Stop Giving Bracke a Hard Time

[ReduxInflux]

go to highdefdigest.com

and look at his lates BD reviews. my feeling is that he is an honest perfectionist that expects the best. and the BD's that he rates poorly are not perfect to him. he is fair. stop giving him a hard time because he's 'pro-hd dvd' (is he really?) reviews are subjective...

p.s. up until this point hd dvd has had an edge in special features/hd extras...

[mikem471]

Good luck with that.

[Banjo]

Actually, I think he's too easy on WB titles. A lot of them get 4, 4.5 and 5 stars. Seriously, I don't know how anyone could not see the macroblocking in a lot of WB titles.

[Seretur]

I like the fact that he's a perfectionist; but I can't get over the fact that he's an underinformed and overopinionated perfectionist.

And, worst of all, I can't get over people who take his star ratings and wave them around as gospel truth.

[Sfblups3]

yeah well hidefdigest.com forums posts are crazy, they always say how "blu-ray.com sucks all there info are lie's" etc etc

i wouldn't trust there review's for movies but they seem to be ok i guess

[theknub]

Originally Posted by ReduxInflux

go to highdefdigest.com

and look at his lates BD reviews. my feeling is that he is an honest perfectionist that expects the best. and the BD's that he rates poorly are not perfect to him. he is fair. stop giving him a hard time because he's 'pro-hd dvd' (is he really?) reviews are subjective...

p.s. up until this point hd dvd has had an edge in special features/hd extras...

the thing is, he is not a perfectionist. if he was, he'd be reviewing on all the best equipment possible. last i checked, he was not. the big thing is that when he finds a fault in a dud title (the hulk review comes to mind), he was willing to overlook it and give it a 5* review. same fault or less for blu and he is kicking it down a 1/2 to whole *. so no, he is not a perfectionist by any stretch. he is more of a semi-pro hobbyist.

there are also a few reviews i read recently where he actually contradicts himself in the review. not remembering what it was, but it was there.

[bluseminole]

He's one reviewer. I can't imagine how difficult it is for him to stay objective...I mean, everybody has their preferences. He just has to try to ignore them. I think he has a slight HD-DVD slant, but if that's the case, then that must mean the BDs he rates highly must be really good. They are reviews--not format bashings.

To everybody who gets their shorts all in a bunch over Bracke's reviews, here's an idea: instead of complaining how biased his reviews are (none of which are blatantly so), go find another review site that gives all BDs straight 5s. Then you can be miserably disappointed when your HDScape Fireplace BD turns out not to have that "wall of sound" effect like a 5-star track should.

[Banjo]

Originally Posted by theknub

there are also a few reviews i read recently where he actually contradicts himself in the review. not remembering what it was, but it was there.

I remember when he posted the review for Gothika, he mentioned that WB rarely use MPEG-2 encoding for their movies on BD.

Only the problem is that he was wrong. So he edited it to VC-1 hoping nobody noticed.

I noticed. So did some of the members here.

[theknub]

Originally Posted by bluseminole

He's one reviewer. I can't imagine how difficult it is for him to stay objective...I mean, everybody has their preferences. He just has to try to ignore them. I think he has a slight HD-DVD slant, but if that's the case, then that must mean the BDs he rates highly must be really good. They are reviews--not format bashings.

To everybody who gets their shorts all in a bunch over Bracke's reviews, here's an idea: instead of complaining how biased his reviews are (none of which are blatantly so), go find another review site that gives all BDs straight 5s. Then you can be miserably disappointed when your HDScape Fireplace BD turns out not to have that "wall of sound" effect like a 5-star track should.

it's not that we are looking for a 5* blu-ray review site. what we are looking for is fair and unbiased and bracke is far from that. we want to go beyond the standards of someone saying crushed blacks, judder, and jaggies. i can say that about a 5 yr olds play time with a camcorder. take into account director intent and not how you want to see things. if think if that can occur, we'd accept him

[theknub]

Originally Posted by Banjo

I remember when he posted the review for Gothika, he mentioned that WB rarely use MPEG-2 encoding for their movies on BD.

