DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Pirates of the Caribbean (Highly Recommended) (1 Viewer)

[Larry Talbot]

"Once again, you raise the bar."

Yes, he did. Perhaps the most detailed review concentrating on picture and audio quality I have yet read. Very impressive and much appreciated.

 

[Tommy G]

Joe, I also have a 6 year old that loves pirates and loves the ride at Disney World. However, due to the rating, I am going to screen this one myself first and then, if appropriate, I'll show it to him. I did the same thing with Spiderman. I mean he is an absolute spiderman nut so I showed him the whole movie except the ending when the Green Goblin gets speared.
I thought that was a little much for him. Otherwise, it was just comic book violence with no swears or nudity.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Joe-

You might watch it first and then decide if it's okay for your son. There are a few scenes that might be a little intense or scary for a 6-year-old. No nudity or sex (except for a couple of brief remarks that will even sail over most adults' heads), and only a couple of hardly noticable curse words.

By the way, has anyone checked out the gag reel on disc 2 yet? Bloopers do get old after a while, but these are actually pretty funny, and the montage is edited really well, and there are some very creative sound effects added that are pretty hilarious.

 

[Reagan]

My two cents:

One thing that is disappointing to me about the disc is that too much of the good bonus material is DVD-rom only. Naturally, I'm irked because I don't have a DVD rom drive, but even if I did, I'd rather watch a documentary over the history of the Disneyland attraction on my TV, not my computer screen.

That and the EE are my only problems. And I'd agree with those who say that the EE is on par with Die Another Day, but I don't think it's Phantom Meanace or Gangs of New York bad.

-Reagan

 

[David James]

Watched it for the first time last night. Didn't like it as much as my kids did, but I enjoyed it. I listened to the DTS track and wasn't that impressed, maybe I'll give the DD track a whirl. I didn't get the Keith Richards angle until mentioned here, yup, thinking back to the scene where Depp turns into a skelton and if I picture him with a guiter, damn - it is Keith Richards

 

[Geoff_D]

The haloing on this transfer is the only real downside to the package for me, but even then it's not as bad as other Disney dvds (25th Hour in particular has some terrible haloing). I was also surprised that correctly flagged dd ex and dts-es tracks were included. You can even change audio on the fly, unlike the average Disney/Buena Vista dvd.

 

[Neil Joseph]

David, I placed some of your post in a spoiler for those that have not yet seen the film.

 

[ken t]

I agree with Alistair's comments:
this transfer was very disappointing. I have a 47" Panny with an RP91 player and the EE and haloing were unacceptable. This disc looks like a product made 3+ years ago. The grain was not film-like; it looked to me like there was added grain for whatever reason.
If I could return this disc for refund I would.
Great movie - Terrible DVD transfer

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Ken,

If you feel so strongly about your (negative) impressions of the DVD transfer/mastering quality, be sure to give that 1-800 number on the back of your DVD cover a call and let Disney know exactly what you do and don't like about the DVD. I'm sure it couldn't hurt if the occasional videophile dared comment to the Disney customer service reps if, for not other reason, than to offer another consumer-perspective from that of the usual "I hate the black bars" walmart-calls.

BTW,

SOUND

I have confirmation that the same master was used for both the DD and DTS sountracks on this film (with dialog norm. applied to the DD). So any differences between them you hear are *not* symptoms of a different sound mix.

I'll be editing my review to reflect shortly...

dave

 

[ken t]

i was going to look for an email address to write my displeasure, but a phone call could do the trick too. thanks, I'll do that...

 

[CraigF]

The folks at BVHE are very nice to deal with when you call them up, so be nice, they told me they actually *like* it when people call.

This isn't my opinion, but if you haven't done serious set adjustment on your Panny RPTV since getting it, you better. From the H/W forums I read, Pannys are considered pretty much the worst set up out-of-the-box, and *do* exhibit *some* artifacts until adjusted (I'm not talking ISF calibration here). So don't shoot me, just reporting what I've read...actually, a friend returned his 47" before we had started looking into it..too bad, they look great when adjusted.

 

[Dave Mack]

I too, thought the EE was WAY too excessive. The scene where Depp steps off his "ship" in the beginning onto the dock looks atrocious. Like bad Hanna Barbera animation with a big thick line around everything. Shame, cos so much about the transfer IS good. At least there seems to be good detail (unlike LOTR TT EE, which looked WAY too soft IMHO...)

