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Which movie scenes do you use as references to evaluate a display?

post #1 of 64
4/25/12 at 6:19pm
Thread Starter 
I'm considering bying a new bigger flat panel this fall, something in the lines of a 80" (elite?) or 90" Sharp and I am looking for movie scenes that I could use to evaluate different aspects of the picture.

I'm currently ripping chosen chapters on my PC from blu-ray discs I own to build a demo disc. I then cut a more specific section from those chapters that I will include on my demo disc. I've also downloaded a few HD demo trailers from this site.

For example, among others, I ripped:
  • Avatar: First chapter for detail level
  • Rio: Carnival chapter for color punch
  • Pearl Harbor: Japanese air attack chapter for movie grain rendition
  • Batman Returns: Roof scene for black levels and shadow detail
  • 2012: City destruction chapter for fast action scene handling
  • Ice age 2: Beginning of chapter 2 for panning
  • Bucket list: First (or second) chapter for skin tones
  • etc...

If you guys have some scene suggestions the I could use to audition certain aspects of my future home theater HDTV picture that you could share please do!...
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post #2 of 64
4/25/12 at 6:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dhan View Post

I'm considering bying a new bigger flat panel this fall, something in the lines of a 80" (elite?) or 90" Sharp and I am looking for movie scenes that I could use to evaluate different aspects of the picture.

I'm currently ripping chosen chapters on my PC from blu-ray discs I own to build a demo disc. I then cut a more specific section from those chapters that I will include on my demo disc. I've also downloaded a few HD demo scenes from this site:

*upcoming*

For example, among others, I ripped:
  • Avatar: First chapter for detail level
  • Rio: Carnival chapter for color punch
  • Pearl Harbor: Japanese air attack chapter for movie grain rendition
  • Batman Returns: Roof scene for black levels and shadow detail
  • 2012: City destruction chapter for fast action scene handling
  • Ice age 2: Beginning of chapter 2 for panning
  • Bucket list: First (or second) chapter for skin tones
  • etc...

If you guys have some scene suggestions the I could use to audition certain aspects of my future home theater HDTV picture that you could share please do!...

I don't have alot of Blueray movies, But I usually use Terminater 2(maybe Underworld Awaken?), I think its good for testing your shadows and blackcrush. I also use WallE for contrast I believe. For testing skin tones I use Law Abiding Citizens( Great movie )
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post #3 of 64
4/25/12 at 7:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kanti123 View Post

I don't have alot of Blueray movies, But I usually use Terminater 2(maybe Underworld Awaken?), I think its good for testing your shadows and blackcrush. I also use WallE for contrast I believe. For testing skin tones I use Law Abiding Citizens( Great movie )

I have WallE too. Do you have a particular scene to suggest?

The latest Hulk movie also has a good panning scene over the city of Brasil(?)
in the first chapter. This scene stutter on my VT25 as it does on all display i've seen especially int the lower part of the picture. One of my friends has a Sharp 835 60" and we tried to engage frame interpolation to smooth out the pan in the scene but with poor results has there where still bad hiccups every 1 or 2 seconds or so...
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post #4 of 64
4/25/12 at 7:19pm
I don't own sharp display, I have Samsung UN55D7000 (H303build) I put my Motion plus to Clear. you should have something similar like that. As for WallE, I have not fully tested yet. I was using the special feature section with the robot that repairs the antennas. There's also a scene with space. You have Avatar on your list, that's a great movie to use to test it, IMO anyways.
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post #5 of 64
4/25/12 at 7:26pm
Any suggestions from the pros? what movie(s) , scenes, skin tones etc to use as a refrence media for checking the picture after calibrating.
Seabiscuit was one that was mentioned.
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post #6 of 64
4/25/12 at 7:44pm
I don't consider my self as a pro, but what about inception or law abiding citizen. Lots of close up shots
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post #7 of 64
4/25/12 at 8:11pm
Black & White films/scenes, should look black & white with no hint of color.

Star Wars RotS, beginning of chapter 8 is a motion killer as the ship lowers into the pit.

