CoopfanDan Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 Also the lasic surgery seems to have been a tremendous success as I just got back from the doctor's follow up and he stated I have 20/10 vision when using both eyes. I had 20/200 in both eyes before the surgery. Message was edited by: CoopfanDan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopsGal Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 That's wonderful, Dan! I'm glad your eyesight has improved so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissGoddess Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 that's wonderful, Dan! I thought about Lasik myself but I opted for my vacation instead. Probably not the wisest choice but I figured I'd rather see Paris fuzzy than New York clearer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissGoddess Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 I wanted to be sure the Texas ladies didn't miss this story...crazy! http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=128231&tstart=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 I decided to watch Garden of Evil on my new TV before I send both box sets back tomorrow for replacement. No stores had it in stock so I figured I would just watch that one movie and then wait until the long return process to see the others. The movie didn't skip at all or nothing but it just looks horrible with all the scratches and may start skipping at some future date. Anyway back to Garden of Evil. I watched it being upscaled to high definition and it looks better than any movie I have ever seen no kidding. Watching it in progressive in HD, it looks three dimensional in some scenes and you can see every single wrinkle on Gary and Widmark's faces. It is simply unbelievable. I am not sure how it will look on regular tube TV's but it is unbelievable looking on my new plasma 42 inch. It has also gave me an all new appreciation for the director that filmed my favorite movie Peter Ibbetson. The film angles he shot in both of those movies were better than any of those other directors that have more air time now days. I would say that he was the best director that ever lived for getting the right shot's for the film. Garden of Evil has moved way up on my favorite Gary Cooper movie list after seeing this on a widescreen Plasma TV. It certainly has left me with a much bigger impression of the movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 Hi Kim, Yes it is certainly nice to be able to watch my new widescreen TV without having the filter of my glasses getting in the way. I walked in Walmart today and was staring at the people I walked by all the time thinking to myself that I have never seen this good before even with glasses. It is the best thing I ever done. April, if you need the name of the best lasik surgeon in the country he is the one that did my surgery I think. Dr. Patel has done 18 thousand surgeries and he is known to be the best. Also, I only had a one minute drive to get it done as well. http://www.envisionlasik.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 I just previewed The Westerner and The Gunfighter. I can say for sure that upscaleing the new version of The Westerner looks to be the best black and white picture I have ever seen. It looks at least 50 times better than what they show on tcm and the imported asian dvd that I had. The brightness and contrast is perfect and there is not any film grain on the picture with still having a very sharp picture. The image was not good at all on my system for the Gunfighter with Gregory Peck. I'm not sure but the progressive mode I am using made distortions on the shadows of the desert at the beginning and the part I previewed in the bar was full of a ton of film grain. Film grain like I have never seen it before on a black and white picture. The picture was sharp but might distract all but the most diehard film grain advocate. I'm getting ready to watch Man of the West in it's entirety but haven't even previewed that one yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coopsgirl Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 I got *Garden of Evil* yesterday (still waiting for the other two) and this one also looked great in my blu-ray player. I went through the menus again on my player and there is no option to put it in progressive scan mode and since it?s a progressive scan player I?m assuming it?s just always in that particular mode. It?s really just a crap shoot as to which movies look good on it and which ones don?t but this one sure did. I tested it in my regular player too and it?s just a world of difference. The bars take up more of the screen in the standard one and the colors weren?t as vivid and the picture wasn?t as sharp either. What you said about some scenes looking three dimensional is something I have noticed too. When watching HD programming or movies (or upconverted movies) it?s more like watching them through a window instead of a tv screen. It?s like they are really there. I didn?t get a chance to watch any of the extras yet but I?m gonna get to those today. I hope *The Westerner* and *Man of the West* will work on my blu-ray too. I think a lot of people underestimate how good bw movies can look in high-def. I?ve only seen one thing in high-def that was bw (an episode of *Smallville* they did in a film noir style) and it was breathtaking how gorgeous it looked. The contrast between all the shades of black and white was amazing and the sharpness was just great. Then the scenes they had filmed in soft focus were some of the most beautiful I have seen. There was a scene were they had an old car (it was set during the 40s too) on the street and it was covered in raindrops and you could see every individual drop on it. I have *20 Million Miles to Earth* coming in blu-ray and it?ll be the first actual old b+w movie I?ll have in high-def. I ordered that one along with *Blazing Saddles* last month and that?s the order that got lost (from deepdiscount) and they reshipped it and it should be getting here in a few days (hopefully). