The Descent At About 26Mbps AVC!

[GTP]

Well it will not play on my Philips or Sony player....but while going tio buy this title at Wally World....I scored a 60 gb PS3 that a store employee brought back after not getting rich on fle bay.

I had been looking everywhere for one of these so woooooo hooooo

[goodstuff]

Originally Posted by Heresy

Does anyone know if it does play on the Panasonic? I was going to buy it this weekend but will hold off if it's not going to play.

No problem on my Panny.

[WriteSimply]

For the PS3 owners with The Descent: Any problems with the Picture-in-Picture commentary or any of the Java features?


fuad

[dvdguru]

Just checked and no prob on my Panny as well...

[TimothyGCook]

My copy of Descent also would not play on the Sony Blu-Ray player, same freeze up after the loading. Interesting enough, when I loaded The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it froze for three minutes, then played fine. What is the link to the Sony website that states those two movies as well as Speed and Behind Enemy Lines are not compatible at this time? What is the reason for non compatibility? Since one film is Lionsgate and at least two are Fox, it is not limited to just one studio which I thought at first when Descent would not play. What should I look for when purchasing future movies on Blu-Ray? I would like to be able to play Saw III on my Sony when it comes out later this winter.

[GTP]

Originally Posted by Ascended_Saiyan

I put The Descent in the PS3 and looked at the bitrates. It didn't drop below 30Mbps for a while! The audio also read 7.1 Ch. 48kHz @ 6.1Mbps. Could it really be 7.1 surround sound (box says 6.1)?!

I saw this title at the theater. This is an exact replica IMO! This title is absolutely perfect (from what I've seen so far)...a definite MUST HAVE! I wonder if this title will ever get rated on highdefdigest.com. If it is rated, over there, Peter will probably only give it 4.5 stars as usual.

I agree ...its a fine looking title....and the best looking darkly lit P/Q I have ever seen.
Some of the money shots are Wow

[ProvenFlipper]

I just tried The Decent in both my Samsung player and my PS3 and it played in both. The Samsung took a little bit to load it up, but the PS3 played it much faster.

[Rio]

Decent is an interesting title. Its menu effect is varying on players!

On Samsung, least powerful player as to BD-J, the "search light" on the top menu simply "jumps" to the other menu item. On Panasonic, the "seach light" is moving (sliding) from one item to the other. PS3, the most powerful graphics poformance player, shows more smoothness and effect.

It seems that this disc does some sort of performance test during its loading period and changes the menu behavior depending on the result so that the user will not be "bothered" by player's poor performance. Interesting.

[Bruuce]

Hi all, first time post.

I was just wondering, for the people who have seen The Descent on BR, did it not look grainy to you, or maybe that is my setup? Also, Saw, which is from Lionsgate as well, looked grainy when close to the monitor. I'm using a 32" westinghouse hdtv and the PS3 with component hook ups.

[goodstuff]

The Panasonic has the moving search lite as well.

[GTP]

Originally Posted by Bruuce

Hi all, first time post.

I was just wondering, for the people who have seen The Descent on BR, did it not look grainy to you, or maybe that is my setup? Also, Saw, which is from Lionsgate as well, looked grainy when close to the monitor. I'm using a 32" westinghouse hdtv and the PS3 with component hook ups.

Some slight normal grain in the few pitch black scenes.....but this is a reference title on my 110" DLP pj screen.
Saw is no where near reference and looks grainy and soft at times IMO.

[shamus]

Originally Posted by Bruuce

Hi all, first time post.

I was just wondering, for the people who have seen The Descent on BR, did it not look grainy to you, or maybe that is my setup? Also, Saw, which is from Lionsgate as well, looked grainy when close to the monitor. I'm using a 32" westinghouse hdtv and the PS3 with component hook ups.

Welcome. I didnt think Descent looked that great(good for a B movie). Heard Saw`wasnt that good either. Try MI:3 or Black Hawk.

[Bruuce]

I've seen MI:3 and BHD also, I didn't notice grain like in the other two movies but I did notice, maybe some compression? My memory is a little spotty. Is the compression normal for HD?

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Bruuce

Hi all, first time post.

I was just wondering, for the people who have seen The Descent on BR, did it not look grainy to you, or maybe that is my setup? Also, Saw, which is from Lionsgate as well, looked grainy when close to the monitor. I'm using a 32" westinghouse hdtv and the PS3 with component hook ups.

Originally Posted by Bruuce

I've seen MI:3 and BHD also, I didn't notice grain like in the other two movies but I did notice, maybe some compression? My memory is a little spotty. Is the compression normal for HD?

