Godzilla 3D Blu-ray

[Great Hierophant]

I bought Godzilla (2014) some time ago and watched it. I did not recall if I felt the film was too dark, but I may have instinctively cranked up the brightness or contrast on my TV to compensate for it. However, after reading the review on Toho Kingdom about the 2D version of the film being too dark, I decided I would get the 3D version if I could ever find it for a reasonable price. Amazon came to my rescue this Christmas with a reasonable price for the 3D version.

The 3D version comes with two Blu-ray discs. One disc has the 3D version, one disc has the 2D version. I don't have a 3D ready TV, so when I popped the 3D version into my Playstation 3, it gave me an error screen saying it could not detect that I had a 3DTV. All 3D Blu-rays come with a 2D version.

Blu-ray 3D stores two frames, one frame per eye for every 3D frame. It does not store them in a side-by-side or top-and-bottom format or any other format which would halve the resolution of the images. Instead it encodes a base frame and a delta frame, typically representing the left and right frames, respectively. The 3D Blu-ray can allow a compatibility mode so that the base frame will be the 2D version and that will be displayed on a 2D player or 2DTV.

Godzilla 3D's disc does not use this compatibility mode, so I had to rip it to an MKV file. (You may also be able to make a 3DTV force 2D.) The first file was only 25GB, which was much smaller than the 39GB m2ts file containing the movie on the disc. This rip only took the base frame. The program I used required you to check a particular box to capture the delta frames. A second rip with the 3D delta content included weighed in at 37GB (I did not extract most of the optional audio and subtitles).

Godzilla was shot as a 2D movie, so the 3D element was not very important. What was important was the brighter image. When taking comparison screenshots of the two versions, I was not initially very impressed with the difference in brightness levels. The exact frames differ on the 2D and 3D versions. For non-effects scenes, the differences are barely noticeable, but the effects scenes may have been redone for 3D. However, as I streamed the 3D version to my PS3, I began to appreciate the 3D as 2D version's qualities much more. It was as if a hazy filter was removed. I could now see the night battle scenes without to crank up the brightness and contrast until the image looks washed out.

[Chris55]

I made this comparison video shortly after it came out. https://vimeo.com/106536796



And, like you, I had to rip the mkv file from the 3D version just to really see the film how it was originally shot. I did further rearrange files etc to make my own blu-ray of it just so I could have a version of it to watch.

[Great Hierophant]

I made this comparison video shortly after it came out. https://vimeo.com/106536796



And, like you, I had to rip the mkv file from the 3D version just to really see the film how it was originally shot. I did further rearrange files etc to make my own blu-ray of it just so I could have a version of it to watch.

This is a perfect comparison, maybe it should be linked to the Blu-ray review on the main site.

[omgitsgodzilla]

I generally watch movies with the lights off anyway, so the darkness of the 2D Blu-ray isn't a huge deal for me, but it would be nice to be able to see the film with a more balanced presentation. I've been considering adjusting the 2D version myself since I haven't yet come across a 2D rip of the 3D Blu-ray.

[Chris55]

This is a perfect comparison, maybe it should be linked to the Blu-ray review on the main site.

I thought we had it on there, I'll check.

I remember when I and others pointed out that the film was dark, we upset a lot of fans. Some would point out that since BluRay.com said it looked great, then they're right and we were wrong. Others took to taking cell phone photos of their TV's playing the film to show off how great it looked to them. The digital version was released in August of 2014 and people were complaining about it being dark a month before the blu-ray release.

I generally watch movies with the lights off anyway, so the darkness of the 2D Blu-ray isn't a huge deal for me, but it would be nice to be able to see the film with a more balanced presentation. I've been considering adjusting the 2D version myself since I haven't yet come across a 2D rip of the 3D Blu-ray.

Might as well just get a blu-ray burner and rip the mkv. It's like a whole new movie in a way.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Eh, I would but money's a little tight at the moment and I don't feel like re-buying the movie in a format I'll never otherwise use

[Servanov]

I bought this in the pack that had the Blu-Ray, 3-D Blu-Ray and the DVD. I don't remember it being too incredibly dark. I mean it wasn't like the Star Wars OT Blu-Ray with extremely crushed blacks. I don't remember the film being too bright in the theater. My art teacher even complained about the darkness of the film. She said, "That movie was horribly lit." I'd have to watch my BD again to really get a good idea. I think the darkness actually adds to the film, with the darker, more realistic tone and everything.

[DoctorWarpdrive]

So is the 2D version packaged with the 3D BluRay the same transfer as the standard BluRay, or is it the same as the 3D BluRay in terms of visual clarity(i.e. no horribly low contrast levels)?

[omgitsgodzilla]

It's probably the same as the 2D disc. Not much sense in authoring two different versions with different encodes of the feature for different combo packs. (I don't have the set, but if it was a different version, someone probably would've noticed and mentioned it by now.)

[DoctorWarpdrive]

So what program would you use to rip a 2D version from the 3D BluRay

[Chris55]

So what program would you use to rip a 2D version from the 3D BluRay

MakeMKV. It's free. Make sure you have around 30+ GB free.

[DoctorWarpdrive]

So what program would you use to rip a 2D version from the 3D BluRay

MakeMKV. It's free. Make sure you have around 30+ GB free.

Alright thanks!

[Chris55]

So what program would you use to rip a 2D version from the 3D BluRay

MakeMKV. It's free. Make sure you have around 30+ GB free.

Alright thanks!

Prepare to watch a whole new movie

[Shokara]

I want to say thank you for reviving this older thread and bringing it to my attention. I read and followed your advice, Chris55, and you were right. What used to be an experience in frustration now feels like when I first saw this movie in theaters in May, 2014.

