The Descent is reference P/Q

That's good to know, seeing as Highdefdigest, DVDTalk, etc have yet to review this. Mine should be here on Friday, so I can't wait to see it.

Mine will be here on Friday as well. Thanks for the thumbs up. Cant wait.

Thanks. What kind of display are you using? I'm guessing that this is the kind of movie that would favor CRTs.

--Darin

Just finished watching the movie and I thought it looked great also, then I watched the extended and deleted scenes and WOW, what a difference. The deleted scenes look much sharper than the actually movie. Does the movie have some kind of color filter or something that takes away from the detail?

i agree wholeheartedly. this is the best looking disc i own. and i own black hawk down! that's right, i said it. well maybe i should watch bhd again, it has been awhile. anyway it is definitely in my top five (and that includes hd-dvds also). anyway i am getting pearl harbor and kingdom of heaven in the mail this friday so i should have some more blu-rays to show off.

edit: to the above poster in regards to crt, i have a crt set. i agree that it probably does not look as good on a set that doesn't handle blacks well. all i know is, the blacks are wonderful on my crt and i can't imagine watching this flick on a set that had crappy blacks. it really makes the movie.

I'm gonna agree on this as well, especially after they get into the caves.

i am starting to think the reason why more people aren't agreeing is because they can't get the damn thing to play. it's really too bad since it is great in my opinion. glad i snagged a ps3.

I thought it looked good and Im only giving it that much because its a "B" movie. I wouldnt put it anywhere close to Black Hawk or MI:3..... Im using a front projector LCD.

Agreed. It cant touch either of those films.

Sounds like it's the right title to test out the gamma curve mods. Hope there are some fade to blacks and blackouts in this flick.

Maybe one day well get reference quality movies that aren't bad movies.

Whatever...

My two cents...

For this genre, this movie is AWESOME. I loved it and to be honest, I saw it in theaters and my BD presentation looked better to these eyes. No pun intended, but i could "see in the dark", something I remember being frustrated by in the theaters. It was so dark in theaters I lost a lot of the action. Here, the presentation was excellent.

Sound was good, too. I don't have a reference sound system and still it shook the room when appropriate, and the there was great ambient as well as directional effects; some of which made my fiancee' jump out of her skin!

The IME (I know that is a HD DVD term..) is very well done. It has interesting video, facts, and is engaging.

Haven't watched the deleted stuff yet.

To me, this disc is a winner. I will note that once or twice my fiancee' remarked on "the grainy picture" but it is native to the film, not the transfer. Nonetheless, once or twice it is thick with grain, specifically in one of the opening shots. And if you are looking for that OMG WOW shot, there are close ups at the end of the film that will allow you to see pores on skin, individual sweat droplets, etc. REALLY impressive!

Enjoy!

The CRT theory posted above has alot of weight here.

I haven't seen this movie in HD, but I was very impressed with this movie and thought it was much better than I anticipated. One of the few titles I wish was on HD DVD but again, I've already seen it and have it on my computer so no huge loss.

My copy just arrived. I was not expecting it until tomorrow. Will be checking it out tonight.

This is a fantastic film, easily one of the year's best! For once, adult actors in a believable horror film with great acting that recalls many classics of the genre (Alien, The Thing to name a few). The BD is reference--it is almost an exact representation of what was in the theater. There is grain in the dark scenes--but obviously as has been stated elsewhere that is inevitable given the almost pure darkness they were shooting in. The audio (pcm) is incredible with HUGE dynamic range that hits you right in the chest and some absolutely insane use of the back surround channels. Trust me this disc rocks and is reference quality (which IMO is when a disc maintains the theatrical experience as closely as possible)

this is one serious reference disc for sure and I loved this movie very much so, I hate horror but this was just sweet

creepy, scary and not stupid/cheesy

the disc is reference in everyway, contrast, detail, black levels, color, PCM soundtrack was smokin good, what a release

watched via Sammy with latest firmware

-Gary

NICE thread fart!!!!!

The opening scenes, while still looking pretty good, are drab and not overflowing with detail or depth. The Descent benefits greatly from it's high contrast cave environments. The restricted color palette due to the fire/flashlights also helps. I agree there is fine detail and depth throughout the cave sequences, which take up the vast majority of the last 2/3 of the film. There is some grain visible in some scenes because of low-light, but it's not that bad.

It looks good, but not reference.

That's interesting. My disc went into a loop when I tried to play all deleted scenes. I'll have to try it again and check this out.

The Decent....hmmm I got this one at Walmart for $24.99

I have a PS3 60 GB with firmware 1.32
Mine is connected through HDMI to the TV. My Tv is 1080i/720p
I have cross color correction set to on in the PS3 settings.
I inserted the disc and it loaded to the main menu in less than 10 secs.

I started the movie...

Damn it was so sharp and the colors were totally awesome!
In the caves i was expecting a lot of grain...but i saw none. Perfect contrast!

This is a reference disc
The BD-J was perfect.

I disagree that it is reference material. The Descent is definately Tier 1. Kingdom of Heaven looks noticably better, IMO.

I agree, it's a good looking release, but certainly not near the best on Blu-Ray.

Well, I enjoyed the movie, but you dare say not stupid/cheesy? It was about a bunch of creatures that lived in a cave.

Well I guess this could be applied to a lot of movies.

Hmmm.. lets see. Ah yes batman. A rich as can be millionaire who dresses up in some black tights in the middle of the night because he has serious psychological issues about his parents dying and pretends to be bat?? Movie was good though

Did he engage/interact with creatures or real people? Big difference. If you had mentioned Chronicles of Riddick, I might have given that to you.

Ya I was gonna bring up Riddick too, seriously . But I still think a rich man wearing tights at night is the king of cheesy, but still its damned good . We're talking bout cheesy here, and that is pretty damned cheesy if you ask me.