Behold! Excalibur in HD DVD (1 Viewer)

[Paul_Scott]

(snicker snicker) I always have that same reaction when I see people talking about the mis-framing on this. I felt the framing on the dvd was fine, but I think the people that are upset are judging and contrasting the dvd with the LD with displayed different framing- or even a slightly different AR (1.66?).
I honestly don't know which one is correct, though I'm inclined to give the dvd the benefit of the doubt, as Boorman did record a commentary for it, and I would think they would be seeing the same master as we are- and if not, surely if the AR was that wrong, it would have come to his attention at some point i the last 6 years and and Warner would have addressed it.

 

[ppltd]

Two sites list this as a 35mm Spherical framed to 1.85:1. I have not had time to view the HD release, but will probably take time this weekend.

 

[Dave>h]

Got a chance to watch this last night - only the first 30-40 minutes up to the introduction of Lancelot.

Have to say, I was impressed. I saw this in the Theater years ago (obviously) and do not recall it looking any different from what I am seeing on the Samsung DLP. It looked exactly as I remember it and MUCH MUCH better than the SD DVD.

The sound track wasn't particularly immersive although I think it sounded better than I recall the DVD sounding. The DD plus track is hard to compare as I have to really crank the volume to get the same SPL as normal DD because of how the HD a1 has to be set up. The DD plus track didn't sound particularly different from the downconverted DTS track that the HD A1 produced, or at least not any differences that I noticed. It may have been a little less bright in the dialog but only slightly.

Can't wait to finish the disk tonight.

Dave

 

[Ron-P]

The sound is where this film shows it's age, quite tinny and weak. The PQ though, quite nice. I love this film, one of my all time favs, nice to have it in the best format out right now.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Amazon finally got my copy to me Friday, and I wached it last night. Wasn't planning to do anything more than chapter skip thru it to see what the images looked like in key scenes, but for some reason when it cued up, I just let it play.
I've seen this movie dozens of times thru the years- including sneaking into a first run showing on the best screen in town when I was growing up. I also owned the LD for a while. Last night was the best experience I can ever remember watching this movie. For the first time in a long time, I was completely immersed in it, and several scenes just sent chills down my spine (especially when Arthur is knighted) I agree as to the quality of the presentation here. Images looked great and true to their source without any of the in vouge digital manipulation or contrast boosting.

The 5.1 track I thought was pretty weak though. Not only tinny, but not well orientated I thought. No spatial cohesion- it seemed like diaouge and effects jumped from speaker to speaker rather than existing in a seamless wall.
With the new pj I'm forced to sit off axis again, so that may have played a part, but it did seem noticeably weaker than any other modern soundtrack I can remember. If/when they do revisit it, I hope they include the original soundtrack next time- and if not, they need to do the 5.1 over from scratch.

still a satisfying upgrade though. Never thought we would see this one so soon and I was very pleasnantly surprised when it was announced.

 

[Ron-P]

Paul, sitting off axis is not the problem, I noticed the same sitting dead center of my screen.