Beyond the basics make sure to check color gradations, many people have clipped or crushed colors and do not realize it (especially when pushing contrast to its limit and boosting color).

Disney WOW disc is an excellent investment, especially for those just getting into calibrating their displays.

Jason
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post #8 of 64
4/25/12 at 8:58pm
I used the Blu-ray version of Seabiscuit. There are quite a few scenes that one can use for all aspects of a calibration or an Accurate Picture Adjustment.
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post #9 of 64
4/25/12 at 9:06pm
The 1st disc of BBC Earth. Blacks, whites, fast panning, furry textures to make people go ooh! aah!
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post #10 of 64
4/26/12 at 3:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hungro View Post

Any suggestions from the pros? what movie(s) , scenes, skin tones etc to use as a refrence media for checking the picture after calibrating.
Seabiscuit was one that was mentioned.

Jeff Meier (forum member umr) has a set of instructions for what to look for and it's all on one Blu-Ray disc, Casino Royale. I've checked all of his reference points and they work very well. Click
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post #11 of 64
5/6/12 at 10:21am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaGamePimp View Post

Black & White films/scenes, should look black & white with no hint of color.

Star Wars RotS, beginning of chapter 8 is a motion killer as the ship lowers into the pit.

Beyond the basics make sure to check color gradations, many people have clipped or crushed colors and do not realize it (especially when pushing contrast to its limit and boosting color).

Disney WOW disc is an excellent investment, especially for those just getting into calibrating their displays.

Jason

Thanks for the advices, just bought the Disney WOW disc.
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post #12 of 64
5/6/12 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by robnix View Post

The 1st disc of BBC Earth. Blacks, whites, fast panning, furry textures to make people go ooh! aah!

Are you talking about 4 discs Blu-Ray series "Planet Earth"?
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post #13 of 64
5/6/12 at 10:28am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzard767 View Post

Jeff Meier (forum member umr) has a set of instructions for what to look for and it's all on one Blu-Ray disc, Casino Royale. I've checked all of his reference points and they work very well. Click

Thanks I'll look into that. I'll have to find a copy of Casino Royale...
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post #14 of 64
5/6/12 at 10:38am
Thread Starter 
The idea here is to build mylself a quick reference Blu-Ray demo disc with various scenes which I will bring with me to the stores to get a quick idea of what a display is capable of given that I can fool around a bit with its settings...
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post #15 of 64
5/6/12 at 10:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dhan View Post

The idea here is to build mylself a quick reference Blu-Ray demo disc with various scenes which I will bring with me to the stores to get a quick idea of what a display is capable of given that I can fool around a bit with its settings...

Until the display is calibrated I doubt you will obtain your goal.
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post #16 of 64
5/7/12 at 1:26pm
Casino Royale has always been my go-to disc for testing. It was a good transfer, and one of the earliest discs, so I'm very familiar with how it should look.

A few things to mention regarding UMR's guide though: The initial black & white scene is not neutral black & white, the highlights still have a slight sepia tone to them. In the scene at ~00:01:17 for example, the highlight on the clocks averages to 250,249,236 RGB. (converted to PC levels, not video levels)

00:01:17

It's definitely less obvious than the fight scene though:


I would not recommend evaluating a display using the built-in test patterns though. There is obvious banding encoded in the gradient, and a lot of aliasing in the resolution chart:


And I was surprised to find that the scene near the end of the film in the garden was overlooked. I have found that to be a very challenging test for most displays, green often looks "neon" in a lot of those scenes, the skintones are difficult (despite being in sunlight) and there's a wide range of blues in the sky/ocean.

This shot in particular is very difficult for a lot of displays:


Here are some more screen grabs (100% JPEG stills from the Blu-ray) at roughly the times posted. (some didn't seem to match up with his description)

00:04:12


00:25:41

00:25:48



00:35:37

00:57:48

01:30:18

I would not recommend Avatar as a test disc, especially for detail, as it's a highly noise-reduced film that is lacking in detail & texture. How it gets rated so highly is beyond me. I guess because it's full of colourful CG that looks nice, rather than actually being useful as a reference disc. (and for a "flashy" disc, I'd probably go with something like Tron Legacy instead)
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post #17 of 64
5/7/12 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dhan View Post

Are you talking about 4 discs Blu-Ray series "Planet Earth"?

