Batman 89/Batman Returns Blu Ray Release - Mar 10th 2009

[ScissorPuppy]

I'm not as up on all this stuff as I probably should be but given the vintage of the Burton films, I wouldn't expect too much of an upgrade.  In fact, there's a sense in which they might look worse since HD exposes a level of clarity that would've been unheard of when Burton made those films... so matte paintings, models and other effects might come off looking a lot worse than they originally did.

They won't look any worse than they did in the theater, film/film prints have somewhere around 4 times the resolution of HD. I'm sure the films will look great, they made HD masters in 2005, it's the same source that the SE DVD's came from. It will just be clearer, also unless the screw it up with DNR, you'll see more grain. In the case of 89, well that was a grainy film. If grain is something that bothers you, stick to the dvd.

[Azrael]

I hope they transfer the original film master on BlueRay as Scissor Puppy said, and not the DVDs with the use of some "softening" filter to make them look "better" and hi-def.

[Paul (ral)]

No, I think what ScissorPuppy is saying is that they were already transfered to HD (as in Blu-ray etc) but the SEDVDs were taken (and downgraded from that).

It's common practise.

[DocLathropBrown]

Film is naturally HD. It has about 6,000 lines of resolution, and the highest home HD resolution as of yet is 1080 lines. HD films ALWAYS look better.

[Paul (ral)]

As i understand it, film negative has a large resolution but once converted to a stock reel (which we watch) the comparative resolution is on average approx 1400 lines.

I remember a special effects guy once saying that the work at a resolution of around 2000 for shots and that may never change as the human eye is more concerned with colour luminosity. Not sure where I heard that.

[ScissorPuppy]

No, I think what ScissorPuppy is saying is that they were already transfered to HD (as in Blu-ray etc) but the SEDVDs were taken (and downgraded from that).

It's common practise.

Bingo, They have been doing it since around 2000, and has become common/the norm since around 2002. They started planning for the HDTV scene at the start of the decade. The new dvd's are a downgraded image of the HD master they made. They may have even made a 4k master.

[DocLathropBrown]

They may have even made a 4k master.

Most likely.

[thuth]

Technically, film is an analog medium, and is not measured by in pixels or lines, but Doc is basically right in that when 35mm film is digitized, it is often output at 2k & 4k lines of resolution with an even higher theoretical limit. At least the film recorders I used 10 years ago when I worked at a digital service bureau did.

I am stoked for these Blu-Rays.
-Tony

[Cocoboloboy]

I don't know about all the tech stuff you guys were talking about but I'm stoked that they'll be releasing these a on BlueRay. Gives me an excuse to go get a player now.

[Bat-Wing]

Does anyone know if the films will also be re-released on DVD?