Anyone else think that Batman Begins is a REALLY underwhelming HD-DVD? - Page 4

the difference b/t BB and Fear and Loathing(which I truly love as a HD-DVD presentation) is that BB has not a speck of edge enhancement that I could detect, making it a theater like experience whereas in Fear, it was pretty excessive in many scenes. Both are great however, and curoiusly, both exhibit almost undetectable film grain

I just got Batman Begins for Christmas and all I can say is This was definately made for my Direct view tube TV set.
Excellent Color and contrast, and lots of dark scenes with lots of detail and a good storyline and acting to boot, whats not to like.
This joins King Kong, Aeon Flux, and the Polar Express in my small HDDVD Library.
So far King Kong is my fav for it's many varied locals.
Polar Express will not be rated until I see more Animation titles (A weak spot for HDDVD, cause there are so few)
Aeon Flux is super clear and clean, but lacks some variety in the locales and in the ciimate conditions, compared to the other two I listed, too short, too many concrete walls, and too small a budget, but it's still among the top movies in PQ, if you judge PQ by cleaness and clarity, which sometimes is not the directors intent.
I didnt notice the flaws listed above, so you may have gotten a bad disc.

Is there an HDDVD title with better shadow detail and black levels, if so please tell me which one.

This is not a sunny, bright, daytime super hero in colorful costume or with green skin, and it dhould not be penalized because it chooses black and darkness over color and brightness, as it does dark as good as the others do light.

IMHO tier 1 as a minimum and possibly tier o for the reference quality shadow detail and black levels.

BB is given a Tier 2 rating within this forum and I have to agree. It's really good, just ain't great.

what would have made it "great"?
What did you see in it's theatrical presentation that was missing or poorly realized when seen on HD DVD?

We watched BB this morning (a good Christmas-themed story...um, maybe not).

We all thought it looked great on my 42" 720p LCD. I've not viewed enough HD-DVDs to define it as reference, but I also do not have any evidence to disagree with that conclusion.

Plus, the story itself was excellent. We all commented on how it would be great if all the Batman movies would be re-done with the darker theme - not the cartoons that some of the more recent titles became.

At any rate, the A2 is getting rave reviews in my home. Just gotta keep watching great movies like BB!

shinksma

I haven't seen it in HD-DVD, I've seen it in Hi-def on HBO many times, they ran it everyday there for awhile. I was not impressed at all with watching this film in HD on HBO. I kept asking myself if it really was in HD. It was, and to my eyes it was only slightly better than watching it in SD on DVD. Most all other HD movies I have seen impressed me far more than this film. Perhaps it is the predominantly dark scenes in the film, or then again, maybe HBO's feed of this movie consistently stinks. FWIW I have a 58 panny 60u.

I was underwelmed by Batman as well. Sound was good, but picture was a little bit of a let down considering all the hype.

I think this review sums it up really well

http://www.hd-world.net/reviewBATMANdvd.html