Last HD Movie Watched

[Derb]

Originally Posted by plissken99

The Game (HD-DVD)

Video: 6/10
Audio: 9/10

I cannot believe this movie looks like crap again. Someone in charge must really hate this movie, the DVD was a non anamorphic grainy depressing mess, and now this release comes out half assed remastered in HD. Fine detail is rarely good, colors are depressing and bland, the black level is good for the most part but waivers here and there. This is a great little movie that never gets the respect it deserves from studios. All that said, it's still a notable improvement over the DVD, but thats only because the DVD was non anamorphic. I've seen DVD transfers better than this.

Had hopes HD-digest review wasn't accurate. Ah well.. let the HD double-dippin commence eh?

The Good Shepherd (2006) (HD DVD)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

Image was a bit soft & everyone looked like they had a sun-burn. Other than that the PQ remains quite consistent throughout. Dilaog heavy, not much to complain about in the audio department.

District B13 (2004) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10
HD Audio dts - 9/10

The difference in audio tracks is almost night & day. There is very minor film grain which looked intentional. Other than that, I found no flaws & it ranks right up there with the best HD transfers.

Volver (2006) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 9/10
HD Audio LPCM - 10/10

No yellow subtitles. The LPCM track is a hint better than the Dolby one. Dilaog is a bit more crisp but other than that both tracks are a wash. The PQ looks soft in some places & skintones look a bit tweaked towards yellow. However, the colors really pop off the screen & there is lots of detail with no noise & grain.

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Derb

District B13 (2004) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10
HD Audio dts - 9/10

The difference in audio tracks is almost night & day. There is very minor film grain which looked intentional. Other than that, I found no flaws & it ranks right up there with the best HD transfers.

Magnolia Home Entertainment's transfer, meanwhile, is another matter. It's an MPEG2 encode, and the source seems to have been a 1080i master. Like Lethal Weapon, Full Metal Jacket and a handful of other Warner releases, it's "bobbed", resulting in jagged diagonal lines and some noticeable moiré. There's also a fair amount of edge enhancement on display, and the level of detail is decidedly inconsistent. Some shots are razor-sharp, others look like upconverted standard definition. It's nice to see one of the smaller players getting involved with HD, but I hope they're able to step up their game, because transfers like this go some way towards negating the whole point of a format that's supposed to be all about delivering optimal image quality in the first place.

[Derb]

dvdtalk,

In terms of video quality, Magnolia does not disappoint. "District B13" ranks right up there with the best. It isn't quite as good as "Crank," but it is so close it is hard to tell. The only reason that I can't give this a perfect 5 out of 5 is because of just a few times where there is a little high contrast, and maybe a splash of too much noise once and a while. Other then that, the skin tones are near perfect, the blacks are great, and detail is incredible. I honestly wasn't expecting a lot considering how this almost snuck past us with its release, but was more then pleasantly surprised.

digitalaudiovideo,

The Blu-ray is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and encoded at 1080p. The transfer is a hell of a lot better than I thought it would be. I guess I'm a France hater because I didn't think their budgets were high enough to deliver such a technically impressive film. Colors are beautiful, with blues and greens standing out especially. Black detail is spot-on.

[SilentBob]

ROCKY BALBOA Blu-ray

VIDEO: 9.5/10
AUDIO(Dolby 5.1): 9/10

[Vonner]

The Departed (HD-DVD)

A/V =

Movie =

[Pirate]

The Good Shepherd (HD-DVD)
Film: 8/10
Video (VC-1): 8.5/10
Audio (DD+): 8/10

[bembol]

Payback HD DVD

MPEG4 AVC: 9/10
DOLBY Digital Plus: 8/10

[Derb]

King Arthur: Director's Cut (2004) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 10/10

[ganthc]

Chicago (Blu-ray)

HD Video: 8/10
HD LPCM: 10/10

Glory Road (Blu-ray)

HD Video: 9/10
HD LPCM: 10/10

Chicago was good, but not a Best Picture good. Two Towers, or The Pianist were better movies, IMHO. Glory Road was a nice inspirational movie. Not a bad transfer either.

[BADBRAD]

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (HD DVD)
Film 10/10
Video 9.5/10
Audio 10/10

THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (HD DVD)
Film 9/10
Video 9/10
Audio 9/10

OUT OF SIGHT (HD DVD)
Film 10+/10
Video 10/10
Audio 10/10

[bembol]

Sadly, I agree with High-Def Digest's review on...

THE GAME HD DVD

VC-1: 7.0/10 (my first "low" rating, I think)
DOLBY Digital Plus: 8.0/10


School for Scoundrels HD DVD

MPEG-4/AVC: 8/10
DOLBY TrueHD: 8/10

[Derb]

G.I. Jane (1997) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 10/10

Identity (2003) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - Reference

[zepherman]

The Game HD DVD

Film 10/10
Video 8/10
Audio 7.5/10

Personally I was pleasantly surprised with the PQ And while it may not be ultimate demo material for PQ, it "TOTALLY" smokes my old standard (non anamorphic) DVD. I thought the video presentation on the HD DVD was pretty darn good overall. Certain scenes were a tad soft but nothing distracting (at least not to me), and grain was very far and few. So I have to say, I'm very happy I got it!


