What HD-DVD, Blu-ray disc, or D-Theater tape have you gotten lately? (Part 2)

Netflix is pretty quick with HD-DVD. I have The Kingdom and Pan's Labyrinth is the house right now.

 

Played The Song Remains The Same (HD DVD) for the first time today. I thought it was mis-pressed with some other movie, and even opened the disk drawer to check the title. It doesn't just start off with a concert, like I had expected. It turned out to be correct.

What's kinda strange is the disk played previous to this one was Fear and Loathing in LV, and when I put in the Zeppelin disk I felt like I was on drugs for a little while.

 

I watched "The Kingdom" HD DVD last night, another good movie about Middle East terrorism. I would think for most it is a good rental and not a purchase. Without seeing the theatrical release I would believe it is a good representation of the filmmaker's intent as far as colors and grain. It uses a lot of herky jerky camera shots and with the artistic color choices doesn't make a good home theater show-off disc in my opinion. I didn't even use any of web based interactive features and I don't even have my HD DVD player connected to the internet. I didn't try PIP or any of the other ballyhooed features, just like every other disc I ever watch, the movie was all I accessed.

Chris

 

I started watching The Kingdom just to see that my A2 was ok after it refused to play Pan's Labyrinth.

Looked pretty good for what I saw but I'm saving it so the wife can see it with me.

 

Yea, I've never figured out how to use any of that "u-control" stuff. Don't really care either.

I need to pick up Pans Lab. Local prices are about the same as Amazon.

 

Actually using U-Control isn't all that hard, once you use it once. In fact some of the discs, once you select U-Control content it will merely pop-up automatically when it is available. You merely need to go into Special Features and turn it ON and it will start working, in most cases.

Then again, most movies, I find the U-Control content a bit tedious to watch to begin with. The only extra content like that, which I really like is on the Star Trek discs.

 

After my run to the Post Office, I dropped by the Wally-World and scored a Sunshine BD. It's 2-nite's main course.

 

I just picked up "The Searchers" on Blu-Ray. The picture looks fantastic but the audio seemed a few mili-seconds off.

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Sometimes this relates to the java coding and can be fixed by firmware updates or pausing and restarting.

 

Picked up Untouchables and Aeon Flux today, new from FYE, both blu-ray.

 

Got Sopranos Season 6 Part 1 on HD-DVD - completely missed it on TV so looking forward to getting acquainted with what everyone else already knows.

Tom

 

I'm gonna have to watch Sunshine again in a few days. I was a bit confused by the latter part of the film. I was getting tired and maybe the plot-line was too? I like the idea of the film but I'm not sure where it took me.

 

Went ahead and ordered up "Forbidden Planet" on HD-DVD from Amazon just incase Warners doesn't get around to reissuing it on Blu-Ray anytime soon. I suppose it's just as likely that it will be part of major cheapo close-out sales in the months ahead, but I figured now was as good a time as any to get it.

While in the mood for oldie sci-fi, I went ahead and bit on the Blu-Ray sale that included "20 Million Miles to Earth" at $14.49.

 

Tell me about it! I thought maybe I dozed off and missed something, because I was all kinds of confused. Come join us in the dedicated "Sunshine" thread after you've had a chance to watch again.

 

Been on a little frenzy lately now that my A2 is in the system and working great with my Denon 3806.

Picked up The Corpse Bride at CC today for $17.99 and won Robin Hood over at an eBay auction.

I also have Goodfellas, Forbidden Planet and Children Of Men on the way.

 

I got the David Gilmour "Remember That Night" BD, and finally got around to watching it.

