Band of Brothers DVD, HBO MPEG-2, HD DVD & Blu-ray comparison *PIX* - Page 7

Well said Dave. I also agree with some of the others who say there are degrees to all of this DNR crap, and BOB is not on the same level of a Patton, or even close. So I will hold onto my HD-DVDs, but I also bought the blu-ray set for $40 from DD. If I did not have the HD-DVDs, I would not have even thought twice about picking up the blu-ray set based on the screencaps in this thread. Short of an absolute crap release, which I don't think this is at all, owning BOB (my favorite movie, series, etc.) in HD would be the priority.

It's only gets worse, brother!




(btw, I am 1/4 scottish)

I still have my Hd-a2, but it is boxed up and I can't GIVE the thing away. (Well, I could but won't) With the DDD sale, I guess BB on BD is worth it, yes? I don't want to spend $100 more just for a few shots. It IS damned annoying though and SHOULD be rightly pointed out. The Thing is a damn shame. They actually chopped up the very cool doc and reduced it to a small PIP thing as well...

Great posts!

My HD-A2 is still hooked up for the main purpose of watching The Thing. I die a little inside when I think of what Universal could have accomplished with it on Blu.
All right, another fellow Scot!

Here, here! I had the original SD-DVD set and it was, for SD, very good. I've never seen the HD-DVD version and frankly, I don't care. I've kept my Tosh HD-A2 for the my small collection of HD discs but, lets face it, the format is dead. The Blu-ray version of BOB is, in terms of both PQ and Audio presence, far better than the SD set. I watched the first episode last night and the picture was sharp, bright and very much "alive" to my eyes. The DTS audio was outstanding. I even replayed it with the commentary thumbnails (although they should have placed in the bottom right corner) and enjoyed it just as much. For $55, this set was a steal as far as I'm concerned and let's not forget what this production was really about. Everyone has their own standards for PQ but there seems to be some real over thinking happening in regard to this issue.

Here's an alternative (wacko) explanation- it's a possibility that grain was added on the version considered to be "non-dnr" in order to make the entire production look uniform while the version considered to be dnr'd may simply be what the production was with moderate grain throughout, but with instances of inconsistency.

Absolutely, my HD-DVD set is very gritty and grainy. Perhaps therefore it says all that needs to be said about the use of DNR on the Blu-ray version that in the course of giving it 18/20 for PQ Bill Hunt comments: "light grain [is] visible". Light grain?!!

I have to admit with all the past talk on DNR, I never got too worked up about it. Since this title has been released I'm now in the total anti DNR camp! While there are far more drastic and serious examples of DNR ( Patton), this one is probably one of my all time favs, so it brought this argument really home to me. Thanks Xylon for all your film screen shots!

Thanks to Xylon for the excellent screen shots. I already have the HD DVD and was considering triple dipping to the Blu-ray version for convenience (no japanese menus etc) since I love the series so much, and rewatch it regularly, but now I will just stick with HD DVD.

Allow me a little analogy to explain whether "a little DNR" is important:

Suppose this was a site for exquisite wine. If you were able to buy a 1995 Cheval Blanc (a 4000 dollar wine) and a particular vendor added 2 milliliters of Coca Cola to it in order to "sweeten it", I am sure noone would argue that "2 milliliters isn't that much". The real point would be - Why is Coca Cola being mixed into the fine wine to begin with?

Since this is the AVScience forum where everyone strives for the best presentation as close to the original product as possible, I think this is the perfect place to have such a discussion - in a respectful tone of course. The point is not that everyone should boycott the Blu-ray version which, but that the studios should stop DNR filtering of their releases. If someone likes smoothing, they can do it in their own equipment, instead of having it in the source material.

Hans Henrik

Ps. In keeping with the board being about movies, my analogy used a particular wine from a movie about wines

Is there any discernible difference in audio quality between the HD-DVD & BD releases?

Nope. Both are awesome.

Excellent, many thanks.

Has anyone else noticed the framing error on "Currahee"? It appears around the 1:08:25 mark. I had a 5 inch "bar" on the right hand side of my screen (106" 16x9). It appears for about 15 seconds and this disappears.

just watched it yesterday and didn't notice anything. did you watch it again and reproduce the error?

I did rewind and the framing error was still there. So the error was reproduced on my setup. It is hard to notice if you are not paying attention.

Anyone else? The time stamp is arount the 1:08:20-35 mark. They are in the airplane flying to normandy.

This is wrong. HD DVD has lossy dts HD HR whereas Blu-ray features lossless dts HD MA.

dis·cern·i·ble (di sûrÆnà bÃl, -zûrÆ-), adj.
capable of being discerned; distinguishable.

I fail to see how your comment is relevant to the question that was asked. I suppose you could claim to be able to hear a difference, but that would place you in a very small and questionable minority. Having actually done an A-B comparison, I can discern no difference in AQ.

My thoughts exactly....that topic just seems to step on the toes of a lot of people who claim that "lossless audio" is one of the greatest things ever, even though it can't be distinguished from "lossy" audio. The answer to the question asked is that there is NO discernable difference in audio quality.

rdgrimes,
Just curious, I have the HD DVD set.
Is the sound design any different on the BD set?
The HD DVD is kinda front heavy with occasional surround cues.
BTW, I'm re-watching this over the long weekend, the 4th time through it's still great.

Costco has a $10 off coupon for the BD set, $44.99.
The coupon is in their magazine.

Whatever flaws it might have, I'm definitely enjoying Band of Brothers on Blu-ray. The picture quality is great on my 92" front projection setup. I'm definitely still seeing grain and I haven't noticed any DNR nastiness in motion yet (whereas titles like Patton or Dark City make me want to puke). However, I've only watched the first three episodes.

This package is an incredible deal at $50 as far as I'm concerned.

I cannot tell any difference in the mix. My assumption is that they are simply different encodes of the same master. I don't hear any "heavy in the front" at all, rather an extremely well balanced presentation with sounds where they should be. Dialog is well-anchored in the front, as it should be IMHO.

I can't tell a difference in the audio between the HD-DVD and the Blu Ray, both sound excellent. I'm bitstreaming both to my Onkyo 805 receiver using my 7.1 Polk speakers setup.

It's probably as discernible to some as the PQ difference between the two.

So with all of this "moaning" about a slight passing of DNR, no one has noticed the framing error on "Currahee"?