'The Shining' - High-Def Digest review

[Sanjuro]

I watched both "2001" then "The Shining" last night. I couldn't believe how good "2001" looked, then I put in "The Shining" and was astounded!

[Dave Mack]

Originally Posted by ColinRobertson

That must have been where I got confused on the " kubrick preferred" aspect ratio. Thanks for the info! Now to figure out why the tennis ball looks pink...

Indeed! Now THAT'S confusing!
Amazon changed my shipping estimate on this and 2001 from yesterday to Dec. 5th(!) so I just cancelled. Checked 2 stores here in Berkeley, nothing...

[mtr1122]

Watched The Shining today and was like wow on the video. It was like watching it all over again. I picked it up on HD-DVD an the tennis ball is the color it is suppose to be. But it was great to watch. Seeing Jack go nuts in High Def is great

[supra2jzgte]

Getting this one as well as Full Metal Jacket. Has anyone seen that one yet since HDD hasnt reviewed it yet? Im talking about the re-release not the first release.

[ColinRobertson]

Originally Posted by supra2jzgte

Getting this one as well as Full Metal Jacket. Has anyone seen that one yet since HDD hasnt reviewed it yet? Im talking about the re-release not the first release.

I havent seen the original HD-DVD, but I watched the newer print (blu-ray) and it looks pretty darn good!

[ttringle]

Originally Posted by Dave Mack

I and many other have always wanted the shining in it's true OAR. We finally have it.

Yeah, there is alot of confusion on the subject of OAR and Kubrick films. Due to the fact that while Kubrick was creating his later films he was intent on "preserving" the 4:3 information so that when the films were broadcast on TV afterwards that the audience would not be missing any information.

This doesn't mean that he didn't film for widescreen just that when it came to framing his shots it was done so with the intent of keeping integral action within the 4:3 area of the shots.

I always found this odd but apparently Kubrick was very insistent on it to the point that when his films were released on home video either the studios misunderstood or he forced them to release his films in 4:3.

There are some people that swear that kubricks films were OAR at 4:3 which as Dave shows here is absolute garbage. The man simply wanted the TV viewing audience to not have to deal with PAN and SCAN BS or other trickery to enjoy his films on what was then the defacto standard. Other directors have done similar things with movies shown on TV. James Cameron directed Titanic in a way that showed extra information on the top and bottom of the screen for the 4:3 and framed the shots to fit while making quite a stunning film in 16:9.

So for any of you out there that still think Kubrick meant for his movies to be seen in 4:3 only, take a look at these movies again presented in their original (or close) OAR. If you watch some of the old video tapes you can clearly see imperfections that should not have been and were not visible in the original theatrical presentation (microphones and other things that should not have been seen).

The strange thing is that apparently the reason for some of his wishes regarding home video were because he hated the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. I found this very odd for such a gifted director.

TimT

[ttringle]

Originally Posted by ColinRobertson

I havent seen the original HD-DVD, but I watched the newer print (blu-ray) and it looks pretty darn good!

Since all of these Kubrick releases this month share the same video encodes, and are presented in as close to their original OAR as you can get on home video, you can be sure that this is going to look as good as it gets for now until a 4K master is struck for these films. (which might be what they have done, I am not aware of that however)

[cash]

I finally picked up the Shining yesterday (along with A Clockwork Orange). Watched The Shining last night and was completely amazed. I hadn't ever seen the original (just the made for tv mini-series). Needless to say I was very impressed with it and it is now one of my favorite thriller flicks.

[citizenchris099]

Originally Posted by Dave Mack

Here ya go....

The original DVD was open matte.
The extra info on the top, (a bit on the bottom) was not shown in the theaters. The way it is now is the way it was composed.

The OAR was 1:85-1.
The 4x3 being his "preferred AR" thing came about because he was horrified when he saw how 2001 was butchered on TV, panned and scanned.
Kubrick "protected" for 4x3 but told his DP and 2nd unit director to compose for 16x9.



there is a book called "The stanley kubrick archives where...


From The Stanley Kubrick Archives, page 452:



Note the faded red marker frame labeled "1-1.85", and the indication top right:

THE FRAME IS EXACTLY 1-1.85
Obviously you compose for that
but protect the full 1-1.33 area."


