GODZILLA 2014 BD+DVD 09/16/14

[Henry88]

[DannyBeane]

As much as I loved this film, I don't think I want to get this release if I can't see any of the stuff I loved in theaters.

[Henry88]

now what i want to know is will they fix it.

[The Shadow]

[Shokara]

Blu-ray.com has their review up. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Godzilla- ... 69/#Review

[canofhumdingers]

The bluray.com review seems to indicate everything is fine and dandy. Then you go to the screenshots page and see this:

[lhb412]

Honestly... I'm not sure this is any darker than the film was in the theater. Being in a cavernous, dark space with a giant image that provided the only light makes quite a bit of difference.

[Mac]

Yeah, I'm not seeing the issue here. The film print was this dark in theaters, so as to hide the shoddiness of the CGI.

[Dai]

I always did think the final battle was too dark at the cinema, but I can't remember if it was quite that dark. As I have my PC hooked up to my Panasonic TV, I've been playing with various settings on the TV to see if I can get those dark scenes watchable. The only thing that works well is switching the display mode to Dynamic, which bumps up the contrast and uses the variable backlight. These are the factory default settings intended for display under fluorescent strip lights on a shop floor. I don't normally use those settings, as I find it distracting when the backlight fades up and down.

Something else I'm wondering is if the screenshots may look darker than the blu-ray due to the different way that PC monitors and TVs register colour values that are close to black.

[jellydonut25]

Someone did a "here's all the Godzilla scenes" thing on Youtube, and whatever their source for the rip was, the night battle scenes were WAY more readable than any of the clips WB released. It was much more how I remembered it in theaters than the unwatchably dark clips I've been seeing up to this point.

I mean, I get that the movie was dark, but I literally COULDN'T WATCH those clips that were being released by WB...I couldn't see anything, just some shadows maybe moving around somewhat until there was a flash of light of some kind. This other fan-made video was much more watchable.

[Hybrid Gojira]

The HD stream I watched was horrendously dark, so much so that I have up watching it because I was annoyed. I might just get this later on instead of on day 1, especially since there are no extras.

[MouthForWar]

[Gojilove]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Apprently the 3D BD doesn't have the same dark print the BD, DVD and digital copy have. If we have the film on sale this week I'm going to buy it on 3D BD and I'll let you guys know.

[lhb412]

I've read that the 3D version is lighter to compensate for the darkness of the 3D glasses, and that it was done in the theatrical showings.

[Dr Kain]

[tbeasley]

[walshiam]

If the print used for the discs are this dark, I see a flood of dissatisfied customers attempting to return them because they can't see what's on the screen.

[John Schuermann]

[XvGojira]

While not accurate with current digital trends, it seems to be a staple in the vernacular. Much in the same way that the icon to "Save" is still a floppy disc when those have been out of date for ages.

[canofhumdingers]

Yeah but using the term "print" when talking about home video has always been inaccurate. It's not a print, it's a transfer (because it was transferred from film to the chosen home video format). And that transfer was rarely made from an actual print unless there was no better source available. Typically transfers were made from inter positives, inter negatives, separation masters, or original negatives. The term print specifically refers to the final reel or reels of film that were distributed to the movie theater for projection. The print was made by printing a copy from the inter negative (which was made by printing from the inter positive, which was made from the original negative)

For a transfer, they copy the film elements over to the appropriate video format in a "master". This master is what is then duplicated repeatedly on the final home video medium.

[XvGojira]

Like you said it's inaccurate, but it's always been inaccurate. Bascially it gets the point across for the majority of the folk not working in that technical field. Sort of like how all adheisive bandages are band-aids, all tissues are kleenex, all copiers and the act of copying are/is xerox/xeroxing etc etc.

[william newell]

[Legion]

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/429/302/ ... igital-hd/

Hey look, here's a petition that's not going to go anywhere or convince WB to do anything. Godzilla fans are pretty cute when they start petitions like these, because they don't even represent a fraction of the people who are going to buy this blu-ray/DVD.

[John Schuermann]

To be clear, my whole point about the use of the word "print" was to point out that whatever brightness issues the Blu-ray may have, it was almost certainly a deliberate creative decision, not a failure to chose the right source elements. In other words, it has nothing to do with the condition of any kind of "print" or even the transfer. When the disc is mastered the transfer supervisor has the ultimate authority over how the film will look on Blu-ray, especially when working from Digital Cinema elements. Almost all modern films are transferred from Digital Cinema elements, so the film can look the same or different from the Digital Cinema version depending on the settings used during conversion to a Blu-ray compatible video stream. The transfer technician has total control over how that conversion is done. He or she can make the picture lighter, darker, change the color balance and saturation, etc. Many times this is done with the participation of the director or DP, sometimes just with the participation of the film's post production manager (this is becoming more and more the case).

The long and short of it is that Godzilla 2014 looks the way it does on Blu-ray because it was deliberately mastered to look that way. Whether or not it was a good artistic decision we will all be able to ascertain for ourselves in a couple of days. From the early reviews, though, it looks like an excellent time to get your TV calibrated