HP - OOTP - HDD Review 5/5 for both PQ & SQ

[lgans316]

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1121...hephoenix.html


So anyone betting on Peter M. Bracke reducing the score ?

How about debating the Recommended BD vs Highly Recommended HD DVD ?

[Clark Kent]

Once again Bracke shows his true shill colors. Of course he can't give the Blu-ray a video score below 5, because it's the same low bitrate starved VC-1 transfer as his beloved HD DVD. The only time he ever is fair to Blu-ray is on Warner titles where the video encodes are identical and thus overrates the video not wanting to look like a hypocrite. Of course he recommends the HD DVD over the Blu-ray for the IME. Notice how he trashes the exclusive bonus material found on the Blu-ray. I have a feeling if this was a Blu-ray exclusive title it magically would have gotten lower scores. The only time he fairly rates BD exclusive titles are movies that are not big sellers and hence won't hurt HD DVD in the format war.

Bracke, your reviews are as transparent as glass. We see what you're trying to do...

[fronn]

I definitely disagree with his scoring here. I think they both offer rather comparable experiences -- the HD DVD's standard def features are going to be pretty hard to watch after you've seen the beautiful looking movie...

I think the HD versions of the special features (and a 44 minute HD exclusive TV special, no matter how bad) deserve higher than a half star upgrade from just having SD special features. Additionally, I don't think having an admittedly mediocre IME track and some impractical network features is really anything to get so excited over (the idea is quite neat, but the actual usefulness is pretty limited, so I'd think something like 3 stars for it is a bit more suitable).

I'd say as far as enjoyment goes, both would likely be the same... I'll certainly be picking up the BR version over the HD DVD version -- the IME doesn't sound worth watching from what he said and the network features I'll never use (I don't know anyone else with an HD DVD player, let alone a player and the movie -- I'd rather just invite them over instead). Give me the normal features in HD over that any day!

Most importantly, it seems the PQ and AQ are rather excellent.

[SBrooks1]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Once again Bracke shows his true shill colors. Of course he can't give the Blu-ray a video score below 5, because it's the same low bitrate starved VC-1 transfer as his beloved HD DVD. The only time he ever is fair to Blu-ray is on Warner titles where the video encodes are identical and thus overrates the video not wanting to look like a hypocrite. Of course he recommends the HD DVD over the Blu-ray for the IME. Notice how he trashes the exclusive bonus material found on the Blu-ray. I have a feeling if this was a Blu-ray exclusive title it magically would have gotten lower scores. The only time he fairly rates BD exclusive titles are movies that are not big sellers and hence won't hurt HD DVD in the format war.

Bracke, your reviews are as transparent as glass. We see what you're trying to do...

Well this is the first time I'll say that I'm detecting some bias towards HD DVD from Peter Bracke. I've been defending him a lot lately but the weight he gives to the non-HD content in the HD DVD version is a joke. Are you telling me that the "Live Community Screening (which I personally consider worthless and stupid), Share your favorite scenes and Downloadables make the HD DVD version "truly cutting-edge when it comes to next-gen interactivity"?? We get a full 44 minute HD quality "Hidden Secrets" documentary and it's only worth a 1/2 star on Supplements? Yeah ok.

If you go read both reviews side by side and compare them you will see the Blu-ray version has the better audio and all extras in HD plus HD content the HD DVD version doesn't have. It's clear the Blu-ray version is the one that should be "Highly Recommended" and that will be the version I buy.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by SBrooks1

Well this is the first time I'll say that I'm detecting some bias towards HD DVD from Peter Bracke. I've been defending him a lot lately but the weight he gives to the non-HD content in the HD DVD version is a joke. Are you telling me that the "Live Community Screening (which I personally consider worthless and stupid), Share your favorite scenes and Downloadables make the HD DVD version "truly cutting-edge when it comes to next-gen interactivity"?? We get a full 44 minute HD quality "Hidden Secrets" documentary and it's only worth a 1/2 star on Supplements? Yeah ok.

If you go read both reviews side by side and compare them you will see the Blu-ray version has the better audio and all extras in HD plus HD content the HD DVD version doesn't have. It's clear the Blu-ray version is the one that should be "Highly Recommended" and that will be the version I buy.

Good to see you are now seeing the bias.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Once again Bracke shows his true shill colors. Of course he can't give the Blu-ray a video score below 5, because it's the same low bitrate starved VC-1 transfer as his beloved HD DVD. The only time he ever is fair to Blu-ray is on Warner titles where the video encodes are identical and thus overrates the video not wanting to look like a hypocrite. Of course he recommends the HD DVD over the Blu-ray for the IME. Notice how he trashes the exclusive bonus material found on the Blu-ray. I have a feeling if this was a Blu-ray exclusive title it magically would have gotten lower scores. The only time he fairly rates BD exclusive titles are movies that are not big sellers and hence won't hurt HD DVD in the format war.

Bracke, your reviews are as transparent as glass. We see what you're trying to do...

Actually, I think the bias is more apparent in lower profile titles, where he thinks he is more likely to get away with it. I think that is what he felt about Mr. Brooks in giving it a ridiculously low 3.5 stars for PQ. I think that he feels with higher profile titles he has to be a little more careful, at least on the basic PQ score. And of course he consistently overrates the Warner dual format titles.

[andyparhelia]

yeah I read the review, very dissappointed with the extra marks for HD DVD.

Having all our special features in HD only warrants an extra half a mark over the HD DVD SD content!!!! Insane. Regardless of the content of these features, the mere fact that they are all in HD deserves full marks.

