http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/punisher.html

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Presented in 2.35:1 and encoded at 1080p, 'The Punisher' is definitely one of the best Blu-ray releases I've seen yet. It is certainly the most consistent, delivering a picture that clearly looks like high-definition for most of its runtime. Hopefully, if Blu-ray supporting studios continue to deliver transfers of this quality, it may help counteract some of the early negative buzz that has plagued the format's launch.

In any case, Lionsgate has put some real care into this transfer. For a film whose overriding visual aesthetic and palette veers so strongly towards black, 'The Punisher' looks surprisingly colorful on Blu-ray. Hues are bold and stable, with rich splashes of color infusing the costume and production design quite effectively. Chroma noise and smearing is also not a problem. Of course, the film is still filled with plenty of shadows, worn leather and chrome, but both black levels and contrast are uniformly above-average. Shadow delineation is also quite impressive, with even fine details visible in the darkest scenes (which is a good thing, as about 80 percent of the movie appears to have been shot at night in low-lit conditions). I also enjoyed the the sense of depth and detail to the picture -- after viewing so many early Blu-ray titles with spotty and inconsistent prints, this one looked like a new movie should with no major print defects or anomalies. I was frequently startled by how three-dimensional the transfer appears, which is what high-def is all about. Finally, a real winner on Blu-ray.

Nice!

This is good news. After hearing so much bad reviews about Blu-Ray quality, there might yet be hope. ;)
It´s also good news, because the Punisher is one of the few early titles I am planning on buying. Some day.

This is good news. After hearing so much bad reviews about Blu-Ray quality, there might yet be hope. ;)
It´s also good news, because the Punisher is one of the few early titles I am planning on buying. Some day.

Perhaps the first round was just growing pains and we will see BD titles setting the standards for hi-def video...that would be great news for folks who want the most content on HD possible (like myself).


All power to the BDA is they can get HD DVD quality using mpeg-2 only on SL disks. That would be phenomenal (IMHO) and huge for Sony....

$39.95.......... How many Punisher fans is going to double dip at that price?

But I'm sure it can be found cheaper..........I hope

Amazon has it for 19.95...$38.95 for both Punisher and Terminator...possibly so you can compare?

This disk is absolutely horrid.

It's drab, without any details. Colors are muted, whites are grey, it looks almost as bad as a regular DVD.

If you use the DTS audio, the Samsung will drop frames regularly.

Globally, it's worse than Lord of War.

This disk is absolutely horrid.

It's drab, without any details. Colors are muted, whites are grey, it looks almost as bad as a regular DVD.

If you use the DTS audio, the Samsung will drop frames regularly.

Globally, it's worse than Lord of War.


lol

$39.95.......... How many Punisher fans is going to double dip at that price?

But I'm sure it can be found cheaper..........I hope

Make that $1,039.95 with player......

This disk is absolutely horrid.

It's drab, without any details. Colors are muted, whites are grey, it looks almost as bad as a regular DVD.

If you use the DTS audio, the Samsung will drop frames regularly.

Globally, it's worse than Lord of War.


I concur!!!!! I damn near took the Samsung back after viewing this DAWG! Did somebody affiliated with Sony write the review???? Or, is the reviewer vision impaired, severely? I'll never watch this disc again in all likelyhood.

Wow, these newer titles seem to be taking more heat and getting worse reviews then the titles that came out at launch. What's going on?

I think (hope) those two are kidding. I have the Punisher and it looks damn good.

I think (hope) those two are kidding. I have the Punisher and it looks damn good.

I'm certainly not kidding! Robena has been on this forum a long time same as I and I'm certain he's not kidding either. I have one word that purr-fectly describes this disc, miserable.

I'm certainly not kidding! Robena has been on this forum a long time same as I and I'm certain he's not kidding either. I have one word that purr-fectly describes this disc, miserable.

Wow, I and that respected reviewer couldn't disagree more.

Oh well.

wow,
even when a BD gets a good review it still gets slammed.
I wonder when and if BD can recover.

I suppose it would stop getting scorned when BD format starts getting high quality discs on a regular basis. so far it seems to be a gamble and inconsistant.

if what is read here is true, shame on lion gate and the stutter issue. Whos really going to purchase buggy discs? aside from the die hard BD fans.

Has anyone compared the detail in Punisher BD vrs other HD sources? The BD version look grain filtered to me, loosing a majority of the detail. To me it looks like a filtered version of the movie made for a DVD master. I ordered this title a long time ago and forgot about it. I initially wanted this title to see how stable the grain might be on BD.

This disk is absolutely horrid.

It's drab, without any details. Colors are muted, whites are grey, it looks almost as bad as a regular DVD.

If you use the DTS audio, the Samsung will drop frames regularly.

Globally, it's worse than Lord of War.

I guess reviewer Peter M. Bracke must have reviewed this movie on a 27" TV from 12 feet away :p

How can two reasonable people differ so much ?

