Opinions please. Of those who have viewed HD dvd's in tier 3 or 4 and the standard dvd version(upconverted) , if I already have the standard dvd and can watch it upconverted on my Toshiba A1 connected to Sony SXRD XBR1, would I still see a decent improvement by buying the HD version? Only talking about dvd's in tier 3 and 4. Thanks.

Yes it is worth it. Enter the Dragon in HD DVD is superior to the upconverted SD DVD.

Superman II is the only title from Tier 3 or 4 that I own, but it is much better than the old PAL DVD and I'm sure some will say the new DVD as well.

I have not seen a HD-DVD that hasn't offered at least some instantly visible superiority to its DVD counterpart.

Anything on the teirs should look better then the DVDs.
I've got superman 2 as well it looks really good for it age. The SE really stick out. The opening shot is terible as a first I thought it was a lex luther model.. LOL

I have the Dirty Dozen, tier 4. I have to say looks great to me. My mom looked at it and said it looked just like it did in the theater. So far I havnt seen a one that doesnt give you more than a SD DVD does.

The tier System represents movies to show off . with lots of wow/pop factor .
Not how good the picture is to the original showing at the theatre .

I saw Enter the dragon and Animal house , both looked very good ....
You can look at dvdtalk.com and a few others that rate the discs before you buy .
From what it seems no matter what tier most of the movies will look great , pq.

Bob

I would say to you that almost any movie except maybe tier 4 will offer you instant gratification over the SD-DVD.

I have not seen a HD-DVD that hasn't offered at least some instantly visible superiority to its DVD counterpart.
Ditto. The whole "will I see a difference?" debate has always surprised me, since, to my eyes, even the weakest looking HD titles are significantly better than their standard def counterparts.

The tier system is garbage IMO, poor transfers in tier 1 like Dune and great transfers like Sleepy Hollow in tier 3. I wouldn't pay any attention to it. It's a pity we can't have a few people with reference systems that know what to look for doing a proper tier thread.

The tier system is garbage IMO, poor transfers in tier 1 like Dune and great transfers like Sleepy Hollow in tier 3. I wouldn't pay any attention to it. It's a pity we can't have a few people with reference systems that know what to look for doing a proper tier thread.

I haven't seen Dune, but in general I agree with you.
But as the poster 2 up from you said

The tier System represents movies to show off . with lots of wow/pop factor .

so in that spirit I just pretend to ignore it.
It is a little depressing how many people are using it as a reference stick to judge and pass sentence on every disc released though. I'm concerned it may have a chilling effect in the future causing studios to digitally manipulate transfers to better appeal the wants/needs of the people warning off others with "it's strictly a Tier 3...don't waste your time"
I want to scream when I see posts like that.

That said, Enter The Dragon started off horrribly. The jagged edges around Bruce Lees face and hand as he was talking to his master/teacher were the worst I have seen so far. I was on edge for more blatant instances of it for the rest of the films run time, but thankfully the worst example were all in the first few minutes. I'm sure there are more example of it, but they just didn't leap out at me the way the one I mentioned did.
Other than that (which I consider to be a serious flaw nonetheless) the film looked quite nice. Most J6Ps would consider it a looker, I'm sure.

I have not seen a HD-DVD that hasn't offered at least some instantly visible superiority to its DVD counterpart.
Exactly. Upconverted SD DVD video simply doesn't contain the same amount of information as a high-def transfer does. Period. You can't ADD information that doesn't exist. Not all HD titles are going to look like King Kong or Hulk (nor should they), but they will certainly look superior to their SD counterparts.

EDIT: Whiggles said pretty much the same thing a few posts up, but I'll leave my comments here anyway.

American Werewolf In London, which gets ragged on here a lot, I thought was a very good upgrade from the orginal disc (which I had thought already looked fine).
This becomes apparent if you flip it over and watch passages from the sd side and then flip it back and compare/contrast.

At least I felt it was a very worthwhile upgrade on my 80" screen.
But then again, I love the movie anyway- And that is the basic criteria that I would suggest should govern all thoughts of upgrades. Every HD DVD I've seen has been better than the sd counterpart. If you love a given movie, why would you not want to own and watch it in the best quality available? Why would you waste time on a movie you don't care for particularly, just because the video pops more?

I just don't get that.

I've basically seen them all and would recommend ever single one except maybe Full Metal Jacket. They all offer a very serious improvement over SD upconversion and even if you aren't sure if it was worth it when you first start watching (with some of them FMJ, Fugitive) - by the end of your whole viewing experience of the entire movie - you are then completely convinced that they were worth the upgrade/purchase. Course, it helps if you really like the movie, feel it is worth re-watching, etc.

I don't think the Tier thread is a very good gauge for movie purchases.

BTW, for FMJ, the benefit of the HD DVD is that it's 16:9, similar to the 1.85 like it was in the theatres. The DVD is open matte 4:3. I haven't seen it yet though (since I'm not interested in repurchasing it).

