HD DVD ratings

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Instead of cramming all this HD DVD stuff in the Just watched thread, I figure why not share how these discs stack up on a new thread?

I consider myself more of a Videophile than an Audiophile.

My set-up for picture is HDMI (1920x1080p)
My set-up for audio is HDMI.
DD+ = Dialog Enhancer On + Dynamic Range On
DTHD = Dialog Enhancer Off + Dynamic Range Off

I'll rate these transfers on a 10 scale & some I will rate as Reference. This does not mean it is better than 10, it is just for personal reference. The player is a Toshiba HDA1 SR

The Last Samurai (2003)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - Reference

Training Day (2001)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - Reference

Cinderella Man (2005)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 7/10

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Jarhead (2005)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

Just watched Jarhead on HD DVD & this is by far the best video presentation of the format. Every single frame is detailed, sharp & never out of focus. This is the first of 6 films I've seen so far that earns a solid 10/10 video presentation.

The Audio is just about equally matched. My beef with the earlier HD releases was that the center channel level was roughly 10-15db below reference.. yet all other speakers were well balanced. I am happy to say that Jarhead makes up for the reference level output & goes even further.. Instead of having a sonic soundstage typical on dvd transfers where the center channel is good but when any music or loud action scenes occur the surrounds usually overwhelm the center channel. With this transfer, the mains & surrounds are actually outputed at a lower sound to equal the output of the center throughout the entire film. Much like Training Day on HD DVD, this disc gets a well deserved 9/10.

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Serenity (2005)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 7/10

GoodFellas (1990)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

Had to know how this film looks high-def. Its the first I got on the new format that is presented in the 1.78:1 aspect, meaning no black bars. Unfortunately, this film isn't the best looking HD film I got. Lots of grain, dust, digital noise, in the transfer, but the blacks are real nice. The video quality just isn't balanced throughout the film & can be distracting. The audio is crystal clear & gives a nice dts type sound. The surrounds in the Prision scene, (I guess more specific, the one where De Niro & wife & children are having a heated moment) add a nice echo effect in dialog that I don't remember hearing on the dvd version. After watching this disc, I did put in the 2-Disc DVD version to compare video.. I dunno, you guys who own this on dvd want to take a shot at some trivia?

1:51:34 pause the dvd.

Here you see Robert De Niro talkin on the phone. To the right of this frame there is an intersection. Above the stop sign, what street # is show on the green sign?

Swordfish (2001)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 10/10

Doom (2005)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

Apollo 13 (1995)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

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Rumor has it... (2005)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

Alrighty, first.. none of the preview trailers are included on the HD side of the disc. The familiar 2 minute Warner HD promo is, followed by the rating & than straight to the film. I first watched the 1.85:1 SD side on a standard 480i Panasonic dvd player on a 36" 4:3 CRT tv. The dvd transfer looked real good throughout & the Dolby soundtrack was equally impressive. I was obviously curious to see how the disc looked on my 60" LCD tv & in 1.78:1 HD. I have to say that this HD DVD disc is the most well balanced (video) transfer throughout that I've seen so far from WHV. While the film itself isn't a huge blockbuster with tons of CGI filled effects that make your jaw drop, it is a pretty decent romantic comedy & I would recommend it as a rental. I gave this transfer a perfect video rating because I could not find a single flaw. Most of the entire film is shot in daylight & even all the nighttime shots looked just as impressive. The audio is good & most of it is showcased through the center channel. The surrounds could have been a little more aggressive in my opinion, especially during scenes with music tracks. Not that big of a deal sinse the movie is dialog driven but I felt the audio left some room for improvement hence the rating. After watching the HD side, I flipped the disc to do a quick comparision. This is a real bonus because if you sell away your SD versions after buying the HD ones, you really have nothing to compare. The SD side showed a lot of artifacts, (Keeping in mind I watched this movie first in SD & it looked flawless on the CRT) even though the Toshiba does a remarkable job with the upconversion. You really can't be fooled, 1920x1080 rez SD compared to 1920x1080 rez HD, practically every frame has a noticeable flaw. I first noticed how much more HD looks better than SD on a big screen when I compared Million Dollar Baby on a standard dvd player 640x480 rez to 1920x1080 rez. Now even with upscaling dvd players on the market that match HD rez... the flaws on SD transfers really show. Rumor has it... is obviously not the best movie on HD, but the video certainly is & it shows.

