Sound of Music: GREAT extras but sound a disappointment (1 Viewer)

[RAF]

Just one technical question while I have your attention. What is edge enhancement?

Good question, Brian. While I generally think of it as what you see if you turn the sharpness up way too high, we recently had a very knowledgable answer written by Marc Wielage, a noted telecine operator. His answer to this very question appears in another thread here in the Advanced Section. Click on the link below to read it.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/...ML/001877.html
I also think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that seeing some of these effects (digital artifacts, edge enhancement) has a lot to do with the viewing device, and that's why we are getting divergent opinions on this. And I'm not saying that one person's monitor is better than another. From what I can tell, just about everyone responding here has excellent video equipment that most of us would be proud to have in our homes. I suspect exactly what you described. Some of us have our equipment set up to compensate for some of these effects that are being described here. You mention turning off the SVM of your Pioneer Elite 510, for example, to make the image more film-like.
And I also believe that the larger the screen (not that 52" is small!) the more pronounced these effects might be. True, I can make certain adjustments on my projector to minimize the artifacts on The Sound of Music but this then means I have to re-adjust it for other DVDs. My point was that I'm seeing things (the screen is practically "living" with crawling artifacts at some points of TSOM) that I don't see on a very large number of great anamorphic transfers out there (and even some non-anamorphic titles like Planet of the Apes.)
In fact, one of the primary reasons I went with a progressive scan DVD player was that it effectively eliminates just about all motion artifacts from almost all DVD's. It's just that TSOM jumps out at me in this area when compared with many of my other DVD's.
And, in conclusion, I just want to state that TSOM is not, in my opinion, unwatchable, just disappointing. But, of course, we are holding it up to high standards here and, as has been suggested, there might be some very good reason why the transfer is less than pristine. It's not like 20th Century Fox to drop the ball without a logical reason.
And, yes, count me in the group that thinks the sound is fabulous - considering that it is a DD 4.0 mix. Clear, crisp, very directional, etc. It actually saves the show for me.
Hope some of this makes sense.
Take care.
------------------
RAF
[Demented Video Dude since 1997]
[Computer Maven since 1956]
["PITA" since 1942]
Link Removed

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

This is probably the best thread I've read on this forum in the year-and-a-half I've been on-- and I don't even LIKE "The Sound of Music," much less own the DVD!
This parallels the arguments I remember happening when Fox put out "Last of the Mohicans" late last year. The transfer for that I still feel is abominable -- full of ghosting, smearing and artifacts -- but other people felt differently and instead of locking horns and name-calling, we tried to figure out just what was wrong or right with it.
The fact that Fox is likely to reissue this as 16x9 title with (hopefully) additional features early next year is a sign that Fox (under Peter Staddon) is really listening and replying to complaints about the quality of their work.
As for "North by Northwest," I was stunned at how good it looks. Unbelievable. Thank God Warner took over the MGM library is all I have to say.