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The HD Movie thread

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Made the plunge into Blu-Ray this week and picked up a few movies.

I picked up

Cars
Ratatoullie
Meet the Robinsons (a really good movie, actually)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Ocean's set (Ocean's 11, 12 and 13)
Knight's Tale
Pan's Labyrinth
Simpsons Movie
Big Fish
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Harry Potter: Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix

I have watched Simpson and Knight's Tale and am pretty impressed with the clarity above DVD. I am dying to see Pan's Labyrinth, but my wife wants to watch it with me. The most awesome thing to come out of this is that my 5 year-old has become an AV snob. He will only watch Cars on Blu-Ray and gets angry if we try and have him watch his DVD copy.
 
Greatness Gone said:
Was watching Lost earlier today, and a particular shot of Sawyer's face in HD made me want to cream my pants.
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I wish you bastards would stop teasing me with your Lost Season 3 impressions!

:D

I need my HD freckles!
 
I saw Royal Space Force on Sunday night. Not too impressed with the PQ or the movie itself. Then again, I've never seen the dvd so I don't know if it was a big step up or not. It just didn't really seem that impressive aside from vivid colors in parts, plus the movie just meandered and I didn't find the plot or characters interesting.

Pretty disappointing seeing it after Paprika, which looked spectacular. I'm expecting to be disappointed by Shoot 'em up, based on what some folks are saying about the movie. :(
 
Not a movie but finally Shakira's Oral Fixation Tour Blu-ray arrived.

PQ is STUNNING. I knew it was rated 5/5 but even in scenes where digital photography should really struggle this remains immaculate. AVC encoded at peak of 30mbps.

This is hands down one of the best looking discs I have ever seen. Hopefully Sony-BMG keeps up this quality.

Only disappointing thing is the audio, only 5.1 uncompressed. Also some of the extra's are shitty SD.
 
I've been going through the Planet Earth documentary on HD-DVD and although I'm not able to add anything that hasn't already been said, I thought I'd reiterate how well done this is. I've seen animals I didn't know existed, and between the caves and deserts episodes I watched last night there were some amazing visuals. The silk worm, the snake catching bats in mid-air, the eagles/hawks catching bats in mid-air, the penguins raising eggs, it's all been one great shot after another. What about the bird mating dances? I can't wait to see what the last two discs contain.


edit: avaya, although I'm not a Shakira fan, I hope discs like that sell well. With the ability for uncompressed audio and the video fidelity concerts really pop at home. I have the NiN HD-DVD and watching it reminds me of seeing that show live. It is a very engaging experience in HD and I hope more artists take advantage of the medium.
 
VanMardigan said:
The Blu Ray for Shakira is out? Netflix only has the dvd. :(
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Been out for ages in the US, since middle of December.

Adding to what Dj_tet said I do hope these music discs sell well, they are amazing in HD.
 
Just picked up/watched the Rock Blu-ray. Awesome transfer. It's as clear as you can get. Though the source is not remastered as you can see dirt specks in the film. It's more apparent on the clear sky shots. There is film grain but it seems intentional, though not over the top as 300.

Anyways, definitely recommend it for any Connery fans. :D
 
Just saw Dune HD DVD.......................WTF was that??? What the hell was going on??

The PQ was a mixed bag. Pretty sharp in some scenes, way too soft in others. Plus a lot of the effects look pretty terrible (lol at the Tron-like shield scene). There were definitely scenes where you could see a ton of detail on the costumes and set. The audio was fine.
 
VanMardigan said:
I saw Royal Space Force on Sunday night. Not too impressed with the PQ or the movie itself. Then again, I've never seen the dvd so I don't know if it was a big step up or not. It just didn't really seem that impressive aside from vivid colors in parts, plus the movie just meandered and I didn't find the plot or characters interesting.

Pretty disappointing seeing it after Paprika, which looked spectacular. I'm expecting to be disappointed by Shoot 'em up, based on what some folks are saying about the movie. :(
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Exact opposite from my impressions. Having watched the movie over ten years ago on VHS the Blu-Ray is a revelation despite the age of film. The movie itself is wonderful and is in my opinion a lovely example of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat as well as a poignant and sombre view of humanity as a whole.

Also, as in comparison to Paprika I much prefer the video quality on Royal Space Force because despite it's faults the hand painted art is superior to the digitally rendered Paprika and simply looks sharper and more alive.
 
VanMardigan said:
Just saw Dune HD DVD.......................WTF was that??? What the hell was going on??

The PQ was a mixed bag. Pretty sharp in some scenes, way too soft in others. Plus a lot of the effects look pretty terrible (lol at the Tron-like shield scene). There were definitely scenes where you could see a ton of detail on the costumes and set. The audio was fine.
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Well, it's a David Lynch movie :lol

Haven't seen it for a while, but that movie stroke me when I was a kid. I own it on HD DVD but haven't looked at it yet.

