Separate site to make A/B easier than linking directly here: Ice Age - Blu-ray Screenshots (http://chidragon.thedessie.com/bdcomp/iacomp/iacomp.html)

I took several successive frames to give a sense of the differences in motion. Please check out the stats/info page as well as it explains why I took each set of shots. Sorry for being so verbose but I thought it was important to point out what each shot is meant to illustrate in this case. Here's the most important point:

Certain backgrounds and characters in the movie seem to have a "sparkling" effect that appears like grain or noise but larger and in localised areas. I haven't seen much 3D animation in HD but I'm guessing this isn't something every feature has. Still, it appears to be intended animation for some reason. There also appears to be actual grain in many scenes despite review sites stating that this is an all-digital transfer. It's possible that digital grain was added and intended, but I haven't seen either of these issues noted anywhere even though I saw them immediately when I first watched the disc.

Also amazing to me is that the video portion of the encode is only 9.16GB!

EDIT: Oh, and the deleted scenes files are actually in 1080p despite certain review sites and other saying they are SD. They do appear to have a low res source, but I haven't bothered checking whether there's equal or greater than SD detail. The fact that they're 1080p on disc is of course plain to see when you have it on the PC but it's also easy to tell on the PS3: at least on mine, the PS3 switches to 480p output for SD content on BDs and if I hit the Display button the bitrate meter is large and blurry, upscaled by the TV.

That picture in you link doesn't look grainy to me. But there is some obvious Color Banding.

There's more than one pic, and throughout the film it appears in levels varying from grainy to clean.

I heard a rumor that Manfread and Sid were each paid over $20 million. In order to cut costs Fox was forced to use cheep film stock in the production. The director wanted to shot in full 35mm Panavision but was forced to use 1.85 and 16mm film because of the budget constants. They also cut back in other areas too. Some of the fur used was obviously not from the Ice Age period. Also several sets contain items that are more modern and not actually from the Ice Age.

Try turning sharpness down.

I heard a rumor that Manfread and Sid were each paid over $20 million. In order to cut costs Fox was forced to use cheep film stock in the production. The director wanted to shot in full 35mm Panavision but was forced to use 1.85 and 16mm film because of the budget constants. They also cut back in other areas too. Some of the fur used was obviously not from the Ice Age period. Also several sets contain items that are more modern and not actually from the Ice Age.

Listen to this guy he's got the inside scoop.

It's either slight grain/noise that was added to the master to give the image texture or some kind of artifact from the master tape.

you mean you see snow with a grainy, sparkley effect? NO! say it ain't so!
:rolleyes:

it makes me mind-numb that you've created a thread for this.

16mm?????????? lmao. that should be illegal.

The culprit could be your display.

you mean you see snow with a grainy, sparkley effect? NO! say it ain't so!
:rolleyes:

it makes me mind-numb that you've created a thread for this.

What? I made the thread to show screencaps of the Blu-ray and talk about the transfer. Besides, it isn't just on the snow... Is it so terrible to wonder how grain could be present when people say the movie was transferred straight from the animation files?

As for turning sharpness down or my display being at fault, these are direct screengrabs from the decoded AVC stream. I also have the sharpness setting on my TV at 0.

What? I made the thread to show screencaps of the Blu-ray and talk about the transfer. Besides, it isn't just on the snow... Is it so terrible to wonder how grain could be present when people say the movie was transferred straight from the animation files?

As for turning sharpness down or my display being at fault, these are direct screengrabs from the decoded AVC stream. I also have the sharpness setting on my TV at 0.

Grain gets added to 100% digital creations all the time. Look at Monster House. Far FAR grainier than this. (And I'm having trouble to see the grain at all to tell you the truth, maybe it's easier to see in motion...)