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post #91 of 169
6/23/06 at 10:05pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterTHX
The PS3 is HDMI 1.3 compliant.
That was FAST!!!
I sit corrected. ;-)
I do not believe 1.3 will solve all the problems of HDMI, unfortunately, as the newest version only officially address audio, right?
Hope some behind the scenes tweaks, makes "all" of HDMI shortcomings go away.
I mean, what is the point of "upgrading" to digital, when compared to analog it's a "downgrade"?!?!?!?!?! :-0
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post #92 of 169
6/23/06 at 11:40pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

No chance ICT is affecting THE FIFTH ELEMENT (etc) is there?
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post #93 of 169
6/24/06 at 12:44am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Caine
No chance ICT is affecting THE FIFTH ELEMENT (etc) is there?

None whatsoever.

Sony has already officially stated that *no* Blu-ray discs released this year will have the ICT enabled. Plus most of the Blu-ray owners are stating that the Samsung's 1080i output on the initial Blu-ray titles looks better via component!
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post #94 of 169
6/24/06 at 5:19am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterTHX
$100 more. Plus it has a bigger hard drive, bluetooth, etc.


Still $100 more than HD-A1 that has HDMI output.
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post #95 of 169
6/24/06 at 7:58am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

I was expecting the worst when popping in THE FIFTH ELEMENT last night, but I really didn't think it looked so bad. It beat the HD-DVD of THE PERFECT STORM I watched immediately prior. A little grain and dirt here and there, but far better than the DVD.

TERMINATOR doesn't look so hot, but let's face it, it never has. This was probably not the smartest title to use at launch. I thought UNDERWORLD EVOLUTION looked excellent also, on par with the HD-DVDs I've seen.

I've got the Toshiba HD DVD unit connected via HDMI, and the Samsung Blu-ray via component.

I'm pretty happy with both players so far; but I'd agree Sony better start using the best encoding process out there. They can't afford not to.

I'm mostly renting the discs from Netflix at this point anyway, so for me, after the cost of the players: I'm not really worried about who comes out on top.
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post #96 of 169
6/24/06 at 9:30am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Phillips
I was expecting the worst when popping in THE FIFTH ELEMENT last night, but I really didn't think it looked so bad.
That's how I felt when I viewed it last night. It was pretty good, except when there were descriptive sentences on the screen written in white. The extreme edging of the letters had a tremendous amount of noise that I've never noticed on any other format, and that was completely distracting for me, but other than that, the film itself, wasn't too bad.

What I really can't stand, is the descriptive subtitles, that are on the Blu-ray movie xXx. They are below the OAR 2.40:1 film frame and in the black border area of a 16x9 aspect ratio screen. This is not the way it is in the theater and for me, looked almost invisible, because I have black matting around the projected OAR. People with 'constant hight' setups won't even see the descriptive subtitles, as their OAR frame takes up the whole screen, not leaving the black bar space for projecting the words.

Sony really has to get their act together and give us the same image experience that is seen at the theater.

Paul
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post #97 of 169
6/24/06 at 11:12am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

this is interesting because that print of the 5th element in HD/SD has been circulating around on Demand from Comcast for ages.
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post #98 of 169
6/24/06 at 1:15pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Still $100 more than HD-A1 that has HDMI output.

What's the size of the HD-A1'S hard drive?
How many games does it play?
How many SACDs can it play?
Does it have DolbyTrue HD 5.1 like the PS3?

$100 is a bargain.
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post #99 of 169
6/24/06 at 1:17pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
People with 'constant hight' setups won't even see the descriptive subtitles, as their OAR frame takes up the whole screen

But there is more of us who do not have that setup and prefer it in the black bars because A: it doesn't muck up the flm frame and B: it's easier to read.
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post #100 of 169
6/24/06 at 1:27pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterTHX
What's the size of the HD-A1'S hard drive?
How many games does it play?
How many SACDs can it play?
Does it have DolbyTrue HD 5.1 like the PS3?

$100 is a bargain.


don't care about HDD
don't care about games
don't care about SACD
just bought a new receiver so currently don't care about DolbyTrue HD 5.1

Therefore not spending the additional $100.

I just want a $400 BD player with HDMI output by December (well, by the time I buy HD-A1, which will also in December, the price will already drop to $400, current cheapest price for HD-A1 is around $450)
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post #101 of 169
6/24/06 at 1:32pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterTHX
But there is more of us who do not have that setup and prefer it in the black bars because A: it doesn't muck up the flm frame and B: it's easier to read.

Agreed.

However, with all these 'advancements' on both camps, we should be able to display the subtitle wherever we want (just like an outboard Close Captioning box that I used to own, I can scroll the position of the CC up or down wherever I want. Even right smack dab in the middle of the screen if I'm crazy enough to)
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post #102 of 169
6/24/06 at 2:22pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterTHX
What's the size of the HD-A1'S hard drive?
How many games does it play?
How many SACDs can it play?
Does it have DolbyTrue HD 5.1 like the PS3?

$100 is a bargain.

Who want's a game console (with inferior quality more than likely) as their main HD player in a dedicated home theatre?

I sure as hell don't.
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post #103 of 169
6/24/06 at 2:30pm
Thread Starter 

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

I've watched five BD movies so far, and the only one that looks as good as HD DVD is UNDERWORLD. TERMINATOR and T5E look like decent cable HD, while XXX and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS look pretty crappy.

