821 replies to this topic

[larrythefatcat]

I know it probably doesn't exist, but I'd give up my house for a workprint version of OHMSS.

Some one has done a reconstruction of the chase sequence on a well known video site

I had no idea that there was a sequence like this cut from the film... and to think that Quantum could have been even more of a useless film (as it would have been without the rooftop chase)!

I found the video and I love that they used the same staircase from "The Invasion" in Doctor Who.

[DamnCoffee]

Wow. Just checked that out. Never seen those pictures before either. I hope this sees the light of day!

[Shaun Forever]

Excellent! just seen it myself.


Going by the newspaper paragraph, which I had never noticed before..........is it likely more of the chase was
filmed, than what we are led to believe?

[MarkA]

Old news. All those pictures are in Charlie Halfenstein's excellent 'The Making of OHMSS book. It looks like they have even been copied from it. That is the man that deserves the credit. Go out and
buy a copy. It is brilliant.

[doublenoughtspy]

I can't believe how brazen this person is. Those photographs are copied directly from my book, and in a few cases you can even see my captions.

I am extremely disappointed that he did this, and also that he hasn't acknowledged the source. I spent a tremendous amount of time, effort, and money to track those photographs down, and he just puts them up.

I guess I should be grateful he didn't copy the storyboards from the book of the mail complex chase and train crash.

[Shaun Forever]

Think I'm going to ask for an Amazon voucher for my birthday, becase the book
looks right up my street.

[DamnCoffee]

The lack of news for this is annoying.

[Matt_13]

Yup. Glad I ordered it, but I want to know if anything is going to be added to the Quantum BR.

Side note, I want to see the TV spots for Casino Royale again. Particularly 7 and 9, which I recall being the best. Hope they are included on a bonus disc somewhere.

[sharpshooter]

I'm wondering if the set will consist of individual Blu-ray cases, or some fold out book configuration, ala the Star Wars Complete Saga.

[SecretAgentFan]

The lack of news for this is annoying.

True. But I suspect they hold back a lot of information for the big push which will start around August/September - and then we will get all the stuff we´re currently looking for.

[SteveBolton]

I prefer the individual cases, even if they're slimline cases than the fold out ones. I want to see the individual art work for each film,as well as a short guide booklets like those provided with the ultimate edition dvd's. (Not much to ask for.)

[Professor Dent]

Yup. Glad I ordered it, but I want to know if anything is going to be added to the Quantum BR.

Side note, I want to see the TV spots for Casino Royale again. Particularly 7 and 9, which I recall being the best. Hope they are included on a bonus disc somewhere.

Leaving the CR trailers off of even the Collector's Edition set is a travesty. I would hope they correct it this time around (but I won't be holding my breath).

[Major Tallon]

Yup. Glad I ordered it, but I want to know if anything is going to be added to the Quantum BR.

Side note, I want to see the TV spots for Casino Royale again. Particularly 7 and 9, which I recall being the best. Hope they are included on a bonus disc somewhere.

Leaving the CR trailers off of even the Collector's Edition set is a travesty. I would hope they correct it this time around (but I won't be holding my breath).

I feel the same way. I thought that the CR trailers were probably the best they'd ever done, and I was amazed that they weren't included.

[zencat]

I'm still on fence about buying these. I'm just not at all sure how long Blu-Ray is going to be around. I was gun-ho on buying these when they released the first set of Bond Blu-Rays several years ago, but now... I think they waited too long.

[SecretAgentFan]

Ooops. During the last two years I sold most of my DVD collection in order to get those titles I really want to watch again and again on Blu-Ray.

Did you hear anything about Blu-Ray going away again?

[larrythefatcat]

Ooops. During the last two years I sold most of my DVD collection in order to get those titles I really want to watch again and again on Blu-Ray.

Did you hear anything about Blu-Ray going away again?

I wouldn't worry about it... it's just the same old rumblings and unfounded predictions that movie downloads will completely kill physical media. I'm sorry, but I know I'm not the only one who would MUCH RATHER have physical discs in my collection as opposed to some data on a harddrive somewhere that is likely to fail at some point (however far) down the road.

I'm also one of the many fans of extra features and those aren't often included with digital copies or equivalent internet downloads... or streaming versions either.

If, however, the "death of Blu-ray" is going to be due to an unnamed, upcoming physical media replacement: I'm sure Blu-ray will be supported as long as that new media is a disc of the same size. Blu-ray has clearly become the the next step beyond DVD since HD-DVD floundered and died in 2008. Any disc reader from now on (into the reasonable future) should most definitely support Blu-ray, DVD and CD formats.

BLU-RAY LIVES!!!

