[opendtv] 70th Anniversary Blu-ray and standard DVDs of the Wizard of Oz

  • From: Cliff Benham <flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Victor Hamrick <vhamrick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, backroom@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Bob Galanter <joesbuty@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Darryl Hock <darryl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Dave Abramson <dtatv@xxxxxxx>, Dave Sica <davesica@xxxxxxxx>, ED REITAN <ereitan@xxxxxxxxx>, Frank Berry <frankberry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, George Graves <George@xxxxxxxx>, frank_palmisano@xxxxxxx, James Oneal <joneal@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "James T. Hawes" <jhawes@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Jerome Halphen <jhalphen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, John K Folsom Jr <jfolsomjr@xxxxxxxxxx>, Mike Hatfield <hatfield@xxxxxxxx>, oldvtrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Pete Deksnis <pldexnis@xxxxxxx>, Steve Dichter <stevetek@xxxxxxxxx>, Steve Kissinger <kissinge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Steve McVoy <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, ttv <targettv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Wayne Bretl <waynebretl@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Cliff Benham <flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:08:12 -0400

This is a review of the new 70th Anniversary editions of the Wizard of Oz.
I was able to buy both the blu-ray and standard DVD at Walmart just after midnight, Tuesday the 29th. The Blu-ray is a *single disk* edition that sold for $19.96 and the standard DVD edition contains two disks and sold for $13.00.
I set up two monitors next to the 43 inch RCA 16:9 CRT set to judge picture quality. One monitor is an 4:3 NTSC Sony 'finepitch' Trinitron and the other is a 4:3 19 inch computer monitor fed with component video converted to RGB with an agnostic 'HDTV' converter.
The RCA 16:9 set was also configured to display component video through one input and NTSC through another. 

The Blu-ray player is a Sony BDP-S350 consumer unit from Walmart at $200.
The output of the player was configured for 1080i, the highest resolution the 16:9 and the 4:3 PC monitor will display. In this mode standard NTSC is output as well so this made it possible to compare 
images from all three simultaneously.
I played some scenes from the Blu-ray disk and then the same scenes from the standard DVD. 

The color quality is better on both disks than that of previous editions.
It is vibrant and very saturated for some parts of the image but yet soft and smooth for others like Glynda's gown and the Munchkin babies dressed in pink. 

The detail is better on the blu-ray than the standard DVD, but this is
to be expected.
Some film grain is visible in the sepia portions and in some long color shots, but it is not objectionable, just barely visible to remind you that this is a film.
There seems to be some improvement in the dialog sound over previous editions with less overmodulation from the original optical tracks.
The standard DVD plays well and displays properly filling both the 4:3 screens and on the 16:9 screen with the expected black pillars on the left and right.
The blu-ray disk, however, will not display properly at all on any monitor or the 16:9 set with any combination of video settings on the player.
I do not know if this is an error in the player or in the authoring of the disk.
The Blu-ray disk displays with an aspect ration of 1:1, SQUARE, on the two 4:3 monitors and 'squeezed' on the 16:9 set.
Keep in mind that one 4:3 monitor is displaying the NTSC signal and the other is displaying the 1080i component signal. 

There are selections on the player for TV type - 16:9 or 4:3;
Screen format - Original or Fixed aspect ratio;
and DVD aspect ratio - Letter box or Pan & scan.
Additionally, the player signal output format can be switched from NTSC to Component and in the component mode selection of resolution is 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i from the component jacks and 1080p only from the HDMI output.
In no case did selecting all the possible combinations of these various settings produce a 4:3 image on the 4:3 displays or an unsqueezed 4:3 image on the 16:9 set. 

This is a 4:3 film with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
The image always displayed 1:1 or square on the 4:3 monitors and squeezed on the 16:9 set. 

I will test with a different player tomorrow.

More to come.

Cliff Benham











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