Missed opportunity.

Nope. Still looks like an upconvert.

Look, I'm glad Image retained all the bonus material. However, I'd like to see actual HD masters on Blu-ray rather than recycled standard definition masters made half a decade ago.

Well, I've seen a few more screencaps that DO show more detail on the Blu-Ray compared to the DVD (Here's an example; note the added detail in the "No Admittance" sign, for example.


Mind you, while I don't think it's actually an upconverted transfer now, it's not a good transfer either, otherwise I don't think it would be easily confused for an upscaled transfer. It's clear that Image did as little as possible with it. It depresses me that Don May couldn't have gotten his hands on it, as we know they would have done the best they could.

Now to see how Second Sight does with this one; I was quite pleased with their Return Of The Living Dead release.

I'm picking this up mostly because for some reason I don't own it on dvd already. Definitely a disappointment and missed opportunity like others have stated, but for some one like me that doesn't own it on any other format it's a good buy.

I'm not arguing that it necessarily IS an upconvert...just that the quality is so poor that it's in that ballpark.

Also, between compression and the traditional low-pass filtering, a DVD rarely retains all the detail from an SD master anyway. That the Blu-ray disc is marginally more detailed than the DVD doesn't exclude the possibility/probability that it's culled from an SD master. It wouldn't be the first time Image has done this for a prominent genre title either; The Hills Have Eyes was beyond argument an upconvert.

If it is sourced from an HD master, like you said, it's an incredibly poor one, dating from maybe as far back as 2002, and in no way holds up to current standards.

For me, I guess the biggest disappointment is just Image's attitude of "why bother? They'll buy it anyway"

Are you basing all of this off screencaps, or have you actually seen the disc?

It's easy to read too much into screencaps, but for very broad strokes like we're talking about here, I think it's valid. I cancelled my preorder for a disc that's still a day from being released, so, no, I haven't seen it with my own two eyes.

Well yes, I'm not saying those caps prove without a shadow of a doubt that it's NOT an upconvert, although I am leaning more in that direction now than I was before. Either way, based on the caps, it looks like a terrible transfer, which has got me very disappointed.

I'm basing this off of screencaps. Yes, I know they don't tell the whole story, but from what I have seen, it's enough for me to hold off on purchasing this one and see what Second Sight has lined up...

Besides the issue of it being an upconvert or just not a very good HD transfer there are two more issues:

1. It doesn't retain every special feature (though most of them)
2. The image is cropped a bit.

The last issue especially makes me mad. If we're going to put up with cropping, no matter how big or small, then why not go back to fullscreen while we're at it? Perhaps it's not an upconvert after all, because you actually get more picture with the DVD! It's 2012 and we're still dealing with this kind of crap....unbelievable.

I've seen this and yes, it's pretty bad. I've seen some explain it away saying the film will never look good and that's rediculous. It really does look slightly better than a DVD upconvert. It's just plain blurry...and not poor film focus blurry but low res video blurry. A new 2K scan done on the cheap would be miles better than this.

Another beloved catalog title to cross off my list. How many does that make now, 78 Blus?

Let's vote with our wallets! It hurts leaving these BDs behind since the films are so great, but the only thing that'll stop that cavalier attitude by the studios is not putting up with, or supporting such shoddy releases.

Well, the studios reply "Nobody buys catalog titles!" Right, self-fulfilling falderal, that business.

Can not wait to get this.

From Second Sight's facebook

I hope those second sight blus are going to be region free

Probably not, I know their Return of the Living Dead wasn't

The Basket Case trilogy was though. Plus, with ROTLD, there was a workaround that allowed the film and the More Brains doc to play on PS3s.

A. As NoirFan stated, on their version of Return Of The Living Dead, you could bypass the Wrong Region screen by pressing the Top Menu button on the remote, which would then take you to the main menu. If your player can't play PAL content, then most of the extras won't work. However, all the HD features on the disc (namely, the movie and the More Brains documentary) can be played fine. That doesn't necessarily mean Re-Animator will work, but it's possible.

B. Even if that doesn't work, I have a Region Free player, so I'm covered...

Does this work on all players? not just ps3s?

^^
To my understanding, it should be on all Region A players. You basically hit the Top Menu button (or its equivalent) on the remote when the wrong region screen appears.

Screenshot comparison between Image BD and the new restoration

Thanks for the link!

I hope to see more comparison shots over the next couple months.

That looks absolutely gorgeous. This further cements my decision to hold off for the Second Sight release...

This title is $5 at BB with upgrade and save coupon.

If you can get over the transfer and not having the R version.