The New PQ Tier thread for Blu-Ray - Discussion

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

Alvin and the Chipmunks

lol...that was still too much buildup for Alvin and the Chipmunks

Brandon

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by lgans316

This is the best review available for Juno and the reviewer is a pretty credible person.

That's interesting. I don't remember being that impressed with Juno. I don't remember specifics, but it struck me as a low Tier 1/high Tier 2 type of title. Maybe a notch or so below Superbad (which was a bit overrated for a while).

Aside from that, the movie is pretty good. But you have to get through the first 15 minutes of over-the-top cutesy dialogue, and into the real heart of the movie which is the nuanced relationships between the characters which subtly creeps up on you but is done pretty well. The movie itself might have been overrated as well, but it's definitely worth a look.

Brandon

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

lol...that was still too much buildup for Alvin and the Chipmunks

Brandon

True dat!

[maverick0716]

haha, cool. I actually have Alvin and the Chipmunks sitting on my player waiting to be watched.

[maverick0716]

I thought Juno looked really good on Blu Ray. I think I recommended it for mid-high Tier 2 awhile back. I thought the movie itself was excellent.

[b_scott]

National Treasure 1 doesn't look all that much better than DVD in my opinion. not much pop, kinda of dull detail. i haven't looked at 2 yet.

[maverick0716]

When someone says not much better than the DVD......I think of Tier 4. Are you really saying that National Treasure is Tier 4?

[b_scott]

i'm not qualified to rate blu-rays, honestly. i'm just not noticing my detail or pop. if i had to venture a guess i'd probably say low tier 2 or high tier 3. i'm watching it during the day right now obviously so that factors in since it's not pitch black. but i wouldn't re-buy it on BD if you already have the DVD, again in my opinion. waiting for others to review. i look for skin texture and hair to pick out good detail, and i'm seing almost no extra detail there.

[stumlad]

Originally Posted by briansemerick

i'm not qualified to rate blu-rays, honestly. i'm just not noticing my detail or pop. if i had to venture a guess i'd probably say low tier 2 or high tier 3. i'm watching it during the day right now obviously so that factors in since it's not pitch black. but i wouldn't re-buy it on BD if you already have the DVD, again in my opinion. waiting for others to review. i look for skin texture and hair to pick out good detail, and i'm seing almost no extra detail there.

I disagree. The face detail and small object detail weren't superb, but it was better than a lot of tier 1 entries (Enchanted being the first that springs to mind). On that same note, there were some soft shots...

The reason it isnt tier 3 is because that would mean Resident Evil looked better than this, and IMO National Treasure is WAY better looking than RE1. If I had to place a vote, I'd say high top 1/4th of tier 2 (when I say "way better" keep in mind how ridiculously huge tier 2 is

[b_scott]

yeah i could agree with that, not having seen RE.

[nohjy]

Just finished watching the follwoing:

National Treasure - lower tier one
National treasure 2 - High tier one

P.S., I Love You - Top tier 1. This is a reference quality picture that is just a tad soft in areas.

[bplewis24]

I'm going to recommend this for the very top if Tier 1, I guess. It's a gorgeous title with tons of deep blacks, dark rich purples and greens. It's the opposite of Enchanted in that it's a very vibrant title, but whereas Enchanted is filmed mostly in brightly lit settings, Saawariya is not. The contrast does not seem to suffer a bit from it from my point of view.

The sharpness and fine object detail are there, although it is not the best I've seen. I went back and forth on it being Tier 0 or not, so I'm going with top of Tier 1 for now. However it's certainly demo material...especially if you wanna test the black levels of your TV set

Brandon

[djoberg]

Originally Posted by nohjy

P.S., I Love You - Top tier 1. This is a reference quality picture that is just a tad soft in areas.

I agree 100%!

[nohjy]

One more:

Hidalgo - This title belongs in mid-to-high tier 1 and is definitely better than the Patriot and Hellboy (both of which I own). The AQ and PQ (and the fact that it is a good movie) make for an exceptional home theater experience that is not to be missed.

[lgans316]

Originally Posted by nohjy

One more:

Hidalgo - I would put it at the very top of tier 1. The AQ and PQ (and the fact that it is a good movie) make for an exceptional home theater experience.

I disagree. Hidalgo should be top to mid of Tier-2. Film artefacts are clearly visible and contrast fluctates from scene to scene robbing off image depth.

[eastbaygreen]

Bought this a couple months ago and just got around to watching it all the way thru.

Have to agree, it's one of the best non animated movies I've seen wrt PQ. AQ is also very, very good.

Will watch POTC-AWE soon to compare....

