The New PQ Tier thread for Blu-Ray - Discussion - Page 665

I thought that The Lorax was more impressive than nemo, from an overall wow factor cgi movie, but I like these choices.

Would've been nice, if they offered a swap, or upgrade to those of us who bought the older one! I remember one studio did that some time ago with another movie. I think it was Fifth Element? You just needed to send in your original disc (only), and they sent you the newer one back. All you paid was the postage to send your disc to them. Would be a nice gesture, and great PR!

I agree! Thankfully I never bought the first release of this title. If memory serves me, I did buy the first release of Gladiator and then the Remastered version and I believe it was a swap.

Was thinking of getting 'The Grey' on Blu ray cus I wasn't happy with the quality on the DVD version, any idea of the PQ and if its worth a look?

I'm not sure you'd be much happier with the Blu-ray, for the color palette is drab and there's a lot of heavy GRAIN throughout. Here's the review I wrote on it:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/858316/the-new-pq-tier-thread-for-blu-ray-discussion/19380#post_22039892

Chronicle

recommendation: Tier 2.25

This movie has actually received several scores and is currently ranked in Tier 2.5. A pleasing image that does nothing outstanding except for a small handful of moments in the great outdoors. The first-person perspective of the first act wobbles and shakes a little too much for my tastes, but only the doctored footage really looks terrible. A hint of ringing in some of the FX and a possible dose of DNR are noticeable in a few spots.

Men in Black 3



This was "a stunner for sure!!" I LOVED the colors, contrast, blacks, details, depth and inky blacks. If not for a few scenes early on this would have easily fallen into Tier Blu. I'm still tempted to drop this into the bottom of Tier 0, but I believe I'll split the difference between the two placements above and put it right here....

Tier Recommendation: 1.0*

PS The audio was superb!

Viewed from 7.5' using the equipment listed below....

The Bourne Legacy

Another very impressive viewing! I especially love the DETAILS...facial and otherwise. CONTRAST was also strong, with excellent BLACKS and dazzling WHITES. COLORS were also eye candy when primaries were on display. This had decent SHARPNESS, CLARITY and DEPTH from beginning to end. There may have been a few fleeting moments of softness, but they were so rare I shouldn't even mention them. One more thing...very FILM-LIKE with a nice layer of grain. I believe this is just as good as my previous review, so logic dictates I give it the same score....

Tier Recommendation: 1.0*

Well, it's TRIPLE FEATURE NIGHT, so I'm slipping in Lawless next!

Viewed from 7.5' using the equipment listed below....

You are on a roll, keep it up. I would imagine three reviews in one day might be a record of some kind for the thread, if we discount the long laundry lists that some have posted.

Tosh.0: Deep V's

recommendation: Tier 1.75*

A staple on Comedy Central, the BD for Tosh.0 looks taken directly from the 1080i broadcast master. There are no surprises if you have watched it on cable in HD, Paramount has given the studio segments and whatever YouTube clips the show digs up, the best treatment possible. The Internet clips are rarely better than standard-definition video, but the pristine studio skits and interviews shot in digital HD partially make up for them.

Lawless

WOW!! I can't remember the last time I saw three demo-worthy Blus back-to-back, so this has been quite the night! Without resorting to hyperbole, I can honestly say that if I were to judge this title solely on the daytime, outdoor scenes, with the lush cinematography that was sharp as a tack and as detailed as I've ever seen, I would be nominating this for top honors in Tier Blu...right up there with The Thin Red Line. But there were some dark interior scenes, along with a few outdoor nighttime shots, that fell a wee bit flat with less-than-stellar blacks (though the majority of the nighttime scenes were amazing, with exquisite shadow details).

Like the last viewing, when the primary colors were on display they were a sight to behold. Facial details were either reference or demo throughout. Flesh tones were spot on. Need I go on? I think GRG used the word "pristine" in his review of this movie and I concur. Again, I'm really tempted to assign this to low Tier 0, but I'm getting more and more jaded as time goes on so I'm going to settle for....

Tier Recommendation: 1.0*

Viewed from 7.5' using the equipment listed below....

Actually Phantom, I recall a couple of *marathons* where I viewed 4 or 5 titles in one day (with reviews). Like the old adage goes, "When the cat's away, the mice do play," which, being interpreted, means, "when my wife's away, I get to play (multiple Blu-rays)." She's visiting some of our daughters in the Twin Cities as I type, so I'm taking advantage. And this includes listening at reference levels too, which is quite the treat!

The Jazz Singer (1927)

For being 85 years old, the high points are spectacular. A lot of it is comprised of a lesser film stock, patching scenes in to complete the film. That's a shame, but at its peak, the great contrast, super gray scale, resolved grain, and more make this a winner from Warner. Maybe not for purposes here, but if you're a fan, this one scores.

