Escape From New York Blu Ray

DICKIEDUVET · 02-08-2008, 10:09 AM

Just had a little skip through this....Bit disappointed to be honest. I know it was made 26 years ago with a very modest budget but so was First Blood which IMO looks loads better. Probably doesn't help that most of EFNY is shot at night. Even the shots in the interiors look murky though.

No better than an upscale

Prob the best we will be able to get from the source material though.

brian s · 02-08-2008, 10:26 AM

That's a shame. This is one of my favourites.

Cheers
Bri

Jim Morrison · 02-08-2008, 11:10 AM

This got a half decent review at the 'Times...

"Detail is strong but the same issue with the softness of the periphery of the frame is noticeable, contrast is very good for this rather dark movie and colours are handled very well indeed. There are very minor compression artefacts and one instance of aliasing, but watching this along with the Momentum special edition I was confident that this represented an improvement on the visual quality of that former release."

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=68349

My copy turned up yesterday so I'll give it a look this afternoon.

DICKIEDUVET · 02-08-2008, 11:51 AM

It is indeed an upgrade from the DVD, True the colours are good and some of the detail but for a Blu Ray it is pretty weak.

JM let us know what you think.

HummerUK · 02-08-2008, 12:23 PM

I am just watching my copy...

Sound is very good.
Bob and Weave on front credits is minimal.
Early scenes shot outside do look a little noisy/grainy but studio shots look crisp e.g on Air Force 1.

Most of the movie the image does seem a little soft but of course so much of it supposed to be in low light/shadows.

Picture is 2.35:1 and my PS3 says audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 48Khz > 1.9Mbps and video is AVC > 11 to 30+ Mbps Runtime 1:38:56

Disc has extras
Documentary "Return to Escape From New York"
3 x trailers
John Carpenter (exclusive interview)
Snake's Crime (deleted original intro)

So for under £13.00 I think it is okay...

HummerUK

HummerUK · 02-08-2008, 4:06 PM

After watching complete movie and about an hour of extras with John Carpenter smoking I was fairly impressed (except for the smoking that is).

Last couple of minutes of movie does have feint vertical line on the picture about 20% in from right side.

Otherwise rest of movie seems okay.

HummerUK

BD Ashby · 02-08-2008, 5:03 PM

was realy looking forward to getting this on blu-ray

Is it a realy poor upscale ?

Geoff_D · 02-08-2008, 5:14 PM

This is better than the DVD, but sadly there's some really noticeable edge enhancement. Other than that it looks about as good as I'd expected.

7hil · 03-08-2008, 8:52 AM

I was dissapointed by the PQ on Blu-ray too but at the end of the day it was a fairly low budget movie so there may be limitations to how good it can look.

The bluring at the edges is weird though. Will that be due to the print that Optimum have or what? Do the DVD's have the same effect?

Pecker · 03-08-2008, 11:57 AM

Does this call for a new thread? I rather think it does.

And here it is.

Sorry, didn't want to de-rail this thread.

Steve W

scotty2112 · 03-08-2008, 11:58 PM

Has anyone that has a US ps3 tried playing the extras on this disc.

My ps3 refuses to access them.

7hil · 04-08-2008, 9:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty2112

Has anyone that has a US ps3 tried playing the extras on this disc.

My ps3 refuses to access them.

The US PS3 cannot play PAL content which is how the extras have been encoded. This is different from EU PS3's which can play both NTSC and PAL.

DICKIEDUVET · 04-08-2008, 11:29 AM

Carpenter's The Fog arrived today, As suspected a straight port from the HD-DVD. Which isn't a bad thing. Looks great, Can't beleived the excellent commentary wasn't included on either release though

scotty2112 · 04-08-2008, 12:10 PM

Quote:

The US PS3 cannot play PAL content which is how the extras have been encoded. This is different from EU PS3's which can play both NTSC and PAL.

Thanks for the reply 7hil.

I had a feeling there might be an issue with pal/ntsc but since it has been advertised as region ABC on the rear of the case I reasonably thought that there would not be any issues with watching the extras,lazy encode or not.

Looks like I won't be holding on to this one.Thanks studio canal.

Helicon · 05-08-2008, 6:34 AM

Compared mine to my Region 1 DVD last night, and although the BD doesn't look amazing, it does look better than the DVD. The shots outside the prison of helicopters landing/taking off in the car park area and Snakes arrival at the crashed plane show up how much better the black level and detail is. Also, due to a better black level, you can see more of NY city when the camera pans up over the wall at the start.

If i'd have paid £20/25, i might've felt bitter about it, but as it looks better, i'm happy with it. Could really do with restoration of both audio and video though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7hil

The bluring at the edges is weird though. Will that be due to the print that Optimum have or what? Do the DVD's have the same effect?

There's a lot of blurring on the top and bottom third of the screen on Close Encounters too - this is on the original print, and i'm not sure even full restoration can get rid of that sort of thing. Unfortunately.

Helicon · 05-08-2008, 6:58 AM

The Fog looks quite poor. But again, looks better than the Region 1 DVD. They really should have kept it back for a year, restored it, and released a 30 year editon next year. If Escape and The Fog were quite close to the DVD quality, i'd have sent them back, but they are noticeably better on BD in an A/B comparison.

DICKIEDUVET · 05-08-2008, 10:13 AM

I thought The Fog looked OK, I think it is quite superior to the DVD.

Jim Morrison · 05-08-2008, 1:26 PM

Even with lowered expectations, I was a wee bit disappointed with this. Whilst it's definitely better than the upscaled dvd and probably the best it's ever going to look without an expensive restoration...I still expected a tad more. Still, if you're a fan of the flick, you can't go wrong for the price.

