'The Whip'

The Whip's Best in HDTV For 2008

2008-12-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

Well, it is that time of the year again and time to put together a list of the best in high def for 2008. In addition to the best, this list will also included some honorable mentions as well as some dishonorable mentions where appropriate. My list is not intended to be exhaustive so if you have any categories to suggest be included in a follow-up article, you know where to find me.

BEST FLAT PANEL
This one is a no brainer. The best flat panel is the new Pioneer Elite Kuro plasmas in 50” and 60” screen sizes. In the 50” category, the model number is the Pro-111. In the 60” category, there are two choices, the Pro-151 and the Signature line Pro-141. The Kuro panels produce the best blacks of any flat panel and rich accurate colors and are full 1080p panels. Of the two 60” panels, my favorite is the Signature 141. Is it significantly thinner than the 151 and the connections mount from underneath the panel making wall mounts easier to install. The 141 also comes equipped with an internet connection which allows remote calibration. The panel also has more options for calibration adjustments which in theory, should generate a more accurate picture. I say in theory as in speaking with calibrators I respect, I am informed that once calibrated properly, both sets look identical. The 151 is a fully equipped panel with built in amplifiers and speakers available and TV tuners. The 141 has the amplifiers and tuners stripped out. Therefore, to get a signal into the 141, you need a cable box or Blu-ray player.

While the Elites have the best picture, they are also very expensive. Whether the picture quality is worth the added cost is up to you. However, if you want the very best flat panel, the PIoneer Elites are the way to go.

Honorable Mention
1. The regular PIoneer Kuros are also excellent performers and are a little cheaper than the Elites. The Two models available are the PDP-5020 and the PDP-6020 and are less expensive that their Elite cousins. However, that lower price comes at a cost. While the non Elites have the same stellar black levels as the Elites, I found their color accuracy to be less than acceptable, even after calibration, looking too red overall. I also found the color green to be a bit lacking. However, I am sure that most consumers wouldn’t notice as most consumers will be more than thrilled with the performance of these panels out of the box. It is only the really anal retentive types like me who would have any objections with the performance of these sets which are truly top notch.

2. IMHO the best bang for the buck in the flat panel world remains the Panasonic commercial sets. These sets are sold directly to the broadcast industry and can be found at on line retailers. The latest incarnation of these sets are the 50” TH-50PF11UK and the 58” TH-58PF11UK. Both sets are full 1080p sets and are excellent performers. While the blacks on these sets fall a good bit short of the Kuros, with real world material, the blacks are quite good. Color accuracy on these sets is excellent as well, at least equal to the Elites. Calibrated via the service menu, these sets are capable of stellar results. Not quite up the the level that the Elite Kuros but more than close enough for more cost conscious consumers.

BEST BLU-RAY PLAYER
There is no question that the PS3 is the most popular Blu-Ray player and by a wide margin. It is an excellent performer with a great picture and excellent audio reproduction, supporting all advanced audio codecs, including DTS HD Master Audio. The PS3 is a bit future proof as it is upgradeable vis firmware upgrades. Some of the upgrades to date include full 2.0 profile functionality and the addition of DTS HD Master Audio decoding. However, the PS3 has one major flaw, namely the lack of analog audio outputs. If you have a Processor or receiver without HDMI inputs, you will not be able to enjoy the fantastic lossless audio tracks on Blu-Ray discs with the PS3. If you are like me, and have a Processor that you don’t want to replace and that has multichannel audio inputs and no HDMI connectivity, I would suggest that you check out the new Panasonic DMP-BD55 Blu-Ray player, which I have found to be the best standalone player on the market today. The video performance of the BD-55 playing Blu-Ray discs is excellent and as good as it gets. The player also internally decodes all advanced audio codes including DTS HD Master Audio and sends them out via its 7.1 channel analog outputs. The player incorporates excellent digital to analog converters that provide excellent audio reproduction. I have reviewed the prior flagship BD-50 (which retailed for $300 more than the BD-55 and had only 5.1 analog outs) as well as the older BD-10AK and the BD-55 sounds appreciably better than both. This a fantastic sounding player and for this writer, the standalone Blu-Ray player of choice. The only downside is that its performance as an upconverting DVD player falls short of several of the other Blu-Ray players. As I use the player exclusively for Blu-ray discs, that is not an issue for me but it may be for you.

BEST CABLE OR DBS PROVIDER
In terms of the availability of HD channels and picture quality, the top choice for me is Verizon’s FiOS service. I admit that I may be a bit biased here as I subscribe to their service, but it is fantastic. In my market, Verizon provides 105 HD channels including all the HD movie channels. Included is HD Net as well as Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia. As a result, FiOS is giving Comcast a run for the money in its own backyard.

A close second is Directv which has even more national HD channels than FiOS although not for long and excellent HD picture quality. However, when it comes to standard definition, Directv falls well short of FiOS in terms of picture quality. Directv may be the sports fan’s provider of choice with many regional sports nets available and of course, NFL Sunday ticket.

Dishonorable Mention
My choice here has to be Comcast, for their disingenuous ads that they have more HD “choices” than anyone, to their deteriorating HD picture quality squeezing 3 HD channels into spaces normally fit for 2 only to their continued refusal to offer Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia to Directv and Dish Network. As we say in Philadelphia, Booooooooooo to Comcast.

BEST BLU-RAY STUDIO
In this category, we have a tie between Paramount and Universal, both former HD DVD exclusive studios which in the past several months, have issued releases featuring stellar picture and audio quality. In the case of Paramount, we have releases such as Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, Shrek 3, Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Godfather Collection and Indiana Jones and the KIngdom of the Crystal Skull. All have reference level picture quality and excellent audio with some, including Tropic Thunder, Iron Man and Sweeney Todd, having reference audio quality as well. As far as Universal is concerned, we have releases such as The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, The Mummy-The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Burn After Reading, all of which feature exceptional video and audio reproduction and among the best I have yet experienced. Both Paramount and Universal obviously are taking great pride in the quality of their product and are to be commended for their efforts.

Honorable Mention- Sony, Disney and Fox

Dishonorable Mention-
Warner Brothers gets the nod here for their failure to include lossless audio tracks on all of their releases, unlike all of the studios mentioned above. While Warners has included a reference audio track with the sensational The Dark Knight, their failure to include a lossless track with titles such as Speed Racer, Get Smart and Journey to the Center of the Earth as well as others, is simply unacceptable.

BEST BROADCAST NETWORK
It this category, the best is clearly CBS as they have, not only some of the best shows, but the best video quality. CBS’s sports coverage of the NFL features the best picture quality on a weekly basis with images that are sharper, brighter and better detailed than the competition. CBS also features the best looking shows on broadcast TV, namely CSI, CSI Miami and CSI NY. In fact, CSI NY is the best looking show on TV period.

Dishonorable Mention
The winner (loser?) in this category is clearly NBC which not only features some of the worst shows on broadcast TV but the worst looking picture which is often a soft and pixilated mess. NBC also features the worst looking sports broadcast on TV, namely Notre Dame football. Yuck.

As I have the time, I will supplement this release with new categories. if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

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Blu-ray Review: The Dark Knight

2008-12-04T00:41:00.000-08:00

THE MOVIE: 4 1/2 stars out of 5
As a fan of Batman comics, I was thrilled with the release of the Batman film starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I was less than thrilled with the sequels to that effort which totally lost the point of the first film which took Batman back to the character that was the basis of the original comics. That Batman was a dark and brooding character tormented by the murder of his parents as a child and fighting deep and dark psychological battles. This Batman is a far cry from the comical Batman as presented on the 1960’s TV series and the laughable Batman and Robin film starring George Clooney that almost doomed the franchise forever.

Thankfully, along came director Christopher Nolan who breathed life back into the franchise with the wonderful Batman Begins which is the best Batman film of all time by a mile, until the release of The Dark Knight that is! The Dark Knight is a spectacular film which is totally true to the original Batman comic, with a great script dealing with deep and dark psychological issues and an incredible performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker.

If Heath Ledger does not win an Oscar for this performance, there is no justice. His performance is completely riveting. You simply can’t take your eyes off the screen during his performance. The story picks up a year or so after Batman Begins. The Gotham Police and their new DA, Harvey Dent, along with Batman and Lieutenant Gordon, have been in the process of tracking down the remnants of the Falconi crime syndicate, eating into their profits. In comes the Joker, until then thought of as nothing more than an oddity and small timer, who confronts the mob with a plan to restore their dominance in Gotham by killing the Caped Crusader. Little do they know that he has other unspoken plans for the city.

Even if you don’t like films based on comic book superheroes, you will enjoy this film as it has a well written story with fleshed out characters dealing with the sacrifices that men of noble intentions are forced to make for the common good and the circumstances that can cause even the best of us to loose our way and go over the edge of morality. Wonderfully written with excellent performances by the entire cast and beautifully filmed, this is a spectacular film and one incredible release on Blu-Ray. Very highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 5 stars out of 5
Encoded with VC-1, this is a beautiful looking film on Blu-Ray and in all respects, captures the look of the film that I saw in theaters. In something of a first, the film features a variable aspect ratio on this release going from 1:78:1 to 2:40:1 and back again repeatedly. The IMAX shots are presented in 1:78:1 and the rest of the film in its intended aspect ratio of 2:40:1. The transitions are seamless and at times not even noticeable. However, those with projectors with fixed screen sizes will find this to be an annoyance as the IMAX sequences will be larger than their screen. For those with plasmas, LCD displays and rear projection sets, you will have no issues at all.

This encode boasts a color palette of incredible fidelity, rich properly saturated color and excellent rendition of shadow detail. Overall detail is excellent as well, especially the scenes with the Joker, which show every fleck of white make-up on his face and each strand of his greasy green hair. The overall clarity of the image is excellent as well presenting an image of great depth and three dimensionality, even in the dark scenes with heavy shadows. Normally those scenes appear quite flat in comparison with the brightly lit scenes. That is not the case here as even the dark scenes retain an excellent sense of depth. The only negative here is that there is a bit of edge enhancement employed, resulting in some haloes. However, as far as I have been able to discern, the edge enhancement was added as part of the IMAX process and is not the fault of this encode and is therefore truthful to the source. That being the case, I see no reason to give this encode anything but a perfect score. In any event, the edge enhancement is very minor and will only be seen by those of you with really large screens. It really doesn’t get better than the picture quality on this release.

THE AUDIO: 5 stars out of 5
Unlike some recent Warner Blu-Ray releases, The Dark Knight features a lossless audio track using Dolby True HD which is reference in every way. This is one dynamic track that will give any home theater system a real work out. I know it did mine. The overall sound of the film is excellent with top notch fidelity. The sound is smooth and open with incredible imaging and transparency. Bass response is off the charts with a beautiful throbbing score that is a feast for the ears. Explosions, gun blasts and crashes have an amazing sense of heft and weight and just crash over you like a tsunami of sound.

