Last HD Movie Watched

[Titleist]

Miami Vice (2006)

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

I'm sure it renders the video accurate to the original source, but some of the grain was a bit excessive, and some of the motion looked a little wonky, I'm sure this is because of the viper HD cams used in photography, but this is a hair under reference, it's just too stylized to tell what's grain and whatnot.

[Derb]

The Ant Bully (2006)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - N/A

[bembol]

V for Vendetta

Picked this up on release, Blind Buy and FINALLY watched it tonight. Loved it!

HD Video: REFERENCE
DOLBY TrueHD: REFERENCE

[Pirate]

Meet The Parents (HD-DVD)
Video: 7/10
Audio (DD+): 7/10

[Derb]

Superman Returns (2006)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - N/A

Superman: The Movie (1978)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

[bembol]

Meet the Parents HD DVD

HD Video: 9/10
DOLBY Plus: 8/10

Smallville (Season Five)

HD Video: 10/10
DOLBY Plus: 9/10

[bembol]

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut HD DVD

HD Video: 9/10
DOLBY Plus: 8/10

[Derb]

Superman II - The Richard Donner Cut (1980)

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

[dkny75]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (UK version)

Picture 10/10
Dolby TruHD 9.5/10

[Derb]

Smallville: Season 5 - Disc 1 (2005/06)

Arrival

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

Mortal

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

Hidden

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

Aqua

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

[plissken99]

The Mummy

Video: 7/10
Audio: 8/10

Mostly unremarkable video wise, there are a few fleeting moments of that 3D look, but they are few. I guess this is technically an older film, but to me it's basically a new release, that said it should look better than this. Audio is good, no notably step up from the DTS track on the DVD, but very nice all the same. Master wise, the Indiana Jones movies had better sources for the DVD release.

[SilentBob]

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut HD DVD

HD Video: 8/10
DOLBY Plus: 8/10

[Pirate]

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (HD-DVD)
Video: 7.5/10
Audio (DD+): 8/10

[BoSoxMole]

Meet the Parents
Video - 7.5/10
Audio - N/A (My optical isn't working for some reason, so I used analog so I can't really vote fairly here.)

[Derb]

Smallville: Season 5 - Disc 2 (2005/06)

Thirst

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

Exposed

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

Splinter

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

Solitude

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

Lexmas

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

[Derb]

Smallville: Season 5 - Disc 3 (2005/06)

Fanatic

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

Lockdown

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

Reckoning

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

[BADBRAD]

A CHRISTMAS STORY

Video: 9

Audio: 8


MIAMI VICE

Video: 7

Audio 8


THE MATADOR

Video: 10

Audio: 9

[Derb]

Smallville: Season 5 - Disc 4 (2005/06)

Vengeance

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

Tomb

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

Cyborg

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

Hypnotic

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

Void

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

[Pirate]

Smallville: Season 5 (HD-DVD)
Episode: Arrival
Video: 9/10
Audio (DD+): 8/10

[bembol]

Splinter from Smallville (Season Five) HD DVD

HD Video: 9/10
DOLBY Plus: 8/10

[Derb]

Smallville: Season 5 - Disc 5 (2005/06)

Fragile

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

Mercy

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

Fade

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

Oracle

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

Vessel

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

[Derb]

Watched again, this time with Dolby TrueHD. Ran into a scene that glitched, searched back a few minutes & resumed the movie & all was fine afterwards.

Superman Returns (2006)

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

[bembol]

The Devil Wears Prada BD

HD Video: 8/10
dts-HD: 9/10

[Derb]

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.

[Pirate]

Miami Vice (HD-DVD)
Video: 9.5/10
Audio (DD+): 9/10

[Derb]

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

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

[Derb]

A Christmas Story (1983)

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

Yeah there are specs of grain & occasional noise throughout & colors on actors faces seem pale + in some spots the PQ is soft but damn this film has never looked better than this latest HD transfer. For a flick 23 years old, there are shots that look like they were filmed yesterday. Practically all the daylight exterior scenes look perfect. I had low expectations of how the film would look given its age so I was surprised to see how much detail presents itself in this transfer. Kudos to Warner for not ruining a classic. The audio will not blow you out of your seats like Superman with TrueHD, but the 1.0 Dolby Digital Plus track is just fine for this type of film. Dialog & music sound alright through the center channel speaker & the audible output is just fine. I doubt a 5.1 mix would help this film any though maybe a 2.0 mix might. Overall, for a low budget flick made in 83, it sure doesn't sound or look it on the HD DVD format.

[snipsnapsappy]

I am watching X3 right now, and it looks really good with incredible amounts of detail and color. However, and I think this is an issue with the AVC encoder, there is tons of what looks like grain all over the image. IT is the same thing I see when I watch AVC encoded 1080p movie trailers. I will get back with more info about other AVC encoded discs when I get them. I can tell you now VC-1 has the ability to make every title look like a direct digital transfer while it seems that AVC makes them all look like film. It also could be an effect of the Super 35 process.

The DTS sound on the disc, however, is incredible.

[snipsnapsappy]

I just watched some scenes from Monster House and the first 3/4's of Ice Age 2 and I was veeeery impressed. The detail, depth, and color was just incredible. I don't know if it has anything to do with 1080pversus 1080i, but so far I am very impressed with Blu-ray. I still prefer VC-1 as a codec, but man the MPEG-2 image on Ice Age is possibly the best image I have ever seen on my new HDTV.

Every disc so far (Talladega, Black Hawk Down, Terminator 2, Monster House, X3, Stealth, and Ice Age) has played flawlessly unlike many of the HD-DVD discs in the HD-D1. Also, so far the PS3 has proven a very capable player with incredible image and sound quality. I need an HDMI reciever to be able to take advantage of the PCM soundtracks, though. Maybe in a few months...