HTF REVIEW: Austin Powers "Goldmember" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Sean Moon]

The transfer was amazing on this, and all with a very low average bitrate too! I watched several scenes with the bitrate meter on and it usually hangs at 5MB or less! A few time it spiked to about 8.
This disc is a testament to the fact that all the bitspace in the world isnt needed to deliver a top notch transfer, just a good compressionist.

 

[NickFoley]

A fun movie. More than what I actually expected. As for the transfer, its great. All the vivid colors are crystal clear, and an absolute delight.

 

[Greg Mariotti]

What happened to the "mother of all vomit scenes" that the cast and crew were talking about?! I thought that was gonna be on the dvd in the deleted scenes section????????

 

[Joel C]

It is. I can't remember what it's called, but it's there. I was sad that the Liz Hurley and Heather Graham scenes weren't.

 

[EricW]

What happened to the "mother of all vomit scenes" that the cast and crew were talking about?! I thought that was gonna be on the dvd in the deleted scenes section????????

it ~was~ on the deleted scenes... it's called "bad reaction to the sharks" (there's 2 pages of deleted scenes)
what i want to know is, what happened to the Heather Graham deleted scene?
also, i read someone in Chicago didn't get the coloured plastic case either - i thought it was just Canadians i was thinking of buy the 3-pack set with the colourful cases, but they were all black.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I had the luxury of demoing the InFocus 7200 DLP projector (16x9 1280 x 720 HD2 DLP machine) last night projected onto a 106" (diag) Stuart Firehawk Screen...
We had *lots* of DVDs to demo (can I just say WOW about this projector...bright as all get-out even with ambient light and satisfying black-level and contrast too)...you know the usual...LOTR EE, Fifth Element, Toy Story.
Anyhow, after viewing clips from a zillion other DVDs, we threw on the new Austin Powers movie.
It looked 90% like Hi-def.
WOOOOWWWW. Color fidelity was spot-on. Detail and resolution was astonishing...and no (at least in the intro scene we watched) real compression artifacts to mar the image or any distracting ringing from EE.
Right up there with Training Day...another reference live-action film-based transfer.
I'd have to say to date that the new Austin Powers movie is the best film-based transfer I have seen. I looking convincingly like projected 35mm film from a viewing distance of about 1.75:1 screen-widths away.
-dave
p.s. this is a plug for those of you who are thinking of spending @ 6 - 8 K on a high-end HDTV. DON'T. Simply do not get a "HDTV in a Box". If you can control ambient light during viewing get yourself a projector like the new InFocus. It will put any HDTV to shame even with an image 90 inches wide...no kidding. For more info on stuff like this check out avscience.com and this thread in particular:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0&pagenumber=1

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Infocus has a new Projector the XP1 for around $1699 how does that compare I wonder?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

the 7200 is in an entirely different league. Firstly, you get real 16x9 1280 x 720 resolution. Secondly, it's been painstakingly designed by the engineers there to maximixe quality for HT applications. It's also *extremely* plug-and-play. A little button on the remote lets you toggle between all aspect-ratio adjustments for various types of inputs (4x3 full-frame, 4x3 lbxed, 16x9 anamorphic etc.).

PQ is outstanding. It uses the new Faroudja chip which not only excels in deinterlacing both film and video sources (IMO, the best PQ for deinterlacing live-480I signals), but it also uses the Faroudja chip to scale everything to the DLP chips resolution (most other projectors use a pixelworks scaler which is very good, but probabaly not quite as refined as the Faroudja).

Anyway...bottom line is yes, the 7200 is better...though for the difference in price if someone really couldn't go beyond the $2k pricepoint I'm not saying that there aren't other projectors that will give you a good bang for the buck! The NEC 1000 with 3000:1 Contrast ratio seems to be the new kid on the block as far as cheap thrills go...

-dave

 

[Dan Brecher]

it's called "bad reaction to the sharks"

And Stand By Me still has it beat by miles.
The transfer is indeed very nice in detail, but do not forget the cinematography in so many of these great transfers we all praise has so much to do with how good it looks on DVD that it's not all in the transfer.
Theatricaly I was struck with what a good looking movie Goldmember was to begin with. It would have been pretty tough for the DVD to have looked bad!
Dan

 

[George Khawahie]

"I have to sit here and wonder how New Line was able to fit all this material on one disc (including commentary, fact track, branching and DVD-ROM content) and still produce the sharpest, most colorful transfer of any DVD in recent memory."
That's exactly what I was wondering too. The fact that they had all these goodies along with a full DD & DTS soundtrack on a single layer disc boggles my mind.
I will not feel complete until I figure out how this was accomplished.
Anybody?

 

[Jon Sheedy]

Another (as if they needed one after FOTR:EE) that I voted for this studio for HTF STUDIO OF THE YEAR!

Jon

 

[Dan Brecher]

I will not feel complete until I figure out how this was accomplished.

Max bitrate of about 5.6 for the movie is my guess. :-/

Dan

 

[George Khawahie]

So does a higher bitrate equal stronger compression?

 

[Jason Adams]

Acutually George, a higher bitrate equals weaker compression. Well, anyways I bought Goldmember at my local video store, and It seemed like they had only foolscreen, but alas, the widescreen was behind the foolscreen. Well, they usually charge a flat $20 for all DVD's so thats why I go there. I put it in, and experienced a colorful transfer, and a funny movie. I do love Austin Powers, and would have the complete set if my friend gave me back my "Spy Who Shagged Me" back!
"There are two things I hate in this world...people who aren't tolerant of other peoples cultures...and the Dutch."

 

[James Bergeron]

I have an NEC 6pG FP and I have NEVER seen quality like this DVD. The transfer was absolutely outstanding! I haven't seen HD on my projector, but it couldn't look much better than this disc!

 

[George Khawahie]

Acutually George, a higher bitrate equals weaker compression.

When you say "weaker" do you mean more compression is used which should give us a lower quality image? Obviously in the case of Goldmember, the picture was beautiful!

 

[Dave H]

I almost picked this up the other day, but will wait and maybe get it through Columbia House. I am one of the people who think the first and seconds movies are definitely funnier.

 

[Ron-P]

Gotta disagree here. I rented this and it is horrid. I really enjoyed the first two, but this third installment is nothing but a sorry rehash. Sure, the A/V is very, very nice, but the movie itself, avoid it.
I nominate it for the worst movie of the year award.
Peace Out~