Only the problem is that he was wrong. So he edited it to VC-1 hoping nobody noticed.

I noticed. So did some of the members here.

i do remember that. in fact, i remember him changing a number of his reviews in the past (once or twice for audio stating dthd then changing to dd+ and a few others movies for video codec).

[bluseminole]

Originally Posted by theknub

it's not that we are looking for a 5* blu-ray review site. what we are looking for is fair and unbiased and bracke is far from that. we want to go beyond the standards of someone saying crushed blacks, judder, and jaggies. i can say that about a 5 yr olds play time with a camcorder. take into account director intent and not how you want to see things. if think if that can occur, we'd accept him

The point I was making was merely that when it comes to HD DVD versus BD, Bracke's reviews are not blatantly biased. As I said, he seems to have an HD DVD slant, but that can at times be useful. Most of his dual-format reviews have the actual performance ratings of the discs identical. On this account, he is often very fair.

I do agree with your argument about director intent. He needs to decide how he rates video. I believe it should be based on how closely it mirrors the theatrical presentation of the film, which is why I often read other review sites for PQ info. His review of 300 is particularly problematic imo:

But as a representation of the film's style, there's no debating that this Blu-ray edition of '300' delivers -- so much so that even for high-def purist like myself, it's possible to ignore the film's intentionally degraded visual design and just enjoy the ride.

He also sates earlier that it looks identical to the theatrical presentation. So why not 5 stars?

If you don't like him, don't read him. I personally find his reviews as a good, elementary "starting point", to give an overview of the discs. If I am still interested after reading, then I will seek out what I consider to be more credible reviews.

[bluflu]

I stopped waisting my time with his reviews around the time of the POTC reviews. His reviews are often full of errors. My favorite was when he made some negative comment about AVC in the Deja Vu review when he thought the transfer was AVC, only to do a 180 and give it praise when he later found out it was VC-1.

I find Brown to be the better reviewer several times over.

[Marcusarilius]

Ya dudes! Give the guy a BRACKE!

[cawgijoe]

I'm happy he's reviewing along with others.....gives me a starting point.

Remember.....these are his reviews and still subjective.

[Clark Kent]

If one reads all of Bracke's reviews one gets a picture of a person that consistently overrates HD DVD titles and underrates Blu-ray titles. I've explained this before, but look at his track record on the key exclusive titles for each format. He only lets his bias shine through clearly on titles that are big sellers(either day & date releases of major movies or key exclusive titles). He's relatively fair on older catalog titles for both formats unless they happen to be big sellers. His review of Halloween was disgraceful, which also happened to be a very important catalog title for Blu-ray. I believe he has an agenda to promote sales of HD DVD titles and minimize Blu-ray titles.

My guess is that he knew a good review of that key catalog title(which is a Blu-Ray exclusive) would push a few people either neutral or blu-ray exclusive and he hoped by denigrating it that he could scare a few people away from doing that. This is the only time in a format's life cycle where a review can really affect sale numbers. By the time the masses have adopted(which hasn't happened yet) reviews have virtually no effect on overall sales. But for titles that sell virtually nothing on Blu-ray he's almost guaranteed to like it because he knows it's not going to hurt HD DVD. It's why without careful inspection of his track record you would think he is being fair to both formats.

This is a pattern on virtually every key title he's reviewed for the past year. If he does have a bias he shouldn't try to pass off Blu-ray reviews as from an impartial source.

[Marcusarilius]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

If one reads all of Bracke's reviews one gets a picture of a person that consistently overrates HD DVD titles and underrates Blu-ray titles. I've explained this before, but look at his track record on the key exclusive titles for each format. He only lets his bias shine through clearly on titles that are big sellers(either day & date releases of major movies or key exclusive titles). He's relatively fair on older catalog titles for both formats unless they happen to be big sellers. His review of Halloween was disgraceful, which also happened to be a very important catalog title for Blu-ray. I believe he has an agenda to promote sales of HD DVD titles and minimize Blu-ray titles.

