The Big Parade coming to Blu from Warners

[Gagman 66]

rudyfan,

I just mentioned THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE in the Kevin Brownlow interview post. I don't know of various Public- Domain versions, I only know of one. The release put out by Delta-Entertainment several years ago.

[sepiatone]

I thought WB Archives was releasing THE CIRCLE to dvd. While THE STUDENT PRINCE IN OLD HEIDELBERG would be a great addition , how about Blanche Sweet's 1925 THE SPORTING VENUS(MGM)?

[DavidWelling]

Q4 2013 seems like a long time away.

[Gagman 66]

DavidWelling,

I agree it should be coming out in the First quarter. The heck with stuff that's already been released 10 times. Concentrate on the titles that have never had a release and are many years overdue.

[rudyfan]

DavidWelling,

I agree it should be coming out in the First quarter. The heck with stuff that's already been released 10 times. Concentrate on the titles that have never had a release and are many years overdue.

Complain, complain, complain. You waited 8-9 years, what's another few months?

[Gagman 66]

it's not another few months, it's another year plus! We may all be dead!!!

[Frederica]

it's not another few months, it's another year plus! We may all be dead!!!

You have a real gift.

[Harlett O'Dowd]

it's not another few months, it's another year plus! We may all be dead!!!

You''ve already told us of the imminant economic apolocalyse. Whether it's in two or twelve months, you won't be able to afford it anyway.

[35MM]

These are great news! But will it be available on DVD as well, anyone? Haven't caught that BluRay-train yet...

BR players are now getting cheap and they will play your old DVD's. When TBP cmes out they will be likely cheaper. Good time to think about a hardware upgrade.

Some blu-ray players still come with a composite output. This should work on many modern televisions until you can upgrade to an HD set.

[dr.giraud]

To be fair, Universal has issued more "classic" titles (though no silents as they don't have any on hand, right?)

Even with the three talking scenes and the music score & effects, many (including me) still consider LONESOME (Universal, 1928) to be basically a silent film (and as we know, it's just been released on DVD).

It's not a Universal release, or from source material they hold. Criterion licensed the rights from copyright-owner Universal. The materials came from GEH.

[dr.giraud]

These are great news! But will it be available on DVD as well, anyone? Haven't caught that BluRay-train yet...

BR players are now getting cheap and they will play your old DVD's. When TBP cmes out they will be likely cheaper. Good time to think about a hardware upgrade.

Some blu-ray players still come with a composite output. This should work on many modern televisions until you can upgrade to an HD set.

And you can still get analog to digital converters.

[goalieboy82]

does anyone know if there will be a normal dvd release of the film.

[drednm]

Why only BR?

[Battra92]

These are great news! But will it be available on DVD as well, anyone? Haven't caught that BluRay-train yet...

BR players are now getting cheap and they will play your old DVD's. When TBP cmes out they will be likely cheaper. Good time to think about a hardware upgrade.

Some blu-ray players still come with a composite output. This should work on many modern televisions until you can upgrade to an HD set.

Indeed, Worst Buy even has some for as little as $40 (granted they are for brands I wouldn't trust) but there's a Panasonic on sale for less than $90 this week. I actually have two BD players: A PlayStation 3 and a cheap Insignia that I hacked to be region free (Yay for Masters of Cinema releases)

[drednm]

But what's the benefit of BR over DVD? Technology for technology's sake? I can't even stand the idea of redoing all that damned wiring involved in setting up a new machine.

[Kelly]

OH Gagman I see you check in LOL!

Yeah I read that on Deadline Hollyweird wire copy everything coming to Blue ray

[buskeat]

But what's the benefit of BR over DVD? Technology for technology's sake? I can't even stand the idea of redoing all that damned wiring involved in setting up a new machine.

There's a big benefit to BluRay. I finally got a Blu-Ray player earlier this year and the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD resolution is significant IF you have a 1080p HDTV. The larger your screen the more significant the improvement. But there are a ton of variables because there are a lot of poorly done Blu-Rays out there. Read reviews first. It's beneficial.

As annoying as it can be to switch formats, you can have solace knowing that this is the final physical home video format. It's streaming or bust after this.

[drednm]

Well by TV is a 52 or 54 incher but it's also more than 10 years old... Still runs perfectly so I haven't updated to flat screen.... and I hate streaming....

[Jim Reid]

One of the ways they made the blu ray players cheaper was to remove the composite outputs. I have been looking for a machine with composite outs for my editing booth. My avid does not support HDMI and I don't have the budget for a convertor. I have not been able to find one. I've gone to Best Buy and Frys. No luck.

[Christopher Jacobs]

But what's the benefit of BR over DVD? Technology for technology's sake? I can't even stand the idea of redoing all that damned wiring involved in setting up a new machine.

There is no benefit of BR over DVD if you don't have an HDTV. If you have a so-called "full-HD" monitor or TV set, then properly transferred and encoded Blu-rays will suddenly look six times sharper than the best DVDs. And if you project them on a screen with a 1080p HD projector, like many of us do, the difference is often overwhelming. With older films (especially silents), of course, you're still at the mercy of surviving elements, often duped several times in the preservation process, but for most sound films with camera negatives or finegrain positives still surviving in decent shape, a film from 50-60-70 years ago may actually look sharper than some films made in the past 30 years.

On a DVD you can barely tell the difference between scans from camera negatives, finegrain positives, and decent dupes. On a Blu-ray, as on film, you can. (The SUNRISE Blu-ray is a good example. The standard American version, a preservation dupe, looks very slightly better than the DVD edition, but the Czech cut, from an original release print, is substantially clearer and crisper than the DVD edition). I'm really looking forward to the new Blu-rays of the Universal horror classics (which just arrived in today's mail), as advance reviews claim the clarity is spectacularly better than the already good DVD editions.

