A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Planet Earth is an epic documentary like none ever before created.

In sheer size and scope alone it would have set a new standard for it's form, but the overall quality of this immense project sets it apart from everything that has come before, and may well hold the position for years to come.

Make no mistake. This is a reference quality product. As a documentary the quality of High Definition images and the means by which they were captured run the gamut from ethereally beautiful to slightly grainy caused by little or no light, and this must be acknowledged and accepted.

The promotional notes give us the following information: 5 years in production, filmed by 71 camera people across every continent in 62 countries, using every technical means available in image capture.

Because of the resolution necessary to capture much of Planet Earth, High Definition becomes not a luxury, but rather a necessity. This is one of those unique films that I would choose not to recommend as a standard definition product.

Planet Earth could not be more Highly Recommended, and will be one of the landmark releases of 2007.

I urge all readers to support the BBC and to add a copy of Planet Earth in Blu-Ray or HD to your library. Then sit back…

and prepare to be awed.

The glory, the brutal danger, the serenity, the animalistic horror, and the overriding exultation of our planet and the creatures therein supported are a ceaseless wonder.

RAH

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

I'm drooling over my keyboard here !!

My copy is still enroute, if i have to wait any longer to feast my eyes on this series I am going to go round the bend !!!

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Thanks Robert. My HD DVD copy takes its time, of course, having to cross a big piece of that same planet Earth to get here.

This release is such a perfect reason to have HD!



Cees

Re: A few words about...? Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

I was in junior high when Cosmos first aired. That was the first really monumental documentary series that I can remember, and for the most part it still holds up wonderfully today. Yet it is simply dwarfed by what they accomplished here. That may not seem fair since they are concerned with different subjects, but the scope of the project here just humbles everything that has come before it. There are shots that are so amazing, and look so unreal that you think they have to be special effects. We've all seen time lapse shots of flowers since grade school, but here there are long time lapse pans of countryside covering whole seasons...it is so incredible it almost becomes numbing after a while.
I'm a hardcore movie fan, but it would take something extra special to knock this off as 'release of the year'.
I just don't see it happening.

It's an absolute treasure and more than worthwhile at the prices I've seen it going for online.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

I have been watching it on Discovery HD, I am sure not near the quality of HD DVD... but the show is amazing....

I will own a copy shortly!

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

No doubt about it! This release is easily my front runner for HD release of the year.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Thanks for the impressions!

I AM DYING TO SEE THIS!!!

BluRay in transit from Amazon. HURRY UP!!!!

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

I will echo the comments above. I have the HD-DVD set and the parts that I have watched are amazing. If you like this type of programming you should get a copy of this series!

Laters,
Jeff

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

My Blu-ray should be here tomorrow, and I'm really anxious to watch it. I've seen only bits and pieces of the episodes on Discovery HD Theater, but I saw enough to know I wanted it in HD.

All of the positive reviews the set has gotten on this site was another strong incentive to buy it.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Thanks Robert (RAH) for your review & recommendation!!!

I just finished watching all 11 shows and must comment that the education gained from all the different themed locations around the world was outstanding, if not a bit overwhelming and awe-inspiring, especially when viewed in the 1080p HD format! (HD DVD )

For instance, we're treated with some very, very rare, crystal-clear & sharp distant / close-up views of animals acting normal, undisturbed, just trying to survive within their elements. These never seen before activities was made possible due to their very powerful HD zoom lens, where some shots are from a helicopter that is couple of miles away from the animals, ... so they were never aware that they we being observed and video taped.

This set merits repeatable viewing due to the wealth of locations, their associated local and historical legacy along with their unique and in many cases, very rare animals and creatures video. Some of the creatures are so unique (many just strange & weird in a creepy skin-crawling sort-of-way ) & elusive that this is the first time that they were observed and video taped. It's amazing just how many animals and creatures are only found in their respective, one location spot (above or below water) in the world.

Phil

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

My BD copy just arrived in the mail from Warner so I'll have to check it out this weekend.

One thing I am dissapointed about is that the documentaries included with the DVD set are not included with the HD versions. Also, people over on AVSForum have been complaining of excessive banding because of using relatively low-bandwidth coding VC-1 and alot of material into 4 discs.

