First, I have to say that I don't have a true HD display. I'm watching this on an Infocus IN72 which is a 480p projector, so some of you may consider this opinion to be completely worthless as a result. I am, however, able to pixel-map the SD version of the movie, and therefore can compare the scaled HD DVD to what's arguably the best the SD version could ever possibly look. Now that I've gotten that out of the way...
Overall, I think the disc is pretty good and feel that it preserves the theatrical look and feel of the film very faithfully. The movie was shot on a low (read: almost no) budget and has some bad lighting in a lot of spots, so there isn't a ton of fine detial gained in the majority of the scenes because they were shot in poorly lit hotel rooms, but the parts outside and around Tokyo are much nicer looking than the SD version, and that tells me that there's nothing wrong with the transfer.
The overall appearance of the film has been "cleaned up" considerably from the SD disc. By that, I mean there is a much less noise, especially during the darker scenes. I originally thought what I was seeing on the SD disc was just grain, but now after having seen the HD version, I'm pretty sure it was noise and not there in the theatrical version.
I saw the movie three times in a two week span back when they re-released it theatrically in 2004 for the Oscar season, and I remember when it released the very next week on DVD, I bought it and was actually disappointed in the disc's look as I felt it dampened the charm of the movie.
The other thing I should touch on is the soundtrack. The SD disc has a nice DTS track and the DD+ sounds about the same. The only thing different to me was the dialogue was a bit more intelligible in some of the quieter scenes, especially the phone conversations as you can now actually hear what the person on the other end of the phone is saying without adjusting the volume. Be warned though that the club scene will catch you by surprise if you're not careful, so don't crank it up too loud! (Especially if you have an upstairs neighbor with small children like me!)
Anyway, in summation, I think on the visual side, this is a definite upgrade over the SD version. Though not an eye-popping experience, this is easily the best this movie has looked aside from the DVHS version, and is the best it will probably ever look for the home market. As for the audio, the DD+ track adds to the already nice sounding DTS track of the SD release with fuller use of the surrounds during the couple of scenes that use them, and allowing for clearer dialogue than before.
I personally think this is a must-have for any fan of the movie, though the movie definitely isn't for everyone, and the look of the film itself may not warrant a blind-buy over the SD DVD for others. Oh, two more things. The extras are all ports from the SD disc - still no commentary from Sofia Coppola
![]()
) and there are no mandatory previews that you have to fast forward past when you first insert the disc. (That alone almost makes this worth the purchase, IMO)
Overall, I think the disc is pretty good and feel that it preserves the theatrical look and feel of the film very faithfully. The movie was shot on a low (read: almost no) budget and has some bad lighting in a lot of spots, so there isn't a ton of fine detial gained in the majority of the scenes because they were shot in poorly lit hotel rooms, but the parts outside and around Tokyo are much nicer looking than the SD version, and that tells me that there's nothing wrong with the transfer.
The overall appearance of the film has been "cleaned up" considerably from the SD disc. By that, I mean there is a much less noise, especially during the darker scenes. I originally thought what I was seeing on the SD disc was just grain, but now after having seen the HD version, I'm pretty sure it was noise and not there in the theatrical version.
I saw the movie three times in a two week span back when they re-released it theatrically in 2004 for the Oscar season, and I remember when it released the very next week on DVD, I bought it and was actually disappointed in the disc's look as I felt it dampened the charm of the movie.
The other thing I should touch on is the soundtrack. The SD disc has a nice DTS track and the DD+ sounds about the same. The only thing different to me was the dialogue was a bit more intelligible in some of the quieter scenes, especially the phone conversations as you can now actually hear what the person on the other end of the phone is saying without adjusting the volume. Be warned though that the club scene will catch you by surprise if you're not careful, so don't crank it up too loud! (Especially if you have an upstairs neighbor with small children like me!)
Anyway, in summation, I think on the visual side, this is a definite upgrade over the SD version. Though not an eye-popping experience, this is easily the best this movie has looked aside from the DVHS version, and is the best it will probably ever look for the home market. As for the audio, the DD+ track adds to the already nice sounding DTS track of the SD release with fuller use of the surrounds during the couple of scenes that use them, and allowing for clearer dialogue than before.
I personally think this is a must-have for any fan of the movie, though the movie definitely isn't for everyone, and the look of the film itself may not warrant a blind-buy over the SD DVD for others. Oh, two more things. The extras are all ports from the SD disc - still no commentary from Sofia Coppola
