"The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

The studio is faster than I am! Was going to cancel all HD DVD orders after Warner's move to Blu-ray. This title has been listed at High-Def Digest for release on February 19, 2008 and I ordered it back in November 2007.

Amazon.com sent me an e-mail that it is in stock today, my Visa has been charged and was sent free two day UPS.

Kind of glad it's coming.

Paul

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-07

Could a Moderator please correct the date in the Title thread to 1-16-08, I'm a year behind! Sorry!

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-07

Very cool Paul. As my signature might suggest, I'm really looking forward to these. Let us know how they look.

Doug

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Ditto. I have been waiting for a quality report before I buy them. I orginally owned these on LD...

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com, LLC):
1 The Road To Rio / The Road... $13.95 1 $13.95

Shipped via UPS (estimated arrival date: 18-January-2008).
Tracking number: 1Z38EWxxxxxxxxx525

Item Subtotal: $13.95
Shipping & Handling: $0.00

BN Promotion Applied $-1.40
EB Pre-order Guarantee $0.00

Total: $12.55

Paid by Visa: $12.55
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Not a bad price for 2 HD movies on one disc.

Paul

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

My copy arrived yesterday, and I watched "Road to Rio" last night (haven't watched "Road to Bali" yet). The transfer seems to have come from a good print (the UCLA archives are mentioned at the start of the disc) and detail is good. Contrast could be a little better, perhaps, but it's otherwise quite good. I hadn't seen these movies before, so I can't comment on how the HD-DVD compares to prior SD-DVD releases.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

If this is a nice transfer (sounds like it is) I'll have to pick it up. There are so few films of this vintage available in hi-def.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Got the same email this morning from Amazon also! Delivery is tomorrow Jan. 18th, so sometime after I watch "Road to Rio", ... I can comment on the HD DVD PQ vs. my Bob Hope Film Collection "Road To Rio" (1947) SD DVD!

I never had a copy of "Road to Bali" (1952) SD DVD, so I can't comment on that but I'm looking forward to seeing it!!!

I love Bob Hope's movies, and can't wait to received "My Favorite Brunette / Son of Paleface" [HD DVD] sometime in March.

CLASSIC HD DVD'S I ALREADY OWN:
---------------------------------------------
1) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
2) Casablanca (1942)
3) Forbidden Planet (1956) Ultimate Tin Box
4) Rio Bravo (1959)
5) The Searchers (1956)

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Scott describes "Road to Rio" as I experienced it on my 110" screen. Preserved, but not a costly refurbishment. 1080P Detail is very good, down to the cross-square weave patterns on Bob Hope's suit and I would compare the contrast of this B&W film to late-night 50's B&W television; not being at all a complaint. I've viewed actual B&W 16mm Hollywood films with comparable contrast. The scratches and blemishes are few and far between and it seems like the UCLA archive copy has not been used much and carefully preserved all these years.

At this posting, just looking briefly at sample portions of "The Road to Bali" also on this HD DVD, I would describe colors as vibrant and the contrast to correctly compliment the picture. The portions I've viewed, have had the same 1080P detail look of "The Road to Rio".

Paul

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Wow thanks Paul. I'll be ordering this one right away.

Doug

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

This is the first title I've come across that restricts HD play through a component connection. (I have a Toshiba HD-AX1. Even with the latest 2.4 update, I still had frequent image freeze issues. Last week, I gave up in exasperation and switched to a component connection...so far, the freeze problems have disappeared. My understanding is that I sacrifice the player's upconversion capabilities. I guess I'll have to rely on my Blu-ray player for standard DVD upconversion).

Are there any other HD DVD or Blu-ray titles that restrict HD play this way?

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Don't quite understand what is happening Gary.
The HD DVD plays smoothly in my Toshiba A1 via the HDMI port in my theater room and just tried the disc on my XBOX 360 add-on via component out and it is also playing smoothly, viewed on my 32" widescreen in the bedroom. Component out is 1080i on the XBOX, so I don't understand where the problem ("restrict HD play back"?) starts for you.

Paul

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Perhaps I jumped to conclusions Paul...or I don't understand the HD-DVD platform as well as I thought I did. However, the disc displays all of the icon characteristics of standard DVD (scan, pause, chapter skip). Also, the resume from stop actually works, which is one of the minor advantages of standard DVD. More to the point, I've yet to see the resume feature work with any other hi-def disc.

