Tenebrae – Technically Speaking

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

I found that at the start the grain was very noticable,but settled down to HD quality after the 25 minute mark.

[Toonloon]

I could have lived with the picture issues by doing, as someone suggested earlier, changing the settings of my TV. Hardly an ideal situation. But the severe distortion in the rear channels makes me worry about my surround sound system, therefore I won't play this again, unless it's for the extras or the commentary.

Sorry Arrow, after being a day one purchase for me, a couple of let-downs of late will mean I'm going to hold off and wait for price drops before I continue you to support you. I've been a day one purchaser of films I'm not kean on, just to be a supporter. But with recent A/V issues and the replacement discs for City of the Dead, I'm going to wait for reviews in future and if I'm a fan of the film, get it when it drops in price.


Please get back to the excellent level that you set yourself as soon as possible. Blue Underground are looking more appealing to me, even though I foresaked them to support the 'home team'.

[Prince_Vajda]

Originally Posted by Toonloon

I could have lived with the picture issues by doing, as someone suggested earlier, changing the settings of my TV. Hardly an ideal situation. But the severe distortion in the rear channels makes me worry about my surround sound system, therefore I won't play this again, unless it's for the extras or the commentary.

Sorry Arrow, after being a day one purchase for me, a couple of let-downs of late will mean I'm going to hold off and wait for price drops before I continue you to support you. I've been a day one purchaser of films I'm not kean on, just to be a supporter. But with recent A/V issues and the replacement discs for City of the Dead, I'm going to wait for reviews in future and if I'm a fan of the film, get it when it drops in price.


Please get back to the excellent level that you set yourself as soon as possible. Blue Underground are looking more appealing to me, even though I foresaked them to support the 'home team'.

Are we back to that again? Remember this is the "Tenebrae - Technically Speaking" thread and not the place for general moaning about one's own digestion of how things are.

Greetings!

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Prince_Vajda

Are we back to that again? Remember this is the "Tenebrae - Technically Speaking" thread and not the place for general moaning about one's own digestion of how things are.

Greetings!

But his post is also about the technical aspect of the disc, and as such, he's quite within his rights to post it here.

[Prince_Vajda]

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

But his post is also about the technical aspect of the disc, and as such, he's quite within his rights to post it here.

You're right. But I really think some people here could stop nagging all over the place. It's pretty annoying to read the same stuff over and over again:
- I like Arrow, BUT...
- I own every Arrow release so far, BUT...
- I am a supporter of this small company, BUT...

It's everyone's right to complain and to utter his or her opinion - I said that more than once. But I guess many people here don't give a damn about somebody changing his purchase behaviour because of a release he or she does not like.

If you're not satisfied with a release - don't buy it. It's that easy. Or criticize it in a decent manner. But posting semi-philosophical explanations to tell everyone why he or she is not going to buy any further Arrow releases - sorry, but that's just annoying.

Greetings!

PS: I'll watch Tenebrae today or tomorrow - you'll find a short check of the disc in the review section a couple of days later. With some criticism. But without moaning. I guarantee.

[Dissolvedpaul]

Originally Posted by Baseball Fury

Prior to writing this piece I spent a couple of hours reading various online forums frequented by audiophiles, and was disheartened – You’ll never hear anyone say that they just listened a Stevie Wonder track that made their heart leap, or a Flying Burrito Brothers record that made them cry, or a Pixies track that inspired them to leap around the room like a freshly-shorn goat, bashing into the furniture and knocking over plants. And that’s a real tragedy, because those reactions are what music is really about: its ability to stir the soul and move the feet.
People don’t need to learn how to listen: they need to learn how to relax.

edited quote ^^
Not to go off topic but I just had to reply to this. If you never hear anyone expressing emotions or indeed acting out those emotions about music then you're not hanging out with the right music lovers. ; ) True, people might spend a bit too much time online obsessing about audio fidelity or how expensive their speakers are but at the end of the day, You'd have a hard time stopping me from rolling about on the floor like a loon anytime "Surfa Rosa" or "Doolittle" by The Pixies came on or cry my eyes out after 3 ciders to Holst's "The Planets" and I'd proclaim it on any message board without fear of derision.

Regarding Tenebrae, I'm not usually swayed by reviews and do like to make up my own mind but when I'm on a budget these days, such a large response to this particular print's quality is a slight concern. My next purchase is definitely Arrow's "Phenomena" Blu which looks great, it's one of my favourite Argento's and already owning 3 DVD's of "Tenebrae", with some of the sound and grain issues on this release already highlighted, I don't think it will be immediate priority.
I was over the moon with Arrow's "City" and "Inferno" Blu's and have been excitedly showing them off to anyone who dares come round, I don't quite get the complaints about "City", I think it looks lush (apart from the fact I can't view the extra's on my NTSC player) and is a marvelous upgrade, as is Inferno. I do want to get "The Beyond" too but am I correct in thinking that a large number of discs with the faulty Black and White Prologue are still in circulation for sale? Should I wait a bit longer? I really just want to get a corrected version first time and don't want to take pot luck with this one.
Sorry for jumping around topic here.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Reaper@Cult Labs

I found that at the start the grain was very noticable,but settled down to HD quality after the 25 minute mark.

