Gladiator SD vs. HD capture. (1 Viewer)

[JediFonger]

AFAIK, the HD capture is from Cable/HBO-HD. so it's either 1080i or 720p. dunno which. the SD is from the first 2 disc edition. obviously both have been scaled and recompressed via JPEG, but it gives you a good idea =).




Extremely repulsive XXX picture removed by moderator.
(Probably not your fault, but a defensive measure by the site the one you linked to came from.) - CA.

 

[Cory S.]

Wow....

 

[Max Leung]

I am more amazed that you got OAR from HBO-HD! Or did you crop the SD version?

 

[Bryant Trew]

This actually shows that DVD isn't all that bad, no?

 

[Harold Wazzu]

Look at how clear the detail on his armor is on the HD version, wow!

And in his hair and the freying around the collar of his shirt...

 

[Kyle McKnight]

Bryant...it does show DVD isn't that bad, on smaller displays. I'd say you start seeing the difference with 32"+ sets...and 32" is nowdays considered a small display heh.

 

[Robert Harris]

The difference seen here between the regular def and high def versions of Gladiator have little in common with the differences that will be seen on DVD when Universal releases.

Compression between high def DVD and cable / satellite is quite different.

This will be surpassed by high def DVD.

RAH

 

[Cory S.]

That's a pretty scary statement, Robert. In a good way...

 

[Doug Miller]

Now someone needs to add a VHS screencap.

Doug

 

[JediFonger]

max, it ain't me. it's from someone @another forum. i visit so many i forgot which. anyway, there are ways of capturing HBO-HD. it just isn't that practical, you'll need a PCI card that accepts component (SDI) =).

 

[Max Leung]

I agree that HD-DVD/Bluray will have PQ that will surpass broadcast HD (although I'm not so sure about European HD broadcasts when they switch over to the H.264 codec).

YiFeng, aren't people using PVRs/DVBs on their PCs to capture them?

 

[JediFonger]

consumer capture cards (like ATI's HDTV Wonder) can only receive and capture over the air ATSC unencrypted broadcasts. although there was a fight/legislation about that a while back. i think the current batch/crop of OTA capture cards include a broadcast flag. just like ICT, content providers can enable it and current cards can't capture HD streams from over the air.

as for cable-HD, no card that we know on the market right now can tune cable-HD. cable-HD gets passed through the set top box that unencrypts the signal and displays it (lots of HDCP stuff). current cable channels don't downres on the component output, that's why people can buy one of those capture cards and cap cable-HD signals.

here's a primer on the topic:
http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/cablecard.ars

 

[Jerome Grate]

Actually as this was pondered in another HD/DVD comparison with Starship Troopers, it really shows how bad DVD really is when comparing to HD. Not as profound as the difference between DVD and VHS but still quite a difference and now they are just getting into the groove of HD.

 

[Kyle_D]

It's all a matter of perspective.

One day I was bored and synced up my DVD of Spider-man 2 (not even the Superbit) with an HD broadcast over HBO on a calibrated 53-inch Pioneer Elite 1080i CRT. My conclusion was that while the HD broadcast was more detailed, the DVD was able to hold its own and was definitely watchable. In fact, it's rare that I watch an HD movie on cable where I'm blown over by how much better it looks than DVD, however that's probably because I can't stand the compression artifacts. There have been exceptions (i.e. The Matrix and iRobot)

Maybe I'm out of place on a forum like this, but when I'm watching a movie, I'm not looking at how detailed the chain-mail is. I'm just looking to get caught up in the story. DVD quality is now consistant enough that I'm able to do this. Once prices come down and this whole format war blows over, I'm sure I'll buy into whatever HD format the marketplace chooses; there is a noticable improvement and it can make a world of difference in clarity. However, I feel sorry for the people who have decided their DVDs are now unwatchable.

A well-mastered DVD doesn't look bad. (Bad is VHS, SD NTSC broadcasts and DivX/XviD files that plague my college campus) HD just looks better.

 

[Jerome Grate]

Well, I agree that DVD is not so bad to watch and even when I used my uspcaling player, I find it to look quite beautiful ie..., Fifth Element Superbit, King Kong, Spiderman 2 etc.., and maybe my comment should open with the fact that we are however, looking at a still picture and not a moving one.

 

[Bryant Trew]

Same here. My favourite films are 40yrs old anyway I don't know about the rest of you, but they'll have to do a lot more than the above to get me to upgrade titles I already own. Gladiator on my 6yr old RPTV looks excellent. If someone was to let me trade my old discs in for a decent discount, great. But to start a new disc library - heck no. I've spent way to much on my library as it is.

 

[Adam Barratt]

Here are some more comparisons:

Bourne Supremacy: DVD | sedoparking.com - Check Domain Name Registration, Sedo Parking, Laptop Notebooks
Final Fantasy: DVD | sedoparking.com - Check Domain Name Registration, Sedo Parking, Laptop Notebooks
Starship Troopers: DVD | sedoparking.com - Check Domain Name Registration, Sedo Parking, Laptop Notebooks
Resident Evil: DVD | sedoparking.com - Check Domain Name Registration, Sedo Parking, Laptop Notebooks
Star Trek: First Contact: DVD | sedoparking.com - Check Domain Name Registration, Sedo Parking, Laptop Notebooks

And, because I was curious about what differences there might be:
War of the Worlds: PAL DVD | 720p

Adam

 

[Bryant Trew]

Those DVD captures look terrible - not because of the technology, but because of the calibration. Damon looks like he swallowed a bottle of suntan pills. Everything is orange (and thus ugly). Give us comparisons with the same colors.

 

[Adam Barratt]

I've recaptured the DVDs with a different software player.

Adam

 

[Bryant Trew]

And now that the colors are straightened out, again we've demonstrated that regular DVD looks pretty good. The HD folks need to step up their game or drop the price to regular DVD player prices. $500 and below - no more.