Excellent use is made of the surrounds creating a totally immersive sound field that is simply one of the best I have heard on Blu-Ray. Dialogue is well recorded and always well placed in the mix. Despite all the crashes, explosions and cacophony, the dialogue is always intelligible. The dialogue track faithfully reproduces the acoustical environment of each scene, sounding different in each setting. In short, this is one of the best sounding releases I have yet heard on Blu-Ray and is darn near perfect.

EXTRAS
One would expect such a major release as this to have a plethora of extras and this release does not disappoint. The release includes a digital copy that is compatible with PCs and Macs. You can download this film to your IPod and watch it whenever you want. Other extras include Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene in which the director takes you step by step through the planning and attention to detail involved in each scene in the film.

Also included on a separate disc from the film itself in HD is a feature Batman Tech which shows the gadgets and tools shown in the film, a featurette Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight that delves into the psyche of Bruce Wayne and the world of Batman through real world psychological analysis, Gotham Tonight, six episodes of Gotham Cable premiere news program, galleries featuring the Joker cards, concept art, poster art, production stills, trailers and TV spots. All in all, it will take you several hours to run though all this material which most film fans will find very interesting and well worth their time.

IN CONCLUSION
In short, this is one great film and excellent release on Blu-Ray that will look and sound incredible on any home theater system. Highly recommended. This will make a great holiday gift for any home theater fans out there. Well done Warner Brothers and Christopher Nolan!

Note: The Dark Knight will be released on Blu-ray on December 9. Click here to pre-order from Amazon.com.

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Blu-ray Review: Kung Fu Panda

2008-11-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

THE MOVIE: 4 out of 5
Film trailers can be funny things. We have all seen trailers and thought, wow, what a great looking movie only to be disappointed when we see the actual film. It is rare that the opposite occurs, where we think that a film looks lame in a trailer only to find the actual film to be wonderful. Thankfully. Kung Fu Panda falls into that latter category. When I saw the trailer in the theater for this film I thought it would be awful. How wrong I was! Kung Fu Panda is a wonderfully engaging film about a Panda that is a huge Kung Fu Fan who is picked to be the Dragon Master and train along side his idols, the real Kung Fu fighters and the world’s greatest Kung Fu master. It is almost like a kid being picked off the sandlot to lead his favorite team to a victory in the World Series. Great stuff and fun for the entire family. Highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 5 out of 5
Kung Fu Panda is encoded with AVC and it presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1. In short, this is an incredible looking encode and one of the finest, if not the finest looking animated film I have seen on Blu-Ray. The picture quality is astounding. The film features incredible color, deep rich blacks and detail that has to be seen to be believed. The image on screen is utterly three dimensional with a spectacular level of clarity and detail. The picture is nothing short of perfect and is yet another in a string of high quality efforts from the folks at Paramount. Absolutely amazing. Yes, it is that good!

THE AUDIO: 5 out of 5
Encoded with Dolby True HD, the lossless audio on this release is every bite as good as the video. It is rarely to have a release that has perfect video AND audio but we have one in Kung Fu Panda. There is nothing at all to find fault with on this release. The overall sound quality is of very high fidelity with a smooth open sound with excellent transparency and imaging. The placement of the sound effects in the sound field is perfect. Bass is deep and tight and really rattles the room. The film boasts some of the best use of surround speakers I have ever heard, creating a total sense of immersion. Just listen to the sound of the doors opening and closing in the Jade Palace. Simply amazing. This is a reference audio encode if I have ever heard on

IN CONCLUSION
Kung Fu Panda is an extraordinary release from the folks at Dreamworks, featuring a wonderfully engaging film with truly reference quality audio and video. Very highly recommended.

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Blu-ray Review: Tropic Thunder

2008-11-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

THE MOVIE: 4 out of 5
Tropic Thunder is one very funny movie and is a film that is meant to poke fun at the entire movie industry from the actors to the directors, producers and pyrotechnic experts. The film finds a group of pretentious actors making a Vietnam era film lost in the jungle with real guerilla fighters that are part of a a heroin producing cartel. They have to use their collective film experiences to combat the drug cartel, rescue their friends and escape with their lives. The film features two wonderful performances by Robert Downey, Jr. as an actor who takes the concept of method acting to extremes and Tom Cruise in an over the top performance as a jowly movie producer with a penchant for rap and very foul language. This is a very funny film and highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 5 out of 5
This is simply another stunning and reference level encode from Paramount. The film features a very natural and well saturated color palette with excellent fleshtones and greens. Set in a jungle and filmed in Hawaii, the film boasts about as many subtle shades of green as one can image and will test the ability of your display to display these colors accurately. Black level is deep and solid rendering an image of great clarity and depth. Detail is excellent as well with all of the subtle features and imperfections on the actors’ skin plainly visible as is the makeup applied to Tom Cruise to make him bold and jowly. Fans of this film will be thrilled with the quality of the video here as was I.

THE AUDIO: 4 7/8 out of 5
While not quite up to the level of the audio in Kung Fu Panda, the audio on Tropic Thunder is darn close. As was the case with Kung Fu Panda, the fidelity of the audio here is outstanding, being very smooth, open and transparent with excellent imaging. Dialogue is well recorded and well placed in the mix sounding very rich and lifelike. Bass is deep and tight with the numerous explosions and gunshots having the appropriate weight and heft sounding very lifelike. The sound design is top notch with excellent use of the surrounds generating a very immersive sound field, placing you right in the middle of the action. If I hadn’t just screened Kung Fu Panda, I would have given the audio here a 5. However, as it is almost but not quite as impressive as Kung Fu Panda, it rates a very solid 4 7/8.

IN CONCLUSION
Tropic Thunder is a very funny film and as seems to be the case with most Paramount releases, features reference level audio and video encodes. Highly recommended.

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Verizon Invades Comcast's Home Turf

2008-11-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a bill has been introduced before the Philadelphia City Council to award Verizon a 15 year franchise to provide its FiOS cable and internet service through the entire city of Philadelphia. The bill was introduced on behalf of Mayor Nutter and has been put on the fast track for passage by the end of 2008. For Philadelphia City Council, that would indeed be lightning fast. The bill contemplates the entire city be wired for FiOS by 2016 although a significant portion of the city would be wired within 3 years. This bill would represent Verizon's first foray into the City of Philadelphia with its FiOS service and represents a shot across Comcast's bow for dominance in Comcast's home market. FIOS has been available in the suburbs of Philadelphia and South Jersey for the past 2 years and has made significant inroads into Comcast's subscriber base in those areas.

Without a doubt, Comcast will lobby members of City Council hard to at least slow the passage of this legislation. It appears unlikely that Comcast will be able to kill the legislation entirely. Without a doubt, given today's economic climate, the introduction of this bill must be very troublesome to the folks over at the new Comcast Center.

It's passage will at least result in more competition in the City of Philadelphia which will have some downward pressure on cable rates, eating into Comcast's profits. At worst, it could result in a loosening of Comcast's virtual monopoly in the City of Philadelphia, eating away further at Comcast's bottom line. It will be very interesting to see just how Comcast intends to deal with this legislation and Verizon's inevitable foray in the City of Philadelphia. Will Comcast try to pull Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia from Verizon's line-up or at least not renew their carriage agreement once it is up? Perhaps they will raise the rates so high for that channel that it will make FiOS's rates uncompetitive with Comcast's.

I find it interesting that Major Nutter had this bill introduced so soon into his new administration. I believe that it represents a shift in Comcast's dominance in Philadelphia and a move toward opening up the City for more competition and a reduction in cable rates. Maybe the pols on the federal level like Senator Specter will back efforts to lift the terrestrial loophole that permits Comcast to withhold CSN Philly from Directv and Dish. After all, such an action will be pro consumer. Lower cable rates will no doubt please the voters and Senator Specter is coming up for re-election.

I did find one other note in a companion piece in the Philadelphia Daily News interesting and that is a quote from Comcast's spokesman, Jeff Alexander, calling Verizon a cable-later comer, trying to match his company's service claiming that Verizon is simply deploying technology that is essentially the same as Comcast's and that Verizon is trying to catch-up.

Sorry Jeff, but that is nothing but disinformation. Verizon's system is way ahead of yours in terms of technology. It is a 21st Century system rather than a cut and paste late 20th Century system that Comcast is deploying. As for catching up, maybe in terms of subscribers but not in terms of programming choices and picture quality. As of 11/17, Verizon will have over 100 HD channels in the Philadelphia DMA with superior picture quality across the board and as many if not more HD VOD "choices" than Comcast likes to brag about. Imagine, in suburban Philadelphia, we already have more HD choices than Comcast in their home market!

Catching up indeed! Let's see Comcast compete with Verizon and Directv in terms of channels, choices, picture quality and price rather than running misleading ads that would make politicians blush and trying to exert political influence to stifle competition.

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Blu-ray Review: Tinker Bell

2008-11-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

THE MOVIE: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Tinker Bell is a charming family movie that journeys into the world of Pixie Hollow and tells the tale of Disney’s most famous fairy. I must say that I was not expecting a whole lot from this release as direct to video releases tend not to be the highest of quality. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this release, which has a high quality story as well as a very high quality video presentation.

The film tells the tail of Tinker Bell starting from her birth arising from a child’s first laughter. That is how Fairies come into being didn’t you know. After being introduced to Pixie Hollow and after she is assigned to a community based on her talent as a “tinker” through a selection process not unlike the Hat in Harry Potter, Tinker Bell decides that she would rather be something other than a Tinker as Tinker’s don’t get to travel to the real world to put each season into motion. The real world BTW is London. However, her efforts to display any talent as anything other than a Tinker fail despite the efforts of her friends. However, there is one fairy who views Tinker Bell as a threat and sets Tinker Bell up for a failure that can result in a delay in the onset of Spring. It is up to Tinker Bell to master all of her tinkering talents to save the day so the fairies can usher in the spring season. The story, while having some derivative moments like the one noted above from Harry Potter, is quite charming and one that any family, with young children can sit down and enjoy. I know that I did. Recommended.

THE VIDEO: 5 stars out of 5
Encoded with AVC, Tinker Bell is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:78:1 and looks amazing. Computer generated films are some of the best looking Blu-Ray releases and Tinker Bell is no exception. The image boasts bright and bold colors that look amazing. Black level is deep and stable resulting in an image of incredible depth. Clarity and detail are off the charts rendering a razor sharp image and one that is of reference quality. Frankly, there is nothing to nitpick at all with this release as it is one of the finest looking computer based films released on Blu-Ray to date. Another excellent video presentation from the folks at Disney.

THE AUDIO: 4 5/8 stars out of 5
While not quite up to the level of the video encode, the audio on Tinker Bell more than holds its own. The high res audio here is presented with uncompressed PCM at 48 kHz/24 bit/5.1. The overall sound is very smooth and rich sounding without even a trace of harshness. Transparency and imaging is good as well although falling a bit short of the better sounding mixes. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. Bass is deep and tight although not as deep as the best sounding audio tracks I have heard. The only real nitpick I have with the audio presentation is in the use of the surround speakers. While the surrounds are actively engaged throughout the film, they do not provide the total sense of immersion that is characteristic of the best sounding audio tracks. For the most part, the sound field is rather front heavy even though the surrounds do kick in enough to let you know there are there. All in all, this is a more than satisfying audio presentation, warts and all.

