Neutral as of tonite. Opinions needed for 1st HDdvd viewing experience... (1 Viewer)

Hey y'all. I was a smurf but as of tonite I'm a barney.





What's a good first exclusive title or 2...? Wanna grab a flick on the way home to test out the new player.
I am eager to see Forbidden Planet, Eternal Sunshine, Kong...

Not interested in films that are also on BD as I've seen most of them

Thanks!

I'd say Hot Fuzz.


It's a good movie, and looks and sounds good on the format.

Seabiscuit (might be the best HD disc on any format...it's that good)
The Bourne Identity

Have fun Dave. Get some popcorn and BTW, was glad to see Cal beat somebody else up last weekend-kind of feels a little better after the holiday bowl debacle.

I would say Grand Prix. If you are looking for something newer Batman Begins. The Borne Identity. You can't go wrong with Forbidden Planet. Its one of the best looking early CinemaScope films I've ever seen on home video.

BTW welcome to the stress free life of neutrality.

Doug

Batman Begins is an excellent starting point.

Don't forget to check out Casablanca! Gorgeous.

Watch those two and you cover both ends of the spectrum.

BATMAN BEGINS is definitely an excellent way to christen your new HD DVD player.

Out Of Sight or Serenity would be my top 2 choices for a 'light' evening of fine movie watchin'.

but then again, King Kong would work perfectly too, because as you mentioned on AVS, you may be a little distracted with the mini-mack- and that is the ideal movie to fast forward thru and skip around on, or to put in to just enjoy the scenery.

supes returns hd dvd has a true hd track not on the blu ray.

i liked The Mummy on hd dvd.

I would also recommend Batman Begins and Casablanca. King Kong is also nice though I don't own it Forbidden Planet did look good.

Hot Fuzz is definitely the new blow-away awesome title in terms of picture and sound (which is something considering it doesn't even have a lossless track). It helps that it was one of my favorite movies of the year. It is right up there with the best of the Sony and Disney BDs in regards to PQ and AQ.

Forbidden Planet was my first blind buy for either format, and was one of the best blind buys I have made in DVD, HD, BD, or otherwise. Looks and sounds great and has more features than I can count. I actually went HD DVD first because of the Universal exclusives like Army of Darkness, The Thing, The Deer Hunter, Children Of Men, etc, all of which are significant improvements over their SD counterparts (even Army of Darkness, and I have every different SD transfer of that movie that has been released to prove it). I tend to gravitate toward cult movies I grew up with, so stuff like Tremors, The Last Starfighter, and Darkman is just as important to me as anything from Disney or Fox (which I'll admit may be a sad statement).

Dolby Digital Plus at 1.5 mbps isn't PCM, but it still can sound absolutely incredible, which a lot of Blu only guys can't get their head around. I still want a mandate of a lossless track on all HD DVDs, but I think you'll be surprised how good DD+ at full bitrate sounds.

The Adventures Of Robin Hood is worth a rental just to see the Looney Tunes shorts in high def - it's amazing what a difference high def can make on even a decades old cartoon.

Mack,

Just saw your post over at AVS asking for reference discs for your new player. Here is what I posted in another thread regarding the same subject:


I use Children of Men (chapter 2) for live action. Has unbelievable 3-D effects and it feels like you're looking through a window witht he clarity. The textures (and Cuaron uses so many in this scene) come through better than I've ever seen represented in the home before. It never fails to get oohs and ahhs from anyone who comes over.

For animation, I show both Corpse Bride and Happy Feet. Again - tremendous 3-D effects. They both get a fantastic reception from the crowd.


Mack - others I would recommend are Shaun and the Dead and Hot Fuzz, King Kong, and Batman Begins. Casablanca and Adventures of Robin Hood are stunning as well. I saw you were interested in Forbidden Planet - also an excellent release.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jason

Thanks. I got Chronicles of Riddick and it looks amazing.
My formware is 1.2 and I've been trying to go online with the machine to update for hours and it keeps just saying "cant find server..."

grrr....

Dave,

You probably already know this but, Make sure your DHCP is set to ON and your DNS is set to on. Then click the confirm button at the bottom to acquire an IP address from your router. That should get you going.

Also make sure your Network Speed is set to what ever you are using. I think it defaults to 56kbps and that could have you sitting there all night waiting.

Doug

I did the disc upgrade (burned the ISO image from download...)

Now I'm at 2.2 PQ and AQ are amazing (Riddick) but definitely clunkier and MUCH slower than the PS3 in response etc.

But, it's all about the PQ/AQ...

That's the downside to HD - the hardware has a ways to go before it catches up with the speed and ease of use of the PS3 (though the 360 add-on offers comparable speed to the PS3, just not comparable sound).

How many threads we have about the fact that Dave is now format neutral? (just kidding)

Well, I have already ordered around 10 HD DVDs and I don´t even have the player yet. It´s nice that I can finally choose films from the HD DVD-camp also. I have Miami Vice (combo, but inc. both versions of the film), The Thing, Forbidden Planet (tin set!), Casablanca, Batman Begins, Casino.. Other titles coming.

Both formats have some great titles. Once you´ll go "neutral", it´ll definitely "open your eyes" in some degree. You start to "buy films", not "format" (in a way).

Forbidden Planet is suppossed to be a treat.

I'm definitely chuffed to see it!

Dave, I would start out with King Kong. But to be honest, most of the titles in this thread are A+ transfers of A+ films. So maybe you should lock yourself away for 20 or 30 hours and watch them all.

Good viewing, friend.

Isn't it grand.

It´s, I have to admit it.

I also thought about getting "King Kong", but I (still!) haven´t seen the extended version, which I would like to see now (I have the DVD, though, lol..). And of course "Bourne"-films (waiting for the new one, perhaps there will be a box set or something..).