The Unofficial High-Def Movie Thread

[SteelSD]

As it appears many 'zoners have taken the high-def plunge, I've created this thread to talk about the high-definition media available. First, I've found the following thread at AVS Forum to be invaluable in identifying the best Blu Ray video available:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316

They do a pretty good job of ranking the films, even if I do disagree with some of the placements. For example, there's no way on Earth that Apocalypto should be ranked higher than Crank in the "Gold" tier. A Scanner Darkly under The Host? No.

But those complaints are minimal considering that I'm just thankful to have a useful tool to preview something resembling a consensus on PQ prior to purchasing a Blu Ray flick. Just note that the folks on the thread don't give a hoot if intentional film grain obscures detail (300) or the use of non-HD cameras in some shots (Apocalypto). But hey, PQ is subjective so like what you like. Overall, the list there is still a very good guide regardless of personal preference.

For live action movies, I can personally verify that the following represent live action "demo" material:

Crank
Kingdom of Heaven
Apocalypto (excepting the non-HD camera scenes)
Black Hawk Down
The Host
Curse of the Golden Flower

300 (which suffers from intentional film grain), Casino Royale, The Prestige, and Blood and Chocolate are close.

For animated movies (digital by nature):

A Scanner Darkly
The Wild
Happy Feet
Ice Age: The Meltdown

I'll be interested to hear more from folks about their Blu Ray experiences and I'd really like to hear more from those who've gone the HD-DVD route about the best flicks in that format.

[WMR]

HD-DVD for me...

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is STUNNING in high-def.

Training Day is really good.

Ray looks spectacular.

Others that are particularly good (that I've seen):
- The Fugitive
- Serenity
- The Matrix Trilogy (really good)
- I bought the first part of the last season of the Sopranos on HD-DVD --> Awesome.

Out of all the movies I've seen so far on HD-DVD, Terminator 3 is the most impressive (esp. w/ 5.1 surround DTS). Oh yeah: Children of Men is INCREDIBLE in HD.

[Razor Shines]

I have Black Hawk Down on Blu Ray and it is amazing, I'd never considered the different degrees of HD. I have noticed that it is better than the other Blu Ray movies I have. The two movies I was most excited to get on Blu Ray were Black Hawk Down and We Were Soldiers, and I can see the difference between the two, but We Were Soldiers is still great.

Fly Boys, Casino Royale, Tears of the Sun and Men of Honor are all pretty cool. I was planning on buying 300 on blu ray, but I might not now. Does the intentional film grain detract that much from the high def experience?

[SteelSD]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

HD-DVD for me...

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is STUNNING in high-def.

Training Day is really good.

Ray looks spectacular.

Others that are particularly good (that I've seen):
- The Fugitive
- Serenity
- The Matrix Trilogy (really good)
- I bought the first part of the last season of the Sopranos on HD-DVD --> Awesome.

Out of all the movies I've seen so far on HD-DVD, Terminator 3 is the most impressive (esp. w/ 5.1 surround DTS). Oh yeah: Children of Men is INCREDIBLE in HD.

Children of Men, Serenity, The Hulk, and Heroes Season 1 has me teetering on the edge of trying to find a value 1080p HD-DVD player. Knowing that Transformers may not be released in Blu Ray is another serious concern for me. The Matrix trilogy would have been a draw if the final film would have produced answers rather than questions.

I appreciate the info on the other flicks. My wife is completely opposed to a purchase of an HD-DVD player, but I'm expecting the prices on the 1080p-capable models to come down over the next six months, so I might end up buying one on the sly without her knowing. Shhhhh...

Originally Posted by Razor Shines

I have Black Hawk Down on Blu Ray and it is amazing, I'd never considered the different degrees of HD. I have noticed that it is better than the other Blu Ray movies I have. The two movies I was most excited to get on Blu Ray were Black Hawk Down and We Were Soldiers, and I can see the difference between the two, but We Were Soldiers is still great.

Fly Boys, Casino Royale, Tears of the Sun and Men of Honor are all pretty cool. I was planning on buying 300 on blu ray, but I might not now. Does the intentional film grain detract that much from the high def experience?

