Buy it for $25.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Becoming Human

Bronson (Magnolia Home Entertainment)

Couples Retreat (Universal)

Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (Anchor Bay/Starz)

Dare (Image Entertainment)

Drop Zone (Lionsgate)

Halo Legends (Warner)

Hard Rain (Lionsgate)

The Phantom (Lionsgate)

The Running Man (Lionsgate)

A Serious Man (Universal)

Serious Moonlight (Magnolia Home Entertainment)

Stargate Universe SG-U: 1.0 (MGM)

The Stepfather [2009] (Sony)

The Time Traveler’s Wife (Warner)

Buy it for $11.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Ben Piper —

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Buy it for $22.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Buy it for $23.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Justin Sluss & Brendan Surpless —

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Buy it for $20.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Buy it for $23.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Danielle Byington —

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Buy it for $22.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: James Segars & Grace Wang —

— Introduction written by Grace Wang (of “Etheriel Musings“) —

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=35513 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35500 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35500#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:23:05 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35500

Universal has announced plans to bring the 1995 Ron Howard film based on the real life story of “Apollo 13” starring Tom Hanks to Blu-ray Disc on appropriately enough on April 13th. If you don’t understand why that date is significant see why HERE on Wikipedia. The tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. The title is not yet available for pre-order but stay tuned and we will keep you updated. Bonus materials are set to include the following on what is the “15th Anniversary Edition” of the film.

• Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13
• Conquering Space: The Moon and Beyond
• Lucky 13: The Astronaut’s Story
• My Scenes
• Feature Commentary with Director Ron Howard
• Feature Commentary with Jim and Marilyn Lovell
• pocket BLU

UPDATE: This title is now available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $18.99 price tag.

FOX officially has plans it seems to bring the 1985 Ron Howard directed film “Cocoon” to Blu-ray Disc on April 6th. The title is available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $17.49 price tag. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. Bonus materials haven’t yet totally been confirmed but are said to include basically the DVD ports in Standard Definition (those consisting of an audio commentary with Ron Howard, featurettes, TV spots, and trailers). Stay tuned for any updates on this title.

FOX apparently is “in no hurry to rush ‘Avatar‘ to retail release” is the word we are hearing from a report from the folks over at Home Media Magazine. In the article it mentions that the studio and mainly its CEO Rupert Murdoch have stated they are in no real rush to bring James Cameron’s blockbuster, billion-dollar grossing, Academy Award-nominated film to Blu-ray Disc (home video). They plan to keep it in theaters basically as long as possible and then at the technically end of the fiscal year (June 30th) they plan to bring it to home video (Blu-ray) but only in a 2D presentation. The head of FOX, Murdoch seems to not think that Blu-ray 3D is ready to handle the release or that his studio is ready, one of the two. This is a tragic shame in our honest opinion here at HighDefDiscNews, as we believe that “Avatar” is a film that will be vital to the launch and success of Blu-ray 3D. Stay tuned for more updates on this as we hear them and also stay tuned for a new article soon from our Lead Hardware Editor James Segars discussing even further how this could impact the future of 3D HDTV displays and especially Blu-ray 3D. Below is an excerpt from the article found over at Home Media Magazine.

With little slowdown to box office juggernaut Avatar, News Corp. said it is in no hurry to rush James Cameron’s fantasy film to DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Speaking Feb. 2 in a call with investors, CEO Rupert Murdoch said the movie will contribute significantly to 20th Century Fox Studios’ operating profits over the next two quarters with the DVD/Blu-ray releases slated at the end of the fiscal year in June.

The studio includes 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, among other ancillary properties.

Murdoch admitted that the studio’s operating income projections in the current fiscal year assume an Avatar DVD/Blu-ray release, but not in 3D.

“We’re not going to yank it out of theaters if it is doing $30 million a weekend,” News Corp. president Chase Carey said.

“We’ll keep it going,” added Murdoch, referring to the $95 million weekly box office Avatar is generating internationally.

has an average rating of 7.9 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are DVD ports but mostly in Hi-Def
–
– 2005
– 135 minutes
– FOX
–
This uses 27.9GB for the movie out of 37.5GB total.

Overall Verdict – Highly Recommended

Buy it for $19.49 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Justin Sluss & Danielle Byington —

Trailer:

The film takes us through Johnny’s childhood, growing up in the rural parts of Dyess, Arkansas. Through the biographical structure of the movie’s storytelling, we see this young son of cotton picker deal with the death of his older brother/close friend, and the consistent disapproval he dealt with from his father. Coming of legal age, we briefly see Johnny’s (Joaquin Phoenix) experience overseas in Germany as part of the military in 1952, and more importantly, see the young man purchase a guitar; something it seems he had longed for, but against the wishes of his father, could never obtain before now. Aside from his first scratches at personal songwriting, Johnny also has a girlfriend from home on his mind, Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin), whom he repeatedly confesses his love to, promising her that they will live in Memphis, and that he will be on the radio.

Jumping forward a bit of time, we now see the young couple, Mr. & Mrs. Cash, and their new child, residing in Memphis. However, a piece of Johnny’s promise is still missing just yet, though when it comes to Johnny getting his voice on the radio, it is more of a promise to himself, rather than his wife, who seems both uninterested and non-supportive of his musical passion, and would rather Johnny dull himself with one of her father’s lemming jobs. As this situation makes for some heated arguments between the two, being informed that his family is about to be evicted, and he has a second child on the way, Johnny really pushes his dreams forward to financially protect his growing family by auditioning for a local record label with a couple of acquired band-mates.