[Syndicate]

Ooops. During the last two years I sold most of my DVD collection in order to get those titles I really want to watch again and again on Blu-Ray.

Did you hear anything about Blu-Ray going away again?

I wouldn't worry about it... it's just the same old rumblings and unfounded predictions that movie downloads will completely kill physical media. I'm sorry, but I know I'm not the only one who would MUCH RATHER have physical discs in my collection as opposed to some data on a harddrive somewhere that is likely to fail at some point (however far) down the road.

I'm also one of the many fans of extra features and those aren't often included with digital copies or equivalent internet downloads... or streaming versions either.

If, however, the "death of Blu-ray" is going to be due to an unnamed, upcoming physical media replacement: I'm sure Blu-ray will be supported as long as that new media is a disc of the same size. Blu-ray has clearly become the the next step beyond DVD since HD-DVD floundered and died in 2008. Any disc reader from now on (into the reasonable future) should most definitely support Blu-ray, DVD and CD formats.

BLU-RAY LIVES!!!

Same here, I'm not into all that streaming and downloading. I like owning a physical copy of the movie that is NOT downloaded and copyed on a any blank DVD or Blu-ray disc. I rather have the ones that are from the big companies and soild at big reatail chains or local mom and pop chains. I would think people that are some what into the whole home theater thing would feel the same. They rather have that physical copy. IF there is something that going to take the place of Blu-ray, it might be just something better then it. But could just use a different color laser and how long or short it is, and last of all the amount of space. But we won't know till those magazines like Home Theater and Sound And Vison find something about it and write about it.

Edited by Syndicate, 24 April 2012 - 07:48 AM.

[Odd Jobbies]

Ooops. During the last two years I sold most of my DVD collection in order to get those titles I really want to watch again and again on Blu-Ray.

Did you hear anything about Blu-Ray going away again?

The next step up is apparently going to be '4K'...

This will likely be the final step up (unless home theatre goes IMAX !!!) as it's identical, in terms of compressed detail, to the originally screened movie.

I'm sure the tech is available right now, but won't be on the consumer market until the corporations have bled us dry via blu-ray. Then, yes indeed BR will go the way of VHS and DVD, but it's likely a couple years away.

[Professor Dent]

Whatever the next format is, it will be years before we see it. Even then, Sony still needs to recoup the boat loads of money they spent making Blu-ray the defacto HD format so they won't be in any hurry to see it change. After all that, let's say that next format is agreed upon & consumers embrace it, it will take MGM years after that to even release the movies anyway - and then it will be some staggered bullcrap release schedule like we have seen with these Blu-rays. No reason to waste all those years not watching Bond in the best format possible.

Streaming is convenient but the quality doesn't come close to Blu-ray & what you can get via streaming is limited. Bond movies appear on Netflix & then just seem to disappear as quickly as they randomly showed-up.

As someone who already purchased all of the Blu-rays, to put it mildly, I'm not happy having to buy the same movies all over again. If you skipped the last round, the good news is that this set is a good deal if you look at it on a cost per disc basis.

[DamnCoffee]

I wish they'd hurry up and release news for this. It's getting annoying. My heart leaps everytime this thread is updated.

[larrythefatcat]

I can see 4K becoming the next big thing in advanced home theater... but there are a lot of problems with stepping up to 4K.

Obviously, regular HDTVs can't handle this resolution and there aren't a LOT of consumer-grade/priced monitors (or consumer-grade projectors) that handle 4K at the moment. The biggest problem, however, is the fact that many movies with CG that were made in the 2000's were rendered at 2K and will, therefore, look like an upscaled Blu-ray for the most part. In addition, we all know that Star Wars Episodes 2 and 3 won't benefit from a 4K or more upgrade EVER... they're stuck just below 2K.

The Bond series itself only has half of its films currenly scanned in 4K or above (DN-LALD, MR, CR and QoS if I'm not mistaken) while the rest have merely been given 2K scans with minor cleanups. I know a lot of classics have been given 4K or 8K scans, but there's still a lot of rescanning and restoration work to be done before 4K can become mainstream anytime soon.

Edited by larrythefatcat, 23 April 2012 - 09:35 PM.

[Odd Jobbies]

I know a lot of classics have been given 4K or 8K scans, but there's still a lot of rescanning and restoration work to be done before 4K can become mainstream anytime soon.

All true, but where there's a buck to be made there's a way.

I'd guess that by 2014 we'll see the first high end consumer 4k equipment with, as you say, a partial catalogue. But by marketing 2k films as up scalable to 4k (just as they did with blu ray) that catalogue will grow rapidly as low/medium range 4k equipment appears in store. All of a sudden we'll be wondering why we're watching Skyfall on a compressed, cheap blu ray disc when John Smith next door is enjoying it on his 60inch OLED 4k system.

