To people who truly care about movies, the Criterion Collection needs no introduction. The company's deep library of meticulously produced and packaged DVD titles speaks for itself, specializing in art-house fare like Stranger Than Paradise, Mishima, and Au revoir les enfants as well as lesser-known international, documentary, and cult films.
In "Meeting the Criterion," we detailed the company's plans to outfit its new Manhattan screening room/home theater for high-def video and high-rez audio playback while it waited out the Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD format war. When the war ended, Criterion wasted no time pushing forward with Blu-ray (see "Criterion Goes Blu"). And with some guidance from Sound & Vision, it also moved ahead on installing the new screening room.
When we last checked, technical director Lee Kline, video editor Chris Ramey, and director of DVD development David Phillips were scanning a list of equipment recommendations that S&V had made for them following a visit to Criterion's new Park Avenue South digs. Three guidelines had been laid out for the project: 1) The system had to incorporate the latest advances in consumer technology. 2) It couldn't be crazy expensive. 3) It had to be easy enough to use that any employee could bop by, flip in a disc, and instantly start watching a movie. Basically, those guidelines are the same things that anyone would expect from their custom home theater.
Most installation plans begin by choosing a video display, and this one was no exception. Both Chris and I had caught a presentation by all-purpose video guru Joe Kane at the 2007 CEDIA Expo and had come to the same conclusion: The new Kane-designed Samsung SP-A800B 1080p DLP front projector was a must-have.
As DVD collectors well know, the portion of Criterion's catalog that's devoted to classic black-and-white films is unmatched in its scope and quality. This crew sure takes black-and-white seriously! So, apparently, does Joe, who was screening an HD-DVD of Casablanca when I walked into the Samsung room at CEDIA. Black-and-white material can ruthlessly reveal any problems with a video projector or screen, so it's rare to see products demonstrated at trade shows using classic movie discs. But Joe's confidence in his projector's performance was so strong that he had Casablanca in regular rotation.
To make a long story shorter, Joe and Samsung agreed to provide Criterion with one of the first production samples of the SP-A800B for its installation. And Joe, who's also known in A/V circles as the creator of the Digital Video Essentials test disc, signed on to visit Criterion's headquarters after the installation was finished to calibrate and tweak the projector.
At his recommendation, Criterion acquired a 9-foot-wide (123-inch-diagonal) Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 130 projection screen — yet another product he had a hand in designing. The list of other gear that Criterion selected for its theater includes a Denon AVR-3808CI receiver, an Axiom Epic 80/500 speaker system, an Anchor Bay DVDO VP50 Pro video processor with HD SDI option, and a Sony PlayStation 3 for Blu-ray Disc playback. The whole thing is controlled by a Logitech Harmony 890 remote.
Flash forward to May 2008: I'm sitting in the finished screening room, talking with Lee, Chris, and David and gazing at the beautifully realized space. Criterion president Peter Becker walks in and tells me how pleased the company is with the theater, which has become something of a hub for everyone — a place where ideas and inspirations can be hashed out. But its utility extends far beyond that.
"All we initially wanted was a high-quality consumer-grade lab," says Chris. "We didn't realize that we'd end up with a system that could be used to QC our D5 master tapes."
Aside from the obvious pleasures of having a comfortable, attractive A/V retreat in the center of their office suite, much of the Criterion staff's enthusiasm for the system stems from the Samsung projector's performance. Lee tells me that the SP-A800B's clear, 1080p-resolution picture allows them to "see artifacts that we normally wouldn't see during quality control on our CRT monitor." (A Sony 24-inch BVM-D24E1WU serves as the company's regular display for spot-checking video transfers.)
As we watch a test disc of clips from some of the upcoming Criterion Blu-ray releases, David, Chris, and Lee detail the specific features of the Samsung that allow them to use it as a professional monitor. First and foremost is the projector's SMPTE C color-space preset, which lets it display images with the same color gamut as the Sony CRT monitor — a standard reference used in telecine operations far and wide. It also has spot-on 5,500-K and 6,500-K color-temperature modes, with the 5,500-K preset providing an appropriate look for those vintage black-and-white films. In addition, the Samsung's accurate gamma, linear grayscale, and exceptional brightness uniformity give Lee and his colleagues confidence that the image they're watching is a true representation of the original material.
