Last HD Movie Watched

[bembol]

Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire HD DVD/UK

HD Video: 10/10
DOLBY TrueHD: 10/10

[Pirate]

12 Monkeys (HD-DVD)
Video: 6.5/10
Audio (DD+): 8/10

[Derb]

Jet Li's Fearless (2006)

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

Watched this on the A2 player. I through in a few titles that glitched on me from the A1. Superman Returns still glitched at the exact same spot it did before.. End of Days, played back flawless with Dolby TrueHD. The worst title I have (gltiches) is Fear & loathing in Las Vegas with DTHD enabled. Havn't tested this one out yet. Some quick pros & cons..

Pro - Sound is slightly more aggressive than the A1 but... read my con
Pro - Same excellent HD DVD PQ as the A1 & 360
Pro - Loading time is 25 seconds
Pro - Can't hear any fan noise
Pro - Slim, lightweight
Pro - To some... the unit is all Black

Con - Build Quality for the disc tray
Con - Still have weak LFE

[plissken99]

Derailed
Video: 9/10
Audio: 8/10

[BoSoxMole]

Christmas Vacation
Video: C+
Audio: B

Accepted
Video: A-
Audio: B+

[BoSoxMole]

Originally Posted by plissken99

Derailed
Video: 9/10
Audio: 8/10

I watched this right after the Hulk (which is the best HDDVD PQ wise IMHO) and I was like "am I watching an SD?"

I have to give it another view.

[Derb]

Lady in the Water (2006)

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

[plissken99]

Originally Posted by BoSoxMole

I watched this right after the Hulk (which is the best HDDVD PQ wise IMHO) and I was like "am I watching an SD?"

I have to give it another view.

The daylight scenes do have an intentional grain to them, but overall it looks good. The night sequences simply pop off the screen, VERY 3D.

[dkny75]

Basic Instinct

Video 9/10
Audio 7/10

[plissken99]

Fearless

Video: 9/10
Audio(Mandarin): 9/10

Coming from a bootleg DVD off Ebay riddled with heavy compression artifacts, this is one hell of a step up. There is a slight softness in some scenes common of Chinese films, but for the most part the image is incredibly sharp and detailed. Sound is dead on as well.

The subtitles are a bit annoying, but thats expected. With Asian movies, there are two options, a literal translation, which while correct reads like badly formed sentences and dumb remarks, thats what we have here. The other is taking the meaning of what their saying and making it smoother and natural sounding, while loosing some of the literal meaning. I much prefer that, but even when they attempt to do that much of the original narrative is lost, unless done right, which is very rare.

Haven't watched the featurette yet, but I'm glad the deleted scene was cut.

[Derb]

The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1 - Disc 1 (2006)

Members Only

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

Join the Club

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

Mayham

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

[plissken99]

The Matador

Video: 9/10
Audio: 9/10


Scary Movie 4

Video 9/10
Audio: 8/10

[bembol]

Casino HD DVD

HD Video: 10/10
Digital Plus: 9/10

[Derb]

The Scorpion King (2002)

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

[bembol]

Black Hawk Down (MPEG-2, Blu-ray)

HD Video: 9/10
Uncompressed PCM: 10/10


Gone in Sixty Seconds (AVC/MPEG-4, Blu-ray)

HD Video: 8/10
Uncompressed PCM: 9/10

Speed (AVC, Blu-ray)

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

[Derb]

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (Blu-Ray)

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

Enemy of the State (1998) (Blu-Ray)

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

[Sehnzeleid]

The Deer Hunter

8-8.5/10 - HD Video (scope haze can be seen at times and sometimes the blacks are grainy)
?/10 - HD Audio

It's tough to gauge the audio, I mean it sounds decent (if a bit dated and called), and you can tell the film's audio hasn't gotten a full blown restoration. Though it might be "reference" to some, it might also be piss-poor to others.

[bembol]

X3: The Last Stand (AVC, Blu-ray)

HD Video: 9/10
dts-HD 6.1: 10/10

[Derb]

Casino (1995)

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

[Derb]

The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1 - Disc 2 (2006)

The Fleshy Part of the Thigh

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

Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request...