[Quorthon]

Are you gonna get a Blu-Ray player, too?

They're only a thousand bucks!

[Termination]

Not as long as HD DVD is alive & well.

Sometime next week should have these,

The Bourne Supremacy
The Chronicles of Riddick
The Fugitive
U-571
Unforgiven

btw, was able to do a side by side comparisions with some of the titles I still own on HD & Dvd. Hooked up a standard dvd player into the front "Video 2" A/V pannel. My set can do Picture in picture. The difference on a widescreen tv is the image from one source is used on the left side & one on the right side... so not really PIP, just 2 images on the screen, at same time. Anyfreakincadaperwhoo, I watched Apollo 13 HD on left side of screen & the SD on the right side of screen simultaneously. I thought this HD DVD wasn't that much of an improvement compared to other discs.. well.. every single frame is a noticeable improvement of the dvd copy. Seriously, the dvd looked like a run down VHS tape. Guess 6x the pic rez is no joke afterall.

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Unforgiven (1992)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

What no 10/10??? Yes because the altered cut actually hurts the video presentation. Many scenes jitter throughout, other than that, I would have gave it a perfect 10 because even the extended scenes look great... however I would easily give all 15 minutes of them up, to have the theatrical cut.

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

U-571 (2000)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - Reference

The Fugitive (1993)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 7/10

I was a little disappointed by too much noise in the picture during a few select scenes in The Fugitive (probably only make up a few minutes in total) but the daylight scenes really do look just as good as the Unforgiven HD DVD. This was a tough one to rate video wise because even the worst looking scenes still make the SD look like someone ran a fine comb down the picture + there is a lot of film grain on the SD DVD which doesn't help. The HD still has a three dimenional look in certain scenes (The Ambulance chase & wide shots of Chicago) but some night time scenes are plagued by noise & reds seem to be a bit too red at times, but blacks as usual, with every HD DVD I've seen so far, are rock solid & other than digitial noise, there isn't any artifacts with the VC-1 compression. Should I give this video presentation a 8 or 9? Defintely isn't a 10.. maybe a 8.5. Don't do decimals, so a 8 will suffice.

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Full Metal Jacket (1987)

HD Video - 6/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 7/10

Positive, this film is presented in widescreen & has a sharper image than the SD transfer. Negative, I've done A-B comparisons with both the HD & SD.. unless you do not own an Upscaling DvD Player, this HD DVD is an improvement over the SD. All my A-B comparisons are done with upconversion dvd players. The video is plagued by a lot of digital noise. The Audio on this release isn't that great, Surrounds are hardly used, Dialog in some scenes sound like mono.

JFYI,

If I find an HD DVD to be of 5/10 in me ratings for the video department, their is absolutely NO improvement over the SD release when using an upconversion dvd player.

Van Helsing (2004)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 10/10

Blazing Saddles (1974)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

Firewall (2006)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

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Constantine (2005)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - Reference

The Perfect Storm (2000)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - Reference

I gotta say most reviewers out there who gave this a crap rating obviously didn't see this picture in theaters & trashed the PQ because of "softness" in the picture. It is true that there are a few scenes (I counted around 4-5 scenes where the PQ was soft) that seem out of focus or smudged. What I did expect to see, was lots of mosquito noise & film grain. NOPE. notta, throughout the entire run of the picture. I was in awe that not one frame had digital noise. Daylight scenes are sharp, but what is even more surprising to me while watching, was how good the PQ held up during the CGI fest nighttime scenes. I noticed 1 scene where the color was off by a few seconds, but that wasn't distracting & didn't hurt the overall transfer. As for sound. This is LOUD. Crystal clear vocals, extreme bass, & surrounds that never shut up during the action. I always get a kick reading a bad review & than seeing it for myself. This is one HD DVD that is not as bad as reviewers claim it to be folks.