Good, thorough review, Dave!~

 

[ken t]

thanks for the advice. I've had the set since it was introduced and did plenty of adjustments short of ISF. The set is not the problem here...
There are plenty of new DVDs out there that put this one to shame.

 

[TonyTone]

I agree with Alistair's comments:
this transfer was very disappointing. I have a 47" Panny with an RP91 player and the EE and haloing were unacceptable. This disc looks like a product made 3+ years ago. The grain was not film-like; it looked to me like there was added grain for whatever reason.
If I could return this disc for refund I would.
Great movie - Terrible DVD transfer

Whew--so I wasn't hallucinating after all--I noticed the grain and somewhat bad EE too! And I thought for a moment that it may have been the Liteon LVD-2001 player...but then again, LOTR:TTT looked great when I played it with the 2001.

 

[Ron-P]

Has anyone else compared the dd track to the dts? Just cuious to see if any found the dd better.

Peace Out~

 

[ken t]

X-Men United looks great, LOTR TT looks great, Matrix Reloaded looks great...
Pirates looks like 1st generation DVD technology. Disney compromised the picture when they loaded all the audio/commentary tracks onto 1 disc. I haven't checked myself, but I hear the bitrate is quite low...

 

[Larry Talbot]

"just read Bjoerns PQ Review of this dvd. to sum it up, it's a bit worse than gangs of new york - the worst, vile piece of crap, sorry excuse for a dvd transfer i've ever seen from a major studio for a new release."

WORSE than Gangs of New York? How is that even POSSIBLE? On my Z1 front projector, Gangs looked like a fourth generation copy of an old VHS tape that had been put through the spin cycle on someone's washing machine a couple of times. The worst video quality I have ever seen AND the worst EE I have ever seen...how could Pirates be worse than that? Say it isn't so! I've been really looking forward to watching Pirates..If this is true, why does the official HTF review not say so? I understand that there are times when opinions may vary, but if someone says Pirates is worse than Gangs - or even COMPARABLE to Gangs - then there is something strange going on. You both can't be right.

 

[Bjoern Roy]

Larry,

this is what i wrote on the AVS:

[Edited: Watched most of scenes that dissapointed me the most again. Here is a less furious analysis ]

Just finished watching Pirates R1.

EE wise, its a real mess as has already been reported in another thread. I am not too fond of some other aspects either. White point seems a tad too hot with some clipping in a few scenes. Mostly due to the exaggerated contrast due to the EE.

In my original post, i wrote: "blacks mostly crushed, no proper delineation at all". The 'mostly' was actually a typo I meant 'mostly ok', and a 'few' crushed with bad delineation. Sorry about that, was writing too quickly. Actually, apart from the few scenes that ARE crushed, i think the delineation, shadow detail and the colors are the strong points of the transfer! Made quite a few scenes look quite '3D' on my setup. Nice.

The grain par se wouldn't have been that bad. But it is quite a bit exaggerated through the EE. This in turn leads to slight compression problems with a bit of banding and mosquito noise, not that big an issue. Spotted some DNR artefacts.

Not much detail in either dimension. But this has to be placed into perspective. This is by no means worse than an average DVD detail wise. About non-superbit Col/Tri like. Adaquate for most. Not even close to some reference transfers though, sadly.

Overall this might be a bit worse than Gangs of New York, which had a few more great looking moments thrown in between. Quite similar from the EE and grain angle though.

These 2 and Bond are the most dispointing transfer of 'big' titles this year from what i have seen. Would have to rewatch parts of Bond, but i think it was the most problematic.

Anyway, loved the movie thoroughly. Well, actually it was mostly Johnny Depp's unbelievable interpretation of his 'role' that had me rolling. Without him, the movie would have probably only been 'good'.

Pirates without the ringing would have been quite a good transfer in my book (apart from not having all that much detail). Gangs had worse shadow delineation, but at least quite a few brilliant cinematic moments (like the shaving in the beginning). Bond had way more problems than just the horrible ringing.

Haven't checked out Once Upon a Time in the West yet. Seems to have plenty of EE as well. Hope not as much as these 3.

Regards
Bjoern

 

[ken t]

White point seems a tad too hot with some clipping in a few scenes. Mostly due to the exaggerated contrast due to the EE.

yes, exacttly

 

[Chris Tedesco]

I have a 36 inch Sony XBR CRT. Should I be able to see the edge enhancements that alot of people are talking about? I watched the film and to me, it didn't look to bad at all. In fact, I didn't really notice any grain. I'm thinking I would have to have a bigger set and maybe Rear Projection to notice these things...