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

Live Free or Die

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

Ultraviolet (2006) (Blu-Ray)

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

[plissken99]

Miami Vice
Video 9/10
Audio 9/10

Wowee! I rented the DVD when this came out since I'd never seen it, and it got such mixed reviews, even it was a Michael Mann film. I liked the movie, but it looked like utter crap, an episode of Cops. I picked up the HD-DVD since the movie was good though, and only just got around to watching it. The difference over the DVD was astounding, everything went from muddy to sharp, razor sharp. The intentional grain is there in certain scenes, but now looks cool in contrast to the rest, instead of horrible as on the DVD. A very nice suprise for the new year.

[Derb]

Underworld: Evolution (2006) (Blu-Ray)

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

I'll skip the review, this is the best looking & sounding BD I've seen & heard so far.. A must-own for BD owners.

The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1 - Disc 3 (2006)

Luxury Lounge

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

Johnny Cakes

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

The Ride

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

I hope HBO eventually releases seasons 1-5. The episode The Ride had some flashbacks to a previous season & it looked real good.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio dts - 8/10

Would have sworn this was a VC-1 transfer if I didn't know what 20th Century's plans were. Great PQ all around. The audio left me begging to have a center channel speaker the size of the wall behind my TV, ok not that bad. My only complaint was how weak the dialog was.. scrap that... how poor the audio level was mixed.

[Derb]

Speed (1994) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio dts - 9/10

Pearl Harbor (2001) (Blu-Ray)

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

[Derb]

Silent Hill (2006) (Blu-Ray)

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

[snipsnapsappy]

The Descent (Blu-ray)


BD finally has its killer app. With incredible picture, 6.1 uncompressed PCM, 1080p deleted scenes, almost all the special features in at least 1080i, 2 commentaries, and what is possibly the best in-movie-experience yet, we finally get to see what the format is truly capable of.

I cannot say more positives about the picture. Although, in some of the long wide vista shots, there was some "artifacts/grain" in some of the far corners of the screen, almost every other shot was full of so much detail and color while still looking natural (unlike, say, a pumped up movie like Fast and the Furious). This was by far the most filmlike experience I have had in Home Theater.

However, as I am waiting for the new line of Denon recievers to come out with full HDMI 1.3 capability, I am still only using optical out from the PS3. I do not have the ability to listen to the uncompressed 6.1 PCM soundtrack, but the DD 5.1EX soundtrack was awesome, the atmosphere in the cave was just incredible as well as the bombastic fight scenes and scare sounds. Toggling between the stereo PCM soundtrack and the Dolby definitely whetted my appetite to how good this would sound with full 6.1 uncompressed.

The disc also has seamless branching of the unrated British cut as well as the R rated US cut. The British cut has a much, much, more satisfying ending. If you have only seen the American version of this movie, you have not seen it the way the director prefers. He went on a limb and tested it two ways in America and got a slightly better response for the ending in the US release. However, the UK ending is far and away cooler, more emotionally satisfying, ballsier, and completes the story arc of the movie, the US ending does not.

So on top of all the cool features, we get our first seamless branching HD title.
Kudos to Lionsgate for an incredible disc that truly takes the format where it needs to go.

Sucks to all those people with $1000+ Pioneer Elite and Sony BD players that are not advanced enough to play this disc.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by snipsnapsappy

The Descent (Blu-ray)

Will probably pick this title up whenever it gets released in Canada. Thanks for the review.

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio dts - 9/10

[Derb]

The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1 - Disc 4 (2006)

Moe N' Joe

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

Cold Stones

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

Kaisha

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

Total Recall (1990) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio dts - 9/10

[Derb]

The Breakfast Club (1985)

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

For a flick over 20 years old I had low expectations for PQ. Yes the film does look its age but in a good way. Honestly there isn't much improvement with the color, but this didn't distract me from the video presentation. There are minor specs of film grain in a few places.. Very minor, ya blink, ya miss it. Unlike Field of Dreams on HD, The Breakfast Club doesn't have much video noise. This is the transfers strongpoint in my opinion because blacks are rock solid & it gives most of the films run time that three dimensional look.. No apparent compression artifacts either, none that I could spot. This disc is also a single-layered HD-15. I thought the audio could have been tweaked or re-mixed ..something.. The film is practically all front heavy, (which isn't a bad thing) the DD+ is balanced well throughout but dilaog isn't as crisp or clear as newer films. There is little the track has to offer even at 1.5 Mbps. Not a massive disappointment overall, but it isn't leaps & bounds better than the standard DD track either.

