Rumor has it... (2005)
HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10
Alrighty, first.. none of the preview trailers are included on the HD side of the disc. The familiar 2 minute Warner HD promo is, followed by the rating & than straight to the film. I first watched the 1.85:1 SD side on a standard 480i Panasonic dvd player on a 36" 4:3 CRT tv. The dvd transfer looked real good throughout & the Dolby soundtrack was equally impressive. I was obviously curious to see how the disc looked on my 60" LCD tv & in 1.78:1 HD. I have to say that this HD DVD disc is the most well balanced (video) transfer throughout that I've seen so far from WHV. While the film itself isn't a huge blockbuster with tons of CGI filled effects that make your jaw drop, it is a pretty decent romantic comedy & I would recommend it as a rental. I gave this transfer a perfect video rating because I could not find a single flaw. Most of the entire film is shot in daylight & even all the nighttime shots looked just as impressive. The audio is good & most of it is showcased through the center channel. The surrounds could have been a little more aggressive in my opinion, especially during scenes with music tracks. Not that big of a deal sinse the movie is dialog driven but I felt the audio left some room for improvement hence the rating. After watching the HD side, I flipped the disc to do a quick comparision. This is a real bonus because if you sell away your SD versions after buying the HD ones, you really have nothing to compare. The SD side showed a lot of artifacts, (Keeping in mind I watched this movie first in SD & it looked flawless on the CRT) even though the Toshiba does a remarkable job with the upconversion. You really can't be fooled, 1920x1080 rez SD compared to 1920x1080 rez HD, practically every frame has a noticeable flaw. I first noticed how much more HD looks better than SD on a big screen when I compared
Million Dollar Baby on a standard dvd player 720x480 rez to 1920x1080 rez. Now even with upscaling dvd players on the market that match HD rez... the flaws on SD transfers really show. Rumor has it... is obviously not the best movie on HD, but the video certainly is & it shows.
