Awaiting Rock On and Jodhaa Akbar blu-rays in Mumbai

[sanjay0864]

Quick Impressions replaced by review here --> https://forum.blu-ray.com/3162240-post44.html

[chandna]

Originally Posted by sanjay0864

BD: BIG Home Video
Title: Rock On
Authoring House: Digital Entertainment
PS: My views are based on a quick run through of the movie and are only what one might call, 'first impressions'.

Sorry, Rock on is not mine but done by API. I think source might not be good.

[sanjay0864]

Originally Posted by chandna

Sorry, Rock on is not mine but done by API. I think source might not be good.

Please accept my apologies for the mistake. I have corrected my original post.

[sanjay0864]

Title: Rock On
Category: Drama | Musical
Blu-Ray Distributor: BIG Home Video
Authoring House: API
Region Coding: A/B/C
Video:
2.35:1, HD 1080p 16:9, AVC 23.976Hz
Peak bitrate 36Mbps | Average bitrate 30Mbps
Audio: (All incorrectly labelled as English tracks)
Hindi - LPCM 5.1 (48khz) <-- Default Track
Hindi - DTS-HD MA 5.1 (48khz)
Hindi - Dolby Digital 5.1 (48khz 640kbps)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Arabic, Spanish, Portugese, Malay.
Special Features:
Making of 'Rock On'.
Video: 4:3, SD PAL 480
Audio: LPCM Stereo, DTS-HD MA Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 (sounds like 1.0 Mono)

Music Video 'Pichle Saat Dino Mein'.
Video: 4:3, SD PAL 480
Audio: LPCM Stereo, DTS-HD MA Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 (sounds like 1.0 Mono)

Special Mention:
Song Menu with option to 'Play All'. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
No Watermark Logo, during songs or otherwise. <-- 'Yash Raj' please note.
No scrolling advertisements during songs. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
No advertisements before or during the movie. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.

Review:
There is something seriously wrong with the framing of the picture. Starting from the Censor Board certificate and upto the point that the various company logos play, the picture fills the 16:9 screen from left to right. But as soon as the actual film starts, the picture shrinks and leaves a small empty band on both sides of the picture. This picture frame keeps changing during the film, sometimes filling up the screen on the left, with a band on the right side, while sometimes the frame fills the screen completely from left to right and then sometimes it is back to the bands on both sides. In any case it is irritating like hell. If the picture constantly had a band on both sides, one could zoom the projector and just fill up the screen, but due to the changing picture frame, even that is not possible.

The picture quality too is suprisingly not very good. The transfer is just too dark at most times with blown out contrast, due to which details are hidden and the picture does not seem as vibrant as I remember it from the theater. Increasing the brightness level also does not help at all. The colours too don't seem to be quite right and there seems to be an over abundance of red in the picture. On the positive side, not much DNR, if at all, seems to have been used and the picture is quite sharp, with the film grain visible at most times. All in all, the picture quality is acceptable at best, but definately not exceptional or even very good.

The audio quality is slightly dissapointing, considering that the DVD also had pretty good audio. Although 'Big Home Video' must be commended for trying to please everyone by including two lossless tracks in addition to a Dolby Digital track, the fact remains, that the Dolby Digital track is totally unnecesary and so is the LPCM track to some extent. A comparison of the three tracks quite predictably highlights how inappropriate lossy Dolby Digital is for BD. The difference between the Dolby Digital track, at 640kbps no less, and the lossless tracks is "night & day". In fact even the lossy DTS 1.5 mbps core, extracted from the 'DTS-HD MA' track via the optical out, is far superior to the dedicated Dolby Digital 640kbps track. Which further emphasizes how pointless it is to include such a track. Between the two lossless LPCM & 'DTS-HD MA' tracks, I personally found the 'DTS-HD MA' track to be more satisfying. All in all, the audio is pretty decent but not exceptional.

If this is a transfer/BD that has been approved by Farhan Akhtar, then all I can say is, he has no idea of what good video or audio is.

My ratings:
Video: 3.0 out of 5.0
Audio: 3.75 out of 5.0
Extras: 2.5 out of 5.0
Overall: 3.0 out of 5.0

Equipment used for testing:
Projector: Panasonic PT-AE2000U
Screen: Da-Lite 4:3 120" 'Model B' - White Matte
Viewing Distance: 11' 6"
A/V Receiver: Denon AVR5800
Speakers: 5.1
Front/Main: Paradigm Reference 100 v2
Center: Paradigm Reference Studio CC v2
Rear: Paradigm Reference 100 v2
Subwoofer: Paradigm Reference Servo 15
BD Player:
Oppo BDP-83 (Hardware modified for Region Free with latest firmware)
PS3 (Region A with latest firmware)