Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION (1 Viewer)

[Ben_Williams]

 

[Paul Arnette]

Ben,

How were the load times onthe Pirates BD in your Panasonic DMP-BD10? I've heard they're awful slow in the Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1, which has me a little bummed out.

 

[Ben_Williams]

Paul, the Java features take about 15 seconds to load on the Panny... not too bad. If you play the feature without Java interactivity, it starts up just as quickly as any other movie. the latest firmware update for the Panny has made it an incredibly quick machine. So, maybe that's helping...

 

[Neil Joseph]

I have the Panasonic dmp-bd10. It took the same load time as other disks where A coin spins on the screen and then an additional 11 seconds (approx) after that before the skull came up. Everything after that was pretty much the same as with other disks as per my experience.

 

[Southpaw]

I am so excited to get this one and CotBP on Wednesday. I haven't been this excited since....well....Casino Royale.

 

[Paul Arnette]

Thanks, guys. Sounds like Pioneer is lagging behind on their updates. :frowning:

 

[Chris Will]

Nice review, I can't wait to pick up both Pirates films Tuesday!

Ben, do you realize that the cover image in your review is for Curse Of The Black Pearl and not Dead Man's Chest.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Did anyone, while looking at the pre-movie previews, notice just how damned good Cars looked?

Anyway, both films are a home run. I was wondering if anyone has tried the java stuff yet. I tried the Scoundrels Of The Sea for the first film, ok. Have not done it for the second film yet. Do all players support it?

 

[Ben_Williams]

Cars looked amazing Neil.

Chris... we are getting the cover straightened out ASAP. Thanks!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The cover art mistake was my fault. Has been corrected!

 

[Todd H]

Mine are on the way. Man I can't wait! Hopefully I'll be able to watch both before I see the third one this weekend.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Ben,

as usual a first-rate review befitting the high-standard we've come to expect from HTF. Bravo!


Ahhh. That's my take EXACTLY with lossless audio... espeicially 24-bit PCM. That increase in dynamic range gives the low-level acoustics a silky-smooth, refined character that leaves you in awe as the sound moves effortlessly from subtle, delicate information to explosive dynamics.

And even for soundtracks that lack the wiz-bang dynamics of these kind of action films, the increase in *realism* in the spoken dialogue is reason-enough to demand lossless on EVERY HD release... regardless of format or title.

 

[BrettB]

Thanks for the review. Can't wait to get this ****! The only thing they could have done better would be to have the extras in hd. Has anyone watched it on the PS3 with the meter? I saw some pics where the meter was hitting ~46 mbps.

What Cars video is on there? Is it a promo for the BD or is the trailer?

 

[Ben_Williams]

David... you are absolutely right. It is certainly true that lossless audio benefits the loud and aggressive soundtracks like Pirates of the Caribbean, but the benefit to a smaller, dialogue driven film like Donnie Brasco is equally impressive.

The quiet passages from these films are extremely impressive in just how much more intelligible they are over their Dolby Digital and DTS counterparts. PCM has completely eliminated my need to occasionally rewind a flick to make out what is being said.

 

[Todd H]

Mine shipped today. Whooo hooooo!!

 

[Ben_Williams]

I haven't been able to watch the film with a bitrate meter, but I can only imagine from the quality of the video that the bitrates must be absolutely maxed out. It's truly spectacular.

The Cars trailer is a promo for the BD release. Short but VERY sweet!

 

[Rob Young]

Sweet review Ben. Thanks for this.

 

[Adam_R]

Back Levels? Isn't that for the audio portion of the review?

Artifact-fee? How much is it? I think with a $29.99 price tag, fee's should be pretty low.






















j/k - I couldn't help myself!

Thanks for the great write up! I am heading out tonight to pick these up!

 

[Ben_Williams]

Eesh! Thanks for pointing that out! Sorry for the typos... embarrassing! Of course, I completely blame my Microsoft keyboard for that...

 

[Dave_P.]

Sounds awesome, can't wait to throw this baby in tonight!