My take: Ghostbusters

HD Goofnut · 11-03-2009, 09:17 AM

Title: Ghostbusters
BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc
Video: 1080p/AVC MPEG-4
Audio: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
Aspect Ratio: 2:40:1 (Original AR of 2:20:1)
Subtitles: Many languages
Run time: 105 minutes
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rating: PG
Region Coding: Region Free
Player used for review: LG BH200

Cast/Crew Info:
Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman
Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz
Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett
Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler
Rick Moranis as Louis Tully
Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz
William Atherton as Walter Peck
Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddmore
Directed by Ivan Reitman

My take: (the breakdown)

For anyone that was not an 80s child or simply somehow missed this title I strongly suggest at least renting this film. Ghostbusters is by far the funniest movie out there that ties together the paranormal and comedy. The story follows that of doctors Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, and Egon Spengler as they pursue their paranormal research at Colombia University through a series of grants. However, when the grants expire they are kicked out of the university and must find a new source of income. Peter comes with the idea of the Ghostbusters while Ray and Egon acquire a car and build a containment system for captured ghosts. When the Ghostbusters finally receive a real customer that has actual paranormal problems in her apartment they finally get some real work and eventually gain instant fame. What they don't know is that and evil entity plans on coming to their dimension through New York, which could pose to be quite a threat. This should be an automatic purchase for just about all film lovers out there.

For a 25 year old movie I was actually rather impressed by this Blu-ray transfer. I had probably seen Ghostbusters about 10 times over the years on both TV, VHS, and DVD and I have to say that this Blu-ray release surpasses all other versions of this movie. Colors receive a noticeable boost in clarity and saturation while flesh tones stay right where they should. Grain is moderate to heavy, but this should be expected from a film that is nearly as old as I am. The grain is at least consistent even in the darker areas and never turns into noise. Fine detail is also noticeably improved when compared to the previous versions. My one complaint is that of contrast. There are several shots near the beginning of the film and during the last 30 minutes where contrast is turned up way too high causing whites too bloom. It reminded me of what happened in 300, but in that film blooming whites were intentional. Despite the contrast issue this is still the best the film has ever looked for home viewing.

We are supplied with a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track that far exceeds the regular 5.1 Dolby Digital track from the previous DVD release. Dialogue is clearly prioritized and is never hard to comprehend during the entire run time. Surrounds stay rather subdued with the exception of music until around the last 30-40 minutes of the film when the action really begins to pick up and then many effects seem to come alive. Your rub will get some work during various action scenes in the film, but don't expect anything that will shake your walls. Other than the mix being front heavy for two-thirds of the film and the bass being slightly weak I felt this to be a well done TrueHD mix.

Sony has supplied the best supplemental package ever for Ghostbusters on home video. We get the following features:

Audio Commentary with Reitman, Ramis, and Medjuck (assoc. producer)
Scene Cemetary: 9 minutes of deleted scenes @ 480
On the Scene with the Ghostbusters: 10 minutes @ 480
Cast and Crew Interviews: 11 minutes @ 480
Special Effects Panel Discussion: 15 minutes # 480
Multi-Angle Shots: 6 minutes @ 480
Several Theatrical Trailers: All presented in 1080
Ecto-1: Resurrecting the Classic Car: 16 minutes @ 1080
Ecto-1 Gallery: 5 minutes @ 1080
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Trailer: 2 minutes @ 1080
Making of Ghostbusters: The Video Game: 11 minutes @ 1080 (Great game for the PS3)
BD-Live Options: Cinechat, Blu-Wizard, and Slimer Mode

Movie: 8.5/10
VQ: 8/10
AQ: 7.5/10
Supplements: 8/10
Final word: A Must Own

As always thanks for reading folks.

tvine2000 · 11-03-2009, 11:25 AM

i have always liked this film. there is one quick scene where they show the buildings and skyline of central park and you''ll noticed they screwed up the effects shot! there's a white line showing between the buildings and skyline! as anybody else noted that? at the 16 :47 mark you''ll see what i mean

HD Goofnut · 11-03-2009, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvine2000

i have always liked this film. there is one quick scene where they show the buildings and skyline of central park and you''ll noticed they screwed up the effects shot! there's a white line showing between the buildings and skyline! as anybody else noted that? at the 16 :47 mark you''ll see what i mean

Yeah I noticed that as well. It looked like a matte shot that became more evident because of the increased resolution.

denisjhon · 11-03-2009, 11:45 PM

hi there...