EXTRAS
Tinker Bell is replete with many extras most in high def. The release is also BD Live enabled giving you the ability to download additional exclusive material from the internet provided you have a BD Live enabled Blu-Ray player. The extras include the Tinker Trainer which allows you to hone your skills as a Tinker Fairy, a Magical Guide to Pixie Hollow that enables you to explore all aspects of Pixie Hollow, Ever Wonder which enables you to discover how fairies put the wonder into natural wonders, Creating Pixie Hollow a behind the scenes look at the creation of the film, an all new music video, deleted scenes and more. Your children will particularly enjoy the interactive Magical Guide to Pixie Hollow which is well worth checking out as are the rest of the extras.

IN CONCLUSION
Tinker Bell is a surprisingly strong release from the folks at Disney. It is a charming film that the whole family will enjoy and is one that features reference quality video. Recommended for families with children of all ages.

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FCC Diversity Plan Could Hurt HD Picture Quality

2008-11-05T04:40:00.000-08:00

I came across a very interesting article today in Broadcasting and Cable which I believe will have a negative impact on the future of high quality over the air (OTA) HD broadcasts. In short, an advisory committee to the FCC has proposed allowing broadcasters to lease out their spectrum to disadvantaged groups and businesses to effect permit them to start their own TV stations, known as an S class station, to increase diversity of voices in a given market.

In essence, a group or company without funds to buy or start their own full fledged station will be permitted to piggyback their signal onto an existing digital TV signal, in effect, putting cable access channels on the airwaves, all for the sake of diversity, whether anyone wants to watch or not. Why should this get under my skin? It gets under my skin because this proposal, if enacted, will result, not only in a decrease of HD broadcasting, but the destruction of high quality OTA HD broadcasts. This proposal on its face only requires that a station broadcast 6 hours of HD programming a day.

The proposal requires that the S Class of stations lease back the spectrum to allow the station owner to broadcast 6 hours of HD content a day. Therefore, a station can sublease as much spectrum as they want to as many entities as they can so long as they get enough spectrum back to broadcast HD 6 hours a day. The proposal does not define what an HD broadcast must consist of in terms of bandwidth or bit rate. It is therefore possible for a station to sublease several subchannels so long as they retain enough spectrum to send out some sort of HD broadcast even if it is a pixelated mess that is almost unwatchable.

I am sure that many OTA broadcasters will jump for joy at the opportunity to do just that as a way of raising revenue. With the advent of the DVR, advertising revenue has been dropping as a commercial isn't worth what it used to be when it can be zapped out of existence by the push of a button. The net effect of this proposal will be less HD broadcasting a day and even worse, the reduction of the picture quality of the broadcasts that hit the airwaves. We have all seen what happens to the picture quality of an OTA HD broadcast when one subchannel is added. Imagine what it will look like with several. Imagine watching a NFL broadcast on your CBS affiliate while the signal is compromised with several subchannels!

Let's face it, the programming that this FCC proposal contemplates providing has a very, and I mean very, limited marketplace. It is the type of programming that would simply not exist were it not crammed down our throats by the FCC. Even worse, those S Class stations would be entitled to must carry under this proposal. By compromising picture quality, this proposal will only further dilute the OTA broadcasters' marketshare which continues to be lost to the ever increasing number of cable channels.

As someone who is concerned, not only with quality programming but picture quality as well, I will change my viewing habits and watch those channels which do not compromise picture quality which will increasing be only cable channels. If I were a content provider, I would want my product to look and sound its best and will want to put it on channels where it looks and sounds its best. Those channels will no longer be OTA channels if this proposal is formally adopted by the FCC. As a result, OTA broadcasters will find that their share of the viewing audience will continue to shrink to the point were they will no longer be relevant. Sure they will increase revenues temporarily but only for a short while and at the expense of stripping their broadcast license of any value whatsoever.

If there is a positive to take out of all this it is that this proposal will hasten the desire of the larger broadcasters to distribute their content exclusively through the internet in full HD quality. It will take years but as broadband speeds continue to increase, you will be able to download a TV show directly from the provider and cut out the cable middleman entirely. Live streaming of HD content may even be available. It may take 10 years but this is how TV will be distributed. OTA will for all intents and purposes be dead. In the event that this FCC proposal goes into effect, it may just hastened this outcome. In that respect, I may turn out to be a good thing, although that is clearly not the end result envisioned by the FCC. In the interim, we will have to suffer from inferior picture quality. All for the sake of diversity!

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Blu-ray Review: Journey to the Center of the Earth

2008-11-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

THE FILM: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
I saw this film in 3D with my family this summer in theaters and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought it would. While not a great film by any means, it is a fun film and a great film for the whole family to enjoy. In this regard, the film is a success, Box office, while not stellar, was more than respectable, earning $188,275,300 in worldwide release.

Based on the Jules Verne book of the same name, Journey to the Center of the Earth stars Brendon Frasier as Trevor Anderson, a geologist whose brother believed that there was another world at the center of the earth. However, his brother was lost and presumed dead several years earlier on an expedition trying to find that world. When his nephew comes for a visit, Trevor is given his brother’s Journey to the Center of the Earth book which has numerous notations from his brother concerning his belief as to the location of the entrance to that world.

When Trevor’s worldwide instruments display readings that are identical to those that existed when his brother was lost, he and his nephew Sean journey to Iceland in an effort to find Trevor’s brother and Sean’s father. After they arrive in Iceland, they retain the services of a mountain guide Hannah played by Anita Briem who leads them to the top of a mountain near where Trevor’s recording instrument was located. While there, they were driven into a cave by a violent lightning storm which caused a collapse of the entrance, trapping them inside. In trying to find a way out of the cave they fall through the floor of a section in the cave and fall what seems like hundreds of miles.

Rather than falling to their deaths, they land in water and discover the entrance to the center of the earth, just as predicted by Jules Verne. While there, Hannah discovers the remains of Trevor’s brother. Due to increasing heat that they cannot survive, they build a boat in an effort to reach the other side of a vast ocean which they believe will lead them to as escape route, all the while encountering prehistoric animals and plant life, some more friendly than others. Will they survive? I will leave that for you to find out.

THE VIDEO: 4 3/8 stars out of 5
Journey to the Center of the Earth is encoded with VC-1 and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:78:1 (The Box says 1:85:1 but it plays as 1:78:1 on my system). The film is presented in 2 versions here 2D and 3D. For the reasons mentioned below, I preferred the 2D version to the 3D version. Quite frankly, I was somewhat disappointed with the look of this film on this Blu-Ray release. For a film shot with HD video, I was expecting more. In particular, I found the black level be lacking. Blacks at best where a shade of dark grey rather than inky black.

As a result, the image was rather flat. The color palette was very muted, especially the scenes outside those at the center of the earth. The scenes in the center of the earth were more colorful and better saturated than the rest of the film but still not where I thought they should have been. Detail as well throughout the film was lacking. This film is nowhere as detailed as I thought it would be and did not look as detailed as I recalled it looking in the theater. All in all, this is a rather lackluster looking release and a bit of a disappointment.

As for 3D, the film comes with four sets of 3D glasses which are the cardboard type with blue and red filters. The “glasses” are not comfortable and are hard to keep in place, especially if you need to wear glasses like me. While the 3D glasses are effective in rendering a three dimensional image, they also rob the film of any degree of realistic color. Instead of a natural color palette, the colors are skewed to red and blue with the rest of the color palette disappearing. This is not how the 3D effect worked in the theater. As a result, I would recommend that you try the 3D version out of curiosity sake but stick to the 2D version for critical viewing.

THE AUDIO: 4 stars out of 5
Even more disappointing than the video is the audio. As was the case with Speed Racer, there is no lossless audio track included here. There is no Dolby True HD or DTS HD Master Audio track included, just standard old Dolby Digital. Frankly, there is no excuse at this point for a Blu-Ray film release, especially from a major studio like Warner Brothers, not to include a lossless track. Coming on the heels of Speed Racer which also lacked a lossless track, this is a rather disturbing trend and one I hope does not continue. While the audio here sounds quite good for a DVD, it falls well short of the quality that one has come to expect from a lossless track. In particular, the sound lacks the smoothness and richness of the better lossless tracks, sounding a bit hard and brittle in comparison. While the bass response is good, it lacks the room rattling bass of the best lossless tracks.

While there is good use of the surrounds to give a nice immersive effect, especially in the interior scenes, the sound field lacks the side to side and front to back depth that is characteristic of a good lossless encode, sounding flat, squeezed and congested in comparison. Quite frankly, this film sounded much better in the theater and without question would have sounded much better with a lossless encode. Hopefully, Warner Brothers will reconsider their position on lossless encodes and include one on each of their future Blu-ray releases.

IN CONCLUSION
While Journey of the Center of the Earth is a fun film and one that I enjoyed artistically, I was somewhat disappointed with the video on this release and very disappointed with the audio. While I enjoyed the film, as a result of the less than stellar audio and video on this release, I can recommend it only as a rental.

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Blu-ray Review: The Incredible Hulk

2008-11-02T12:17:00.000-08:00

THE MOVIE: 3 stars out of 5
The Incredible Hulk is something of a sequel to the 2003 film, Hulk, directed by Ang Lee. I say something as the entire cast has been changed and some storylines changed as well. The most significant of these being that instead of being injected as a young child with a serum developed by his father, Bruce Banner is cast as the scientist who developed the serum that turned him into the Hulk. Eric Bana, who played Bruce Banner in the 2003 film is replaced here by Ed Norton. Jennifer Connelly is replaced by Liv Tyler and Sam Elliott replaced by William Hurt.

Obviously, the folks at Universal and Marvel were not happy with the 2003 film and wanted a clean slate on which to recreate the character and bring him more in line with the Hulk that appeared in the comic books. For the sake of continuity, they kept some of the storyline from the 2003 film intact but otherwise totally changed the direction of the film and the look of the Hulk. Frankly, I preferred the original cast. I thought that Eric Bana gave Bruce Banner an edge that Ed Norton, an excellent actor, just doesn’t convey for me here. A change in the direction of the film franchise could have been made without changing the entire cast. While that is the direction I would have pursued, it was not my call and frankly, they never asked. Nonetheless, the audiences reacted well to the film as it did gross $234 million worldwide even though the reaction of the press was not very favorable.

The film opens with Bruce Banner in Brazil, looking to find a cure to his predicament, corresponding over the web with a mysterious scientist in the US known as Mr. Blue to Dr. Banner’s Mr. Green. Unbeknownst to Dr, Banner, the US military is actively seeking to locate him so they can capture him and return him to the US where they can extract his blood in an effort to refine the serum to create an army of super soldiers. Dr. Banner returns to the US where he is captured by the military only to escape to locate Mr. Blue and secure a cure.

