111 Colossal Youth

[CSM126]

I've always been curious about the "SD on blu-ray" thing. I mean, obviously a film like YOUTH or VANDA will never be hi-def, but is it at all possible that the larger capacity of BR would allow an SD transfer with less in the way of compression artifacts in the encode? I don't know any reason why an SD file couldn't be 30, 40, or 50 gigs large. And letting it "breath" that way rather than compressing it to 8 or 9 for a DVD, it seems to me, would allow for better image quality.

Of course, I'm just a layman when it comes to this stuff.

And there's also the issue of uninformed masses being turned off when they say "Well this doesn't look hi-def at all" after watching such a BR.

[Dick Laurent]

It is possible, you can encode SD material in AVC at much higher bitrates resulting in a better encode, but, as Michael already stated, people will get confused, expecting something that is not there and deleting your non-blu-ray customer base.

[peerpee]

Yes - a Blu-ray encode of an SD source would allow for an encode that mirrored the Digibeta source, instead of a heavily compressed DVD encode of that Digibeta source -- however the resolution would still be SD, and thus you'd gain on compression, but not have any resolution benefits, and it would be pretty confusing for most folk.

However, it's a very interesting area... both INLAND EMPIRE and COLOSSAL YOUTH were SD-originated, then taken into the HD domain, and had a light grain applied in HD resolution, which very closely mimics the look of a 35mm blowup HD scan (without utilising the 35mm blowup or the expensive scanning).

INLAND EMPIRE was eventually taken to Blu-ray (I haven't seen the Blu-ray yet), so COLOSSAL YOUTH could also conceivably have gone that route too -- particularly because of the post-production work that was done in HD resolution.

[MichaelB]

I haven't seen the Inland Empire Blu-ray, but I assumed that since Lynch's soundtracks are often as important as the visuals (sometimes more so), it would benefit very noticeably from a high-def upgrade for that reason alone.

[knives]

Supposedly the Blu upgrade severely messed with the image though that might just be a problem with the people who did the transfer/ encode.

[windowside]

I can understand that such titles would not benefit much from BR in picture quality, but at least it would all fit on one disc. i wonder if a release like CY would be on BR if companies like Eureka didnt still have a part of their public being without a BR setup.

Unlikely - it's still a fair bit more expensive to master to Blu-ray, and if "being able to fit it all on one disc" is literally the only real benefit from going down that route, what's the point?

So even if the market wasn't demonstrably smaller (as you acknowledge), there's no particularly good argument for doing it like that- not least because you're bound to get people saying "It looks crap! How did Eureka ever think they could get away with such a blatant upscale?" thanks to inflated and unrealistic expectations. And we've seen on countless occasions just how quickly unhelpful and inaccurate rumours can spread online.

I don't work in the industry and have no clue on the costs to master it to Blu-Ray. I do am curious if, taking this title as example, it could benefit from a less compressed file size and an uncompressed audio track. Even if the difference would be not so noticeable, specially in comparison to something with a source more suitable for BR. I understand all that.

Regarding my problem with 2xDVDs. This is not my biggest frustration in daily life and i don't want to bitch too much on organizations that i love and respect for the great things they are doing. I've been highly anticipating this release and will surely pick this one up. However, and it might be small stuff to a lot of people, i think it's great to be able to skip back and forth between features and extras and this is something why i like the space that BR offers. I love how some of my favorite Criterion titles have gone from 2xDVD to BR50.

Something that does annoy me are these BFI Dual Format releases that carry the extras exclusively on the DVD, to allow the blu ray to be only BR25.

I know it's hard for the MoCs and BFIs of this world to, in a time where BR is the better but DVD the widest, decide on format. I see how both have been shifting from separate BR and DVD to DUAL and this should say enough. I know why BFI does a DUAL with BR25 + DVD9, but in my humble opinion and all of this makes these releases so dated. I try to avoid picking up DUAL releases, they just slightly bother me.

[MichaelB]

Something that does annoy me are these BFI Dual Format releases that carry the extras exclusively on the DVD, to allow the blu ray to be only BR25.

But look at it from a production perspective. It's cheaper to produce a release like that, and it has no effect on the technical quality of the end product aside from the end user having to change discs to watch some of the extras. But this is hardly a new development - and it's one that's obviously going to continue: my copy of Apocalypse Now comes on three Blu-rays!

I know it's hard for the MoCs and BFIs of this world to, in a time where BR is the better but DVD the widest, decide on format. I see how both have been shifting from separate BR and DVD to DUAL and this should say enough. I know why BFI does a DUAL with BR25 + DVD9, but in my humble opinion and all of this makes these releases so dated. I try to avoid picking up DUAL releases, they just slightly bother me.

Well, it's been pretty firmly established that dual-format is currently the most sensible way of releasing titles into a market where Blu-ray penetration is nowhere near where people hoped it would be by now. In just six months we've seen MoC not only abandon its BD-only policy but also announce that virtually its entire BD back catalogue will be reissued in dual-format versions. I don't have access to the relevant sales figures, but I imagine the message they sent was pretty clear.

Personally, I'm all for it - it's incredibly useful having a backup DVD for all sorts of reasons, ranging from being able to play it on my laptop to ripping it to my iPad for watching in bed.

[peerpee]

In just six months we've seen MoC not only abandon its BD-only policy but also announce that virtually its entire BD back catalogue will be reissued in dual-format versions. I don't have access to the relevant sales figures, but I imagine the message they sent was pretty clear.

