[necropimp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Dark Knight PQ varies. The imax scenes are spectacular, however the non imax scenes have been hevaily processed (DNR, and image shapening bieng extremely evident). However this may of been the intent (its apparently what it looked like in imax), it however is not how it looked in a normal cinema.

yeah the DNR and EE on the non-imax sequences were part of the whole 35mm to IMAX process

the best way to handle the transfer would have been instead of using an IMAX print for the whole movie use the IMAX print for the scenes shot in IMAX and a normal 35mm print for the rest of the movie

but they didn't

 

[wakeride74]

The DNR in Dark Knight was not all that bad, if anything the EE/halos were much worse but I still think it is a pretty excellent looking transfer and the tampering that has been done to it is not much of a distraction from the overall quality of the image. I think because this was such a highly anticipated title that people expected a flawless transfer without any DNR or EE.... I guess you can only expect so much from Warner

I put on The Incredible Hulk last night for a bit, man I forgot what an awesome audio track that has, the PQ is no slouch either. That scene with the caves, lightning, and rain storm is just stunning.

 

[Oteil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakeride74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The DNR in Dark Knight was not all that bad, if anything the EE/halos were much worse but I still think it is a pretty excellent looking transfer and the tampering that has been done to it is not much of a distraction from the overall quality of the image.

I have to agree, unless your are watching it on a 12 ft. screen I don't think you are going to notice much unless you are looking for it. It looks great on my 58in. plasma. I am pretty picky on picture quality and it seems someone always complains about something wrong with the transfer. I mean there are plenty on blu rays where the picture is substandard but frankly this is not one of them.

 

[milkweg]

Guess I may be the only one but I found Dark KNight boring. It's supposed to be a freaking Superheroe movie and Nolan tried to make it too "deep". If I want "deep" I'll watch a movie about real life and not the caped crusader. I'm not a fan of Superheroe movies using real actors anyway and would rather see them as a feature length cartoon, as they are meant to be. I like Nolan's Memento a lot though and have collectors edition on DVD.

 

[Suntory_Times]

Quote:

Originally Posted by necropimp /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah the DNR and EE on the non-imax sequences were part of the whole 35mm to IMAX process the best way to handle the transfer would have been instead of using an IMAX print for the whole movie use the IMAX print for the scenes shot in IMAX and a normal 35mm print for the rest of the movie but they didn't

Yeah, they should have just used a 35mm print and then used the imax print (preferably giving you to watch the entire film scoped as it was in theatres). I don't understand why a film as new as this would need any DNR or EE applies as the film stock is not damaged (I don't remember transformers in Imax bieng 'butchered' like the dark knights 35mm scenes where).


Quote:

Originally Posted by wakeride74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I put on The Incredible Hulk last night for a bit, man I forgot what an awesome audio track that has, the PQ is no slouch either. That scene with the caves, lightning, and rain storm is just stunning.

The Increidble Hulk is a blu done perfectly in my opinion and has reference audio and video, some good special features and a great summer bluckbustrer film. Hopefully more and more releases will be as good as this.



Just watched The Spirit last night, the film is nothing special but it isn't as terrible as everyone seems to have declared it (there is a fair amount of silly fun to be had, though the constant naration gets tired very quickly).

The Spirit:
Movie: 2.5/5
PQ: 4/5
AQ: 4/5
Special Features: Didn't watch

I'll start uploading some pics sonner or later, but for the time bieng my camera is out of batteries.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_mocok /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know which version I got my My Dark Knight BD copy is excellent, especially in the beginning of the movie. Also notice that the movie switched between full screen to letterbox. I forgot about the whole picture quality thing in the middle of the movie because the movie is so good.

Every blu has the same video transfer for this film. The begining is an imax scene which is spectacular, its the non imax scenes (the ones in 2:35:1 aspect ratio) that are the dissapointment. The Imax scenes in my opinion are reference quality, the others are very dissapointing.

 

[vagarach]

A bit OT, but I just watched The Fall, and what a movie it is. The imagery is sheer brilliance, every shot utterly gorgeous. The same mad genius that made The Cell such a visually interesting movie is in full force here!

It's eye candy wrapped in a rather paper-thin storyline, but in keeping with this thread is a great movie with which to show off a home theatre system. Some moments were very touching however, so there is indeed genuine effort to tell a story (rather than compose 2 hours of pretty pictures).

Worth owning!

 

[dj_mocok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif Every blu has the same video transfer for this film. The begining is an imax scene which is spectacular, its the non imax scenes (the ones in 2:35:1 aspect ratio) that are the dissapointment. The Imax scenes in my opinion are reference quality, the others are very dissapointing.

Ha, maybe that's why I also get confused when people say Dark Knight's PQ isn't that good. Because I always remember the early part of the movie (when they rob the bank) is very good. I forget about PQ as the movie progresses, maybe that's why I didn't notice the subpar quality of the 2.35:1 one.

 

[wakeride74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_mocok /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ha, maybe that's why I also get confused when people say Dark Knight's PQ isn't that good. Because I always remember the early part of the movie (when they rob the bank) is very good. I forget about PQ as the movie progresses, maybe that's why I didn't notice the subpar quality of the 2.35:1 one.

