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BLOND AMBITION remaster on youtube


Kim

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I don't like what they did with the picture quality/coloring, they upped the saturation a little too much and in certain shots it kinda looks they recolored everything themselves.

But here's some info on the company mentioned in the youtube description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_MediaWorks

They did work on the film Avatar and for U2

Maybe they were hired to do remastering for a potential bluray release????

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I still don't fully understand why it has taken so long to release BA on DVD. The concert is an iconic and influential pop concert that deserves more love and respect by giving it another rerelease.

They rereleased the TOD film after W.E., so now they should do the same for BA!

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Maybe it was done by a fan? Otherwise, whois "terrytroops" and if this was professionally done, why would he have access to it and be allowed to upload it?

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I nearly posted something yesterday. Someone on ebay is currently selling several promo DVDs that were put together for Warner executives in limited quantities to show what they had in the vaults including 112 minutes of the Nice BAT show, 54 mins of Virgin Tour, 30 mins of Roseland Sticky and Sweet promo and Get Together animated version.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MADONNA-promo-DVD-Rs-Virgin-Tour-Blonde-Ambition-NY-2009-Get-Together-/151115855710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item232f34f75e

Could it have come from that?

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The sound is really good on those remasters though.

I'd love a day when they release both a remaster of one of the live recordings, along with the full edit of Alek's film version (from TOD)...along with a double cd of the music (remastered).

The old rock groups have tons of these special releases on itunes now...M's team has got to get on the ball.

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Maybe it was done by a fan? Otherwise, whois "terrytroops" and if this was professionally done, why would he have access to it and be allowed to upload it?

Stuff leaks all the time. There are full shows of BA New Jersey and Boston from in-house tapes floating around in collector circles as well as the original Houston show before someone tampered with the sound and pic before leaking it.

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I nearly posted something yesterday. Someone on ebay is currently selling several promo DVDs that were put together for Warner executives in limited quantities to show what they had in the vaults including 112 minutes of the Nice BAT show, 54 mins of Virgin Tour, 30 mins of Roseland Sticky and Sweet promo and Get Together animated version.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MADONNA-promo-DVD-Rs-Virgin-Tour-Blonde-Ambition-NY-2009-Get-Together-/151115855710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item232f34f75e

Could it have come from that?

Looks dodgy to me.

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I nearly posted something yesterday. Someone on ebay is currently selling several promo DVDs that were put together for Warner executives in limited quantities to show what they had in the vaults including 112 minutes of the Nice BAT show, 54 mins of Virgin Tour, 30 mins of Roseland Sticky and Sweet promo and Get Together animated version.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MADONNA-promo-DVD-Rs-Virgin-Tour-Blonde-Ambition-NY-2009-Get-Together-/151115855710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item232f34f75e

Could it have come from that?

Would be interesting to see if the Virgin Tour disc has Angel and/or Burning Up on them

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Not impressed much with those BA Nice "remasters" on YouTube.

They *are* just zoomed in / cropped from the original 4:3.

I don't see any point in ever doing this. The Nice show was just shot in Standard Definition PAL 4:3 - any attempt at producing a 16:9 widescreen version will only mean losing some of the original picture.

In case anyone didn't know - the PAL Laserdisc of BA Nice is so far the best source for this show. Unlike the USA TV broadcast and the USA Laserdisc - the PAL Laserdisc has the show in its original PAL format. Very rare that we got this and it's only the case because Pioneer released it. Had Warner Music Vision released this, every existing version would be an NTSC conversion of the PAL original (as per Ciao Italia and GS Live Down Under).

Those eBay auctions are interesting for sure.

You can see from the running time of Virgin Tour - that it's just the 1985 home video version. No Angel or Burning Up.

I think the info in the auction also pretty much confirms that if we do ever get Blond Ambition from Warner Music Vision - we'll be getting the Nice show. And if we get Virgin Tour - we'll be getting a new transfer of the home video release.

I guess that's what's to be expected anyway. Barcelona BA was never gonna be considered instead of Nice really - and Paris stuff from the movie footage is only ever a dream for us.

For me it's just a bit of a shame. I have no interest in having an NTSC converted version of BA Nice on a DVD. That's what we will end up getting. It won't be as good quality as the PAL laserdisc and otherwise it will be the same content. I don't need it again.

Virgin Tour is the same - the Laserdisc is fine. Yes a DVD version would be slightly better - but no big deal.

We are not gonna get these on Blu Ray. With BA Nice it's technically impossible (no matter what rumours are started by fansites or what anyone says - you simply cannot magic High Definition from Standard Definition source material!) - with VT it is only possible if someone has the original movie footage and goes to the expense and bother of re-transferring it. I cannot see that happening in our lifetimes.

I said it before - we have to rely on LEAKS for our Madonna video kicks from the past!!!!! :-) :-) :-) :-)

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Wasn't TOD retransfered for bluray?

Yes it certainly was!

And this happens every day with movies.

