An open apology for bashing the transfer on 'TITANIC' in the past. (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

Boy is my face red! :b
Ever since getting my SONY VVEGA about a year and six months ago i've talked a lot of trash about how the dvd of 'Titanic' was "too digital looking", "too bright", "too jaggy" etc etc... These are terms taken from my own two lips.
Well, that was before I got a new 48" HDTV with advanced de-interlacing circuitry. I'm not yet running TRUE progressive that is player based, but I have the new JVC AV-48WP30 and what it does for non-anamorphic material such as 'Titanic' is amazing! Titles such as 'Office Space' and 'Titanic' look damn near anamorphic on it! As soon as I spun the disc on the new TV I saw immediatly that all the shimmering once terribly presant on the railings of the ship were completely gone! Replaced with nice soft STILL lines.
I always thought that all the jagged lines and shimmering of the 'Titanic' dvd was the fault of the transfer and that that's just how it looked, nothing I could do about it. Happily I was wrong. The only problem I have now is that I have to zoom in to get the films AR to fill the screen (with minimal bars of course) and it tends to soften the image a little more than i'd like, but no big deal.
I'm sorry I said those things in the past.
I love this TV! If this is what the TV does alone to dvd images, I can't wait to buy a progressive scan player!

 

[Ken Situ]

May be your TV can make a pig look beautiful.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I don't get the referrance Ken, please explain.

 

[Robert Dunnill]

I had the same problem with my HTDV, which considers all progressive inputs as 16x9; a home theater PC was the solution. The HTPC can play DVDs or deinterlacing analog inputs like laserdisc, and it will properly scale them so that they display on the HDTV in their proper proportions.

RD

 

[Dave Mack]

Titanic was and is the best looking non-anamorphic DVD. Virtually NO EE at all. Beautiful color. From DVD File..." To be honest, this would simply have been the reference standard disc had it been anamorphic."
Here's hoping the eventual SE will have as good an anamorphic transfer! Perhaps it will be spread across 2 discs (like the new "Lord of the Rings" Extended version) to get the highest bit rate possible since it is 3 hours and 14 minutes long.
D

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well, I can get non anamorphic titles in the AR of 'Titanic' to display fully on the screen with extremely little or no cropping, I just have to put the TV ratio setting on 'Cinema' instead of 'Full' which is for anamorphic titles. I put the TV's AR setting on 'Regular' (used for 4x3 material), freeze framed a shot from 'Titanic' and carefully examined every edge of the picture and memorized how it was composed, then I put the TV on it's 'Cinema' setting and to my surprise lost nothing on the sides of the image. I put 'Office Space' in and did the same thing and couldn't find anything missing from either the top, bottom or sides of the image.
Whatever this TV is doing to transfers like these, I freakin love it!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Man, don't get me started on a 'Titanic SE' Dave, I can talk forever about that.
As for it being the best non anamorphic transfer, I don't really agree with that, it's very nice indeed, but IMO 'Armageddon Criterion' edges it out as the best non anamorphic transfer.
BTW Dave, you look remarkably like Anakin Skywalker from 'SW EP II' in your sig pic.

 

[Dave Mack]

Hey John,
On my JVC-70 prog. scan has "Zoom" which I use for Titanic and it looks GREAT. ALMOST as good as an Annie.. transfer. When you zoom in the digital realm, it looks better usually then when you zoom with the TV.
When you finallly get a prog. scan player, the pic. will look even better!
John. I am DYING for a decent SE of "Titanic"! My girlfriend and I watch the film quite often.
I've been hearing the "Anakin" remark alot lately. But the pic. is actually me, not Hayden.
D

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

That pretty much nails it, i've GOT to get a progressive scan player ASAP!
I see you live in New York Dave, did you happen to catch the special screening of 'A Night to Remember' and James Cameron's 'Titanic' at the Lowes Jersey theater back in April? It was great, some friends and myself met up with the HTF's resident TITANIC expert Tino and I actually met and had a conversation with TITANIC historians Jack Eaton and Charles Haas before the film started. They signed my copy of the dvd.
I just checked out 'Armageddon Criterion' on this TV, WOW! It REALLY looks to be anamorphic!

 

[Phil Nichols]

John,
Now you are entering a mine-field .......... getting a progressive DVD player! Tread careful here, as all progressive DVD players are "not the same". I spent over 2 years picking out one for my Pio Elite RPTV - wound up with the superb Denon DVD-3800.
I have Criterion's Armageddon - it is a good non-anamorphic - but you ain't seen nothun' yet until you see anamorphics of Criterion's The Rock, or better still, SuperBits of The Mask of Zorro, Air Force One, etc. using "the right" progressive player. Be sure to get a player with the Faroudja or Silicon Image deinterlacer, no chroma bug, and well engineered analog video channels after the deinterlacer.
Good luck hunting!

 

[Robert Dunnill]

That pretty much nails it, i've GOT to get a progressive scan player ASAP!

You might want to look into a home theater PC as an alternative, which will not only output scaled, progressive scan DVD, but deinterlace and scale other types of input as well, most notably laserdisc.

Just last night, I got my $50 capture card working with the deinterlacing software in my PIII-800 HTPC, and it works a treat. My laserdiscs just got a new lease on life!

RD

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Yep the Panny RP91 does a great job with non-anamorphic discs such as Titanic.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Phil,
i'm aware to watch out for the dreaded chroma bug that I hear so much about, I heard that Sony players are a culprit for that and to avoid those. I also wasn't aware of those other features to look for, i'll do that. Thanks.
Robert,
there's a problem with me getting HTPC, I don't own a computer, I do most of my surfing here on the forum using MSN TV Service. It's the eqivelant of technological cave paintings but it gets the job done for my purposes.
Lou,
i'll have a minimum of 300 dollars to spend on a progressive player, what does the Panny RP91 run? Also, I used to own the imfamous A110 and am VERY nervous about getting back in bed with Panasonic again after the hell that player put me through. So, the million dollar question...is it reliable?

 

[Patrick Sun]

You guys do realize we have "Audio/Video Source" area where these types of questions are answered on an hourly basis?

 

[Eric F]

Indeed. I have an HTPC and am loving it.

Back to the Titanic transfer issue. It's good for what it is, but once you see the anamorphic Titanic trailer on DTS Demo Disc #2 you'll know what you're missing.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Hmmm - I had a A110 and never had any problems - same with my RP91.

Don't know if the RP91 is made any more. Believe the newer model is the RP82.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Moving to audio video sources but leaving the link in this area.

 

[Robert Dunnill]

there's a problem with me getting HTPC, I don't own a computer, I do most of my surfing here on the forum using MSN TV Service. It's the eqivelant of technological cave paintings but it gets the job done for my purposes.

I guess if you don't have laserdisc, it isn't really necessary. In that case, you're probably better off with a scaling player like a Panasonic RP-91 (I have one of those).

HTPCs are cheaper than ever to set up, now that the component prices are so low.

RD

 

[Peter Loan]

The Toshiba 4800 is a progressive scan player that scales like the Panny RP91 at less than half the price. You can probably find it online for around $170 shipped. I've seen it at Best Buy for $180.

 

[Robert Dunnill]

I don't know if it's just me, but I find that WinDVD on the HTPC delivers a nicer scaled image than the RP-91. I don't know about the other players.

RD