On the other hand, the fact the Warner has introduced new features on the HD DVD like the Community Screening and the ability for Warner to attempt to hawk you movie paraphernalia from your own living room gets 4½ stars!!!!!! It doens't matter that these features are pointless and crap, they're new and exclusive and by default get high marks.

Apparently, having the actual space to ecode all features in HD doesn't cut it.

I'm currently missing out on having some random jerk invite me to watch a movie that I already own and am quite capable of watching myself. Said jerk can then stop & start the movie at will whilst sending me a barrage of on-screen text messages. Now thats entertainment, apparently.

[Scorxpion]

Originally Posted by SBrooks1

Well this is the first time I'll say that I'm detecting some bias towards HD DVD from Peter Bracke. I've been defending him a lot lately but the weight he gives to the non-HD content in the HD DVD version is a joke. Are you telling me that the "Live Community Screening (which I personally consider worthless and stupid), Share your favorite scenes and Downloadables make the HD DVD version "truly cutting-edge when it comes to next-gen interactivity"?? We get a full 44 minute HD quality "Hidden Secrets" documentary and it's only worth a 1/2 star on Supplements? Yeah ok.

If you go read both reviews side by side and compare them you will see the Blu-ray version has the better audio and all extras in HD plus HD content the HD DVD version doesn't have. It's clear the Blu-ray version is the one that should be "Highly Recommended" and that will be the version I buy.

i agree with you and with every statement you have said.Peter is a biased HD-DVD and this special movie show his attitude.

[caliminius]

Originally Posted by andyparhelia

yeah I read the review, very dissappointed with the extra marks for HD DVD.

Having all our special features in HD only warrants an extra half a mark over the HD DVD SD content!!!! Insane. Regardless of the content of these features, the mere fact that they are all in HD deserves full marks.

On the other hand, the fact the Warner has introduced new features on the HD DVD like the Community Screening and the ability for Warner to attempt to hawk you movie paraphernalia from your own living room gets 4½ stars!!!!!! It doens't matter that these features are pointless and crap, they're new and exclusive and by default get high marks.

Apparently, having the actual space to ecode all features in HD doesn't cut it.

I'm currently missing out on having some random jerk invite me to watch a movie that I already own and am quite capable of watching myself. Said jerk can then stop & start the movie at will whilst sending me a barrage of on-screen text messages. Now thats entertainment, apparently.

No offense, but I think the community viewing is sort of a neat feature. I'm assuming you wouldn't accept the invite unless you knew the "random jerk" sending it, so I think half your rant is uncalled for. Since there was no indication of how it worked, I'd almost assume you'd actually have to know one another to even send the invite (perhaps needing to register for some sort of user name or something).

As for the other exclusive features, both the scene sharing and downloadable content is pretty pointless and just as easy (if not easier) to do on a real computer. The only IME element that Blu-Ray can't replicate is the PiP commentary which the reviewer admitted was pretty pointless. The others are a subtitle trivia track (does the Blu-Ray actually not contain this or was the reviewer just to lazy to turn it on?) and some sort of seamless branching feature that the Blu-Ray does replicate.

Yes, I think having all the bonus content in HD should have rated more and all of HD DVD's exclusive web content and IME should have been rated less. And even provide some bonus to the Blu-Ray version for the number of languages provided for audio and subtitles.

[SBrooks1]

Originally Posted by patrick99

Good to see you are now seeing the bias.

Like I said this is the first title I've actually seen it apparent. I just don't understand the weight he gives to the HD DVD extras like Community Viewing, Scene Sharing and Downloadables. He really does seem to have a hard on for those things.

[UTVOL06]

Even though he is biased I still look to his reviews for PQ sometimes.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by SBrooks1

Like I said this is the first title I've actually seen it apparent. I just don't understand the weight he gives to the HD DVD extras like Community Viewing, Scene Sharing and Downloadables. He really does seem to have a hard on for those things.

That is one of the signs of red bias.

[dobyblue]

ONly a 1/2 extra star for all the extra HD content the Blu-ray disc has?
That's utter bullshit, complete and utter bullshit.
Transparent as glass.

[Iron Man]

This movie DOES NOT deserve the 5 star rating

The quality is very consistent all the way through the movie Warner did a great job here,

BUT the quality is simply to soft to deserve a 5 star rating. It's clearly not as sharp as the best AVC movies that i own.

[Downhere]

Originally Posted by Iron Man

BUT the quality is simply to soft to deserve a 5 star rating. It's clearly not as sharp as the best AVC movies that i own.

The movie looked soft in theaters so it is to be expected with the High Def version.

[UTVOL06]

Originally Posted by Downhere

The movie looked soft in theaters so it is to be expected with the High Def version.

maybe the US got a different version?

[Spankey]

If this movie looks anything like Hairspray, than I am going to assume it was filtered. Hairspray looked great, but any grain was filtered. Bracke will do whatever it takes to prop up HD-DVD when he can. Somehow I doubt these movies will look THAT good. Either way, looking forward to them.

Remember the last time a Warner title had "cutting edge" extras. 300 was it?

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by Iron Man

This movie DOES NOT deserve the 5 star rating

The quality is very consistent all the way through the movie Warner did a great job here,

BUT the quality is simply to soft to deserve a 5 star rating. It's clearly not as sharp as the best AVC movies that i own.

Sounds like the Warner look we have grown to expect.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by Spankey

Bracke will do whatever it takes to prop up HD-DVD when he can.

Exactly.

[jhansla]

HD-DVD has extras that Blu Ray doesn't that is why it got the highly recommended. I agree with bracke on this one, but extra's don't bother me so I will be getting the blu version.