Any comments on GOODFELLAS and/or SWORDFISH on HD? (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

My Toshiba HD-A1 is due to arrive Wednesday.

The TWO titles I was looking forward to watching, Phantom
Of The Opera and The Last Samurai was ordered through
Amazon and for some reason they are promising delivery in 2 months.
Trust me, I have contacted to find out how it went from 3-5 days
delivery to 2 months.

...but that's another story.

I already received Goodfellas and Swordfish. I
sort of figured Goodfellas wouldn't be the type of movie
considered demo quality. I am hoping Swordfish is, cause
I really don't want to buy any additional titles right now and I need
a really good first impression of this format.

What do you think of these titles as far as demo quality?

 

[CaptDS9E]

Swordfish looks very good, and goodfellas looks very nice as well. If you wanted the best demo material should pick up Constantine (which i watched last night and its the best looking one so far), Training Day , Serenity , etc.

 

[Pete T C]

Goodfellas is really not a good demo for someone who is not a movie fanatic IMO, simply because the original print that was used is in rough shape.

The other ones you ordered through amazon have good video quality, but suffer from the low audio glitch.

You might want to try picking up Doom, Apollo 13, and Constantine for some nice demo material.

 

[Robert Crawford]

If you're saying that Goodfellas isn't a good HD DVD presentation then the first part of this thread disagrees with you. I have the HD disc and will try to watch it so I can determine whether I agree with RAH and a few others that think it's a good presentation.





Crawdaddy

 

[Pete T C]

I didn't say it wasn't a good HD-DVD presentation, its the best Goodfellas has looked to date. What I said is that its not good demo material, because the best Goodfellas has looked to date isn't so hot compared to other demo material out there for HD-DVD due to the nature of the print and filming style.

 

[Robert Harris]

None of these transfers are derived from "prints."

When a film element is used, it is normally an interpositive, which reflects the looks and textures of the original, as seen theatrically.

That should be the intent.

RAH

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thank you for your clarification.




Crawdaddy

 

[Robert Crawford]

Very true, but some people don't understand that their desired expectations might not be the same result as either HD format can deliver to them.

 

[JohnS]

Swordfish, Which I own, looks very nice and if you are using Dolby Digital Plus sounds extremely nice(especially the opening 360 explosion scene)

But look wise, I would also have to go with Constantine. Jarhead is another.

 

[Terry-A]

hey,
you guys forgot about RIDDICK...not only is riddick eye candy the surround sound is just spectacular...the best demo discs out of all the HD DVD's i think are Doom and Riddick....

 

[Paul_Scott]

I've not seen any of the other incarnations of Goodfellas on home video media before (did see it at the theater) so I can't comment on it based on that kind of comparision. The only 'problem' with the film, is that it is not exactly show-offy, visually. Many scenes take place in dimly lit circumstances (bars, night exteriors, etc). But when compared to 99% of the sd dvds out there, you should still be able to decipher what the strengths of the format are from this disc. For me, these come down to purity and stability.

If you already value the film, the presentation here is solid. No reason to be disappointed.

The problem I have with Swordfish is that much if not all of the film has a very digitally manipulated look, as is common nowadays. Its almost never ''natural' looking which impinges on that 'like looking out of a window' effect.
Its better than the sd, but on first and second glances, I didn't think it was really all that much better.

If I were going to get a disc to show off the system to other people I would recommend Serenity and Van Helsing and Unforgiven- all films I very much enjoyed (yes, even VH) and that offer plenty of visual and/or aural spendor that have you momentarily forgetting to breathe.

 

[JohnS]

Netflix sent me this yesterday, and I'm going to watch it late tonight. Even though I'm not excited about the movie itself, I'm now curious about the sound/image

Plus, you can forget about Bourne Supremacy That has got sharp/colorful image. Plus the sound is top notch.

Serenity does look good, but not A+, but the sound is amazing on it, especially the begining when the ship is in space and it's vibrations(ship shaking) through space, shook my own walls, with that nice SVS sub!

 

[CaptDS9E]

Ahh Riddick was the one i forgot about.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I've had Swordfish for a month and haven't watched it yet. I've run Goodfellas several times and will agree that while this is the best I've seen the movie look, it's cinematography is not going to best show off the capabilities of the HD-DVD format.

I rented Training Day from Netflix and so far it's had the most impressive picture quality of any HD-DVD I've seen as far as detail, sharpness, and striking color. The cinematography isn't blatantly stylized as is the case with Riddick so it's imho a better indicator of the ability of this format to reproduce a natural looking picture. There is one scene toward the beginning of the film that takes place in an alley where Denzel and Ethan Hawke stop a rape in progress. There are water puddles in the alley that reflect the blue sky overhead--totally real looking with no artifacting in the ripples etc. just really striking.

16 Blocks, another Netflix rental, also had truly amazing pq and was a much better film than I was expecting.

BTW, you should be able to pick up Phantom at any local Best Buy for $24.95--just cancel your Amazon order. The pq on it is also extremely good.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Top ten from someone's opinion I respect, and some titles to consider if you want to show off HD DVD...

Amirm's Top 10

- Walter.

 

[Terry-A]

i also noticed no ripples in halle berry's nipples either in swordfish...

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Well, good news....

It seems like I'll have The Last Samurai and The
Phantom Of The Opera on Wednesday, the day my player
arrives.

Looks like I'll have demo-quality material to look at right off
the bat.

 

[Walter Kittel]

The Last Samurai was the first title I viewed on the HD-A1 and it immediately made me a believer. Great color performance in terms of saturation and subtlety on this title and some wonderful detail in facial closeups and costumes, not to mention dazzling scenery. The wooden sword fight in the rain features some incredibly saturated blue hues and the scene with the snow falling in the courtyard creates a great sense of dimensionality.

( Just make sure you are viewing in 1080, not 720 like I mistakenly did for a few moments while playing around with the HD-A1 my first night. )

- Walter.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Walter,

Just to put this thread off-track for a second as you bring
up a great point.

Where do I select 1080i output on the player? I want to be
sure this is the first thing I do to make sure I am seeing the
picture in the resolutioin I am meant to.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Ron,

You use the resolution button ( 4th button down on top left of remote ) to cycle through the settings. Note: when you press this button the HD-A1 will restart playback of the HD DVD from the start of the feature. I'm not a big fan of this 'feature' but since resolution isn't something you change all the time, not a big deal. Once resolution is set via this button it will be retained on all future playbacks.

At the bottom of the remote, but not underneath the slide panel, is the display button. Pressing this will give you a pop up box on the left side of your video display that will show you some information about the title including the current output mode. Of course, you probably also have a way of checking the input signal on your display ( CRT/RPTV/FP, etc. ) that will show you the status.

One other note. The display pop up will show you the current run time into the feature, but not the time remaining. The front panel of the HD-A1 ( per another thread on HTF - thanks goes out to Steve Blair ) will switch to time remaining. When you hit display a second time to toggle off the pop up, the front panel of the HD-A1 will revert to current run time into the feature.

Edit: One other note concerning the slide panel on the bottom of the remote. The SETUP button is 'hidden' underneath this panel. Saves you from hitting the button inadvertently which is good, but if you are like me and and want to jump in without reading the instruction manual then it takes a few minutes to locate the darn thing the first time.

- Walter.