564 replies to this topic

[The Dove]

Please excuse me and my earlier rant fellas..I guess I am a "old dog who needs to learn a new trick." Yes, guess it's definitely time for me to go Blu-Ray...(hmm, well my birthday is coming up in less than a month and I just finished reading CBN's excellent review of the Bond 50 Blu-Rays...again, hmmm!!) Yeah DLib, I was a late comer to DVDs..the last Bond I bought on VHS before resigning myself to making the switch was The World Is Not Enough in '00...so, yeah I guess 13 years later it's time for another big step for me..lol..Anyways, just watched SF last night and was on cloud 9 all over again..It's definitely in my plans to get the Blu-Ray version as well..

[x007AceOfSpades]

It's an absolute DISGRACE that the standard DVD only gets a portion of the extra featurettes that the Blu-Ray has!! WTF??? EPIC FAIL!!

What's an absolute disgrace is a Bond fan still watching the movies in standard definition.

I still watch them on DVD, guess I too am and absolute disgrace (?)

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

I am in no rush to update my Bond collection onto Blu-ray - I do have the Craig titles on blu-ray though and I plan to pick past catalogue one by one as time passes. I didn't get the box set out of principle of refusing to allow Die Another Day in my household.

I disagree that blu-ray is better in 99% of cases - if it hasn't been properly transfered all the advancement in definition goes to waste. I own Cobra on blu-ray and it has a lot worse picture quality than UE Bond DVD's viewed on my upscaling blu-ray player. And I seriously doubt that many of my favourite Hammer, Tigon and Amicus films will ever be properly updated onto blu-ray format, not to mention films like Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer or Mark of the Devil.

[MarkA]

I am in no rush to update my Bond collection onto Blu-ray - I do have the Craig titles on blu-ray though and I plan to pick past catalogue one by one as time passes. I didn't get the box set out of principle of refusing to allow Die Another Day in my household.
I disagree that blu-ray is better in 99% of cases - if it hasn't been properly transfered all the advancement in definition goes to waste. I own Cobra on blu-ray and it has a lot worse picture quality than UE Bond DVD's viewed on my upscaling blu-ray player. And I seriously doubt that many of my favourite Hammer, Tigon and Amicus films will ever be properly updated onto blu-ray format, not to mention films like Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer or Mark of the Devil.

 
To a degree I agree with you. There have
been some pretty terrible instances of horrible transfers of older films to
Blu-ray. But there is also an enormous amount of ignorance in what constitutes
a good transfer. All films shot on film will to a degree have an amount of
grain inherent in the look. How noticeable it is, is down to film stock and how
the film was shot. Some directors favored a grainier image to achieve a certain
look.
In today’s super clean digital era some
people find this offensive, so we get the instance of digital noise reduction
tools used to excessive degrees to eradicate this grain. But if used too harshly
you end up eradicating image detail and then when subsequently re-sharpened
tends to leave everyone’s face looking waxy and unreal. See the Blu-rays of
‘The Longest Day and ‘Spartacus’ for good examples of this horrible practice.
All the film like qualities and any detail having been erased. Luckily for us
Bond fans most of the Bond Blu-ray transfers have been done with sensitivity
leaving the older films (Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger etc.)
looking spectacular on Blu-ray. A significant step up from their DVD counterparts.
As far as Hammer film goes there have been
quite a few released in the UK recently with mostly (not all) very pleasing
results. But summing up if done correctly and honoring the filmmaker’s
attention Blu-ray should always be significantly better than DVD, fact.

Edited by MarkA, 14 February 2013 - 10:31 PM.

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

As far as Hammer film goes there have been

quite a few released in the UK recently with mostly (not all) very pleasing
results. But summing up if done correctly and honoring the filmmaker’s
attention Blu-ray should always be significantly better than DVD, fact.

I've heard conflicting reports on those Hammer blu-rays, but I look forward to Dracula blu-ray, not least for the reinstated footage of Draculas demise.

 

Back to the topic at hand - I hope that my Skyfall blu-ray will arrive on monday which is it's Finnish release date - I preordered it back in early January and these final days of wait are sheer torment!

[OmarB]

I'm a DVD fan myself.  There is a blu-ray in the living room, but for the most part the movies look ugly (plastic looking).

[FutureJamesBond]

I know you all in the UK probably have already pre-ordered a version, but to the ones who haven't yet...

 

GET. THE. BLU. RAY.