I just can't see it happening with a concert which was never released as a movie - only ever as a VHS / Betamax / Laserdisc from an edited tape.

There's a strong chance WB don't have the original film for VT (and maybe never did). I don't know - it's just my feeling. Like all her music videos in the 80s and 90s - all shot on 35mm or whatever - but edited / mastered on tape in standard definition.

I get confused and irritated when I see rumours about Blu Ray releases of things that don't make sense. Like for a while there there was a rumour about Girlie Show Blu Ray, yet there's no evidence that the tour was ever filmed. We were gonna have to find out that a full crew of movie cameras shot the tour one night without anyone ever mentioning anything about it for 20 years. I'm not saying that's still not possible - but it's stretching the imagination a bit! :-)

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They *are* just zoomed in / cropped from the original 4:3.

I don't see any point in ever doing this. The Nice show was just shot in Standard Definition PAL 4:3 - any attempt at producing a 16:9 widescreen version will only mean losing some of the original picture.

Those eBay auctions are interesting for sure.

We are not gonna get these on Blu Ray. With BA Nice it's technically impossible (no matter what rumours are started by fansites or what anyone says - you simply cannot magic High Definition from Standard Definition source material!) - with VT it is only possible if someone has the original movie footage and goes to the expense and bother of re-transferring it. I cannot see that happening in our lifetimes.

I'm surprised you think those ebay DVD-Rs are interesting. They look suspiciously like bootlegs. Master tapes don't usually have logos like the pics of the Hard Candy promo show. If it included the rare COADF Koko promo widescreen DVD that sometimes floats around as opposed to stuff so readily available it would have more credence.
Standard def stuff does still get transferred to Blu ray sometimes, not that it's going to magically turn into high def material but it does happen and the higher storage capacity and the advances in videotape mastering can still make a big difference to old standard def material. I don't think anyone thought that a brand new 35mm Girlie Show date from Rio or whatever was gonna turn up on Blu.
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I'm surprised you think those ebay DVD-Rs are interesting. They look suspiciously like bootlegs. Master tapes don't usually have logos like the pics of the Hard Candy promo show. If it included the rare COADF Koko promo widescreen DVD that sometimes floats around as opposed to stuff so readily available it would have more credence.

The DVD-Rs on ebay are legit (I know that for sure).

Whether they are from original master tapes I don't know - that's the seller being speculative - but they are definitely original WB promo items.

Yes the logo on the HC promo gig gives the impression of it being a bootleg - but sadly record companies often produce inhouse promo items from their own recordings which aren't from original master tapes. Sometimes they don't even have original masters.

I have many many official WB promo videos which are just from TV recordings or even stranger sources! :-)

I don't think those 3 promo DVDs are of huge interest or value, except as I said before - the fact they were pressed in 2008 indicates to me that when BA tour is being considered (looks like it was being considered then - perhaps for the upcoming Greatest Hits release at the time), we can expect Nice (often there is speculation of other shows ending up released). Remember, Madonna's final WB album (Greatest Hits) was originally due to happen at the end of 2008 but then it was delayed and ended up coming a year later!

Standard def stuff does still get transferred to Blu ray sometimes, not that it's going to magically turn into high def material but it does happen and the higher storage capacity and the advances in videotape mastering can still make a big difference to old standard def material. I don't think anyone thought that a brand new 35mm Girlie Show date from Rio or whatever was gonna turn up on Blu.

I don't know what you mean by that. How does SD stuff get released on Blu Ray? I don't know of any examples of this - Blu Ray definition / specification is HD, so you don't get SD material released as a Blu Ray (there's no point!). We could argueand speculate all day - fact is, WB aren't gonna release SD Madonna concerts on Blu Ray. No-one would ever do that or ever has done as far as I am aware.

The only reason I mentioned a brand new 35mm GS date was because that is the ONLY way we could possibly get GS on Blu Ray OR if GS had been filmed with HDTV cameras somewhere (was in its infancy in 1993 apparently - so again highly unlikely). :-)

I'm not trying to say I know more than anyone else - just stating the facts of the situation. :-) :-)

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It would be fair to guess that if something like BA was released today, they'd try to give it to us in 16:9.

A few years ago Universal started re-issuing ABBA's music videos in 16:9 format - either cropped or reformatted form the original film.

Everyone is 16:9 now - and it horrifes me how most people also happily watch 4:3 material on their 16:9 TV stretched, rather than formatted correctly with black bars at the sides!!!! At least releasing a cropped 16:9 version of BA would mean everyone would get to see it unstreched! :-)

Personally I hate all that (trying to make a 16:9 video out of a 4:3 original) - it's a step backwards for me. This was shot 4:3 in 1990 and messing around with the aspect ratio / colouring / whatever, won't make it better for me I don't think!

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Honestly, some of you collectors might not care to have these things - even if not perfect - but many of us here don't have any of these things, and the only we can see them is youtube... and quite frankly, BA deserves better.

An NTSC might not be perfect, but at least it's something. I'm sure some sort of remastering job can be done.