It boggles the mind how Warner Bros. managed to use the correct video transfer for the 3D Blu-ray and yet they stick an inexplicably dark and murky transfer onto the 2D Blu-ray and digital version. And saddly, because Godzilla (2014) wasn't quite as big of a money maker as they hoped it'd be, they probably thought it wasn't worth the expense to correct the problem. And yes, I know I'm beating a dead horse.

I also wondered why I never saw fan edit projects online aimed at fixing the Blu-ray's dark video with brightness & color correction. Now I know why. I only wish I'd found out about this much sooner.

[RandomDeinonychus]

It boggles the mind how Warner Bros. managed to use the correct video transfer for the 3D Blu-ray and yet they stick an inexplicably dark and murky transfer onto the 2D Blu-ray and digital version. And saddly, because Godzilla (2014) wasn't quite as big of a money maker as they hoped it'd be, they probably thought it wasn't worth the expense to correct the problem. And yes, I know I'm beating a dead horse.

Well, there is a re-release of Godzilla 2014 scheduled for either April or May, depending on which site you look at. If WB was going to correct the transfer, they would have done so for that release. So I suppose we will know soon enough if it's ever going to happen.

The only other time we could probably expect an improved transfer would be if there is a 4K release coming. Which would kind of suck for me, since I am in no rush to upgrade to that format yet.

[Chris55]

It boggles the mind how Warner Bros. managed to use the correct video transfer for the 3D Blu-ray and yet they stick an inexplicably dark and murky transfer onto the 2D Blu-ray and digital version. And saddly, because Godzilla (2014) wasn't quite as big of a money maker as they hoped it'd be, they probably thought it wasn't worth the expense to correct the problem. And yes, I know I'm beating a dead horse.

Well, there is a re-release of Godzilla 2014 scheduled for either April or May, depending on which site you look at. If WB was going to correct the transfer, they would have done so for that release. So I suppose we will know soon enough if it's ever going to happen.

The only other time we could probably expect an improved transfer would be if there is a 4K release coming. Which would kind of suck for me, since I am in no rush to upgrade to that format yet.

That re-release is already on store shelves apparently. I haven't heard anything about a new transfer yet unfortunately.

[omgitsgodzilla]

I've heard it described as just new slipcovers on the original Blu-rays, which doesn't really surprise me.

[gvamp]

It boggles the mind how Warner Bros. managed to use the correct video transfer for the 3D Blu-ray and yet they stick an inexplicably dark and murky transfer onto the 2D Blu-ray and digital version. And saddly, because Godzilla (2014) wasn't quite as big of a money maker as they hoped it'd be, they probably thought it wasn't worth the expense to correct the problem. And yes, I know I'm beating a dead horse.

Well, there is a re-release of Godzilla 2014 scheduled for either April or May, depending on which site you look at. If WB was going to correct the transfer, they would have done so for that release. So I suppose we will know soon enough if it's ever going to happen.

The only other time we could probably expect an improved transfer would be if there is a 4K release coming. Which would kind of suck for me, since I am in no rush to upgrade to that format yet.

If you have a 4K TV I would highly recommend grabbing a 4K HDR player assuming your TV supports HDR. HDR is a vast improvement for movies which IMO is what makes 4K great. So far the best disc I've watched is Aquaman the colors on that are amazing quite possibly the best disc I've watched yet. I do own Blade Runner 2049 which is supposed to be the best movie to watch in 4K. I haven't watched it yet due to wanting to get a proper home theater set up (4K TV with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos) but I may just break down and watch it soon any way.

That being said I really hope WB does a 4K release of Godzilla, it'd probably benefit from 4K HDR.

[RandomDeinonychus]

If you have a 4K TV I would highly recommend grabbing a 4K HDR player assuming your TV supports HDR. HDR is a vast improvement for movies which IMO is what makes 4K great. So far the best disc I've watched is Aquaman the colors on that are amazing quite possibly the best disc I've watched yet. I do own Blade Runner 2049 which is supposed to be the best movie to watch in 4K. I haven't watched it yet due to wanting to get a proper home theater set up (4K TV with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos) but I may just break down and watch it soon any way.

That being said I really hope WB does a 4K release of Godzilla, it'd probably benefit from 4K HDR.

Pretty sure my TV is just a regular HDTV, since the term 4K wasn't even being tossed around when I met my wife in 2014 and it's her TV. So that's another reason to be reluctant, since I would have to buy a new player and a new TV to get the most out of it. I'm going to wait and see if it actually becomes worth it, since I'm still making the switch from DVD to Blu-ray for most of my collection.

As for Bladerunner 2049, I'm sure it looks great in 4K but good lord that was a crappy movie. I still don't get why so many people loved it, but to each their own.

I do hope we get a new transfer of 2014 eventually. Maybe when King of the Monsters hits disc.

[gvamp]

Pretty sure my TV is just a regular HDTV, since the term 4K wasn't even being tossed around when I met my wife in 2014 and it's her TV. So that's another reason to be reluctant, since I would have to buy a new player and a new TV to get the most out of it. I'm going to wait and see if it actually becomes worth it, since I'm still making the switch from DVD to Blu-ray for most of my collection.

As for Bladerunner 2049, I'm sure it looks great in 4K but good lord that was a crappy movie. I still don't get why so many people loved it, but to each their own.

I do hope we get a new transfer of 2014 eventually. Maybe when King of the Monsters hits disc.

Yeah if you don't have the right hardware right now then don't make the switch yet. I'd wait till you need a new TV. As for Blade Runner 2049 I have yet to see it. I got it because it was on sale and I did enjoy the first Blade Runner. I did hear though that its not as good as the original BR.

If we don't get a 4K Godzilla 14 this year I'm sure we'll get one next year to hype up Godzilla vs Kong.