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petoluk wrote:Nostalghia.cz compares the original negative (top) with the DigiBeta master provided to Second Run (middle) & the final product (bottom)

Wow. Is it really that dark?

petoluk wrote:Nostalghia.cz compares the original negative (top) with the DigiBeta master provided to Second Run (middle) & the final product (bottom)

It is with great trepidation that I poke my head over the parapet again on this issue. Last time I was pistol whipped into submission for having the temerity to suggest that SR had been less than forthcoming on the details of this release. And now ML,no 17, rests on the shelf that sags with all the other SR releases. Yes, all of them . So I cannot be coralled into that same gulag that houses the other SR bashers or hardline digital tankists. I had promised myself not to look back at the screengrabs from the neg again lest I be turned into a pillar of salt BUT now after this why why why do I feel like the best man who's woken up with the bride's uncle instead of the chief bridesmaid??

This is the first place I've seen with caps that look like theirs, I would take the "comparison" with a grain of salt-- this isn't DVDBeaver, they're not trying to make an impartial comparison but a damnation of the Second Run disc and there should be some amount of trepidation before accepting, at least until you've had a chance to see the disc itself.

domino harvey wrote:This is the first place I've seen with caps that look like theirs, I would take the "comparison" with a grain of salt-- this isn't DVDBeaver, they're not trying to make an impartial comparison but a damnation of the Second Run disc and there should be some amount of trepidation before accepting, at least until you've had a chance to see the disc itself.

Yeah you're quite right I think they put a penny on the needle when they did those caps .It was just the sight of those neg caps that yanked my chain again.. Michael B's/ Digi Beta caps are the real comparison.

Just got my Marketa in the mail today. I was horrified by the comparisons on the nostalghia.cz site, so I immediately popped it in the DVD player to take a look. And while clearly the transfer cannot be compared to the original negative, the DVD looks nowhere near as awful as they make out. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they've purposefully worsened the captures to make a point (I can't read Czech so I have no idea what the text at the top of the page says).

Michael B and the DVD Beaver caps give a far more accurate representation of what the SR transfer looks like. It's far from great, but it is respectable. No reason to panic.

Got my copy today.

Nostalghia.cz


Really looks like this

yeah that blob in the tree looks fab in the "real" screencap

I deliberately restrained myself from commenting after seeing Nostalghia.cz's grabs on my monitor at work, as that's much darker than my one at home - but having now looked at them properly, I have to say that they definitely give a very misleading impression.

That said, it's worth bearing in mind, too, that those grabs are all from the first few minutes, whereas mine and Beaver's range across the whole film - and it's certainly true that some sections are considerably better than others.

But there's no question that my caps and Beaver's give a fairer overall impression of what to expect.

rs98762001 wrote:Just got my Marketa in the mail today. I was horrified by the comparisons on the nostalghia.cz site, so I immediately popped it in the DVD player to take a look. And while clearly the transfer cannot be compared to the original negative, the DVD looks nowhere near as awful as they make out. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they've purposefully worsened the captures to make a point (I can't read Czech so I have no idea what the text at the top of the page says).

Here's my (rough) translation. Any Czech speakers feel free to correct it:

nostalghia.cz wrote:Následná galerie má dvÄ› Ä

Who says Babelfish never works?

Is your Czech as good as his English? He's just saying that the master sucked. (BTW I still think "Damnation" is Tarr's best flick.)

There are certainly worse DVD transfers, but it's silly to argue that this transfer looks like the film. That is obvious even without the screencaps from the negative.

Yeah, but he didn't say that the master sucked in the stuff I translated. Nostalghia.cz's post confirmed that I basically got it right, although I'm a little unsure of the very last word ('solutions' doesn't seem right to me). But the "light=okay dark=not okay" came across in the "state of different sequences in variable lighting and compositional 'solutions'" (or so I hope).

rs98762001 wrote:Who says Babelfish never works?

D*&k.

Ok so I don't have the original negative to compare it with but I though that the transfer was very good. There were very few scenes where I thought the picture was dark and those screenshots are simply of those few scenes.

I'm happy that Second Run released this and I think they did a great job considering that they couldn't use the original negative.

Is anybody watching Marketa in North America on a tube television using a region free player?

Well, I am, on a 32â€

I think they're referred to around here as "jaggies," but I get them on occasion (on my HDTV), I am pretty sure it's due to the PAL to NTSC conversion and is the result of your DVD player and not the TV-- though if you're on a tube TV, you're going to notice it less because the resolution is lower. Haven't had a chance to watch my copy of Marketa yet so I can't tell you if I experience similar problems.

I've encountered no problems with mine. If anything this DVD transfer looks like the best of all of the Second Run 60s releases so far. Your problem could be something to do with the transferring process unique to this DVD (and its length) coupled with the transfer from PAL to NTSC. If not then you may have a faulty disc which I doubt. Try to play it on something else to test this out.

Be sure to turn the sharpness down to zero (if you haven't already) on your screen/player when you watch "jaggy" transfer. Inebriation will also help to smooth things out.

Person wrote:Be sure to turn the sharpness down to zero (if you haven't already) on your screen/player when you watch "jaggy" transfer. Inebriation will also help to smooth things out.

Turns out, my problem with the "jaggies" went away when I fooled with some rather obscure (to me anyway) settings on my region-free player. Odd, though, that this one release made such adjustments necessary.

Thanks for the all the advice.

Gordon

Advice I gave was deemed to be good? Well, choke my chicken!

Person wrote: Well, choke my chicken!

This, however, strictly falls under "Bad Advice"

I received my copy today and watched Part 1 (on my computer monitor). Nostalghia.cz wasn't kidding when he said the dark scenes were really dark! The lighter scenes in the snow are often staggeringly beautiful shots, but it's true that whenever the characters are indoors I had a hard time discerning who was where, etc.

The shot of the falcon looks better on my monitor than the screengrab, as do others, but the image quality is definitely not consistent throughout.

This is a minor complaint, as I'm sure Second Run did the best they could given the circumstances and so far the film is very good (I'm going to watch it again this weekend).

John White's review at DVD Times.

Mine finally arrived, along with some other juicy items, over a month after shipment.

Too bad I have a funeral tonight, and work tomorrow.