 

If you do not get the Blu-Ray, you won't get the full experience. I bought the DVD + Blu-Ray + Digital Copy version, and I can honestly say that that is the version you should get. The normal DVD version is very simple. It has the movie, scene selection, and set up. NO special features whatsoever. The Blu-Ray, however, has the same things, but it has a lot of VERY COOL special features, and you can tell there is a huge difference in quality. It seems for the DVD they just threw it together, and for the Blu-Ray it seems like they took a lot more time and money to create the disc.

[x007AceOfSpades]

As I was taking a stroll through Walmart earlier, I guess the DVD cover art there is the Prom Night poster. Not sure how I feel about that.

[FlemingBond]

one thing i'm not happy about blu ray is that they're putting them in smaller boxes, so they don't fit right on the rack i have for DVD's.

[x007AceOfSpades]

Okay, did some research. The DVD that features the US One Sheet as the cover has a few featuretes that I assume are only 2-6 mins each. The DVD with the Prom Night Cover has nothing and that's the one ill buy. All my Bond films have a nice black/dark spine for the case and the Prom Night DVD will look nice with them, whereas the other DVD edition is all white and will look a bit off with the others.

[DLibrasnow]

one thing i'm not happy about blu ray is that they're putting them in smaller boxes, so they don't fit right on the rack i have for DVD's.

 

I actually much prefer the smaller cases that Blu-rays come in. When you have almost 900 titles on Blu-ray then shelf space starts to become an issue.

I disagree that some older movies have a spotty record on transfer to high definition. I bought the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes collection on Blu-ray (having already bought the restored movies on DVD), not sure if the increase in quality would be that great (the movies all date from the late 1930s/early 1940s). Since it had one additional commentary track (which did not appear on the DVDs I picked it up.

Imagine my surprise then when I found that the increase in quality was significant with greater detail and a better audio experience. So, it goes to show that older movies done right can be a significant upgrade in picture and audio.

This is especially true of the James Bond Blu-rays…Blu-ray is really the only way a Bond fan should be watching the movies.

 

[JLaidlaw]

I don't own a blu-ray player, but am considering future-proofing my collection by investing in the Blu-Ray collection as it includes Triple Play- so for the present I'll be able to play the DVD disc. Can anyone tell me what content I would get on the DVD disc? Is it just the movie, the movie and the full special features you'd get from the DVD package, or somewhere in between?

[The Dove]

I don't own a blu-ray player, but am considering future-proofing my collection by investing in the Blu-Ray collection as it includes Triple Play- so for the present I'll be able to play the DVD disc. Can anyone tell me what content I would get on the DVD disc? Is it just the movie, the movie and the full special features you'd get from the DVD package, or somewhere in between?

The DVD of Skyfall (at least the one I have) has only about 3 or 4 of the short little "Shooting Bond" featurettes, whilst the Blu-Ray has quite a few more..but most of the missing shorts can be found on the Skyfall Lodge website (http://www.skyfalllodge.com) as hidden treasures, as I've discovered..

[Shaun Forever]

Luckily I traded all of my DVD collection when Blu Ray was still fairly new, and put the cash/credit

towards Blu Rays.

 

 

As a matter of fact, I remember trading about 13 James Bond videos, for about £20 back in 2001, and just

managing to buy two James Bond DVD's

[x007AceOfSpades]

I don't own a blu-ray player, but am considering future-proofing my collection by investing in the Blu-Ray collection as it includes Triple Play- so for the present I'll be able to play the DVD disc. Can anyone tell me what content I would get on the DVD disc? Is it just the movie, the movie and the full special features you'd get from the DVD package, or somewhere in between?

The DVD of Skyfall (at least the one I have) has only about 3 or 4 of the short little "Shooting Bond" featurettes, whilst the Blu-Ray has quite a few more..but most of the missing shorts can be found on the Skyfall Lodge website (http://www.skyfalllodge.com) as hidden treasures, as I've discovered..

The bare bones DVD edition is better than spending 3 bucks more and only getting those small "Shooting Bond" features which I can imagine are short.

[larrythefatcat]

I've already put in my two cents about Blu-ray compared to DVD, but I feel I must also include my feelings on the Bond Blu-ray discs specifically.

