GODZILLA 2014 BD+DVD 09/16/14

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

OK, finally had a chance to check out the new GODZILLA Blu-ray on both of my calibrated displays.

The picture is excellent, but also very dark. As several of the "pro" reviewers have pointed out, this is one of the darkest Blu-rays ever produced.

To be clear, by dark I mean that the overall image is low-contrast and contains very little in the way of bright highlights, or even bright scenes. The night scenes are washes of blacks and various shades of medium to dark grey. On a calibrated display, though, no image detail is lost. Some of the images posted from complainers showed extreme examples of black crush, a phenomenon where deep levels of grey and shadow detail gets lost in the black. I did not see this phenomenon at all. In fact, the shadow detail was superb. As I mentioned before, I think some LCD sets might struggle with this disc, since it is in these middle to dark tones that LCD sets have difficulty. Definitely a movie to watch at night with the lights down, that's for sure.

In relation to the theatrical version, I would say the disc has been rendered with a lower peak brightness level as well as overall lower contrast. As I mentioned earlier, this was almost certainly a creative decision - one which the rest of us may or may not approve of. It looks like Edwards (or whoever made this decision) was going for an even darker and moodier feel for the home video release than what was seen in the theaters. Or, possibly, they felt that the CGI did not stand up to scrutiny on a video display if they had gone with higher levels.

A couple of last notes regarding calibration. Calibrating with a calibration disc will get you in the ballpark in terms of color, brightness and contrast, but does not mean that the end result is a perfectly calibrated TV. For that you need a professional calibrator to get into the set's fine picture controls (usually only accessible from a set's service menu). Most people will never spring for such a calibration, as it can cost hundreds of dollars. And, it's also possible that the set is not capable of a perfectly calibrated image, as TV sets - like all things - vary in quality. Still, calibrating from a calibration disc is absolutely worthwhile.

Lastly, many times a properly calibrated TV will be dimmer than one that has not been calibrated. TV manufacturers all pump up the brightness of their sets in "demo / vivid" mode so that they will stand out on the sales floor. Unfortunately, these super bright modes blow out and crush picture detail (like the "black crush" screen shots I mentioned before) and result in wildly inaccurate colors. Calibrating the set means that you will get back all of the fine details that are typically lost with these ultra-bright picture modes, plus get much more accurate color. Just keep in mind that after calibration you may end up with a dimmer picture overall, but one much closer to what was intended by the filmmaker.

My displays - Panasonic TCP60-ST60 60" plasma, plus a JVC HD950 DILA projector equipped with Panamorph DC1 anamorphic lens, projecting onto a 11' wide 2.35:1 Stewart StudioTek130 reference screen. The disc looked just about identical on both systems.

[Legion]

Another review praising the picture on this release...

http://www.dvdizzy.com/godzilla.html

[tbeasley]

I can't be the only one to find the whole 'adjust your TV for one movie' thing ridiculous, right? That shouldn't be necessary for any DVD/ Blu-ray release, especially one for a 2014 Hollywood movie.

[DannyBeane]

[jellydonut25]

[sachiel]

[Legion]

The whole issue with what happened at TK is that the guy who reviewed the blu-ray and complained about it is the same person every single member over there hang on and kisses up to. Everyone adores this guy and he often goes out of his way to do things "for the fandom", as if he truly lives to be praised by a bunch of 17 year olds. So OF COURSE crap hit the fan when he complained about the blu-ray. Everyone simply took his word as gospel despite THE BLU-RAY HAVING NOT EVEN BEEN RELEASED YET and everyone there started panicking in the streets. It's clear at this point that the complaints about the picture are overblown, and honestly, everyone involved with this nonsense at TK (especially those pushing that petition) should be ashamed of themselves. I'm sure Warners will take one look at that petition and laugh at how stupid and entitled some G-fans can be.

[tbeasley]

^ Oh come on, we all know who you're talking about. You might as well say his name.

I guess the real question is why does the 3D version look better than the standard release?

[klen7]

[canofhumdingers]

Huh, so I assume the 3d release also contains a 2d version playable on non-3d setups and that footage on the bottom is from that 2d version? For the most part it didn't look all that different but the night time battle sequences were quite a lot darker, to the point of losing a significant amount of detail. Granted, we're talking about a tiny, HIGHLY compressed internet video that we're using as a comparison so it might not be a very fair one...

Either way, regardless of actual detail, the 3d version certainly IS brighter. But I have to wonder if there is actually an entirely seperate 2d encode on the 3d release, or if it just plays the right (or left) eye view of the 3d encode. As has been mentioned 3d releases are brighter than normal releases to compensate for the darkness of the glasses. Perhaps that could explain why it looks brighter and that, while perhaps more pleasing to some, the brighter image is not actually the way it's supposed to look.

Based in the comparison video I do personally prefer the brighter version on the bottom, but I'm watching it on my ipad. It's hard to say what either version would look like on my tv. But I'm in no rush to get this movie anyway so I'll just wait and read what more people have to say.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

A co-worker of mine bought the standard BD and he had the darkness issue. Is it possible that there's a few bad discs out there?

That being said the TK reviewer did state in his review that all TVs are different. So I don't see why we're all bashing him or that board for that matter.

[sachiel]

[william newell]

Actually, wasn't all this darkness business started with the first HD download that was released before the Blu-Ray? Also, for what it's worth, I finally got the chance to watch the whole movie while adjusting the levels on my projector. I was able to make the movie watchable, but that's about it. Strange thing is, on my old Toshiba 24", and with the DVD instead of the Blu, I was able to get a gorgeous picture simply by raising the brightness. The Toshiba has never been calibrated, while my projector was calibrated(right after I got it)via the Video Essentials DVD, which, as has been stated before, does a real nice job of getting you in the ballpark, requiring only a few additional tweaks. And, as I've stated before, I have plenty of "dark" films, but none have had anywhere near the issue's that this release has had. In fact, the only problem I ever encountered was with "Silent Hill", which seemed to have some banding issues. The problem turned out to be electrical "noise" coming from the wall outlet. Once I plugged the projector into a home theater power strip(excuse me, I meant "line conditioner" ), the "noise" was removed and blacks have not been an issue since. Well, until this release, anyway. I keep thinking about Pacific Rim, and how great it looks on my projector. Details perfectly clear, shadow detail excellent with a wide range of blacks. I honestly don't see why this film can't look the same, or why it can't look like the clips from the film used in the extras, which looked perfect. Oh well, it is what it is, I guess.

[walshiam]

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

[william newell]

[John Schuermann]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]