However, realizing they need an option to combat the Hulk, the army injects a willingly soldier with the serum in an effort to create a super soldier to help them subdue and capture the Hulk. However, to the soldier’s distress, the serum does not result in the creation a new Hulk which is what he wanted in the first place. The soldier takes advantage of Mr. Blue’s expertise once the military tracks down Dr. Banner at Mr. Blue’s facility in Harlem, and forces Mr. Blue. to use the serum he created from Dr. Banner’s blood to turn him into a bigger and badder version of the Hulk, known as the Abomination, who ends up battling the Hulk on the streets of Harlem.

While I would have preferred the original cast, the film itself is good enough to earn a recommendation but only for those of you out there who are fans of films based on comic book super heroes like myself. For the rest of you, I would rate this film only as a rental as the plot is a bit thin and the action sequences way to long, especially the battle at the end of the film between the Hulk and the Abomination.

THE VIDEO: 5 stars out of 5
The Incredible Hulk is encoded with VC-1 and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1 and in a word, looks fantastic. In fact, it looks every bit as good as another Marvel property Iron Man which also earned a five star rating from yours truly. The film boasts a bright and bold color palette with richly saturated colors and deep blacks. Clarity is superb as well with an excellent level of detail. The level of detail on William Hurt’s face, from the pores to scars, are all clearly visible. The same is true for the Hulk himself, who is rendered here with much more detail than in the 2003 film. The skin textures and folds and facial and body detail on the Hulk on this release is astounding. As a result of the deep and rich blacks and clarity, the image presented here as great depth and three dimensionality and is of reference quality. This is another great effort from the folks at Marvel. Very well done.

THE AUDIO: 4 7/8 stars out of 5
The audio on The Incredible Hulk is almost as good as the video. The high res audio track here is presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 and sounds amazing. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The dialogue track remains easy to follow even during the action sequences which get quite loud. Bass is deep and tight adding a solid foundation to the sound design. Excellent use is made of the surround speakers as well which are quite active during the entire film, generating a very immersive sound field. The overall sound of the film has excellent dynamics, transparency and imaging with an excellent sense of depth both from side to side and front to back, with sound effects well placed within that sound field. All all hallmarks of an excellent lossless audio encode. The only quibble I had with the sound was just a hint of excessive brightness at reference sound levels which was just noticeable enough to drop the score a tiny bit from an otherwise perfect score. All in all, this is a very satisfying sound mix and one that will thrill fans of the film and home theater fans alike.

EXTRAS
The Incredible Hulk comes loaded with over 2 hours of extras most of which are in HD. Included with the extras is an alternate opening of the film which quite frankly, really doesn’t fit in with the rest of the film. Also included is a digital copy of the film which is compatible with an iPod, PC or MAC, deleted scenes, a making of documentary, a featurette with Ed Norton concerning his personalization of his character and the visual effects employed to create the Hulk as well as the Abomination, a behind the scenes featurette at a number of locations where the film was shot, and a commentary with the director among several others. Also included is a U-Control feature which allows you to explore behind the scenes aspects of the film such as storyboards and visual effects, while not interrupting the film itself. There are so many extras here that is will take you a good while to go through them all. Many are well worth the effort. Enjoy.

IN CONCLUSION
The Incredible Hulk , while not the greatest of films and a bit of a letdown from all the pre-release hype, is nonetheless a film that comic book fans will enjoy. The fact that it features reference quality video and audio is an added bonus. Recommended for fans of superhero based films. Recommended as a rental for those who are not.

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Why Can't Verizon Carry MSG HD?

2008-10-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

I see that Comcast announced Thursday that they are now offering MSG and MSG Plus in HD in their systems in Northern New Jersey. Both channels are owned by Cablevision. I must say that I find that to be very interesting as Cablevision has so far refused to offer those HD channels to FiOS systems in Northern New Jersey and New York. Hmmmm, I wonder why?

Could it be that Comcast does not directly compete with Cablevision as both cable companies do not have footprints in the same areas whereas FiOS and Cablevision are direct competitors? Could it be that both cable companies see FiOS as a threat to them BOTH as FiOS competes directly with both and they are working together in an effort to hold down FiOS' gains in their respective markets to their mutual advantage? No, that couldn't be could it? Quite frankly, it is time for the FCC and/or Congress to come in and put and end to this practice.

All content provides should have to offer their programming to all content outlets. That means that MSG HD should be offered to any provider who wants to carry it. Cablevision should not be able to hold on to it and restrict its distribution for their own competitive advantage. Even worse, is the spectre of cable companies that do not compete directly sharing their own exclusive content with each other to disadvantage their DBS and teleco competition. That would include Comcast and Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia which is still being kept off DBS systems. The old terrestrial loophole should be closed and closed NOW. MSG HD should be on FiOS. Comcast Sportsnet should be on Directv and Dish.

For that matter, MSNBC should no longer be kept off cable companies and other providers in the New York area where Cablevision currently has subscribers. Why NBC ever even considered that arrangement is beyond me. Oh I am sure that there will be those of you out there that will insist that the government shouldn't get involved in this. That we should let the marketplace decide these things and that more regulation is a bad thing. Well, we see how those arguments have done in the financial meltdown.

While I will agree that this issue shouldn't be issue number 1 before Congress, it will really take no time at all to amend the law to eliminate the terrestrial loophole that Comcast has been relying on to withhold CSN from Directv and Dish. It could simply pass a law to give the FCC authority to handle the issue. The FCC currently has the authority to act now to force Cablevision to offer MSG HD to FiOS now. They did after all, flex their muscles to get MSG on FiOS in SD. I think we can all agree that competition is a good thing. Allowing content providers that own their own distribution channels to withhold that content from other providers reduces competition and only results to increasingly higher and higher cable and DBS bills for all consumers.

While there is no real way for the government to force the reduction of those bills, the government can take steps that will at least slow down the rate of those increases. Increasing competition and leveling the playing field is one way to do that. It is time for the FCC to step up to the plate and take the necessary action to get MSG HD on FiOS systems and CSN Philadelphia on Directv and Dish. There is no time like the present Mr. Martin.

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Warner's Blu-ray Discs Have Me at a Loss

2008-10-23T05:15:00.000-07:00

I am somewhat disturbed at the recent Blu-Ray releases from Warner Brothers for their failure to include a lossless audio track. In particular, the last two major releases from Warner Brothers on Blu-Ray, namely Speed Racer and Journey to the Center of the Earth, did not include either a Dolby True HD or DTS HD Master Audio track. All that was included was a plain ole Dolby Digital track of the kind found on the standard DVD.

As far as I am aware, there has been no explanation from Warner Brothers as to why a lossless track was not included on either release. I can only surmise that a lossless track was not included for reasons of lack of space. Speed Racer was issued on a 25 GB disc which had less storage capacity than at dual layer HD DVD. Perhaps, given tight space, Warners decided that they would rather maximize the video encode at the expense of the audio rather than compromise both. However, that could have been avoided had the release been issued on a 50 GB disc which would have provided more than enough space.

I find it very odd for Warners to abandon HD DVD partially due to its lack of storage capacity as compared to Blu-Ray and yet, issue a major release without a lossless track. The same is true for Journey to the Center of the Earth. While Journey was issue on a 50 GB disc, I can only assume that there was not enough storage capacity for a lossless track while including a 2D and 3D version of the film on the same disc. If that were the case, the film should have been issued on two 50GB discs, one 2D with a lossless track and one in 3D with lossless track.

Amazingly, a film like Run Fat Boy Run, issued by Warner Brothers via their New Line subsidiary, was not only issued with a DTS HD Master Audio track, but a 7.1 track to boot. While I enjoyed Run Fatboy Run, it did miniscule box office compared to either Speed Racer or Journey to the Center of the Earth. If Run Fatboy Run warranted a 7.1 lossless track, it is really hard to argue that Speed Racer and Journey to the Center of the Earth didn’t warrant at least a lossless 5.1 encode.

I would suggest to Warners that all their movie releases on Blu-Ray include a lossless audio encode in either Dolby True HD or DTS HD Master Audio. Lack of disc space should not be an issue. All major releases should be issued on a 50GB disc which would have more than enough space for a lossless track. Any 3D version of a film should have its own separate disc to insure the inclusion of a lossless track. Given the premium prices being asked for Blu-ray releases, they should include not only the best video presentations but the best audio presentations as well. Standard DVD just does not cut it.

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Blu-ray Review: Standard Operating Procedure

2008-10-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

THE MOVIE: 4 stars out of 5
Standard Operating Procedure, directed by Academy Award winning director Errol Morris (The Fog of War), is a documentary about the Abu Ghraib fiasco. The film goes behind the scenes at the prison and contains interviews of most of the major players in the fiasco (or those who aren’t still in prison). In addition to General Karpinski who was the commander of the prison, the interviewees include Lynndie England who is probably the most famous name associated with the photographs as they show her pointing to the anatomy of several of the prisons as well as giving the thumbs up sign with a big smile on her face,

Sabrina Harman who took many of the photographs depicted in the film and who is by far the most sympathetic of those to whom punishment was doled out and Tim Dugan, a civilian interrogator at the prison who was disgusted by the whole affair and who is the most believable of all those interviewed. Interspersed with the interviews which I must say are pretty compelling in their own right, are reenactments of some of the events as well as the actual photographs themselves which are presented in amazing clarity and without redaction or editing.

While I have seen these photos many times in magazines and TV, they have always had many parts of them obscured to hide private parts and faces of the prisoners.Here everything is shown to you leaving nothing to the imagination. As is the case with all documentaries, this one is made to convey a message. That message is that those who were punished were nothing more than sacrificial lambs, to protect the higher ups in the military and civilian leadership. As is always the case with documentaries of this type, there are those out there which will like or dislike the film and except or reject the film’s conclusions based on their political leanings or affiliations. I will leave that the the individual viewer to decide. However, I think we can all agree that the film presents all sides of the controversy and lets the participants tell their side of the story in their own words. As such, I found it to be a compelling film and one that I can highly recommend to those who would like to learn more about the Abu Ghraib controversy and the Iraq war in general.

THE VIDEO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
The film is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1. In a word, the film looks fantastic on this Blu-Ray release and much better than I thought it would went I popped in in for a viewing. The film has a rather stylized look with the color palette tending to a brownish tinge, especially some of the interviews ( General Karpinski and Lynndie England in particular). I am assuming that this was done to match the look and feel of the prison and the infamous photographs, which are various shades of brown themselves. The actual interviews look amazing with incredible clarity and detail. Black levels are deep and stable rendering images of incredible depth and clarity. The same can be said for the photos themselves as well as the video reenactments of some of the events depicted in the photos or described by the participants themselves. There is really little to quibble with in terms of the quality of this encode or the look of the film. I detected no evidence at all of any encoding artifacts, digital noise, digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. The print itself is in excellent condition as well. I wish that all encodes were of such a high quality as this release.

