Official HTF HD-DVD Review: The Graduate Import - Recommended (1 Viewer)

[Gary Murrell]

 

[ppltd]

Gary, thanks for the review on the minor masterpiece of a film. It is nice to hear that a forty year old film holds up so well. I will be purchasing this film, even if the is a slight pitch issue (I seem to be less susceptible to this problem than others) as this is a must have for my collection. I own the SD DVD so I will be happy to check it out.

Mrs. Robinson, here I come....

 

[Walter Kittel]

Thanks for the review, Gary. I have been seriously considering this release and I am very happy to hear that the video presentation is strong. I recall viewing a special on production design in film, with one of the segments focusing upon Richard Sylbert's work on The Graduate. Looking forward to seeing this film, and Mr. Sylbert's work in HD.

- Walter.

 

[Gary Murrell]

Thanks guys

Thomas please do report, that would be great, I would love to hear about it

I have a Fog review upcoming which I can confirm has a slight pitch issue, my brother is a musician and said the difference was smaller than a semitone, it's basically a none issue on that one also

-Gary

 

[Paul_Scott]

Gary, is this free of forced subs?

I have the Fog, and never noticed a pitch issue on that. Gary, you and I seem to share the same views on what makes a good HD disc/transfer so I appreciate your reviews very much. I'll be interested if what you think about the Fog. I'm wrting down my star rating in my hand right now...let's see how close you are

 

[Gary Murrell]

Paul thanks

yes free of forced subs

-Gary

 

[ppltd]

I jut purchased it from xploited.com and should have it sometime next week. I also own The Fog, Total Recall and the three Rambo films. The only two that I though I noticed some very minor pitch problem was on Total Recal and Rambo III. The others sounded just fine to me.

 

[Gary Murrell]

Xploited rocks

I don't think anyone would regret buying this great film and release

that is sad about the Rambo films, I really wanted to grab those too, the Fog is so minor that it took me 20 mins of comparing to even notice the slightest difference

-Gary

 

[ppltd]

I could only hear a pitch issue on Rambo III. First Blood and Rambo 2 sounded fine to me, although I have read some posts that these are effected also. I just did not notice any problem myself.

 

[Gabe D]

The pitch issue would be a deal breaker for me.

If there is a pitch problem, would it be caused by speedup, and therefore make the running time shorter? Could we compare the running times of the HD import and the R1 DVD? Or is it more complicated than that?

 

[Jim_K]

Run times are normal (not sped up). There seems to be some debate over what the cause is. Add to the fact that some people notice it more than others. I'd imagine if one has become accustomed to PAL and/or it doesn't bother them it isn't an issue.

As I seem to be sensitive to and distracted by PAL's sped up audio (and the PAL video anomalies which are not applicable in HD's case) in my experience w/ Region 2 DVD's, any reported pitch issues are a deal breaker for me also.

 

[dkny75]

Great review Gary. I noticed that Momentum owns the distribution rights in the U.K. so I'll just wait for the U.K. version to be released.

 

[Dave Mack]

PAL releases are usually 1/2 step higher in pitch. I have several and for instance playing along with the Buffy theme or one of the songs from the Buffy musical on the gtr, it's just about a 1/2 step up. (I am a musician as well, btw..)
The clips of The carolco theme from I believe Basic Instinct that were posted at AVS were also 1/2 step higher for the HDdvd, also confirmed by someone running it through a pitch analyzer which showed the key the music was in.
The theory is that for many new HDdvd's they simply took an existing audio mix and digitally slowed it down by 4% to match the new transfer. So the audio is screwed twice, once with the initial PAL speedup, twice with the digital slowdown.
If they simply made a new audio mix, then it would be at the proper pitch.
For people who know the music well or are musicians, hearing music in the wrong key is very annoying. Both of my in-laws are major piano players, one teaches and one is concert level.
If I say, played a well know piece for them like say, bach's "Tocatta in D minor" in e flat minor, they would instantly know and go, "Woah! Wrong key."
Musicians and composers choose keys for their music for a reason.
These releases were botched IMHO.

 

[Gary Murrell]

Dave, my brother is a musician as well, I let him listen to the The Fog for my upcoming review here, he said that it was less than a semitone off, the Graduate I have nothing to compare to

-Gary

 

[ppltd]

Maybe t is my age, but I really had to strain to hear the pitch issue in The Graduate. I am guessing that if it had not been mentioned in this thread, I probably would have never noticed it.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Had it not been for the Simon & Garfunkel songs, it wouldn't have been nearly as obvious to me either.

 

[ppltd]

Just finished watching it, and while the songs are noticeable, it is really not all that bad. I wish Studio Canal would fix this problem.

 

[Dave Mack]

Gotcha, bro!

I just knew that the Basic Instinct one was about a whole 1/2 step different.



From AVS: samples...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...basic+instinct

read post # 142

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Agreed. It's still the best version of the film one could purchase. I thought the video transfer looked very good.