The Ectomobiles are the standard form of transportation for the Ghostbusters. Each is built from a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Professional car with a white and red paint job and white walled tires with chromed hubcaps. An interior rack stores the 4 proton packs, and a roof rack contains various detectors such as radar, sensor mics, infrared, and a satellite microwave uplinkThe Ectomobiles are the standard form of transportation for the Ghostbusters. Each is built from a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Professional car with a white and red paint job and white walled tires with chromed hubcaps. An interior rack stores the 4 proton packs, and a roof rack contains various detectors such as radar, sensor mics, infrared, and a satellite microwave uplink.

sigill · 11-04-2009, 08:57 AM

Thanks for the review Goofnut. I wasn't that impressed with the PQ myself, i thought the detail levels were very good but i found the high grain levels unacceptable. It was everywhere even in daylight shots! I just wish Sony Pictures would have spent a bit of time on the transfer and cleaned the picture up a bit.

HD Goofnut · 11-04-2009, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sigill

Thanks for the review Goofnut. I wasn't that impressed with the PQ myself, i thought the detail levels were very good but i found the high grain levels unacceptable. It was everywhere even in daylight shots! I just wish Sony Pictures would have spent a bit of time on the transfer and cleaned the picture up a bit.

You're welcome and I do agree with you in regards to some specific shots, but on the whole I thought it looked well done. It is a rather large improvement to both the VHS and DVD versions released in the past.

sigill · 11-04-2009, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

You're welcome and I do agree with you in regards to some specific shots, but on the whole I though it looked well done. It is a rather large improvement to both the VHS and DVD versions released in the past.

I agree, the BD is far superior to the DVD version.

iDarren · 11-05-2009, 12:44 AM

On the DVD you could see the silhouettes of their heads watching the film as they did the commentary. That was cool. Pity they dropped it from the BD. It was sort of like a pic in pic commentary for the time

GymBrat98 · 11-06-2009, 05:03 PM

Thanks for the review Goof.

HD Goofnut · 11-06-2009, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GymBrat98

Thanks for the review Goof.

You're welcome.

cbcdesign · 11-09-2009, 07:38 AM

Not remotely impressed with this release. The grain is distracting and I don't buy the 25 year old means we should expect grain either. Bladerunner is 25 years old and it looks fantastic as does Zulu which is even older.

HD Goofnut · 11-09-2009, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbcdesign

Not remotely impressed with this release. The grain is distracting and I don't buy the 25 year old means we should expect grain either. Bladerunner is 25 years old and it looks fantastic as does Zulu which is even older.

You have to remember that it all depends what filming equipment was used and at what resolution was used for the remaster when it was rescanned.

cbcdesign · 11-15-2009, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

You have to remember that it all depends what filming equipment was used and at what resolution was used for the remaster when it was rescanned.

I appreciate that.

But I do wonder if the Studios are doing more harm than good when they release movies on an HD format that are just too grain laden or in too poor a condition to look really good in HD though.

It feels like they are just trying to cash in and in doing so may actualy put customers off from buying into HD at all.

That's my take on it anyway.

Alan

11-03-2009, 09:17 AM	#1
HD Goofnut The Official HDF Reviewer Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Mississippi, U.S.A. Your resident Dune, Star Wars, and war film expert Age: 27 Posts: 6,845	My take: Ghostbusters Title: Ghostbusters BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc Video: 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 Audio: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD Aspect Ratio: 2:40:1 (Original AR of 2:20:1) Subtitles: Many languages Run time: 105 minutes Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Rating: PG Region Coding: Region Free Player used for review: LG BH200 Cast/Crew Info: Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler Rick Moranis as Louis Tully Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz William Atherton as Walter Peck Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddmore Directed by Ivan Reitman My take: (the breakdown) For anyone that was not an 80s child or simply somehow missed this title I strongly suggest at least renting this film. Ghostbusters is by far the funniest movie out there that ties together the paranormal and comedy. The story follows that of doctors Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, and Egon Spengler as they pursue their paranormal research at Colombia University through a series of grants. However, when the grants expire they are kicked out of the university and must find a new source of income. Peter comes with the idea of the Ghostbusters while Ray and Egon acquire a car and build a containment system for captured ghosts. When the Ghostbusters finally receive a real customer that has actual paranormal problems in her apartment they finally get some real work and eventually gain instant fame. What they don't know is that and evil entity plans on coming to their dimension through New York, which could pose to be quite a threat. This should be an automatic purchase for just about all film lovers out there. For a 25 year old movie I was actually rather impressed by this Blu-ray transfer. I had probably seen Ghostbusters about 10 times over the years on both TV, VHS, and DVD and I have to say that this Blu-ray release surpasses all other versions of this movie. Colors receive a noticeable boost in clarity and saturation while flesh tones stay right where they should. Grain is moderate to heavy, but this should be expected from a film that is nearly as old as I am. The grain is at least consistent even in the darker areas and never turns into noise. Fine detail is also noticeably improved when compared to the previous versions. My one complaint is that of contrast. There are several shots near the beginning of the film and during the last 30 minutes where contrast is turned up way too high causing whites too bloom. It reminded me of what happened in 300, but in that film blooming whites were intentional. Despite the contrast issue this is still the best the film has ever looked for home viewing. We are supplied with a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track that far exceeds the regular 5.1 Dolby Digital track from the previous DVD release. Dialogue is clearly prioritized and is never hard to comprehend during the entire run time. Surrounds stay rather subdued with the exception of music until around the last 30-40 minutes of the film when the action really begins to pick up and then many effects seem to come alive. Your rub will get some work during various action scenes in the film, but don't expect anything that will shake your walls. Other than the mix being front heavy for two-thirds of the film and the bass being slightly weak I felt this to be a well done TrueHD mix. Sony has supplied the best supplemental package ever for Ghostbusters on home video. We get the following features: Audio Commentary with Reitman, Ramis, and Medjuck (assoc. producer) Scene Cemetary: 9 minutes of deleted scenes @ 480 On the Scene with the Ghostbusters: 10 minutes @ 480 Cast and Crew Interviews: 11 minutes @ 480 Special Effects Panel Discussion: 15 minutes # 480 Multi-Angle Shots: 6 minutes @ 480 Several Theatrical Trailers: All presented in 1080 Ecto-1: Resurrecting the Classic Car: 16 minutes @ 1080 Ecto-1 Gallery: 5 minutes @ 1080 Ghostbusters: The Video Game Trailer: 2 minutes @ 1080 Making of Ghostbusters: The Video Game: 11 minutes @ 1080 (Great game for the PS3) BD-Live Options: Cinechat, Blu-Wizard, and Slimer Mode Movie: 8.5/10 VQ: 8/10 AQ: 7.5/10 Supplements: 8/10 Final word: A Must Own As always thanks for reading folks. __________________ My Review Setup Sanyo DP46848 46" 1080p LCD Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 DirecTV HR21-100 HD DVR Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 System LG BH200 Super Blu Toshiba HD-A20 Sony 40 GB PS3 (Now with Netflix streaming!) 156~206~My Movie Collection Latest Review: *Léon: The Professional* Be sure to check out the Blu-ray Review Request Thread

