A blu ray review of Poltergeist can be found here.
This is one of Warner Bros best Blu Ray transfers. Disc size is around 19.5GB and it's on a single layer disc.
I don't dwell on bitrate as i think the images should speak for themselves and too often bitrate is blamed for poor transfers when it's actually the encoders fault or the fault of an old master being used as was the case with Gladiator or Gangs Of New York both of which had abysmal transfers yet good bitrate and file sizes.
I would always advise you watch a film too and not just view some frames such as the ones i provide here. I always watch the film first before forming an opinion.
There is visible print damage in some scenes. Check out frame 8 as an example of this.
There is softness around some of the optical shots but i believe this is how the film looked back in 1982 although one cannot rule out minor degraining of those shots.
This film was shot using anamorphic lenses and you will notice in some scenes the focus is not always pin sharp, you can see an example of this in frame 10.
The photographic choice of camera and lens and the film stock used is responsible for how this film looks. Film stock and camera lenses have improved a lot over the years and this film should not be compared to a film shot anamorphic in 2010. I think this film looks superb and i felt like i was watching a real film.
Check out frame 5 which has lots of rain falling and lots of mud and water in and around the unfinished pool, this scene has lots of sharp detail.
The film is on my reference list which can be viewed here.
View some blu ray screencaps of Poltergeist below. Click twice for the full HD image.
Screen capture 14 is horrible! That is not how I saw it at Poltergeist double bill late night showing in the summertime of 1990.
I have the region 2 DVD SE same version they used for the bluray as they usually do to make fools of us. The colour of the blue is all WRONG! Note the tiny traces of green being produced by the hot white “Go into the light” Yeah that is not how its was seen in the cinema with pure xenon light shinning onto pure grain 35mm!
Look at the DVD Beaver screen captures of first edition region 1 now out of print, but there are still plenty of idiots who would sale there’s for the bluray.
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews33/poltergeist.htm
After seeing the beaver shot I brought the region 1 DVD and never play the region 2 SE much less buy the bluray lossless or not I don’t care the colour balance as crossed over to the dark side on this bluray.
The discrete 6track DOLBY STEREO film mix is the same as the region 1 it uses the original monaural surrounds with clear and often heavy bass and sub bass LFE.1 that gives me JUMP towards the end when coffins rumble and burst though the kitchen floor!
Nice use of dialogue voices in the living room as friends watch a football game them the sound of TV on right stage channel while. TV remote control wars, now that is possible! If you have neighbour that you like to play a prank on and they have the same set-box he he aim the remote at their box and start pressing the next channel LOL. They’d be wondering WTF for days??
Personally I’d look for the region 1 of ebay you won’t be disappointed.
As for this type colour issue its cropped up countess times on many other films and its the wrong colour balance.
The Abyss
Terminator 2
Terminator 3
The Sum of All Fears
Batman Begins
Cape Fear (1991) In one shot towards the end the river scene on the boat with thunder and lighting outside.
Close Encounters of Third Kind
Poltergeist
StarGate
Blade 2
Oh I can list a whole lot more!
Be careful when using screencaps via a computer to judge colour quality, all displays are setup differently, especially with regards computer monitors.
As for DVD, nope, never again, too much edge enhancement on practically every release.
Poltergeist looks very good on blu ray, much better than the DVD edition but i think a brand new 4K scan done today using the best equipment and a higher bitrate encode would make it look better, i also would not use DVDBeaver for screencaps, they often forget to adjust settings for REC.709 and sometimes the brightness is too high because they are not using PC levels, indeed they have used PowerDVD and that brings in some additional issues and results in softer images.
As for colour balance, Close Encounters was a brand new 4K scan approved by Spielberg, i think it looks superb and i think its pretty close to how a great looking prestige cinema presentation would look.