So far, I'm pretty underwhelmed with Blu-Ray.
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post #104 of 169
6/24/06 at 4:44pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Still waiting for someone/anyone to compare the SB T5E with the BD T5E!
Jeez, even the SD DVD of T5E against the Blu-it disc, cause it would be great to know if this is the same source, or what?
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post #105 of 169
6/24/06 at 4:56pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Still waiting for someone/anyone to compare the SB T5E with the BD T5E!
It's been done, Ed. See this.
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post #106 of 169
6/24/06 at 5:54pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertR
It's been done, Ed. See this.
Thanks for the link!
Not being a Blu Guy, I don't feel at all comfortable on Blu forums.
Shoot, the Blu Guys scare me off of HD DVD sites!!!
Of coarse, I scare people off of ALL sites!!! :-0
Oh well! ;-)
It's a BIG mess over there, butt I'll try to get thought it and then get the heck out of Dodge! :-)
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post #107 of 169
6/24/06 at 5:59pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
don't care about SACD
just bought a new receiver so currently don't care about DolbyTrue HD 5.1

Well, I have about 20 SACDs (and about the same in DVD-Audio discs) so playback of these is somewhat important to me.
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is great because it can decode it and send the output to 6 channel PCM via HDMI. My Onkyo receiver has HDMI.

So, again, this is a great value, and maybe not to you, but to me and many others.
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post #108 of 169
6/24/06 at 9:53pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterTHX
But there is more of us who do not have that setup and prefer it in the black bars because A: it doesn't muck up the flm frame and B: it's easier to read.
I believe the film should have the descriptive subtilties exactly where they were for the theatrical release and approved by the director.

IMHO, this is just as important in preserving the original artistic intent as the OAR of the film. Easier to read? Yes. Doesn't muck up the film frame? Yes.

People who like Pan & Scan say it's easier to see the picture on a 4:3 screen, but many of us "Home Theater" videophile's want the theatrical presentation as the director originally intended it to look.

Paul
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post #109 of 169
6/24/06 at 11:01pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
I believe the film should have the descriptive subtilties exactly where they were for the theatrical release and approved by the director

Except that they were usually optically added, making the shots a "dupe" and degrading the quality.

One thing I dislike about the new "Patton" transfer. The colors are better, the overall image has no edge enhancement, and there is more picture at all corners, however the original subtitles are present and are darn near impossible to read. Maybe on a Dimension 150 screen it would look all right but not on home video. I think the widescreen vs full screen doesn't apply here (kinda like saying if the video device isn't capable of the full 4k+ resolution then don't bother). Besides, often the directors &/or cinemetographers approve the video transfers and the player generated subtitles seem to ok with them...
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post #110 of 169
6/25/06 at 12:22am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Off topic;
Would the director chose subtitle location & color?
Is the film subtitled in its native country or the country where the subtitles are needed (used)?
Thanks.
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post #111 of 169
6/25/06 at 4:00am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

For right now, only some posts were deleted from this thread due to the personal nature of them. Let's remember to report any post that crosses the line of good posting behavior without responding and escalating the situation. Thank you.





Crawdaddy
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post #112 of 169
6/25/06 at 4:04am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

are posts defending a certain format blindly and rabidly considered to be okay? just asking.
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post #113 of 169
6/25/06 at 4:09am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

forget about BD and HD DVD specific for a moment, I find that prices of High-Def discs at my local Wal Mart are $10 cheaper than Best Buy and Futureshop (similar to BestBuy)
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post #114 of 169
6/25/06 at 4:22am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelly Grannell
are posts defending a certain format blindly and rabidly considered to be okay? just asking.
As long as those posts are made in the appropriate forum area and they don't violate our posting guidelines. Just a suggestion, if you really think that then the ability to "ignore" is a great tool to utilize, especially, when you think a person is being unnecessarily obstinate in their position. Because it's really not worth the exerted energy nor aggravation to engage that person.




Crawdaddy
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post #115 of 169
6/25/06 at 4:24am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

I'll start ignoring those posts then. Thank you for the explanation.

Cheers,
Kelly
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post #116 of 169
6/25/06 at 6:31am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Kelly, HTF does have an ignore feature... all posts from an individual can be made to disappear in your view of the posts.

I've done this and entire threads in the HD section have vanished!!!

- Steve
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post #117 of 169
6/25/06 at 6:35am

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

And have some pity for us: we cannot put someone on ignore.

Quote:
are posts defending a certain format blindly and rabidly considered to be okay? just asking.
There will always be judgements people who read this forum will have to make for themselves. That includes forming an opinion about other posters (and then NOT posting about that!).

We cannot simply start taking steps against misinformed, "blind", insincere, stupid posts/opinions/information. Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805) already knew this, years and years before this forum even came into existence:

Against stupidity the Mods themselves contend in vain.




Cees
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post #118 of 169
6/25/06 at 6:52am
Thread Starter 

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
I believe the film should have the descriptive subtilties exactly where they were for the theatrical release and approved by the director/

I agree. The XXX subtitle placement reminded me of the laserdisc days, when films like STAR WARS placed the subtitles in the letterbox. That's something I hope we never go back to!
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post #119 of 169
6/25/06 at 12:42pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
The XXX subtitle placement reminded me of the laserdisc days, when films like STAR WARS placed the subtitles in the letterbox

Well, Lucas approved those transfers. So...
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post #120 of 169
6/25/06 at 2:51pm

Re: First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Tannehill
Kelly, HTF does have an ignore feature... all posts from an individual can be made to disappear in your view of the posts.

I've done this and entire threads in the HD section have vanished!!!

- Steve

Thank you, I'll try to find that feature and "ignore posts" from certain individuals.
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