Heartstopping Shots on HD DVD

Bob_L · 09-01-2006, 11:44 PM

I'm anxiously waiting for my HD A1 to arrive; so, what else, I make regular visits to the local BB to get a mild anxiety-reducing taste of HD DVD.

Tonight while watching the "King Kong" footage on the demo disc, there were several shots that literally made me gasp for air. The contrast, the details, the presence of the shot were so extraordinary that I involuntarily took a breath of exhilaration (and, I admit, muttered, "Holy Crap!")

I'm placing this comment in THIS HD DVD forum because....

I haven't seen ANYTHING on the Blu-ray demo disk that made me gasp. Some of the shots look OK. A few of the POTC shots look comparable to HD DVD's demo. BUT NOTHING I've seen on Blu-ray has the eye-searing impact of some of the shots in the HD DVD disk.

I thought we could gloat among HD DVD friends here without starting a format war. But, based on just these small and nonrepresentative demos (which is what most people will be seeing of both formats), I don't understand how anyone with their eyeballs in order could find anything on the poorly encoded Blu-ray demo disc superior to the remarkable HD DVD demos.

So, what are the shots that made you gasp as were watching an HD DVD disk?

RobertDW · 09-01-2006, 11:55 PM

I gasp every time when I see the sticker price of HD DVD titles in BB.

BTW I believe the HD DVD demo disc is encoded using mpeg2 at a high bitrate (discs was made before the VC1 authoring tools were available). The King Kong clip is in fact fantastic and I hope the VC1 transfer looks the same.

Ronald Epstein · 09-02-2006, 07:40 AM

Why would you buy titles at Best Buy prices?

If you purchase discs through amazon.com you'll save a
lot of money -- especially if they are still running the promotion
whereas you buy 3 HD titles immediately and save 10% on all
future purchases over the next year.

My HD-DVD discs never cost more than $20 shipped through
Amazon. I also paid for the yearly PRIME service so I get 2
days free shipping.

I'd also check out Lasers Edge to see what their prices are like.

Steve Tannehill · 09-02-2006, 08:29 AM

Ditto to everything said here.

Bob, I think that was the same demo disc I saw back in March. I went in to this Toshiba-hosted demo very skeptical, and went out wanting the player. The Kong footage, especially the slow panning shot of Skull Island, was just outstanding. King Kong will be the killer app when it is (hopefully) released later this year.

I just wish Amazon were better with their shipments. Good Night and Good Luck only shipped yesterday. I won't have it until next week, a full two weeks after street date. I've got a backlog of discs to watch so that does not bother me too much, but I wish they could deliver sooner.

- Steve

dpippel · 09-02-2006, 09:26 AM

IMO Amazon's HD-DVD support has been pretty poor so far. They list release dates far in the future for titles that have been out for weeks, they sometimes don't even HAVE listings for titles that are already out, and their stock situation on quite a few titles is lackluster (i.e., ships in 7-10 days). Their prices are great and the 10% off deal is fantastic, but these advantages aren't worth a hill of beans if they can't ship product in a timely manner.

Unfortunately for the consumer, Amazon appears to have the best prices arouund on HD-DVD at the present time. Hopefully they'll get their issues resolved sooner rather than later and some of the other online retailers will get more competetive with their pricing as well.

**HTF Ads**

Bob_L · 09-02-2006, 12:56 PM

In the Kong demo content, there is a shot of one of the Skull Island residents, a tight closeup that simply CATAPULTS off the screen it is SO detailed and SO vivid.

Frankly, I'm pretty confident that I saw more detail in those Kong clips on HD DVD than I saw in the theatrical presentation. (And I saw Kong in a "private" company screening at Universal Studios on an ENORMOUS screen they set up in the Universal Amphitheater. It was spectacular.)

It's a sobering and exhilarating thought that we are on the verge of having in-home film viewing that surpasses the visual quality of theatrical presentation (much as my in-home audio presentation has surpassed theatrical for several years).

CaptDS9E · 09-02-2006, 04:41 PM

Here are a few of my favorite HD shots so far which i thought "Wow that looks fantastic". Trust me there are a lot more then this

1-Apollo 13 launch
2-Last Half Hour of Serenity (most of the film actually)
3-Pitch Black- When the Moon Rises putting a blue tint on everything, as well as 10 minutes or so in when the ship is headed towards the nebula
4- Chronicles of Riddick-Prison planet when the fire is engulfing everything
5-Constantine - The hell sequences

BrettisMckinney · 09-02-2006, 06:36 PM

I know you cant tell much in screenshots, but is their any sites that have some?

Ed St. Clair · 09-02-2006, 09:12 PM

Every frame of Corpse Bride, on the HD DVD demo disc!!! :-0

Tim Glover · 09-02-2006, 10:53 PM

Can't complain about the prices on Amazon for sure for the HD-A1 and the HD-DVD software but they list We Were Soldiers and The Italian Job as not yet released....what gives?