Along with providing a reliable, accurate, and large screen for viewing master tapes and other finished or near-finished product, Criterion's kick-ass home theater serves as a resource for the company's employees during preproduction of disc releases. David explains that the room has become "a research tool" for viewing all manner of sources — everything from standard-def VHS videocassettes, laserdiscs (the format that Criterion built its reputation on), and DVDs to high-def D5 master tapes. "SD can actually provide a high-quality picture in the right system," he says.
Another piece of gear that has the Criterion folks stoked is the Anchor Bay DVDO VP50 Pro video processor ("an essential link," according to Chris), which helps the wide range of material that the company checks out on a regular basis look good on its 123-inch projection screen. During a demo, Chris shows off the extensive custom adjustments the VP50 provides for each source attached to it, a list that includes 24-, 48-, 60-, and 72-Hz video output; aspect-ratio and overscan control; film, video, animation, and game mode deinterlacing; and a vast array of noise-reduction and picture controls. There's even a time-base corrector to balance old, shaky-looking analog tapes and laserdiscs. But maybe the coolest thing about the VP50 is its Precision HD SDI (Serial Digital Interface) Dual Input Module, which lets video from the D5 tape machines in Criterion's control room to be fed directly into the VP50 without first undergoing any digital-to-analog conversion or processing.
With a screening room this slick, you'd think that Criterion would have gone the extra mile and splurged on an advanced control system to operate everything. But those duties are carried out by the humble Logitech Harmony 890 remote control — a $350 universal model with a backlit color screen and RF capability. And I was duly impressed by how many advanced functions the Harmony remote could tackle during Chris's demo — everything from scanning the projector and processor's advanced menus to operating the PS3 (with a little help from a Nyko Bluewave adapter to translate IR commands into the PS3's Bluetooth protocol).
But what really blew my mind was seeing Chris use the Harmony to remotely operate the D5 tape machines in the control room through a BUF Technology infrared translator. (That box recognizes IR pulses from the Harmony and converts them to the "9-pin" RS-422 VTR remote-control protocol used by professional tape machines.) It was like watching the world's highest-quality and most expensive VCR in action!
Although the crew responsible for planning Criterion's screening room is made up primarily of videophiles, audio doesn't get short shrift in this installation. Along with providing a clean, reliable switch to send video signals to the projector, the Denon AVR-3808CI receiver has an amplifier that pumps 130 watts into each of 7 channels — sufficient juice to fill the 22 x 17-foot room with sound. And it doesn't hurt that the Denon is hooked up to Axiom's Epic 80/500 speaker system — a Sound & Vision Certified & Recommended rig that Criterion seemed particularly bent on acquiring for the theater.
A good number of the company's DVD releases have mono soundtracks. (Yes, it's true: Films with multichannel digital sound are a relatively recent phenomenon.) So, even this budget high-end audio setup might seem like overkill for the Criterion Collection. But when Chris cues up a DVD of Pixar's Cars and skips ahead to a race scene, it's immediately apparent that the system's audio components can deliver their share of clarity, dynamics, and surround-sound zip on the latest Hollywood blockbusters. It's also clear that the Criterion folks like what they're hearing.
It's tough to unseat yourself from a cushy theater-style chair once you've settled in, so Chris continues the demo with a few clips from Bottle Rocket, an upcoming Criterion Blu-ray release that just happens to be my favorite film by director Wes Anderson (Rushmore). The picture looks wonderfully bright and crisp, and the manner in which the Samsung projector renders afternoon sunlight in one of the scenes strikes me as completely realistic. When Lee says that skin tones here look a bit yellow to him — a comment that Chris seems to take some exception with — I'm reminded that I'm dealing with people who critically analyze film-to-video transfers for a living. I thought I was bad; watching movies with these guys must be a blast!
