Slashdot Mirror
First Blu-ray Disc Reviews Posted Online
An anonymous reader writes "With the first Blu-ray player and discs officially making their market debuts tomorrow, High-Def DVD Digest has posted the first reviews of three of the first Blu-ray discs -- The Fifth Element, 50 First Dates, and xXx. So what's the verdict? So far, in terms of video quality, the results seem to be mixed: standard DVD fave 'Fifth Element' underwhelmed ('just
not the best HD I've seen'); likewise, 'xXx,' was a disappointment ('up close just looks like a messed-up bunch of dots'). Somewhat surprisingly, it's '50 First Dates' that ranked highest of the three in video quality ('holds
its own with the best high-definition transfers out there')."
So exactly how are HD videos (blu-ray, or HD) going to capture the hearts and imaginations of the buying public with this kind of debut? Ostensibly (you would think) the best and brightest would be selected for their ability to shine and put the best face on an already murky new format battle.
It's an interesting task, convincing Mom and Dad, friends, etc., this is the latest and greatest thing... "no, no, just wait, you'll SEE the difference in the next scene... just let me pause it on this one frame, THERE!... see how clear the pattern is on Drew Barrymore's shirt!"
I've seen HD from comcast. I've seen HD demo'ed in Circuit City (when they FINALLY got some source). My experience and subjective opinion is that what is being delivered is being delivered with unacceptable compromise, whether it be to rush to market, or just shoddy quality, it doesn't matter. I've seen compression artifacts, I've seen jittery playback. I'm not "getting" it.
This kind of rollout will underwhelm the public, especially at the rollout prices. The only thing keeping this from dying on the vine is the digital mandate to convert to digital, and the tide of HDTVs only requiring customers to buy in.
Seriously, 5th Element was shot on film, and the other two I don't know about, but aren't there any well-known digital productions which would transfer cleanly? How pristine are the masters for 5th Element by now?
And to agree with the earlier poster: Whoever's greenlighting chick films like "50 first dates" and "Phantom of the Opera" for testdriving a new medium needs a new job, preferably selling hot dogs on a street corner, to get an idea of what a market actually asks for.
"Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on
I can't help but hear these words in my head:
"Get it now on DVD and PSP."
And we know how well that turned out (PS What?).
And why did something so lame as XXX make it to Blu Ray? Why not something good, oh, say the first Harry Potter Movie. The Battlestar Galactica Mini-Series (not the tv series). Star Wars? T3?
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
I find it very hard to stomach these reviewers who are trying to compare the 'picture quality' of Blu-Ray to HD-DVD when the codecs used are exactly the same. Blu-Ray offers the edge on size and maximum bitrate, but it's doubtful that the early titles are going to be taking advantage of it. Any title that did take advantage of the extra space would very logically look better (if the compressionist is not an idiot, anyway). Whether or not anyone would really notice is another debate. You could make a comparison to the acutal players ability to decode and post process the footage as well, but this would require identical MPEG2 or H.264 content to be fed through both format players -- which has not been done either.
So anyway, I guess the gauntlet is down and the proverbial "masses" will decide. Unfortunately they will probably end up doing it based on title availability, brand loyalty, price, and "picture quality" instead of technical merit. All it really means to me is that I have to wait to buy a player until: a) one camp gives in, b) someone makes a dual format player or c) companies start releasing *everything* in both formats.
Somewhat surprisingly, it's '50 First Dates' that ranked highest of the three in video quality
Not surprising, there's no action to speak of, not a lot of motion, etc.. Less movement means less to encode, which means less work to decode.
The Matrix was always the DVD stress-tester of choice, specifically the kung fu scene, because you would really notice the quality of the decoder during the more intense scenes, where every pixel on screen is changing with every frame.
So my question is, is this an issue with the encoding of the discs or an inherent design problem with the discs themselves, perhaps too low a bitrate, or just a cheap shit decoder in the playback device? My money is on the latter.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I agree, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are severely underwhelming, for some reason.
...)
... "It's not any faster!".
This is quite surprising to me - I was one of the first people to buy an Apple II+, bought one of the first RCA VCR models (all my friends said buy Beta, but I was working shift
It's just that, as my son showed me this past week, the only thing that really seems to matter is Net speed. To explain, he had an iMac that I gave him when he was 7 - he's now 15 - and we had crammed RAM in but we finally couldn't upgrade any more, and things weren't working. So, we went and bought him a Mac mini.
First thing he said, after a friend helped him set up Firefox and Adblock and NoScript was
I said, look all the images resolve faster, the graphics on your new flatscreen Samsung panel are at higher res, but in the end, we're still using the same speed of cable modem, and the only thing that would change that would be if we went to Gigapop Internet.
Same thing with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD - just no need for them. Most people don't have 1080p HDTVs that are 50 inches or bigger. Most games won't need them. None of the fun ones that he wants to play will.
So, the revolution in data storage (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) dies with a whimper, because there's nothing behind the Mask.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
From what I have read, there is no point to buying the Blu-Ray version. However, you should try out the Super-bit version of the Fifth Element on a good up-converting DVD player. It will hold me off for a few more years until the next-gen DVD war declares a true winner.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Slow down, I haven't even purchased my HD television yet.
While watching a hockey playoff game a month ago, my buddy paid extra to have HD broadcast straight from the Cable provider (Charter charges for this) and was all proud of his Samsung wide screen LCD/hybrid TV.
To be honest with you, it didn't change the game experience for me that much. Wide screen was nice (got to see a few more dirty hits off the "regular" camera angle)and it wasn't enough for me to justify paying an extra 100-200 dollars for HD capability.
I don't honestly see the reason for the hype. Blu-Ray---Schmoo-Ray. Not worth my money for at least the next 5 years. Talk to me then (if they still make Blu-Ray disks).
I won't be the guy caught with the Hi-Fi system and laserdisc system...again...
--I'd be more interested in smellivision.--
Your experience seems to indicate there may be a market for native HD material that isn't massively compressed -- like HD_DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. I've come to the conclusion through many posts that comcast sucks (everybody say it together!) for HD content and that the guys at ciruit city and best buy couldn't properly set up an HD system to save their jobs (let's daisy chain 20 HD sets together and see what the picture looks like!). It's sad that our retailers are doing such a disservice to themselves. Maybe HD discs will change that by making good HD content easier to see and set up correctly.