[Anthony1]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

I guess I better just tell you, otherwise it will be built up too much!

I was forced to watch this with the kids. Didn't care much for the movie, the PQ was superb, and worthy of consideration in Tier 0 in my opinion.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the great movie I am talking about, a soon to be classic of the cinema, is none other than:

Alvin and the Chipmunks



This has it all in terms of great PQ. Colors are fantastic. Excellent depth, dimensionality and contrast, very good detail and sharpness without being overly harsh. I also thought it was shot pretty good, with lots of scenes having very nice "bokeh", which adds that little extra something to the picture (something I thought was slightly lacking with The Orphanage).

I only saw one review for Alvin and the Chipmunks in this thread, and it was a vote for Tier 1. I think that is too low.

The movie wasn't horrible, but the voices (and singing) of the Chipmunks was almost as bad as fingernails on a chalkboard.

You know it's funny you mentioned this movie, cause I've seen the Blu Ray a number of times myself (got a 5 and 7 year old), and I can totally agree with your take on it. The DTS HD MA soundtrack is very good as well. Colors are very nice, and some 3D pop to it. I'm not 100 percent sure I'd put it in Tier 0 though, maybe high Tier 1.

[stumlad]

Originally Posted by Anthony1

You know it's funny you mentioned this movie, cause I've seen the Blu Ray a number of times myself (got a 5 and 7 year old), and I can totally agree with your take on it. The DTS HD MA soundtrack is very good as well. Colors are very nice, and some 3D pop to it. I'm not 100 percent sure I'd put it in Tier 0 though, maybe high Tier 1.

I was the one who voted for Mid Tier 1 but after re-reviewing it, I'd agree with higher tier 1. I dont think it had that extra oomph to put it in Tier 0. Perhaps it was because of the highly saturated colors... or slightly raised contrast (maybe director's intent)... Overall a solid transfer...even for BD-25.

[GeneWildersHair]

Watched "27 dresses" tonight, (wife's movie night pick) and I've got to say, besides the fact that it was a boring, predictable mess, I am surprised to see that it is on here as a tier 1 title? While it wasn't a terrible transfer, I still thought the picture lacked any HD-pop, and colors were not very vibrant at all. In my opinion the picture deserves to be at the top of tier 3, maybe bottom tier 2 at max. Heck if the wife even notices, and comments that the picture isn't as good as most of the BD's we've watched, then I know it's not just me being picky...

[stumlad]

Originally Posted by eastbaygreen

http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?p=966743

Check a few posts down for an example. The photo shown actually looks a bit more purple...but it doesn't really matter. The effect makes the shot look kind of like a negative. Some are saying it was only in a few spots...but I noticed it thoughout the movie.

Could there be differences between individual discs?? Doesn't seem possible, but I really don't know for sure....

Ok... Here is a frame capture from the movie:

Orphanage red blacks

This screenshot is very similar to the one the shown at the High Def Digest forum. I kinda see what they are talking about, but not sure what the deal is.

[tbonetommygun]

hmmm they look more purple to me


I think the reason many people arent seeing the "red blacks" is because they're crushing the shadow detail. On my computer monitor for instance i had no idea what you were talking about for a second.... then i raised my brightness to 100 (from 53) and could see the purple blacks. It's a CRT, and for just browsing the internet i dont mind the crushed blacks, because with my brightness turned up the monitor becomes really washed out.... but aynway.

[Phantom Stranger]

Masters Of Horror: Season 1 Volume IV

tier recommendation: Bottom of Tier 2

As is common in these anthology shows, visual quality varies from episode to episode. The four episodes on this disc are filmed by different crews and directors with varying goals. They might as well be four separate films. My recommendation is more of an average of all four episodes than anything else.

Starz has put all 4 episodes of this particular volume on a single BD-50. All together the running time is around 242 minutes and it is presented in 1080i(a small shame that Starz didn't strike a new transfer for 1080p as all episodes were shot on film). The video is encoded in AVC. Bitrates aren't really consistent from episode to episode either. "Homecoming" looks especially bit-starved, with it rarely getting above the high teens. "Imprint" gets the best compression rates, with it regularly staying in the middle of 18-30 Mbps. The other two episodes are somewhere in between. I will say that all four episodes come from immaculate sources free of blemishes or specks or dirt.

"Imprint" looks great and is a low Tier 1 title if I ranked it on its own. Colors are bold and well saturated with excellent contrast throughout the episode. Black levels are good with minimal compression noise or artifacting. There is good depth to the picture and at times it pops. Detail is excellent with no DNR used at all. The cinematography is spectacular with each frame carefully composed in the 1.77:1 presentation. The only real negative is some momentary shots that appear a little soft and diffuse. There is some very light edge enhancement seen but it definitely would not be visible unless one specifically goes looking for it. I had to pause the picture to confirm it.

