The Leopard

[mikkelmark]

Any update on the issue?

[pashalifi]

This refers to the previously discussed playback problem on the modified multiregion Oppo bluray player.
I sent my disc to Oppo at their request, to allow them to investigate. They've checked the disc and emailed me - here's what they said:
We received the disc and verified the playback errors. Because this disc is not yet available to purchase, we were wondering if we can keep the disc for further testing. The error is likely related to encoding rather than the disc itself. For this reason, having access to this Blu-ray will be instrumental in figuring out why we can’t play back the film correctly.

So they're keeping the disc to work out what's causing the playback problem. This might be irrelevant if the BFI withdraw it and reissue a new version, but I'll report agan if I hear any more.

[Ben Cheshire]

Because this disc is not yet available to purchase,

Um, but it is, until BFI pull it from HMV.com...

[ellipsis7]

Because this disc is not yet available to purchase,

Um, but it is, until BFI pull it from HMV.com...

There's also dozens on the shelves in the various HMV high street stores in UK & Ireland - maybe there'll be changes (a new encode?) for a second printing, probably after the first sells out, but right now it's out there...

[MichaelB]

Sorry for my silence on this issue - I didn't think there was much point in posting anything until I actually had some concrete news.

I now do... and fortunately, I suspect it's exactly what you were hoping for. In fact, I have a personal message from the disc's producer:

Dear Criterion Forum members and readers,

We have investigated this issue thoroughly and can now confirm there is a problem on the first pressing of the BFI's Blu-ray edition of THE LEOPARD.

At 1:54.28 there is a significant change in black levels and contrast settings, evident from the first shot at this time code and remaining for the rest of the feature. This is demonstrated by a comparatively heavier look where blacks are crushed, whites are burnt out, the and the overall grain/noise structure becomes much more active - in short a rather abrupt and ugly gamma shift for the last 70+ minutes of the feature.

We are still investigating the source of the error with the facilities involved, but at present it seems that the fault can be traced to an error in the settings in one of the HD decks used during the final stages of this project. This has now been corrected, and the new pressing of THE LEOPARD will reflect this correction.

We appreciate the members of Criterion Forum for pointing out this issue to us. This is an error we certainly should have spotted before release, but this is a situation we've never encountered before, and the masters we signed off on were correct. Although we strive to be as careful as possible, occasionally human error rears its head. As Blu-ray technology develops, we find we're learning new things all the time.

As MichaelB has mentioned, we do read the forums regularly and take your comments very seriously. We work hard to ensure every title we release is delivered at the highest possible quality, but occasionally we may miss something. If there's a possibility that one of our releases contains a technical issue or fault, we will investigate thoroughly and work to correct it as soon as possible.

Thanks again for helping us out on this one and stay tuned for an announcement in the New Year regarding replacement of your LEOPARD Blu-rays, should you have purchased a copy from the first pressing.


BFI Video Publishing

[ccfixx]

Sorry for my silence on this issue - I didn't think there was much point in posting anything until I actually had some concrete news.

I now do... and fortunately, I suspect it's exactly what you were hoping for. In fact, I have a personal message from the disc's producer:

Very nice response. Thanks for the update.

CC

[ellipsis7]

Excellent!...

[RossyG]

Great news. Thanks for posting. O:)

[MichaelB]

Thanks Michael, and John White. I even wrote all those nice things about John for Beaver end of year round up BEFORE you posted this update.

I hope you got James's name right in those...

[MichaelB]

There's a reviewer for DVD Times called John White, which I suspect is how the mix-up happened.

[kekid]

I loaded the software upgrade released by OPPO on 5 January, and can report that it does not solve the problem of image breakup on the BFI Blu Ray of The Leopard on OPPO's modified for all-region plaback.

[perkizitore]

BFI will re-issue this, so probably we won't experience any problems with the new disc.
Michael, will this be ready in time for general release on Fbruary, or will it be postponed?

[MichaelB]

BFI will re-issue this, so probably we won't experience any problems with the new disc.