Plus, what's the big difference between the PAL and NTSC versions.....? Sharpness, clarity, ????

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Honestly, some of you collectors might not care to have these things - even if not perfect - but many of us here don't have any of these things, and the only we can see them is youtube... and quite frankly, BA deserves better.

An NTSC might not be perfect, but at least it's something. I'm sure some sort of remastering job can be done.

Plus, what's the big difference between the PAL and NTSC versions.....? Sharpness, clarity, ????

I take your point. Sometimes I forget that there's fans out there that don't have access to certain things from years ago and yes absolutely this tour deserves better than what's out there (which is basically nothing!).

PAL vs NTSC difference is no big deal to the casual viewer. And it's arguable which of the two is "better" anyway (PAL has more definition than NTSC but NTSC has more frames per second than PAL).

In this case - it's more the point that the original is PAL - that's how it was filmed in 1990. So an NTSC version is a conversion. So definitely slightly worse. But not the end of the world to anyone who just wants to watch the concert!

I think they'll definitely get round to releasing it some time. Before that happens, surely you can find it on a forum to download or something? :-)

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The DVD-Rs on ebay are legit (I know that for sure).

Whether they are from original master tapes I don't know - that's the seller being speculative - but they are definitely original WB promo items.

Yes the logo on the HC promo gig gives the impression of it being a bootleg - but sadly record companies often produce inhouse promo items from their own recordings which aren't from original master tapes. Sometimes they don't even have original masters.

I have many many official WB promo videos which are just from TV recordings or even stranger sources! :-)

Fair enough but the suggestion that this stuff was put on dvd and "given to executives to see what was in the vault" seems completely erroneous to me as does the claim that they're from original masters. If true, the only interesting part of this is that WB finally have the rights of the old Pioneer BA footage.

I don't know what you mean by that. How does SD stuff get released on Blu Ray? I don't know of any examples of this - Blu Ray definition / specification is HD, so you don't get SD material released as a Blu Ray (there's no point!). We could argueand speculate all day - fact is, WB aren't gonna release SD Madonna concerts on Blu Ray. No-one would ever do that or ever has done as far as I am aware.

Yes Blu is a high definition format but it's a video storage medium as much as anything else. The very latest example I can think of is the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert released on Blu this month. An SD shot TV broadcast. The image is pre-upscaled using professional HD encoders with the intention of getting the best possible video quality from the material available, increased bitrate, banishing dvd artifacts etc not making SD look like HD. The real advantage for concerts of course is the audio, the ability to include a lossles PCM or true dolby digital HD soundtrack.

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Wow - I learned something new today!

Just read up about that Freddie Mercury Tribute Blu Ray - interesting. Thanks.

I notice they kept the aspect ratio for that (which is good!). Intriguing.... :-)

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Wow - I learned something new today!

Just read up about that Freddie Mercury Tribute Blu Ray - interesting. Thanks.

I notice they kept the aspect ratio for that (which is good!). Intriguing.... :-)

BUT (like you mentioned earlier) It was shot PAL but they've used an NTSC conversion as the source which kinda defeats the purpose.

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BUT (like you mentioned earlier) It was shot PAL but they've used an NTSC conversion as the source which kinda defeats the purpose.

Intriguing though - it puts a whole new spin on things.

Maybe that GS Blu Ray rumour from earlier this year or last year had some truth to it.

I see they are clearly labelling all these as "SD Blu Ray" discs. Maybe Warner or Rhino or whoever might go down that road at some point with the Madonna concerts.

Not sure I'm excited about it though. If it's not HD, I find DVDs look perfectly fine - especially when played on a blu-ray player with decent up-scaling.

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Well with WB it would no doubt just be a direct port-over with no work done at all and that prospect doesn't excite me. There are possibilities to improve on what we already have tho.

I was never happy with the BA laserdisk for example. The 2.0 sound mix which was a direct rip of the HBO broadcast with bizarrely no post production is horrific. It was advertised as being broadcast 5:1 on HBO as well which we've never heard. If they could find the master tapes we could have a whole new DTS mix, they could strip the yellow cast from original PAL picture, re-encode it with the latest HD codec. It could look and sound the best it ever will.

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Some amusing reviews of those SD Blu Rays on Amazon!

"What is it with music Blu-Rays. Don't companies understand that the whole point of the format is improved picture quality? A few weeks ago we had a Bee Gees concert that looked like a VHS tape. And here we get the same thing, complete with 4:3 ratio picture just to add insult to injury. The red titles shimmer and pulse just like a bad VHS recording and things stay pretty poor for the duration. I feel totally conned in being sold what is effectively a Mediocre DVD presentation in the Blu-Ray "HD" format. The audio is the only thing that saves this from zero or one star."

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Well yes, people are making the mistake of thinking that because it's on Blu it's gonna be hi def and look like it was shot yesterday. Just like old VHS rips are routinely dumped on DVD by unscrupulous companies, the same thing will happen with Blu ray. But just as great remasters of old material appeared on DVD, the same can happen here.

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