Seth

[Derb]

Destiny's Child: Live in Atlanta (2006) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10
HD Audio LPCM - 10/10

[plissken99]

Smokin Aces (HD-DVD)

Video: 10/10
Audio: 8/10

And not one skip!

[Sehnzeleid]

The Jerk (1979) (HD DVD)

Video: 6.5/10
Audio: 7/10

A rather flat presentation, with a fair amount of print speckling, but good coloration. Though I think some kinda filtering was applied, I don't see any noticeable edge enhancement, but the image still looks frequently artificially "crispy" and it could be imagination but during some camera pans details blur together a little. Disappointing I must say,and I remember the UniversalHD airing being more visually pleasing, but that could be a false perception.

1980's Caddyshack was shot and processed using the same equipment and Warner's HD DVD of that film has much more dimensionality and natural "pop" to the image than this transfer. If Caddyshack didn't look as good as it does, I'd probably give The Jerk a higher rating, but as it stands I think Universal probably could have done more. It's almost like the transfer never improves from the (common for the time) soft and speckled superimposed beginning credits.

Otherwise, no compression-related problems look to exist.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (HD DVD)

Video: 8/10
Audio: 9/10

Hard transfer to judge, the same seems intentionally filtered and softened in many places so the image frequently doesn't scream HD. Also I found it incredibly annoying that the fleshtones almost always looked a burnt reddish/orange/peach, also most likely intentional by the filmmaker. Whenever I see this color treatment in a film, I find it so distracting I can barely focus on anything else.

Though the Dolby Plus 5.1 track is quite nice, appropriately punchy at times with some nice flourishes of surround activity.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by Sehnzeleid

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (HD DVD)

Video: 8/10
Audio: 9/10

Hard transfer to judge, the same seems intentionally filtered and softened in many places so the image frequently doesn't scream HD. Also I found it incredibly annoying that the fleshtones almost always looked a burnt reddish/orange/peach, also most likely intentional by the filmmaker. Whenever I see this color treatment in a film, I find it so distracting I can barely focus on anything else.

Though the Dolby Plus 5.1 track is quite nice, appropriately punchy at times with some nice flourishes of surround activity.

Thanks for the review, I do remember seeing this in 1080i HD when I had Satt & it did look much improved over the dvd release.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10

Not much of an improvement over the recent 2-disc dvd release. I know its old school, but it seems like no re-tooling was done at all. I noticed a short scene which carried over the same color issues. There is minor grain & occasionally the picture looks soft. That said, for a 32 year old flick, I think this is the best picture that we will see from this film unless double-dips become a HD norm. Doubt it. The audio is presented in a nice 1CH 192kbps just like the standard dvd. One thing I like about this track is its consistency throughout & one thing I loath is the incredible low audible output it is mixed at. Overall, exterior shots are the highlight of this HD transfer & noise is almost non-existent. Audio is well.. standard & while it doesn't give your HT speakers a workout, I found dialog crisp & clear throughout. Like some other catalog HD titles, (The Deer Hunter, The Sting) I can't recommend this disc if you already own the latest dvd incarnation.

[plissken99]

Deja Vu (Blu Ray)

Video: 9.5/10
Audio(DD): 8.5/10

[dugpa]

Deja Vu (Blu Ray)

Video: 9/10
Audio LPCM: 8/10

Another good disc from Buena Vista. This one comes close to reference quality. Typical action film sound design.


The Queen (Blu Ray)

Video: 8/10
Audio LPCM: 9/10

Not bad, but I noticed some compression issues on backgrounds, which popped it down to a 8 in the video department. On the other hand, for a mostly talking film the sound is very nice. Good use of background noises, which are crystal clear and realistic.

Night at the Museum (Blu Ray)

Video: 8/10
Audio DTS: 8/10

A solid effort from Fox. A few minor compression problems here and there, but nothing too major.

[BoSoxMole]

Deja Vu
Video: A
Audio: A-

Planet Earth (BR)
Video: A
Audio: B+

[Vonner]

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (HD-DVD)

[Derb]

Warriors of Heaven and Earth (2003) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Incubus: Alive at Red Rocks (2004) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 9/10
HD Audio LPCM - 10/10

[bembol]

Planet Earth HD DVD

VC-1: 10/10
DOLBY Digital: 9/10

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by bembol

Planet Earth HD DVD

DOLBY Digital Plus: 9/10

Isn't it just standard DD on all 3 formats?

[bembol]

My bad...just used to it.

[bembol]

DreamGirls HD DVD

VC-1: REFERENCE!
DOLBY Digital Plus: 9/10 (can't believe this type of Film didn't get DOLBY TrueHD )

[dugpa]

Dreamgirls (HD-DVD)

Video: 9/10
Audio DD+: 8/10

Paramount continues to get it right with their new releases. This one is near reference quality. Too bad they don't do TrueHD for audio. Honestly, I was expecting more from the DD+ track, especially compared to the theatrical sound.

[ganthc]

Goal! The Dream Begins (Blu-ray)

HD Video: 10/10
HD LPCM: 10/10

Very good, almost reference quality. I would have liked the crowd noises to be more immersive, but that's just being picky