This is fascinating. I have a lot of respect for Peter Bracke's PQ reviews. I also have a lot of respect for people on this forum (Rachael comes to mind) so I'm ver puzzled. Might have to pick this one up just to see for myself.

I'd have to do it soon because my 30 days is running out with BB and the Sammy IS going back...

Btw, I finally checked out Saw last night and thought it was actually OK looking. I dug out the SD version and there was a definite difference - didn't expect that after all the BD discs I had tried.

I wonder if there is an unspoken double standard with blu ray reviews compared to HD DVD.

i.e. the positive blu ray reviews are given a little more slack in light of the rest of the library.
while HD DVDs are reviewed at a higher standard.
this would explain for the opposing views we see here.

I know that Ive seen terminator 1 reviews glowing among the public press and when I see it in person I think its and ugly looking transfer.

and Ive also seen some HD DVD discs get slammed publicly but I thought they were decent transfers, at least much better than the glowing reviews Ill see on BD. Its like BD gets graded on a curve.

I wonder if there is an unspoken double standard with blu ray reviews compared to HD DVD.

i.e. the positive blu ray reviews are given a little more slack in light of the rest of the library.
while HD DVDs are reviewed at a higher standard.
this would explain for the opposing views we see here.

I know that Ive seen terminator 1 reviews glowing among the public press and when I see it in person I think its and ugly looking transfer.

and Ive also seen some HD DVD discs get slammed publicly but I thought they were decent transfers, at least much better than the glowing reviews Ill see on BD. Its like BD gets graded on a curve.

That is probably it.

Curious to read more feedback from bluray users of this disc. Having people say it looks horrible and some say it looks very good is weird so I am interested in more feedback.

This is fascinating. I have a lot of respect for Peter Bracke's PQ reviews. I also have a lot of respect for people on this forum (Rachael comes to mind) so I'm ver puzzled. Might have to pick this one up just to see for myself.

I'd have to do it soon because my 30 days is running out with BB and the Sammy IS going back...

Btw, I finally checked out Saw last night and thought it was actually OK looking. I dug out the SD version and there was a definite difference - didn't expect that after all the BD discs I had tried.

I think Saw looks better than several of the BD titles. I think Crash and T2 are the two best looking Lionsgate titles. Saw is proably next, well, really about tied with Lord Of War. I think the colour looks poor on LOW and I tried it component and HDMI. It's so almost a decent looking disc.

The Punisher is a film I'd never seen before....I had seen the other one.... the other Punisher. I imagine it was not a big budjet movie and it is full of dark scenes which are hard to reproduce well. Maybe, the reviewer made alot of allowances for that? Maybe it looks a few % better than the DVD? A movie like this needs a really excellent presentation and this ain't it, I feel. I strongly recommend you pass it by. Somebody will do better with it on down the road.

Tony says it was a high grain film and that would explain the "sheets" of fuzzy grain I saw in many scenes. I'm totally unimpressed with the pic on this one. Don't buy it! Rent it from Nutflix if you can't sleep without seeing it.... ;) :)

Wow, I and that respected reviewer couldn't disagree more.

Oh well.

I'm on my 4th HD format. I'd suggest that I am harder to impress. Forget HD-DVD....if I was ranking this disc against D-Theater tapes, I'd rank it last. I watched one of the weakest HD-tapes last week, Lost In Translation, an even lower budjet film, and The Punisher wouldn't even be close.

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/830/punisher929qm.th.png (http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=punisher929qm.png)http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8992/punisher16kc.th.png (http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=punisher16kc.png)http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/4861/punisher786xc.th.png (http://img485.imageshack.us/my.php?image=punisher786xc.png)

how do you capture bd? too bad I already traded my release print of punisher.

I find myself disagreeing with a great many of Bracke's picture and sound quality reviews.

Josh, are you planning to review the Punisher any time soon?

Josh, are you planning to review the Punisher any time soon?

Lionsgate hasn't sent us any BD screeners, so unless they start probably not.

Hetz,

you have probably not witnessed HD-DVD or maybe you are limited by your display. But please rest assured that Robert, Rachael and Tony are more reliable sources than Mr. Bracke with regard to how good the Punisher looks compared to what is out there on D-Theater, OTA HD and HD-DVD. Sure it might look quite nice by itself (if even that) but you have to grade it against other BR titles and other forrmats and what they are capabale of as well.

I would also like to add to Josh's comment regarding other reviews of Mr. Bracke:
While I have not watched The Punisher on BD, I have watched/endured Lord of War and Ultraviolet on BR and I have the impression that Mr. Bracke is far too nice with these movies, too. This does not really help the cause of letting Sony/BR know that they deliver subpar performance as of now.

Oliver

Lionsgate hasn't sent us any BD screeners, so unless they start probably not.

Hola Josh! How much would ya charge me to take my copy off my hands then??? ;) :)

You and everyone else. HighDefDigest has the same review for every movie. No bluray movie is ever cast in a bad light.

I find myself disagreeing with a great many of Bracke's picture and sound quality reviews.

