669 replies to this topic

[mrplou]

alebonau, on Nov 13 2006, 09:27 AM, said:

wow totall recall ! there definetly are some great flicks coming out on HD-DVD !

I honestly don't know if you guys are joking or not  

[kamma]

wow

i ordered my first batch of hd-dvd's from amazon on the 30th of october using regular post and last week on the 9th of november i ordered another 4 movies from pacific dvd express post.

coming from 2 different states and ordered 10 days apart both parcels arrived today withing 10 minutes of each other. so now i have 8 movies to watch. only 1 gripe is that i was sure i ordered FF3 tokyo drift but received the original fast and the furious. when i went and checked my order it says FF. as i said i was positive i ordered tokyo drift. the original is a good movie and worth having so all is good and now i have another excuse to order more movies.

i'll post more when i get home and check them out

[Felix.]

mrplou, on Nov 13 2006, 10:27 AM, said:

I honestly don't know if you guys are joking or not  

And what's wrong with Total Recall?!  

It's an Arnie classic!  

[surroundfan]

Total Recall was paired with Elephant Man in my deux, c'est mieux (two is better) offer...

So, will people be leaving TR the HD-DVD case or transferring it to the 'baboon's bum' tin that came with the limited edition R1 DVD?

Hmmm - there is certainly lots of good software coming out on HD-DVD...

[mav]

felix_ler_sha, on Nov 13 2006, 12:12 PM, said:

Whoaaa nice finds Will, especially Total Recall. Looking forward to reading your thoughts on the quality of the transfers.

It certainly pays to check out some of the other regions outside the US. I notice amazon.fr also have the Rambo series, Harry Potter & GOF (Dec 6), Basic Instint, The Fog and The Elephant Man.

Certainly good to see more titles being added but are you really going to pay A$50.00 plus shipping for a HD-DVD? Me thinks I will wait till these HD-DVD titles start showing up in Aus or wait until CD-WOW start selling them.

[mav]

Wooo Hooo, my MI boxset just arrived. Tonight is going to be MI night.

[Felix.]

mav, on Nov 13 2006, 11:50 AM, said:

Certainly good to see more titles being added but are you really going to pay A$50.00 plus shipping for a HD-DVD? Me thinks I will wait till these HD-DVD titles start showing up in Aus or wait until CD-WOW start selling them.

Agreed. I've already bought too many as it is, but there may be some people, like Will, who would be interested in acquiring these titles before Xmas and are prepared to pay that sort of premium.

mav, on Nov 13 2006, 12:25 PM, said:

Wooo Hooo, my MI boxset just arrived. Tonight is going to be MI night.

You wouldn't happen to be a Tom Cruise fan by any chance Mav?    I'm still waiting for the Felix the Cat box set to come out.

Now Top Gun on HD-DVD...that would be awesome! All jokes aside.

Enjoy those movies mate.  

[dJOS]

So bloody typical, I was hoping Serenity, 12 Monkeys, Apollo 13 & Corpse Bride would show up on friday so I could watch them on the weekend, but noooo, they showed up this morning!  

PS, I luv Total Recall too, I have it on SD-DVD along with most of Arnies classic action films.

[mav]

felix_ler_sha, on Nov 13 2006, 03:18 PM, said:

You wouldn't happen to be a Tom Cruise fan by any chance Mav?

Hmmm, The Last Samurai & MI boxset on HD-DVD and Topgun & War Of The Worlds on DVD. Nup not a chance.

Now Top Gun on HD-DVD...that would be awesome! All jokes aside.

Now that would be an awesome HD-DVD addition.

Enjoy those movies mate.  

Believe me I intend to  

[Felix.]

djos, on Nov 13 2006, 02:11 PM, said:

So bloody typical, I was hoping Serenity, 12 Monkeys, Apollo 13 & Corpse Bride would show up on friday so I could watch them on the weekend, but noooo, they showed up this morning!  

PS, I luv Total Recall too, I have it on SD-DVD along with most of Arnies classic action films.

Well I can top that Djos. 9 movies arrived in 3 separate shipments (all ordered on different days) when I got home this arvo. I think Australia Post must do this to spite us. "He's not going to have any fun this weekend..." or something like that.

Damn I've just noticed the spine of my Serenity case is busted...all squished. I wonder if Amazon will do anything if I email them about that???  

No deliberating which movie I'm watching tonight though. It's MI3 all the way baby!!!  

[dJOS]

felix_ler_sha, on Nov 13 2006, 09:03 PM, said:

Well I can top that Djos. 9 movies arrived in 3 separate shipments (all ordered on different days) when I got home this arvo. I think Australia Post must do this to spite us. "He's not going to have any fun this weekend..." or something like that.

Damn I've just noticed the spine of my Serenity case is busted...all squished. I wonder if Amazon will do anything about that???  

No deliberating which movie I'm watching tonight. It's MI3 all the way baby!  

yeah I think so!