Take a look at Lost Highway if you somehow want to know more about his directing :lol
 
Watched Apocalypto last night. Excellent movie but how did they manage to get an R rating? I didn't have qualms about the brutality myself as it wasn't gratuitous (except perhaps for the Jaguar scene) but I wouldn't be able to give it an unqualified recommendation to someone with "mainstream" sensibilities. Which means I whole-heartedly recommend it to any and all Gaffers ;)
 
yeah, Apocalypto is pretty brutal, just like Passion of the Christ.

On another note, I saw Balls of Fury last night. I had heard some bad stuff about it, but it was funny. Looked decent, sounded ok. Not a bad comedy at all. I haven't checked out any of the HD DVD special features, though. I think there's some web enabled stuff on it, since the cookie loading screen came up.
 
I saw Superbad on HD on demand, and I gotta say-- it's not as good as disc (unless this was just a bad transfer). Yes, better than SDTV, but still soft and not striking.

Movie was OK. Not great, but worth a watch.
 
Watched Ratatouille this past weekend, and aside from the brilliant quality of the film itself the disc was stupendous- the extras and the overall quality are just fantastic. Our Friend the Rat is terrific.:lol
 
Just finished watching 'Worlds fastest Indian' on sky movies HD. I'd meant to watch it several times before but just never bothered.

wow, what a great film. Nothing really much happens, but its just handled really well, especially all the characters he meets and affects on his trip across the US.
 
mrklaw said:
Just finished watching 'Worlds fastest Indian' on sky movies HD. I'd meant to watch it several times before but just never bothered.

wow, what a great film. Nothing really much happens, but its just handled really well, especially all the characters he meets and affects on his trip across the US.
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I loved that movie. For a few solid weeks I was planning on going to the salt flats to break his record. :lol
 
Quick question, I saw somewhere that the HD shows I'm getting from Comcast cable are actually worse in quality than upscaled DVDs. Is this true? I don't plan on moving to Blu-ray until I pay off my credit card debt and get a PS3, but now I'm feeling ripped off for paying $80/month for my HD digital cable.
 
reggieandTFE said:
Quick question, I saw somewhere that the HD shows I'm getting from Comcast cable are actually worse in quality than upscaled DVDs. Is this true? I don't plan on moving to Blu-ray until I pay off my credit card debt and get a PS3, but now I'm feeling ripped off for paying $80/month for my HD digital cable.
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I would say that it depends on the upscaler.
A good upscaler can definitely beat alot of the broadcast "hd" product.
But hd cable is very much better than standard and definitely worth the difference.
 
Can I just ask if Predator will come on Blu-ray any time soon? I've been meaning to pick the DVD up but since I've got a PS3 I thought why not just go with BR.
 
Just recieved my USA copies of The Mummy HD-DVD and Pirates of the Caribbean 2 BD (1 and 2 are region free). Which I skimmed through fast, looks to have amazing IQ.

Cheap as shit with the strong euro, two movies for the price of 1 here :D
 
Just watched Shoot Em Up on BluRay.

Hadnt seen it before, it was so hilariously insane. Loved it.

It looked stunning though, absolutely fantastic amount of detail and colour.
 
Saw Hot Rod last night. Nice and sharp, and obviously from a pristine source since the movie is new. I don't know how I felt about the movie, since it was funny, but had too many jokes that just fell flat and felt like they shoudl've been outtakes. Plus, adam lacked genuineness, which is where stuff like Napoleon Dynamite succeeded.
 
OokieSpookie said:
I would say that it depends on the upscaler.
A good upscaler can definitely beat alot of the broadcast "hd" product..
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What?

I mean I get that a lot of broadcasters compress signals, but upscalers, even pro-grade upscalers, can't add detail that isn't there to begin with. I'm not sure what you mean - overall IQ? Or detail?
 
Watched Ocean's Thirteen on HD DVD yesterday. What a strange transfer. So hot and orange. I felt like my TV calibration was all messed up.

Still, a pretty good movie though.
 
captive said:
Can anyone with a capture card get me a nice screenie from Ratatouille. Its that scene where Linguini gives Remy the red and white checkered cloth full of cheese and grapes then Remy unfolds it and sits on his back against the wall.
Would be much appreciated.
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Anyone? its at about 51 minutes into the movie.

Just watched ratatouille again cause my niece is over. I have yet to find anything about the movie i dont like.

TME said:
Watched Ocean's Thirteen on HD DVD yesterday. What a strange transfer. So hot and orange. I felt like my TV calibration was all messed up.

Still, a pretty good movie though.
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You're right about the red. The red push in that movie was intense.
 
robertsan21 said:
guys when is Lord of the rings, indiana jones,starwars boxsets coming out on bluray?
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*Paging Manabyte* *Paging Manabyte*

OR you could go look in the other HD thread.

Borghe said:
se... I agree with you on the transfer. A good HD transfer but nothing to even say "so this is HD, huh?"
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You do know you're agree with him when he said the transfer he saw was an on demand hd movie right?

I have to completly disagree, superbad BRD is a very very good transfer.
 
Ignatz Mouse said:
I saw Superbad on HD on demand, and I gotta say-- it's not as good as disc (unless this was just a bad transfer). Yes, better than SDTV, but still soft and not striking.

