Why Blurays are Grainy ?

[slash1814]

Hi Folks,

After several months of watching Bluray films. I have noticed on common feature in all of them, and that is, Grains !
Before that few points to note:
1. The Menus & Text are cristal clear.
2. Gariny pictures freeze as it is when I press my "TV"s Freeze button,
So grains are not a part of my system (TV or BDP)
3. Animation films like "Cars" / "Monsters Inc." etc are "Crystal clear"

Now, as experts say, grains are a part of the "Original Movie" as it was captured on master film. So, grainy pics are not a flaw, its a part of movie's originality.
Contrary to this, I notice, all DVD couterparts of the same movies have almost no grains (provided U compare only gariny part). In fact some movies have stunning, grainless picture quality (DVD), example :: "Truman Show".

In Blurays, Often, the in-focus part is very clear, say u can see smallest acne pits on face, in close up. But out of focus part is "Grainy" & some contrasts like
a street light in night is surrounded by a "Grainy HALO"...Please check in movies like transformers.

So, opening the discussion forum for all of you..what is your say

 

[Vinod.R]

One of the reasons might be transfer from the original format to its present format, i.e. say from 480i/720i to 1080p or say the audio being upgraded from DD to DTS-MA etc or even from more lower formats to the present 1080p if the movie is an older one.

This kind of upscaling might be one of the basic reasons for the grain noticed in the transfers. The logic that I can think of is that some sort of upscaling technology might be applied and this shows up as grains after the transfer.

People more knowledgeable about such transfers can make more insightful comments on it.

Vinod

 

[Vinod.R]

One of the reasons might be transfer from the original format to its present format, i.e. say from 480i/720i to 1080p or say the audio being upgraded from DD to DTS-MA etc or even from more lower formats to the present 1080p if the movie is an older one.

This kind of upscaling might be one of the basic reasons for the grain noticed in the transfers. The logic that I can think of is that some sort of upscaling technology might be applied and this shows up as grains after the transfer.

People more knowledgeable about such transfers can make more insightful comments on it.

Vinod

 

[just4kix]

Grain in integral part of celluloid film. Grain is attributed to the presence of silver particles on the film. When the film is transferred to digital media, the presence of grain indicates the sharpness of the picture and the originality of the process. Any removal of grain by digital means will result in softness of the picture. If any digital transfer is grainless, it means soft picture and not sharp.

Digital photography does not have grain because there is no film, silver oxide particles, etc. Animation films are digitally created and hence there is absence of grain in such movies. Similarly movies shot using digital cameras directly on digital media/digital tapes will not have grain.

I love grain as part of the blu-ray.

 

[gobble]

Good comments from all.

The last thing i want say is that grains provide much needed fibre. Fibre prevents straining.

Do you experience any strain when watching blue rays? Be happy

Sent from mobile on a crappy keyboard. Pls excuse typos.

 

[Santy]

And there are movies shot on digital camera and noise added intentionally during post production.

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2

 

[joysec]

GRAIN is nothing but noise in a digital format and it has nothing to do with celluloid, rather celluloid is noisefree. If the camerawork is poor, one may experience soft or misty photography but grains are manifestation of noise which is induced during digital encoding. Some movies like Titanic, Terminator, Gladiator,Broken Arrow, Amazing Spiderman has crystal clear vdo whereas Face Off, Avataar etc has grainy VDO. I think its a deliberate move to punish home viewers.

 

[superczar]

The reason has more to do with ingrained preferences.
Grain has been an integral part of analog film and people have an innate preference to equate grain with a big screen experience (in a way similar to the ambient white noise preferred by people on LPs)
However, maintaining natural looking grain when compressing a video to fit on a DVD is almost impossible because video compression relies on smoothening similar looking pixels
With a Blu Ray (and the extra space available), the video mastering model do not need to apply aggressive compression and therefore the graininess appears in its full natural glory

 

[srinivas1015]

The type, texture, and amount of grain also depends on the film stock used.

 

[sdurani]

The finest/smallest detail on film is grain. If you can see it on Blu-ray but not on DVD, then that just means details are missing on DVD.

 

[tuff]

Heh. There was a time when the film to digital transformation was happening in Hollywood,Director's and DP's insisted they add a bit of grain and bloom to the digital footage so it could look like film. Also a lot of CGI work needed to have grain added to it in post production to match the grainy footage it used to get composited on. anyways, useless info.
generally speaking pre 2000 movies will have some grain into it as they were mostly shot on film. digital cameras became good after the 2001 or so.