I just checked the display icon and it does, in fact, indicate 1080i output from this disc. Sorry for any confusion.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

The resume feature works on HDM that has been authored in basic mode. Many early blu-ray releases are basic and will do the resume feature.

Most HD DVDs have been authored in the advanced mode which is why most won't resume. Its also why they take quite a while to load when you first put the disc in. A fair amount of data has to be loaded into the player's memory.

Road to Rio/Road To Bali seems to have been authored in basic mode with a fairly basic DVD style menu.

Doug

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Thanks Doug..learned something new.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

I can handle basic mode as long as it looks good. My wife saw it sitting in my shopping cart at Amazon and went ahead with the order, so I hope to be able to check it out soon.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

That's horrible news about the resume function. It is something I rely on heavily. I can only hope that future players will figure out how to resume with things authored in 'advanced mode'.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

I agree. I'm not sure what the deal is with advanced mode HDM discs not doing resume. It's really something they should work on.

Doug

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Don't forget that you can bookmark most discs to get a "resume like" feature.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

I'll have to look into that (I want to be careful not to hijack this thread, since I own blu-ray not hd-dvd, but it was here that the 'resume play' issue came up).

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Hit the B button on most discs to bookmark the location. You can see (and select) your bookmarks under either a my scenes menu or the chapter menu.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Thanks Adam, I'll try that out. Any idea in general, if bookmarks are remembered when the disc is removed from the player. I have a regular dvd player (5 disc carousel) that resumes play even if you take the disc out. My blu-ray resumes play, but only when the disc is left in, though the machine can be turned off.

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

I'm sorry for getting too far off topic.

However, I came across a standard DVD disc that outputs a 1080i signal through component (a Spanish language disc that belongs to an employee). As I recall, the box indicates region 1 and 4. It certainly didn't look like an upconvert. Apparently, a very low budget movie with fabulous P.Q.

Confusing, no?

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

It is possible to author a 1080i or 1080p movie in MPEG2 on a standard DVD and it will play back on an HD DVD player. However even with a double layer DVD you will only have about 35 or 40 min of playback time.

Doug

Re: "The Road to Bali/The Road to Rio" HD DVD has shipped 1-16-08

Bookmarks are stored internally so you can take the HD DVDs out!

I had bookmarks for "Road to Rio", "Road to Bali" "Disturbia" (excellent thriller), Star Trek "Space Seed" & other ST episodes for that last week or so.

Back on topic, I concur with Paul & Scott subjective review above, let me add that "Road to Rio" HD DVD is a Great Improvement over my Digitally Restored Bob Hope Film Collection "Road To Rio" (1947) SD DVD!

What the HD DVD restored vs. SD DVD (viewed 62" Toshiba DLP 1080p HDTV / Toshiba HD-A35):

1) Minimized film shake - especially during the opening film credits

2) Restored the opening film credit's aspect ratio
... a) SD DVD looked cropped
... b) One credit frame(s) actually panned slightly to the left, then to the right

3) Major film scratches and white spot blemishes removed.
.... a) As noted by Paul, "... scratches and blemishes are few and far between ..."

4) Overall clarity restored, especially when comparing the map / footsteps opeining sequence & distance crowd scene shots.
.... a) As noted by Paul, "...1080P Detail is very good, down to the cross-square weave patterns on Bob Hope's suit "
.... b) Let me add that Bing's pin-striped suit benefitted with the restored 1080p detail also.

5) Paul's comment on Contrast is 100% accurate, " I would compare the contrast of this B&W film to late-night 50's B&W television"

6) Soundtrack dynamics, though limited far superior vs. SD DVD.

Funny movie - highly recommend.

-------------
"Road to Bali"

I never had a copy of "Road to Bali", or seen the movie before (more accurately, don't remember seeing it before), ... so I can't comment on the SD DVD differences vs. HD DVD, but the colors, 1080p detail and contrast look very good for a 40's film.

I imagine that major film scratches and white/color spot blemishes were removed but you'll see the occasional minor film scratches and blemishes throughout the film. Really silly, slapstick theme film with very good special effects (for the 40's) and a few unexpected surprize cameo's!

All-in-all, a nice addition to my HD DVD library!!!