Do some movies look better than others?

[Memnoch]

I think this also has to do with what the source material is. Sources filmed with HD equipment look a LOT better than films that have just been cleaned up to what is supposed to be 1080p, but really doesn't look that great. Some examples of this are Planet Earth and NIN:BYIT. Both were shot with HD equipment and look much better than standard BDs. Even HD TV shows look better than many BDs. For example, OC Choppers on HD Discovery Theater is much cleaner and crisper than many BDs I have seen. It is very clear that it is shot with HD equipment. The major studios use HD equipment as well, like SNL, David Letterman, Leno, etc.

[theknub]

Originally Posted by Memnoch

I think this also has to do with what the source material is. Sources filmed with HD equipment look a LOT better than films that have just been cleaned up to what is supposed to be 1080p, but really doesn't look that great. Some examples of this are Planet Earth and NIN:BYIT. Both were shot with HD equipment and look much better than standard BDs. Even HD TV shows look better than many BDs. For example, OC Choppers on HD Discovery Theater is much cleaner and crisper than many BDs I have seen. It is very clear that it is shot with HD equipment. The major studios use HD equipment as well, like SNL, David Letterman, Leno, etc.

i hate to burst your bubble, but film has a much higher resolution than hd cameras. look at kingdom of heaven, black hawk down, the prestige?, tears of the sun and quite a few others and you will see that film gives a fantastic presentation. maybe it doesn't have that clean, wiped look but that is due to the fact that film has grain.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Memnoch

I think this also has to do with what the source material is. Sources filmed with HD equipment look a LOT better than films that have just been cleaned up to what is supposed to be 1080p, but really doesn't look that great. Some examples of this are Planet Earth and NIN:BYIT. Both were shot with HD equipment and look much better than standard BDs. Even HD TV shows look better than many BDs. For example, OC Choppers on HD Discovery Theater is much cleaner and crisper than many BDs I have seen. It is very clear that it is shot with HD equipment. The major studios use HD equipment as well, like SNL, David Letterman, Leno, etc.

Please allow me to dispell the misconception that only things shot on "HD" (1080 x 1920) are the only ones that are going to look best.

Film is a high resolution medium (the original high resolution medium!) and dependiing on the film stock, negative area, and care doing the transfer, the result can vary in quality. Things shot electronically on 1080i at 60 fields per second have a very different look from things shot on grainy 35mm, fine grained 35mm, grainy 70mm, fine grained 70mm, 24 frames per second, and scanned from the original (in the) camera negative, the interpositive derived from that, the internegative derived from the IP, and the print's derived from them.

The smallest fine-grained 35 negative might still have enough detail to need about a 3000 pixel wide resolution to preseve it. The largest 70mm (not counting IMAX) would probably need 6000 or a little more.

The thing is that sharpness in film tends to have a different curve than sharpness in electronic capture, and it has it's own "noise" (grain) signature. And of course the 60 fields per second live movement is superior in "vividness" to 24 frames per second. Some people prefer the "grainless", hard sharp, live look of electronic HD.

Now see a film like CR, or POTC, which are shot on a negative area of about 10mm x 24mm, look excellent when transfered onto 1080 x 1920, but there are 35mm films that are shot in 17.5mm x 21mm, or 13mm x 24mm, and if they used 70mm these days, those have an area of about 22mm x 48.4mm which is 4 times the quality of S-35.

Now, are we getting the full quality of those negatives on High Definition releases? That's probably subject for it's own thread

[ReduxInflux]

pardon the lack of tech speak (because every bit of statistical data and aspect ratios and all of that just goes way over my head) but do you think that with the advent of hdtv and blu-ray on the horizon - soon to be a global commonplace - that production companies will have to start thinking beyond the theatrical realm and consider the home theater take over - causing them to start shooting their films specifically tailored to what could potentially be blu only releases (assuming the extinction of hd-dvd)? so excellence will one day reign pre-eminent in the hd disc kingdom? and little to no quabbling over this pq or that pq or this bit-rate and that bit-rate, etc...? curious... (and this might even apply to the hd downloads or holographic projection or whatever lies ahead in the future of home entertainment...)