When you watch Serenity, look for a glitch right in the scene where the "government agent" is grilling the "prideful scientist" not long before killing him. Both Mav and I have the same flaw in our copies, aside from that the movie is brilliant in HD.   (I just finished watching it)

[kamma]

what can i say. i am very very very impressed with the hd-dvd experience so far even with my crappy sd 42" plasma sitting 3 metres away

first of all i put fast and furious on and just skipped to a couple of the racing scenes and heard the nitrous boost etc  very nice and the sharpness and detail of the pq jumped at out me straight away. then i put troy on to check some of the well lit day scenes of the sea and spme battle scenes and wasn't as impressed. it was nowhere near as sharp as i expected. T3 was the next cab off the rank and i was quite simply blown away on all levels. stunning visuals, so 3d and lifelike. realistic soundtrack that never dissapoints. i felt like i was in the movie.

this may surprise some people but the best pq and transfer i saw tonight was Seabiscuit. the audio is nothing to write home about. nice sound from the track scenes and all but this title is all about the pq. believe me it'll knock you on your arses i just finished watching the entire movie, which i am a fan of anyway but the clarity and depth off the visuals put a smile on from face from ear to ear. every blade of grass, every strand of hair, every blemish, mole, imperfection and pimple on the actors' faces. one particular scene in the movie set in tijuana(spelling) mexico they show a traditional mexican band and a band member playing the guitar. the shot starts up close to the guitar and pans away but you can see across the front flat part of the guitar. as it pans out across the front shows every light nick and scratch and dent across it in such detail that i never in my wildest dreams thought i would see on my humble plasma. every scene brings a new highlight that quickly overtakes the highlight of the previous scene so you never really finish appreciating the first one.

one thing i did notice was that while listening to the dd+ soundtrack i had to have the volume up louder than i normally would to get the same volume i am used to with a dts or DD soundtrack. no big deal though.

instead of dd or dts my display on my reciever now shows pcm 96khz. wt does that mean?

i am in pure and utter awe of my hd-dvd player

god bless you toshiba.

[mav]

Well just finished watching MI and MI3.

Firstly MI, video on this was a big disappointment. I found it to be very soft and at times just plain out of focus. The DD+ audio track was okay but nothing spectacular. It kind of rattled me a bit which is why I skipped MI2 and went straight for MI3. Phew this movie restored my faith pretty darn quick, stunning video transfer and the sound was awesome.

I will have to wait till Thursday night to check out MI2, I do hope it has a better video transfer than MI.

[dJOS]

kamma, on Nov 13 2006, 11:52 PM, said:

what can i say. i am very very very impressed with the hd-dvd experience so far even with my crappy sd 42" plasma sitting 3 metres away

----SNIP----

one thing i did notice was that while listening to the dd+ soundtrack i had to have the volume up louder than i normally would to get the same volume i am used to with a dts or DD soundtrack. no big deal though.

instead of dd or dts my display on my reciever now shows pcm 96khz. wt does that mean?

i am in pure and utter awe of my hd-dvd player

god bless you toshiba.

Yeah I find even on my SD plasma HD-DVD is a big leap over DVD, then when I fire up the HD PJ (720p) it's even bigger again.  

Thats how the X/A1 handles DD+, TrueHD & High Bitrate DTS; it converts them to 5.1 channel 96khz/24bit audio and pumps that to your AVR via HDMI. It does this as most AVRs today cant use DD+ or TrueHD etc.

This is a very clever move by Toshiba as it means those of us with HDMI v1.1+ AVRs get the full benefit of the new audio codecs.  

[:)]

think I'll put sea biscuit on the list for one to checkout thanks for posting on it kamma. Good to know on the clarification djos that its pumping out at 96khz 24bit on the audio  

[kamma]

djos, on Nov 14 2006, 08:40 AM, said:

Yeah I find even on my SD plasma HD-DVD is a big leap over DVD, then when I fire up the HD PJ (720p) it's even bigger again.  

Thats how the X/A1 handles DD+, TrueHD & High Bitrate DTS; it converts them to 5.1 channel 96khz/24bit audio and pumps that to your AVR via HDMI. It does this as most AVRs today cant use DD+ or TrueHD etc.

This is a very clever move by Toshiba as it means those of us with HDMI v1.1+ AVRs get the full benefit of the new audio codecs.  

thanks for that

[dJOS]

kamma, on Nov 14 2006, 09:11 AM, said:

thanks for that

No worries mate, twas one of the features that convinced me to jump ship into the HD-DVD camp.  

[Felix.]

Mission Impossible 3 - Mini Review

I have to agree with Mav and Daz that the transfer for MI3 is quite brilliant. The brightly lit scenes in Venice in particular were gorgeous. The scenes in Shanghai were quite eye catching too. But what probably amazes me most with this new technology is how smooth and clear the camera pans are, even when they are relatively swift. I couldn't detect any motion artefacts whatsoever and macro blocking appears to be a relic of the past, at least on the best quality HD-DVDs.

In fact really the only artefact I noticed in the entire movie was the stair scene in Venice (right on the 47 minute mark) where there is this bizarre moire/aliasing effect on the Vatican stairs. This appears to be a defect in the source material (not a display issue) and has been reported at AVS a number of times. But other than that MI3 is spotless with a great sound track.

