Artifact 'Snowstorms' in Half-Blood Prince and Braveheart

[Ernest Rister]

Hey, gang --

Been trying for a while to figure this out...

During a crucial moment in Half-Blood Prince, the image is suddenly full of what look like electronic grid lines, almost like Jeff Bridges when he is zapped in the original tron. It only occurs during this scene...and I'm at wit's end trying to fix it on my TV. I've taken the disc to other houses and played it on their displays and its still there. I even rented the disc, and its still there.

What is going on?

Here's some images:







This same problem also rears its head repeatedly throughout certain moments in the first 20 minutes of BRAVEHEART. I've grown so frustrated, I've never watched past this point. See below:

[Ernest Rister]

Just to clarify, I've got over 100 titles, only have this issue on these two titles. So far.

[Blu-Benny]

I’ve never seen that on my copy of HBP, and I’ve watched it quite a few times.

Maybe I just ignored it, now I’m gonna have to go home and check it out!!

[poke smot]

dont see it on my set up. maybe your brightness is too high

[Ernest Rister]

It's not the brightness. I tried the disc at friends' houses and have seen it every time.

[42041]

Those scenes in HP6 look a bit odd, but nothing like that on my TV, pretty sure there was no such problem with Braveheart either.

Make sure you have 1:1 pixel mapping enabled on your TV if it's capable, and that neither your player or TV is applying sharpening/edge enhancement/other goofy processing. The combination of scaling and sharpening artifacts can create issues on some discs.

[Ernest Rister]

From Blu-Ray.com's review of Half-Blood Prince:

"...Issues that do distract -- a hint of white-flecked source noise dots a decades-old encounter between Professor Slughorn and a young Tom Riddle..."

It aint just me, but on my set, and on two others, it isn't a "hint" (as I've shown).

[Deciazulado]

Isn't that a flashback scene? Like memoriees from the past? ...

[frogmort]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Isn't that a flashback scene? Like memoriees from the past? ...

Yeah, maybe it's deliberate, to give it a "vintage" look.
I haven't seen Braveheart on blu-ray yet, so I don't know about that one.

[42041]

here's a screen capture from that scene in Harry Potter:
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/3c4dc5d3.png
there are some odd speckles, but I suspect your equipment is distorting the image somehow.

[hedliniv]

Dumb question...have you tried cleaning the disk?

Maybe the disks were exposed to something (heat / sunlight / kids... )

Any chance of finding a nearby member with a different copy of the same movies? That would prove if it was the disks or the equipment....

[saprano]

Originally Posted by 42041

here's a screen capture from that scene in Harry Potter:
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/3c4dc5d3.png
there are some odd speckles, but I suspect your equipment is distorting the image somehow.

I saw the exact same white specs when i watched it. Thought it was my HDMI cable.

[42041]

Originally Posted by hedliniv

Dumb question...have you tried cleaning the disk?

Maybe the disks were exposed to something (heat / sunlight / kids... )

Any chance of finding a nearby member with a different copy of the same movies? That would prove if it was the disks or the equipment....

Dirty discs would not cause pixel-sized dots like that. If there was an error reading the disc it would probably look more like this: http://www.serenux.com/wp-content/up...ruptStream.jpg

[Clark Kent]

I have watched hundreds of Blu-rays on different types of displays and never seen anything like that, ever. Unusual artifacts, something in your video chain is probably exacerbating artifacts that are on the discs, but would not normally show up.

[HD Goofnut]

I've watched my copy of Braveheart a few times on two different 1080p displays and I don't seem to have the problem that you have above.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

I have watched hundreds of Blu-rays on different types of displays and never seen anything like that, ever. Unusual artifacts, something in your video chain is probably exacerbating artifacts that are on the discs, but would not normally show up.

It's PS3 -> HDMI -> TV. Optical out to my half-assed DTS-ES 6.1 THX amp.

Someone posted a screengrab from HBP above, and in that screengrab you can see the same "snowy grid" noise. Look at the dark areas in Riddle's hair. So the flaw is definitely in the mastering. My photos are exaggerating the noise a bit (they are photos of a TV screen, the whites are going to flare and pop photgraphed by a digital camera), but they do at least expose what I'm seeing.

I can't even watch Braveheart, I give up 20 minutes in. I've always been confused by the high marks for it, when I consider it the worst disc I own because of that snowstorm grid issue.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by 42041

here's a screen capture from that scene in Harry Potter:
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/3c4dc5d3.png
there are some odd speckles, but I suspect your equipment is distorting the image somehow.

That's pretty much what I'm seeing - only that white noise is much more pronounced, and my digital camera is ascerbating the issue.

But look at all those dots! Even in your screengrab.

So they exist for everyone, it is a mastering flaw, but something is making the noise stand out like video braille.

[Hucksta G]

My Braveheart doesn't do that and looks awesome, play it through my PS3 fine.

[Ernest Rister]

Mine does. Looking for help.

[Canada]

I have not seen Half Blood Prince but I have Braveheart and my copy's fine.