I remember an article saying Disney put the heat on and got tools to author them in different codecs than MPEG2. Either AVC or VC-1, the article didn't say.
Wondering how Paramount's releases next week are going to look and what they used as well.
there is nothing wrong with MPEG2 just how its been implamented up until the last few releases. My guess is that they got the transferring and encoding down and are finally going to be releasing the picture quality that we've been expecting since day 1.
Along with Warner's 'The Corpse Bride,' 'Dinosaur' is one of the most eagerly-awaited of recent Blu-ray releases, as both are full-length animated motion pictures, and in the case of 'Dinosaur,' it also benefits from a direct digital-to-digital transfer. Needless to say, we early adopters were expecting great things from 'Dinosaur,' so it is with regret that I say I was left more than a bit disappointed with my first Disney Blu-ray experience.
First, the positives. Presented in 1.85:1 and 1080p/MPEG-2 video, I was a little dubious going into 'Dinosaur.' How would MPEG-2 compression handle an all-CGI animated feature? And given the fluctuating quality of some of the early Blu-ray releases (at least viewing them on the first-gen Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player), consistency was foremost on my mind. Which left me all the more impressed with the cleanliness of this transfer. Time and again, in moments featuring large, solid image areas, I expected to see noise or posterization, yet saw none. This really is a very firm and stable picture, with even fast, complex motion handedly adroitly by the MPEG-2 codec.
Unfortunately, the other aspects of this transfer left me not so jazzed. Colors just are not as vibrant as I expected -- certainly, they can't compete with visually spectacular, all-CGI wonders like 'Toy Story' or 'Shrek.' Hues just never pop off the screen, though at least there is no chroma noise or other defects to distract. Sharpness is also wanting. The image is soft throughout, and never appears truly three-dimensional. I know it is not fair, but quickly popping in my standard-def DVD of 'The Incredibles' to compare, it easily trumped the high-def 'Dinosaur' in clarity and detail. Lastly, I was disappointed as well with blacks and contrast. Though black levels are accurate, the image looks too dim overall, as if the bulb in the projector was burning out. In fact, there were some moments during the film (for example a late-night cave scene about midway through) where I had trouble making out what was going on.
Owners of Dinosaur, please check the DTS track on your Samsung player and look for the frame-drop glitch that occurs with the Lionsgate DTS tracks. I'm hoping this isn't a hardware issue. Maybe you should also identify your player's build date so we can track any differences. Thanks.
I can confirm that the picture on "Dinosaur" is very, very sharp, with plenty of detail and contrast though the film has a largely dusky palette. Yes, the meteor storm is awesome, but I find that it's the closeups of textured surfaces, like the dinosaur skin, that impress me the most. It's the small details, like dino-skin, that Blu-ray really brings to life, the way a flashlight shined into a corner can reveal something. The film is presented in a 1.85:1 ratio, which is stretched to completely fill a 16x9 widescreen television screen. This is as good of a Blu-ray picture as I've seen thus far.
"Admittedly, these same issues were apparent on the standard-def release of 'Dinosaur' as well, so they're likely indicative of the film's photographic style and not this transfer or the Blu-ray format."
Dinosaur looks sharp to me, especially during "close ups." Should it have vivid colors like Chicken Little will? I don't think so. It's a film about dirty dinosaurs trekking through a dusty wasteland. To each their own, but I have a hard time feeling anyone on this board will be disappointed with it.
Thanks bac...we've just noticed that when something is good on Blu Disc it seems to Pain the editor of Highdefdigest to compliment it. If something is bad he uses 3 times as much energy harping on the bad part even if the bad is far outweighed by the good. He's very Wishy Washy IMO as a reviewer, plus he also blames the format for problems that he won't admit are partially his equipment, IE his scaler "cropping" BD's and use of a non updated BDP-1000
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Dinosaur review - "brilliant transfer"
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