A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD - Page 4

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Agreed. BD's advantages remain hypothetical. TheDigitalBits' cheerleading for the format is a little tiresome, though I understand Bill's reasons.

My verdict on the IME for 300 is that it's an excellent feature, and a clear discriminator between the two releases for those who want to learn about how the film was made. Had all other things been equal, I might have gone for the BD version, given the fact that my PS3 outputs BD via HDMI, and my 360 add-on drive doesn't...but all other things were not equal.

--Jefferson Morris

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

The Picture in Picture feature doesn't work on Blu-ray yet, so they really couldn't offer it at this time. This would be an HD DVD only release (for now) if they had waited for Picture in Picture on blu-ray.

Doug

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Picture-in-picture seems to work fine on the Blu-ray version of Dragon's Lair.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

I'm not sure how they did this for Dragon's Lair. There seems to have been some kind of technical trickery as I don't believe that any blu-ray player on the market at this point has the second chip required to do the video overlay for Picture in Picture.

The only player right now that might be able to do BD-J picture in picture is the PS3 and it would have to do it through some kind of software emulation.

Doug

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

And also on The Descent.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

So? I´m happy to double-dip if that´s the case in the near future. Blu-ray-version also "works great and is in stores now". It´s not "combo" and has additional PCM-track. Nothing wrong with that either.

I believe that this "rumor" (if Deborah Snyder actually said: "they were working on a more elaborate IME for the Blu-ray, which was going to have storyboards and production artwork in addition to the bluescreen footage") is an important one. Why?

Well, this might mean that "300 re-release" could be the first proper release on Blu-ray supporting the "full" BD-J. So when BD-Java is finally ready, "300" will be released (perhaps some other titles also) supporting PiP, storyboards etc. Snyder might have leaked something very important..

Of course some HD DVD-fans hope that full BD-J, Fox support etc doesn´t materialize, but I think there´s an old saying of who gets the last laugh.. <= humor

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

PiP, as defined by the format specs, does not currently exist on Blu-ray. PiP requires dual video decoders and no Blu-ray players have this. The Blu-ray spec requiring dual decoder support is not scheduled to go into effect until the first of November.

Those BD release so far that have what looks like PiP are using some other authoring to accomplish this.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

The "SO" is that the IME is here NOW on HD DVD. The blu version is missing what is to a lot of us a major bonus feature. As this thread is discussing the two versions that were released on Tuesday, that seems a fair point to me.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Yes, I seem to remember reading around the time of release that The Descent actually has a second encoding of the film with the PIP window on it.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Same end result though right? Looked like PIP to me.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Yes but to put two encodes of the movie on to the disc takes up a huge amount of real estate that could be used for other things.

Doug

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Dragon's Lair is different than The Descent. DL pip was done with BD-J. I remember reading an article/interview on it but can't find it now.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

I thought I read that The Descent was done with BD-J too.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

I stand corrected. From the HD Digest review:

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

This is by paidgeek from AVS forum (about Blu-ray and web related features):

"It is still early days for web delivered content that enhances an HD disc. I do not expect the studios to be obligated to keep content up forever, but avoiding dead links on the disc has been discussed internally and we are sensitive to that. The Blu-ray format allows for saving content designed to be associated with a given title on "local storage". Consumers should become accustom to saving the content they want on their own without an expectation that it will be on a server for years waiting for them to download it over again. That said, we can watch the frequency of downloads over time and make some business decisions based on those findings."

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

I Though the transer of this was great,But the look of the film is pretty
bad,Like the look of "Flags of our Fathers" its another low color mess up!
I ratter just see B&W ,then this ,Its looks like they filmed it in B&W
and then Added color latter,

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

It´s artistic - and fully intended, choice by the director and DOP. Both "300" and "Flags/Letters" look pretty awesome to my eye. Rough beauty, I like that. It adds realism (in the case of "Flags/Letters", "300" was just entertainment).

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

This movie was based on Frank Miller's Graphic Novels and is styled in the same manner. Do people complain about the same things with Sin City? Do ALL movies have to look exactly the same?? I guess people don't like creativity and prefer vanilla even though there's lots of other flavours available.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

I absolutely LOVED the look of this movie!

