HTF BluRay Review: The Golden Compass (1 Viewer)

[Travis Brashear]

I've noticed that the responses to this audio issue continue to be along the lines of "if you know how to do this, do that the same way". Respectfully (I honestly appreciate the attempts so far to offer guidance), can anyone offer Tino and I step-by-step guidance on enabling DTS-HD/MA (dumb it down, like today's our first day of owning a PS3)?

 

[Tino]

You took the words right out of my mouth Travis. BTW the film is terrriible.

 

[Ric Easton]

Wow, the wife and I kind of enjoyed it. I was hoping to find out that the sequels were well under way. I guess that is not the case!

Guess I'll read the books and then find out how bad the film was!

Anyway, as of now, I thought the story was engaging and the visuals stunning.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Aaaah... Well, you need to go into Audio setup and set HDMI to output in PCM, not bitstream, because the PS3 can only pass multi-channel PCM via its HDMI output (and will decode the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD/MA to MPCM for this *IF* you set it that way). If you set HDMI to output in bitstream, it'll just give you the DTS core instead of the lossless audio decoded to MPCM. You can verify what it's giving you by looking at the playback info displayed on screen (and probably as well as what your prepro/receiver indicates as receiving).

But like I said before, I can't personally confirm all this (and am just relaying you 2nd hand info plus what I can see in the playback info) since I don't have an HDMI prepro/receiver yet.

Hope that helps...

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

BTW, yeah, I watched the movie yesterday, and it's not nearly as bad as some folks are saying. I thought it was a pretty decent and quite enjoyable flick. Yeah, it could probably be better, but I also think that many are either just a bit too critical of it *or* are just comparing the movie to the book a bit too much (and might just not realize that despite whatever claims). I never read the book, so I'm just watching it w/ a relatively fresh and clean slate (other than that I'm vaguely aware of the book in passing).

Personally, I think the Golden Compass is a better movie than say the Narnia flick (and even the LOTR movies in some ways or say the 2nd Harry Potter flick). To each his own I guess...

_Man_

 

[Will_B]

They also mispronounced "daemon" as "demon" throughout the film. I'm going by mythologist Patrick Harpur's pronounciation, which sounds like "day-mon".

 

[Sam Posten]

I seem to recall Pullman himself saying deeeemon in the extras. Should mention that my Tolkien class dedicated 45 minutes one afternoon just on the pronunciation of Smaug =p I like Dean Rutledge's way: Sm-ow-g where ow is like ouch.

 

[PaulDA]

There are various ways of pronouncing it (and DEE-mon is an acceptable one, even in Britain). Probably a slight nod to US audiences, though (much like Patrick Stewart would say things like "PRY-vacy" at times but the British "PRIVV-acy" at others--there were other examples--in TNG).

This, by the way, is my second Blu-ray purchase (my first one was traded for an HD DVD) and the first I've decided to keep. It was a blind buy for an excellent price (and no, I'm not telling where ). It'll be six to nine months before I get to watch it at home (I'm sure I'll rent the SD version before then), but it seemed like a reasonable early selection.

 

[cafink]

"Demon" is the pronunciation used in the novels. There is a scene in The Subtle Knife (the second book) in which a character mistakes "daemon" for "demon."

 

[Will_B]

Oh ok, good to know it wasn't just a concession to Americans.

The film has, btw, inspired me to read the books, because the film seemed so rushed. I almost wish this had been a high budget Hallmark miniseries, rather than a film, so they could linger in the different places a bit longer. But I suppose then we wouldn't have gotten Nicole Kidman in it. I'll just hope for an extended cut now.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I think I'm going to wait on this one until I get around to reading the book. When it comes to "movie first" or "book first," I usually lean towards the latter.

One exception was The English Patient -- I'm really glad I saw the movie first, because it relies on creating a mystery whereas the book pretty much lets you know what's going on and relies on other aspects of the story.

As for Starship Troopers -- ugh! Don't get me started. . .

 

[Lance Rumbolt]

The trouble with an extended cut is they would have to re-edit quite big part of the film, so I'm not holding much hope.

 

[Lance Rumbolt]

Oh God yes read the book first, you will truly see how bad this film was a complete and utter dumbed down mess.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yeah, what a lousy book SST was! /grin

 

[Lance Rumbolt]

Never read it but i did enjoy the film... I think I may be contradicting myself!!

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Rarely has a movie missed the point(s) of its source material (not to mention common sense) so spectacularly as did Starship Troopers.