IMO, the worst looking DVD I own is Star Wars Episode II (1 Viewer)

[Iain Lambert]

I take it you don't own Episode 1: The Phantom Menace then...

If you want to talk ruined picture quality then this is the place to go for your hideous edge enhancement. Clones looks gorgeous in comparison.

 

[FredK]

Fanboy: "I can't wait until 2010 when GL gives us TPM:EE!"

HTFer: "Don't worry, you've already got it..."

 

[Bob Black]

AOFC is, by far, one of the best DVD presentations for video and audio in my collection - and I currently have nearly 1200 titles! It even looks better than a good amount of HD broadcasts on HBO-HD, in my opinion.

 

[Felix Martinez]

I realize that this has probably been covered many times but for the sake of this thread I will state the following. Folks that have large progressive scan displays see so much more texture than the average viewer. I know that my HDTV has made me much more critical of anything on any televison HD or not.

Looks great on my 92 inch screen and Panny RP-91 prog scan player!

Felix

 

[Michael Reuben]

Alma, did you see Episode II in the theater?

I saw it in a DLP presentation, and the DVD faithfully recreates the look of what I saw. As has already been pointed out, a transfer that accurately portrays the original is a good transfer, even if the results aren't pleasing to a particular viewer.

M.

 

[Bryan X]

I saw the DLP presentation too. I agree with you Michael.

 

[JonathonSan]

This is a great and faithful DVD transfer. I saw it originally on a DLP in the theater and I can say it is close... minus some resolution on my projector. As far as the picture being soft, it is. Gladiator on my PJ blows it away in detail, but not overall "cleanliness".

Jonathon

 

[Dennis]

Looks great on my 92 inch screen and Panny RP-91 prog scan player!

Is that all you have Felix?

 

[Jerry Gracia]

Worst looking DVD?

You haven't seen Scarface, have you?

 

[mdean]

AOTC DVD is the singular reason I bit the bullet and purchased a 42 inch SD plasma monitor.

The DVD on a good plasma is simply astounding, not be believed.

After seeing AOTC play on a SONY plasma, I simply could not bear to view DVDs on CRT or RPTV.

Don't have much money, but dug deep into savings and happily plunked it down on a Fuji SD plasma--and stepped into a great, wonderful new world of viewing.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I saw the light saber battle on a widescreen TV (50" or more) at a BM and it looked like a video game.

You can't judge a DVD by a store demo. It is very, very rare to find a display unit that isn't displaying a grossly inaccurate picture. Store demo units are almost never calibrated at all, let alone calibrated correctly.

M.

 

[Terry St]

I agree with Mark that you should go rent a copy of the recently released classic "The Quiet Man". Then you will be qualified to post about needlessly bad transfers released by major studios, and not one second before!

 

[James Edward]

I was disappointed, though I think it is far from the worst looking DVD in my collection(I have Highlander).

I think it failed to live up to the pre-release hype. To me it just looked sterile.

 

[Wyatt_Y]

Bad movies!!! The Last Emperor - a great movie but the transfer was so horrible all I could watch was half the movie...in over a year, I've never put it back in....

Outland is even worse but given the mediocre nature of the movie didn't seem near the travesty of The Last Emperor...

ATOC looked fine on my 51HW40/Panny CP-72.

WY

 

[Felix Martinez]

Is that all you have Felix?

I am running the image thru my Super 8mm projector...maybe that's why I'm gettin' all those artifacts...

F

 

[John Alderson]

Well, it shouldn't be anything inherent about digital filming that made it look soft on DVD (if you think it looks soft--I disagree). Those cameras DID have a much higher resolution than DVD has. Anyway, I thought it looked great on my father in law's new 46" HDTV. Perhaps it's just a case of extremely hyped expectations? *shrug*

Any fears I had about digital film not having enough detail were put to rest when I saw AOTC in IMAX. Yeah, maybe it was processed specially, but DAMN it held up good. I saw individual facial hairs that I'm not sure we were supposed to be able to see

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Worst transfer?

-Dennis

 

[Michael Reuben]

To me it just looked sterile.

I agree. And that's exactly how it looked in the DLP presentation I saw.

M.

 

[Felix Martinez]

You can't judge a DVD by a store demo. It is very, very rare to find a display unit that isn't displaying a grossly inaccurate picture. Store demo units are almost never calibrated at all, let alone calibrated correctly.

I absolutely, 100% agree. And it annoys me when I'm with "uninformed" family or friends at these stores and they say "oh, the picture doesn't look that good," etc. when the particular monitor they're looking at blows away what they have at home! Of course, I quickly "inform" them. But sometimes it's like trying to explain letterbox vs. pan 'n' scan. I have a feeling that when people just don't understand something after 2 or 3 explanations, they would rather think you're trying to pull one over on them than admit for a moment that they're clueless

Anyway, it seems our local Costco has AOTC running on every TV on the floor lately, and it does look like garbage. IMHO, the EP 2 DVD, on a well-calibrated system, is outstanding. It's one of my top demo DVDs.

I don't confuse the "look" of the movie with the quality of the transfer. I don't attribute Kubrick's choice of going heavily gritty on EWS or Spielberg and Kaminski's recent string of grain-fests as reasons to bash those DVDs' visual qualities (which faithfully represent the artists' visions).

As for EP2, there's a lot of debate about digital vs. film, and a lot of what's being discussed here is emotional and - unfortunately, innacurate (as it relates to the CineAlta camera used on EP2 and the perceived benefits and/or limitations of the camera, exposure, etc.). There's enough debate on the film tech forums for that stuff!

In any case, I will gladly take the EP2 DVD over EP1 any day! I only wish Lucas & Co. had done EP1's DVD using the digital files used for the June 1999 DLP and DILA theatrical presentations.

Cheers,
Felix

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I suspect this thread was started only to spark debate... I'll play along...

It's like complaining the Matrix DVD was too "greenish".

I do agree there was a "softness" to AOTC I thought the same thing when I first put it in. But, as stated above, the theatrical presentation appeared the same way. The AOTC DVD is the most accurate representation of the original film I've ever seen. If you were to look closely, you'd see there is absolutely no film artifacts whatsoever (that's because there was no film, of course). If you're seeing pixelation or other artifacts, you may want to look at your player and connections.