Planet Earth Special Edition has better detail.

Planet Earth
Codec: VC-1
Video Bitrate: 21.23 Mbps

Planet Earth Special Edition
Codec: VC-1
Video Bitrate: 31.96 Mbps

BTW BBC Life has better image than Planet Earth. More advanced cameras are used bringing superior natural image.

LIFE - FILMING TECHNIQUES
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post #18 of 64
5/7/12 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzard767 View Post

Jeff Meier (forum member umr) has a set of instructions for what to look for and it's all on one Blu-Ray disc, Casino Royale. I've checked all of his reference points and they work very well. Click

Thanks for the link, I checked my display and as I thought it needed just a little bit of tweaking, as I haven't calibrated in a while, but it's good to have reference points and a guide to a good pix!
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post #19 of 64
5/7/12 at 7:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzard767 View Post

Until the display is calibrated I doubt you will obtain your goal.

Let's say that just want to see various movie scenes on various displays and maybe fool around a bit with the user settings on those displays where they will let me. I'm no calibrator and my goal is not to unleash/see the full potential of those displays as I am aware those will be uncalibrated display. It's mainly just for fun, to get a rough idea of what I will be bying. Of course I also read these forums, user/professional reviews, calibrators opinions and and such.
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post #20 of 64
5/7/12 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks,

very constructive e-mail, I appreciate your input a lot.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Chronoptimist View Post

Casino Royale has always been my go-to disc for testing. It was a good transfer, and one of the earliest discs, so I'm very familiar with how it should look.

A few things to mention regarding UMR's guide though: The initial black & white scene is not neutral black & white, the highlights still have a slight sepia tone to them. In the scene at ~00:01:17 for example, the highlight on the clocks averages to 250,249,236 RGB. (converted to PC levels, not video levels)

00:01:17

It's definitely less obvious than the fight scene though:


I would not recommend evaluating a display using the built-in test patterns though. There is obvious banding encoded in the gradient, and a lot of aliasing in the resolution chart:


And I was surprised to find that the scene near the end of the film in the garden was overlooked. I have found that to be a very challenging test for most displays, green often looks "neon" in a lot of those scenes, the skintones are difficult (despite being in sunlight) and there's a wide range of blues in the sky/ocean.

This shot in particular is very difficult for a lot of displays:


Here are some more screen grabs (100% JPEG stills from the Blu-ray) at roughly the times posted. (some didn't seem to match up with his description)

00:04:12


00:25:41

00:25:48



00:35:37

00:57:48

01:30:18

I would not recommend Avatar as a test disc, especially for detail, as it's a highly noise-reduced film that is lacking in detail & texture. How it gets rated so highly is beyond me. I guess because it's full of colourful CG that looks nice, rather than actually being useful as a reference disc. (and for a "flashy" disc, I'd probably go with something like Tron Legacy instead)
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post #21 of 64
5/7/12 at 7:26pm
Thread Starter 
hmmm, I think I only have the standard edition... I'll check that link you posted, looks interresting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ConnecTEDDD View Post

Planet Earth Special Edition has better detail.

Planet Earth
Codec: VC-1
Video Bitrate: 21.23 Mbps

Planet Earth Special Edition
Codec: VC-1
Video Bitrate: 31.96 Mbps

BTW BBC Life has better image than Planet Earth. More advanced cameras are used bringing superior natural image.

LIFE - FILMING TECHNIQUES
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post #22 of 64
5/7/12 at 8:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dhan View Post

Let's say that just want to see various movie scenes on various displays and maybe fool around a bit with the user settings on those displays where they will let me. I'm no calibrator and my goal is not to unleash/see the full potential of those displays as I am aware those will be uncalibrated display. It's mainly just for fun, to get a rough idea of what I will be bying. Of course I also read these forums, user/professional reviews, calibrators opinions and and such.