It's not really as simple as that though! -- Firstly, we've announced more BD-only releases - so we haven't abandoned it - we currently have four more BD-only editions planned for early next year. Secondly, the whole "reissued in Dual Format versions" thing has only happened in the last fortnight entirely because of the Sony DADC fire! -- We'd have lasted well into 2013 on existing stock.

We've found that BD sales start off equal to DVD sales, but then tail off, and DVD overtakes. As time goes on, we expect BD to fight back, and there'll probably be a tipping point in 2013, where BD just becomes the norm.

[swo17]

What makes a film get a BD-only edition as opposed to a dual format release? Does it have to do with whether the film is already available on DVD in the UK? Or is there some other reasoning going on?

[MichaelB]

Secondly, the whole "reissued in Dual Format versions" thing has only happened in the last fortnight entirely because of the Sony DADC fire! -- We'd have lasted well into 2013 on existing stock.

On the other hand, the BFI is also reissuing its BD-only (or, more correctly, separate BD edition) back catalogue as dual-format releases, and this decision had nothing to do with the fire.

[peerpee]

Yes - the BFI's decision was announced a few months ago, prior to the fire. I was talking about MoC's decision to do this, which was made for us by the complete loss of our stock, hence - a no-brainer.

[peerpee]

What makes a film get a BD-only edition as opposed to a dual format release? Does it have to do with whether the film is already available on DVD in the UK? Or is there some other reasoning going on?

Depends on the film and who we're licensing it from.

[Minkin]

Depends on the film and who we're licensing it from.

Has there been a situation at all (as there was with Laserdisc) - where the licensor will gladly allow a Blu release but not a DVD? I've been wondering about studios who are still wary of Blu and will hence allow for Blus while maintaining DVD for themselves (or is all of this simply describing the Universal deal?).

[peerpee]

You're describing parts of our Universal deal.

[swo17]

Someone correct me if I'm missing something, but the three short films presented here seem mostly redundant to me. Given that Tarrafal and Rabbit Hunters (which themselves shared a lot of footage) were contributions to portmanteau films, is O nosso Homem simply meant to be a standalone combining everything from the first two? I didn't notice any new shots in the film, though some scenes may have been edited slightly differently. Is this perhaps all meant to be an exercise in subtle editing variations? In any case, I'd recommend that novices just skip right to O nosso Homem.

[Guido]

I was convinced that Homem was a brand new short, shot on HD (a first for Costa).

[AlexHansen]

Hudson's little write-up had me thinking it was brand new as well, though rereading it I realized I just wasn't paying that much attention to what he was describing. Though he did say it was HD, which was enough to feed the false belief ('If it's a new format, it's new footage, huzzah!").

What I like about Tarrafal and The Rabbit Hunters is how they add to the scope of the world they take place in. Separate stories happening simultaneously, and overlapping occasionally. Which is something I didn't get from watching O nosso Homem. Another viewing is in order to see just how Homem works in relation to the others (and how it differs), but I think each short is worth taking a look at. Not to imply that you were saying to skip the others entirely swo.

[doc mccoy]

Has anyone else experienced a glitch in the Pedro Costa interview on disc 1 - on my disc a few minutes into the interview, the picture pixellates and breaks up and the sound is out of synch with the image.

[peerpee]

That is an unfortunate fault on early pressings which has been corrected and can be replaced by sending your faulty disc (only the disc) to Kevin at Eureka kevin@eurekavideo.co.uk

[jbaart]

Could someone please post a timecode for this error so I can check whether or not my disc is affected? I pre-ordered it so it's unfortunately likely. Does it render the rest of the interview unwatchable or can you avoid the fault by skipping a few seconds of the interview?

[tenia]

I've preordered it too so I tried to find any issue on this ITW. Without timecode, I skipped several time from the beginning to the end of the ITW (let's say every 20 sec), and wasn't able to detect any jagged part or bad A/V synchro. Either I don't have the issue, or it is skippable.

[feckless boy]

Could someone please post a timecode for this error so I can check whether or not my disc is affected? I pre-ordered it so it's unfortunately likely. Does it render the rest of the interview unwatchable or can you avoid the fault by skipping a few seconds of the interview

I've preordered it too so I tried to find any issue on this ITW. Without timecode, I skipped several time from the beginning to the end of the ITW (let's say every 20 sec), and wasn't able to detect any jagged part or bad A/V synchro. Either I don't have the issue, or it is skippable.

I love the fact that none of you guys are actually able to sit through a 17 min interview with the director.

[jbaart]

It might occur to you that I don't want to watch the interview yet as I haven't seen the film as of now!

[Landjorden]

I just watched my preordered copy and although I don´t have the exact time it happens it´s just a few minutes in. It does revert back to normal after a while so still watchable for me atleast. Sorry I couldn´t be more specific

[doc mccoy]

That is an unfortunate fault on early pressings which has been corrected and can be replaced by sending your faulty disc (only the disc) to Kevin at Eureka kevin@eurekavideo.co.uk

Thanks, Nick!

Does it render the rest of the interview unwatchable or can you avoid the fault by skipping a few seconds of the interview?

No - as Landjorden said, the rest of the interview is perfectly watchable; the glitch does not last very long (and you can still hear what Costa is saying during that time) and the interview then returns to normal.