REVIEW: Rocket Singh - Salesman Of The Year (Yash Raj)

[sanjay0864]

This is the first 'YRF - Home Entertainment' BD to be released after their initial wave of eleven titles on BD. Personally I have been looking forward to this BD for several reasons, one of them being, to gauge how 'YRF HE' has improved upon their initial releases. On this count, I must say that 'YRF HE' deserves considerable praise for having listened to their customers and for incorporating the changes as required. Not to say that this is a perfect BD or that there aren't a few things that 'YRF HE' still needs to work on, but the fact is that overall 'YRF HE' shows tremendous improvements and most importantly they have shown a desire to meet their customers expectations and requirements. The movie is much better than the average Bollywood fare and it is presented with picture quality that is very good and satisfying. The lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track is also pretty good. All this is accompanied by a very good set of Extras (special features). In short, I found this 'Yash Raj' BD, to be the most satisfying BD, released so far by any Indian video company, as should most other Hindi movie fans. Highly Recommended.

Title: Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year
Distributor: Yash Raj Films - Home Entertainment
Authoring House: ?
MRP: Rs. 699/-
Running Time: 02:34:12 hrs
Chapters 28
Media: Main Feature - 50GB BD | Special Features - 5GB DVD
Region Coding: A/B/C
Video:
2.35:1, HD 1080p 16:9, AVC 24Hz
Peak Bitrate 39Mbps | Average bitrate 32Mbps
Audio:
Hindi - DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48khz) <-- Default Track
Hindi - Dolby Digital 5.1 (48khz 640kbps) <-- Redundant & Space wasting
Subtitles: English, Arabic.
Special Features: Presented on separate DVD in 4x3
1. Making Of the Film
2. Making of 'Pocket Mein Rocket' Video
3. 'Pocket Mein Rocket' Video
4. Deleted Scenes
5. Bloopers
6. Deleted Montages
7. Theatrical Trailer And Promos
8. Forthcoming Attractions

Special Mention:
No Watermark Logo, during songs or otherwise. <-- Kudos to 'Yash Raj' for listening to our feedback.
No scrolling advertisements during songs. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
No advertisements, forced or otherwise, before or during the movie. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
Separate 'Song Menu' to allow direct selection of song. <-- This should be a no brainer for all Bollywood films.
Special Features presented on a seperate DVD to allow more space on the BD for the main feature. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.

Review:
Luckily for me I had not seen 'Rocket Singh' earlier, which made the overall experience of watching it on Blu-Ray, that much better. The film itself, is quite good and is far superior to majority of the crap normally churned out by Bollywood. The performances of all the actors is top notch and the film avoids falling into most bollywood cliches, while still playing out quite entertainingly.

As good as the movie is, the video quality of this BD makes it that much better. Any problems with the picture quality are only minor at most. For one, there is a few seconds of the film where one can see a very light line running from top to bottom of the frame. Probably the result of poor 'negative' storage. Other than that I felt that the picture is not as sharp as it could be, probably due to DNR being used. For I also could hardly make out any 'film grain' throughout the movie. Overall as good as the picture is, it just does not pop out, specially the colors, like it does with the 'BIG Home Video - Ghajini' BD. But what comes as a very pleasant surprise, is that there are absolutely no 'watermark logos', during the songs or otherwise, anywhere during the movie. One thing that 'Yash Raj' really needs to work on asap, is the opening 'Yash Raj' logo during the menus. This seems to be a totally artifact ridden, upsampled standard definition video of the logo and is an embarassement to them, that they would be well served to avoid. The strange thing is that the same logo is rendered perfectly fine in HD, when it appears at the begining of the film. As pointed out by 'MHafner' "How difficult can it be to use this HD version for the BD menus?"

