Avatar 3D (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review - Page 3

RALPH:

Did you watch this 3D presentation using a Panasonic Bluray player?
The salesman told me that it would not play on any other 3D player other than the Panasonic.

That salesman is misinformed/giving out wrong info. This is not true.

I thought that its sounded a bit funny. He said that was why he also had a 3D Panny Bluray hooked up to another brand TV as well. He said they tried playing on another brand but it didn't work.

The player probably needed a firmware upgrade. Or maybe he was trying to use the Panasonic glasses with that different brand display (that will not work).

He had a Panasonic vt25 hooked up with their 100 series 3D Bluray player as well as a 3D LG plasma that was hooked up to a Panny 100 series 3D Bluray. He said he was using the Panny player on the LG because it was the only player that would work with the Avatar 3D movie. It seemed odd that this movie would only work with the Panny 3D player. Yet, the only way to get this movie in 3D is through panasonic.
Anyone else have this movie in 3D and play it through a non panasonic player?
Ralph?

Some players needed a FW update to play this movie, but most (all?) should be playing it in 3d with no problems by now. I played it on my Oppo 93 with no issues at all.

I called the store today and explained to one of the reps there just what I told you and waht you and others on this forum mentioned. . He said that
the sales person wasn't lying but was misinformed. It seems the demo discs (in this case, Avatar) that the dealers receive from Panasonic only play on their players and that would not be the case of the Avatar 3D disc that comes in Panasonic's Ultimate 3D starter kit.

FWIW I'm still skeptical about even Panasonic demo discs being restricted to Panasonic players. How would that be accomplished technically, restricting software to only play on a certain brand of gear? And why would they do that?

The line of Panasonic demo discs I see most often in hi fi stores for salespeople to use looks like this: http://www.demo-world.eu/demo-dvds/p...mo-disc-v2.php. I've seen these discs playing on non-Panasonic players. I just can't quite fathom the how and why of Panasonic doing something brand-restrictive for just the Avatar 3D BD demo, which they're neither doing for their other demo discs nor the Avatar 3D BD in the kit.

I have copies of every Panasonic demo disc released to date. They all play on any player, including the one with Avatar footage. AFAIK, there was never any specific "demo disc" of the entire movie ever sent out other than the bundle disc we all watch now.

LOL, it will play on any 3d bd player.

I've heard those rumors, but it's never been confirmed. More than likely, it was a simple firmware issue.

Here's Pansonic's reply to my inquiry:

Thank you for contacting Panasonic e-mail. We can assist with your inquiry. We aren't manufacturing the disc, so it should play on any 3D Bluray player. Thank you for contacting Panasonic.

That response, too, sounds either misinformed or disingenuous. My understanding is that Panasonic Hollywood Lab is indeed manufacturing the disc. PHL (and their relationship with Fox) is the reason the disc exists. But just because PHL manufactures the disc doesn't mean that it doesn't play on anything but Panasonic players: to wit, I think PHL manufactures all of Fox' BDs for at least North America.

That reply sounds like it might be from someone within the electronics side of Panasonic who doesn't know what the authoring/software side of the company is doing.

Ditto!

I can confirm that! I have it and it does look great!
tony

Ralph,
Avatar 3D is in the 16:9 format which fills the screen and maximizes the projector light output.

What if the Avatar 3D was released in 2.20 format, which would result in reduced resolution, reduced light output. and black bars.
Would this have the potential to make watching in 3D a less immersive experience?

Thanks!

Avatar 2D Blu Ray looks stupid and cartoony on every tv/player combo I've seen it on.

It is good to hear that this may be better so thanks for the review. I can't help but think your review would have been different had you actually seen this in 3D at the theaters. Perhaps when this is readily available to all, we'll get some feedback on how it really compares to the theater experience.

You must not have expeirenced a quality system then ? With a screen over at least 100" so you could at least get to see the detail in the picture.　I would argue that the difference on a big screen would be preference only.

I saw Avatar at the theater and both looked great to me, each having their own good and bad points, but being cartoony was not one of them on the 2D version.

I watched Avatar 3D on my Samsung 6900 player and 55" 8000 series 3D TV. Thought it looked incredible! The story itself is just "ok" to me but as a technology geek, I was blown away and that's doesn't happen that often

I was watching it today at Best Buy on a 54VT25 and was underwhelmed. Even with the way the glasses are setup on an adjustable stand (where you can't walk out with them) at close range, the 3d effect just wasn't that spectacular to me.

Is it true that the wider aspect ratio would reduce the rez? Isn't the wider aspect still 1920 x 1080 worth of information since the black bars are not encoded in the source material but instead generated by the player?

there are no anamorphic BDs. By spec they are all 16:9 and black bars are part of the image.

Watched this last night on my Oppo 93 and new Panasonic 54vt25.
I thought the audio & video was incredible. Very well done.

Watched it in 3D last night. At first, the 3D was amazing, but then after the 2 hour mark it seemed like I was getting numb to the 3D, as if fatigue was setting in and in the end it really looked no different than when I watched it in my HT when it was first released on Blu Ray.

Malcom_B Today, some experts are recommending that 3D active glasses users are reporting suffering fatigue after an hour of viewing and recommending a 15 minute break every hour if you are prone to such eye strain.

Personally, I suffer butt fatigue from sitting longer than 2 hours in any movie.


Ralph- considering all the controversy over your 100 rating, would you give a subjective rating to any 3D movie of 120 should you decide it looked ~20 % better 3D tech quality than Avatar? As you said this is a subjective rating, then I would interpret that to mean 100 is not a maximum score, but rather a starting point for excellence by today's standards and, tomorrow, better than this could easily have a higher number, right?
You stated on a scale of 0-100 this film is 100 then by that "objective" range, no film could ever be better than Avatar. I don't think you should ever limit yourself like that.

Thanks. So on BD the wider the AR, the fewer pixels are displaying (non-black bar) picture information? Why isn't this more "noticeable"? I get no sense when watching 2.35 movies that I'm looking at less rez than 1.85s. Is it because the diff is negligible?

If so, I guess that would point to the answer being "no" to HiFiFun's question about a 2.20 Avatar BD perhaps being "less immersive" ("What if the Avatar 3D was released in 2.20 format, which would result in reduced resolution, reduced light output and black bars. Would this have the potential to make watching in 3D a less immersive experience?")?

The resolution is the same, only the aspect changes. (It's still x pixels per inch)

Perhaps I'm asking the wrong question(s)/need to re-phrase: HiFiFun, what are you talking about regarding "reduced resolution" then?

Any news on a wide release of this title? I'd love to get one.