Tier 4.5*

Brave


Well, it's look like I'm back to agreeing with GRG....I can't argue with anything he said. I will add that in a few of the darker scenes the bars on my Pioneer appeared to be a very dark gray compared to my bezel, so I was disappointed in those instances. Generally though the blacks were very good with some exceptional shadow details in some scenes. What had me scratching my head was why Pixar chose to give several of their characters a bit of texture and leave the majority with the smooth look. I want to add that if this were an audio thread I'd put this near the very top of Tier 0, but it's a PQ thread so I'm siding with GRG on his placement too...

Tier Recommendation: Tier 0* (closer to the bottom than the top)

Viewed from 7.5' using the equipment listed below....

Dredd

Super ugly mess of noise, over active color, banding, and more noise. Sure detail is high, but it can't compensate for the low quality, gritty look everywhere else. Black levels are on the low end, spiraling into blues and purple based on the color timing. Contrast can be intense and bleach the image in spots.

Tier 3.0*

The Possession

recommendation: Tier 1.5*

Lionsgate's newest horror movie acquits itself very nicely for picture quality, if one can overlook some harsh ringing in select scenes. While it has a touch more color than many other modern horror films, it still favors a limited palette. The nearly perfect clarity helps reveal a high level of actual detail in close-ups.

How was the movie? I'm a sucker for this genre, but I've been disappointed (too) many times.

You might have missed my complete review of the movie, which is only a click away. Genre fans will definitely find it worth giving the movie a chance, it takes the basic concept of The Exorcist but substitutes Judaism for Catholicism. The only other caveat is that like all other PG-13 horror films released today, the intended target audience is clearly teenage girls. But it's a very polished Hollywood production that is a cut above the standard tripe of today.

I read the whole review Phantom and I'll definitely be giving this one a rent!

I allow myself to re post here this question :

I'm doing scans for reviews I post on French forums, but convert myself the average video bitrate from kbps to Mbps. However, I have a doubt right now : should I divide the xx kbps by 1000 or 1024 to get the xx Mpbs bitrate ? I'm used to divide by 1024, but am suddenly not sure anymore.

I would have to disagree on this one. As said by GRG, the 35mm are shockingly soft, with the cinematography giving crushed blacks absorbing the details.
As for the sound, the design is such that the sub is over-used, completely ruining any balance in the mix, and forcing me to reduce my LFE in order not to be annoyed by all this rumble. It is over agressive, and overall messy, in opposition of a very agressive but impressive track as Tron Legacy.

We'll have to "agree to disagree," for not all the 35mm footage was soft (in fact, the majority was quite good) and on my system the audio was very impressive, including the LFE.

Looper

recommendation: Tier 1.75*

Sony has given Looper a largely unprocessed transfer that doesn't appear to have been heavily tinkered with in post-production, though I do feel it has somewhat middling cinematography for a big-time, new release starring Bruce Willis. The transfer is largely cinematic and I agree with Gamereviewgod's points, but I still feel I am being generous with its placement in Tier One.
I finally ordered this new version, so I can see for myself the improvement from the prior edition.
I believe you divide by 1024 to get the correct rate. Contacting forum member CinemaSquid directly would probably get you the surest answer.

Bit and bytes are definitely confusing issues, but conveniently for bits they are supposed be treated to normal metric rules - i.e. 1 megabit / Mbps = 1,000 kilobits / kbps = 1,000,000 bits / bps.

Way easier on the brain since you can just slide the decimal point around when comparing Mbps and kbps.

This is not true of most professionals, who observe the decimal and binary power distinction, and almost always use the binary values.

Nomenclature is a problem here. 1 Kbit is 1024 bits, so 1000 bits is not 1 kbit.

I think I probably confused the issue by choosing my words poorly, since you are correct and bits for storage and capacity measurement do typically use binary power. For bit *rate*, however, it is traditional in telecommunications to use decimal power for specifying transmission speeds and bandwidth in bits per second, so:

1 Mbps = 1,000 kbps = 1,000,000 bps

I was under the impression that this also holds for media encoding bit rate measurements, but I could be wrong. Apologies for the derail...

Gamera the Brave

Older, softer master that does not impress even with splashes of detail. Definition isn't there, and IRE levels are off as is common with Japanese imports. Still, some winning moments and the warmer color palette makes the visuals inviting with or without the detail.

Tier 2.75*

Thank you all for your answers for bitrate calculation !

In Time

recommendation: Tier 0 (around Real Steel)

If In Time doesn't qualify for the top tier, few films should ever qualify for it. A beautiful transfer that is totally free of filtering or sharpening, the crystal-clear picture quality is impeccable. I could run through the check list of areas where the video can fail on Blu-ray, but this disc passes every test with perfect color rendition and stunning photography. The consistently excellent depth graces the image with pop and clarity, producing one of the best-looking releases I've seen in a while. There are simply no criticisms that can be seriously leveled against this Blu-ray's picture quality from Fox. Now the movie itself, that might be a different matter...

I know I've seen this and reviewed it (back when it first came out), so your review prompted me to do a Search to see what my impressions were. But the Search came up empty (as at other times). Your glowing praise has me wanting to rent it again, though I do remember the movie itself was, as you intimated, less-than-stellar, so perhaps I'll pass. Any ideas as to why nothing came up on the Search?