Independence Day review up on HighDefDigest - Page 3

Watched segments of it last night on my Panny 37" plasma at 720p instead of my older Tosh 4:3 50" RPTV at 1080i. The latter display is not as good but it still did a good job with this movie. The experience was even better while viewing it on the Panny.

Whatever the price point you folks are comfortable with I suppose. I'm not at all sorry about the price I paid for this one. It was worth every dime to me!

Yes, it is a cheesy and "stupid" movie but it is fun in a stupid kind of way In fact, I like it because of all the cheesy dialogs, goofs, etc. It is also totally detach from the reality (e.g. planting a computer virus into alien tech? Using sidewider missles for a target as big as a city center?) but who care? I'm not watching Flags of our Fathers or Atonement! It is a very entertaining movie for sure... one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies.

Alderaan is a planet. Planets rotate on their axis. This necessarily generates a fair amount of centripetal force. The Death Star's superlaser merely cracks open Alderaan's crust and flash-boils the molten interior of the planet, this combined with the centripetal force from rotation causes the planet to rip itself apart in a rather spectacular manner.

I don't know where the stupid shockwave added the Special Edition comes from, though. It doesn't matter, everyone knows the Special Edition isn't the real version of the film.

I remember seeing this in a theater in Spokane while we were shooting (another jewel in a similar vein) Dante's Peak. The local audience was pretty jazzed. I thought it a fun romp at the time despite a number of annoying qualities and performances. The whole fighter pilot bravado thing by Smith and Connick is the worst, especially to any of us who used to do that. Imagine if this had been played for serious as War of the Worlds was. It could have worked with the right script and directing.

As it is, I have some great laughs at a number of memorable lines. Jeff Goldblum has most of them for me. "The fat lady again?! You're obsessed with the fat lady. Drive us out of here!"

I find no reason to fault this BD technically. Although I didn't work on this film, I can see nothing that would indicate that this is not faithful to the original cinematography. I see much criticism these days of shots that are not supremely sharp in every detail. I can tell you that is was and is extemely common for there to be an effects filter used such as Tiffen SoftEFX much of the time, and a somewhat heavier grade of it for close-ups depending on the character. It is a sure bet that such a filter is used for close-ups of Ms. McDonnell, for instance. Therefore much of what some folks fuss about is quite true to the original.

The surrounds are very active, especially the back surrounds if you engage PLIIxCine for them. The LFE content is intense! Definately a keeper for me. Found at Costco for $27.

Thanks for a nice job, Fox.

really good transfer.

Just watched it, looks great. I'm pleased with the purchase. In my opinion, Fox keeps putting out winners.

This is were i agree very much with HDD

"Alas, once the alien invasion is over and the remaining survivors band together to defeat the enemy, 'ID4' completely falls apart."

Its a very god movie with alot of suspense and build up until that point. But somehow they lose track. Maybe they wanted that the movie should be for everyone.

Was it just me or did the transfer on the Independence Day BD simply suck??

I received this in the mail the other night, after ordering online, and couldn't believe my eyes in certain scenes -- overall, the image is cleaner, yes, than the numbing countless DVD THX DVDs that are out there (I am selling my "Limited Edition" now that I have the BD), but some scenes were just riddled with grain and noise; most of the transfer just looked like it was ported over from the DVD to be honest; there was nothing that really looked like a Fox "1080p" transfer to me...

The audio, in "DTS-HD Master Audio," fast becoming a Fox staple, downmixed to the core DTS on my system, and it sounded okay, but not really night and day between it and the Dolby Digital mix on the DVD; bass was still heavy in appropriate scenes, and the initial attack sequence on L.A., New York and Washington all kind of sounded very much like the Dolby track on the DVD -- it was hard to tell them apart. The fire engines and cars all flew into the surround channels during that sequence in the same manner they did on the DVD; perhaps with a tad bit more clarity, if you're really listening for it, but nothing that would really blow your wife's black dress up...

I accept with you on the video front but disagree with you on the audio side.

Uhhm, the mix is the same, as with all BDs, but the codecs are superior. Since you can't fully decode the DTS HD MA tracks, you can't appreciate the difference. I agree that the picture isn't reference either, but that's probably how it was to begin with. It's not the BD's fault.

Hey Lgans,

Thank you for the response; indeed, I'm glad I didn't get a defective copy of this title or something! The video was immensely dissapointing; did you categorize it as "not all that much different from the DVD" as well??

As for the audio, as I said, I was only running its "DTS core" track from the Master Audio, because that's all my equipment will accept right now, and don't get me wrong -- it was forceful enough; just didn't think it was "80 billion light years" (pun intended) better than the Dolby Digital track on the DVD, which already was pretty hot...

Uhhm, the mix is the same, as with all BDs, but the codecs are superior.