I have Fly Boys, which is a decent movie with excellent PQ. Not "reference" IMHO, but it's still excellent. Black Hawk Down just pops off the screen and at 24 frames per second, it pops even more. Casino Royale at 1080p isn't as nutty good as Crank, but it's super-clear and the black levels on my HDTV are exceptional. I have to thank avsforum.com for that because I piggybacked my settings based on recommendations from a guy who has a professional calibration setup.

I'd suggest a purchase of 300 even considering the injected film grain. The grain is more noticable over the first third of the movie. After that, it's considerably lightened and that's where a ton of the action is. It's a solid "buy" IMHO and if you liked it in the theater you'll still like it from a true-to-the-master source on Blu Ray.

At this point, I do have to comment on how important it is to have a properly calibrated HDTV. We can do a decent job via "eyballing", but the info I was able to gain from a pro really makes the PQ "pop" in a way I couldn't possibly get by trying to do it myself. Seriously, it was like night and day.

[WMR]

Please elaborate on calibrating your settings... are you talking about the picture contrast etc. etc. settings?

[Razor Shines]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

Please elaborate on calibrating your settings... are you talking about the picture contrast etc. etc. settings?

Yes, I'd like really like to know as well.

[SteelSD]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

Please elaborate on calibrating your settings... are you talking about the picture contrast etc. etc. settings?

Yep. Brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc., etc. Optimal calibration is different for each TV and should be tweaked to adjust for the amount of ambient light in your viewing area. I'm again going to reference avsforum.com:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=166

Many of the threads there have posters who give feedback on "optimal" calibration settings for their units, including some folks who use professional calibration equipment. I'm fairly tech-savvy, but still consider myself a neophyte for things like calibration. I can "eyeball" it pretty well but after finding optimal calibration settings for my Samsung LN-T4066F I consider my viewing experience to be forever changed. A picture that used to look great now looks absolutely fantastic, with some of the deepest blacks I've ever seen on an LCD TV.

For reference, I'll post the settings I'm using and should note that different settings are necessary depending on the TV's firmware version.

Picture: Movie Mode

Contrast: 93
Brightness: 46
Sharpness: 25
Color: 55
Tint: 50
Backlight: 7
Color Tone: Warm1
Size: Just Scan
Digital NR: Auto

Detailed Settings:

Black Adjust: Low
Dynamic Contrast: High
Gamma: -1
Color Space: Auto

White Balance:

R-Offset: 21
G-Offset: 20
B-Offset: 21
R-Gain: 0
G-Gain: 21
B-Gain: 26

Setup:

HDMI Black Level: Low

My Color Control:

Pink: 20
Green: 15
Blue: 15
White: 15

Edge Enhancement: On
xvYCC: Off

Now, those settings are only viable for my make and model of LCD TV, but it's a good example of how complicated calibration can get. Do a search of the threads at avsforum.com and you might run across the right settings for your TV. It's well worth taking the time.

[SteelSD]

Just purchased and watched "Troy- Director's Cut" on Blu Ray tonight. My review:

Troy- Director's Cut

Length: 196 minutes (yes, over 3 hours)
Rating: Unrated

Story: Well, we all know the story. Or do we? Yeah, we do. Unlike some "Director's Cut" releases, this isn't a re-working of the movie we saw in 2004. It's just some added scenes here or there. The most memorable is our introduction to Sean Bean's King Odysseus that takes place prior to his initial meeting with Achilles. Otherwise, the bulk of the added material is either battle, battle prep, or watching the citizens of Troy preparing for the imminent siege. None of the added material actually detracts from the plot or storyline and it could be argued that some of the additional "prep" setup does more to humanize the Trojan population and produce a heightened level of anxiety. That being said, I can see why the added film was originally cut given the 162 minute length of the cinema version.

As an aside, I knew I recognized the actor who played the character Murtagh in "Eragon". That was Garrett Hedlund, who played Achilles' cousin Patroclus in "Troy".

Video: Not "reference", but excellent picture quality (PQ). However, this film did have opportunites to really pop (i.e. 3D effects) but didn't do so enough. There was some issue with unintentional background grain during night shots, which hurt this transfer. Also, while I've heard that the color had been enhanced versus the DVD release, many backgrounds appeared muted. The close-ups were very solid and one could see every bit of detail in soldier's armor, which is always a welcome treat.