There's no such thing as the 'final format', since that would mean no more sales for the manufacturers. Greed alone will eventually make every format redundant.

And besides, it's an odd dilemma: I resent buying the blu ray box set, as i've said, to my mind it's expiration is on the horizon. Then again, i'd hate it if they said that home theatre will never get better than blu ray! Damned if we do...etc.

Edited by Odd Jobbies, 23 April 2012 - 10:17 PM.

[scaramunga]

I wish they'd hurry up and release news for this. It's getting annoying. My heart leaps everytime this thread is updated.

I agree!!!

[Mr Teddy Bear]

I suppose personally I felt that the Bond set and a Blu Ray are so competatively priced, I wouldn't be too phased if the format got knocked off its perch. My Blu Ray player would become my Bond box and would probably get reasonable use from Bond alone anyway.

[scaramunga]

I know a lot of classics have been given 4K or 8K scans, but there's still a lot of rescanning and restoration work to be done before 4K can become mainstream anytime soon.

All true, but where there's a buck to be made there's a way.

I'd guess that by 2014 we'll see the first high end consumer 4k equipment with, as you say, a partial catalogue. But by marketing 2k films as up scalable to 4k (just as they did with blu ray) that catalogue will grow rapidly as low/medium range 4k equipment appears in store. All of a sudden we'll be wondering why we're watching Skyfall on a compressed, cheap blu ray disc when John Smith next door is enjoying it on his 60inch OLED 4k system.

There's no such thing as the 'final format', since that would mean no more sales for the manufacturers. Greed alone will eventually make every format redundant.

And besides, it's an odd dilemma: I resent buying the blu ray box set, as i've said, to my mind it's expiration is on the horizon. Then again, i'd hate it if they said that home theatre will never get better than blu ray! Damned if we do...etc.

For sure technology is always evolving.

I do think the Bond films on blu ray are amazing. I look forward to seeing what happens with the films and transfers in the future.

Price will depend a lot on whether I adopt to 4K at some point.

I do wonder if Fox and MGM will be more conservative with new formats in the future. I don't think blu ray took off quite like they thought it would. The market for watching movies is so competitive. Add to the fact they have really saturated the market with Bond DVD releases. They really should look at what Disney is doing and try a marketing plan like that, IMO.

Looking forward to hearing more about the Bond 50 set very soon. I've had my pre order in for a few months now.

[S K Y F A L L]

I wonder if anyone of the die hard Bond fans here have all the different film formats, I would think someone does.
I'm not even sure what format was before VHS, some type of large square with a record insided it, right?
A friends father I know has 2 wicked old school VHS boxsets which hold 8 films each DR to DAF and LALD to LTK. A collection which I would assume was released while the franchise was in its 89-95 haitus.

I collected all the VHS's before they re-released then on DVD for the first time as the Special Edition and then again with the digitally enhanced Ultimate Editions, if I remember correctly.I'm guessing the films were never released on HD, were they?

Most of my Connery VHS Bond films have faded or don't even work any larger. So the dumbarse I am, I go out and get 2 boxsets I found at a pawn shop but the films were changed around, so even if I was to find the 3rd and finale boxset in the collection, it wouldn't be complete. So I'm just waiting for the Blu Ray release which I might as well get, since I have a HD tv but still use DVD. I'm just not that excited about the packaging. I would perfer something like the normal box sets. They must be using the really thin cases to fit inside that box and it looks like they are just stacking one on another, a real shame IMO.

[Royal Dalton]

I'm not even sure what format was before VHS, some type of large square with a record insided it, right?

CEDs, you mean? They were released at more or less the same time as the VHS/Betamax and LaserDisc versions (1982).

[SecretAgentFan]

I know a lot of classics have been given 4K or 8K scans, but there's still a lot of rescanning and restoration work to be done before 4K can become mainstream anytime soon.

All true, but where there's a buck to be made there's a way.

I'd guess that by 2014 we'll see the first high end consumer 4k equipment with, as you say, a partial catalogue. But by marketing 2k films as up scalable to 4k (just as they did with blu ray) that catalogue will grow rapidly as low/medium range 4k equipment appears in store. All of a sudden we'll be wondering why we're watching Skyfall on a compressed, cheap blu ray disc when John Smith next door is enjoying it on his 60inch OLED 4k system.

There's no such thing as the 'final format', since that would mean no more sales for the manufacturers. Greed alone will eventually make every format redundant.

And besides, it's an odd dilemma: I resent buying the blu ray box set, as i've said, to my mind it's expiration is on the horizon. Then again, i'd hate it if they said that home theatre will never get better than blu ray! Damned if we do...etc.