Do you mean the DTS Master Audio track was not especially "prepared" or remixed for this release from the original stems?

Since you can't fully decode the DTS HD MA tracks, you can't appreciate the difference.

I said in my original post that I couldn't extract the FULL Master Audio signal, so what I was hearing was DTS core, but, yes, for that reason alone I couldn't appreciate the difference -- but from what I heard on the DTS core track was not all that "different" than the Dolby mix on the DVD -- that's all I was saying.

I agree that the picture isn't reference either, but that's probably how it was to begin with. It's not the BD's fault.

So if the picture quality of these films aren't going to improve -- somewhat -- what's the point of the technology? I mean, I understand, totally, that some films have the inherent grain, dirt, flicker, etc. due to age or stock, but if we're going to dip and double dip and triple dip on titles, what are we going to do, just say "well, that's just the way that film is..." every time a Blu ray is riddled with noise? Some of the scenes on this disc were simply unacceptable for this format; they looked as flat and as "noisy" as the DVD.

I've seen it on HD cable and though it is compressed more for cable, I was not impressed either.

I hear what your saying though. It could be a case of not getting a good restoration, but maybe its just the way it is and can't be improved. Either way its a title I won't be buying. But thats just me.

I.D. is one of the films i was waiting for to consider buying into bd. if it looks like crap i'll keep on waiting and (try to) enjoy the sd version in the meantime.

what a bunch of b.s.!

and they (the bda) want j6p/john q public/the masses to buy into this bunch of crap. no effin' way in h*ll!

No. He meant that MA tracks are better than all the other lossless codecs.
Ya wanna fight about it?

ID4 doesn't look horrible. It's pretty much what I expected based on Emmerich and his team. Not the best photography skills. That to me seems to be the biggest deal with HD material. Every film from the Scott brothers looks fantastic, same with Michael Bay, Burton, and del Toro.

The PQ wasn't immensely disappointing but still not good enough due to severe inconsistencies post Area 51 scenes. The difference between the EE DVD and the BD on about 10-12 chapters were marginal. However the audio on the BD definitely sounded better than the DVD. This includes both core plus the MA. The most pizz off aspect of this BD is the usual abolition of film extras despite 6 GB of free space left.

Indeed, Rex; perhaps it just does have that "compressed" quality if you saw it like that on cable...

Like the member said after you, though, what a bunch of B.S. for this title (and I'm beginning to think for this "format")...

Indeed; I say wait...Fox already got my double dip cash. While the standard edition doesn't look good, either, it's alright in comparison to the BD.

No. He meant that MA tracks are better than all the other lossless codecs.

Okay; I didn't get that from that, but okay...

Ya wanna fight about it?

Umm..no...

ID4 doesn't look horrible. It's pretty much what I expected based on Emmerich and his team. Not the best photography skills. That to me seems to be the biggest deal with HD material. Every film from the Scott brothers looks fantastic, same with Michael Bay, Burton, and del Toro.

I personally don't think this had anything to do with Roland and his team; I am of the opinion that the BD does not look good.

Interesting points you make here; some scenes with Quaid are riddled with a noise that just takes you out of the whole experience -- and as I said, many sequences just look as "flat" as the DVD...

But oh well...just wanted to see if others saw the same thing with this disc.

i think the format is ok, its either the film source or the morons running the telecine machines/scanners/whatever. i'm tempted to think the latter. where's the q.a.?

and/or if the director wanted/accepted a less than great pq for his film for art/whatevers' sake, he should be 86'd out of h'wood!

Doesn't Stargate look bad. I don't have it, but I haven't heard good things. If Godzilla looks that bad then I'm right.

The DP he used for ID4 has a pretty good resume. So I think it was that Emmerich had everything set a certain way. I mean he sells his movies to studios as packaged deals. That and FOX is fickle on which BDs are 6-star stunners and which are stinkers. There usually isn't any in-between.

Thank you for abbreviating the title of this movie without putting the stupid digit afterward.

It is a lot easier to accept less-than-stellar quality when it is priced at US$15 rather than $30-40. I am going to buy it tomorrow.

my pleasure.

i dont even know what the digit means or why its used.

The transfer is oldish (ie Cast Away, M&C, etc). Wait for the next edition with branching extended cut, new extras, and a piece of the alien spacecraft.

I suppose that's the best that can be said about "ID4"......that it is indeed an "oldish transfer"...I was just truly expecting more out of this Blu ray, as it was a pretty big blockbuster and a top title for Fox; I was anticipating better.

I thought that ID4 looked pretty good, at least the straight film shots without any effects. It's just that the special effects really showed their age, and if you remember the majority of the movie is special effects.

Isn't ID4 another one of the Fox releases which reuses the transfer from the D-Theater release? That's probably why.