Hi-Def Preview's review of Nature's Journey

[Monkey]

Thx to Supermans (avs) for posting this in another thread.

http://www.hidefpreview.com/Natures%...20Blu-Ray.html

Picture Quality - 5/5
Audio Quality - 5/5
Special Features - 4/5
Overall - 5/5

Comments: With a 37Mbps VC-1 video encode and 96/24 DTS-HD-MA soundtrack, this is frankly the best High Definition I have seen and heard so far on Blu-ray. This movie is 100% reference quality for audio and video. There are times when it simply looks like you are staring out of a window it is so crystal clear. The music is very serene and goes with the movie perfectly. There are some scenes where the drums add a sense of tension. In the future, I would love to see a nature film with lots of wildlife by RBfilms since I do feel they would a great job of it. The special features being in Standard Definition is the only area where I deducted a point, but is understandable since the highest possible quality was the main focus for the main feature. I give this a 5/5 rating and highly recommend this as a must have purchase if you own a Blu-ray player or are thinking about buying one.


Comparison with HD-DVD version: This film is unique in that it was encoded differently on both the HD-DVD version and the Blu-Ray version. So both audio and video are slightly different. On my 50 inch Samsung DLP screen, I saw no difference in either version of this film at the normal viewing distance. However on my 106 inch projector screen on my JVC RS1, the Blu-ray version is clearly sharper in all the scenes at the normal viewing distance which leads me to my conclusion that the bitrate advantage Blu-Ray has over HD-DVD is aparent between these two titles on larger screens. If you get any closer than the normal viewing distance, you will just get a headache so don't even try. I am a musician so I take sound a bit more seriously than most. The audio in both sound great but the Blu-Ray version is also more clear/full sounding on my Bose system in a direct comparison. However don't let this stop you from getting the HD-DVD version, it is still of higher quality than every other HD-DVD on the market that I have reviewed so far.