I think that's why there was a fair amount of mixed opinions on this title. I mean almost all of the aerial shots were imax and all of the action scenes were imax so most any portion of the film you would select as a "demo" scene would be impressive. I still feel the complaints on DNR were a bit celebrated on this film and the EE with the distracting ringing was more of an issue for me on the non-imax portions.

vagarach - Glad to hear you liked it! I've read some wild things about the amount of time and travel put into that film for those locations. It's a shame that it was peppered with so much goofy dialogue. Even without the location shots and beautiful imagery the film is worth owning for the little girl's performance alone.

Suntory_Times - Thanks for the input, I may add that to queue just to give it a look. Looking forward to some pics and additional recommendations.

*edit - I just finished watching Pan's Labyrinth which I had never seen before, very cool movie but a wreck of a transfer. Black levels were looked more like charcoal and the DNR filer was on hard core

 

[Quaddy]

amazing grabs on first post here, i sure wish my setup was that clear and gorgeous looking

just received my first blu ray player yesterday, slot loading samsung BD-4600

very impressed with it, especially the amazingly fast startup time, its like a normal dvd player in that regard, it blows away my tosh EP30 HD DVD which is as slow as a snail.

i am watching i am legend now on blu ray and its great, but the TV is a budget range LCD really, so i can only aspire to the images on the first page.

anyway, i look forward to getting some more BR titles to go through in the future, i think 2001 is next on my list

 

[necropimp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakeride74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif *edit - I just finished watching Pan's Labyrinth which I had never seen before, very cool movie but a wreck of a transfer. Black levels were looked more like charcoal and the DNR filer was on hard core

pan's labyrinth is a sad situation...

US release has too much DNR but the best audio (7.1ch DTS-HD MA)
UK release has DNR free video but lossy audio (5.1ch DD)

and of course no chance of any US re-release of the film having 7.1ch audio... when new line was handling their own bluray releases EVERYTHING got a 7.1ch DTS-HD MA track... when warner took over they continued their "some movies get lossy audio" policy with new line discs

warner is the worst bluray studio for audio they still have not made it a standard policy to give every bluray lossless audio (but at least they decided to go lossless for all catalog releases not too long ago) and they have yet to do a 7.1ch track

on the subject of audio i'm tired of movies that originally had mono or stereo tracks either not having the original mix at all or having it as a lossy encoded track buried in the languages menu as if including the original mix was an afterthought especially when the new surround mix is poorly done or worst case scenario they ran the original track through some kind of pseudo surround processing and encoded the output as the new 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1ch mix (i can't point to specific examples but i remember hearing a few (on DVD) that sounded like it was done this way)

 

[wakeride74]

Just a heads up for anyone that may not already know:

Braveheart & Gladiator - Sept. 1

These titles would have to look pretty bad to keep me away.

Quaddy - that is one sexy looking player! I feel your pain on the TV... I had a 52" Sony XBR3 which I thought was decent. I started having issues with it (clouds, flashlights, etc.) and contacted the place I bought it from (extended warranty service) who came out and took it away. It needed a new panel so they were going to replace the whole TV with an XBR6. I said no thanks, took the store credit and bought the 58" Pany plasma. I wanted the Kuro Elite but it was 2x as much for the 60". Long story short the upgrade was night and day, I was stunned at how much better my bd movies looked on a proper display. Colors, depth, detail, motion, and of course those nice inky blacks. A few of the Samy LCD's were impressive too but I found the off axis viewing and color blooming just too distracting to live with.

necropimp - Totally agree, I'm not sure why they can't just include the mono track as well. I was bothered by that with the HD-DVD release of American Werewolf in London. As far as titles receiving different treatment from different studios I am all about owning the best version available so I import titles that I like if they are an upgrade. UK version of T2, Total Recall, AUS release of The Descent, even the JP release of Sleepy Hollow - all superior to the crap that we got in the US.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Nice, I will have to pick up Gladiator, it's definitely in my top 10!

 

[Suntory_Times]

Just wondering if you guys ave calibrated your tv's/projectors, I personally use an epson tw3000 (in America is the 6100), and i'd prefer to use this projector calibrated then a much better projector (eg: the 6500UB) but with out of the box picture quality. Calibration really makes all the difference. Is my projector perfect, goodness no, but it'll last me two years untill I can afford a 'proper' home theatre.

 

[milkweg]

I calibrate with a calibration DVD but not a hardware device. My eyes are better than any calbration hardware because I have been trained to know what to look for.

Calibration hardware is good to get everything to zero but that doesn't mean it is how you personally prefer it. In printing we used a densitometer to get everything to zero but after that it was done by the good old eye balls and a client approval. The client would often prefer the image a bit different to zero calibration. Then you use the densitometer to read all the vlaues so you can maintain consistency in the print run. Same thing with a TV really, many people say to use warm color tone for best image quality but personally I like it in the middle between cold and warm. You also have to take the ambient lighting conditions you view the TV in into consideration too, does your hardware calibration device do that?

 

[M3NTAL]

Huey from Pantone