Sony..rethink bundling TN with the PS3 please

[hmurchison]

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/talladeganights.html

Originally Posted by HighDefDigest

Final Thoughts


'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby' is a movie that surprised me. I didn't think I'd care much for the film, but I haven't laughed so hard in a very, very long time. Unfortunately, this Blu-ray release leaves me conflicted. One of Sony's latest BD-50 dual-layer releases, it is chock full of fun supplements (even if all of them are total fluff) and the soundtrack is really quite good for a comedy. But the transfer has a very unappealing, flat look that I just really did not like. So despite how crammed this disc appears, I have to recommend you give it a rent before you buy just to make sure you can live with the video quality.

[Jazar]

I'd say it's a little late for that.

[ProvenFlipper]

Keep in mind, this is his opinion... He is a "professional reviewer" and most people who view this free disc are probably going to be impressed with the quality and not care that the image looks "flat" or has the contrast blown up. The average consumer is not going to view this disc with a magnifying glass.

[BTBuck1]

I'm not saying the disc looks good or bad because I haven't seen it, But I think there is two strange things going on here. 1st thing is, he always complains about contrast from BD's in his reviews, but always says the image has great blacks, solid whites and razor sharp. I'm guessing there is an issue with his setup, as other reviewers give differen't reviews generally than he does. 2nd, These same setting on his setup (or his setup in general) I think are making a few poorly done titles look better as well, case in point "The Punisher" which was generally panned by most review sites he thought was the Best BD to that point in time and he gave it good marks.

I have disagreed more than 2,3 or 4 times with his thoughts on how bad some BD's look and also disagreed with him on how good he thought some HDDVD's looked.

[hmurchison]

Well I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more reviews on this title. It did rather well for a comedy at the box office. As always though a second opinion would be nice.

Digital TVS have so much processing to do it's no wonder that can vary so wildly. I'll need a few more reviews before really being able to tell if this disc has issues. No disrespect to Peter of course.

[marzetta7]

I'm awaiting a second opinion on this one, as the HD DVD bias is becoming increasingly aware over at HighDefDigest. And would someone please get Peter a Panasonic, Philips, or PS3 for his reviews already.

I'm sure this title looks quite good to the average consumer, I just find the FUD meter working overtime since the PS3 launch is tomorrow, and ya gotta knock it before it launches if you are an HD DVD proponent--bundled TN supposedly sucks, backwards compatibility sucks supposedly, shipments are low supposedly, etc. What's next? Is it going to catch your house on fire?

I've somewhat expected negative things to be spread about the PS3 from HD fanboys, but wow, the limits to which HD DVD proponents go is very telling of their continued desperation--that I am sure is to follow.

[phranctoast]

they would not release a R rated movie as an included movie. Its like packageing grand theft auto in with the ps2.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by phranctoast

they would not release a R rated movie as an included movie. Its like packageing grand theft auto in with the ps2.

Excellent point.

[ay221]

Maybe they should of put into the blu.

[theknub]

i hear vivid discs may work well....

[phloyd]

Is it clear if this is the PS3 version or the official release version?

It would be surprised if the December version is available to reviewers already...??

[4K display]

Originally Posted by ProvenFlipper

Keep in mind, this is his opinion... He is a "professional reviewer" and most people who view this free disc are probably going to be impressed with the quality and not care that the image looks "flat" or has the contrast blown up. The average consumer is not going to view this disc with a magnifying glass.

I agree but on the other hand what is so hard about shipping a five star title with the PS3? Especially when it's been pretty much a given that the 360's add-on would be shipping with one of the best HD DVD's produced.

FWIW Kris Deering had a peek at TN and made no mention of contrast issues, but he did say it looked a bit flat:

I also took a look at Talladega Nights (the BD-50 version) and it is fine. The image looks a bit flat at times and it never has the dimensionality of the better HD titles out there. Reminded me a lot of Click. About a 3.5 out of 5.

[Josh]

Originally Posted by 4K display

WTF do you care?

Your posts are a joke.

Attack the post, not the poster.

Lay off the personal attacks, or I will enforce it with suspensions. hmurchison put out the bait and you guys took it. I can always delete a bait if you report the post. I'm cleaning this thread out. Stay on topic.

[hmurchison]

4k thanks for the quote of Kris Deering. I figured we'd see the inevitable variance of opinons amongst the reviewers.

I had not considered PG vs Rated R movies and thus this movie does make sense to bundle with the PS3 to cover all ages with acceptable material.

[phranctoast]

we need to think of the children.

damn i feel like a tool for saying that.

[phranctoast]

I would have taken ice age 2 for sure. the cg animated movies look absolutely breath taking in HD.


Will Farell is hit or miss with me. I usually need to see the movie more then once, and then I usually need friends to be repeating the lines over and over until I like his movies. Thats basically what happened with anchorman for me. Im kind of a big deal.

[hmurchison]

4k

I admit I like to "provoke" a bit of discussion here and there. I usually don't get into name calling flames or anything like that. I know my chief complaint regarding Blu-ray is/was price but considering the PS3 is shipping this week and I'm warming up to those dastardly controller (Im a mouse/keyboard gamer) the door certainly is open for me to support both formats soon enough.

I don't hate Sony...not even when they basically killed Minidisc in North America. I do think they are a bit arrogant but they've earned it.

I had a chance to see TN on a flight home from "Da Bears" land a week ago but no way am I wrecking the experience by watching a crappy airplane monitor that isn't OAR with surround sound. I'm snobby like that.

[theknub]

that, or u watch it and then be wowed by hd

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by 4K display

FWIW Kris Deering had a peek at TN and made no mention of contrast issues, but he did say it looked a bit flat:

Folks should realize that TV and film is two dimensional (height and width). The sense of depth comes from lighting, camera angle, shadows, etc. Some DP's like lots of back light others do not. Some like strong shadows others do not. Some movies will look 3D, others less so!

[56@Yamamoto]

In the ign.com's review of PS3 , reviewer Mr.Chris Roper says TN's image quality is fantastic. There is no criticism about PQ.

>>http://ps3.ign.com/articles/743/743899p1.html

I wonder where the difference com from. Perhaps Mr.Roper reviewd attached version of TN, it's shrunk in 25GB, I think probably it's another transfer with retail version. And Highdefdigest should have referred to retail version. If this is a case, for me it is hard to think that retail version is inferior to attached version. (There is a possibility SPE packed the same video transfer in BR-25 by omitting supplements or some audio tracks.)
Of course, ign.com's review was performed with PS3 as a player, and Highdefdigest's review was performed with pre firmware upgraded Samsung. And I think that there is a possibility that a difference of evaluation occurred from here.

Another possibility is Highdefdigest's reviewer Mr.Peter M. Bracke has very excellent eye to spot any flaw that an ordinary eye can never spot. However, as far as I read his reviews, he seems to have very ordianry eye, especially compared to Mr.Chad Varnadore, Home Theater Spot's reviewer.
It is something interesting.