"Haeckel's Tale" is the second best looking episode on this disc and would be a solid Tier 2 title on its own. It shares many of the same attributes of "Imprint" in terms of the encode and transfer, but the director on this episode went for a flatter and more muted picture. Colors don't pop as much and the image doesn't have the depth and dimensionality of a Tier 1 Blu-ray. It's a solid film-like transfer though.

"Homecoming" is the worst looking episode of the four, with it looking no better than a very low tier 3 or high tier 4 picture. Lots of instances of black crush occur in this episode with frequent macroblocking in some of the more difficult low light scenes. Opposed to the other episodes here, facial detail is poor and images are frequently soft. Fleshtones(at least for the living humans) look strange with a hint of an orange tint. And for the grain haters this episode is the grainiest one on this volume(though that made no difference in my rating).

"Chocolate" is the third best episode for visual quality and it is a distinctly average picture, right around the middle of Tier 3. There is less black crush than "Homecoming" but it does appear. Contrast is okay with some minor artifacting and banding present.

Overall I think this BD should be put at the bottom of Tier 2, mostly on the strength of "Imprint" and "Haeckel's Tale". "Homecoming" is really the only episode here that looks poor. On a side note this is the only volume of this series that Starz decided to put four episodes on one disc. The other volumes only contain three episodes each. It will be interesting to see if Starz used the extra room on those volumes for less compression.

[lgans316]

Phantom Stranger,

You are the man to beat here when it comes to detailed assessment of PQ. Keep up the good job. What's your feeling on The Descent ? Is it worth a blind buy in terms of PQ ?

[Rob Tomlin]

Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

This one was somewhat difficult to judge in terms of overall PQ. The beginning didn't seem to have great PQ, and there was a slight fog/haze over the picture, with very flat lighting.

Then things improved greatly. Colors and contrast, which added great depth, were excellent. Detail seemed very good too, but seemed to be somewhat lacking in facial features. Skin seemed to be very pasty too. Please tell me Disney isn't using DNR!

Everything else looked so good...but it does need to be docked a bit for the lack of detail in skin.

It should be in the top 1/4 of Tier 1, which means several spots higher than it is now.

Still a very impressive picture overall.

And I enjoyed the movie almost as much as my kids!

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by stumlad

I was the one who voted for Mid Tier 1 but after re-reviewing it, I'd agree with higher tier 1. I dont think it had that extra oomph to put it in Tier 0. Perhaps it was because of the highly saturated colors... or slightly raised contrast (maybe director's intent)... Overall a solid transfer...even for BD-25.

Re Alvin and the Chipmunks, it is funny, because it may be the slight extra saturation of the colors and better (I say better, not "raised") contrast is exactly what gives it that "extra oomph" to put it into Tier 0!

Just another example of how people look at these things differently.

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by stumlad

Ok... Here is a frame capture from the movie:

Orphanage red blacks

This screenshot is very similar to the one the shown at the High Def Digest forum. I kinda see what they are talking about, but not sure what the deal is.

I guess that screen capture shows why I didn't notice "red blacks" when I watched it....as I don't see them in that screen cap either!

[stumlad]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

I guess that screen capture shows why I didn't notice "red blacks" when I watched it....as I don't see them in that screen cap either!

Use something other than computer monitor to view. most LCD computer monitors have crappy contrast. Even so, if you look, there are several areas in the picture that have a purplish cast where it "should" be black.... Is this the result of crushed blacks... Is this a post-processed director's intention? An encoding problem? The list can go on. I have no idea except that I wouldnt call it "red blacks"

[lgans316]

CRANK - features excessive edge enhancement that was intentionally added by its filmmakers, but nets a 4 out of 10 rating due to its ugly appearance

http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/writings/hdimage.html
http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/arc..._is_and_w.html

Please be informed that the author/publisher of this site is an extremely credible person.

Anyone dare to comment on the above ?

[maverick0716]

Edge enhancement or not, 4 out of 10 for Crank is absolutely ludicrous. Are we rating these transfers on acheivements in film making or rating them on how much they pop off the screen and catch our eye? I still think Crank is one of the best when it comes to 3D pop......if not THE best.

[LBFilmGuy]

I have officially upgraded from my Panasonic 42PX75U to the new 50PZ80U so I will be contributing a lot more now that I have the confidence of 1080p