17 / BD 11 Vengeance Is Mine

[AK]

For all its flaws, the Blu-ray corrected the color scheme from the DVD, and had higher resolution.

I haven't bought this yet but might as well eventually, since I'm not holding my breath for a Criterion Blu, and they'd probably just make it from their HD master with that colour grading. So the MoC is my likely destination anyway, regardless of whether the combing is significantly visible or not.

But out of curiosity, how noticeable is the combing when one is not using a projector?

It's the worst MoC Blu-ray transfer, and as time goes on, it's looking more and more like a mistake to have bothered. It was made from a very early HD telecine that had a ton of problems. A lot of work was done in the encode to try and make the best of it, and this solved a lot of problems, but not all of them unfortunately.

Criterion have an HD master without any of these issues, but with a slightly different colour grading.

Don't let it put you off any of the other Imamura Blu-rays, all of which are quite stunning (or indeed any of the other MoC Blu-rays!)

And thanks, Nick, for sharing this. And sorry that I'm here to thank you so belatedly. I haven't seen The Insect Woman, but Pigs & Battleships and especially Profound Desires of the Gods are indeed superb Blus. Not to mention the rest of the MoC titles I have.

[swo17]

I watched Vengeance Is Mine on a projector around the time it came out, and I honestly remember it looking basically fine. Not up to MoC's usual standard perhaps, but still the best way to currently see it on home video.

[MichaelB]

I haven't bought this yet but might as well eventually, since I'm not holding my breath for a Criterion Blu, and they'd probably just make it from their HD master with that colour grading. So the MoC is my likely destination anyway, regardless of whether the combing is significantly visible or not.

But out of curiosity, how noticeable is the combing when one is not using a projector?

To be honest, I can't see it at all - and I've just played it on two different monitors, one of which has been professionally calibrated. I certainly can't see anything like the combing in the screenshots from the post on the previous page, and that's despite stepping through those sequences frame by frame. I also note that the normally picky Dr Svet at Blu-ray.com doesn't seem to have noticed anything either, and I believe he uses a projector - so maybe it's an individual player/projector quirk?

Looking at it in motion as I write this, it's clearly towards the lower end of MoC's quality scale (there's a subtle but noticeable jitter around strongly-defined lines - possibly a by-product of trying to clean up the master?), but equally clearly it's nowhere near the worst BD transfer even in my own collection, let alone "the history of the Blu-ray format". (Universal's Family Plot is arguably the worst in my own collection, but I tend to do my homework before buying so I doubt that's anywhere close to the all-time worst either).

[matrixschmatrix]

I would imagine that the worst Blus would be those that are inferior to available SD releases, like the public domain-sourced The Stranger

[swo17]

I suggest that everyone watch the Blu-ray of One-Eyed Jacks for some perspective.

[matrixschmatrix]

Now how are we going to get perspective from a man with one eye? Think before you say things, Swo

[TMDaines]

Well, he did begin with the wildly hyperbolic claim that Vengeance is Mine "has the worst picture quality in the history of the Blu-Ray format". I know it has issues, but that's clearly absurd.

I stand by that statement. When you consider the high quality of the source film, then the MoC version (which I've posted about - including screen shots - on that title's own thread on this forum) clearly has the worst picture quality relative to its source I've ever seen. You know something is wrong when the DVD version is leaps and bounds better than the Blu-Ray. OK, so I've only got 500 Blu-Ray discs, so maybe there are worse titles out there, but for the moment I am content to crown Vengeance Is Mine as the worst I have ever seen. Maybe I should ditch my projector and watch all my movies on an iPad.

Try Raro US's Blu-ray of Conversation Piece if you want a contender. I still have no idea how that disc got very positive reviews across the board. The Gaumont cannot come soon enough.

[Murdoch]

I'd say Le Samourai takes the cake. Lest we forget.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

I'd say Le Samourai takes the cake. Lest we forget.

Allegedly Pathé have revisited their master and slipped out a less manipulated version 'on the quiet' i.e. no new packaging/serial numbers.

[Graham]

Studio Canal's UK release of Don't Look Now is surely in the running.

[MichaelB]

Studio Canal's UK release of Don't Look Now is surely in the running.

Nowhere near "worst ever", but certainly worse than Vengeance is Mine.

[The Doogster]

Studio Canal's UK release of Don't Look Now is surely in the running.

Nowhere near "worst ever", but certainly worse than Vengeance is Mine.

I beg to differ. I just watched both - Don't Look Now is not bad, apart from some DNR waxiness (which is actually softened when projected - plasma and LCD TVs tend to exaggerate DNR).

Vengeance Is Mine has the interlacing artifact problems, the washed-out look, plus some massive 'dragged-along-a-carpet-that-hasn't-been-vacuumed-for-ten-years' speckles (in terms of size - they are whoppers), plus the added feature of 'cigarette burn' cue dots to give it that authentic 'straight from the projection booth' feel. Oh yeah, and the sound has that wonderful 'fingernails-being-dragged-down-a-blackboard' feel. But apart from that, it's awesome.

[MichaelB]

But apart from that, it's awesome.

No-one's claiming it's "awesome" - just that it's nowhere near as bad as you're making out.