HTF HD-DVD Review: Happy Feet *HIGHLY RECOMMENDED* (1 Viewer)

[ppltd]

Same here. Here's hoping the wait will not be too much longer.

 

[Tim Glover]

Well my copy arrived today even though I got the free shipping deal...figured it might take a bit longer.

Anyway, we watched this tonight at my brother's house who's got a fairly nice setup (65 inch 1080p monitor).

First, I hadn't seen Happy Feet before so this was a blind buy. Well....I really didn't care for the actual movie. :frowning:...I know I'm in the minority seeing all the rave reviews. It was cute at times but it just kind of fell flat for me.

Technically a whole nother story. Brilliant images and audio was first rate. On that part, Happy Feet certainly earns all the praise it's garnering.

From all the reviews I've read...and yes even some comparos on avs...the video on the HD DVD is rather stellar. Audio is crisp and detailed. A few times it really rocked.

From a movie standpoint, it was a bit disappointing, but certainly an excellent demo disc.

 

[TedD]

Since both discs have the exact same VC-1 encodes with identical video data streams on them, this conclusion is clearly a case of a lack of proper calibration for one or both players, using different connections for each player, or setup problems, or ....

I would take this opinion with a grain (or a teaspoon) of salt.....

Ted

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

There are - two different technological methods of recording & retrieving the "same VC-1 encode" here.

That's why I asked Robert in post #40, for his player model and projector model #'s and I'm trying to be open minded about this.

If calibrations are correct, one would also have to compare, by playing the Blu-ray/HD DVD discs on the same model types and then different models.

AND

There just might be a slight chance that the Blu-ray format could favor this one particular VC-1 encode on this one disc. Who knows?The important thing is that Robert gave a heads-up to an interesting and (visible!) phenomena.

Paul

 

[Cees Alons]

And the last image processor in the chain is the human brain.

Even if the two files are bit-to-bit equal (as they most probably are), that can make a lot of difference too.
Never to be ignored: always take the one you like best!


Cees

 

[Max Leung]

I'm having issues with banding/posterization in the underwater scenes. Particular at the 27 minute mark.

I'm using an HTPC, via DVI. HometheaterSpot's review also reports posterization. It is also noticeable on an LCD monitor and not just my Benq 8700+. Another person on AVS reports that the banding is even visible on a CRT.

This may be a color conversion issue - my guess is that if the player is set to output 8 bit RGB instead of 10 bit YCbCr then banding is more prevalent.

Other than banding in the water (and some sky scenes, but very hard to spot), the transfer is stellar.

 

[TedD]

Actually, for the encode, this is not true for a Warner VC-1 title. The encode is done once - for HD DVD, and then is run through a converter program to reformat (not re-encode) for the BD version. Once the video stream is encoded, bits is bits.

On the playback side, however, anything is possible. It'll be interesting to find out the specifics of the playback setup, but I'm willing to bet there are significant differences between the two. It's made worse by the lack of any comprehensive HD calibration discs....

Max, I didn't see any banding on the HD DVD on my setup, PDVD 7.3, software decode, ATI X1950 XTX video card via HDMI to my Qualia 004. Probably a colorspace conversion issue as you surmised.

Vern

 

[Edwin-S]

Anybody have any problems with freezing on the HD DVD version. The disc I bought would freeze up just at the beginning of the Mumbles/Skua fish fracas. I'm pretty sure it was a disc problem, but I decided to exchange it for the Blu-ray version just in case the problem was player related.

Toshiba seems to have dropped support for their HD-A1 player since their release of the A2 line up. There are a few things I don't like about the PS3 but, so far, they are at least providing regular firmware updates.

To me, the Blu-ray version of this movie looked a little better on my particular set up. The clarity of the picture seemed about the same on both versions but, to my eye, the colors seemed to be a little more vibrant on the BD version.

During the Killer Whale scene, I noticed what looked like color banding during some of the underwater scenes. The color of the surrounding water didn't blend seamlessly from lighter to darker colors. I only noticed this artifact in the one scene and only for a couple of seconds. Otherwise, considering the deficiencies of my TV set, the picture quality looked very good on both versions.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Wow...fantastic disc. Flawless playback over my A2/AE900. Colors are amazing.
We even got a kick out of the movie!

 

[TonyD]

iget the freeze up here as well/
tosh just relesed an update only for thier first gen hd dvd
dont know if its for this freeze thing tho'

 

[TonyD]

well finished up the film.
didnt like the fiorst hour and 5 minutes or so.
too little kidzy for me.
i dislike movies with a bunch of singing, seems liike filler to me.
especialy a bunch of songs that i got tired of hearing 15 years ago.

the last 45 minutes were much more interesting.
and more spectacular to look at.
the elephant seals were amazing.

good ending preachy but not over the top.

dont forget that as mentioned in the review first post, goerge miller was not only the creator of the Babe movies but also responsible for the Mad Max series.

 

[Hayes Preston]

No freezing issues on my HDDVD copy, viewed on an XA2 Firmware 2.0

How do you figure that Tosh has dropped support since they are still releasing firmware updates to first gen machines?

 

[Edwin-S]

I made that assumption because it had been a long time since a firmware update for the A1 had been posted. It has been long enough between updates for Toshiba to have released 3(?) new models of HD DVD players. Of course, as soon as I posted my comment, Toshiba announced a firmware update for the A1 series of players and effectively proved me wrong.

The BD of the movie played without any problems. I was thinking that the HD DVD I had was a bad one, but I have read that some other people were having freezing issues. One even sounded like it was freezing up at approximately the same spot as the disc I had. After updating to 2.1, he reported that the disc would stutter at the same point and then keep playing.