Got, watched, thoughts,
The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10
The video transfer on this disc is near flawless, no compression artifacts can be found. Detail is sharp throughout & skin tones are more natural looking than the WB promo we've been seeing. Obviously where this disc shines are the car chase scenes. Some have a three dimensional look to them. Overall the look is free of noise & film grain which raises the bar from the SD transfer but still lacks that WoW factor from previous releases from Warner. The Audio is equally impressive. Dialog & surrounds are well balanced throughout.
Pitch Black (2000)
HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10
Unfortunately this is one of the most inconsistent transfers I've seen from Universal. It has a lot of grain in select scenes & while these are not too distracting from the movie itself, this is something that should have been looked at more closely from authors who encoded this disc. Other than film grain, I noticed simular artifacts that we see with SD transfers. I'd say 30% of the video transfer could have been extremely improved, ahh well. Aside from those scenes which make me cringe, everything else shouts out Top Quality HD. I mean there are lots of scenes which really show off the artistic style & color palate used + the CGI never looks phoney. Overall, I was disappointed while watching Pitch Black as the PQ quality isn't consistent throughout. The Audio is aggressive, surrounds & mains boom, but there is one channel missing this quality which just so happens to be the most important.. the center channel output is weak. Other than that flaw, the audio throughout is consistent.
Friday Night Lights (2004)
HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 10/10
Ahh, another WoW factor release. FNL has it all. I didn't have high expectations for this title but if I did, I would have been more than satisfied. Lets see: No grain, No noise, No artifacts, Blacks are rock solid & picture depth & detail + three dimensional PQ raises the bar on every release I've seen so far from the format period. Audio, not reference, but still a very impressive track. Dialog & surrounds are well balanced but never over the top even during those loud stadium filled crowds. All in all, this is one title to really show off what the format is capable of.