are there any for which I should also buy the European version? (Again, I'll only do so if the feature is region-free and has English audio)

[dave jenkins]

Here's a question: can you play the Italian dub with English subtitles?