THE AUDIO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
The high res audio option on Standard Operating Procedure is presented in Dolby True HD at 48 kHz/24 bit. Quite frankly, I was stunned at the quality of the audio on this release. To start off with, the dialogue track is recorded with incredible fidelity. It literally sounds as if each person interviewed is speaking in the room to you directly rather than through a set of speakers. The room ambiance where the interviews were conducted is captured with excellent fidelity. The rest of the audio is just as good. The overall sound of the release is smooth and open with incredible fidelity, transparency, imaging and soundstaging. The depth captured in the sound effects is really startling it is so good. Bass is deep and tight and really comes into play during some of the reenactment sequences, greatly contributing to the presentation of the visuals and adding to the tension and drama being portrayed in the film. I did not expect this type of aural quality from a documentary. It is of a quality level that is either equal to or superior to most of the major theatrical releases I have seen in the past couple of years. Very, very well done. I wish all high def releases sounded this good!

EXTRAS
The extras on this release are excellent as well and well worth a look. Included is a commentary by the director, Errol Morris, 9 additional scenes not in the theatrical release, nearly two hours of new interview footage with several of the participants and witnesses, the LA premiere Q & A with Errol Morris, a Berlin Press Conference with Mr. Morris and producer Julie Bilson Ahlberg and a Berlin panel discussion.

IN CONCLUSION
No matter your political point of view, Standard Operating Procedure is a compelling look at the Abu Ghraib fiasco and those involved with it directly. The fact that it also features excellent audio and video quality is an added bonus. Highly recommended.

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Blu-ray Review: American Gangster

2008-10-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

THE MOVIE: 4 stars out of 5
American Gangster stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in a story based on the life of Frank Lucas, a drug kingpin in Harlem in the late 1960’s through the early 1970’s. The film, directed by Ridley Scott, traces Mr. Lucas’ career as a drug kingpin from his days as a driver for another Harlem drug lord through his importation of heroin directly from Southeast Asia to his subsequent arrest and cooperation with the authorities. The film also details the life and career of police officer Richie Roberts who sets out to bring down Mr. Lucas and the dirty cops in New York.

The acting in this film is uniformly excellent. I must say that I did find it interesting that Mr. Crowe and Mr. Washington do not appear together on screen until the very end of the movie. There is no interaction at all between these two titans until the last 5 minutes of the film. However, on the plus side, unlike the HD DVD release, the Blu-Ray release, in addition to containing the theatrical release of the film, also contains the unrated extended cut of the film in full high definition. On the HD DVD release, that version of the film was film was only available in standard definition on the DVD side of that combo release. If you wanted to see the unrated extended cut of this film, you needed to flip the HD DVD over over and watch the DVD side of this combo disc. Quite frankly, the unrated version is the preferred version of this film, at least as far as I am concerned. At least it is now available for the first time in high definition. Recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 1/4 stars out of 5
As was the case with the HD DVD release, American Gangster on Blu-Ray is was encoded with VC-1 and presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1. The Blu-Ray encode looks identical to that on the HD DVD release. As was the case with the HD DVD release, I was very disappointed with the overall look of this film. The film itself looks rather dull and flat with a very gritty look. It looks as though the film was shot deliberately to make it look like it was filmed in the 1960’s. The colors are rather drab with mediocre black levels. On the plus side, detail is good but the film just falls flat in terms of the vibrancy and accuracy of the colors and the clarity of the image. But for my prior experience with the HD DVD release, I would have expected a much better looking release for such an important film.

THE AUDIO: 4 1/2 stars out of 5
Unlike the video, the audio on American Gangster received an upgrade from that found on the HD DVD release, namely from Dolby Digital Plus to DTS HD Master Audio as is the norm with Universal Blu-Ray releases. Does the upgrade result in an audible difference? I found the increase in audio quality to be minimal at best. Despite this fact, the audio quality here is quite good and nothing to sneeze at. Dialogue was well recorded and well placed in the mix. The dialogue was never unintelligible and was always easy to follow. I also thought that the overall sound of the film was smooth and open albeit not as rich and full sounding as the best audio tracks. In no way could I describe the audio on this release as thin, just not as smooth as the best sounding tracks. Bass was deep and full as well. The surround speakers were well used and added a good sense of depth and immersion in interior scenes but not as effectively as the best, falling a tad short in that respect. Overall, this is a fine sounding audio encode even though the inclusion of a lossless track over a lossy track didn’t quite make the improvement that I had otherwise expected.

IN CONCLUSION
While this is an excellent film and well worth a purchase, I just wish that the video presentation was better. Recommended.

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Blu-ray Review: Indiana Jones 4

2008-10-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

THE MOVIE: 4 stars out of 5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was one of the most anticipated movie sequels in history. When Steven Spielberg completed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he figured it was the last one and felt that the last scene with Indy riding off into the sunset was a great way to end the trilogy. However, after the passage of several years, people began to ask him when he would do a fourth. It wasn’t until Harrison Ford himself asked him about doing a fourth and got George Lucas on board that Mr. Spielberg got serious and began working on the concept of a fourth film.

Was the wait of 18 years between the third and fourth films worth it? For me, a fan of the series, I can unquestionably say yes, as I really enjoyed this film. It is a real roller coaster ride from start to finish and a load of fun. The film is set in 1957 which is appropriate given the fact that Harrison Ford is now in his sixties. No amount of makeup can make him look as he did 20 years ago. The Nazis are also replaced by the Soviets in the role of the bad guys.

The film opens with a hot rod racing along a highway in Nevada with an Elvis tune streaming from your speakers, placing you right in the late fifties. The bad guys pull up to what turns out to be Area 51 looking for an alien artifact and out pops Indy being dragged from the trunk of the car having been kidnapped in Mexico with his signature fedora rolling on the ground as it always seems to do. From there, the movie really takes off with escape and chase scenes coming one after the other that are extremely well done and a bit over the top in keeping with the feel of the first three films. Don’t expect reality here as that it not what the Indy films are all about. They are about fun and adventure which this film delivers in spades. After all, who else would survive a nuclear blast in a lead lined refrigerator than Indiana Jones?

The only quibbles I had with the script involved the scene where Shia LeBeouf imitates Tarzan and the next to last scene with the alien space craft. I thought that the Tarzan scene was really cheesey and a real reach. The climactic scene with the spaceship was also overdone and way too long. Would I have preferred that the alien story line be left out of the script? Sure but it is a George Lucas property and he insisted. Further, given that the film was in part an homage to the space based B flicks of the fifties, I guess it is a fit. Regardless, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a real thrill ride filled with the type of action sequences and humor that we have come to expect and love in the series. Just sit back and enjoy while not trying to think too much! Highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 7/8 stars out of 5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1 and looks fantastic. In fact, the film looks exactly as it did in the theater and it looked fantastic there as well. The overall image here is a bit on the warm side so that it fits in stylistically with the first three films which employed a different cinematographer who has since passed on. The film has a slight golden hue which effects the fleshtones and is especially apparent in the scenes shot in daylight. Again, this is how I remember the film looking in the theater. Overall, the color here looks very natural with the exception noted above and is well saturated. Black level is deep and stable resulting in an image of great clarity and depth. Detail and shadow detail is outstanding as well with the textures of the walls and backgrounds as well as skin textures clearly visible.

As noted before, the clarity of the image here is outstanding, even in low light interiors which do not lose much in the way of depth, detail and clarity in comparison with the sunlit exterior scenes. The cinematography here is outstanding and a joy to watch. Pay particular attention to the scene inside the asylum in Peru. Take note of the detail on the walls and floors. Despite the lack of light, all the fine textures on the wall, including the writing and figures carved on the wall are visible, even in distance shots. The same is true of the floor as well. This cinematographer really knows how to capture fine detail as well as light and shadows in every scene. No detail is lost, even in the shadows. Perhaps an Oscar nomination is in the offing? In any event, fans of the film will be thrilled with this Blu-Ray encode. Very well done.

THE AUDIO: 5 stars out of 5
The high res audio track here is encoded with Dolby True HD and is simply amazing and is one of the best I have heard to date. What really hits you about this encode is how the sound surrounds you during the entire film. The surrounds are actively engaged through the entire film, placing you smack dab in the middle of the action, whether you are in a classroom, library, bar, aircraft hanger or Amazon jungle.

The acoustics of each locale are captured very realistically.The dialogue track is recorded with excellent fidelity and remains clear and distinct throughout each scene, regardless of the level of cacophony. Dynamics are simply off the charts with deep and thunderous bass. The scene in the Area 51 hanger is outstanding with the sound of bullets and vehicles coming at you from every direction. Listen as the test rocket blasts off and flies right through your room. One can feel the concussive effect of the nuclear explosion and can hear the aforementioned refrigerator fly over your head and bounce around the front of your room. This is a reference encode in every way and was a real pleasure to listen to.

EXTRAS
This release is filled with extras, most if not all of which are in HD. There are three extras on disc 1 which contains the film including trailers and a two short films about the making of the film featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Shia LeBeouf and Karen Allen among many others. A second disc is included containing many extras including a production diary and features regarding the makeup, crystal skulls, iconic preps, special effects, pre-visualizations and post production as well as extensive photo galleries all of which are in HD. There is plenty here for film buffs to digest.

IN CONCLUSION
While not quite up to the level of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a fun and action filled film that is a worthy addition to the Indiana Jones legacy. This release on Blu-Ray features excellent video and audio quality and is another fine effort from the folks at Paramount, coming on the heels of the amazing looking and sounding Iron Man. Highly recommended.

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Why Some Blu-ray Movies Can't Play

2008-10-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Included with many Blu-ray releases is a small slip of paper which contains a warning that the disc may not play in your player unless your player has its latest firmware upgrade. It suggests that you visit http://www.blu-raydisc.com/forbestresults which contains a listing of all the various Blu-ray players and links to the various websites where the firmware upgrades can be downloaded.

I am sure that most ignore that warning when they purchase or rent their discs. I can imagine that a consumer who is not really aware of the availability or necessity of such upgrades will be pretty upset if he or she spends a lot of cash for a disc that won’t play in their player. I make note of this at this time as I was unable to play a few discs in the past couple of weeks myself, including Shrek The Third and a few of the upcoming releases from Fox, including the Happening, Young Frankenstein and the Omen collection without first downloading the latest firmware upgrade from the manufacturer.

I also note that there were issues with Iron Man in some players which resulted in a new version being issued before the film was available in stores. Quite frankly, this far into the Blu-Ray era, these sorts of issues should no longer happen. There is no reason why discs can’t be authored to play in all players. The need for a firmware upgrade to play the film itself is an unnecessary hassle. I can understand an issue to play certain extras due to the issue of a 2.0 profile vs. a 1.1 profile player but the ability to play the actual film itself should not require a constant monitoring of the internet to check for upgrades just to play the movies you intend to either purchase or rent.

