HD DVD this week

[BiffCo]

Originally Posted by Old-School Guy

I finally can get rid of my laserdisc version of Blade Runner - the ONLY widescreen "theatrical version" prior to this new release.

It's from my understanding that only The Final Cut is remastered. The rest are just transfers that have only been "cleaned up a bit." Don't expect these to look anywhere near as good as The Final Cut.

And Greedo shooting first wasn't THAT big of a deal. Damn Star Wars fanatics...

-Brad

[MadBryan]

December 26, 2007

• The Heartbreak Kid (DreamWorks)
• Pan's Labyrinth (New Line

[MadBryan]

picked up an Toshiba A30 yesterday. Selling my A2 to a coworker that was looking at HD players (5 more movies for me)

[BiffCo]

Damn, you're rolling in the freebies! I'm still waiting for mine. Glad to see they aren't enforcing that stupid "One offer per household" bullshit. I'll be doing the same when I get an A35 eventually.

-Brad

[MadBryan]

To answer a question in another thread, I picked up
The Kingdom
Pans Labyrinth
Eastern Promises
Mr Bean (for my son)
Heartbreak Kid (for my daughter)
Bourne Supremacy

[BiffCo]

I have yet to see Pans Labyrinth, but it's in my queueueueue on Netflix. Honestly 5 out of 6 of those I wouldn't mind owning. I've never heard of Hearbreak Kid though.

Mr. Beans Holiday looked funny but I've heard bad things about it if you are Bean fan. I've watched his show since I was 15 or so and always really enjoyed it. I still enjoy Bean: The Movie as well. If you get a chance to sit down and watch it with your son, let me know what you think.

-Brad

[Jon Liu]

Heartbreak Kid was the one with Ben Stiller.

I wanted to see Pans Labyrinth. I may just pick that one up!

[MadBryan]

January 08, 2008

• Mobsters (Universal)
• The Pianist (Universal)
• White Noise (Universal)
• White Noise 2: The Light (Universal)
• Zodiac: Director's Cut (Paramount)

[BiffCo]

The Pianist, woohoo! Hopefully Universal will treat it with a proper transfer.

Have you had a chance to look at Pan's L. yet Bryan? DNR city my friend. Faces look like wax. Better off importing it.

-Brad

[KEEZY]

¿Que?

What's a DNR? What is importing?

[BiffCo]

Digital Noise Reduction. It's something that is applied by the encoder to "visually clean up the image." Basically, it's a fine grain remover. I guess some studios think consumers don't like grain, so they do this. It really sucks. Here's a comparison:

Newline:
http://www.image-load.eu/out.php/i13887_panbd2.png
http://www.image-load.eu/out.php/i13885_panbd1.png

SkyHD UK broadcast, 19MBit/s AVC:
http://www.image-load.eu/out.php/i13888_pansky2.png
http://www.image-load.eu/out.php/i13886_pansky1.png

and the French HD-DVD release (different - MUCH better - encode):
http://www.image-load.eu/out.php/i13...enchhddvd1.png
http://www.image-load.eu/out.php/i13...renchddvd2.png

Notice how the New Line version has everyone looking like wax, when the French version looks natural? I highly doubt the first one was director's intent.

Keezy, on the topic of importing, due to the nature of region coding on HD-DVD, it's possible to import something from any other country. Will it play? Most likely, but there are some that won't (the import of Enemy at the Gates). I'll be importing the HD-DVD of this when I go to buy it. Xploited is probably the best place to import from stateside, though they are kind of pricey.

-Brad

[KEEZY]

Awesome, thanks! It still plays in English, right?

[Jon Liu]

I watched the Blu-ray Version, it really doesn't look that bad. Actually, even with knowing about the DNR, I was pretty impressed by the transfer, still.

[MadBryan]

I thought Pan's was one of my better discs? huh? Zodiac will be my next buy

[GoatMother]

I just ordered Knocked Up and Evan Almighty. I was thinking about Serenity but couldn't think of something to pair it with during the BOGO.

Is Pan's Labyrinth a pretty good fantasy movie?

[BiffCo]

I'll have to check it out then guys. I may end up buying the US Bluray and importing the HD-DVD if worst comes to worse. We'll see.

Goat, I'm unsure of Pan's Labyrinth. I've never seen it. However, Serenity kicks major ass and is one of the few launch releases that I still show to people. I watched it when I first bought the HD-DVD having never seen the Firefly series. Now after finishing that series, I'm going to go back and watch it. I have a feeling I'll understand it a hell of a lot better than my initial viewing.

-Brad

[GoatMother]

Ok, thanks Brad. Well now I'm in less of a rush with the Warner news to pick up Serenity.

[BiffCo]

Yeah, that's certainly going to curb my HD-DVD buying habits. I honestly believe with this move by Warner that the war is finally coming to an end. I don't see myself buying any HD-DVDs now that this announcement was made. I'll still keep the HD-DVDs I have, though. Not going to get much for them now and they are still functional.

-Brad

[GoatMother]

I'm very curious as to how Toshiba, Universal and Paramount react. I'll still buy must haves on HD DVD if they (universal, Paramount) sound confident in continuing with HD DVD only long term.

A3 is a very nice upconverting player in PQ.