16 Blocks (2006)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

Happy Gilmore (1996)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

The Rundown (2003)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

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Lethal Weapon (1987)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

Syriana (2005)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

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The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

The video transfer on this disc is near flawless, no compression artifacts can be found. Detail is sharp throughout & skin tones are more natural looking than the WB promo we've been seeing. Obviously where this disc shines are the car chase scenes. Some have a three dimensional look to them. Overall the look is free of noise & film grain which raises the bar from the SD transfer but still lacks that WoW factor from previous releases from Warner. The Audio is equally impressive. Dialog & surrounds are well balanced throughout.

Pitch Black (2000)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

Unfortunately this is one of the more inconsistant transfers I've seen from Universal. It has a lot of grain in select scenes & while these are not too distracting from the movie itself, this is something that should have been looked at more closely from authors who encoded this disc. Other than film grain, I noticed simular artifacts that we see with SD transfers. I'd say 30% of the video transfer could have been extremely improved, ahh well. Aside from those scenes which make me cringe, everything else shouts out Top Quality HD. I mean there are lots of scenes which really show off the artistic style & color palate used + the CGI never looks phoney. Overall, I was disappointed while watching Pitch Black as the PQ quality isn't consistent throughout. The Audio is aggressive, surrounds & mains boom, but there is one channel missing this quality which just so happens to be the most important.. the center channel output is weak. Other than that flaw, the audio throughout is consistent.

Friday Night Lights (2004)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 10/10

Ahh, another WoW factor release. FNL has it all. I didn't have high expectations for this title but if I did, I would have been more than satisfied. Lets see: No grain, No noise, No artifacts, Blacks are rock solid & picture depth & detail + three dimensional PQ raises the bar on every release I've seen so far from the format period. Audio, not reference, but still a very impressive track. Dialog & surrounds are well balanced but never over the top even during those loud stadium filled crowds. All in all, this is one title to really show off what the format is capable of.

Enter the Dragon (1973)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 7/10

ATL (2006)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 10/10

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

I remember comments about a haze throughout the picture & to my surprise (been awhile sinse I seen this flick) that is not true at all. There are plenty of scenes which have opened windows with a "sunlight" haze & there are some others with mist & smoke that show up more clearly in HD than SD. Only faults I've found with the transfer is a few select scenes with specs of grain. Very minor though, if you blink, you'll miss it, thats how little grain is present. There is also minor digital noise. Minor indeed compared to Universal titles, but I did spot the noise throughout the film. Not even an issue really, but I thought I'd mention it sinse HD needs to be nit-picked. The audio is loud but what I noticed was that the db level was a tad lower than current Warner & Universal titles.. again no real biggie, the sound is equally impressive with the picture.

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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

This one was a tough one to rate given the style used in this film. I remember seeing the SD version not long ago upconverted & thought that looked near HD quality. Well this is definitely a step up for sure. Thank goodness there is text shown on books, maps etc. There you can easily see where detail & sharpness are more present & than see the actors & CGI which show the same increase in detail & three dimensional look. Not a flawless transfer, but damn near close. Audio, again I noticed the db level is lower than reference by 4 or 5 db. Not that big of an issue but hope that doesn't become the Paramount norm.

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - Reference

I know the locations of where the film take place have a lot of (hollywood) mist, & unfortunately this is easily seen with digital noise. Also more film grain is present, though detail, sharpness & color are spot on. Blacks are always rock solid & there are no compression artifacts. I can't see the video transfer being any better unless it is taken to get re-mastered frame by frame. Then again, if it was I bet detail would be lost, so this is as good as it gets. The audio is no doubt reference material. (Only the 3rd title I've seen from Paramount & already a reference rating) A big leap from standard dolby digital. All 6 speakers get a nice workout throughout the entire flick. Dialog, surrounds, mains etc, are crystal clear & loud! Good stuff.