Movie was OK. Not great, but worth a watch.
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se... I agree with you on the transfer. A good HD transfer but nothing to even say "so this is HD, huh?"

That's where my agreement ends though. Funniest movie I've seen in years. and I've seen them all.

But yeah, about the only thing to justify me picking this up on BRD is that I don't buy movies on DVD anymore. Otherwise this could have completely been a DVD purchase.
 
borghe said:
se... I agree with you on the transfer. A good HD transfer but nothing to even say "so this is HD, huh?"

That's where my agreement ends though. Funniest movie I've seen in years. and I've seen them all.

But yeah, about the only thing to justify me picking this up on BRD is that I don't buy movies on DVD anymore. Otherwise this could have completely been a DVD purchase.
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cloverfield is really going to test my mettle on that one. I also stopped buying DVDs, but that just isn't going to benefit from HD, but I will have to buy it on bluray (assuming Paramount actually release it on bluray...)
 
Does anyone know a good site that lists the BluRay titles that are available outside of the US, but not here?

Be it titles that are HD-DVD-only in the US, or simply haven't made it here yet? I'm thinking about ordering some imports.




Basically, I'm looking for:

* good movies that are out only in Asia (since its the same 'region) ... obviously, titles with English subtitles are helpful :p

* region-free releases in Europe and other markets, that aren't available in the US.
 
I was all set to watch Sunshine Blu Ray and it never booted up on Ps3. Turns out the disc had a tiny crack at the top. :(

It was netflix, so I have no idea when I can get it again.
 
Man, I just watched Reign Over Me for the first time... fucking awesome movie. The PQ wasn't great but it didn't matter, beautiful film. Funny and moving - that's a difficult combination to pull off. Shadow of the Colossus looked like ass in the footage but it was nice to see it had such a significant role.

If anyone hasn't seen the film, pick it up on Blu-Ray for sure.
 
Well, just got done with a BD import binge :)





UK - Pan's Labyrinth - While this is available here, the UK encode has better video. First of all, the US version has MAJOR DNR (digital noise/grain reduction). Beyond the UK version keeping the integrity of the film grain, it also has a higher bit-rate encode (30something Mb/s iirc). Unfortunately, it only has a DD+ 5.1 soundtrack, unlike the US DTS-MA 7.1 soundtrack. Can't have everything I guess :p

Germany - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
12 Monkeys

Norway - Children of Men
 
Onix said:
Well, just got done with a BD import binge :)
UK - Pan's Labyrinth - While this is available here, the UK encode has better video. First of all, the US version has MAJOR DNR (digital noise/grain reduction). Beyond the UK version keeping the integrity of the film grain, it also has a higher bit-rate encode (30something Mb/s iirc). Unfortunately, it only has a DD+ 5.1 soundtrack, unlike the US DTS-MA 7.1 soundtrack. Can't have everything I guess :p
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I saw the screen caps of that. It looks really horrid with actors having this weird waxy skin texture.

Because of complaints from Wallmart Joe type HD buyers, more studios seem to be using excessive noise reduction on certain HD titles.
 
broadwayrock said:
I saw the screen caps of that. It looks really horrid with actors having this weird waxy skin texture.

Because of complaints from Wallmart Joe type HD buyers, more studios seem to be using excessive noise reduction on certain HD titles.
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Yeah, its a sad state of affairs. Its appears noise/grain reduction is turning into this generation's edge enhancement :p It's 2001 all over again.





I'll probably end up renting the US version to compare at some time.
 
ManaByte said:
It may only be 4.0 DTSMA, but DAMN does it sound awesome.
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The movie doesn't have much in the way of effects, etc ... and is pretty heavily music oriented. With that in mind, I'm not surprised.

4.0 and 5.0 are actually quite popular for multi-channel music. Sounds like the engineer involved actually knew what the fuck he was doing ... and was aiming for sound quality.



Might have to pick this up!
 
karasu said:
I just watched the Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut on Blu-Ray. The Picture quality was supreme.
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Yea, I watched it myself not too long ago, even more surprising is that it's a 3.5 hour MPEG-2 encode. Very impressive stuff.
 
Onix said:
The movie doesn't have much in the way of effects, etc ... and is pretty heavily music oriented. With that in mind, I'm not surprised.

4.0 and 5.0 are actually quite popular for multi-channel music. Sounds like the engineer involved actually knew what the fuck he was doing ... and was aiming for sound quality.



Might have to pick this up!
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Yea the whole reason to crank it is Danny Elfman's soundtrack; however even with the focus on the music the audio is perfectly clear throughout all the dialog. But the soundtrack sounds so good on the disc. I had to look at my receiver a few times to make sure it was really only 4.0 and not 5.1.
 
ManaByte said:
Just finished watching Edward Scissorhands on BRD. It may only be 4.0 DTSMA, but DAMN does it sound awesome.
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It started of pretty crappy PQ wise with the storytelling scene, but immediately after that the movie looked just great.
 
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