I understand your point. You'll never really comprehend the displays' potentials in a store setting unfortunately, but if the folks who work there will let you play your own disk and use the TV remote for awhile then have at it. If it were me, I think I'd make my own disk with a few reference pictures and some basic calibration patterns and use that instead. If you adjust black, white, and primary luminance into the ballpark you'll be ahead of the game.
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post #23 of 64
5/7/12 at 8:31pm
I carry around the AVSHD-709 mp4's on a USB stick for just such occasions.

Jason
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post #24 of 64
5/8/12 at 4:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dhan View Post

hmmm, I think I only have the standard edition... I'll check that link you posted, looks interresting.

CorrecTED Details:

Planet Earth UK
Codec: VC-1
Video Bitrate: 21.23 Mbps
Disks: BD-25 (~24 GB each)
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (Bitrate: 448 kbps - Lossy)

Planet Earth Special Edition UK
Codec: MPEG4-AVC
Video Bitrate: 31.96 Mbps
Disks: BD-50 (~42 GB each)
Audio: DTS-HD Hi-Res 5.1 Surround (Bitrate: 2046 kbps - Lossless)

The Special Edition is better transfer with 1080i/50 (originally filmed using 25fps cameras) without wrong timing issue, as Standard Edition comes with 1080p/24.
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post #25 of 64
5/8/12 at 9:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaGamePimp View Post

I carry around the AVSHD-709 mp4's on a USB stick for just such occasions.

Jason

That is the easiest way to do it. You have all the patterns in one place and the HDTV Calibration video section is good enough for skin tones and that red shirt will be a dead give away if colors are oversaturated.
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post #26 of 64
5/20/12 at 10:22am
Hello, I while back I have dowloaded a post that mentions key reference scenes from the blu ray of Sea Biscuit. I printed out the entire guide. Some of the scenes mentioned include.

Seabiscuit Reference Scenes

Chapter 1. Opening Car Fender (B & W ) 0:01:13
Asembly Line (B & W) 0:02:11
City stilll with Street car roof off far right 0:02:26

Chapter 2. Prairie Scene Chris Cooper horse halter 0:03:25
Moon Scene 0:04:29
Street Car Scene 0:04:38

There are like up to 14 chapters with details for each scene way too much info to type. Perhaps someone on here can point someone to the link that contained this information. The name of the article i think is Sea Biscuit Reference Scenes and Details.
This is a summary , if you will, of the things to look for in Sea Biscuit as a reference media after calibration. First an outline of scenes/ details,. then a more detailed description. Sorry I didn't take the time to type it all out.
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post #27 of 64
5/20/12 at 7:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hungro View Post
Seabiscuit Reference Scenes

Perhaps someone on here can point someone to the link that contained this information. The name of the article i think is Sea Biscuit Reference Scenes and Details.
This is a summary , if you will, of the things to look for in Sea Biscuit as a reference media after calibration. First an outline of scenes/ details,. then a more detailed description. Sorry I didn't take the time to type it all out.
Here's the what I have written up from the original poster (Phase700B).

 

Sea Biscuit Calibration Reference Sumary-3.doc 34k . file
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post #28 of 64
5/21/12 at 10:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Otto Pylot View Post

Here's the what I have written up from the original poster (Phase700B).

Hi Otto. . . yup, Sea Biscuit is one of my favorites for the true B&W stills in the beginning, great natural detail and color throughout the movie. Plenty of green grass to check for those pesky "neon" greens, and everything you need to verify for picture quality from gray scale to red/green push and fleshtones can be found in the first 7 minutes of the movie.
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post #29 of 64
5/21/12 at 1:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phase700B View Post

Hi Otto. . . yup, Sea Biscuit is one of my favorites for the true B&W stills in the beginning, great natural detail and color throughout the movie. Plenty of green grass to check for those pesky "neon" greens, and everything you need to verify for picture quality from gray scale to red/green push and fleshtones can be found in the first 7 minutes of the movie.

Hello, man , you guys are quick , hunting down that file. Thanks phase700b i printed the entire thing for my refrence .
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post #30 of 64
5/21/12 at 1:24pm
I prefer Casino Royale and the Dark Knight.
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