Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Just arrived...

1:08 PM / Blu-ray / Comments10 Comments

BD

RED RIDING (BD, IFC Films, Region A, USA)

I haven't had a chance to look at this yet, but it doesn't take a genius to work out that cramming three feature length films on to a single BD-50 is likely to be a colossally bad move.

Updated Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 03:32 PM: As I suspected, the compression on the 16mm 1974 is not pleasant at all. The 35mm 1980 and Red One 1983 fare much better. Lossy audio only as well, by the way. Looks like the three films were released separately in Finland with DTS-HD Master Audio, while America gets shafted.

 
10 Comments

1. Greg M said:

Booo! I just started reading the novels. Maybe I'll get around to this afterward.

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 3:39 PM)

2. Sock Knight said:

At least America gets the films on Blu-ray, unlike the UK.

Are there any online Finnish retailers around?

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 4:58 PM)

3. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Greg:

In my case, I saw the films first, loved them, and promptly ordered all four books... only to discover that the style of prose was not to my taste at all. I persevered with 1974 and will eventually get round to the other three, but I found the way it was written incredibly self-conscious and at times more than a little confusing.

And yes, I've been told I'll REALLY hate TOKYO YEAR ZERO.


Sock Knight:

Filmifriikki is one. I ordered the uncut CASINO ROYALE from them and received it pretty quickly, if memory serves.

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 5:33 PM)

4. Trond said:

The 3 separate Blu-rays are also released in Sweden (by Noble Entertainment) and in Norway (by Star Media Entertainment (SME)). I've got the Norwegian discs. Apparently, all are identical though, including the Finnish releases. I thought they looked quite good, especially the last one which was shot digitally.

Here's some numbers that might be interesting.


US release (statistics from the DVDBeaver review):

Runtime: 1:46:13.116 + 1:44:41.316 + 1:37:29.051
Disc Size: 46,748,921,451 bytes
74' Feature Size: 15,823,927,296 bytes
80' Feature Size: 15,606,577,152 bytes
83' Feature Size: 14,551,400,448 bytes
Video Bitrate: 17.99 Mbps
Audio: Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Audio: Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps


Swedish release, Red Riding 1980:

Runtime: 1:37:23
Disc Size: 23,445,935,094 bytes
Feature Size: 22,946,740,224 bytes
Total Bitrate: 31,41 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 27274 kbps / 1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio / English / 1725 kbps / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1725 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Audio: Dolby Digital Audio / English / 640 kbps / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps


Swedish release, Red Riding 1983:

Runtime: 1:44:37
Disc Size: 22,832,188,703 bytes
Feature Size: 22,472,202,240 bytes
Total Bitrate: 28,64 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 24534 kbps / 1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio / English / 1828 kbps / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1828 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Audio: Dolby Digital Audio / English / 640 kbps / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps

(Taken from this thread: http://forum.blu-ray.com/blu-ray-movies-international/134593-red-riding-trilogy-2009-uk-crime-serial.html )

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 5:39 PM)

5. Trond said:

I tried posting a comment twice, with some numbers for the US release versus the Fi/Swe/Nor releases. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem to be posted? Doesn't exactly encourage me to continue reading this blog.

Anyway, to add to the comment about purchasing the Finnish releases. The prices on Filmifriikki aren't exactly a bargain. 20-30 Euro each for those titles, which are no longer new releases here, is way too high. In Sweden you can f.ex. get the Blu-rays for 5 Euro a piece from Mediamarkt (don't know if they do postal orders though). And in Norway they are approx. 10 Euro a piece.

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 5:55 PM)

6. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Trond:

Your original comment was incorrectly flagged as spam, presumably because the large amount of numbers in it (these systems aren't perfect, but a necessary evil, I'm afraid, given the amount of spam I receive).

Thanks for posting the statistics. Very interesting reading, and with figures like that I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that the Scandinavian discs fare better on the compression front than the US version. Damn, I may have to buy the Scandinavian versions now.

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 6:26 PM)

7. Trond said:

OK, now I know. All is forgiven. ;)

If I might also add, as stated in the blu-ray.com thread (but I've also read it a couple of other places), if you or anyone else considers buying these discs from Sweden or Finland, where they are published by Noble Entertainment, there seems to be a problem with Red Riding 1980 being faulty, actually containing Red Riding 1983 even if the disc is labelled correctly. I guess something to beware.

My Norwegian discs are all correct, and so far, I haven't read anything about it being a problem here. The discs are not of the same pressing (since being released by Star Media and not Noble).

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 6:36 PM)

8. Matthew McKinnon said:

Re: the novels... I had the same response to "1974". Just too sordid and dark for me.

But I wanted to read "1977" to see why it wasn't filmed, and ended up finishing them all. To paraphrase Bill Buford [on football, I think], the books are like alcohol or tobacco: revolting at first, then tolerable, then addictive.

And finding that the adaptations were seriously compromised in the process - the happy ending in "1983" is a washout, an utter disaster.

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 10:12 PM)

9. bosque said:

I get the feeling these might play better to non-UK viewers (I could be wrong and the triolgy was well well-received when aired in the UK).

Another book by the David Preece was adapted into the recent movie about 1970s football "legend", Brian Clough, can't remember its title, but it is a bit of a nostalgia-fest for those who were around at the time and cheering on First Division teams.

(Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 9:54 AM)

10. Bleddyn Williams said:

Giving this a blind buy anyway, as its a cheap way to check out the trilogy in HD. While I notice EE & DNR easily enough, I tend to be much less likely to notice compression artifacts, so hope to get my money's worth!

Bosque - you're referring to The Damned United. I love that film, and had no idea it was the same author as Red Riding!

(Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 5:24 PM)

 
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