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Miami Vice (2006)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 6/10
The picture quality throughout this disc may look like utter crap, but that is only because of Michael Mann's unique style of direction. Video noise is present during most (if not all) dim light scenes. You can tell it is 99.9% intentional more so in high definition than standard definition. I don't know why Mann takes shots of actors & than later edits video noise around them while backgrounds are crystal HD clear & vise versa, you see the actors crystal HD clear while the backgrounds are riddled with noise. Despite this odd technique in his shots, I didn't find any compression artifacts with the transfer. Colors sometimes come off as pale & there are a few soft spots, but again, this is Mann's final cut & can't really be looked at as a transfer flaw. The film does have some of that three dimensional wow factor during bright light scenes & those scenes are on par with the very best HD transfers.. too bad most of the film is dark light. My biggest complaint about the transfer in general is the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 track. Pretty much all front heavy making good use of the mains but not the center channel nor surrounds. In fact, I could not help but giggle at the 2 or 3 times the surrounds were actually used. Anyway, the center channel is the weakest output I have ever heard. Could be intentional of the film, which if it is the case, Mann.. Ever hear of boom mics? Dialog was so weak, that I actually stopped the HD DVD to check that I had my dialog norm setting on. Yep it was set on, but that didn't help one bit. I know a lot of the speach in the film is whisper quiet but WOW, thank god for subtitles! This is the type of movie that begs to have them set on! Overall, a bad flick, good digital video transfer & a audio track for the deaf.
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