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Some people were probably a bit spoiled during the 1990s/early 2000s etc when many Hollywood productions used that ultra-slick commercial style and everything looked perfected and polished. Now I have nothing against that style (if it´s that "artistic/intended, choice"), but we should be happy that we have such a variety of styles in these days and even some of the big Hollywood productions can look rough and rugged (yes, and grainy). I have a feeling that films like "Saving Private Ryan (1998)" (opening scene) and "Gladiator (2000)" (that certain "style" during the fight scenes) helped to add that "roughness", desaturated colors and hand-held look to the huge Hollywood productions.

It´s sad if now (when the HD-formats are here and that added sharpness/detail-level, etc) people complain about issues like grain, lack of colors, etc etc IF they´re meant to be there in the first place. We should look in the mirror: Do we want everything to be "perfect" (just because we have a kick-ass widescreen TV and HD-player) or how they were meant to be seeing? If you choose the "first one", it´s best to wake up to reality. Grain is now your friend, probably more than before. You just didn´t always see it that well in SD DVD..

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

I don't have any issues regarding film grain, but the fake "grain" that was added to this film looked more like noise and became somewhat annoying after awhile. I watched this at a friend's house and then watched some of it at home. This film really demonstrated how badly my 57HX81 rolls off high frequencies. The " grain" was definitely less distinct;however, I would prefer the look of the degraded image if I didn't know that I have to be losing other high frequency detail along with the softened "grain".

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

"It´s sad if now (when the HD-formats are here and that added sharpness/detail-level, etc) people complain about issues like grain, lack of colors, etc etc IF they´re meant to be there in the first place"

I not compaining about the few Films that get low color right,Like "The Last
Emperor" ,or other Bertollucci films where Storaro and his Lab have a eye
for color that these lesser Visual film makers have,Whille I think Eastwood is
a fine Director,he no great visual talent , The Makers of "300" problem
wasn't the idea ,Its there talent level with Photograpy ,there not too
good at designing the frame either.They do have some fine skills with
action scenes and editing,I don't care for shooting everything in the
studio either,But I don't think they had any choice.
I didn't care for the look of "Gladiator either,just my taste
Peter

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

So, not shot digitally.
However, "digital" grain added?

(Is it possible to get ANYTHING right on the web?!?!?!?! ;-) )
JJ

I like how the stills & posters for 300 don't show the grain that's on the film.
Who's running the asylum???

EDitEDbyED:
Is the graphic novel "grainy"?
Always (well, since seeing the film) want to know that, thanks.
Again, funny the stills don't have the grain.

reEDitEDbyED:
Did some research, for myself.
Well, to me, the movie "looks" nothing like the film.
Yes, the shot by shot, is very close. However, the colors, light & graininess of the graphic novel & film are nothing alike (to me).
Graphic novel is BRIGHT by comparison. And is not at all "grainy".

So, I can't see at all were people say the "look" (yes, again, the scenes are very close) is alike.
I don't see it.
(I do like/prefer the general look/style of the film, however)

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Watched the BD the other night. Looked fantastic to me and BTW I love the look of the film. Also checked out the deleted scenes and I was satisfied.

I won't be double dipping on a future BD w/PIP - The apathy I have for this feature on HD DVD will be the same for BD when it's implemented.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

"Again, funny the stills don't have the grain."

You do realize that the stills are shot by a separate photographer with a still camera, and are not taken from the frames of 35mm movie film, right? So there's no reason why they should look identical, right?

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Nobody seems to carry this movie. Target didnt' have it, even though they have other HD DVD titles.


Blegh. Comes UPS Tuesday.

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Having seen the Picture in Picture feature I would love to see a finished version of the film with out the crushed blacks and color processing.

Doug

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

Its probably sold out. When I went to get it around 7pm on the day of release they had 2 copies left.

Doug

Re: A few words about...™ 300 -- in HD & BD

It's possible, but if you knew where I lived. I'm lucky to have any HD discs anywhere in stock.