Perkizitore, with the very greatest respect, could you please stop pretending to be an authority on subjects about which you clearly know nothing? Or, if you really can't resist the urge, could you at least do it in threads that aren't read by people who might actually know the answer?

Anyway, as someone who's read this thread properly will realise, the Oppo issue is separate from the one that led to the recall, so unfortunately it's impossible to guarantee that the remastered version will play correctly on that particular player/region mod combo. As far as we've been able to establish, these problems are unique to that player and haven't been replicated elsewhere, so the official line is that it's still a software issue peculiar to the Oppo.

[MichaelB]

To be fair, I appreciate that Perkizitore is genuinely trying to be helpful, but resorting to blatant guesswork without even bothering to read the thread properly (let alone do any independent research) usually achieves the exact opposite.

It's especially pointless in BFI threads (and MoC, Second Run and Milestone ones, come to that), because they're read by people who either work directly for or have close personal links to the companies in question.

I'm particularly sensitive about comments regarding this particular release, because there has been some very unhelpful misinformation posted already - which meant that a genuinely important discovery about an authoring defect was initially treated with more scepticism than should have been the case.

[perkizitore]

Obviously i am not experienced with technical issues and it's pure speculation on my part, but is there anyone who can tell with certainty that the new disc will be playable or not on the BDP-83?

[MichaelB]

Not at the moment. Hopefully someone with the original disc and that player will upgrade and confirm, but that will have to wait until the remastered disc is available.

Unfortunately, you'll appreciate that it's not realistic to expect an authoring house to try discs out on every conceivable player (and, to complicate matters further, every firmware release on every player) prior to pressing - all they can reasonably do is make sure that it respects the requirements laid down by the Blu-ray technical specs and sign off on that basis.

All the evidence so far suggests that this is a similar localised software issue to the glitches that plagued the legendary Samsung 807 player ten years ago - which were also never replicated on other machines.

[pashalifi]

RE: Oppo playback issue
Oppo still have my Leopard disc, I've emailed them today to ask if they have made any progress, I'll post any news.
When the new version disc is produced, I will ask staff in the BFI DVD department if I could borrow a disc to try in my Oppo, to test whether the new version produces the same playback issue, and again I'll post the update here.
If they won't let me borrow one, I'll get my original back from Oppo and exchange for the new version.

[MichaelB]

To be honest, since the disc is being replaced, I doubt there's much virtue in Oppo continuing to hang onto it.

[pashalifi]

I thought I'd let them keep it for now, until the new disc is produced. They might discover something that will prevent the Oppo playback issue coming up again on other discs, I guess.

[kekid]

I thought I'd let them keep it for now, until the new disc is produced. They might discover something that will prevent the Oppo playback issue coming up again on other discs, I guess.

I wrote to OPPO recently when I found that this and the problem on SACD playback have not been resolved in their 5 January release. They responded that they are working on both problems, but have not yet found a solution.

[pashalifi]

Reply from Oppo:
Our decoder manufacturer has the disc, but they have not developed any firmware for the player to resolve these errors. They are still diagnosing the problem.

I'll post any updates I get.

[perkizitore]

HMV started shipping the blu-ray again, i wonder if this is the new disc.

[MichaelB]

I wrote to OPPO recently when I found that this and the problem on SACD playback have not been resolved in their 5 January release. They responded that they are working on both problems, but have not yet found a solution.

If the player's also having playback problems with other material, that strengthens my impression that it's a software issue peculiar to Oppo.

A shame, since I'm a big fan of their upscaling DVD players (my 983 produces a picture so good that I need to double-check review copies on a much more basic system to make sure I'm not overrating them), and was taking a very keen interest in their Blu-ray as a possible Region A option. But the fact that they're aware of the problem and are trying to resolve it bodes well.

[TMDaines]

HMV started shipping the blu-ray again, i wonder if this is the new disc.

Yeah, mine got dispatched today. I presume it is the new disk or they wouldn't have started shipping again?

[perkizitore]

I hope so Thomas, if it's playable on my Oppo it has to be the new edition, i'll let you know.