DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Superman Returns - Two-Disc Special Edition (RECOMMENDED). (1 Viewer)

[jeff strickler]

If you've followed the filming of RETURNS, these deleted scenes are going to disappoint you.

They've only included a FRACTION of what they cut. I'm not talking about just the "Return to Krypton" sequence either.

There's still a wealth of important footage Singer isn't allowing to be on this DVD.

 

[Ruslan]

Does the doc cover the mysterious hiatus in filming? Never heard am explanation for the unplanned break.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

I remember it was planned.

 

[JonZ]

"I always meant to see this in the theaters, but missed it."

You should have. The film has a huge epic scope.



"Getting mine on HD-DVD."

The wait has been torture

 

[Ryan Wong]

Has anyone notice that the DD5.1 soundtrack is encoded at 384 kps?

 

[Cory S.]

Grant,

You have the right idea about the transfer of this film. I rented it yesterday ant it's the dark scenes that are a big issue with this transfer. But again, I think that has more to do with it being shot on the Genesis camera than the transfer itself. You mentioned the scene between Anakin and Palpatine in Attack of the Clones. That's a great example. The other example from that film is the Anakin and Obi-Wan scene in Padme's quarters were the noise is very, very noticeable.

And as you stated, the Revenge of the Sith transfer (more likely the second generation digital camera used) eliminated that aspect of it.

Still, I think this film went for a very different look compared to Sith's look. I will say that the colors are more vivid than I remember them eventhough I saw the film projected digitally six times in the theatre and the day time scenes or any scenes that have alot of light looked fantastic.

I plan on buying the HD version next Tuesday. I'm hoping (and it should) the transfer is sharper and the dark scenes aren't as noisy as the DVD transfer.

But you're right. The use of the digital camera, transfering it to DVD, could reveal the flaws of the source more than anything else. It's a great looking transfer more the most part, especially with the colors, but I really thought it was going to be as clean if not cleaner than the Revenge of the Sith transfer.

 

[Jim Harvey]

I was a bit let down in the video department myself, especially after last year's spectacular transfer on Batman Begins. I have a review up for the set:

http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF...permanreturns/

http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/news/dvdnovsup.php

 

[Shane_M]

The only thing missing from this DVD is a commentary. I was impressed with the quality of the disc. I personally can't wait to get my hands on the HD-DVD and Blu-ray verison. They're suppose to be in by the end of the week for review. Hopefully, I can have them up by Monday/Tuesday.

Here's my review of Superman Returns

 

[Steven Larson]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the "exclusive" editions available at Best Buy and Target for the 2 disc Special Edition? Target's version has a couple of old 40's Superman radio shows, and Best Buy has some kind of comic book. I am curious about the comic book, if it is just a comic of the movie, or something different?

Steve

 

[TomTom]

The "Making Of" docu is great. But half of it is missing. They cover pre-production and most of the shoot. No post, no EFX, no music or editing. Its especially frustrating beacuse you hear all the great Superman music (old & new) throughout the entire 3 hours. I was also waiting for the "Return to Krypton" scene. No dice. And commentary is a must. I guess eventually there will be an extended dvd with all this and less compression artifacts.

 

[Yumbo]

Standards???

The video is very subpar.

Guess I've been spoiled by HD-DVD, lol.

 

[dpippel]

The slipcover artwork on both of these editions is leaps and bounds better than the hideous cover art Warner used on the standard release IMO. I particularly like the Best Buy slipcover. That alone would have been enough to sway my decision if I hadn't purchased the HD-DVD.

 

[Dave H]

The visuals of this movie are very poor in my opinion. Aside from the image having a bit of a muted tone or color (which may be intentional, I don't know), the compression artifacting is horrible! I can't remember the last time I've seen a movie with this many artifacts. Whether or not this is from the digital filming, I don't know other than Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the Clones look much, much better. I'm viewing on a well calibrated and ISF'd 57" Sony CRT RPTV (KP-57WS520) with a Denon 2930CI DVD player upscaled to 1080i HDMI from 9-10 feet back in a dark environment. The audio on the other hand is awesome!

 

[dpippel]

Doesn't your Denon use the Faroudja FLI-23xx deinterlacer/scaler? I'm not up on the newer Denon players, but many of their older models (2910, 3910, etc.) had known macroblocking issues because of this. If this is true for the 2930CI as well it could be contributing to the problems you're seeing with the transfer (which is certainly not perfect by the way).

 

[PopBodhi]

I'm finally starting to return to Circuit City though the DIVX thing is still fresh in my mind. I was pleasantly surprised that they included a bonus DVD that includes an hour presentation on Superman making this a 3 disc set.

 

[joshEH]

According to (IIRC) Bill Hunt, Bryan Singer did in fact record an audio commentary for the film, but it's apparently being "held back" by Warner Bros. for the inevitable double-dip.

 

[Dave H]

No. Faroudja is not used in the new 2930CI and 3930CI. The 2930CI uses the new (superior) Silicon Optix chipset know as the Reon-VX50 which is very similar as the Realta chipset which is used in the 3930CI and 5910. Macroblocking is no issue in these chipsets. In fact, the 2930CI produces the cleanest, most artifact-free, yet detailed image I've ever seen (and I've used a lot of mid to high end DVD players including the Denon 2900, 3910, Sony 9100ES, and Toshiba HD-A1) for SD DVD. This player is capable of producing an amazing DVD image (with the right source material) and really kicks standard DVD up from what I've seen before.

 

[Bryan Ri]

I must say I'm quite disappointed with the video quality on the main feature. WAY too much noise for a film shot in HD, particularly a later generation film on the format.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Agreed 100%. This is one lousy transfer because it looks nothing like what was presented in the theaters. Not only is there lots of noise but the colors seem very muted vs. what we saw in theaters.

 

[Jeff Ashforth]

I just watched this last night and I have to agree that the video quality is lacking. A ton of noise and muted colors abound. I'm using a Panasonic DVD-S77 upscaled to 720p through HDMI and a 60" Sony KDF-E60A20 Grand Wega 3LCD RPTV. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who noticed the compression artifacts (although I am aware that my DVD player has macroblocking issues).

I'm curious to see if the HD-DVD or Blu-Ray versions improve this.....

J.