The sound quality too is quite good, keeping in mind that a film of this type does not really call for a very active sound stage. The only problem I do have with the audio, is the excessive & very boomy bass. This is a problem I ahve found quite common to 'Yash Raj' BDs and historically their DVDs too. I hope this is an issue they will address sooner than later. The volume level of the audio tracks, is slightly on the higher side, but it is not as bad as most other Indian BDs & DVDs. I hope 'YRF HE' will pay some attention to this too. The BD includes a redundant & space wasting lossy DD track along with a 'DTS-HD MA' track. The 'DTS-HD MA' track is set as the default audio track, which is how it should always be and I hope other Indian BD companies are paying attention. This is another thing that 'YRF HE' deserves to be applauded for. I know, I know, this is basic stuff, but then again, even getting the 'basics' can be a tall task when it comes to Bollywood home video.

In addition to the very good video and audio, 'YRF HE' has also included a very good set of special features. In what could be the begining of a very healthy trend, the special features are presented on a separate DVD of their own . Additionaly, there is another reason to be happy with this BD from 'YRF HE', there are No Watermark Logos on this BD, during songs or otherwise. Kudos to 'YRF Home Entertainment' for listening to their customers and doing the right thing. Quite evidently, I am quite impressed and satisfied with this BD from 'YRF HE'. I Highly Recommend this BD, with absolutely no reservations.


PS: Since I do not use sub-titles, this had escaped my attention. But, 'FreakMan09' has reported that with the sub-titles on, the 'Yash Raj' logo does appear for 3-4 seconds at the begining of all songs. Although, this is not a problem for those who do not need sub-titles, for the rest it is still totally unacceptable. Personally I fail to understand the obsession 'Yash Raj' has for self promoting their own logo. I hope 'YRF - Home Entertainment' will look into this and immediately put a stop to any such implementation, in the future.

My ratings:
Movie: 4.25 out of 5.0
Video: 4.5 out of 5.0
Audio: 4.0 out of 5.0
Extras: 4.25 out of 5.0 (Special features in HD would have increased this score)
Overall: 4.5 out of 5.0 (Poor packaging kept the score from being even higher)



Screenshots uploaded by 'divyansh'

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: Tannoy - Mercury M5
Subwoofer: Paradigm Reference Servo 15
BD Player:
Oppo BDP-83 (Hardware Modified 'Region Free' with 'BDP-83-48-1224' firmware)
PS3 (80GB US 'Region A' with firmware v3.15)

PS: This BD is proof, that if we all persist and are vocal about our rights as consumers, even Bollywood Video companies will listen. 'Yash Raj' needs to be complimented for a fine BD and specially for having listened to their customers and for incorporating changes accordingly. In my books, as of now atleast, 'Yash Raj' has become the best amongst all Indian video companies. For not only have they released a good BD, but have also shown that they are progressive and willing to address their consumers' concerns.

Suggestions for producers and authorers of Indian BDs:
1. There is absolutely no need or advantage of having a separate Dolby Digital audio track, since the 'DTS-HD MA 5.1' track provides the best audio for all customers. This is why a single 'DTS-HD MA' track has been universally adopted by almost all Hollywood studios.
2. No DNR should be applied. (Film grain is not only acceptable but is natural)
3. The song menu, should always have a 'PLAY ALL' option.
4. The packaging is very important and the 'Slim' BD case used by ALL Hollywood studios and 'BIG Home Video' is the industry standard and must be used instead of the ugly, space consuming & environment unfriendly 'FAT' case used by Yash Raj. Also, it is important, that dual discs must be packaged in 'Slim' cases designed for dual discs.
5. The movie should start automatically, instead of going to the 'Top Menu'. This is something Warner has been doing for a while now. Although I realize that this is a somewhat debatable issue, since some people might prefer it the other way. I personally feel that since, on a BD, the 'menu' can be brought up at any time and that too without interrupting the movie, it makes sense to straight away go to the movie, which is what most of us do anyhow.

[simba]

great effort in a quality review. nice kit youve got there to do it justice.


well done!

[anibap]

Sanjay,
Great review and wonderful articulation of the goods, bads, must have s, should have s and could have s. From your review it seems YRF has taken feedback and implemented quite a few and this is a real good news for the consumers and the industry as such.

