Well,
they are out- the HD-DVD movies that is and High Def Digest gives us a good
review of a couple of the four titles presently available. So far, we have the
following retail offerings: The Phantom of the Opera, Million Dollar baby, The
Last Samurai and also Serenity. The Digest already has a review of the latter
two films posted on their website and promise to add the other two as time
permits.
From the get go, we can read that there will be
more or less bang for the buck in terms of visual improvement, depending on the
movie. Even in DVD form, the Last Samurai was quite striking to watch, so we
should not be surprised that it "looks" better on HD-DVD when compared to the
less cinematic Sci-fi flick Serenity. The titles that are reviewed so far come
from Warner and they have been encoded at 1080p. Unfortunately, the Toshiba
player that is out to play the discs at the moment is not capable of this
resolution. On the good side though, you can coax 1080i out of the player over
any of the connections, since the Image Constraint Token (ICT) is not
implemented yet. Have no fear though, in the infinite wisdom of Warner, they
have made it publicly known that they will invoke ICT when they get the urge. So
then you can go out and pick up a second round of equipment.
Too bad the Toshiba is hobbled at 1080i, (the HD-A1
and the fancier HD-XA1 are limited to 1080i ) because the crew over at High
Def have a 65 inch 1080p capable display, the HP Pavilion 65" DLP RPTV. From
what can be gathered around the Internet, if you want to enjoy 1080p from a
comfortable viewing distance, then this is the minimum size set, that will allow
appreciation of the fine details of this resolution, a very limited club to be
sure! However, enough of that, in this review today, they do compare the picture
to DVD and also some 1080i satellite HBO feeds and they like what they
see! Another thing they do which is nice, is give us their impressions of
the audio coming from these new fangled discs whilst being interpreted by the
Toshiba..nice!
HBO-HD broadcast showing of 'Samurai' also bore some interesting results. I'd give the edge to HD-DVD, because of one considerable improvement versus satellite and terrestrial HD broadcasts -- macroblocking. I've subscribed to DirecTV, Voom and now Dish Network, and even the best of their HD broadcasts suffer from some sort of pixelization, mostly on fast motion. I noticed absolutely no macroblocking on the HD-DVD 'Samurai,' even on the most fast-cut, complex scenes. That's a real boon for those who want the best quality money can buy, especially when it comes to today's whiplash-paced big-budget action blockbusters. Aside from that issue, the HD-DVD and HBO-HD versions of 'Samurai' were pretty comparable, though I thought the HD-DVD also boasted more detail visible in the darkest areas of the picture, and slightly improved sharpness and contrast overall. Overall, purely in terms of picture clarity and resolution (minus the macroblocking issue) I'd rate the HD-DVD as about a 5 to 10 percent improvement over the satellite HD broadcast. Finally, comparing the HD-DVD versus standard DVD, the victor was clear. HD-DVD is simply sharper, clearer, more vibrant and more real. I was also a bit surprised that the HD-DVD of 'Samurai' sported stronger colors and better blacks than the standard DVD version, even though they appear minted from the same master. The considerably increased detail of the HD-DVD format also gives the image a better sense of contrast, as distinct picture elements like the glint on a blade or fine clothing textures now "pop" off the screen more, as opposing areas of light and dark are now more pronounced. (I will take a closer look at HD-DVD quality versus upconverted SD DVD in my review of Universal's Serenity) However, the difference between the HD-DVD and standard DVD does narrow a bit if you output the standard DVD via the Toshiba's HDMI out, which can upconvert standard DVD's 480p native resolution to 720p or all the way up to 1080i (no 1080p option on these first-gen players). Watching the standard DVD of 'Samurai' upconverted to 1080i, I'd say it was about 15 percent better than the 480p out, with a sharper picture and surprisingly richer blacks (which I wasn't expecting). Though it still can't compare to the HD-DVD of 'Samurai,' I venture to guess that on smaller screen sizes, average consumers might not be wowed as much by the HD-DVD. Certainly, if these new next-gen high-def DVD formats are going to win over the mainstream, they need to be seen on larger screen sizes. At when compared to upconverted standard DVD, they just don't deliver the same quantum leap in quality that standard DVD did with VHS. |
If you would like to read the review in it's entirety
then please visit this link to High Def Digest. In addition, you will find a
review to Serenity there as well. On a side note, if you have not heard of the
now canceled television series Firefly and have not seen the resulting movie
Serenity, you are missing out! This was a great sci-fi show. Just make
sure you watch the series first on DVD then the movie last. Great entertainment
if you like this genre.
Source: High Def Digest
