A Few Words About A few words about...™ Forbidden Planet -- in HD (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

I sampled about 40 minutes of Warner's Forbidden Planet this evening in HD, and like most current releases, quality is extremely good.

That isn't to say that the production itself wasn't without optical flaws, but this wonderful piece of cinema sci-fi history has translated beautifully to HD.

Color is reasonably stable for a production of the era, grain structure actually looks finer than I would have expected, and most dirt and detritus has been eliminated.

For fans of the film, and there are many, this HD release should be nirvana.

Recommended.

RAH

 

[Ed St. Clair]

THANK YOU, RAH!

 

[Rachael B]

I watched the whole movie Robert and it was ummm, ummm, good! I've had a big time playing with my Robbie The Robot action figur too.....

 

[Douglas_H]

For fans of the film, and there are many, this HD release should be nirvana.

Agreed!

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Thanks RAH.

I had the distinct pleasure of screening a pristine 35mm print of this film at the Lafayette theater in Suffern NY during a sci-fi festival, and to my eyes the HD transfer looks just like the print: somewhat soft at times, and colors were muted overall with various scenes where their intensity really showed (unlike the old NTSC laserdisc which had electronically "pumped" colors).

The print was gorgeous, and the HD transfer looks just like it. That's all a studio is supposed to do! Looking forward to picking this up when it comes out on BD.

 

[Matt Hough]

I've been disappointed that we haven't had any Blu-ray announcements of this classic or THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, both of which I'm really looking forwad to.

I know Warners assured BD folks that they would release the same films eventually in both formats, but the wait is pretty frustrating!

 

[Rachael B]

It looks to me like like Warner put out on Blu first, what was going to be easiest to port over....short films, relatively short extras. Stuff like Under Siege, Blazing Sadles, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Lake House. Getting the films with many extras like Robin Hood and Furrbidden Planet might take more thought and maybe even more than one disc...??? Or, some fish shaving, eh?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Sure, early on they were putting out BD titles that only required 25 gigs or less based on the file sized needed for HD DVD as well.

Now that 50 gig replication is going for BD, WB can (and will) just release titles that fill up the 30 gigs of a dual-layer HD DVD on a BD and leave the extra 20 gigs unused for the present (that's their plan at the moment). Eventually we'll see WB take advantage of the added space on dual-layer BD but for the present their stance seems to be "equal treatment" of specs, quality, and features as best they can regardless of what advantage one format might allow over the other in a given circumstance.

 

[Nelson Au]

Well, I just got an HD player recently and this is one of my favorite titles too. This new disc is amazing to see, Nirvana indeed. What a difference between this and the recent SD-DVD. Even when upconverted, it doesn't match the HD disc of course, but the difference in clarity is so cool to see! This being my 3rd disc, I am still in amazement node, I could actually see the strings on the C-57D as it landed on my 50" 1080i plasma. It makes me wonder how much better a 1080p display would be.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Hey Nelson! Welcome to the HD world! I wonder what factor could have finally pushed you into the 1080 world?

I have a HD player and a PS3 and cannot see a difference between 1080 i and p.

 

[FrancisP]

I notice that DD has Forbidden Planet listed at $20 and $40. What is the difference between them?

 

[RobertR]

Lobby cards, a Robby the Robot figure, a coupon for a poster, etc.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Lou, thanks, it's a wonderful world! And I appreciate your perceptions on the difference between i and p.

Gee, I don't know what you mean about what could have pushed me over!

 

[DaViD Boulet]

It all depends on how your display "deinterlaces" the 1080i signal.

Most consumer HD displays, until recently, just "bobbed" 1080i to 1080p by repeating every line twice to "fill in the gaps" without actually trying to fold together the alternate fields to reconstruct the 24 fps original. Remember when early progressive scan DVD players were bragging about "3-2 pulldown reversal"? Well, we've been doing that right for deinterlacing 480i film-based DVDs and signals for some time... but it's only recently that chips have started to do that with 1080i film-based material as well.

This matters to US viewers as we've got 3-2 cadence in our 60Hz 24fps material in 1080i just like with 480i.

In any case, if your display has 3-2 pulldown reversal for deinterlacing 1080i film-based material, then you get 100% progressive reconstruction and the result would look identical to native 1080p coming out of a 1080p BD or HD DVD player.

Now what might look even better than both of these would be 1080p at 24 Hz to avoid 3-2 "judder" which creates a jerky-effect on motion because of 3-2 frame repitition.

 

[Nelson Au]

David-

Thank you for that added technical information. I believe my plasma display, while seemingly still new, is from November 2005, has the ability to do the reverse 3:2 pull down. I had to look it up on a review of my display, so I'll check my advanced settings. This is very satisfying news!

 

[DaViD Boulet]

keep in mind that saying "3-2 pulldown!" only means at the 480 level unless the specs specifically mention for 1080i.

BTW, is your plasma 720/768 res? The difference between properly deinterlaced 1080i/p are less obvious at the 720p level (though I noticed my 720p image looked clearly sharper after I upgraded my system to avoid the "bobbing" with BD software).

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I have a new Samsung LED DLP which is perhaps why I do not see any difference.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Lou,

that is an *awesome* TV. The whole LED concept is the future of projection (both rear and front projection) as it illimiates the need for a color-wheel and can provide "rainbow free" performance from a single-chip design.

Good for you.

Is that set full 1080? it very well may do proper 3-2 pulldown reversal for 1080i input. Anything in the specs that mention it?

 

[Nelson Au]

David- My plasma's resolution is 1280 x 768 and is a 1080i capable display. it's a Pioneer Pro 1130. I may not be able to see a difference between i or p, but what I have seen sure looks good, especially with this new HD-DVD player!

 

[DaViD Boulet]

It's amazing how 1080 HD media really lets our 720p displays shine. As good as direct 1080p looks (better, of course), our 720p displays have never looked so good! My 720P projector astounds me day after day with HD media. Though I'm already bitten but the "upgrade" bug... but I'll wait for a 1080p projector to come down in price/performance just a little while longer.

Gonna upgrade my audio side for full-fledged TrueHD/DTS-HD MA first!

dave