I've seen complaints that "A Christmas Story" wasn't cleaned properly for its move to HD, and other complaints about the aspect ratio. Can anyone provide comparison shots between the hd dvd and the dvd? Or at least shots of the hd dvd alone? Many thanks!

This is one I'd like to pick up between now and Xmas if the quality is worth it. I'd also be interested in hearing/seeing examples of how much it's improved from SD DVD.

My impression was - not much. This movie desperately need a brand new transfer...

The movie was produced with a deliberate "soft" image to give it a "christmas card" look and dated feel. This type of image will not "sharpen" no matter how much processing is done. Nor should it, really. That's not to say it wouldn't benefit from a good re-master though, but since it's owned by Warner I'm not holding my breath.

Hopefully it looks "good enough". This is one of three HD-DVDs I ordered with my new "$99.00 A2"

Only version I have right now is the original P&S so it HAS to be better than that.

This is my favorite X-mas film and I've never even seen it widescreen before.

If you are curious the other two HD-DVD's I ordered were the Matrix boxset and a preorder of the Bladerunner boxset.

I rented the HD version and compared it to my SD version (upconverted of course). My impressions are the PQ and color are better on the HD version, but the HD PQ doesn't compare to other HD movies. Also, having 2 players allows me to pause HD and SD on the same scene and switch TV inputs. The 16:9 format does clip some of the picture from the top and bottom, but adds on the sides. Was this originally shot in 4:3? I wish they would have left it at 4:3, or made 2 versions of the HD available.

I'll probably buy it before thanksgiving.

I don't have it on HD-DVD but the SD version was always a reference for how bad DVD could be done. It looked like it was lifted from an old VHS tape.

I don't have it on HD-DVD but the SD version was always a reference for how bad DVD could be done. It looked like it was lifted from an old VHS tape.


My WS Special Edition Two Disc set (SD) of A Christmas Story in NO WAY looks like it was "lifted from an old VHS tape"...reason I say that is a friend dug up his original 1989 VHS tape of the movie and we watched a few minutes of it on his 32" LCD and it looked pretty bad...MUCH MUCH worse than the newest widescreen SD DVD Special Edition.

I rented the HD version and compared it to my SD version (upconverted of course). My impressions are the PQ and color are better on the HD version, but the HD PQ doesn't compare to other HD movies. Also, having 2 players allows me to pause HD and SD on the same scene and switch TV inputs. The 16:9 format does clip some of the picture from the top and bottom, but adds on the sides. Was this originally shot in 4:3? I wish they would have left it at 4:3, or made 2 versions of the HD available.

I'll probably buy it before thanksgiving.

I'm going to guess that it was shot "open matte."

My WS Special Edition Two Disc set (SD) of A Christmas Story in NO WAY looks like it was "lifted from an old VHS tape"...reason I say that is a friend dug up his original 1989 VHS tape of the movie and we watched a few minutes of it on his 32" LCD and it looked pretty bad...MUCH MUCH worse than the newest widescreen SD DVD Special Edition.

The 2 disc DVD was by far the best the movie had looked to that point. It looked far better than what is shown on tv. I'm going to pick it up this year on HD DVD regardless of what folks on here say. The movie was never supposed to look like a million bucks.

Here is the review from High Def Digest:

A Christmas Story (http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/christmasstory.html)

Here is the review from High Def Digest:

A Christmas Story (http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/christmasstory.html)

It actually sounds like they got it right IMO. Close to the directors intent.

It actually sounds like they got it right IMO. Close to the directors intent.

Yup that is what I gathered from all 4 reviews I have seen about the HD version. Am still patiently waiting for someone to post comparison pics :(

Does anyone know if TBS will be showing this in the true HD version on TBS HD or just in the SD version enhanced to look like HD?

Yup that is what I gathered from all 4 reviews I have seen about the HD version. Am still patiently waiting for someone to post comparison pics :(

Does anyone know if TBS will be showing this in the true HD version on TBS HD or just in the SD version enhanced to look like HD?
On the 25th TNT HD will be showing it so you can always see if how they will do it then

On the 25th TNT HD will be showing it so you can always see if how they will do it then

Ahh yes but I was hoping to know beforehand because if it is not on in true HD then I will buy the HD-DVD version. If it is in true HD they I will just record it and offload it to the external Hard Drive for future viewing pleasure. :D

I have not viewed this since last xmas. I remember giving it high marks though.

Almost sounds like that I should save my money and purchase the SD version for now.

My WS Special Edition Two Disc set (SD) of A Christmas Story in NO WAY looks like it was "lifted from an old VHS tape"...reason I say that is a friend dug up his original 1989 VHS tape of the movie and we watched a few minutes of it on his 32" LCD and it looked pretty bad...MUCH MUCH worse than the newest widescreen SD DVD Special Edition.

Tape degrades over time though, so you could just be seeing the effects of 18 years of age.

Tape degrades over time though, so you could just be seeing the effects of 18 years of age.

True but it sure looked about the same as when I first bought it on VHS back in the day....

Ahh yes but I was hoping to know beforehand because if it is not on in true HD then I will buy the HD-DVD version. If it is in true HD they I will just record it and offload it to the external Hard Drive for future viewing pleasure. :D

This upsets me to no end. (broadcasting SD stretched on an HD channel)

lets call a spade a spade.

Its either HD or SD, no such thing as true HD. It either is or isn't. (I'm not attacking you, just venting)

This has the effect of confusing people even more when it comes to the difference between HD and SD because people that own HDTV's probably have over the air HD or HD Cable before they have an HDM player.

Oh the humanity!

My WS Special Edition Two Disc set (SD) of A Christmas Story in NO WAY looks like it was "lifted from an old VHS tape"...reason I say that is a friend dug up his original 1989 VHS tape of the movie and we watched a few minutes of it on his 32" LCD and it looked pretty bad...MUCH MUCH worse than the newest widescreen SD DVD Special Edition.

My version of Christmas Story was the Standard (not Widescreen) Version. Evidently made in 1999. This was before my family realized how important it was to get me widescreen editions or nothing at all. They learned that, but I didn't even attempt to explain anamorphic to them.

I'm looking forward to getting this on HD-DVD.

Outside shots look HD, inside shots look foggy. It's very inconsistent, but a definite improvement over SD.

Ahh yes but I was hoping to know beforehand because if it is not on in true HD then I will buy the HD-DVD version. If it is in true HD they I will just record it and offload it to the external Hard Drive for future viewing pleasure. :D

Well its showing on November 25th not December its not a long wait...But usually HD-DVD is going to be better than that except for 40 Year Old Virgin which i saw screen shots of and i had just watched it on one of the movies channels recently and it looked alot better than the hd-dvd version.I Bought The Christmas Story recently and it was 19.95 at Amazon.com they offered me a free trial membership to Amazon prime, so i got the movies i ordered shipped with 2 day shipping for free :D.

does anyone know if the HD-DVD has all of the special features that the Special Edition Two Disc set has?