I am sure that the brick and mortar retailers and the rental outlets don’t want to deal with the hassles of returns of films that wont play in their customers’ machines. I would therefore suggest to the studios that they ensure that their discs, or at least the films themselves, will play in each and every every Blu-Ray player on the market before those films are released. Firmware upgrades have not been needed in the DVD market for many years and should not be an issue for Blu-Ray either.

Another issue that has gotten under my skin recently concerns the reports of recent fee increases from Comcast, Verizon and other cable providers. Given the present economic climate, the last thing that consumers need are increases in their cable bills. I would suggest to these providers that they should compete with each other to increase their subscriber bases before they all start to increase their fees.

After all, all that will do is result in consumers cutting their services to make their bills more affordable. As a result, instead of increasing their bottom line, they will actually lose revenue due to the loss of subscribers and the cutting of services such as premium movie channels. Each cable or DBS provider is competing for a limited pool of customers. There is a limit as to what level of fee increases that consumers will tolerate. That limit will fluctuate between good and bad economic times. Given the present state of the economy, that limit has probably been already reached or even surpassed. Providers raise their rates at their own peril. I know that I have cut back on services and I am sure that many others have either done so as well or are seriously thinking about doing so now. I would suggest that the suits at the providers take this into account before increasing their rates.

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Fox Fails On Dodgers/Phillies In HD

2008-10-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you but I sure wasn’t happy with the picture quality on Fox’s HD broadcast of last night Phillies-Dodgers game. The broadcast, at least to the eyes of yours truly, was barely above 480p widescreen quality. Sure the close-up shots looked pretty good but everything else was grainy and fuzzy and several steps below the quality of the broadcasts on TBS HD.

I am not really positive as to why the quality on the Fox sports broadcasts is of such mediocre quality. I can’t imagine that the feed out of the production truck looks this bad. My only guess at this point is the fact that Fox has to reduce the bit rate of the signal sent out to their affiliates to satisfy the affiliates who have subchannels. The reason for this is that Fox uses a splicer system whereby each affiliate can take the signal unaltered from Fox and send it out over the air without having to alter the signal in any way. This splicer system allows the affiliate to insert their local ID’s on the fly making it easier for them on the technical end.

The problem with the splicer system is that it results in Fox having to dumb down the signal so that all the affiliates can take it. Fox’s owned and operated stations don’t have subchannels and can take a much higher bit rate signal which will unquestionably improve the quality of the picture. The problem is that the other affiliates, many of whom do have subchannels, can not take this signal. Hence, Fox has to reduce the quality of their signal for all of us, just to satisfy the affiliates with subchannels. Anyone who has been reading my writings and postings over the past few years knows I hate subchannels as they do not generate any significant revenue for the stations and ruin picture quality for us all. I wish this would change but we are stuck with the present system, at least as far as Fox is concerned.

However, their is some potential good news on the subchannel front, namely the decision by NBC to discontinue the Weather Plus operation which has been ruining the picture quality of their primary HD signal for years now. See here http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6602781.html?desc=topstory Anyone who has seen all the macroblocking and pixelation on NBC’s Notre Dame and NFL broadcasts has seen what havoc this subchannel has caused. It seems that the affiliates are wondering what the Weather Plus subchannel will be replaced with. I have an innovative solution- NOTHING! Take pride in the quality of your HD signal and send out a full bandwidth signal! Drop the subchannel entirely. Don’t try to replace it with offerings from CNBC or MSNBC or some sirt of local programming of even worse infomercials, as that programming will look so bad on a low resolution subchannel as to be almost unwatchable. Give all your viewers a break and give us the best HD quality you can!

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Blu-ray Review: You Don't Mess With The Zohan

2008-10-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

THE MOVIE: 1 star out of 5
You Don’t Mess With The Zohan stars Adam Sandler as Zohan, a counter terrorism agent of the Israeli military with incredible powers. It seems as if this guy can jump over buildings, catch bullets with his teeth, catch any terrorist and seduce any woman and I mean any woman. No woman it seems, regardless of age, can resist his charms. The only problem is that he wants to leave his job and travel to America to be a hair dresser. No one would call me a fan of Adam Sandler films but this one is really, really bad. It is full of crude sexual humor. In fact, it is mostly one long crude sexual joke with a little action sprinkled in to keep you awake I suppose. I really can’t recommend this film at all and would instead recommend that you skip it. If you must torture yourself and see this film, do it on the basis of a rental only.

THE VIDEO: 3 3/4 stars out of 5
Zohan is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1. I was very disappointed in the video presentation on this release. The film has very unnatural looking colors with everything having a golden hue. The picture itself looks fuzzy, as if you were watching the film through a haze. Perhaps this was the hide how bad the film really is? In addition, I thought that black levels were below average which contributed to the fuzziness and overall lack of clarity of the image. Detail, clarity and depth of image were all well below average all contributing to a flat and lifeless image. I really expected this film to look much better.

THE AUDIO: 4 2/5 out of 5
Thankfully (if that word can even be used with this film), the audio encode is much better than the video quality. The high res audio track is encoded with Dolby True HD and has a smooth and open sound with excellent transparency and imaging across the front three speakers. Dialogue is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The sound from the front three speakers has excellent depth both front to back and side to side and really fills the front of your room. However, the film’s sound design is front heavy with infrequent use of the surround speakers, mostly during action sequences. Overall, this is a very good albeit front heavy sounding film. If only the video was as good as the audio.

IN CONCLUSION
You Don’t Mess With T Zohan is a film filled with crude sexual humor which will appeal to some but not to this reviewer. It is really hard to imagine how much lower a film can go than this one. I would recommend that you skip this one entirely.

Note: You Don't Mess With The Zohan will be released on Blu-ray on October 7.

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Blu-ray Review: When We Left Earth

2008-10-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

THE SERIES: 5 stars out of 5
As a kid growing up in the 1960’s, I was a huge fan of the space program. I can recall sitting in front of the old black and white TV we had watching as many of the space shots that I could. I can still vividly recall the excitement of the first moon lading in particular as Neil Armstrong first stepped on the surface of the moon and uttered those famous words “One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” I can also recall vividly the tension felt by the whole nation during the Apollo 13 mission, wondering whether the crew could be returned to Earth safely and the joy we felt when the three parachutes and the command module first appeared on our screens.

Needless to say, I loved this series as presented on this Blu-Ray release. Unfortunately, I was not in a position to see the entire series when it debuted on the Discovery Channel this Spring. When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions, tells the story of the entire manned NASA space missions from Project Mercury, through Gemini, Apollo, Space Lab, the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. The series uses restored NASA film footage transferred to high definition, some of which has never been released to the public. In addition to the film from the NASA vault, the series also features interviews with many of the main participants in the manned space program. The release on Blu-Ray, in addition to containing the 6 episodes as shown on The Discovery Channel, also contains many bonus features including a 4th disc containing 4 hours of material not shown during the initial broadcast. This set is a must have for fans of the space program and science buffs in general. Highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
The video on When We left Earth is presented in 1080i high definition video in its original aspect ratio of 1:78:1. Some of the extra and bonus features are presented as 4 x 3 images in a 16 x 9 window however. The interviews with the various participants in the space program were filmed in high definition and are generally of very good image quality. However, that footage varies in quality from interview to interview with some segments having less than stellar quality with poor color and a rather soft looking image. The real star of the show however, is the old NASA film footage which has never looked better on TV. The quality of the film stock varies as does the degree of its restoration. Some of the film stock appears to have deteriorated, looking rather dull and washed out with poor color fidelity. Some of the film shows a lot of dirt and physical damage. However, some of the film is in excellent condition and looks fantastic. Particularly impressive are the shots in orbit taken during the Gemini missions, the Apollo launches, orbital footage and the film shot on the surface of the moon. Of stunning image quality are the shots of the earth from the surface of the moon as well as on the return journey to the earth. This footage alone is worth the price of the collection. It is rather difficult to give an overall grade to the video quality on this release as it is all over the place, with some of the footage including that mentioned above as well as the high definition video footage of the Shuttle launches, looking spectacular and other footage, well, not so good. However, I think it is safe to say that we may never see any of the footage on this release ever look any better than it does here.

THE AUDIO: 3 stars out of 5
The audio on this release is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 without any high res audio encode included. All in all, the audio here is about as good as one can expect. It is a rather front heavy mix with little use of the surround speakers. Overall, the audio quality is quite good with a smooth and open sound with good bass, depth and transparency. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix and always intelligible. Quite simply, the sound is about as good as one can expect from a TV documentary series although a good bit short of what you would expect from a major motion picture. All in all, I was quite pleased with the audio quality here. I am sure that you will feel likewise.

IN CONCLUSION
This is a wonderful release which chronicles the history of American manned space flight and is a must buy for fans of the space program and all of its accomplishments. Highly recommended.

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Slow Economy Could Mean Slow Blu-ray Sales

2008-09-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, it seems that a new press release is issued extolling the success of Blu-Ray, with predictions that Blu-Ray will outsell DVD in a year, that Blu-Ray prices will fall and that DVD is doomed, yada, yada, yada.

Many of these “predictions” are brought to you by the same analysts who couldn’t see the subprime housing mess and the housing bubble coming and didn’t understand the mess that was to result from the entire country spending more money than they earned the past few years. Therefore, I think it's abundantly clear that we should take their predictions with more than a few grains of salt.

However, that doesn’t stop me from having an opinion on the immediate future of Blu-Ray and here it is. Simply, until the present economic conditions in the old US of A improve and improve substantially, consumers will retrench and retrench big time, reining their spending in on discretionary items such as new Blu-Ray players and Blu-Ray discs. Spending will be limited to the necessities and as much as I love high definition and Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray discs and Blu-Ray players are not necessities. If you are now brown bagging your lunch at work rather than eating out, you will not be interested in purchasing a Blu-Ray player or pricey Blu-Ray discs.

What does this all mean? It means that Blu-Ray player and disc purchases will be a lot slower than the analysts, CE manufacturers and studios think. Consumers, who are already satisfied with DVD performance on their HD sets will stay put, even if Blu-Ray player prices drop to $149. Today’s economic climate will set back the growth of Blu-ray by a year or two at a minimum, to the point that it is unlikely that it will outpace DVD sales any time in the foreseeable future. It is now even more likely that the future of high def media will be downloads and that Blu-Ray will never reach the heights that many had hoped for. In fact, it is increasingly likely each passing day that the last dominate optical media format will be the DVD and not Blu-Ray.

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Commentary: Verizon's HD Beating Comcast In Philly

2008-09-22T05:25:00.000-07:00

I must say that I have been rather jealous of the new HD channels that have been rolled out by Verizon’s FiOS service around the rest of the country, starting with Indiana at the end of June and culminating with the 100 channel roll out in New York and North Jersey in August. Imagine, 100 HD channels (now 102) together with loads of HD VOD.

