Haven't seen any reviews for this yet...surprising really. Thought I'd offer a short one.

Well, what is clearly the best of the Potters (IMO) gets a pretty good outing on HD. It's every bit as good as Goblet of Fire, which places it above average but a cut below reference. 3.5-4 on the PQ scale would be fair.

The Good:
The blacks are pitch black, i.e., they merge seamlesly into the black bars top and bottom. The image is dark but not muted; very British colours, reflecting our grey light. Interior scenes are full of detail. Colours are spot on with excellent flesh tones. Sound is good, though I was watching it fairly quitely as it was after bedtime.

The not quite so good.
Only one significant issue. It's not the sharpest HD DVD I've seen. Outdoor scenes and wide interiors tend to lack detail and characters appear a tad soft. Not crippling, but not as good as it could have been.

The bad.

Nothing.

Equipment: AE-1000, 72" screen, Tosh HD-E1

Excellent. Looking forward to this one most of all out of the Potter flicks.

This to me is the best looking film out of all 5. A very close second would be Order of The Phoenix. This is the one film that consistently wowed me the most from scene to scene. The contrast, colors and blacks are just dead on. No banding or compression noise as far as I could see.
This is probably the most realistic looking of the films. What I mean by that is there seems to be little use of filters or post production manipulation to colors. Flesh tones look the most accurate as the first 2 films have a slightly orangeish washed out tint to them.

The audio is not quite as good as Phoenix but thats due to its design. Phoenix has alot more moments of action and elements that require surrounds. This disc is not a slouch at all...the scenes with the Dementors are very impressive. Ambient sounds are carried quite well throughout...whether a walk in the forest or just strolls down a hallway, they're are usually some faint sounds to help immerse you in the moment.

I guess, you could consider it a tie, Phoenix edges Azkaban out in sound but Azkaban has the better PQ. Any others had a chance to witness this discs beauty?

Many reviewers felt that the Prisoner may be the unsung hero of Azkaban.

My wife is making me wait to watch the harry potter series in HD :mad:. Something about christmas:confused:. Lol, anyways, Azkaban is by far the best movie of the series, and #2 is my least favorite, though it is still good none the less.

I have to wait too. My 1 yr old son picked this up for mommy and daddy for Christmas. ;) Glad to hear Prisoner is great - it's my favorite of the first 4. (haven't seen OOTP yet)

i always thought the picture of PoA was a little soft so i'm not surprised that it still is on HD DVD. it's still a must-buy for me.

i always thought the picture of PoA was a little soft so i'm not surprised that it still is on HD DVD. it's still a must-buy for me.

While I have only watched Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix, I am still very impressed with this Harry Potter boxed set. I cannot wait to watch Prisoner of Azkaban later this week!

I only had a chance to pop in Sorcerers and Phoenix, but was very impressed! Granted Phoenix is reference and looks amazing, but even Sorcerers looked quite good. It's fun to re-visit movies you're very familiar with, and get to see them look like totally new movies again. The scene when they first see Hogwarts from their boats is truly spectacular on my 100" screen, I never got to see it in the theater! :)

If there is any film that needs HD it would be "The Prisoner of Azkaban because of all the dark scenes.

It is the film I least like though, because of the gray skies. (My SD version had trailers, which makes me hate it all the more. Maybe I should have bought the two disc set as all my other 2 disc sets don't have trailers on them. Do I ever want to see the trailers for "the Polar Express" and "Elf" ever again? No, absolutely not. Will anyone remember these two films 5 or 10 years from now? I doubt it.)

Yes, I enjoyed the movie in the theatre, but I am in no hurry to buy it on HD. I've picked up the first two, will be picking up "Goblet of Fire" and maybe (curse you, combos) "Order of the Phoenix".

If there is any film that needs HD it would be "The Prisoner of Azkaban because of all the dark scenes.

It is the film I least like though, because of the gray skies. (My SD version had trailers, which makes me hate it all the more. Maybe I should have bought the two disc set as all my other 2 disc sets don't have trailers on them. Do I ever want to see the trailers for "the Polar Express" and "Elf" ever again? No, absolutely not. Will anyone remember these two films 5 or 10 years from now? I doubt it.)

Yes, I enjoyed the movie in the theatre, but I am in no hurry to buy it on HD. I've picked up the first two, will be picking up "Goblet of Fire" and maybe (curse you, combos) "Order of the Phoenix".