Originally Posted by sanjay0864

5. The movie should start automatically, instead of going to the 'Top Menu'. This is something Warner has been doing for a while now. Although I realize that this is a somewhat debatable issue, since some people might prefer it the other way. I personally feel that since, on a BD, the 'menu' can be brought up at any time and that too without interrupting the movie, it makes sense to straight away go to the movie, which is what most of us do anyhow.

On your point on movie starting automatically, I share the same view and since the BD menus are interactive and can be loaded any point of time, it is actually a no brainer.

[desiblu]

nice extensive review! hoping for more and for other languages too!

[bludhound]

The packaging of the discs for this blu-ray drove me nuts. Two discs crammed into a 1 disc blu-ray case!

[bugsnest]

Nice review Sanjay... keep it up. Someone ought to forward this to the studios...

[skywirepteltd]

Thanks for the wonderful view of yours, and the effort and the time taken to rate each and every aspect. Salute !

[GoodToGo]

Thanks Sanjay, your detailed review is much appreciated.

[-MK-]

thanks....can u post review on moserbaer disks released....

[sanjay0864]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. It is nice to know the effort is appreciated.

Originally Posted by murali91

thanks....can u post review on moserbaer disks released....

I will try to, as soon as I can get my hands on them. The local distributor from whom I get my BDs, did not order any copies from MoserBaer. The reason he gave is that supposedly the quality of MoserBaer is very poor and in case there is a problem they don't even take back or replace any discs. Thus with the price being as high as Rs. 799/-, he did not want to get stuck with copies that did not sell or had problems. Sure gives us an insight into the kind of company MoserBaer is. In any case I have told him to order a copy each for me, at my risk.

[divyansh]

HERE ARE THE SCREENSHOTS





all credit goes to TEAM TMG AND TEAM DDR for screenshots

[raghava]

Hi guys

When I bought my new blu-ray player last month, I got the Fanaa Blu-Ray and was very disappointed. the sound was ok but the video really sucked, it was as good as the yashraj DVD. Was your experience the same.

I thought they just copied their DVD on to bluray but did not encode the original movie on bluray.

I later got the Telugu movie King which was good video wise, but their audio is still not HD. I am waiting for the Magadheera bluray in Telugu.

As for hindi movies, I am scared now to buy yashraj titles since I was very disappointed with Fanaa.

Any comments.

I am using Epson Home Cinema 1080UB projector, Sony BDP-S360 player hooked to Denon 3808 receiver.

thanks guys
Raghava

[divyansh]

Originally Posted by raghava

Hi guys

When I bought my new blu-ray player last month, I got the Fanaa Blu-Ray and was very disappointed. the sound was ok but the video really sucked, it was as good as the yashraj DVD. Was your experience the same.

I thought they just copied their DVD on to bluray but did not encode the original movie on bluray.

I later got the Telugu movie King which was good video wise, but their audio is still not HD. I am waiting for the Magadheera bluray in Telugu.

As for hindi movies, I am scared now to buy yashraj titles since I was very disappointed with Fanaa.

Any comments.

I am using Epson Home Cinema 1080UB projector, Sony BDP-S360 player hooked to Denon 3808 receiver.

thanks guys
Raghava

i also have fanaa blu ray and im quite satisfied with it......once the image is tweeked a bit it is producing good video quality.........

[raghava]

thanks divyansh for the reply, I appreciate it.

What tweeking did you do to the image so I can do the same.

thanks again
Raghava

[divyansh]

Originally Posted by raghava

thanks divyansh for the reply, I appreciate it.

What tweeking did you do to the image so I can do the same.

thanks again
Raghava

since i dont use a projector so i cant tell abt that but in my sony lcd tv just i adjusted color,brightness as the picture had a very high contrast so i reduced the color and adjusted brightness to get a good picture u can also try tweaking brightness contrast settings in ur projector........