[Derb]

Stir of Echoes (1999) (Blu-Ray)

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

Flightplan (2005) (Blu-Ray)

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

Flightplan is VC-1 & the VBR maxed out at 47.1 mbps!! I believe the average bitrate was in the low 30's.

[dkny75]

Discovery Atlas China: Revealed (HD DVD)

Video 7/10
Audio 7/10

Menus are in MPEG2 but the feature and special features are in AVC.
Video transfer was very inconsistent.

Discovery Atlas Italy: Revealed (HD DVD)

Video 9/10
Audio 7/10

Same codecs as China but the video is absolutely stunning. Not sure why there was such a huge difference between the two.

[Derb]

Watched an hour of Superman Returns on Blu-Ray.

I spotted 2 scenes I think have more noise in the PQ than the HD DVD version. Very minor though. Also encountered an odd glitch. I don't know what the heck happened, but the screen went black for a second, than the PQ came back. While this happened the audio wasn't affected. Searched back, hit play & the scene played back fine..

Curious of how Warner is advertising Blu & what features they have + PQ was the main reason I bought this disc.

Well, first off, they don't advertise Blu-Ray at all. FBI warning, Warner Logo, Film rating, film.

Second thing I noticed, was there is no resume play feature like HD DVD. There is no time elapsed when ya bring up the scene selection pop-up. No bookmark feature, & what I think is the worst in comparison is what I first mentioned. I went into the extra feature menu (btw, no picks, nor time duration of each feature) & viewed the teaser trailer. I pressed the button to bring up the pop-up menu during this & saw "Play Movie" I hit the X (enter) button & the film started from the beginning, not where I left off.

The PQ maybe equal on both formats, but iHD & TrueHD from the HD DVD version blow this BD disc apart!

[dkny75]

Discovery Atlas Brazil: Revealed (HD DVD)

Video 8.5/10
Audio 8/10

Entire disc encoded in VC1.

[plissken99]

xXx Japanese import

Video(Mpeg 4): 8/10
Audio(DTS): 9/10

Scorpion King

Video: 9/10
Audio: 9/10

[SilentBob]

AEON FLUX

Picture Quality: 9.5/10 (so close to reference)
Audio DD+: 8/10

[Derb]

Superman Returns (2006) (Blu-Ray)

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

[Derb]

All the King's Men (2006) (Blu-Ray)

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

Not the most entertaining film I ever have seen, but damn.. I couldn't find a single flaw in the PQ. The film shows off an incredible amount of detail without the slightest hint of noise making the 120m runtime all three dimensional looking. The LPCM track is also flawless, but it isn't the type of flick to throw in to wow your friends/family. Practically all front heavy, dialog is crisp & clear all the way through. The dolby mix isn't that bad, but I found the track sounded acoustically flat & the audible output weak in comparison to the LPCM track.

[Derb]

Transporter 2 (2005) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio dts - 9/10

Originally Posted by Peter Bracke

Colors, too, are intensely saturated, and noticeably artificial. That doesn't help fleshtones much, which are so shiny and orange that most of the actors look like Nintendo characters.

Unfortuately this is sooooo true & can be seen much more so than the dvd version. Aside from this, the PQ throughout reminded me of Paramounts solid MI:3 transfer.

[Derb]

The Deer Hunter (1978)

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

[Derb]

Flight of the Phoenix (2004) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio dts - 8/10

The transfer is inconsistent. Lets see, grain, digital noise, compression artifacts, softness in picture, yada yada. The dts mix is loud, unfortunate they encoded the disc 4.1 Center channel?, we don't need no stupid center channel! Alright not that bad, but it isn't anywhere close to the other channels audible output so you basically need remote in hand to balance the mix yourself.

[Derb]

Monster House (2006) (Blu-Ray)

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