BD The Descent vs SD NTSC and PAL The Descent

Okay I'm probably one of the few dorks that actually has every version of this movie out there. I got the PAL Region 2 version early last year and was turning friends on to the movie. Got the US version for Xmas from a friend and just got the BD version last week.

So far the PAL version is the worst. Very soft image and the blacks are totally crushed. The NTSC version is a bit nicer, a little more detail in the blacks and color saturation is good.

But OH MY LORD the BD version. Simply amazing. Everything is sharp without a bit of edge enhancement. There's so much more detail in the darker scenes that it's a totally new movie for me. Just amazing. Colors are rich without being oversaturated. Monochromatically lit scenes look much more natural. All around you just can make out more stuff. And zero noise in the black. Nothing but velvety blackness. YAY!! The earlier DVDs of this film really suffer with all the dark scenes. Not this BD disc. I'm still stunned at how much more detail HD pulled out of this film. My Panny AE900 has never had this hard a workout before.

I thought I'd just give the PS3 a 30 trial run and return it but this puppy is staying here... It's ramen noodles for the next 2 months.

Elio

I have a Denon 3910 and an Panasonic AE900 on a 100" BW Carada screen. The room is totally light controlled, black ceiling and walls, dark carpet. Windows blocked.

When you see it in BD you'll see how soft the PAL disc is. I originally thought it was a great pressing too. But the BD version is amazing. WAY more detail. You can actually make out what is going on when the crawlers are making lunch out of Holly.

Passing native PAL to the projector.

The PAL version looked great to me too until I compared it to the NTSC version which I felt was just a tad sharper and had a bit more detail in the blacks. But neither compare to the BD version. I am looking at in on 100" screen from about 10 feet away so minor issues that aren't too noticeable on a smaller display are readily apparent on mine.

You're going to love it. You'll notice the improvement right away. Lemme know what you think.

Hehe... Well at least you'll only have 2 versions. I have 3. Soon I'll have to dedicate a shelf to this darn movie.