Personally it makes no nevermind to me, I'm still watching on a 56" 720p DLP TV. Just as long as it looks good.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

I got my HD DVD set from Amazon.com today and we watched the first episode and was blown away. This series is definitely worth every purchase.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

There is no banding visible on the first four spisodes (all I have had a change to view at this time). My guess is the the posters on AVSForum probably forgot to take off their sun glasses before they began watching the disks, or possibly just forgot to engage their brain.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

It also could be their display!

With my old RIP 56HM195, banding was an issue.

With my new 62HM196, banding is not an issue thanks to Toshiba's upgrade - PixelPure Hi-Bit™ 12-Bit Digital Video Processing**. (56HM195 PixelPure AT was 10 or less-Bits)


So, no macroblocking or obvious distracting banding images (like I saw w/my ole' RIP 56HM195) from all viewed 11 HD DVD Planet Earth shows.

Phil

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Just got HD DVD copy today. A friend has borrow my HD DVD player - I will get it back tomorrow!

Thank you for the review Robert..

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

There is banding and it has been documented with direct digital screen shots. Some of it is apparently in the master already.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

i know i won't be able to hold out
who has this for the lowets price, BR version.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

What exactly is "banding"?

I have noticed on a few of the later episodes some strange distortion, especially in darker scenes. It's definitely there.

But the majority so far has been spectacular!

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

"Banding" refers to visible steps in brightness or colour values. It is so-called because of the impression of stripes which it produces. Computer-generated logos in television images often show it (especially on DTV) — there's one I see all the time, which has an ellipse in the centre of the screen, and a gradient out to the edge, and it looks like the whole screen is occupied by concentric ellipses.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Banding can be seen if the image (as finally displayed) has less different colours to its disposal than is necessary to see smooth transitions from one part of a smooth surface to another part.

Of the next two images, the second shows severe banding (because it had to use a palette of only 128 different colours). Specifically note the water and the sky:








Cees

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Great pics Cees.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

That's NOt what I was seeing. Hmm...

Although I do travel over that bridge 3 times a week.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Thanks, Tim.
Made it back in 2005 when my wife and I visited New York.



Tino,


In a movie you'd see the moving version of that phenomenon, which generally makes it more easy to spot.


Cees

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

I just received my HD DVD copy of this. After watching much of the first episode, I have to say that the program is simply amazing. Well worth the money. I can't wait to see the rest of it.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

I got the series on hd-dvd and I noticed some noise in the picture especially during a waterfall scene on the first disc.
I was surprised to see the noise.

Anybody else notice that?

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Kind of off-topic, kind of related... Has anyone had issues with "floaters" in this set? I had heard some "horror" stories about it, and, sure enough, my Blu-ray Disc copy had "floaters". A couple were scratched, which is a first for BD, but certainly not for HD DVD.

When it comes to the scratches on my BD, it almost looks as if the discs were scratched before the coating was applied, which I suppose it entirely possible. Anyway, I am very anxious to watch this program, but I must say between this and scratched up copies of The Game, the lack of QC at the HD optical media plants is taking some of the enjoyment out of the hobby for me at the moment.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

Are you saying there's some "conspiracy" with the BD format that puts scratches on the discs before they package and ship them? Nonsense.

In this particular case the center spindles are tiny and even the slightest bit of motion dislodges the discs from them- I can do it just by slightly tilting the case, then you have essentially the two center discs floating around. Luckily mine arrived not too badly scratched. Annoying, yes, but little more. This is a serious design flaw and there is no way a set costing upwards of $100MSRP should have gotten past quality assurance with this type of problem.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

lol No, I'm not saying that at all. All I was saying was that two of my discs had some scratches on them that did not wipe off like the only other BD "floater" I had, which was Full Metal Jacket. Therefore, I wondered if it was possible that the discs were scratched before they had they're coating applied. Are you saying that isn't possible?

It occurs to me that people will get worked up about anything around here, and it almost seems as though people are looking for excuses to pick fights anymore. If you were seriously confused about the intentions of my post, my apologies, but I am not some raving, AVS, format fanboy either way (even though I currently lean blu).

Edited to add:

I have changed the sentence: "When it comes to the scratches on these BD, it almost looks as if the discs were scratched before the coating was applied, which I suppose it entirely possible." to "When it comes to the scratches on my BD, it almost looks as if the discs were scratched before the coating was applied, which I suppose it entirely possible.", as this is most likely the source of the 'confusion'.

Re: A few words about...™ Planet Earth -- in HD & BD

well you did say...
"A couple were scratched, which is a first for BD, but certainly not for HD DVD."
i think that is what prompted the previous response to your previous post.