Here in the Southeast Pennsylvania region, the roll out was delayed several times, first from July to August 25th and then to September 11th. What a day to pick for a roll out BTW! As the day approached, one had to wonder whether it would be delayed again. Then I began to read reports about the roll out in Delaware and South Jersey having issues with missing channels and technical issues such as intermittent pixelation and blocking. However, lo and behold, when I turned on the TV (recently) I was greeted with a total of 55 new HD channels!

All the new HD channels were there along with many that we were not supposed to receive until the second rollout, such as all the HBO channels in HD including the east and west feeds. The same was true of Showtime, Cinemax and Starz. Simply outstanding. In addition, we now get CNN HD, TBS HD, The BIg Ten Network in HD, Science Channel HD, Smithsonian HD, History Channel HD, Animal Planet HD, TLC HD, Lifetime HD, Sci-Fi HD, Bravo HD, The Weather Channel HD, Tennis HD, WFN HD, MAV HD and VS/Golf HD.

The last three require a separate subscription to the sports programming tier which I do not have. However, VS/Golf is scheduled to be split into two separate channels soon, VS HD and Golf HD. VS HD will not require a sports subscription so I will be able to see the NHL broadcasts. The Outdoor HD network will still requires a subscription to the sports tier, however. I guess you can’t have anything!

By my count, we are now offered a total of 87 HD channels (Editor's note: Verizon says 86) with an ever expanding section of HD VOD. No wonder why Comcast is almost giving their service away to retain customers as they will have a difficult time competing with the variety that FiOS is now offering. Who has the most HD “Choices” now? What is even better, these channels were added without any decrease in the video quality of the standard definition or HD channels, all of which continue to look amazing.

While there were some reports of issues out of some of the SE Pa areas where the upgrade went into effect, those issues appear to have been limited to one or two central offices as the roll out went without a hitch in my township. At this point, we only seem to be missing the following national HD channels that are offered in Washington State and New York: FX HD, WGN HD, Speed HD, ESPN News HD, Fox Business HD, Fox News HD, Biography HD, Travel HD, MGM HD, Disney HD, Toon Disney HD, Planet Green HD, ABC Family HD, Hallmark Movies HD and QVC HD. The addition of those 15 channels will boost us to a total of 102 HD channels. These additional 15 channels are scheduled to be added before the end of the year. However, given FiOS’ track record, we may have to wait until 2009. No matter, there are so many choices now, a bit of a wait for more won’t be all that bad.

The HD expansion by FiOS, Directv and Dish Network will only have the effect of spurring all of the major cable ops such as Comcast. TWC, Cox and Charter to move as quickly as possible to add as much HD as they can at the best possible quality at the lowest possible cost. Competition is a great thing! These are exciting times for HD fans!

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Blu-ray Review: Daredevil

2008-09-21T06:52:00.001-07:00

THE MOVIE: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Yes, go ahead and call me a sucker for comic book action heroes. I am guilty as charged. I really enjoyed this film when it was released in theaters back in 2003 and really enjoyed this release on Blu-ray with 30 minutes of additional footage. Adapted from the Marvel comic book series, Daredevil tells the story of Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck), a blind lawyer who attempts to dispense justice by day and vigilante justice at night from the rooftops at Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen.

Blinded by radioactive chemicals at age 12, Matt Murdock is able to use his other senses, particularly his heightened sense of hearing, to see things in his mind, making him able to see as though he was not blind, and perform all sorts of death defying acrobatic feats. In the film, he falls in love with Electra Natchias (Jennifer Garner), the daughter of a successful Greek businessman who is entangled with the notorious gangster Kingpin (Michael Clark Duncan). Kingpin hires the ruthless assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who is able to use almost any object as a murder weapon due to his almost superhuman ability to aim and throw and object no matter how small with amazing accuracy, hence the nickname. What he can so with paperclips and peanuts is amazing! When Daredevil interferes with his attempt to kill Electra and her father, Bullseye sets his sights on Daredevil, resulting in a battle at an old church in Hell’s Kitchen and Daredevil’s final battle with Kingpin himself.

While not on the level of the recently released Iron Man, the first two Spider-man films and the last two Batman films, Daredevil is a fine film in its own right and well worth a look. Recommended for comic book fans everywhere.

THE VIDEO: 4 1/2 out of 5
Daredevil is encoded with AVC at 20 MBPS and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1 on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-Ray disc. On the whole, this is an excellent looking disc. My only quibble here is that the night shots are very dark, with shadow detail largely invisible. Detail in the shadows is simply obscured by darkness which makes up too much of those nighttime images for my taste. On the plus side, black levels are deep and solid so that those shadows are indeed black and not a shade of gray. I found detail to be very good as well with all subtle skin textures and clothing clearly visible. Color reproduction was quite good as well and looks as I recall it looking in the theaters although that was 5 years ago. Clarity is very good which, along with the solid black level, gives the film better than average depth and a nice three dimensional look which is very pleasing to the eye. All things considered, this is a fine looking encode and one that fans of the film will find quite pleasing.

THE AUDIO: 4 7/8 stars out of 5
While I was pleased with the video encode on Daredevil, I was simply thrilled with the audio which is of reference quality. The audio here is the real star of the film! The high res audio track is presented in DTS HD Master Audio and is a feast for the ears. The sound design is very dynamic with room shaking bass and an excellent use of the surround speakers giving you a sense of total immersion through most of the film. You sound as though you are in the streets and on the roof tops in Hell’s Kitchen during the film as sound comes at you from all directions. The audio in the action sequences is relentless, all in a good way! The battle scene in the church near the end of the film is spectacular as the cavernous sound of the church is beautifully reproduced. When Bullseye strikes the pipes of the pipe organ to incapacitate Daredevil with sound, the sound of the pipes reverberates throughout your room, filling your room with sound and placing you right in the acoustical environment with the actors. The quality of the sound is excellent as well with great fidelity, dynamics, openness, transparency and imaging. The sound effects are very well placed in the mix and sound very convincing adding to the overall quality of the sound design. In short, this is an excellent sounding release and is one that will thrill fans of the film. It sure did yours truly.

IN CONCLUSION
While not as well known or popular as other comic book heroes that have come to life on the big screen, Daredevil is a fine film in its own right with very good visuals and excellent reference quality audio. It is well worth a look. Recommended for comic book fans everywhere.

Daredevil will be released on Blu-ray high-def disc on September 30.

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Blu-ray Review: Prison Break, Season 3

2008-09-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

THE SERIES: 2 1/2 stars out of 5
Right off the bat, I can’t really say that I am a fan of this series. The first season was pretty enjoyable but I can’t say the same for season 2 or the writers’ strike shortened season 3. The problem with a series based on a prison escape is that it is really hard to move forward after the cat is out of the bag. Putting the lead characters back in other prisons so they can escape again and again just doesn’t cut it for me. You also can’t have them running forever from the authorities and other assorted bad guys as that whole thing was done before on TV and frankly, a lot better.

In any event, season 3 of Prison Break contains most of the cast members from the first season and picks up where season 2 ended, where most of the cast has ended up in Panama where Michael is incarcerated in the worst prison in Panama where beatings and death is an everyday occurrence. Lincoln tries to free his brother from that prison and as one would expect, encounters problems. Season 3 is only 13 episodes long due the the writers strike and is presented here on a total of 4 50 GD dual layer discs. Recommended for fans of the show as these shows will likely never look better than they do on this collection and having the whole set, gives you the chance to watch each episode at your leisure.

THE VIDEO: 4 stars out of 5
All 13 episodes are encoded with AVc at 26 MBPS and are presented in their original HD aspect ratio of 1:78:1. It would appear from my viewing of the discs that the shows do look better on on Blu-Ray than they do on over the air television. However, not by all that much. If you are expecting a much better picture than over the air high definition, you will be disappointed. However, there is an improvement as one would expect given the higher data rate and more efficient codec. Season 3 uses a stylized picture with the shots inside the prison skewed to the brownish side, similar to the mud that makes up much of the camp. Scenes outside the prison are fairly natural looking in regards to their color palette. Flashback scenes on the other hand are very blue and cool looking, clearing differentiating them as flashbacks visually. I found that distance shots looked rather soft and fuzzy with close up shots fairly detailed but nowhere near as sharp, clear and detailed as a show such as CSI NY which IMHO is the best looking HD show on TV. I found that black level overall to be a bit mediocre resulting in a somewhat flat looking image, lacking the depth of the best looking films and TV series. Are these bad looking discs? Far from it as they look very good and as I mentioned earlier, better than the over the air TV broadcasts. However, they fall a bit short of the best looking HD available over the air and short of the last series I reviewed on Blu-Ray, Grey’s Anatomy Season 4.

THE AUDIO: 3 7/8 stars out of 5
The high res audio option as always on a Fox title is presented in DTS HD master Audio. However, here, I found the audio to be very mediocre at best with little in the way of dynamics or real impact. Frankly, this release sounds every bit like a TV show. On the plus side, the surrounds are actively engaged but not not really create a totally immersive aural experience. Dialogue is well recorded and well placed in the mix. Bass is good but not great which explains the overall lack of impact with the sound design. Overall, I was rather disappointed with the audio on this release as it really doesn’t offer much of an improvement at all from the over the air TV version.

IN CONCLUSION
Prison Break Season 3 on Blu-Ray offers an improvement in video quality over the show as seen in over the air HDTV but offers little in the way of an improvement on the audio side. If you are a real fan of the series and need to watch the shows multiple times, by all means pick up this release. However, for casual fans, I can recommend this release as a rental only.

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Blu-ray Review: Run Fatboy Run

2008-09-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

THE MOVIE: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
I did not see this film in the theaters and judging by the critical reaction this film received when it was released to theaters, I wasn’t expecting much here when I started to view this release. However, as is often the case, the mass of critical thought on this film was way off base. Is it as good as Hot Fuzz or Shawn of the Dead? No, but it is darn funny in its own right.

The movie was filmed in London and was directed by David Schwimmer and written by Michael Ian Black and Simon Pegg. The film stars Simon Pegg as Dennis, your average slightly overweight, heavy smoking out of shape and nearly broke bloke who is afraid of commitment. The films opens with him running away from the alter on his wedding day scared to death, leaving his girlfriend, Libby (Thandie Newton), who is several months pregnant, shall we say, holding the bag? The film then moves forward 5 years and finds Dennis alone and nearly broke and Libby seeing Whit (Hank Azaria) a wealthy hedge fund manager in London who is thinking of proposing to her, all of which gets Dennis quite upset and sparks his desire of resuming his relationship with Libby who he still loves. When Dennis meets Whit and finds out that he wants to run and finish the London marathon, Dennis figures he can win back Libby by training for and finishing the race himself, showing himself as no longer being afraid of commitment and being a changed man. There are several problems to overcome though. The first is being accepted to run in the race at all and the second, it is in three weeks, hardly enough time for an overeating, smoking and lazy guy to get ready. For the most part I found the film funny and engaging, especially the parts where Dennis interacts with his 5 year old son Jake ( Matthew Fenton). Is there some crude humor in the film? Sure but overall, I found this film to be quite witty and enjoyable and some of the crude humor downright funny. Recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 5/8 stars out of 5
One of the best looking high def discs I have seen is Hot Fuzz on the now departed HD DVD format. If you have seen Hot Fuzz on HD DVD, you will have a pretty good idea how run fatboy run looks on Blu-Ray. While Run Fatboy Run is not as impressive looking as Hot Fuzz, it comes pretty close and shares the same attributes. Run fatboy run boasts a very natural and appealing color palette with excellent looking flesh tones. Colors are bright and bold and properly saturated. I really loved the way the cinematographer captures the look of sunlight in London and the look and feel of London in particular, from the Financial District to the streets of Central London. Black level is deep and solid with a resulting three dimensional image with excellent depth. Detail was excellent as well across the board with no evidence of digital noise reduction that I could detect. All in all, this is a very impressive looking encode and one that I am sure will thrill fans of the film.

