Older Bond BD discs quality?

[Lex]

Anyone own any of the older ones? How's the quality of the transfer from 60's movies like From Russia with Love, or GoldFinger?

I just wondered whether to replace my older Bond movies. I have some missing thnough, so I am closer to just saying to heck with it and getting the BD collection.

But still curious the quality to expect.

[kcsun]

Hi Lex
slightly off topic, but how do you find the audio tracks of films in general, I am in the Uk and most films we buy or tv dramas we watch, we end up with subtitles on as the actors all mumble. War scenes, bangs and crashes are all surround and so loud you have to turn the volume down.
Are all these directors idiots, do none of them ever listen to the soundtracks, pictures are always great though

At least B&W have gained profits from me continually trying to upgrade kit to overcome poor sound quality

Your views and the views of others welcomed

kc

[Ovation]

I have the three BD boxes from the original BD Bond releases and Goldfinger looks great as does Dr. No. I'm not a video perfectionist (I'm much more finicky about audio) but I quite like all the BD Bonds I've watched so far.

As to the issue of audio tracks in general, if they are well done and faithful to the original, then the very wide dynamic range creates the sensation of very loud, which can, at times, drown out the very soft. Filmmakers create audio with large cinema halls in mind, not small living rooms typically found in people's homes. Recent AVRs offer a range of adaptive dynamic range compensators (with various names for these functions). They are intended to cope with the problem of things that are too loud/too soft without having to resort to subtitles.

[Lex]

KC, the audio is something of another thing, it can't be corrected to the point the video can, because it was never that way to begin with.

I too find the audio on most older action films very lacking in the quality standpoint. You just can't crank them up much, the loud scenes will really send you screaming from the room, I have found. I correct it as much as I can with processing, and endure it for the sake of the film.

Thanks for the video opinion. I figured they were pretty good transfers video wise, was hopeful anyway.

[Ovation]

I just watched Strangers on a Train a few days ago on DVD and issues with old audio abound. My father was watching with me and he is hard of hearing, so I had it up a fair bit more than usual. The merry-go-round music in the climactic scene was quite harsh (I briefly turned it down before dialogue resumed). There is only so much that can be done with old audio.

[bigburner]

Anyone own any of the older ones? How's the quality of the transfer from 60's movies like From Russia with Love, or GoldFinger?

I just wondered whether to replace my older Bond movies. I have some missing thnough, so I am closer to just saying to heck with it and getting the BD collection.

But still curious the quality to expect.

blu-ray.com rates both of those films highly from an audio and video perspective Lex.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/From-Russia-with-Love-Blu-ray/974/#Review

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Goldfinger-Blu-ray/3755/#Review

Nigel.

[Lex]

I agree Paul. It's always going to be a little harsh and overbearing at louder volumes. IMO.

Thanks Nigel. Of course Blu-Ray.com wouldn't be bias or anything. I'll take those with a grain of salt I think on the audio side. Video, they can do pretty well from restoring original film tracks