Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 1.0
Truly shocking when parts of the image are removed
I'm no expert on Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) and Edge Enhancement (EE) and how it affects Blu-ray picture quality, but even I know something's seriously wrong when parts of the picture are *erased*. Compare the screenshots on the AVS Forum post:bit.ly/EkTmM (Amazon seems to screen out external links in reviews, so just copy and paste this into the address bar)Especially shocking to me (in terms of parts of the images being erased) are images 3 and 7. If you compare one of the broadcast HDTV versions with the Blu-ray version, you'll see that in image 3 (with the "Germania" caption) part of the spear on the left-hand side has been erased because the image-processing software thought that it should blend in with the tress in the background...Even worse, in image 7, I can count at least 15 flaming arrows that have been removed from the Blu-ray version, presumably because the software thought that they were scratches or imperfections that had to be removed. Also, if you look on the right of the image, part of the fireball has been erased by a blue splodge. You can see what it looks like by downloading the video clips linked from the second post (you'll need a reasonably fast computer to play the 10-second 1080p clips and software such as VLC Media Player from videolan.org).Gladiator is a fantastic movie and one of my favorites, but I would recommend sticking with the DVD until they release a version that doesn't have parts of the images erased.