Nilsson: The Point 50th Year Anniversary 5.1 BluRay!

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Here's a pretty comprehensive review from the folks over at Blu-Ray.com. As I suspected the surround mix is lossy Dolby 5.0 - I'm guessing that it's the same as the one on the DVD that I have sitting in storage. I'll have to locate it and give it a listen asap.

The Point Blu-ray Release Date February 18, 2020

Thank you for the link to this review. This does not seem like a release I need to pick up any time soon, though I would like to see the special features one day.
 
Here's a pretty comprehensive review from the folks over at Blu-Ray.com. As I suspected the surround mix is lossy Dolby 5.0 - I'm guessing that it's the same as the one on the DVD that I have sitting in storage. I'll have to locate it and give it a listen asap.

The Point Blu-ray Release Date February 18, 2020
A brief summary of the review is that the package comes recommended but the surround mix does not. It is valid and great that they spent the time and effort to present the best archival version of the film possible, but sounds like there were no multitracks to work with (this is not stated, but can be inferred), so the surround mix is possibly a "point-less" endeavor.
 
....... DCC did do The Point on Gold CD btw.

Silver, not Gold! (I checked because my memory is not always operating at peak efficiency!) :)

Sounds like the original LaserDisc/DVD might not be that far removed from this BluRay offering. I don't recall those having the defects described in the linked articles above.

For $20 I will still get it. I'll check it out and report back about the audio. I am expecting, well, not much.......
 
Interesting bit of trivia about The Point: There are/were actually 4 different versions of The Point - a different person as narrator on each. The first telecast had Dustin Hoffman (who's contract specified it could only be used once), repeat network TV airings' narration was voiced by Alan Barzman. When it went to VHS/DVD, Ringo Starr became the narrator, but versions shown on cable TV in the 80's & 90's had Alan Thicke's voice as narrator.

It would have been a cool feature on the blu-ray if you could choose which narrator you wanted to listen to, but Hoffman would probably want a ridiculous amount of money to let them use his version. He got $20,000 for the one-time 1971 premier, so you can imagine what he would demand now.
 
Got my bluray from amazon today. Threw it in the PS4 on my living room system.....menu was completely unnavigatable! Tried to set the audio to 5.1.....wouldn't set. Tried to get back to the menu.....got to a screen with no options. I gave up in disgust and walked away.

Might have the most awesome sound and mix ever for all I know.....but until the jackasses in the industry figure out how to author a damn disc, it's useless plastic! It's not that hard, just give me a simple universal option to set the sound and play the feature!
 
A rather lackluster review [VIDEO/Sound] from blu~ray.com. Audio is DD 2.0 and 5.0 [read the audio portion of the review] and it's upconverted low res from 1971]. But despite the caveats, the reviewer did posit a RECOMMENDATION, based on content.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Point-Blu-ray/254054/#Review
81b5JNUpoVL._SL1500_.jpg
 
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Got mine yesterday and ripped it to check it out. (Haven't watched it so I can't comment on the extras or the video quality)

The audio is a SOLID DISAPPOINTMENT. It's basically mono with extra bonus echo on the narration (Ringo). Considering the original was made for TV in 1971, I suppose that's about what should have been expected. But it's really a dull echo'y mono. Purchasing this for the audio is a total waste. That does not mean it's not nice to have it on BluRay, just don't expect real surround or a real audio experience.

Here's a look at the wav files. The first look is ripped right from the BluRay with an empty LFE channel added to the view. The second is a SPECWeb run through of the Steve Hoffman DCC CD that I did a year or so ago. You can see there is a lot more definition to the surround in that. I am not sure why the same type of manipulations could not have been done on the video soundtrack to at least give a better impression of a surround mix.

2020 BluRay
Point BD.jpg


DCC CD after SPECWeb
Point SPEC.jpg
 
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Sounds like they missed the point(I couldn't resist). I've only heard the original TV broadcast(and I didn't purchase a copy), but Ringo should be a good narrator based on his work with the Thomas The Tank Engine series. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you can always ask your grandchildren!
 
I hope asking this doesn't seem like snark, it's not intended that way, but what does this mean? There was no digital in 1971.

According to the blu~ray.com review, markshan, The Point was shot in 16mm and scanned at 2K [1080p] from film elements which were in poor condition in the FULL SCREEN format [1.35.1] to accomodate 70's TV screens.

I've seen 1080p transfers from 16mm {Woodstock the Movie was wholly shot in 16mm] and if those film elements are in good condition, decent to VG transfers CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED.
 
According to the blu~ray.com review, markshan, The Point was shot in 16mm and scanned at 2K [1080p] from film elements which were in poor condition in the FULL SCREEN format [1.35.1] to accomodate 70's TV screens.

I've seen 1080p transfers from 16mm {Woodstock the Movie was wholly shot in 16mm] and if those film elements are in good condition, decent to VG transfers CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED.
I'm still confused, but it's probably my issue.
 
I'm still confused, but it's probably my issue.

16mm Film was an 'economical approach' to filming used mainly for low budget and industrial/educational films. The Point was a low budget film shot in 16mm for 70's TV, which if you recall, were just transitioning to Color broadcasts, Shows shot in 35mm [a wider film gauge] fared better.

But since the 16mm film elements of The Point were in such bad shape, restoration had to be done [digitally] to restore the image.

As Jon Urban indicates above, the audio was probaby recorded in MONO since TVs of the time were MONO....and the narrow width of 16mm was unable to accomodate a stereo track!
 
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