Audio: The audio is uncompressed PCM. Sweet! The sound is spot-on. It's never overwhelming and it's clear as heck. There is a lot of dialogue in this film and it all sounds as if you're sitting in the room with the characters. The music is crisp and always engaging.

Special Features: Unlike many Blu Ray releases, this disc is loaded with special features. Some are repeats of the original 2-disc DVD set, but we've got 34 total special features here. While that's much appreciated, many are very short and only a handful are 1080p.

Overall: The story is longer, and is slightly enhanced by the additional footage added if you have the patience to sit through a 3+ hour movie. The video transfer is excellent, but doesn't have the "pop" we see in high-end . The audio is fantastic and the Special Features are really above and beyond what we're used to seeing on Blu Ray discs, even if some are familiar. It's worth a purchase, but only if you already liked the original.

Ratings (Out of 5):

Story: 4
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 4

TOTAL: 4.25

[justincredible]

For you High-Def guys, what TVs are you watching on? I am in the market for a HDTV but I still can't figure out which model I want. I have been looking at 40"-47" 1080p LCDs. Any suggestions?

By the way, I was at Circuit City looking at TVs and they had Next playing on one of the displays. The few minutes I watched of it looked incredible.

[Boss-Hog]

Originally Posted by justincredible

For you High-Def guys, what TVs are you watching on? I am in the market for a HDTV but I still can't figure out which model I want. I have been looking at 40"-47" 1080p LCDs. Any suggestions?

By the way, I was at Circuit City looking at TVs and they had Next playing on one of the displays. The few minutes I watched of it looked incredible.

Panasonic TH-50PX75U Plasma

[Sea Ray]

I bought a 43" DLP (Samsung) 4 yrs ago and have been very pleased with it. If I bought one today I'd get an LCD or a plasma, probably lean towards the plasma due to the pixel burnout issue on LCDs. I also think the best picture out there regardless of price is a plasma. Plasmas are still more expensive than other options but that gap is closing. They've also come a long way in reducing burnout on the plasma TVs. I hope to get another 4 or 5 yrs out of my set and then upgrade. My set definitely needed calibration out of the box and AVS Forum was invaluable in helping me with that.

[RFS62]

Sony KDS-R60XBR2 60" SXRD

Bose surround sound.

I'm going to snag a Sony Bravia XBR4 46" LCD for the office before Christmas, just waiting to see if the prices are going to come down.

[Johnny Footstool]

Optoma HD72 projector firing a 101" display. Watching standard definition TV broadcasts on the thing almost makes you ill. Watching high-def sports almost makes you cry.

[SteelSD]

Originally Posted by justincredible

For you High-Def guys, what TVs are you watching on? I am in the market for a HDTV but I still can't figure out which model I want. I have been looking at 40"-47" 1080p LCDs. Any suggestions?

By the way, I was at Circuit City looking at TVs and they had Next playing on one of the displays. The few minutes I watched of it looked incredible.

Samsung LN-T4066F (40" 1080p LCD)



It's a Best Buy exclusive, although it can be found elsewhere online. Fantastic picture and the deepest blacks of any LCD TV I've come across. I was REALLY lucky and found a pristine "open box" model for $1340 at my local Best Buy. Initially, I figured I'd be spending around $2500 on a 1080p LCD unit so I was completely giddy. After calibrating it and watching a bunch of Blu Ray flicks, I'd recommend it to anyone even at full retail (@$1800-1900). However, it's probably not for those who have a lot of ambient light in the room due to the reflective screen.

[justincredible]

Originally Posted by SteelSD

Samsung LN-T4066F (40" 1080p LCD)



It's a Best Buy exclusive, although it can be found elsewhere online. Fantastic picture and the deepest blacks of any LCD TV I've come across. I was REALLY lucky and found a pristine "open box" model for $1340 at my local Best Buy. Initially, I figured I'd be spending around $2500 on a 1080p LCD unit so I was completely giddy. After calibrating it and watching a bunch of Blu Ray flicks, I'd recommend it to anyone even at full retail (@$1800-1900). However, it's probably not for those who have a lot of ambient light in the room due to the reflective screen.

That's a beauty. I am going to start researching it. They have them at the Tri County Best Buy so I might go check it out this weekend.