BenjaminG
08-03-07, 11:01 PM
Hi all,
As much as I love the forum, it really annoys me when people start threads saying "I got '...' Blu-ray, and proceed to give a one sentence cap of the quality, basically just to rub it in to the rest of the forum that they got theirs first.
So whilst this isn't a full blown review, it should give you an idea until HighDef Digest roll out.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within
Video is encoded AVC, Very generous bitrate. PQ is a quantum leap over the DVD, on a few occasions its slightly soft, at others incredibly sharp. I'm pretty sure this is the source however, speaking of which, like the DVD there is abit of grain, but this is an artistic effect. And it looks like theres much less than the DVD. Yes, the animation has aged quite a bit, compare this to the trailer for Beowulf, and yeah we have come quite a distance. I believe this is the same direct-to-digital transfer as the original DVD.
Audio is 16 bit PCM 4.9 Mbps, and Dolby 640 with a few other languages. No guesses as to the preferred codec if you have PCM; its brilliant, with a hell of a lot of bass. There is no TrueHD track, this must have been mastered before titles such as Ghost Rider, and the newly minted "Fifth Element" disc; this should be a feature of most Sony discs from now. One thing of note; I still struggle with the Elliot Goldenthal musical score, its not very good.
Most of the extras from the DVD have been ported over; the only omission I can see is the boards/blast feature. Almost all of the extras are 480p, execpt for the Aki Dream compilation (also 640 kbs Dolby 5.1), and the trailers. I dont like the structure of the extras pop up and main menu, you have a few lines that you have to constantly select up and down from, and go through subtitles and such. Whatever.
Overall, a very nice release. It's still a strange film; I cant believe it got made with Hollywood money. I like it, but lets be honest; it is a mess of a film, and went over the heads of the western audience. I guess this was because of the scary motion capture/ zombie effect, and the storyline. It is however as visually stunning as it was on the initial release.
TMNT
Video is encoded VC-1. Unlike the low bitrates that Warner normally give us, this film is conducive to it, with a very, very sharp original transfer (also direct-to-digital I believe). I have only sampled a few scenes and frankly was blown away. I couldn't fault what I saw. The colour is very deep, and the textures of the turtles look fantastic.
This seems to be the start of something wonderful; constant Dolby TrueHD soundtracks, and this is quite good, whilst the PS3 doesnt tell me the sample rate, I believe it is 16 bit. Theres also a 640 kb/s Dolby 5.1. I sampled the TrueHD, and its a very nice audio track, I mean theres not much else to say, no one is going to be dissapointed put it that way. I didn't sample the standard Dolby track, but I guess it would be also pretty good if you werent equipped for Tru.
All the extras are in Standard Def. Havent gone through them all yet, but theres nothing that blows my socks off. Just glad the movie looks so good.
All said and done, TMNT wasn't quite the comic book finally bought to the big screen, it had more in common with the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV show we grew up with. However it does have inklings of darkness, and it made back its 30 mill or so budget a few times over, so we will definitely see a sequel.
Well I hope you guys enjoy my mini-reviews, and like I did with my pre-release 300 review I will endeavour to give you guys the heads up when I get more :-) If you want me to, that is.
As much as I love the forum, it really annoys me when people start threads saying "I got '...' Blu-ray, and proceed to give a one sentence cap of the quality, basically just to rub it in to the rest of the forum that they got theirs first.
So whilst this isn't a full blown review, it should give you an idea until HighDef Digest roll out.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within
Video is encoded AVC, Very generous bitrate. PQ is a quantum leap over the DVD, on a few occasions its slightly soft, at others incredibly sharp. I'm pretty sure this is the source however, speaking of which, like the DVD there is abit of grain, but this is an artistic effect. And it looks like theres much less than the DVD. Yes, the animation has aged quite a bit, compare this to the trailer for Beowulf, and yeah we have come quite a distance. I believe this is the same direct-to-digital transfer as the original DVD.
Audio is 16 bit PCM 4.9 Mbps, and Dolby 640 with a few other languages. No guesses as to the preferred codec if you have PCM; its brilliant, with a hell of a lot of bass. There is no TrueHD track, this must have been mastered before titles such as Ghost Rider, and the newly minted "Fifth Element" disc; this should be a feature of most Sony discs from now. One thing of note; I still struggle with the Elliot Goldenthal musical score, its not very good.
Most of the extras from the DVD have been ported over; the only omission I can see is the boards/blast feature. Almost all of the extras are 480p, execpt for the Aki Dream compilation (also 640 kbs Dolby 5.1), and the trailers. I dont like the structure of the extras pop up and main menu, you have a few lines that you have to constantly select up and down from, and go through subtitles and such. Whatever.
Overall, a very nice release. It's still a strange film; I cant believe it got made with Hollywood money. I like it, but lets be honest; it is a mess of a film, and went over the heads of the western audience. I guess this was because of the scary motion capture/ zombie effect, and the storyline. It is however as visually stunning as it was on the initial release.
TMNT
Video is encoded VC-1. Unlike the low bitrates that Warner normally give us, this film is conducive to it, with a very, very sharp original transfer (also direct-to-digital I believe). I have only sampled a few scenes and frankly was blown away. I couldn't fault what I saw. The colour is very deep, and the textures of the turtles look fantastic.
This seems to be the start of something wonderful; constant Dolby TrueHD soundtracks, and this is quite good, whilst the PS3 doesnt tell me the sample rate, I believe it is 16 bit. Theres also a 640 kb/s Dolby 5.1. I sampled the TrueHD, and its a very nice audio track, I mean theres not much else to say, no one is going to be dissapointed put it that way. I didn't sample the standard Dolby track, but I guess it would be also pretty good if you werent equipped for Tru.
All the extras are in Standard Def. Havent gone through them all yet, but theres nothing that blows my socks off. Just glad the movie looks so good.
All said and done, TMNT wasn't quite the comic book finally bought to the big screen, it had more in common with the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV show we grew up with. However it does have inklings of darkness, and it made back its 30 mill or so budget a few times over, so we will definitely see a sequel.
Well I hope you guys enjoy my mini-reviews, and like I did with my pre-release 300 review I will endeavour to give you guys the heads up when I get more :-) If you want me to, that is.