- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,375
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Occasionally, a film needs a second screening on different equipment to figure out precisely what is occurring, and with Animal House the image looked quite different on my home theater setup than it did in my office on a 30" Sony HiDef XBR, which is set up to be unforgiving.
Universal's HD DVD of National Lampoon's Animal House looks as it should.
The film is a bit grainy, especially in low light situations. There isn't a great deal of shadow detail.
If there was ever a poster child for a film not meant to be an HD demo disc, one would think that this is it.
And yet, when compared to the SD version on the flip side, the differences are obvious and noted with immediacy. The new HiDef image is far more detailed than the SD, with all of the requisite advantages of color densities, black levels and image stability, and one would not assume that the difference would be this great.
This is still a low budget film, reportedly in the three million dollar area, and yet Universal's technical gurus have made it look far better than I've ever seen it. Probably even better than it looked on film in 1978. I don't see this as a bad thing, even though it may not be totally representative of the original "low budget" look. That look was probably due to a number of technical functions of the time. Technicolor had shut down its dye transfer production line, and duping stocks, be they CRI or IP to dupe negative were not yet of a requisite quality to look anywhere near they did even in the late 1980s.
I've now said a number of times in different commentaries that the majority of the HD-DVD releases look much like film, and they should. Animal House was never a visually beautiful film. That simply isn't what it was about. Beginning with the original Universal logo which appears to have been taken from separation masters, the film then moves into its own, and looks like...
Animal House.
Only better.
This time with a more detail, an image that is sharper overall, and a better color definition.
A great addition to Universal's line of High Definition software, and very nicely rendered. The consumer should not be expecting King Kong quality, as it was never there.
As an aside, although all may not have the same packaging, the release comes in a slightly modified case, losing the small flat "stands" at the bottom, and gaining a new locking mechanism at the side.
Highly Recommended, and for those unaware, a comedy treat, unsuitable for the entire family.
RAH
Universal's HD DVD of National Lampoon's Animal House looks as it should.
The film is a bit grainy, especially in low light situations. There isn't a great deal of shadow detail.
If there was ever a poster child for a film not meant to be an HD demo disc, one would think that this is it.
And yet, when compared to the SD version on the flip side, the differences are obvious and noted with immediacy. The new HiDef image is far more detailed than the SD, with all of the requisite advantages of color densities, black levels and image stability, and one would not assume that the difference would be this great.
This is still a low budget film, reportedly in the three million dollar area, and yet Universal's technical gurus have made it look far better than I've ever seen it. Probably even better than it looked on film in 1978. I don't see this as a bad thing, even though it may not be totally representative of the original "low budget" look. That look was probably due to a number of technical functions of the time. Technicolor had shut down its dye transfer production line, and duping stocks, be they CRI or IP to dupe negative were not yet of a requisite quality to look anywhere near they did even in the late 1980s.
I've now said a number of times in different commentaries that the majority of the HD-DVD releases look much like film, and they should. Animal House was never a visually beautiful film. That simply isn't what it was about. Beginning with the original Universal logo which appears to have been taken from separation masters, the film then moves into its own, and looks like...
Animal House.
Only better.
This time with a more detail, an image that is sharper overall, and a better color definition.
A great addition to Universal's line of High Definition software, and very nicely rendered. The consumer should not be expecting King Kong quality, as it was never there.
As an aside, although all may not have the same packaging, the release comes in a slightly modified case, losing the small flat "stands" at the bottom, and gaining a new locking mechanism at the side.
Highly Recommended, and for those unaware, a comedy treat, unsuitable for the entire family.
RAH
