Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Batman: Gotham Knight (1 Viewer)

[Ken_McAlinden]

 

[David Deeb]

You mention the bonus episodes of Batman the Animated series. Are they in HD?

Warner included bonus episodes of Justice League in HD on the Justice League: New Frontier BD, then we learned of season sets of the series coming in August. Wonder if the Batman series will follow.

 

[David Deeb]

Oops. My fault. Overlooked it.

 

[RickER]

I dont belive the bonus episodes of JL are in HD either on New Frontier. As a matter of fact, they looked like crap on my plasma.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The JLU episodes on New Frontier were 16:9 enhanced SD. I thought they looked okay for what they were.

Regards,

 

[TonyD]

unfortunately the best thing on this besides the docs was the first episode of the JL that has the 3 kids telling their version of what batman was to them.

something about the main feature left me cold or bored, just uninterested.

the stories did get better as the continued, but there just wasn't enough Batman in the first few.

this was just an "eh" for me.

 

[Martin Henry]

Great review.

Regarding the missing Japanese audio, I believe that like the newly released Batman Begins BD, it is simply hidden. Batman Begins also lists a Japanese 5.1 track on the cover, but you can't select it from the English menu. By changing my PS3's menu language to Japanese, not only did the menus change over to Japanese, but the Japanese audio was also selectable.

I have also tried this for the UK Dirty Harry movies and it works with regards to being able to select the Japanese mono options. Please note that I don't ever intend to watch these movies in the Japanese language, this was purely for testing purposes, although I do intend to check out Gotham Knight in both English and Japanese flavors.

Thank You.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

It works. I selected Japanese menus on my Panasonic DMP-BD10, and the otherwise unselectable Japanese language and subtitle options showed up. English SDH subtitles were also selectable from the Japanese menus. I will update my review accordingly. Note: Per Martin's post, you have to choose Japanese as your menu language. Switching your default audio option to Japanese from "English" or "Original" will not make any difference.

Thanks, Martin!

 

[Jaxon's Dad]

Ken, did you happen to notice color banding on some episodes? The reviewer over at blu-ray.com mentioned this phenomenon, and when I got my copy I could see it plain as day. Kind of bothersome that this was missed by WB's Quality Control before being greenlit for the masses.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I'll take another look. The image quality had different issues for different episodes. Many of them are stylistic choices, some of which make other artifacts easier or harder to notice. With six directors and at least three anime studios involved, one also wonders in what format each piece of the finished product was delivered to WB to stitch it all together.

Regards,

 

[Matt Hilton]

I haven't watched the whole disc, but I did notice, in the first "episode", the background seemed to have a faint flicker or pulse. I don't believe it's my display, because I don't find this phenomenon on any other discs. The pulsing stops when I pause the movie.

I'm using a PS3 & Samsung HL-N6187W (62" 1080p DLP). The PS3 is outputing 1080p via HDMI. I have the monitor in "movie" mode with edge enhancement off (DNIe is off).

Does anyone else notice this on the lighter background areas in the first episode?

 

[RickER]

Interestingly, when i watch this, or Justice League on my LCD i really cant see banding, but on my plasma, its all over the place. Especially on the Justice League Blu-ray.

 

[Jaxon's Dad]

That's interesting. My display is an Infocus SP 4805 DLP - not 1080p native, so that may have something to do with it. Makes me want to upgrade to an LCD projector. But at the screen size I'll be throwing, I wonder if it will make much difference...