These are from Kubrick himself.

Why would you want to see what was never originally suppossed to be in the film the way it was meant to be seen in the theaters?

I and many other have always wanted the shining in it's true OAR. We finally have it.

another aspect of the theatrical ratio being used on the hddvd that I haven't heard anyone discuss is that you no longer seen the helicopter shadow as you did in the full screen (complete camera negative ) version. Also the helicopter blades are considerably less visible on the hddvd.

[BLU HD DEFENDER]

I hate to break it to you , but the only way you wont see grey bars useing a projector is if you have some sort of theatrical masking around your screen.
and even then if its a fixed masking you will see the bars when watching academy or scope aspect ratio movies.
haveing been a projectionist for about 12 years now, when i finally picked up my first dlp projector for home use last year i made certain that i installed a masking system that would let me adjust the viewing area of my screen for flat scope and academy aspect ratio films.
just to warn you it wasnt cheap either.

Originally Posted by ColinRobertson

I just picked this up tonight (on Blue ray) and was quite pleased with the overall awesome transfer of my favorite, and the best horror film ever made...

BUT. In the scene where Danny is playing with his trucks right before going into room 237, I noticed the tennis ball that rolls up to him in the hall was pink colored... Weird, I dont remember it being pink... whatever... so I popped my old original DVD in (non-remastered version) and sure enough, there it was in good old tennis ball green. I havent actually watched the whole disc yet, so if this is an isolated scene, I can look past it, but it better be an isolated scene...

Also, am I the only one slightly bothered by the meddling with the aspect ratio? As I understood it, it was Kubrick's intention for it to be 4:3. Lets be clear here folks, there is less to see on these new high-def versions because the widescreen is a matte. Normally, this would have been the original intent, and I would be fine with this, I'm not a "must see as much of the frame as possible" zealot, but I would prefer to respect the filmmaker's original intentions. In any case, the widescreen print certainly is preferable now that I have a widescreen HDTV, but when I step into projector territory, where obnoxious grey bars and burn in arent issues... well, let me see it the way it's meant to be damnit!!

BTW, from what I have heard so far, the lossless audio track is quite good and much better than the original DVD; cant say if it's any better than the remastered DVD in terms of the mix, but at least the music comes through much better on this new disc than ever before.

[rickman33]

I think it's inevitable that watching an unmatted 4:3 version would feel much different than the 1.85:1 version. Though Kubrick made sure that an unmatted 4:3 would not exclude any important information of his natural 1.85:1 shot, it still would be a different picture- perhaps even unintentionally better, allowing the overexposure of snowy expanses to enhance the viewer's feelings of isolation. Man, am I full of it.

But anyway- so what's with the pink tennis ball? To my understanding, on BR the tennis ball is pink, but on the HDDVD it's green? If anyone can explain this, that would be wonderful.

[ColinRobertson]

Originally Posted by rickman33

But anyway- so what's with the pink tennis ball? To my understanding, on BR the tennis ball is pink, but on the HDDVD it's green? If anyone can explain this, that would be wonderful.

Yes it's very strange. My worry is that the pink tennis ball is just an obvious example of a larger problem. Hopefully it was just the one scene... I haven't actually watched the whole disc yet, as I saw the movie not too long ago, but I figure I would save it for Halloween, but as I was scanning through the disc, the only obvious problem with the colors was the tennis ball scene.

[John32]

Well, looks like the last post was from a year ago. lol. But, anyway I just re-visited this title (after watching Iron Man) on blu, and wow what a transfer! This has always been a favorite, and despite what the reviewer says I like the audio on this one. Especially the freaky music in the beginning.

[hostchecker]

Wow thats a glowing review

[JackHunt]

Originally Posted by John32

Well, looks like the last post was from a year ago. lol. But, anyway I just re-visited this title (after watching Iron Man) on blu, and wow what a transfer! This has always been a favorite, and despite what the reviewer says I like the audio on this one. Especially the freaky music in the beginning.

I'm confused? Are you comparing the 2 titles?

But yeah The Shining really is a great transfer. Haven't watched Iron Man yet, will later in the week.