Older Movies in Hi-Def

Tarbat

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I don't know about anyone else, but the biggest suprise for me with HD is how much I really enjoy the older movies in Hi-Def. It's really good to see these older movies come alive in Hi-Def, having only ever seen them in poor quality SD on terrestrial channels in the past.

Highlights for me so far have been:

Alfie (1966), which really brought alive the 60's feel of London

Lawrence of Arabia (1962), which at 22% was stunning PQ, particularly the expansive scenes in the desert

I just hope Sky (or BBC) continue to buy the HD rights to older movies of the 50's and 60's.
 
the biggie I'm waiting for is of course the star wars trilogy in Blu Ray (I should think).

its great to think that these old movies are being re-processed and converted to high quality digital recordings, thus making it more difficult to lose the original cinematic quality, these movies are gonna be around for generations, whereas recent movies seem far more forgettable.
 
the biggie I'm waiting for is of course the star wars trilogy in Blu Ray (I should think).

its great to think that these old movies are being re-processed and converted to high quality digital recordings, thus making it more difficult to lose the original cinematic quality, these movies are gonna be around for generations, whereas recent movies seem far more forgettable.
all six star wars movies have been shown on sky hd , what has blue ray got to do with sky hd?
 
You call those old films :eek:

I meant more the post-war films of the 50s and 60s, but I guess it depends on your age, and so which films mean more to you.
 
Yeah the two most impressive movies I've seen on HD-DVD were The Searchers and Forbidden Planet and like SKY HD the newer movies we have probably seen in very good quality where as the older ones especially when remastered it's like watching for the first time.

The problem is that it's not the BBC or SKY who spend the millions on remastering older movies, they just buy the results so we need studios to spend the money to remaster for DVD and HD media and then broadcast viewers will also see the benefits.
 
I saw On The Waterfront the other day in HD - great film - rubbish transfer:(
 
I think most of them are amazing in Hi-Def - even through a £50 upscaler its so much more entertaining to enjoy it in hi-def, well worth the transition.
 
I watched Grand Prix, the classic motor racing film made in the 60s, on HD-DVD via my humble Xbox 360. It looked absolutely awesome!

But Excalibur was very disappointing - Bullit looked good but not as good as Grand Prix
 
Grand Prix is the result of another uber Warner restoration going back to the original 65/70mm film stock, cleaning and retouching to produce a master which is perhaps as good as it was on day1. Excalibur despite a minor restoration is coming from such a flawed/grainy master that the results are disappointing and not the reason anyone would buy into HD media:(
It would have been one of the first movies I bought but I'll stick with the DVD.
 
Easy Rider is on Anytime - very grainy but nice and colourful so worth a look.
 
Grand Prix is the result of another uber Warner restoration going back to the original 65/70mm film stock, cleaning and retouching to produce a master which is perhaps as good as it was on day1.
Starburst, where do you get all this information from, I'd really like to know what old movies are being released in HD and to what quality.
 
Starburst, where do you get all this information from, I'd really like to know what old movies are being released in HD and to what quality.




The AV Forums and AV Play are both excellent resources both from the review and user opinion, that aside the US AVS and Hi-Def Digest make good reading and a google can bring up actual factual information at times:)
 
Easy Rider is on Anytime - very grainy but nice and colourful so worth a look.



Appeared overnight on mine, only seen it once many many years ago so about time I watched it again:)
 
Thanks for the heads up - Easy Rider is now in the planner!

I was thinking about 'older films' after really enjoying Lawrence of Arabia - thought the PQ was superb and the film better than I was expecting.

Not as old but certainly my favourite film of all time is The Shawshank Redemption - never seen this either available on HD-DVD or on the movie channels - cue Starburst to give us the answer!
 
Not as old but certainly my favourite film of all time is The Shawshank Redemption - never seen this either available on HD-DVD or on the movie channels - cue Starburst to give us the answer!




The pressure:)

Shawshank was promoted as a 2006 HD-DVD release but it's not seen the light out of day yet and the movie for some reason seems to only pop-up on CH4/F4 and I watch it everytime despite the DVD being one of the cheapest for many years.

I think it's a Warner title and they may be delaying some movies for a joint HD-DVD/Blu-ray release.
 
The pressure:)

Shawshank was promoted as a 2006 HD-DVD release but it's not seen the light out of day yet and the movie for some reason seems to only pop-up on CH4/F4 and I watch it everytime despite the DVD being one of the cheapest for many years.

I think it's a Warner title and they may be delaying some movies for a joint HD-DVD/Blu-ray release.

Of course the popularity of Shawshank was only seen following its release on DVD as it didn't fair too well at the box office - surely the powers that be realise that this film would sell like hot cakes on the HD format as it is in most people's list of their top 10 favourite films.
 
The pressure:)

Shawshank was promoted as a 2006 HD-DVD release but it's not seen the light out of day yet and the movie for some reason seems to only pop-up on CH4/F4 and I watch it everytime despite the DVD being one of the cheapest for many years.

I think it's a Warner title and they may be delaying some movies for a joint HD-DVD/Blu-ray release.
It might be a useful measure of HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray popularity if Warner release it on both formats separately.

Not much help if it's one disc with the different formats on each side, as has been suggested.

One thing we know: it will be a very big seller indeed. It was my first DVD, so it must be up for replacement.

Jerry
 
I'd like to see Bullitt because the SD DVD transfer was never very good and it's been released on HD DVD.
 
For you Gene Hackman fans, the 1974 classic "The Conversation" is being shown in HD on Sunday:

FILM: The Conversation
On: Sky Movies HD1 (311)
Date: Sunday 6th May 2007 (starting in 6 days)
Time: 21:00 to 22:49 (1 hour and 49 minutes long)

Surveillance man Harry lives in the shadow of three deaths that happened as a result of his bugging work. When he records a hushed conversation between a couple, he becomes paranoid that the same thing could happen again. Compelling thriller.
(Widescreen, High Definition, Subtitles, 1974, 12, 4 Star)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams, Michael Higgins
 
Guys and Dolls in HD on Anytime - excellent, a classic musical with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra. Sky, give us more like this please!
 
The pressure:)

Shawshank was promoted as a 2006 HD-DVD release but it's not seen the light out of day yet and the movie for some reason seems to only pop-up on CH4/F4 and I watch it everytime despite the DVD being one of the cheapest for many years.

I think it's a Warner title and they may be delaying some movies for a joint HD-DVD/Blu-ray release.

Shawshank in the UK is published by Fremantle (I'm wrong ! it's actually ITV Digital)

I watched Oliver Stone's excellent Salvador in HD on Sky HD last week, very nice picture :)
 
i think bbc hd does a better job with the older films hd wise imo
 

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