To show off the system's handling of regular DVDs, we screen a few scenes from Criterion's three-disc boxed set of The Complete Monterey Pop Festival (also coming to Blu-ray, as is Gimme Shelter). For a film that was shot with 16mm cameras, Monterey Pop has an impressively clean picture here, with the film grain looking natural as opposed to noisy or enhanced. When we next move on to some laserdiscs, things don't hold up as well; even the Anchor Bay VP50's impressive noise-reduction processing has its limits. But watching a laserdisc once again after all these years really underscores how radically home-video quality has improved in one short decade.
As with any successful remodeling project, watching Criterion's screening room get transformed from a humdrum workspace into a maxed-out, high-end home theater was a thrill — and an inspiration. It was also cool to have a company that we've held in the highest esteem since the old laserdics days tap Sound & Vision directly for advice on what equipment to buy. Criterion invested lots of brainpower into its new screening room, and it managed to get great results on a budget. And although the pleasure is all theirs, the company's efforts should pay off in even better looking and sounding discs the next time you take home a title or two from the Criterion Collection.
• Samsung SP-A800B single-chip 1080p DLP front projector
• Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 130 123-inch-diagonal projection screen
• Anchor Bay DVDO VP50 Pro video processor with HD SDI option
• Axiom Epic 80/500 speaker system
• Sony PlayStation 3 console, for Blu-ray Disc playback
• Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player
• Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi DVD player
• Philips DVP-642 DVD player
• Pioneer DVL-919 laserdisc player
• Toshiba SD-37VSR PAL/NTSC VHS VCR
• Denon AVR-3808CI receiver
• Apple Mac Mini computer
• Logitech Harmony 890 universal remote control
• Tripp Lite HT10DBS and ULTRABLOK428 power conditioners
• Ebtech LLS8 (pro-to-consumer-level) audio line-level shifter
• DVIGear 7-meter HDMI cable
• Blue Jeans Cable speaker cable and audio interconnects
• TV One 1T-SW4X1ARL stereo audio switch
• BUF Technology IR-422 infrared translator
• CB2 A/V equipment carts
The Criterion Collection has announced its first 13 Blu-ray Disc releases. Including classics like The Third Man, The 400 Blows, and Contempt, and more recent movies like Bottle Rocket and The Last Emperor (shown above), the first titles are due in October. Al Griffin talked to Criterion president Peter Becker about the company's Blu-ray plans.
Criterion took its time in announcing its first high-def disc releases. Was this intentional?
We're a small company, we think hard about everything we do, and it took quite a while for this market to shake itself out. But once the smoke cleared, we decided to start addressing the considerable number of customers who have been clamoring for us to get into the HD field.
At what pace do you plan to release films on Blu-ray?
It's going to be more in the realm of one or two a month, rather than the four or five releases per month we're capable of putting out on DVD.
Is there significant value for the average Criterion fan to having films made available in high-def?
Absolutely. There's a luminous quality to real film, and HD resolution captures that. I particularly love black-and-white [films] in HD. They're gorgeous, and that's one of the big secrets of Blu-ray: how good black-and-white movies look.
What sort of extras will we be seeing?
In many cases, the supplemental features will be the same ones as on the DVD. We don't have any more to say now about Seven Samurai than we did when we put out the three-DVD set. One big difference with Blu-ray is that the menu space exists in the movie space. Now there's a pop-up menu, which means our navigation is intruding into the world of film. And we've got very strong feelings about how one ought to behave in a theater! The interior of the movie theater is a sacred space, and we want our pop-up menu treatments to be respectful of that.
Does Criterion plan to use Blu-ray's BD-Live features or Bonus View PIP capability for commentary tracks?
Our idea has always been that the content needs to be well produced and well served. Where the bells and whistles of the medium help us to do that, we'll use them. We're interested in some of the ways Blu-ray offers us to annotate the movies and to update our releases. The online component is very interesting to us, but beyond that, there's nothing that has caused a eureka moment with these first editions.