Highly recommended.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Dift - Mini Review

First off the bat I have to say Tokyo Drift as a movie was pretty disappointing. I don't know what I was expecting but it was clearly more than what the plot, dialogue and acting of this film delivered. The protaganist in particular was a complete and utter knucklehead with even a park bench having more charisma than he possessed.

But as far as audiovisual quality the film can't be faulted. The audio of the HD-DVD is probably its biggest boon as never has street racing sounded this good. A couple of the major races towards the end of the movie approach sensory overload but in a good kind of way. The visuals are very even throughout the film with colours accurate and nice levels of detail.

Give it a skip unless you are bit of a motor head and can stomach a bad script and mediocre acting.

[kamma]

felix_ler_sha, on Nov 14 2006, 01:51 PM, said:

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Dift - Mini Review

First of the bat I have to say Tokyo Drift as a movie was pretty disappointing. I don't know what I was expecting but it was clearly more than what the plot, dialogue and acting of this film delivered. The protaganist in particular was a complete and utter knucklehead with even a park bench having more charisma than he possessed.

But as far as audiovisual quality the film can't be faulted. The audio of the HD-DVD is probably its biggest boon as never has street racing sounded this good. A couple of the major races towards the end of the movie approach sensory overload but in a good kind of way. The visuals are very even throughout the film with colours accurate and nice levels of detail.

Give it a skip unles you are bit of a motor head and can stomach a bad script and mediocre acting.

i just ordered it  

[froge]

Silly question but do HD DVD's play in any DVD player??????

[Felix.]

froge, on Nov 14 2006, 11:40 AM, said:

Silly question but do HD DVD's play in any DVD player??????

Unfortunately not. You need a HD-DVD player which at this stage can only be imported from overseas for around $700-750.  Although as early as next month units should be available locally for a RRP starting at $1,099 (according to the latest reports from Toshiba's Australian distributor).

There is also an add on for the Xbox 360 for around $300 that will allow you to play HD-DVds, if you already own that console of course, but again this is only currently available from overseas sources.

[dJOS]

felix_ler_sha, on Nov 14 2006, 01:51 PM, said:

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Dift - Mini Review

First of the bat I have to say Tokyo Drift as a movie was pretty disappointing. I don't know what I was expecting but it was clearly more than what the plot, dialogue and acting of this film delivered. The protaganist in particular was a complete and utter knucklehead with even a park bench having more charisma than he possessed.

But as far as audiovisual quality the film can't be faulted. The audio of the HD-DVD is probably its biggest boon as never has street racing sounded this good. A couple of the major races towards the end of the movie approach sensory overload but in a good kind of way. The visuals are very even throughout the film with colours accurate and nice levels of detail.

Give it a skip unles you are bit of a motor head and can stomach a bad script and mediocre acting.

LOL, I luv this movie (especially on HD-DVD) even tho as you say "The protaganist in particular was a complete and utter knucklehead with even a park bench having more charisma than he possessed.", but im a die hard rev head - I luved the nightclub'esque soundtrack also.  

[dazbug]

Felix good to see u thought highly of MI:3.  Ive showed this off another few times to people and there jaw just dropped.

For a laugh, flip over the disk on Tokyo Drift to the SD side.   I cant beleive i used to think it couldnt get any better with my set up prior to HD DVD.  HD DVD is a whole new world I didnt know my set up was capable of. !

Kamma, good to see you like T3. Havent opened mine yet but dying to watch it when i get over this bloody flu !!!  I watched the SD version about 6 times (ok im a huge arnie fan ) and thought that pic was fantastic and the sound was demo material, so look fwd to seeing how the HD DVD version is since im pretty familiar with it.

Keep up the impressions, very interesting/valuable.

djos, on Nov 14 2006, 03:46 PM, said:

LOL, I luv this movie (especially on HD-DVD) even tho as you say "The protaganist in particular was a complete and utter knucklehead with even a park bench having more charisma than he possessed.", but im a die hard rev head - I luved the nightclub'esque soundtrack also.  

Brought back memories of those old Metro Nightclub days did it

[dJOS]

dazbug, on Nov 14 2006, 03:52 PM, said:

Brought back memories of those old Metro Nightclub days did it

What, from last weekend? Im 31 and single mate.

[Felix.]

djos, on Nov 14 2006, 12:46 PM, said:

LOL, I luv this movie (especially on HD-DVD) even tho as you say "The protaganist in particular was a complete and utter knucklehead with even a park bench having more charisma than he possessed.", but im a die hard rev head - I luved the nightclub'esque soundtrack also.  

I respect your opinion Djos. Movie tastes are such a subjective thing. I'm sure there are quite a few movies I like which others would think "what the???". And if you love your cars there's no question you are greally going to dig this flick in all its high def glory.

But seriously the main guy was meant to be in high school and he looked like he was around 30. Perhaps they kept him back for 10 years because he was such a bonehead.  

Sorry I just couldn't suspend my disbelief for this one as entertaining as some of those action sequences were. Even all it's HD-DVD goodness wasn't enough to save this one for me. So this is one title I'll definitely be looking to offload in the new year.