I watched my Blu copy last night, and pretty much agree with you Reaps.

The initial grain is very odd looking - almost like a snowstorm and creates an strange artificial look. I found it to be more noticeable in the outdoor scenes.

The brightness looks a tad boosted too; one of the opening scenes where Peter Neal arrives at the airport in his bright baby blue tracksuit made my eyes almost pop out of their sockets!

However, the grain does settle down, and fiddling with my settings I managed to overcome the brightness problem at the start a great deal. There is also an astonishing amount of detail present throughout, and whilst the grain can be a bit distracting at the beginning, overall, I've never seen Tenebrae look as good (I haven't seen the French Blu, so am unable to comment whether it looks better than the Arrrow release or not).

Originally Posted by Prince_Vajda

You're right. But I really think some people here could stop nagging all over the place. It's pretty annoying to read the same stuff over and over again...

This is the main reason why the threads for each Arrow release were broken up into categories.

It is then simple for people to post in the threads they want to post in, and avoid the ones they don't. If you love artwork, then there is a thread for that, want to discuss special features; read and comment on reviews; discuss the technical aspects of the releases, then there are separate threads for those too. It also means that if you are not interested in certain aspects of the release for any reason, then you can avoid that portion of the discussion all together - everyone's happy!

Also, believe it or not, there's a thread to discuss the ACTUAL film too.

No-one should be discouraged from posting their opinions on any apsect of a release, as long as it is done in a constructive manner. We've found that these separate threads creates broader, and more pleasant discussion!

[Toonloon]

Originally Posted by Prince_Vajda

If you're not satisfied with a release - don't buy it. It's that easy. Or criticize it in a decent manner. But posting semi-philosophical explanations to tell everyone why he or she is not going to buy any further Arrow releases - sorry, but that's just annoying.

To respect the forums here, I'm going to be polite when answering your diatribe.

A couple of points:

I made a separate post about my thoughts on Tenebrae when I had it a couple of days early before the release date. I thought it might be of interest to the community to hear what I'd found - some egregious technical issues. That post got added to this one, so if you want to complain about me talking about the disc in this thread, complain to the moderator, because it was he who put my post in here. I happen to like the way the forums are organised here, so I hope he doesn't take that personally.

Secondly, "If you're not satisfied with a release - don't buy it". That makes no sense. I explained that I pre-order EVERYTHING Arrow does because I love to support this company, so how will I know I'm going to be satisfied until I've watched the discs??? My point was that I'm no longer going to pay for a release on blind faith and will wait until the reviews come out before I make a decision. I'm surprised you missed that.

Thirdly, your comment "Or criticize it in a decent manner", is also inaccurate, as I don't see how describing sound distortion in the rear channels at a specific point refutes thatm statement.

And lastly, "semi-philosophical explanations".... LOL!

[Steel76]

Originally Posted by Prince_Vajda

You're right. But I really think some people here could stop nagging all over the place. It's pretty annoying to read the same stuff over and over again:

Why wouldn´t we complain when a release have mediocre PQ?
When we upgrade to a Blu-Ray, it´s because of the upgrade in PQ.
If we don´t criticize and tell them what to improve on, they won´t learn from the mistakes, and try harder to find better materials next time.

And it´s just as annoying to us, when fanboys are trying to defend mediocre transfers, and act like it´s the best ever and there is nothing wrong with it, when the evidence are there that something IS very wrong.
Or didn´t you see the screenshots of the french disc?

If an Arrow release is in superb quality like Vamp, we DON´T complain.
And the coming Funhouse seems to be in the same amazing quality.

[Gold6082]

people need to consider a few things.


1) not everyone has access to a multiregion DVD/BD player (I personally do) so therefore this version of tenebrae is a blessing & only decent copy available to them.

2) Considering Arrow works on a much lower budget than alot of film companys,they do an overall amazing job with PQ & audio.

3) they are always quick to recitify errors & listen to constructive critisism.

In conclusion although not always 200% perfect Arrow strive to give the best they can with the money they have to work with,so all of the bitchy complaints on the thread that do not represent a simple observation but a full blown whinge & dig fest need to think first & hold fire.


Surely if you are not happy with the item the simple mnove would be to sell it to a friend or on ebay, you are not obliged to keep it or lose money for that matter,so why threaten Arrow with comments similar to the below.

"My last order ever with you"

"Think this may be my last purchase with your company"

"they rush films out & don't care about the Quality"


These statements are pointless & in the case of statement 3 untrue,just makes you look silly.