A Few Words About A few words about...™ Avatar -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Joseph Bolus]

Err ... It turned out that I *did* need a firmware update for my Panny BD-601. The movie plays just fine with FW 2.2, but the Pop-Up Menu "Search" navigation controls for the "Avatar" disc don't work until the 2.3 firmware (released just last week) is applied.

If anybody needs it, here's the link to the firmware update (works for Panasonic BD-60, BD-601, and BD-70V) :

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/bd/download/bd60/index.html

Of course, if you have your BD-LIVE hooked up you can just press a button on the SETUP Menu to apply the new firmware.

 

[Nick Martin]

No issues with PS3 or Sony BDP-S360.

The reason for the playback issue stems from the advanced copy protection on the disc, which is supposedly different (better, harder to break) from other Blu-ray discs.

 

[FreyTheater]

Interesting... the most current Oppo firmware, which does play the Avatar BD correctly, is dated January 5, so I guess that new protection has been out for awhile, I wonder what other BD movies might be using that. I thought that the high framerate and bitrate on the disc was possibly the culprit...

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by FreyTheater

Interesting... the most current Oppo firmware, which does play the Avatar BD correctly, is dated January 5, so I guess that new protection has been out for awhile, I wonder what other BD movies might be using that. I thought that the high framerate and bitrate on the disc was possibly the culprit...

While the bit rate is very high, the frame rate is still 24p.

Doug

 

[FreyTheater]

Um, yeah, so it is - haha, my mind escaped me, just for a moment there...

 

[FreyTheater]

Originally Posted by lowdefref ">[/url]

I am actually hesitant to buy it on BR or DVD. Watching Avatar in Imax 3D was literally one of the best experiences of my life. I don't know if watching it in 2D not Imax will change my feelings about that experience.
[/QUOTE]
I have to agree with you somewhat, Logan - I thought the 3D presentation was just perfect at the IMAX theater I saw those six showings in... Best virtual reality experience I've ever witnessed. Fortunately, I have absolutely NONE of the blur or dizzyness issues so many other people seem to have with watching 3D - the presentation to me was super crisp and clear and so lifelike I felt like I was right there with the actors. I got the Avatar BD and have watched it about 4 times already with different crowds of people in my theater, and I can say the 2D BD is definitely awesome, but I still feel that It's lost something without the 3D - I want an IMAX theater in my basement, dang it! Hmm, just got to dig it a little deeper...

BUT - I definitely NEEDED to purchase this early release of Avatar for one simple reason - to be able to get the glowing satisfation and accolades of showing it NOW in my projection theater to all my friends who have not yet seen the movie (23 people so far, and counting!) BEFORE they get a chance to go out and rent the lesser DVD version and watch it on their wimpy 27" tube TVs at home! Lol, seeing my guests sit there in my theater with their mouths gaping while watching this Avatar BD, or any other movie for that matter, is simply priceless - that's probably the main reason I even have a movie theater in my home!

 

[Sten F]

From an entertainment perspective, Avatar is NOT a masterpiece. The story and plot is mediocre. The characters are hollow with no personality. The villian has a comical nature. The dialog is very stilted.

From a technological perspective, Avatar is a masterpiece, which other films will now be judged against. However, CGI movies without a story is a boring and tedious experience.

Advise:
Fans should buy it. Everyone else should rent it.

 

[FreyTheater]

Oh, poo poo. Yes, we're all SO very much aware of that... lol. Yep, that's why I've had 40 people want to come see it in my theater already, many more than once...

 

[Sam Posten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sten F

From an entertainment perspective, Avatar is NOT a masterpiece. The story and plot is mediocre. The characters are hollow with no personality. The villian has a comical nature. The dialog is very stilted.

Sometimes things are more than the sum of their parts. I agree that Avatar is not possessed of a masterful story, but it is a masterpiece of film making

 

[Robert George]

Originally Posted by Sten F

From an entertainment perspective, Avatar is NOT a masterpiece. The story and plot is mediocre. The characters are hollow with no personality. The villian has a comical nature. The dialog is very stilted.

Obviously, this is delving into the area of subjectivity. However, I judge a piece of entertainment (which a movie is) by how much it entertains. Looking at Avatar and the economic and cultural phenomenon it has become, there can be no doubt this is a masterpiece of entertainment, even if one can find fault with specific parts of the production. As Sam says above, taken as a whole, the mediocre story and plot, the hollow characters, the comical villian, and the stilted dialog provide an enormous entertainment experience for millions of people.

They can't all be wrong.

 

[FreyTheater]

Originally Posted by Robert George ">[/url]

Looking at [i]Avatar[/i] and the economic and cultural phenomenon it has become, there can be no doubt this is a masterpiece of entertainment, even if one can find fault with specific parts of the production. As Sam says above, taken as a whole, the mediocre story and plot, the hollow characters, the comical villian, and the stilted dialog provide an enormous entertainment experience for millions of people.

They can't all be wrong.
[/QUOTE]Ah, very well said!

 

[Brian Borst]

This may be controversial, but I have to say that it had to be in 2.35:1. Many scenes would look so much better, since there was quite a bit of head room in many (if not all) scenes.There's no way that they simply cropped it for the 2D and regular 3D viewings. But that's just me. On the movie itself, unfortunately I didn't like it the second time either (wanted to give it a second chance to be sure, most of the time I change my opinion after the second viewing). Every criticism has been uttered before, so I don't think I need to go into that again. I just didn't like it.

 

[dpippel]

Originally Posted by Sten F

From an entertainment perspective, Avatar is NOT a masterpiece. The story and plot is mediocre. The characters are hollow with no personality. The villian has a comical nature. The dialog is very stilted.

From a technological perspective, Avatar is a masterpiece, which other films will now be judged against. However, CGI movies without a story is a boring and tedious experience.

Advise:
Fans should buy it. Everyone else should rent it.

Opinions are like, um, well, you know...

 

[Mike Frezon]

I've got no issue with Sten posting his opinion here. In fact, I agree with it:

Dance 3, Looks 10.

And, frankly, I don't think it's an opinion that's confined to a small group.

We can debate whether Avatar is a "masterpiece" all we want. It will be most interesting to see how it holds up in cinematic history. But none of us can deny the impact it has had at the box office and now on the home entertainment industry (and for Blu-ray in particular!).

 

[dpippel]

I don't have an issue with his opinion either Mike. It was more the "factual" tone I responded to.

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by Sten F

This may be controversial, but I have to say that it had to be in 2.35:1. Many scenes would look so much better, since there was quite a bit of head room in many (if not all) scenes.There's no way that they simply cropped it for the 2D and regular 3D viewings. But that's just me. On the movie itself, unfortunately I didn't like it the second time either (wanted to give it a second chance to be sure, most of the time I change my opinion after the second viewing). Every criticism has been uttered before, so I don't think I need to go into that again. I just didn't like it.

I agree that most of the scenes (outside of flying sequences) look better at 2.35:1; however, Cameron stated that the film was a simple crop of the original 1.78:1 frame. What would he gain by misleading people?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S But I don't want to take this thread off-topic.[/i]

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon But I don't want to take this thread off-topic.[/i]

He makes it a little easier for us to pretend that it's true so we don't think about it too much.

 

[Brian Borst]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S .

 

[Nick Martin]

And "headroom" is such a negative why?

Seriously, I'd like to know. It's not the first time that's been mentioned here and I really can't see the problem - assuming there is some kind of problem with the image.