 

The majority of the films look amazing and the only real issues I have are with some changes in color timing in the early films (read:  the opening of OHMSS, mostly... although the Blu-ray has struck an almost acceptable balance between the original version and the UE DVD mess) and some films with spotty "restoration."  'Thunderball' mostly looks good, but it is obvious (to me) at times that some DNR (digial noise reduction) was used to lessen the problems with vertical streaks down the picture in some scenes... but they're still visible.  It's possible that there aren't any better sources for these bits, so I'm glad the people at Lowry seemed to have TRIED to fix them.  Seeing the clips used of 'Goldfinger' for the 'Shooting Bond' documentary on the 'Skyfall' Blu-ray makes me so glad Lowry did they work they did!

 

'Goldeneye' is the only Bond film on Blu-ray that I can't truly support.  It should've been given a new transfer instead of just scrubbing the everliving crap out of the old HD master.  Film is supposed to have some inherent grain and GE doesn't really seem to have ANY.  The UE DVD is cropped to a high degree and uses the "4:3 safe" title sequence, but I'm curious to see how much clearer that transfer would be on Blu-ray... putting the old HD transfer "as is" onto a Blu-ray would have possibly been a better choice.

 

There seem to be slight issues with DNR most prevalently in the Brosnan films (TND is possibly the least affected) due to its use in place of making new transfers.  I seem to remember the same, though somewhat minor, film issues in both the original DVD and UE DVD/Blu-ray versions of TWINE and DAD... so I think they could have benefited from new scans, as well.

Edited by larrythefatcat, 15 February 2013 - 09:15 PM.

[Royal Dalton]

My copy of Skyfall's in the post. Should be here tomorrow morning, all being well.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Argentinean release date: March 6.

 

With any luck, I'll be able to buy the rental version, even when it'll be quite expensive!

[JimmyBond]

 

I don't own a blu-ray player, but am considering future-proofing my collection by investing in the Blu-Ray collection as it includes Triple Play- so for the present I'll be able to play the DVD disc. Can anyone tell me what content I would get on the DVD disc? Is it just the movie, the movie and the full special features you'd get from the DVD package, or somewhere in between?

The DVD of Skyfall (at least the one I have) has only about 3 or 4 of the short little "Shooting Bond" featurettes, whilst the Blu-Ray has quite a few more..but most of the missing shorts can be found on the Skyfall Lodge website (http://www.skyfalllodge.com) as hidden treasures, as I've discovered..

The bare bones DVD edition is better than spending 3 bucks more and only getting those small "Shooting Bond" features which I can imagine are short.

 

You're also getting much higher quality transfer. When done correctly, Blu-ray can look hundreds of times better than DVD. On the flip side of that though, it can also look like a good looking DVD, but I think that's only for older movies.

[Mr Teddy Bear]

I'm no expert, but I think it's not so much age, but rather the quality of film originally used and if the original source materials are available in a good condition. See Dr No for example. Over 50 years old and a symphony of vivid, sharp detail and textures on Blu-ray.

[ggl]

For Your Consideration: Spanish release 28th February...

[PeteNeon]

Got my steelbook dispatch email this morning!

[Hockey Mask]

Just watched the Mendes commentary. Had some great tidbits. You could tell how much he loves the franchise.

[Chief of SIS]

Just watched the Mendes commentary. Had some great tidbits. You could tell how much he loves the franchise.

 

Seconded. I buy for the movie, I stay for the commentary. 

[Vauxhall]

Got my steelbook dispatch email this morning!

Me too! Should have it on Monday morning. Excited all over again.

[quantumofsolace]

http://www.express.c...fall-DVD-review

[thecasinoroyale]

Well FINALLY it's out in the UK today on Blu-Ray and DVD!

 

Am going to walk to my local town today in my lunch and peruse the stock in the shops and view over the glorious item but have to refrain from buying as I hope my Amazon Steelbook will be waiting when I get home!

 

[Vauxhall]

Amazon Steelbook has arrived this morning, all present and correct. Looking forward to first viewing!

http://www.express.c...fall-DVD-review

Not the most illuminating review I've ever seen...

[PeteNeon]

I had a look at the Daniel Craig box set earlier. It's got a bit of a mishmash design; the shiny gold 007 logo is on the box, CR and QOS are the gold versions too, while Skyfall has the standard cover art. The spines are all white with the logos in black, the 007 after each one is the Skyfall "rough" version though. Looks nice, a lot better than just including the standard versions, I think CR and QOS should be shiny though. 

[When In Egypt]

My steelbook from Amazon has not arrived yet because I selected free delivery when I ordered it.  That's what you get for being cheap!