Tenebrae – Technically Speaking

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Did anyone think that after the initial twenty minutes 'the grain' settled down?

[Toonloon]

I'm quite prepared to put with a certain amount of disappointment, but Tenebrae is surprisingly bad.

I'm 50-50 at the moment, but I may send it back to HMV, or at least contact them to tell them how disatisfied I am with the AV and what chances are there of me getting my money back.

[PaulD]

Originally Posted by Reaper@Cult Labs

Did anyone think that after the initial twenty minutes 'the grain' settled down?

Yeah, I found it worse in the lighter outdoor scenes, especially at the beginning. That said, after adjusting the different mode settings on my tv it looked fine. I watched it a few days ago with the Newman/Jones commentary and have just finished watching the film on its own again and think it's a fine release. I don't think there's as much detail there as could have been at times but watching it on a modest 40" screen is a different experience to looking at the white grain-soaked screenshots that were posted online prior to release (seriously - one of the screenshots I saw on another forum was of Maria walking down the steps to the killers basement and saying how you can't see her belt buckles in the Arrow version and yet you can in the French BD - well I saw the belt buckles fine when watching it just before!) and I genuinely have little problem with it. Fair enough if people have a different experience to me but I genuinely think it's a good release


(can't comment on sound as I don't have a fancy set-up sadly. totally aware I'm missing half the experience )

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

You mean this image from the Arrow Video BD?





This isn't even as detailed as it could be as I changed the file from a .bmp to .jpg to save space on my website.

[PaulD]

That's the one, yeah. Sure the belt buckles don't look that defined in that screenshot but it genuinely looks more detailed in motion. Which is the way it's actually meant to be seen.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Changing the setting on my TV and BD Player to 'Movie' certainly helped.

The scene where the arm in chopped by the axe has never looked so vivid!

[Andydn]

It's clear that people are def disappointed with this release, I'd like to know if arrow will admit it has it's faults or not, I'm going to sell mine and therefore loose money.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by PaulD

That's the one, yeah. Sure the belt buckles don't look that defined in that screenshot but it genuinely looks more detailed in motion. Which is the way it's actually meant to be seen.

I agree, even though that shots had plenty of detail -- whoever said you can't see the belt loops must have been looking something else!

Originally Posted by Reaper@Cult Labs

The scene where the arm in chopped by the axe has never looked so vivid!

Or so fake!

[PaulD]

God, it's getting some awful (and often uninformed) reviews on Amazon. Ha, someone even refers to Arrow as "the British Vipco" !?!

Actually, reading reviews on Amazon is largely counter-productive to be honest due to how hideously uninformed they are. "They should have told Storora to shove it and sold a better version! I bought my Beyond BD in mid-June and still got the B&W version! Who cares about the extras - they've been filmed on an old vhs camera! That awful new artwork for some of these films has been an embarrassment!" * Points not even worth addressing on account of how ridiculous they are.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think Arrow are perfect. I was very surprised that The Beyond error wasn't picked up prior to release and while I think some of the transfers and PQ could be improved I have no real qualms and am glad to have largely excellent looking versions of old films that are freely available in the UK (and The Beyond error was rectified in such an well done way anyway) so y'know, really can't complain.

* some of these quotes are paraphrased. Some are sadly verbatim

[oaxaca]

I notice Arrow gets slagged off a bit for PQ problems with some of their blu rays but I think the transfers to INFERNO, PHENOMENA, THE BEYOND (after it was fixed) in particular, and probably more I can't think of right now, have been complete revelations!

The only one I have personally been in any way disappointed in was DEEP RED. But I need to give that one another shot.