Sahara (2005)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

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U2 - Rattle & Hum (1988)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 10/10

First let me say that this is by no means a high definition reference disc from sources such as HD cable/Satt, previous HD DVD & BD releases. The video on this disc is encoded using MPEG-4/AVC & while a lot of blame of the video presentation is based on the use of this codec, I have to disagree. Shot in Black & White during the first half & color nearing the end of the concert, the first & immediate reaction to the video quality was how much noise & grain is shown throughout while blacks are solid & as well as detail. I am reminded that documentary style shots are never appealing to the eye & this was a choice by the director. Hard to fault a transfer based on the original source I guess, but if you want to put blame where blame is due, I'd say 90% of the video seen is a source issue & 10% is a codec/transfer issue. As reference, (note) the Theatrical trailer is shown using VC-1 compression & guess what? Same deal. Noise & Grain are present throughout the VC-1 trailer, so you can almost rule out MPEG-4 for the not so eye poping look. Overall, this isn't the disc to show off how good high-def is, but also isn't a disc to show off the faults either because neither the source & codec are really to blame. Switching gears to Audio. I have listened to 35+ SD dvd concerts, Eagles dts, Led Zeppelin dts etc. etc. I was almost in shock at the level of clarity, dialog & use of surrounds with this concert/film. It easily puts ALL my SD DVDs to shame by comparison when listening to this Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 track. I tell ya, if this disc was all music, this disc would be HD Audio reference material. For the record, I am not bias towards the audio because its "U2", in fact, I don't particularly find the group that great outside of their hit songs. You'll just have to hear this track for yourselves to believe me. WoW.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 7/10

We Were Soldiers (2002)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

Four Brothers (2005)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

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Aeon Flux (2005)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

The Italian Job (2003)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

Was really looking forward to seeing this title because as mentioned on various review sites, there is edge enhancement. True there are a few select scenes where you can spot it but it is never distracting from the film itself & it is very minor. Blacks are solid, but don't hold well during some night time scenes. Occasionally during darker shots the colors seem to look washed out or smeared. Not much digital noise in the picture & I didn't detect any motion artifacts. Aside from these nit-pics, the picture quality is definitely a step up over the standard definition & it shows with lots of detail & three dimensional depth. The picture is never razor sharp nor too soft. The Dolby Digital Plus track by Paramount is again plagued by below reference level output. While dialog & surrounds are well balanced throughout, I didn't find the soundtrack that impressive. 5 to 10db below reference isn't my cup of tea, so having the volume remote in hand.. is.. well handy.

National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

Universal continues to prove that you don't need bigger storage space on disc with HD DVD to get excellent PQ. A film almost 30 years old & a 100 minute run time, this disc shines. Night time shots look three dimensional, detail & colors are vivid, blacks solid. The transfer has very minor grain & there is subtle noise throughout which is typical for most Universal HD transfers. All in all, I was expecting the worst given the films age & was pleasantly surprised with the video. The DD+ track is mainly driven by the center channel & the mains get some use during some musical numbers throughout the film. Not a overwhelming surround sound type flick to begin with anyway so I didn't expect much of a workout from all 6 speakers. Dialog is loud & crystal clear & serves its purpose for this comedy, just don't expect to wake up the neighboors.

Unleashed (2005)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 10/10

Its official. 15GB discs encoded using VC-1 can produce the most stunning images on the High-Def format. Unleashed is how I would describe this transfer. NO grain, NO digital or compression artifacts & NO noise of any kind. Three dimensional look, sharpness, clarity, depth, colors, rock solid blacks, perfect contrast. Audio is near reference. Only a few scenes could have used a little more muscle with the surrounds which is actually more of a personal preference than the source. No doubt about this HD transfer being top notch & I'll go further to say that if this film could look & sound any better, we would need a whole new format. Its all good.

Ray (2004)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 9/10

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The Bone Collector (1999)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 7/10

Spy Game (2001)

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10

The Searchers (1956)

HD Video - Reference
HD Audio Dolby Digital Plus - 8/10