There are quite a few daylight scenes in Azkaban. Probably more than you remember and definitely more than Phoenix. Trust me, your gonna go, "wow, I didn't think Azkaban could look as good as it does." ;)

Ya, azkaban has a whole lot of great looking daylight scenes in it!! Especially with the Hipogrif flying through the air with harry riding on it, I bet thats a beauty on hd.

My wife is making me wait to watch the harry potter series in HD :mad:. Something about christmas:confused:. Lol, anyways, Azkaban is by far the best movie of the series, and #2 is my least favorite, though it is still good none the less.

Totally agree with you on least and most favorite...and the reviews? Ah, I posted a thread reviewing all 4 new releases over a week ago, lol. But I do enjoy Order more visually, slightly, but Azkaban is by far my fav. of the movies.

Ya, azkaban has a whole lot of great looking daylight scenes in it!! Especially with the Hipogrif flying through the air with harry riding on it, I bet thats a beauty on hd.

That and the whole scene leading up to it in the forest is just eye popping beautiful.

This is the one that Alfonso Cuaron directed.:)

It should be the best of the bunch. I wish they would get del Toro for the next one.

I cant wait to see this.

This is the one that Alfonso Cuaron directed.:)

It should be the best of the bunch. I wish they would get del Toro for the next one.

I cant wait to see this.

Excellent choice! Pan's Labryinth was amazing...I bet he would make an excellent Potter movie. Although David Yates did an amazing job with Phoenix. All I can say is the grand finale battle at Hogwarts Castle in book 7 is gonna make for an amazing movie sequence.

Am expecting this early tomorrow afternoon via UPS... will give review when get chance to view it.

Hope its better than its BD counterpart, as this is my fave of the current 5 movies available. See my review in the "BD Software" forum.

Here's a question I'm anxious to "hear" answered.

When I saw POA in the theater, the scene where Harry unleashes his...what do you call it...flying astral projection thing on the dementors by the pond to protect Gary Oldman...each light wave that came from his wand had a palpable sound wave with it. You could feel it in the seat of your pants and it made my hairs stand on end. When I've watched it on DVD, that particular scene didn't have the same impact. I've chalked it up to the DVD's sound not being as impressive, and I'm hoping that lossless audio will recreate that same experience. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Here's a question I'm anxious to "hear" answered.

When I saw POA in the theater, the scene where Harry unleashes his...what do you call it...flying astral projection thing on the dementors by the pond to protect Gary Oldman...each light wave that came from his wand had a palpable sound wave with it. You could feel it in the seat of your pants and it made my hairs stand on end. When I've watched it on DVD, that particular scene didn't have the same impact. I've chalked it up to the DVD's sound not being as impressive, and I'm hoping that lossless audio will recreate that same experience. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

maybe it's your sound system that's lacking?

maybe it's your sound system that's lacking?

Could certainly be...but I'm doubtful. I think it was likely just mixed that way for the original DVD release. The only Harry Potter DVD I was impressed with was GOF. I just found the others lacking...which is of course why I'm upgrading the whole set to HD. :)

Here's a question I'm anxious to "hear" answered.

When I saw POA in the theater, the scene where Harry unleashes his...what do you call it...flying astral projection thing on the dementors by the pond to protect Gary Oldman...each light wave that came from his wand had a palpable sound wave with it. You could feel it in the seat of your pants and it made my hairs stand on end. When I've watched it on DVD, that particular scene didn't have the same impact. I've chalked it up to the DVD's sound not being as impressive, and I'm hoping that lossless audio will recreate that same experience. Anybody know what I'm talking about?maybe it's your sound system that's lacking?

Most likely, or poorly calibrated. I say most likely because not all subs can go as low as the Theaters subs! I just got a SPL meter from Radio Shack and rented the Avia HT Setup disc. Great disc when paired with a SPL meter can do wonders for your sound quality. If you haven't I would try this.

I'll post back my thoughts once my disc come in tonight. I got the HD-DVD box set.

Here's a question I'm anxious to "hear" answered.

When I saw POA in the theater, the scene where Harry unleashes his...what do you call it...flying astral projection thing on the dementors ?

It's called a patronus charm. It's based off of emotions.
Astral projection is when the conscious mind leaves the physical body, allowing you to travel to different planes of existence.
I see how you got the two confused.

