any beauty and the beast reviews yet? (1 Viewer)

[Robert Cook]

Neil Joseph wrote:

Quote:

No, even The Rescuers Down Under--released a year earlier--was done entirely on CAPS. They did a short test on one scene in The Little Mermaid, I've been told, but after that, they completely switched over.

 

[ScottR]

In regards to Snow White...can anyone answer the question to the concern I have regarding the fade outs...there are quite a few fade out transitions between scenes and the dvd version cuts a few seconds out of each fade, resulting in a "video" look to the fades unlike the earlier video release which look much more film like....the result is a loss of seconds worth of animation and a cheap made for video appearance....the scenes fade really quickly now...did the restoration team do this on purpose? is this cloer to the original presentation or was it a goof, an error gone un noticed? I am surprised that more people have not commented on this as it mars an otherwise perfect presentation...can anyone add any opinions???

 

[Dan Brecher]

There's definately some compression issues, noise here and there, but generally, what I have browsed so far of all three versions, is pleasing to my eyes.

Of course I agree with all that cramming 3 versions of the film, French & English audio, a commentary, an interactive game and some heavy animated menus onto a single RSDL disc makes for a highly questionable approach to putting the release together. I'll hopefully try and find the time to work through the discs this weekend and post something more in depth on Sunday evening.

Dan

 

[ChrisLee]

So Peter, you wrote the review at DVDFile eh? Well I'm happy that you did. I've been treated to BB over-reactions one week early . Personally, I see what people are getting at when they are complaining about the need to put 3 complete versions of the film plus fluff on a single disc. I would have appreciated if they had spread the content over 3 discs. But then I've also come to the conclusion that this is DVD and not HD-DVD. I don't expect a HD picture off of a 8 gig DVD. The only thing I'm concerned with is what version has the layer change in it. Really I'll save my judgement for when I receive the discs.
Oh and Ron. OTV please.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Dan B,

For reference, what display device do you use for reviewing?

And does anybody know what Mr. Bracke uses?

I don't expect a HD picture off of a 8 gig DVD.

What should our standard be? "Better than VHS"? Where should we draw the line? Who should determine where we do?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I watched the theatrical release on dvd earlier this morning and to my eyes, I was very pleased with the video presentation. However, I haven't watched the special edition version and only parts of the work in progess version. The equipment I used was a ISF calibrated Pro-710 RPTV and a RP-91 DVD player.




Crawdaddy

 

[Adam Tyner]

Michael: Peter's equipment is listed here -- http://www.dvdfile.com/Library/bracke_peter.html
I believe there's a link to the reviewer's equipment list in every DVD File review to the right of his or her name.

 

[AaronMK]

I don't think the fact that each version having its own title implies anything. T2:UE has a different title for each version, and we know that uses seamless branching. If the layer change is at the same place on each version, that would convince me that the versions were not encoded seperately.

And I think many, myself included, are being way too judgemental for not having see the disc. If I recall correctly, everone was begging Disney to get all three versions on the release, and most also wanted it done via seamless branching. With all the differences between versions, seamless branching would still require a lot to be crammed onto a single disc.

Quality work during compression is a much bigger factor than the bitrate or hours/layer. Look at for how long non-Superbit edition of The Fifth Element was the reference. That was a two-hour movie crammed onto a single layer. In this thread, there have been reports that the disc looks excellent, yet many are still dwelling on how much was put on the disc and fearing the worst because of it.

 

[Dan Brecher]

Michael, I am viewing on a 32" Sony 16:9 WEGA, and only in rare instances are issues of noise or "EE" noticable to me on such a small display. I've yet to have the time to fully go over the discs, but it's all still looking pleasing enough to these eyes. I'd be curious to see it on a larger display nevertheless...

Dan

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Dan,
I look forward to seeing it also. Wish I didn't have to wait a couple of more weeks.
I've made homemade (with DVD recorder) DVDs of classic and contemporary animated shorts (from laserdisc source).
The mosquito noise in those screenshots look EXACTLY what my homemade discs looked like when I compressed them too much. And it was very bothersome on my 53" display (which I only consider medium-sized).
2D animation is tough to compress. It loves bits like Windows NT/2K/XP loves RAM.

 

[Jeremy Allin]

... on my 53" display (which I only consider medium-sized).

Only at HTF!
BTW, I'm looking forward to reading some more reviews of Beauty and the Beast and seeing the discs for myself.

 

[Mark_vdH]

I received my R1 copy today in The Netherlands (pretty fast...).
The three versions are not separately on the disc.
Seamless branching is used to accommodate* the differences between the Special and Theatrical editions. The Multi-Angle feature is used to accommodate* the differences between the theatrical and the work-in progress editions.
* This may be a silly verb to use in this context, I couldn't think of anything better ... :b ...

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Multi-Angle as opposed to 3 separate movies on the disc will increase average bitrate available to video (good), but will decrease peak bitrate available to video (bad). On scenes that have high detail and/or lots of motion, you want peak bitrate to be as high as feasible.
Multi-Angle (VOB interleaving) reduces peak bitrate available to each angle from 9.8 Mbps to between 7 and 8 MBPs (this varies depending on where the vobs are located on the disc, the players can physically read bytes faster on the outside). So, after dealing with two 5.1 tracks, commentary, and subtitles, instead of a video bitrate peak of 8.6 Mbps or so, we are looking at a max video bitrate peak of around 5.8 to 6.8 (which will vary throughout the movie).
Is reducing the peak this much for animated material enough to cause artifacts? You betcha.
Could moving the WiP to disc 2 have increased both peak and average bitrate enough to have this disc look as good as Pinocchio and Tarzan? You betcha.