DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Sin City - RECOMMENDED (1 Viewer)

[Nils Luehrmann]

Lyle, that was a great post (#96) and something that could be reposted in several threads where observations on EE and other manually added artifacts are being discussed.

I've been in the same room when someone has seen motion dithering from a DLP and quickly condemned the DVD for having EE. Perhaps eventually as the market slowly (very slowly) shifts away from MPEG2 and into far more advanced codec, we may see fewer complaints about "EE".

As for my observation on the Sin City disc. I've so far played samples of the disc where people are reporting seeing EE on four different displays and three different DVD players, and have yet to see any sign of any EE.

 

[Max Leung]

I haven't seen any ringing myself - just aliasing during the opening credits. Those with a Faroudja-based player/scaler may not see much aliasing though. Ringing is probably added by a display's scaler - but with so many differing displays out there, it'd be very tough verify without knowing the exact scaling methods used.

 

[SteveJKo]

Lyle, you're not alone. Like you, I too enjoyed both Pulp Fiction and both Kill Bills. Like Sky Captain I found Sin City to be all style and no substance. And it's black and white noir style held my interest only briefly. Despite it's almost perfect imitation of that style of film, the image felt "cold" for lack of a better term. It easily betrayed the fact that it had nothing to do with celluloid.

 

[Tim Glover]

Great screenshots Haggai. But man it's only 9:45 in the morning. :wink: That's just too much for a man my age so early before he's had his second cup of coffee.

Of course, after seeing those pics, I no longer need a second cup. :b

 

[Haggai]

I'm always glad to help out, Tim.

 

[Max Leung]

Well, it seems those who heard static in some dialog are right. I've been testing my HTPC (had DTS audio dropouts! Arrrgh), and there is definite static going on in some places. Scenes with Josh Hartnett definitely have the issue - the first scene, every time he speaks to the girl you can hear what sounds like rustling fabric. I also heard it when Wendy visits Marv in the cell. This is with the DTS soundtrack - I haven't listened to the DD5.1 track yet.

It's probably a screwup in the ADR studio - but who knows? I don't remember if this was present in the theater or not. These things are tough to notice the first or second time.

 

[Geoff_D]

My set-up isn't the greatest, so I put the 'static' in the dialogue down to my centre speaker. It's good to see that it's not just me! I have the R3 version, and the dialogue artefact is most noticable in the opening scene on the dts-es track. I didn't bother checking the Dolby track as I was too busy enjoying the film

I bought this blind, and I'm glad I did. I've never read the originals but the film is a blast, combining the classic Noir style with ultra-ultra-violence. Now I gotta see it again just to make sense of it all

 

[DaViD Boulet]

You guys are awesome...I love it...my fellow HTF members teasing out subtle mastering issues that I didn't notice even when I watched the whole feature through just *looking* for them. You guys ROCK!

I'm so proud...

:b

 

[Rob T]

I'm waiting for the SE.
I rented it once and that's good enough to hold me over till the SE gets released. I got lots of other stuff to watch while I'm waiting for it anyways.

 

[ClaytonMG]

I thought I was going insane with the whole static thing! But when all of my friends got together Friday night and we all heard it (Except for one person who may have been sitting at the wrong angle) I knew it wasn't just my ears. Plus I tested it on 2 other surround systems and it was still there. If it weren't for the problem with the dialogue, I'd say the audio track was flawless.

Clayton

 

[CoreyII]

Great Review Dave.

Because of my commitment to school, I almost missed this film during its theatrical run a few months ago. Luckily I caught it in a secondary theater.

I have the original graphic novel which was all about Marv. It came out back in the early 90's. Rodriguez did an outstanding job, he proved that you can stick to the comic page for page and end up with a great movie. Of all the comic book inspired films that have come out so far in 2005, I found Sin City to be the best, even better than Batman Begins.

I know that there is a special edition DVD in the not too distant future. Supposedly Rodriguez is going to tell each short story in its entirety with the special edition DVD. I believe it is coming out in November. If anyone can further elaborate, the information would be much appreciated.

 

[Michael Young]

I wonder if I would've noticed this ringing if I didn't read about sin City beforehand.

As soon as I popped it in I heard the static and extremely long whislting ess'is. in the dialog on DTS.

running a Definitive setup ProCenter 100 with 2 BP6's

Do you think this will be on SE release, or ever be fixed? I read some heard it in theater, so maybe it won't be fixed unfortunately.

 

[StephenP]

I definately noticed it (ringing) before I saw this thread, but only in two places. I really don't look for that kind of stuff unless it's shoved in my face. The second place I saw it was when the senator was standing between the two I.V. Stands in the hospital near the end. Tis effect seems hard to avoid when a dark subject is framed in a bright white background. Anyway I finally finished watching this, and I really enjoyed it! Maybe my favorite RR movie so far. (Didn't really dig Once Upon a Time in Mexico, although I loved the second of the trilogy.) The Marv story was my favorite by far, so I wish I had seen the film before I bought the Benecio cover! It's a good day when the only regret you have in a blind buy is the cover version you chose. I may have to double dip on this one!

 

[Dave Mack]

Okay, I watched most of this last nite late with the headphones on. It's more prevalent that you might think. It doesn't appear to be on anybody's voice-over (narration) track, but it's on SEVERAL actors' tracks. THROUGHOUT the film. It sounds like a very subtle digital artifact from maybe a noise-gate. (When I have done home recordings) I had a VERY similar situation at times and it was a pain. Try listening with headphones and turn it UP. This DEFINITELY should be fixed for the SE.

:frowning:

State of the art presentation my Irish heine!

 

[ClaytonMG]

Yeah, the voice over stuff sounds perfect. Some of the stuff is obvious that there was background noise and they only faded in the center channel when dialouge was present and faded it right back out. But then the high pitched noise in some of the scenes is really bad and I have no clue what that could be from.

 

[Yumbo]

There is SLIGHT EE in the white silhouette shots in beginning and with Elijah Wood.

There is distortion towards end of movie in (left) surround channels with bass and voice.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

OT... I just realized that Elijah Wood has now been in the highest rated film on IMDB each of the last five years:

2001 8.8 (168,483 votes) #12 LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
2002 8.8 (125,238 votes) #14 LOTR: The Two Towers
2003 9.0 (117,229 votes) #03 LOTR: The Return of the King
2004 8.6 ( 55,331 votes) #32 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 8.4 ( 48,148 votes) #91 Sin City

Perhaps this is a good omen for George Miller's Happy Feet slated for a late 2006 release. I'm not sure what to think regarding an animated musical by Miller, but it should be interesting.

OK.. Sorry for the interruption.

 

[Dave Mack]

With "Eternal" and "Sin City" Elijah is DEFINITELY doing the right thing to avoid being "Frodo-ized" for life.

d

 

[Andy Sheets]

The guy did the Babe the Pig movies. Animated musical doesn't sound like so much of a stretch to me

 

[brentl]

I must be one of very few that noticed the voice-overs had a HUGE issue with what sounds like voices pumping.

Initially I thought I was overdriving my front speakers, but I switched from DTS to DD and lowered the volume, the effect continued.

I also found the voice overs were way too hot compared to the rest of the flick.

THE picture was beautiful perfect, but that pumping nearly ruined the movie for me.

Brent