[Matt_Stevens]

I have had my DISH 6000 since Wednesday and have been really enjoying it, but this is the first HD transfer I have seen on HBO that made me sit up and take notice. Previously, I watched "Anna & The King," which looked horrible and clearly softer than my DVD; Jefferson In Paris, which was pretty good, but not so good that I would use it as an example of how good HD can look; and The Legend of Bagger Vance, a nice film that had a somewhat filtered and dreamlike look with a transfer certainly superior to DVD quality.


But with GLADIATOR, I was just blown away. The level of detail on objects, armour, facial hair, background was extraordinary. I did not need to synch up my DVD to compare. It was all too clear for me on my 47" Panny. I even saw things that I had not previously noticed, like the tear forming in Commodus' right eye when the curtain is opened to the now dead Ceaser's tent.


My father came over to watch it with me and he was in heaven and is determined to buy an HDTV before Christmas (he has a DISH 6000, but just a regular TV). Good luck convincing Mom, dad. She wants to wait until next year for their tax return.


My only complaint is that certain shots featuring CGI were zoomed in to fit the 1.78:1 frame. Not all shots were zoomed (some must have been open matted) and the non CGI shots wee all open matted and looked good in the 1.78:1 ratio. The CGI shot of ROME at dawn just before the "Am I not merciful?!" speech was raised up, with a fade to black at the bottom to hide the black bar. Very nicely done. God, it looked fantastic. My father actually said out loud, "Jesus Christ, that's gorgeous."


I detected one DD5.1 dropout, but only one.


I'd give anything to have this recorded somehow.


GHOSTBUSTERS is on HBO this weekend. I wonder of it will be 2.35:1 on the HD HBO channel??? The film was shot in Panavision, not Super35.

 

[vruiz]

"Ghostbusters" WILL be in 2.35 OAR but only because it's an older transfer, made before HBO started doing everything in 1.78 AR. It's an excellent one too. The older OAR transfers usually are.

 

[Joe Q]

Quote:

Originally posted by Matt_Stevens I'd give anything to have this recorded somehow.

Matt,


I hope I am not insulting your intelligence but are you aware of the DISH 5000 and the Hipix?


I use a 4mm Dat drive to back up the keeper recordings from Disk. Gladiator is one of them.



Joe

 

[Karnis]

Personally, I thought HBO's HD transfer looked like crap. All the dark scenes had pumped up black levels giving the image a horribly washed out look. The DirecTV-PPV HD version looked much better....but they both suck because of the cropped 16x9 aspect ratio!

 

[JasonATL]

Karris,

Here is a link to an older thread where this is discussed (it also has a link to a prior thread). One point that people have made is that Gladiator, unlike many other HBO transfers, is not "cropped" or "pan and scan."


I still think that this is one of the more impressive examples of HDTV on HBO. Others that look good to me are The Patriot and the Legend of Bagger Vance (both of which have been discussed quite a bit).

 

[vruiz]

You mean more impressive of the 1.78-formatted examples of HDTV on HBO. The older OAR transfers still blow any of those away. Recent showings of "Ghostbusters", "Tootsie", or "Star Trek: Generations" have reminded us how good HD could be, and those don't even come close to the very best we've seen in the past, like "The Last Emperor", "Les Miserables", and "Geronimo: An American Legend".

 

[Karnis]

THanks for the link & the clarification that it is open matte Super 35. I still don't see why they pumped up the black level during dark scenes, though. I really dislike that washed out look.

 

[Abdul Jalib]

Karnis, you sure they pumped up the black levels on some scenes in the HDTV version? Gladiator looks pretty funky on DVD too during the initial battle scene, probably deliberately washed-out/muddy. Maybe the director was going for the Band of Brothers WWII camera effect.


I swear Gladiator looked better this time than a couple months ago. No one else got that impression?

 

[Jerry G]

Quote:

Originally posted by Abdul Jalib I swear Gladiator looked better this time than a couple months ago. No one else got that impression?

Absolutely not. Do you really think HBO did a new transfer for the recent showing? What would be their reason for doing so?

 

[Karnis]

Quote:

Originally posted by Abdul Jalib Karnis, you sure they pumped up the black levels on some scenes in the HDTV version?

Yes, the scenes early in the movie where Russell Crowe is talking with the emperor in the tent was really pumped up and washed out. The majority of the rest of the movie was not, only the really dark interior scenes early got to me, I had to change the channel (actually, I watched Shrek on DVD. Great movie.)

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Quote:

are you aware of the DISH 5000 and the Hipix?

I know very little about them. I am new to HDTV on my HDTV. Plus I am out of money at the moment. Any FAQ's available?


I missed Ghostbusters, unfortunately. Hopefully it will be again before the end of the year.

 

[Fred DeGrandis]

Quote:

Originally posted by Matt_Stevens I know very little about them. I am new to HDTV on my HDTV. Plus I am out of money at the moment. Any FAQ's available? I missed Ghostbusters, unfortunately. Hopefully it will be again before the end of the year.

Ghostbusters is on a couple of times this month on HBOHD:

Thu, Nov 22 12:30pm HBOHD East...GHOSTBUSTERS,

and I am sure it will be on again next month too.