I haven't seen the Descent (neither on theaters or BD) so I couldn't say, but always remember that film images are made up from light sensitive silver grains or particles (actually in color film, grain is the remaining color dyes crumpled and formed around the silver particles that are bleached out in processing). Some films stocks and formats have less grain and others have more. For example true anamorphic 2.39 wide 35mm photography, all else being equal, gives you about half the grain as 2.39 wide Super-35.

On the other hand there's electronic noise, and compression noise, which might resemble "grain". Furthermore, on transferring, there are ways to preserve, artificially hide, or enhance the grain (when you change the sharpness setting on a display, you're doing a simple form of this)

The Descent is an "horror" film, no? (and Saw too). Maybe the grainy look is part of it. Reports of high bit-rates for the Descent disc would seem to indicate it could do a good job preserving the grain on the original image if that's what was intended. Also watching on a direct view LCD gives you the crispest image down to the pixel level as there's no projector lens' or CRT scanning beam degradation involved. Is your 32" 720 or 1080? Can you only hook it up through component and not HDMI?



Just thoughts.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

I haven't seen the Descent (neither on theaters or BD) so I couldn't say, but always remember that film images are made up from light sensitive silver grains or particles (actually in color film, grain is the remaining color dyes crumpled and formed around the silver particles that are bleached out in processing). Some films stocks and formats have less grain and others have more. For example true anamorphic 2.39 wide 35mm photography, all else being equal, gives you about half the grain as 2.39 wide Super-35.

On the other hand there's electronic noise, and compression noise, which might resemble "grain". Furthermore, on transferring, there are ways to preserve, artificially hide, or enhance the grain (when you change the sharpness setting on a display, you're doing a simple form of this)

The Descent is an "horror" film, no? (and Saw too). Maybe the grainy look is part of it. Reports of high bit-rates for the Descent disc would seem to indicate it could do a good job preserving the grain on the original image if that's what was intended. Also watching on a direct view LCD gives you the crispest image down to the pixel level as there's no projector lens' or CRT scanning beam degradation involved. Is your 32" 720 or 1080? Can you only hook it up through component and not HDMI?



Just thoughts.

Listen to Deci, he knows of what he speaks.

C'mon folks, grain is not your enemy. Perhaps a grainy look was even the intent of the filmmaker in the first place. It is not the place of the encoders doing the transfer to BD to remove this grain just to make it look 'smooth' or some sort of 'good' that some monolithic 'they' think it should look like, which I swear I think some of those HD DVD VC-1 releases are doing. Grain is a natural part of film, and is sometimes even added on purpose to digitally 'filmed' productions to simulate a more organic, less digital look. If you really want to see grain, take a look at the Rattle & Hum BD. And let me tell you, if you ever see a copy of R&H that doesn't look grainy, where it's all smooth and polished looking, then something is seriously wrong.

[Bruuce]

Is your 32" 720 or 1080? Can you only hook it up through component and not HDMI?

My 32" is 720p, 1080i and can be connected via HDMI. I've been putting off getting a hdmi cable because I have component cables for the PS3. Will the change from component to hdmi be worth the $10-$20?

[Ascended_Saiyan]

Originally Posted by Bruuce

My 32" is 720p, 1080i and can be connected via HDMI. I've been putting off getting a hdmi cable because I have component cables for the PS3. Will the change from component to hdmi be worth the $10-$20?

Yes. 7.1 uncompressed PCM can only happen through HDMI for the PS3.

[Bruuce]

I'm not trying to continue to derail the thread, but I might as well ask now, will my reciever be able to use the PCM track if it does not support HDMI? I have my PS3 connected to the TV and the TV connected to the reciever via the red and white audio cables.

[hyperdine]

The PQ on The Descent is pretty impressive. The grain is only present during the scenes that were shot in very low light. Since about 85% of the movie takes place in a cave this is to be expected. However, suprisingly there's quite a bit of light in the scenes due to the flares, flashlights, etc. Definitely not a result of the transfer.

You can tell by just comparing it to the outdoor, sunlit shots, which are flawless. It's the same noise effect you get when you try to take a picture with your camera when there's not enough light entering the aperture. There's just a few moments where it's noticeable.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Bruuce

I'm not trying to continue to derail the thread, but I might as well ask now, will my reciever be able to use the PCM track if it does not support HDMI? I have my PS3 connected to the TV and the TV connected to the reciever via the red and white audio cables.

Look in your receiver's manual. See if it has either optical or coaxial digital input. If it has optical, get an optical cable (via Monoprice.com) and use it to listen to 5.1. If it has only coax, you need a converter unit to convert optical to coax.

If you are listening to stereo (the red and white cable) you're not maximizing the receiver's potential. Unless of course it's a stereo only receiver.

You can only get stereo PCM if your receiver is not a HDMI receiver.


fuad