Digicon · 05-08-2008, 7:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashzilla

was realy looking forward to getting this on blu-ray

Is it a realy poor upscale ?

I could not say for sure but i would say this is a definate UPSCALE Job, I have the US HD T.V broadcast of this somewhere if i can root it out i will try and get a comparison screenshot up of both.

Shockabuku · 05-08-2008, 7:58 PM

Before I buy this, could someone please confirm whether it plays on a US PS3 please? Sounds like the extras don't, but how about the movie itself? Cheers.

scotty2112 · 05-08-2008, 8:54 PM

Quote:

Before I buy this, could someone please confirm whether it plays on a US PS3 please? Sounds like the extras don't, but how about the movie itself? Cheers.

Main movie plays fine on my US 60GB PS3,shame the extras don't though.

Geoff_D · 05-08-2008, 8:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.D

Its one of my favorite films but the cinematography belies its hurried low budget nature ( not to say its unimpressive on its own terms). I doubt there is much more to be gotten from Escape in terms of raw picture quality.

As for the softening around the edges: dirty great big wide angled scope lenses do this.

(scope lenses are not known for their speed at the best of times and I doubt they were using particularly high quality ones for a start : couple this with a hurried night time shoot using fairly simple lighting).

I totally agree. I could do without the overdone edge sharpening, but I can't imagine that EFNY would ever look much better than this. It certainly wees over my R1 DVD.

Reviews of The Fog also mention the softening at the periphery of the frame, but that's anamorphic (especially on a low budget) for you. It's only now, with the resolving power of HD (even if it isn't looking-thru-a-window beautiful), that such, um, 'issues' with the original photography are laid bare on home video.

Actually, there aren't many anamorphic shows in HD that have really impressed me in terms of PQ, although Transformers and Mi3 are very good.

Shockabuku: YES to the film playing on a US PS3, but NO to the extras, as scotty says.

max222 · 06-08-2008, 1:29 PM

I ordered this as its a favourite and then after reading comments was expecting very little of the blu ray. So when it arrived yesterday I did a side by side comparison with my Region 1 DVD on my 50" Panasonic Plasma. I was pleased and surprised to be able to notice a huge improvement in picture quality comparing several same scenes - smoke from cigarettes, emblems on helicopters, control panel displays etc. My wife and mother in law also could see a significant difference and they're not into home cinema as a hobby. I'll agree it doesn't have the 3D pop factor of a modern film such as 3:10 to Yuma but to my eyes it was much sharper and more detailed. So in summary suprisingly pleased - perhaps because I was expecting so little? Shame packaging is nowhere near the quality of the fold out 2 disc Region 1 DVD. Next on the list to get is The Mummy I reckon

pRot3us · 06-08-2008, 3:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digicon

I could not say for sure but i would say this is a definate UPSCALE Job, I have the US HD T.V broadcast of this somewhere if i can root it out i will try and get a comparison screenshot up of both.

Theres no such thing as an upscale job, no HD DVD or Blu-ray ever released has just been upscaled from DVD.

Digicon · 06-08-2008, 5:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pRot3us

Theres no such thing as an upscale job, no HD DVD or Blu-ray ever released has just been upscaled from DVD.

is there not then i suggest someone tell Sky One HD and CH4HD with the amount of 'UPSCALE' programs they show, And yes there are such things as Upcsaled movies and dont just think this is confined to TV either

Digicon · 06-08-2008, 5:51 PM

And for the 'UPSCALE doubters that this does not happen LOL

Escape Blu Ray 1080p

Escape HDNet TV 1080i

Now please anyone who says the Blu ray is better should go back to DVD

pRot3us · 06-08-2008, 6:23 PM

How is there any evidence of upscaling there whatsoever?

For starters the images you've posted are SD (576p) and compressed, so a bit pointless for examining the quality of HD.

I suggest you re-read Mr. D's post as to an insight on this Blu-ray release, he probably knows more about image quality than anyone else on these forums.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.D

Its one of my favorite films but the cinematography belies its hurried low budget nature ( not to say its unimpressive on its own terms). I doubt there is much more to be gotten from Escape in terms of raw picture quality.

As for the softening around the edges: dirty great big wide angled scope lenses do this.

(scope lenses are not known for their speed at the best of times and I doubt they were using particularly high quality ones for a start : couple this with a hurried night time shoot using fairly simple lighting).

I've only just got this disc so haven't watched it yet but will be doing at the weekend.

rebel_scum · 06-08-2008, 7:51 PM

Well watch it then before having a go. This was clearly NOT taken from a proper 1080p source. People can stick their head in the sand all they want.

Geoff_D · 06-08-2008, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebel_scum

Well watch it then before having a go. This was clearly NOT taken from a proper 1080p source. People can stick their head in the sand all they want.

Oooooookay. Optimum's Blu-ray is clearly not as good as it could be - that much is now obvious - but it does resolve much more detail than the R1 Special Edition DVD. Yes, I have watched it.

Sure, the DVD encode wasn't the greatest so I'm damning the Blu-ray with faint praise here, but even so: the Blu-ray is better than the DVD. And until an American Blu-ray edition is released, which is highly unlikely until the remake gets off the ground (if ever!), the UK Blu-ray is the best home video version available.

rebel_scum · 07-08-2008, 12:53 PM

I'm getting shot of my disc, I've been left shaking my head at how bad some it actually is. For shame Optimum, for shame.