Since all the HD DVDs are from at least the same master as the sd dvd the HD DVD looks better than the SAME title in dvd upconverted. Spartacus gets a very low pq rating but I think it is the best presentation of this title. A better restoration would make it better but it is a upgrade over all other versiosn.

I have these and think theyre very superior to the SD versions.....



Goodfellas
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Christmas Vacation
Dazed & Confused
The Fog
Full Metal Jacket

Cinderella Man and Excalibur are two titles I see the least improvement in however Excalibut DOES look better and IMHO is worth the upgrade.

Opinions please. Of those who have viewed HD dvd's in tier 3 or 4 and the standard dvd version(upconverted) , if I already have the standard dvd and can watch it upconverted on my Toshiba A1 connected to Sony SXRD XBR1, would I still see a decent improvement by buying the HD version? Only talking about dvd's in tier 3 and 4. Thanks.

Sleepy Hollow is the only one that I have and it is certainly better. The tier system says it has excessive digital noise. I could be wrong, but I thought the noise was there in the original print??

Sleepy Hollow is the only one that I have and it is certainly better. The tier system says it has excessive digital noise. I could be wrong, but I thought the noise was there in the original print??
I suspect someone can't tell the difference between digital noise and natural film grain, of which the latter is in abundance in Sleepy Hollow. It's not a perfect disc - some moments look over-compressed, but that generally sorts itself out after the first 15 minutes.

Dirty Dozen and Sleepy Hollow which I believe are in Tier FOUR, and which I happen to own both look very good and blow their DVD counterparts out of the water.

Oh yeah! There are plenty under tier 2 that are worth buying (especially if you are a fan of the film). Use that thread with a grain of salt as that thread is after that 3D depth look of an image rather than what the actual source looked like.

For example, The Italian Job was in Tier 3. It was a fantastic transfer, and really looked good (and sounded great!) on my setup (110" screen).

If you can't rent to test out, try getting some films that YOU really enjoy and go for it! You decide.

I have over 100 HD-DVDs now, and (for the ones I've already owned on SD), they are all a significant improvement over the upconverted SDs.

The Tier threads are a good resource for judging 3D pop, but even there you've got to take them with a grain of salt. I agree with most of the placements, but some of them are just wack. ie. Fog in Tier 4 lmao.

One thing I've noticed on DVD is that long movies greater than 2 1/2 hours look like crap...probably because of so much compression. All long movies I've seen in HD-DVD look great. The last Harry Potter DVD was one of the worst I've ever seen in PQ. I can't wait to see it HD.

i've always wondered why people bother saying the HD version of a movie was better than the SD version. of course it is. i don't really buy into upconverting.

having said that, IF you have a smaller, older "hidef" tv, you might not see that big a jump in quality. if you have a new big tv, there really is no comparison.

I have three in Tier 3 and they're miles better than their SD counterparts.

Cinderella Man on HD DVD is definetly better than the DVD version

The Tier system is not a good way to judge whether something is better than SD. I haven't seen an HD DVD that is worse than the SD upconverted. I have seen BDs that way. Frankly titles in Tier 3 and 4 that you like should be purchased. Don't be dissuaded by their low "rank." Not ragging on the Tier thread, just clarifying that it is based on different criteria than quality vs. SD-DVD.

The tier system is garbage IMO, poor transfers in tier 1 like Dune and great transfers like Sleepy Hollow in tier 3. I wouldn't pay any attention to it.
I agree. I believe it's only good for first-time buyers looking for the most eye-catching, demo-worthy picture but for everyone else it's almost completely useless.

Opinions please. Of those who have viewed HD dvd's in tier 3 or 4 and the standard dvd version(upconverted) , if I already have the standard dvd and can watch it upconverted on my Toshiba A1 connected to Sony SXRD XBR1, would I still see a decent improvement by buying the HD version? Only talking about dvd's in tier 3 and 4. Thanks.

Pretty much ALL of them if you genuinely like the movie. None of them (including tier one and two) if you don't!

The Tier system is not a good way to judge whether something is better than SD. I haven't seen an HD DVD that is worse than the SD upconverted. I have seen BDs that way. Frankly titles in Tier 3 and 4 that you like should be purchased. Don't be dissuaded by their low "rank." Not ragging on the Tier thread, just clarifying that it is based on different criteria than quality vs. SD-DVD.

There are titles that are ranked too high and some too low.

Basically any of them look better than their SD equivalents, many breathtakingly so.

If you like the movie, get it.

I agree that this is where the 'tier system' can be limiting. It should be named the "wow factor" or something. 480lines versus 1080lines will always show a substantial improvement when the source is higher than 480 to begin with.

I watched Casino last nite and am kinda miffed that it's in tier 2- this is a reference transfer in every aspect

I don't think the Tier thread is a very good gauge for movie purchases.

BTW, for FMJ, the benefit of the HD DVD is that it's 16:9, similar to the 1.85 like it was in the theatres. The DVD is open matte 4:3. I haven't seen it yet though (since I'm not interested in repurchasing it).

It's the weakest HD DVD that I've seen so far, but it's not bad by any means. The big bonus is like you said......it's finally available in 16x9!