11-04-2009, 08:57 AM	#5
sigill High Def fan Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: United kingdom-Manchester Age: 30 Posts: 2,519	Thanks for the review Goofnut. I wasn't that impressed with the PQ myself, i thought the detail levels were very good but i found the high grain levels unacceptable. It was everywhere even in daylight shots! I just wish Sony Pictures would have spent a bit of time on the transfer and cleaned the picture up a bit. __________________ Panasonic 37" LCD 720p/1080i Sony BDP-S350 Sony BDP-S300 Toshiba XDE-500 DVD player Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 AVR KEF1005.2 speakers Latest HD movies bought - Coraline - American Gangster - Moonraker 97 Blu-rays

11-05-2009, 12:44 AM	#8
iDarren Hi-Def Junkie Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Blu-ray HQ Awards: World's Sexiest Male 2006/2007/2008 Posts: 2,985	On the DVD you could see the silhouettes of their heads watching the film as they did the commentary. That was cool. Pity they dropped it from the BD. It was sort of like a pic in pic commentary for the time __________________ www.bogieonline.com www.mcqueenonline.com www.saunaandspascene.com www.projectorreviewcentral.com

11-06-2009, 05:03 PM	#9
GymBrat98 HD Is Off Da Hook! Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 5,640	Thanks for the review Goof. __________________ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O-ygbA-VQs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSEzbN9SygU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUNXtLCQSog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHvmaLFap_8 http://www.highdefforum.com/gallery/....php/photo/613 [url] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh8878_Aquk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnD-b9-t18I "Stereotypes are devices for saving a biased person the trouble of learning"

11-09-2009, 07:38 AM	#11
cbcdesign High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: North Somerset, UK Posts: 1,313	Not remotely impressed with this release. The grain is distracting and I don't buy the 25 year old means we should expect grain either. Bladerunner is 25 years old and it looks fantastic as does Zulu which is even older. __________________ 63 HD DVD's Latest Buy: The Big Lebowski & An American Werewolf in London 48 Blu-rays Latest Buy: Dances with Wolves

11-03-2009, 11:25 AM	#2
tvine2000 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: vermont Posts: 902	i have always liked this film. there is one quick scene where they show the buildings and skyline of central park and you''ll noticed they screwed up the effects shot! there's a white line showing between the buildings and skyline! as anybody else noted that? at the 16 :47 mark you''ll see what i mean

11-03-2009, 11:45 PM	#4
denisjhon What is HD? Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 3	hi there... The Ectomobiles are the standard form of transportation for the Ghostbusters. Each is built from a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Professional car with a white and red paint job and white walled tires with chromed hubcaps. An interior rack stores the 4 proton packs, and a roof rack contains various detectors such as radar, sensor mics, infrared, and a satellite microwave uplinkThe Ectomobiles are the standard form of transportation for the Ghostbusters. Each is built from a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Professional car with a white and red paint job and white walled tires with chromed hubcaps. An interior rack stores the 4 proton packs, and a roof rack contains various detectors such as radar, sensor mics, infrared, and a satellite microwave uplink.

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