[SteppenBow59]

Personally, I'm more concerned with what's happening in the Mideast right now, but I digress.

I've actually never been able to see The Big Parade in its entirety. I flipped to TCM and managed to catch the scene where Renee and Jack kiss goodbye, but I then had to go to bed, it was being shown late at night. Needless to say, this Blu-Ray has shot near the top of my wish list, can't wait!

Martie,

I wonder if you where actually watching a broadcast of THE BIG PARADE, or just the clip from the 1931 sound Re-issue that appeared on the MGM Parade TV series, which TCM airs from time to time? Probably the latter.

No, it wasn't a clip, it was the whole film.

[jhdk]

Why only BR?

Chances are, there will be a DVD. The news is only a hint from a 3rd party website and there is no press release nor will there be one for several months.

Since this has never been released on DVD, it will almost certainly be released on DVD as well. I don't think there is a WB movie released yet that is Blu-ray-only

[Changsham]

Well by TV is a 52 or 54 incher but it's also more than 10 years old... Still runs perfectly so I haven't updated to flat screen.... and I hate streaming....

When you upgrade to a flat screen, dont make the same mistake I did. Get a plasma TV and not an LCD. LCD is terrible for B&W. Blotchy yucky contrasts and jerky horizontal motion even on Bluray. Plasma is the way to go. I do miss my old CRT.

[Mr.Mycroft]

[
When you upgrade to a flat screen, dont make the same mistake I did. Get a plasma TV and not an LCD. LCD is terrible for B&W. Blotchy yucky contrasts and jerky horizontal motion even on Bluray. Plasma is the way to go. I do miss my old CRT.

Actually, I've personally never found that to be true owning about 4 LCD's and 2 LED's. If anything, the Plasma's have a higher rate of burn-in if you watch your 1.33:1 films with side bars. LED's in particular do a knockout job on contrast. The only drawback I've really found with the post CRT display universe is the level of calibrating required to get your monitor to the 'look' you like, but plasma's have the same range and tweaking required as it's alternatives. And once its set, b&w films are a whole new level of visual revelation.

[Monsieur X]

Personally, I prefer plasma. I find that the picture on LCDs and even LEDs washes out rapidly if you get even a few degrees off of dead straight when you're watching it, and especially since my living room is set up so that there's really only one chair that looks dead straight at the TV, that's a big concern for me. Besides, I just think the plasmas are sharper. Just my opinion on that.

[ColemanShedman]

Plasma...better blacks...better viewing angle...own two and have never had a problem with burn in. Drawback is they use a lot more power. As for blu, hands down better viewing experience. Personally wouldn't care if dvds were discontinued altogether, although I still buy them if that is the only option.

[All Darc]

I got a 22 inch Syncmaster LED monitor 5000.0001 dynamic contrast.

Still like all LCD (LED uses LCD but just lighted by LEDS)... A distortion if you move the the head just a little bit.
Some people don't notice or don't want to notice, but it's there and always anoy me.

LCD, LEDS, sucks... If it's a large screen it sucks even more. You need to be far from it, and still in front and on sides, to get a decent view.

i'm tired of this talking: "Large TVs need to be watched by far..."
They say this crap since VHS times, and today with Blu Ray we more than the double resolution of a DVD, and DVD had more the double from a VHS. And they still said we need to be far to watch...
That's bull...

And all new things for future, like 4K TV, will be based in the same LCD/LED system, that distort image.

[Christopher Jacobs]

Some of this discussion should probably be split off into the "Tech Talk" forum, with the direction it's been taking. In any case, BDs have the capacity for six times the image resolution of DVDs if done right, and an HD monitor of some sort is the only way to notice that difference.

For those with a room that can be darkened at least somewhat, a 1080p projector will give the most film-like results. My projector uses three LCDs, but projected onto a matte white screen the viewing angle is the same as it would be for film. The single-chip DLP projectors are a bit brighter than LCD projectors, but it is usually easy to see the "rainbow" effect of their sequential color projection on the screen. With a projector, my picture remains a constant four feet tall, and the width varies from five feet to ten feet, depending on the film, with each aspect ratio easily zoomed to the proper size and simultaneously re-focused by the click of a button preset. My seating distances (with four rows of seats) are approximately five to fifteen feet from the screen.

Getting this back on topic, I'm really looking forward to seeing THE BIG PARADE in HD, and hope Warner steps up its releases of its classics on high-quality Blu-ray, even if they must sublicense some of them to companies like Olive Films the way Paramount has (which may not release much of its own back catalog to Blu-ray or DVD, but through its Olive arrangement ironically has now become the most prolific in getting vintage films that it owns onto Blu-ray over the past year).

[Robert W]

One of the ways they made the blu ray players cheaper was to remove the composite outputs. I have been looking for a machine with composite outs for my editing booth. My avid does not support HDMI and I don't have the budget for a convertor. I have not been able to find one. I've gone to Best Buy and Frys. No luck.

It's not a budget thing- it's part of a long-term licensing agreement with the Blu-Ray consortium. Composite / component outputs were allowed on the first round of players as a transitional thing, but new players ( starting this year I believe ) contractually cannot offer them. There was always a composite cut-off date built in to the original roll-out agreement.

[Jim Reid]

It's not a budget thing- it's part of a long-term licensing agreement with the Blu-Ray consortium. Composite outputs were allowed on the first round of players as a transitional thing, but new players ( starting this year I believe ) contractually cannot offer them. There was always a composite cut-off date built in to the original roll-out agreement.

I had no idea. Guess I need to try and find some new old stock.