DU Test screenshots thread (big files!) for HD DVD and Blu-Ray - Page 3

Thank you guys for the good work!

So we can add the following to the rankings:

The Matrix (HD DVD) - HD Ready Quality Master (between 720p and 480p)
POTC: Dead Man's Chest (Blu-Ray) - Full HD Quality Master (between 1080p and 720p)
POTC: CotBP (Blu-Ray) - Full HD Quality Master (between 1080p and 720p)
The Big Lebowski (HD DVD)- DVD Quality Master (equal or below 480p)
Lost in Translation (HD DVD)- HD Ready Quality Master (between 720p and 480p)

Remember: you can contest the above at anytime just posting a picture with a DU Test that proves your point.

Regarding the question of more increments like 540p or 960p:

I was thinking about that, but the problem is that a movie definition has a great variability from scene to scene, as you demonstrated with Lost in Translation. Some scenes are in the 540p-720p range, others in the 480p-540p range, and others even in the sub 480p range. Even the best movies (Pirates or King Kong) have some scenes in witch they go below the 960p range.

So adding more increments to the scale will be useless, because there is too much variation.

So from now on I ask you to post only DU Tests for 720p and 480p. You can post other resolutions if you want, but those two must be presents for me to rank the movie.

Regarding the upscaling algorithms:

I believe the best algoritms to use are those indicated in the first post:

Bicubic Sharper (Best for Reduction)
Bicubic Smoother (Best for Enlargement)

The reasons are the following:

1) they are the reccomended procedures by Adobe itself, indicated in the Photoshop CS3 Manual for the best results in upscaling and downscaling

2) a normal bicubic will naturally introduce a softness that should not be in an original 720p master. The sharpen filter will compensate for the smoothing effect of the reduction filter. If you don't apply this, images will appears different even if they are not.

3) Bicubic smoother will smooth the pic in the same way an upscaling filter used on the master to upscale it to 1080p will do. Not using this filter and limiting ourselves to the normal Bicubic will make the picture appears as with less details even if it has the same level of details.

Some other suggested procedures:

1) For DU comparisons please use a crop about max 250x400 pixels, so the 2X zoomed image will be at max 500x800 (and the DU comparison side by side around 1000x800)

2) post only 2x zoomed images (many people have only 17 inchers connected to their PC, not the 50 inchers they use to watch the movie.. so we have to compensate for give a true comparison)

3) use only lossless PNG format

4) I will save all the picture comparison in a dedicated dir and I suggest you to do the same. Imageshack free bandwidth consumes very fast, so if you see a picture disappears, just PM me and I will upload it again or PM the poster to upload it again.

In the last screen (with the neon lights) we can clearly see more details over the 540p DU test (some kanji are more readable). As I said, the movie quality varies greatly from frame to frame, and most of the movie is above 480p. So, above 480p is the right guess for the master.

I've not seen any screen with details above 480p for Big Lebowsky instead. So I put it below 480p for now. Let me know.


Yes, but as I said, the movie definition change too much from scene to scene. We cannot restrict much further than 3 tiers. A single screenshot yes, but the whole movie is impossible to pinpoint. I'd like to, believe me. But it's impossible.


The difference with 1080p is too small. Only 180 lines! You can do the 900p test if you want, but the ranking must be limited to 3 tiers. Almost all movies goes up and down in picture definition. Intervals smaller than 300 lines are too small to be meaningful.


Ok, so we can use the ones Adobe reccomends.


Great!

I have to correct myself... I redid the DU test for Lost In Translation but with the resampling algorithms suggested by Adobe, and the Kanji details are preserved, and no difference is noticeable now. This is a furter proof of Adobe competence.

So I put Lost In Translation in the DVD Quality Master tier.

Gooki, great work with the photoshop script! WoW!

Just a couple of things:

1 - MEC2 is right: all original screenshots crops should be merged side by side with the DU test crops, with the original on the left and the DU Test on the right, as I usually do. Because many browsers just put the images one below the other. This means that the original will be repeated many times, but it's necessary. Can you add this to the script?

2 - Can you please be more specific about where do you see the differences in the comparisons of Grand Prix, Robin Hood, Batman Begins and Total Recall? I do not see any noticeable differences. Remember that due to the scaling the DU image is always less contrasted, and deprived of compression macroblocks. You must not count this as differences, only real additional details. All the above cited movies seems equal to 720p or below to me.

Spartacus (HD DVD)

DU Test for 720p:





No noticeable difference. Let's proceed with the 480p DU Test:





This is tricky. The differences are noticeable, but the only additional details are the artifacts. In this situation I will go with a DVD Quality Master verdict.


UPDATE: The Upscaling-Downscaling test images have been updated with the new method estabilished in post #179.

House Of Flying Daggers (Blu-Ray)

DU Test for 720p:





This is tricky as Spartacus: no differences if we exclude the compression artifacts.

Let's try the 480p DU test:





Same as above: the only differences are the compression artifacts. Macroblocks seem to add details, but they disappears at a closer look. Verdict: DVD Quality Master.



UPDATE: The Upscaling-Downscaling test images have been updated with the new method estabilished in post #179.

Scorpion King (HD DVD)

DU Test for 720p:





No noticeable differences or additional details, just some artifacts due to compression. We proceed with the 480p DU Test:





Very noticeable differences. Definitely above 480p. Verdict: HD Ready Quality **.


UPDATE: The Upscaling-Downscaling test images have been updated with the new method estabilished in post #179.

Black Hawk Down (Blu-Ray)

DU Tests for 720p:






No noticeable differences. We proceed with the 480p DU Tests:





Very noticeable differences. Verdict: HD Ready Quality ***.



UPDATE: The Upscaling-Downscaling test images have been updated with the new method estabilished in post #179.

Happy Feet (HD DVD)

DU Test at 720p:



Very noticeable difference in definition. Full HD Quality Master **.


UPDATE: The Upscaling-Downscaling test images have been updated with the new method estabilished in post #179.