[Robert Zawacki]

SuperMan Returns, Wow, the worst BlueRay experience I have had. I have no idea why.

I have a ps3, NEW HLS-6187w Samsung 1080p (accepts 1080p input), hooked up via HDMI.

Started at 1080p, banding, grainy throughout, my wife said "is this a dvd or blueray?" One scene would be perfect, then BAM, grainy or major banding. Here is a strange thing, I switched it to 1080i, it did improve the image, but still grainy and banding. Kept going back and forth between resolutions, 1080i much better, but still not WOW.

I have had this setup for over a week, MI3, Ice Age - perfect presentations, 1080p works like a charm. I love BlueRay so far. Superman Returns, Major dissapointment.

If I could return it, I would. Is this PS3? TV? Movie?

[Todd H]

It could be the movie. I noticed the same thing on the SD DVD. I know the film was shot digitally so that could be the reason.

[Larry Sutliff]

A lot of people seem to be having problems with the high def transfer of SR. It looks very nice on my CRT Rp at 1080i via HD DVD, maybe it's a problem with digital displays?

[Neil Joseph]

You may want to check out the other thread - specific to Superman Returns blu-ray and also the hd dvd. In my particular setup, the only thing I noticed was a very slight softness mind you, I am using 1080i via the Panasonic player.

[Larry Sutliff]

Neil is correct, SR definitely has a soft focus look. It looked that way in theaters too. For me I'm seeing more shadow detail on the HD DVD than I did in the theater, so I'm pretty happy with the transfer. Maybe a bigger screen than mine(47") brings out more flaws in the picture.

[Brian Kaz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Sutliff

Maybe a bigger screen than mine(47") brings out more flaws in the picture.

Nope. 110" screen and it looks pretty darn good on my setup. My only problem with it are the skin tones. They skew to a pastel yellow.

Watching with the PS3.

[chuckamuck]

It's not your PS3. "Superman Returns" is getting mixed reviews in both formats. It does seem to be a lacklustre transfer but personally, I found the movie to be ugly and dull-looking even in the theater (particularly the middle arctic section).

[Dan Hitchman]

There was terrible banding in the underwater sequences. I have the exact same setup as the OP. However, this has been noticed by many other viewers.

I believe either someone was asleep at the switch during the transfer (like poor 8 bit downconversion from the 10 or 12 bit master), or we're seeing problems with the original HD video.

If I had liked the movie more and hadn't rented it, I would be PO'd at this transfer.

As stated before, the softness is intentional. Singer wanted to go for the Geoffrey Unsworth look of the original two Superman films he lensed. He did not succeed. First, he used a digital camera. Second, there are very few Geoffrey Unsworth caliber DP's around.

Dan