THE AUDIO: 4 5/8 stars out of 5
As you will note I have included a copy of a photograph of the back of the box that came with the film which is a first for me. I did this as the back of the box is in error in regards to the high res audio encode for the film. It is not Dolby DIgital 7.1. far from it as the actual encode is DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 which may be a first for New Line and Warner Brothers. The error was clear as soon as the film started as I have never heard plain jane Dolby Digital sound this good. Right from the beginning of the film you experience the depth and spaciousness of sound that are characteristics of loss less encodes like Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio. This encode has these characteristics in spades. The imaging and transparency here is excellent. The sound fills up your room from side to side and front to back. The overall sound is smooth and open with excellent bass response, which is most prominent in the film’s soundtrack. Fidelity is excellent and I couldn’t detect even a hint of unnatural hardness or shrillness to the sound. For a comedy, the use of the surrounds is surprisingly active, giving you a nice sense of immersion throughout the film. Does this film have the immersive feel and relentlessness of a film like Iron Man? Of course not! However, for a comedy, the sound mix here is quite active, dynamic and immersive and a joy to listen to. The dialogue track is very well recorded and well placed in the mix and conveys a palpable sense of real voices in real space, another hallmark of an excellent loss less encode. Very well done guys!

IN CONCLUSION
I found this to be a very enjoyable and funny comedy with excellent audio and video reproduction. If you enjoyed Hot Fuzz or Shawn of the Dead, you will no doubt enjoy this film as well. Recommended for comedy fans everywhere.

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Blu-ray Review: The Godfather Collection

2008-09-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

THE MOVIES: 5 stars out of 5
I am sure that all film fans and non film aficionados alike are darn well familiar with The Godfather trilogy. While The Godfather Part III does not deserve a 5 stars rating being the weakest by far of the three, the set together, is of such a high quality to deserve and unqualified 5 star rating. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II are two of the finest films ever made and are now American Classics. Both represent film making at its finest in terms of the screenplays, cinematography, directing and acting as well as the wonderful musical score.

The acting in all three films is simply spectacular with Part I garnering 4 Oscar nominations for acting and Part II a total of 5. Together, all three films have amassed a total of 28 Oscar Nominations. Getting all three films in high definition for the first time is amazing in and of itself. However, all three films have undergone a frame by frame restoration and look better than they have had since their inception. While not quite as dramatic at the restoration of Michaelangelo’s masterpiece, the ceiling of The Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, the restoration work here supervised by Francis Ford Coppola is amazing. Gone are the drab, dark and noisy versions of all three films previously released on DVD. Until the time comes when we can review the 4K masters in our homes, this collection on Blu-Ray represents the best that these films will look and sound in our homes for many years to come. This is a stunning effort from all of those involved in the restoration of these films. This collection is a must for all film fans. Very highly recommended. In fact, I can’t really recommend this collection enough.

THE VIDEO: 5 stars out of 5
As I am sure you could detect from my comments above, I was thrilled with how all three of these films looked on their initial Blu-Ray release. The picture quality on all three releases is spectacular. I was never happy with how these films looked on DVD as they were drab, dark, and flat and filled with video noise. The restoration has restored the proper color balance and has removed the dirt and scratches that marred the prior home video releases. The difference is nothing short of astounding.

Popping these films into your player, the first thing you will notice is how much brighter the image is. Details that were previously crushed out of existence and lost in an overly dark looking film are now restored. Color reproduction is much better, looking exactly how the films looked in their original theatrical release. The films for the most part have a wonderful sepia type tone giving the image the look of a much older film. However, other scenes such as the opening outdoor wedding scene are bathed in bright sunlight and look amazing. The scenes shot in Sicily have very natural looking color and are a feast for the eyes, Image detail is outstanding the with textures of the actors’ skin plainly visible as are the background textures such as the wallpaper and drapes in each room. Shadow detail has been fully restored as well. The other aspect of the film you notice almost immediately is the well preserved film grain which varies throughout the films depending on the types of film stock used. I detected no evidence at all of any digital noise reduction. Black level and clarity are excellent as well. I am sure that there will be those who will quip that these films lack the clarity of some newer looking films. This argument misses the point. As best as I can recall, the presentation of these films on Blu-ray looks just as they did in the theater which is really all that we can expect. The whole point of the restoration and masterful encoding job was to make these films look just like film in your home theater. In this respect, they have hit not only a home run but a grand slam!

THE AUDIO: 4 to 4 1/2 stars
In addition to the video restoration, all three films received new 5.1 audio mixes presented here in Dolby True HD. The fidelity on all three releases is exceptional with the real star the score which sounds better than I have ever heard it. The mixes on the second and third films are the best of the lot here with a more immersive sound mix than the first film. The sound mix on Part I was rather front heavy with only intermittent use of the surround speakers. The same is not the case with the last two films which have more of a modern sound mix. The sound of all three films is smooth and open with excellent transparency and imaging. This transparency and imaging is especially noted in the scenes with musical accompaniment where you can hear clearly into the soundstage with wonderful placement of each instrument within the soundscape with excellent bass response. Dialogue is well recorded and presented here with excellent clarity and fidelity. Each spoken word, whether a shout or a whisper is audible. One can clearly hear the individual room acoustics in each scene and how those acoustics change from scene to scene which tis the hallmark of an excellent technical recording. The Oscar nomination for Best sound for Part I was well deserved and it has never sounded this good in the home environment. Clearly great care was taken to present the audio on these films in the best possible quality and it shows. Very well done!

EXTRAS
In addition to the three films, a fourth disc is included with over 4 hours of bonus materials, most of which are presented in high definition. Fans of the film will have a lot of fun pouring through all of these extras. I will once I find the time!

IN CONCLUSION
The three films that make up The Godfather trilogy have never looked or sounded better than they do on this Blu-Ray release. Fans of the films will be amazed at the tremendous improvement that this collection represents over the previous DVD release. It is almost like seeing and hearing these films all over again. Very highly recommended.

Note: The Godfather Collection will be released on Blu-ray on September 23.

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Blu-ray Review: Iron Man

2008-09-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

THE MOVIE: 4 1/2 stars out of 5
As a kid growing up in the 1960’s, I was an avid comic book reader. I read most of the usual suspects religiously like Superman, Batman, and Spider-man. However, I always really loved Iron Man and was waiting to see whether Hollywood would make it into a motion picture. Well, the long wait was finally over this summer. Clearly, the success of the Spider-Man and to a lesser degree, the Hulk movies, led Hollywood to take a look at one of the lesser known and under appreciated comic book heroes, Iron Man. While it was a long wait, it was well worth it as Iron Man is IMHO, the finest adaption of a comic book to the big screen that has ever been made. What sets this apart from the others? Believability. The film is set in more or less the modern day and incorporates some of the issues of the day such as the war on terror and weapons proliferation. Unlike some comic book heroes which rely on super powers, Tony Stark aka the Iron Man and the intellect behind the world’s best weapons manufacturer Stark Industries, relies on his super intellect to devise a miniature power pack that can not only save his heart from destruction but can power a suit that can perform miracles. It doesn’t hurt that the film is backed by a terrific script and a spot on performance by Robert Downey, Jr. who plays Tony Stark with just the right amount of humor and irreverence to really drive the film. The film, of course, features some amazing special effects and the appropriate amount of gun blasts and explosions to keep everyone happy. If you want to see the best adaption of a comic book to the big screen with excellent action and boat loads wit and humor, by all means pick up a copy of Iron Man. I can’t wait for the sequel. Very highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
Iron man is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1. In a word, this encode looks terrific and looks just as it did when I saw it in the theater. There is really little to quibble with regarding this presentation on Bu-ray. Color reproduction is spectacular with rich, bold and and accurate colors. The red and gold of the Iron Man suit just leaps off the screen. Black level is as deep and solid as I have seen. Clarity is excellent as well, resulting in an image of great depth and three dimensionality. The level of detail is off the charts also as you can see each and every smudge and scratch on Iron Man’s suit. Check out the cave in Afghanistan, where you can see all of the fine details in the walls. This is a great looking transfer and worthy of reference status. The only problem I could detect was a couple of scenes where the image clarity and detail suffered, getting a tad on the soft side. However, this was also the way the film looked in the theater so it is not the fault of the transfer. Have I seen better looking films at home? Yes, but only by a hair. Fans of this film will be thrilled by the look of Iron Man on Blu-Ray. I sure was.

THE AUDIO: 5 stars out of 5
Unlike the folks at Warner Brothers and the Speed Racer release, the folks at Paramount included a Dolby True HD release on Iron Man which is simply spectacular. It really does not get better than this. Gunshots and explosions are incredible, really rocking your room. Bass is deep and tight and as good as it gets. The dialogue track is beautifully recorded and well placed in the mix. The musical numbers here really shine and work beautifully with the rest of the sound elements in a given scene. Listen to the scene in the cave where Iron Man is banging on the steel door. The music is very spacious sounding with deep bass yet the banging sounds are perfectly placed in the sound field. The surround speakers are used beautifully as well, giving the feel of total immersion from scene to scene. Setting in your seat you are totally awash in sound, almost like bobbing up and down in the waves in the middle of the ocean. This is thrilling stuff and provides an amazing experience. The echoes and subtle sounds in the cave is another example not only of the spectacular sound design but also of the incredible fidelity on this release. There were reports of poor sound quality on the release for those streaming the audio out of the player via HDMI for decoding in their receivers. It turns out that the data stream activates the DRC circuitry as the dynamic range flag is set to on. Therefore, those of you that use your receiver to decode the True HD track, make sure that you turn off the dynamic range circuitry in your receivers to experience the best sound possible from this release. This does not apply if you internally decode the Dolby True HD track in your Blu-Ray player and feed it to your receiver or processor via the analog outputs.

IN CONCLUSION
Iron Man is the best adaption of a comic book to the big scene yet produced and features sensational audio and video which is of reference quality. This release is a must have for all home theater aficionados. This release is very highly recommended.

Note: Iron Man will be released on Blu-ray on Sept. 30.

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