Anyone else find Rush Hour 2's video transfer subpar?? (1 Viewer)

[MichaelO]

I just finished watching this and was a bit dissapointed with the video quality. It just seemed flat, didn't have that 3-D look that a lot of newer films seem to have(including the other Infinifilm releases). I watched the LOTR trailers and found those to look better than RH2. Don't exactly know how to explain the look and I'm not saying it is terrible but it just didn't seem to look as good as a lot of other new movies do. Perhaps it was the way it was shot or the film that was used, I didn't see it at the theater so I don't know if this is how it looked during its successful box office run or not. I read the review sites scattered across the net and some mention seeing some compression artifacts, others see grain, and then there are a few that notice edge enhancement. Nobody seems to be in complete agreement, a lot of different opinions regarding the video transfer.

Another thought, could it be that it is an Infinifilm release with loads of extras and multi sound formats including dts? I really wonder if it isn't the addition of the dts track that cut down on the video performance because I have the other Infinifilm releases which don't offer dts and they look great to me. I even threw RH2 in my bedroom dvd player to see how it looked and it still looked subpar.

Perhaps New Line should consider 2 disc sets from now on since they are including dts tracks. Maybe the dts track was the straw that broke the camels back in terms of just how much content can fit on a disc before the video is compromised. To me, 2 discs would be the optimum, because it sure seems to me that RH2 is quite the loaded disc and I'm sure something had to suffer in terms of bitrate.

Just something I thought I would bring up.

 

[Ed Vandeweerd]

Hi Micheal,

Video on "Rush Hour 2" was fine. The dual layer switch was awful!

 

[DarrenA]

I agree with Ed. Video quality looked very good, but the layer change was horrible.

 

[JohnS]

I think Rush Hour 2 looked great on my Prog. scan DVD player and 55' WS HDTV.
But, I will agree. The Layer switch was terrible.

 

[MichaelO]

Well, perhaps I'm just getting too nit-picky.

I watched American Outlaws and Jurassic Park III and the video quality of RH2 was definitely of lower quality than those two. At least they were on my TV. Images just jumped off the screen on both American Outlaws and JP3, RH2's image didn't. It isn't a bad transfer, it just isn't as showy as the others IMO.

Thanks for the responses. I would like to see what RH2 would have looked like had the extras been placed on a separate disc.

 

[William Ward]

I did notice that the intro credits had a hint of "something" underneath them. It was too obvious to be EE but might have been some other type of ringing. It also might have been intentional but I found it distracting.

Overall I thought it was pretty good. Certainly comparable to Rush Hour 1.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Worse video quality means less Chris Tucker fidelity, be thankful
Of course, it does mean less Jackie too :frowning:
I almost wished Icould P&S Rush Hour 1, so that I could crop Tucker, and then mute all of his lines

 

[DanN]

where is the layer change in Rush Hour 2?

 

[JohnS]

When the people are running out of the Red Dragoon casino(if I remember correctly)

 

[Bjorn Olav Nyberg]

I agree with Michael, I wasn't that impressed either

Having a infinifilm double disc set would probably ruin the gimmick though, it would be impossible to make the documentaries accessible during the movie. I think that is all it is though, a gimmick. The documenaries work better on their own, and some of the segments were ridicuosly short, and most of them didn't really fit particularly into the movie where they were inserted, it seems they just did it that way, because that is the infinifilm concept.

The worst thing about the disc to me, was no subtitles. Neither of the two main characters were easy to understand to me, but then again that may just be because english is not my first language.

 

[Ben Rogers]

What are you guys complaning about? Rush hour is awesome with bothe stunning video and awesome DTS soundtrack. Buy a new TV like a sony KD-34XBR2 and you will know what I am talking about

 

[Jerry Gracia]

It's funny...I was just thinking about this myself as I sampled RH2 last night.

The video quality on RH2 definitly looks underwhelming comapared to many recent releases.

Could this be because a DTS track is on this disc with so many extras?