I was really amazed at the TrueHD 24/48 5.1 sound. It is a conservative, front-heavy mix, but still provides good atmosphere. The dynamics are impressive, and there is no mastering compression

The picture leaves a lot to be desired. There is quite a bit of noise, and much of the image is either blown out by lights or has crushed blacks and muted colors. It is shown at 1080i/60, but it doesn't look like a typical HD video source. Of course it is HD, but the frame rate looks more like 24fps. I dunno. The DVD has pretty weak PQ, and the BD is not much better. Odd thing is, the PS3 reports bandwith to peak at 50.0Mbps (not a typo!), and average bit rates above 30Mbps. So, this thing is not bandwidth-starved by any means. Must be a lot of post production. The sound is what really saves this one though. I am in awe of how good 24/48 PCM can sound! This disc sounds just as smooth, dynamic and non-fatiguing as my very best DSD SACD discs, seriously!

So far I have 4 BD/HD-DVD concert titles. The Gilmour is about in the middle, as far as overall quality goes. The Elton 60 BD looks absolutely amazing, but the sound is very compressed, like some modern masterings. The NIN "Beside You In Time" is still my reference disc. Powerful 5.1 TrueHD sound, with impressive picture. It's not bright and colorful like the Elton, but there are no compression artifacts, and sometimes detail is quite good. The Last Waltz shows a pretty good picture for its age, and the sound is might fine too.

Bring on more concert blu-rays!

 

The Zodiac Directors cut, WOW!

 

Since 48 Mbps is the maximum, I believe that is another example of the PS3 being slightly off with the bitrate estimation.

I just watched the rental, "Glory Road". This is the second true college sports story I have watched on Blu-ray and despite knowing the outcome both times, I loved the movies. The video quality for this Disney title wasn't as great as some other Disney Blu-ray releases, but I can't complain, the average quality of a Disney Blu-ray transfer is nothing short of spectacular in my opinion.

Chris

 

I rewatched that one last night. I think it's a very excellent movie that's gone beneath most folks radar. I remember that year of basketball very well. I was at the game when Tennessee upset Kentucky that's mentioned in the film. As a kid I was rather freaked by all the racial trash talk being thrown around in the media. I was delighted to see Kentucky defeated in the NCAA. John Voight's suppourting role as Adolph Rupp is rather haunting.

 

I was living in North Carolina in the early to mid 60's and was a Duke fan, the teams were always good, but never quite good enough and I followed the sport and remember that season well. I really didn't understand all of the racial issues of that season and with Adolph Rupp until much later in life. It seems that type of film just can't do much business, but I sure liked it. Apparently Josh Lucas gained 40 lbs to play the part of Don Haskins. For such a minor film, that sure seems like a lot of trouble. Either that is the second part I have seen Jon Voight use a putty nose, or else something weird has happened to his nose, I can't think of the other part now, but it was recent.

Chris

 

I just bought Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same on Blu Ray.

 

Got Forbidden Planet on HD-DVD today.

 

Today, picked up Trading Places and Devil's Rejects. Both blu-ray.

I see now that Devil's Rejects sells for $13.95 on Amazon, so may take that one back.

 

They definitely altered his appearance for Glory Road. To really look authenic to Rupp, he could of been some fatter looking. They definitely put a nose on him to play Roosevelt in Pearl Harbor. I really liked him in that role. I've wished somebody would make a film about Roosevelt and put him in it since....

I moved around when I was a kid quite a bit while my dad was in the Coast Guard. We were in New York and New Orleans amongst other locales. As a little kid, I got used to seeing black folks. My parents didn't hand down racist attitudes to me. When I got to Tennessee, I started hearing dum-basses go on about race. I became very concious of the thang.

I lived in an S.E.C. city so I heard Adolph Rupp's quotes quite a bit. He was a master of subtle putdowns just as he was prortrayed in the film, you bet'cha. I'm not positive but I think Kentucky was one of the last S.E.C. schools to sign a black bucketball player. I think he ceded his job to Joe Hall because he really didn't want to coach black players. That's just my opine though.

I've seen quite a few of Disney's sports movies. I think Glory Road is heads above the lot. It definitely captures the spirit of the times, IMO.

 

Stopped at another store later on today and picked up Shooter on blu-ray. When I got home there was "The Ten" in the mailbox, from amazon.com.

"The Ten" is MPEG2 ! Is that a first for a HD DVD ?