Those who were influenced by Robert Harris‘s rip-job of Universal Home Video’s recently released Spartacus Bluray may be surprised by DVD Beaver’s half-rave and half-pan by Gary W. Tooze.

On one hand he calls the higher resolution “staggeringly sharper, [which] has swept away any reservation this reviewer had. It looks that good. Is it a digital smoke and mirrors? Probably, but I am indifferent at present. I don’t have [Harris’s] discerning eyes as to readily dismiss. You may make up your own mind.

And on the other he acknowledges that “people are speaking out against this title making a solid point that the majors won’t get the point unless we are vehement in our dismissal. I believe they are right. Our recommendation is to own the Criterion DVD until this title is transferred correctly in the new format.”

A week ago HE’s Moises Chiullan wrote the following: “There’s so much visible de-graining [on this Spartacus Bluray) that it’s like Universal added a ‘botoxify’ button to the machines that do their masters. The Blu-ray horror show I’d compare it to the most is Fox’s Patton, which suffers from similar digital plastic surgery. There’s a shot here and there that looks…all right, I suppose, but this is a movie that should transfix you on this format, not make you squint or shrink back.”