 

[MichaelO]

Ben, while I am very happy that you were impressed with the quality of the disc, I highly doubt that I need to "buy" a new TV like yours to see how "awesome" the video is. I have no problem with the audio, in fact I was quite impressed with how they handled the explosions but the video isn't as good as other new movies that have been released recently. My TV was good enough for me to tell how nice the transfers for Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park III, American Outlaws, Grinch, and Fifth Element SuperBit were/are and to me Rush Hour 2 is not as strong as any of those titles, IMO. Heck, I own 15 minutes and 13 Days and both look a lot better video wise than RH2. I only thought that perhaps the dts track might have taken a toll on the video compression by eaten up even more bits that might have normally been allocated toward the video.

True I don't own a hi def TV but my TV still does an admirable job and I usually get a nice 3 D film look with newer releases, RH2 was missing that look. Perhaps it was shot as to not look that way, I don't claim to know all the ins and outs of the film making process and the various choices directors make but I do know what I see from my seat and RH2 is not one of the nicer looking transfers I have seen lately.

I wonder if they could just put the movie, the audio tracks, and the Infinifilm stuff on one disc and then place all the other extras, trailers, deleted scenes, etc. on another. Oh well, just a thought.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I, for one, am thankful that New Line took the time and effort to do a DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 track.

Now, if only they could start going back to two disc Platinum Editions. Those were so much better than Infinifilm!

Infinifilm = Infinistupid!

Dan

 

[MichaelO]

Let me clarify one thing. I am glad they included the dts track as well, however if including dts makes the picture quality suffer then maybe other alternatives can be taken. I was merely suggesting that they start spreading some of the extras onto another disc so that we can have our cake and eat it to, so to speak.
While it is nice to have both DD and dts I don't want the video to be compromised. I know, I know...you just can't please some people.

 

[Luis A]

After viewing RH2 on my ISF calibrated Pioneer PRO710HD set with Tosh SD9200 DVD player I think the video on RH2 is fantastic. Better than Thirteen Days or 15 Minutes on video, and the DTS ES audio was by far the best sounding of all the major releases over the last few weeks. IMO I thought the DTS ES track on RH2 was far better than the DTS tracks in JPIII, and PH.
I don't think the video suffered at all because of the DTS track, but I do wish studios would start putting bonus material on a 2nd disc, and stop trying to clutter it up on one disc.
L

 

[Phu Vo]

Yup, I agree. RH2's video was a bit lacking. The shadow detail wasn't very defined, which is a clear sign of a low bit rate encode job. Probably due to all the extra material they crammed into it. But all in all, the disc overall, is well produced. One of the better mastering design jobs all year. Should have been two discs though.

.....viewed on a 70" screen via HTPC and LT150. What layer switch?

 

[MichaelO]

Wow, better than 13 Days and 15 Minutes. I thought 15 Minutes was truly spectacular looking, it looked so smooth and rich with a depth rarely seen, heck I thought I could just reach into the screen and pat DeNiro on the shoulder. 13 Days looked great when it wanted too, it had a lot of intentional grain in some shots (I did see that one at the theater) but in others it had a very nice 3-D looking image.
As far as the audio goes, well I have absolutely no problem with the dts track (that is the only one I sampled), in fact I was very impressed with it. I can't say that I thought it sounded better than JP3 or PH but it easily bested RH1. The explosions were phenomenal.
I truly think that when a disc a so choked-full of extras and alternate sound mixes and everything else that something has to suffer.
Oh well, to my eyes I rank the video quality of RH2 pretty low when compared to other new movies (and older ones too) that have been released recently including Pearl Harbor (forgot to mention that one before). Again, I have absolutely no problem seeing the depth and the three dimensionality of other movies on my archaic TV. Perhaps it is allergic to Tucker

 

[DanN]

when I watch RH2 on my Tau, I notice a lot of edge enhancement - particularily on people's faces. For example, look at Hu Lin's face right before she's going to put the bomb in Jackie's mouth - on my TV, I can definitely see jagged edges around her face

but when I watch it on my DVD-ROm, it's much smoother - is it simply because computer monitors are progressive scan? granted, on the DVD-rom, the face is a bit blurrier, but it definitely looks a lot better than the jagged edges I get on my Panasonic

 

[Paul Newport]

I also own a Panasonic TAU, and I have noticed the sort of problem you're describing. I have found that by reducing the sharpness level on the set to almost off. It not only removes most of the jaggy problems but the picture generally seems much more pleasing to watch.