[PVR]

ShowtimeHD was just showing

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" and it looked

a bit like an HBOHD 16:9 conversion.

It was definately full-frame (16:9)

even thought Showtime listed it as

"OAR" 1080i.


Does anyone know about the conversion on

this? Was it Super35 done with "Open Matte"

or could this be a sign ("please no!")

that Showtime is doing "pan/zoom" reduced

res features?


It seemed to lack the "crisp" picture I am used

to on other SHOHD OAR presentations.


Frank: Have you seen it?

 

[vruiz]

"Mr. Ripley" it's a 1.85 movie, so Showtime IS showing it OAR.

 

[PVR]

Thanks for clearing that up, vruiz...


I guess my eyes are saying that the PQ is a

tad soft because the MPEG2 encoder has to

use its datarate to encode the full 1920x1080

rather than (something like) ~1920x900 on

some of the movies which are "more widescreen".


Maybe the film-stock or the print is just

a tad on the fuzzy side to start with.

 

[Frank]

I have the DVD and watched the Showtime version some time ago. I was underwhelmed by the image quality.

Too bad really because the Italian scenery could have looked fantastic. (Visions of Italy come to mind)


Frank

 

[Savageone79]

I thought the picture quality was pretty good. The dvd isnt that stunning as far as PQ goes so this is a definate improvement.

 

[bb1987]

I dit not watch it this time but I recorded it when it was on a few months ago and the PQ was absolutely stunning, one of the best transfers ever.


Bernhard

 

[Frank]

Quote:

PQ was absolutely stunning, one of the best transfers ever.

That's interesting. It looks exactly the same when I display it in 480P mode via my AccessDTV card.


Frank

 

[jacmyoung]

I have come up with two terms in describing HD movies that are less than "HD video quality," soft and grainy.


Soft is a definite no-no, grainy is acceptable for a film transfer, meaning there is no intentional image down grade.


Mr. Ripley was grainy, unlike some HBO pan and scans, soft. As a matter of fact, both 2.35:1 OARs shown on SHOHD and HBOHD, though all good HD transfers, also exhibit grainy effect in various scenes, but not objectionable.