Yes I know exactly what scene you are talking about. Very cool. I'll check this when my set arrives today.

Yes I know exactly what scene you are talking about. Very cool. I'll check this when my set arrives today.

Excellent. :)

My wife is making me wait to watch the harry potter series in HD :mad:. Something about christmas:confused:. Lol, anyways, Azkaban is by far the best movie of the series, and #2 is my least favorite, though it is still good none the less.

Same here with the Christmas thing... #2 is my least favorite, too... But, they are all great movies.

Same here with the Christmas thing... #2 is my least favorite, too... But, they are all great movies.

Yes, I need to re-visit #2 as I hated it when I first saw it. I'll give it another chance.

Hey guys !! Has any of you experienced low audio ( via optical ) on prisioner of azkaban ? This is the only movie that i listened that has low audio , the others four sound great . I have to turn the volume from 53 to 60 to hear it clearly.

Excellent. :)

I checked the one scene with the defense spell. And it made almost no noise at all(weird sound design choice). I may pop in the dvd to compare.

The rain and thunder sounded good. I need to watch the whole thing again to hear the dementors.

I checked the one scene with the defense spell. And it made almost no noise at all(weird sound design choice). I may pop in the dvd to compare.

The rain and thunder sounded good. I need to watch the whole thing again to hear the dementors.

Thanks for checking. Sounds like it was just mixed differently for home use, or perhaps the theater I saw it in was running their setup a little hot for the LFE.

Hey guys !! Has any of you experienced low audio ( via optical ) on prisioner of azkaban ? This is the only movie that i listened that has low audio , the others four sound great . I have to turn the volume from 53 to 60 to hear it clearly.

For me, using analog on my A1 I popped in PoA after viewing parts of the UK Goblet and the TrueHD on PoA is low compared to Goblet. Raised the volume as well, just have to remember to turn it down before popping in other discs.
Not something I'd return the disc for.

For me, using analog on my A1 I popped in PoA after viewing parts of the UK Goblet and the TrueHD on PoA is low compared to Goblet. Raised the volume as well, just have to remember to turn it down before popping in other discs.
Not something I'd return the disc for.

Thanks for your reply. I wouldn't return my movie either. Then is it normal to sound like that. Thanks again.

A rave review for Azkaban. Did I call it or what? ;)

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/395/harrypotterandtheprisonerofazkaban.html

Here's a question I'm anxious to "hear" answered.

When I saw POA in the theater, the scene where Harry unleashes his...what do you call it...flying astral projection thing on the dementors by the pond to protect Gary Oldman...each light wave that came from his wand had a palpable sound wave with it. You could feel it in the seat of your pants and it made my hairs stand on end. When I've watched it on DVD, that particular scene didn't have the same impact. I've chalked it up to the DVD's sound not being as impressive, and I'm hoping that lossless audio will recreate that same experience. Anybody know what I'm talking about?
Well I just checked out the scene, it seems very bass lacking. I didn't see it in the movie theater by the way. I retract my statement about your system setup:o

It's possible that these films suffer a bit from WB's usually low to average video bitrates (a common issue when complex footage is not allowed to "breathe" with these new codecs like AVC and VC-1 is that the image softens and loses detail rather than turning blocky with compression noise... it's a way to make compression issues look less... well... unseamly rather than MPEG-2 ugly).

These Super35 films are very grainy, dark, shadowy, with lots of fast moving visual effects. I, personally, would have liked to have seen higher average bitrates across the board... besides 24 bit audio from the master tracks.

WB... sigh.

These Super35 films are very grainy, dark, shadowy, with lots of fast moving visual effects. I, personally, would have liked to have seen higher average bitrates across the board... besides 24 bit audio from the master tracks.

WB... sigh.

You wanted a Disney disc.:p


I think the W did a great job with these Potter discs. But those max-speced Disney discs do tend to spoil people.

Why doesnt the WB like to bother with HD extras. The Matrix, Blade Runner, Potter.

Well I just checked out the scene, it seems very bass lacking. I didn't see it in the movie theater by the way. I retract my statement about your system setup:o

Oh well...no biggie. Thanks for the update. This had been one of those scenes I saw in the theater and thought to myself "I can't wait to hear that on my setup." It's also one of the few that I've been disappointed with after watching/listening at home. At least the transfer will be an improvement. :)