For sure technology is always evolving.

I do think the Bond films on blu ray are amazing. I look forward to seeing what happens with the films and transfers in the future.

Price will depend a lot on whether I adopt to 4K at some point.

I do wonder if Fox and MGM will be more conservative with new formats in the future. I don't think blu ray took off quite like they thought it would. The market for watching movies is so competitive. Add to the fact they have really saturated the market with Bond DVD releases. They really should look at what Disney is doing and try a marketing plan like that, IMO.

Looking forward to hearing more about the Bond 50 set very soon. I've had my pre order in for a few months now.

I wonder how much more upscaled a picture actually needs to be?

Of course, I love the remastered, repaired, restored, cleaned up image (and sound) of old films. Seeing the classics as they were intended is a wonderful experience.

But the reduction of grain does not lead back to the intended image at all. Grain sometimes is an aesthetic choice. Yet, lots of people complain about films on blu-ray because they cannot see every detail in pristine quality. Well, they are not supposed to.

So... the quality of the picture can and should only go so far. Besides, the human eye can only detect something up to a certain point.

Right now, I am looking forward to the Blu Ray collection. Upscales from that onwards seem pointless.

Unless they invent something that actually reduces the size of the medium to a fingertip - so my wife will be spared having the living room stuffed with countless blu rays. Gee, the much bigger DVD-packages were already such a burden...

[larrythefatcat]

I know a lot of classics have been given 4K or 8K scans, but there's still a lot of rescanning and restoration work to be done before 4K can become mainstream anytime soon.

All true, but where there's a buck to be made there's a way.

I'd guess that by 2014 we'll see the first high end consumer 4k equipment with, as you say, a partial catalogue. But by marketing 2k films as up scalable to 4k (just as they did with blu ray) that catalogue will grow rapidly as low/medium range 4k equipment appears in store. All of a sudden we'll be wondering why we're watching Skyfall on a compressed, cheap blu ray disc when John Smith next door is enjoying it on his 60inch OLED 4k system.

There's no such thing as the 'final format', since that would mean no more sales for the manufacturers. Greed alone will eventually make every format redundant.

And besides, it's an odd dilemma: I resent buying the blu ray box set, as i've said, to my mind it's expiration is on the horizon. Then again, i'd hate it if they said that home theatre will never get better than blu ray! Damned if we do...etc.

For sure technology is always evolving.

I do think the Bond films on blu ray are amazing. I look forward to seeing what happens with the films and transfers in the future.

Price will depend a lot on whether I adopt to 4K at some point.

I do wonder if Fox and MGM will be more conservative with new formats in the future. I don't think blu ray took off quite like they thought it would. The market for watching movies is so competitive. Add to the fact they have really saturated the market with Bond DVD releases. They really should look at what Disney is doing and try a marketing plan like that, IMO.

Looking forward to hearing more about the Bond 50 set very soon. I've had my pre order in for a few months now.

I wonder how much more upscaled a picture actually needs to be?

Of course, I love the remastered, repaired, restored, cleaned up image (and sound) of old films. Seeing the classics as they were intended is a wonderful experience.

But the reduction of grain does not lead back to the intended image at all. Grain sometimes is an aesthetic choice. Yet, lots of people complain about films on blu-ray because they cannot see every detail in pristine quality. Well, they are not supposed to.

So... the quality of the picture can and should only go so far. Besides, the human eye can only detect something up to a certain point.

The "practical" resolution of high quality 35mm film is just about 4k, so there wouldn't be much of an "upscale" for the Bond films.

I agree with the grain arguement... the Lowry restorations of the films are very well done in that they got rid of all the dirt and extra grain, but kept the general grain from the film stock. The Bond films were shot on high quality stock and therefore don't have a lot of stray grain which results in a much higher quality picture than what would be possible with lower budget films. Digital Noise Reduction is EVIL and should be avoided at all costs... all it does is make things look all smudged and waxy. Proper restoration (like the work done by the late, great Lowry and his fine company) is the way to make a film look its best.

As for the human eye detecting only a certain level of detail: it's generally accepted that an individual with 20/20 vision can't see too much more detail than can be seen on a 1080p screen at suggested viewing distances... so 4k isn't quite a "necessary" upgrade, but that won't stop it from being forced down our throats in about 10-15 (or even 5-10) years' time.

Edited by larrythefatcat, 08 May 2012 - 10:51 AM.

[SecretAgentFan]

So what´s up with the bonus features? And the rumored documentary? The lack of news is so irritating. JAWS gets the blu ray in August and already had the press release. Then again, INDIANA JONES will be out in the fall as well - and we did not hear anything about that box either, did we?