My guess is that he knew a good review of that key catalog title(which is a Blu-Ray exclusive) would push a few people either neutral or blu-ray exclusive and he hoped by denigrating it that he could scare a few people away from doing that. This is the only time in a format's life cycle where a review can really affect sale numbers. By the time the masses have adopted(which hasn't happened yet) reviews have virtually no effect on overall sales. But for titles that sell virtually nothing on Blu-ray he's almost guaranteed to like it because he knows it's not going to hurt HD DVD. It's why without careful inspection of his track record you would think he is being fair to both formats.

This is a pattern on virtually every key title he's reviewed for the past year. If he does have a bias he shouldn't try to pass off Blu-ray reviews as from an impartial source.

Anyone who buys an HD DVD player has not done their homework and therefore would not even be reading his reviews.

[sj001]

He does seem to have a an HD-DVD bent, but in his Cars review, and then in his review of Hollow Man, they seemed like honest reviews. I mean with Hollow Man, he says he didn't like the movie, which many didn't, but gave the video a perfect score, and the sound nearly a perfect score. Maybe he is finally seeing the light?

[AlaskaDon]

Originally Posted by Marcusarilius

Ya dudes! Give the guy a BRACKE!

Hehe, sounds sorta like don't hassle the Hoff

I wondered if people would start feeling the need to cut him some slack after reading his Cars review. Personally I think he's always been way too biased towards HD DVD to be taken seriously. But, hey, people can change right?

On the other hand, maybe it was fear that prompted the truthful review he did for Cars. Don't hassle the Hoff? How about Don't dare dis Disney!

Seriously though, as someone else mentioned, I found myself in agreement with a large portion of his Hollow Man review too. I would have rated it a little higher overall, but I guess I liked the story more than he did. He can be fair at times.

[BStecke]

After 1 1/2 stars for Halloween, Bracke became suspect. I don't think I'd go so far as to say he's in HD DVD's pocket, but I still fail to see how he gave Transformers a 5 star rating for audio when he says in the same review that it would have been much better with a lossless track. Maybe it deserves 5 stars for what it is, but 5 stars overall . . . nuh uh.

[blu2]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

If one reads all of Bracke's reviews one gets a picture of a person that consistently overrates HD DVD titles and underrates Blu-ray titles. I've explained this before, but look at his track record on the key exclusive titles for each format. He only lets his bias shine through clearly on titles that are big sellers(either day & date releases of major movies or key exclusive titles). He's relatively fair on older catalog titles for both formats unless they happen to be big sellers. His review of Halloween was disgraceful, which also happened to be a very important catalog title for Blu-ray. I believe he has an agenda to promote sales of HD DVD titles and minimize Blu-ray titles.

My guess is that he knew a good review of that key catalog title(which is a Blu-Ray exclusive) would push a few people either neutral or blu-ray exclusive and he hoped by denigrating it that he could scare a few people away from doing that. This is the only time in a format's life cycle where a review can really affect sale numbers. By the time the masses have adopted(which hasn't happened yet) reviews have virtually no effect on overall sales. But for titles that sell virtually nothing on Blu-ray he's almost guaranteed to like it because he knows it's not going to hurt HD DVD. It's why without careful inspection of his track record you would think he is being fair to both formats.

This is a pattern on virtually every key title he's reviewed for the past year. If he does have a bias he shouldn't try to pass off Blu-ray reviews as from an impartial source.

Which key date and day or other key titles are you refering to that he under-rated due to an "agenda"?

Video ratings:

Cars - 5 stars
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl - 5 stars
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - 5 stars
The Prestige - 5 stars
The Day After Tomorrow 4.5 stars
Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer 4.5 stars
Meet The Robinsons - 4.5 stars
The Fifth Element (Remastered) - 4.5 stars
Spider-Man 3 - 4.5 stars

Which HD DVD titles did he over-rate due to his "agenda"?