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 You should be very pleased with The Westerner. I compared it to the asian import and I can now state that it is 100 times better in picture quality. The still captures really do not do it justice when it is upscaled to HD. Man of The West looks very good but not as impressive in 3D look as Garden of Evil was, but still hardly any grain and sharp and vivid pictures most of the time. Garden of Evil is just a step above Man of the West for picture quality though. There was not as many wow factors in watching it. I do believe that a Full restoration was done on the Westerner as the black and white picture has that super clean look with perfect brightness and contrast much like other restored movies from that time period. The gunfighter looks acceptable after you get through the very beginning but not as impressive as RawHide by a long shot. I don't mind a fair amount of film grain in a movie and Friendly persusation while it had a whole bunch was still pleasant to watch on my new tv. Sharpness and ghost images around people's faces is what really bothers me when watching a movie. The old version of the Westerner had ghosting on my new TV to an extreme and was blurry and too dark. The new release is the difference between night and day at least on my TV. Message was edited by: CoopfanDan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butterscotchgreer Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 ooh dan, you got your eyes lasered? ouchy! my dad just did that a couple months ago and i almost fainted when he told me how they did it to him. it sounds scary and painful. of course i just dont like anyone touching my eyes or putting anything into them. well im glad you have recovered and now you are enjoying gary much more clear now! hurray! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Did you see anything for 1080p or 1080i or 720p or 720i as in my case? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080p It could be in the HDMI cable settings for your player. This is where mine was. Message was edited by: CoopfanDan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Yes I got it done and I am the same way as you. The doctor stated to me yesterday after I jumped back when he touched below my eyes that he doesn't know how I made it through this all as over sensitive as my eyes are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Here's another person from an Amazon review that is gleaming over the picture quality for "The Westerner" who has the original HBO release: "I'm not going to review this dead bang CLASSIC...Gary Cooper at his prime, William Wyler at his....nuff said. What I am going to inform everybody is I just viewed the new MGM 2008 DVD against my long out of print HBO copy that I paid a fortune for and the differences are striking...I thought the original DVD was very good for its age...a bit grainy but with some good contrast and bite...but this new DVD looks like a print right off the original negative!!!! I can't believe they are not touting the amazing improvement but the first DVD was early in the DVD era and was obviously in retrospect a transfer from an inferior source. the verdict..If you are a classic film or western fan or a fan of Gary Coopers...this WILL be the best $10 you EVER spent!!! Yee Haaa!" and another amazon review: "A great western! One of my favorites. Gary C and Walter B are excellent. If you like fine classic westerns this one is for you. Fine story, fine acting, and an superb digital transfer in both picture and music. " All I can say is that I've watched several black and white pictures on my new TV including Sergeant York and Peter Ibbetson and The Westerner has hands down the best picture. It is also considerably better for picture than the two black and white movies in the Fox western set in the Gunfighter and Rawhide. It has certainly either been restored by MGM which would be an extremely rare thing when talking about MGM's treatment over the years of Samuel Goldwyn movies or they took it from a prestine original negative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coopsgirl Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 I finally have all Gary's new releases now and they all look great on my blu-ray player. Just like everybody else is saying, *The Westerner* looks so great it's almost beyond description . I also got my actual high-def blu-ray copy of another bw film *20 Million Miles to Earth* yesterday and I popped it in first b/c I wanted to see a bw movie in high-def. I was quite disappointed as there is noticeable film grain in many scenes. Some scenes looked very good but overall, I wasn't real impressed with this particular dvd. Then I put in *The Westerner* and my jaw dropped to the floor!!!! This movie actually looks like it's in high-def. I don't think it could look any better if it actually was in that format. I had to get my mom to come look at it and she thought the same thing, she couldn't believe it wasn't high-def. It is far and away, the best looking movie I have in my entire collection. I wish all my old movies looked like this one. I also watched it on a standard player and a regular tv and it is still noticeably better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metsfan Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Came across these today: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 I'm