I guess reviewer Peter M. Bracke must have reviewed this movie on a 27" TV from 12 feet away :p

How can two reasonable people differ so much ?

Video Displays:
- HP Pavilion MD6580N 65" DLP Rear-Projector
- Toshiba 65H81 65" CRT Rear-Projector

From their reference system link. (http://www.highdefdigest.com/gear.html)


fuad

You and everyone else. HighDefDigest has the same review for every movie. No bluray movie is ever cast in a bad light.

I don't think that's true at all. He said some pretty negative things about many of the Blu-rays. Nonetheless, some of the discs he says look great (on both formats) I wasn't as impressed with, and some of the discs he says look poor I liked quite a lot more. This isn't an issue of format bias. It's just that I think we have different standards for what looks "good" and "bad".

For example, in his review of Syriana he complains that the movie has "a grainy and gritty texture". I honestly have no idea what he's talking about. The movie has a small handful of shots that are mildly grainy. He makes it sound like it's Clerks or something. He said similar things about Serenity that left me scratching my head.

I just think a lot or reviewers are quite shocked at the amount of grain and texture on HD releases. I'm thinking they are used to DVD which cannot always reproduce the grain correctly. There for, the studios filter it out or it just disappears with a downconversion. and it works out fine for DVD, but does not represent the true look of the film.

I just think a lot or reviewers are quite shocked at the amount of grain and texture on HD releases. I'm thinking they are used to DVD which cannot always reproduce the grain correctly. There for, the studios filter it out or it just disappears with a downconversion. and it works out fine for DVD, but does not represent the true look of the film.

What a wise post Tony!

I just think a lot or reviewers are quite shocked at the amount of grain and texture on HD releases. I'm thinking they are used to DVD which cannot always reproduce the grain correctly. There for, the studios filter it out or it just disappears with a downconversion. and it works out fine for DVD, but does not represent the true look of the film.

Tony,

this is so true, talk about a twisted perception of reality.

Many reviewers should watch a movie on 35 mm now and then - grain is part of the movie experience and if reproduced faithfully no reason to complain but reason to praise a release.

I almost fear that after the J6P-fill-my-screen button there is also a big demand for a DNR-all-the-grain-away button. :D

Oliver

I almost fear that after the J6P-fill-my-screen button there is also a big demand for a DNR-all-the-grain-away button. :D

LOL Oliver ! :) Are you sure that Grain Away isn't already available in an airesol spray can? ;) I could'a swore I saw it advertised on TV the other day. The same company makes Head On, a new head cleaner.... ;)

This format BluRRAy is pure garbage. I am all done with them after watching The Punisher. If this guy or anyone thinks this looks good they need to get their eyes checked. Hell, HD off the DIsh looks better. I just can't believe how bad these titles look.

LOL Oliver ! :) Are you sure that Grain Away isn't already available in an airesol spray can? ;) I could'a swore I saw it advertised on TV the other day. The same company makes Head On, a new head cleaner.... ;)

:D Rachael, you never cease to amaze me - just don't spray that stuff on your screens !

Unfortunately I do not have access to these fantastic commercials over here but I will gladly make do with a nice HD-DVD movie now and then :)

The same company makes Head On, a new head cleaner.... ;)

Humm, I need a good head cleaning every now & then :)

Tony is right !!!

1. THE PUNISHER is a grainy film (saw it in the theaters)
2. guys expecting HD movies as clean and sharp as JAY LENO HD are kidding themselves !
3. the samsung player is very very faulty !,having watched BLU RAY on a VAIO, we in now way have seen the crap that some reviews or forumers report.
4. film stock grain surely will be more visible on hd formats. we got to live with it.

imho, i think the vc1 decoders and MPEG2 hd decoders need improvements...

it's time we have other manufacturers than toshiba or samsung making those players... some much better built !

What's wrong with the build of The tosh players? By all accounts, they are VERY well built and 2nd gen machines will likely not come close to the build quality.

Thought I'd chime in here. I started out with HD DVDs and have been very impressed with most of the movies I own on HD DVD.

I got a PS3 before Christmas and am building up my blu ray library. I started off with Kingdom of Heaven. Not much to complain about with that release. So I ordered a whole bunch of other blu ray movies.

The Punisher is one of my favourite movies (I love vigilante movies). I read Bracke's review and bought this disc partially based on that review. I was disappointed with this disc. It didn't look a whole lot different from the DVD release. Sure, there was the odd scene here or there that looked good, but nothing looked great. Some scenes were down right bad.

I felt like I should have saved my money and bought the extended edition DVD instead of this blu ray version. It's a shame too, I loved the movie itself.

Unfortunately there's a huge variance in how much each movie benefits from HD. If a movie wasn't filmed sharply, it's not going to knock your socks off. Some of the best material imo is modern TV shows (Prison Break, Lost, etc); these are filmed very well and look great on HD.

Grain tends to show up a lot more in Blu-ray titles - which can be good or bad depending on your viewpoint.

To me, grain is like audio hiss on analog recordings... undesirable.