good DVD/Scene to test TV/DVD player fine detail? (1 Viewer)

[Sean Patrick]

Maybe i've been spoiled by the (few) HDTV programming i've seen on my new RCA F38310, but even in progressive mode, i am feeling that dvd's are looking a little soft and almost like my eyes are straining to see fine detail. Especially with title sequences.....anyway, what's a good scene on a good dvd to test if my tv/dvd player (i have a JVC S500BK) is really picking up all the fine detail it can?

thanks

 

[Jesse Leonard]

The best way is to use the appropriate test patterns on Video Essentials or Avia. You will have a much more definitive answer using these patterns than a scene from a movie.

 

[Roger Kint]

Then what is a DVD to show off the visual?

 

[Blaine Skerry]

Roger, I have found NORTH BY NORTHWESTto be a very good DVD for showing off. Look for the scene in Eva Marie Saint's hotel room where she is wearing a red dress with a detailed pattern.

 

[JonZ]

American History X

Big Lebowski

Fight Club

Training Day

Dark City

Star Trek First Contact

Magnolia

Toy Story and Sequel

Some that come to mind with fantastic Transfers and lots of scenes you can calibrate to or show off.

 

[Sean Patrick]

jonZ -

thanks for the recommendation, i actually have ALL of those. Thought Training Day looked particularly great.

one of those you mentioned, The Big Lebowski (one of my favorites) actually looked a little drab and dull when i watched it this weekend, i was thinking it was a prime candidate for remastering. guess my set isn't properly calibrated. it really felt like i was watching video, not film, when i was watching that disc.

sean

 

[Patrick McCart]

Citizen Kane

Moulin Rouge

Doctor Zhivago

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

North By Northwest

Harvey

Shrek

8 1/2

8 1/2 and Moulin Rouge would be my best bets. Both have an astounding detail to the images and no over-enhancing.

Two wonderful looking films, too.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Your 310 is up-converting everything to 1080i.

Adding degrading digital artifacts to all sources,

except 1080i.

 

[JonZ]

Sean,
Really? it looks fantastic I think, but I dont have a HDTV. :frowning:

 

[Sean Patrick]

ed - that would explain a lot. i thought i was noticing something like "upconversion". now that i know what it is i'll be far less bothered by it.

jan - i'm not saying the dvd looks bad, just not as good as it could. It just has a video-ish look to the transfer, not like some of the great film-like transfers i've seen a lot of lately. Since i love this film so much i'd like to see a Special Edition with a new transfer, but the original dvd is fine for now.

 

[John Wielgosz]

The current version of 'Big Lebowski', while anamorphic is rather low bitrate to my surprise. Never had any big problems with it on my older 36" NTSC direct-view but the flaws really come through on my new Toshiba 42H81. It lacks the three-dimensional look that other titles have and looks kinda flat and washed out by comparison. I even noticed some rough edges and pixellation that weren't apparent before. Not unwatchable by any means but I'd still plunk down for a re-issue.

 

[Mitch Stevens]

I read somewhere on this forum that "Moulin Rouge" actually looks quite awful on 80" + projection systems.

I read that all the detail is lost, and it's hard to see what's going on, in some scenes.