glad you received all of Gary's movies and you were as impressed as I was with The westerner and Garden of Evil. I would say that Man of the West was the least impressive for 3D quality when comparing to Garden of Evil but it still had a very good picture. I'm glad you also think that The Westerner looked incredable. I'm really not sure how it looks on a tube TV as mine is still out for repairs but on a plasma large screen it is breathtaking as was Garden of Evil. I suspect that it may be less noticable on a tube TV as the proffesional reviewers don't seem to be making that much of a fuss about its release. To me as one of my all time favorite Gary Cooper movies though it is like the second coming. I watched Sergeant York last night on my new TV along with Peter Ibbetson and thought that Sgt York looked really good but was less impressed with Peter Ibbetson for picture quality. Universial putting two movies on the same side of the disc meant they really had to compress the picture down and it shows when trying to view it upscaled to HD. Yet Sergeant York I had no problems with except for some film grain that never bothers me unless it is to the extreme which thankfully wasn't the case with Sergeant York. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 I was able to get some screen capture comparisons out of someone comparing the old HBO release to the new MGM release for the Westerner. I think the difference is even more severe when both dvd's are upconverted with the new one increasing in quality and the old one decreasing but the below screen grabs still show a dramatic difference. One thing to point out that it looks like the old HBO release was interlaced video where the new one is progressive. A big help for watching in HD upconverted mode: OLD HBO release NEW MGM release OLD HBO release NEW MGM release OLDHBO release NEWMGM release Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopsGal Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Wow, that's fantastic, Dan! Thanks for posting those. I can't wait to get my copy of "The Westerner" over Amazon. I'll finally be able to witness fully the beauty of Gary in silk lighting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Glad you liked the screen caps. The HBO version is the same version as my inported asian edition. I'm not sure what kind of setup you have to watch Gary but if it is a progressive HD set then you are in for a treat. I think everyone knows about progressive and interlaced but the difference is clearly seen on the comparison. In the second shot the HBO versions shows jaggies all over the guys face in the upper left hand corner of the photo. In the third shot the jaggies can be seen on Judge Roy Beans hat. This is a true sign that it is interlaced video and would not be visable on a tube TV. Yet on a progressive HD progressive TV these are magnified to an extreme and causes severe ghosting all over peoples faces and everything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Here's some more screen captures from the new MGM release: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 Angie if you want the best black and white picture to watch on your HD TV then you will more than likely have to view image's Definitive Twilight Zone. I watched some of the episodes tonight and it is bettter Black and white video than any of the movies from the 30's through 50's. You can see every single detail on a person's face that can be seen. It is almost too detailed if that is possable and the shades between black and white are incredably detailed. From what I have heard and read the new High Noon release may be the best black and white picture to ever be released on dvd as Paramount took it from the original negative and then did a full restoration on it after that. The High Noon from the last two releases was not from the restored negative as Paramount would not loan it out to Lions gate for those releases. I'm not even sure if it was from the negative and may have just been from a good copy of the original negative. I have read from many sources now that this is not the case this time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFavell Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 Those caps are bee-yootiful! I love how Walter Brennan's hair stands up and you can see every single hair individually.... The Westerner is such a great movie to look at anyway, with fine cinematography by great Gregg Toland. I am glad they have made it look so purty again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopsGal Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 I'm not sure what kind of setup you have to watch Gary but if it is a progressive HD set then you are in for a treat. I have a tiny little DVD player; hardly anything to get excited about. We did watch The Westerner on Angie's big screen; THAT was a real treat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coopsgirl Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 I wish you could see it on my tv now, it's just amazing. Even watching it on one of our regular tv's though, it looked much better. Here's some more pics I found on ebay. I've got the *Beau Geste* one as my desktop :x. *Wolf Song - ooooh chest hair* *Beau Geste* *Half a Bride* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoopfanDan Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 The thing that bothers me on those screen captures is that these LCD screens show the picture too bright and it gives the impression that it is sort of faded. On my plasma in cinema mode I think the picture is more true to the the correct black balance and looks more like this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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