From here, the nostalgia of Johnny Cash and his band grows, as they begin touring with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Payne), and Roy Orbison (Johnathan Rice); but more importantly, at least to Johnny, is the presence of June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). As Johnny’s married life seems to suffocate him more and more, primarily with the lack of support and respect he receives from his wife, and his beginnings of drug use, he doesn’t just look at June from a physical attraction perspective, but more of the other half of himself. The film showcases all of these highlights of the legendary musical artists from both their biographical perspectives, as well as an entertaining form of story.

In closing, “Walk the Line” is not only one of the greater bio-pic (biography) films of a musical artist and their career but it is also a telling of one of the truest love stories (romances) that truly ever was, that love for June Carter felt by Johnny Cash that she always returned to him regardless. The fact he passed away only 4 months after her says a lot about how much they really meant to one another and essentially, needed one another. Taking the other biographical elements into consideration as well, this man’s life in general sincerely has all of the glue in all of the right places that makes you root for him (even knowing the basic story of his life before viewing the film) from beginning to end, being the underdog and all. This on-screen representation of his life makes you feel his pain from the loss of his brother, the lack of approval from his father, and his frustration and conflict experienced as a rising star. It goes without saying that the performances here are hands-down impressive in their respectful portrayals of these real life people, and all of the combination of these elements makes for a terrific film, earning a “5 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. According to IMDb’s technical specifications for the aspect ratio, this was shot on Super 35mm film and makes for an excellent transfer to Hi-Def with an enormous amount of detail that we never got to see on the previous DVD release(s). I will admit though, even on DVD this looked beautiful and that is much thanks to the film’s cinematography done by Phedon Papamichael (Director of Photography). There are some really iconic shots in this film, early on and especially near the end of the film and they look excellent here in Hi-Def via this transfer.

The picture’s color palette here is perfectly balanced, displaying all of the rural exteriors in a picturesque manner, and capturing all of the feel of a 1950’s world, from the hues most frequently seen in the wardrobe, set design, and so forth. Fleshtones translate perfectly on this release, and very few scenes lead on a lesser-than accuracy. This well colored video quality is complimented further by a solid black level, which is of utmost importance considering Cash’s attire of choice at times. The definition seen through out the release’s duration is certainly a step or two above the DVD release, with much more visible detail apparent in, as mentioned above, the wonderful cinematography, which at times, captures its subject with the perfect lighting source making for an impressively clear and bright picture. Overall, there are not any significant complaints to be found within this release’s video quality, and it earns itself a “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. This is a pretty nice improvement and keep in mind that even the original DVD releases from 2006 all contained a DTS 5.1 mix. This is an improvement first in the sense that it is a lossless track now in DTS-HD MA and given that advantage it offers much crisper sound with a good hearty amount of bass (LFE) presence as well as real channel presence, especially in the live musical numbers. The dialogue when things aren’t musical is delivered very distinctly here and requires no volume adjustments on your AVR of any sort throughout the film. The recordings of Joaquin Phoenix himself doing Johnny Cash’s original songs sounded great before on DVD and they sound even a tad bit more cool now. I’d also like to add that the film’s original music composed by T-Bone Burnett sounds excellent as well here with a lot more “oomph!” to it this time around. The overall presentation is marvelous, especially for the fact that it technically is a combination of a biography and a musical of sorts since the film revolves around the life of the late Johnny Cash and June Carter (eventually Cash) who had amazing musical careers, each in their own right. “Walk the Line” earns a perfect, “demo material” worthy “5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality. Kudos to the folks at FOX on a job extremely well done here.

Bonus materials are presented in both High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps unless otherwise noted below in the descriptions.

• Audio Commentary by Screenplay Co-Writer / Director James Mangold
• “More Man In Black – Deleted Scenes” (23:13 – HD) feature Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound.
• “Extended Musical Sequences” (5:40 – HD) feature Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound or just standard Dolby Surround as options for audio.
“Rock and Roll Ruby“
“Jackson“
“Cocaine Blues“
• “Featurettes“
“Folsom, Cash & The Comeback” (11:47 – SD)
“Celebrating The Man In Black: The Making of Walk The Line” (21:38 – SD)
“Ring of Fire: The Passion of Johnny & June” (11:29 – SD)
• Theatrical Trailer (1:49 – HD) features Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound.

Overall, the bonus materials are just the Special Edition DVD ports with some stuff like extended live performances presented in Hi-Def video quality. I wish they would have also got DTS-HD 5.1 MA sound but FOX only opted for the original Dolby Digital sound mixes for those extended live performances. It sucks that FOX did not opt to include the 153 minute extended cut of the film and instead we only get the 135 minute theatrical cut but I’d say when the time comes to “double dip” you can expect the extended cut — but for now be happy with the theatrical cut.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=35414 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35402 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35402#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:46:49 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35402

Independent studio/distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories has plans to bring the 2009 film “The Messenger” to Blu-ray Disc on May 25th. The film got Woody Harrelson an “Oscar” (Academy Award) nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” and writers Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman nominated for “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” this morning. Tech specs for the release at this point as well as information regarding bonus materials are both unknown but stay tuned and we will keep you updated. The title is available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $24.49 price tag. Also worth mentioning, the film was directed by Oren Moverman (who as mentioned above also served as co-writer on the screenplay) and stars Woody Harrelson (as mentioned above), Ben Foster, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone and even Steve Buscemi.

UPDATE: The PR for Oscilloscope has contacted me and informed me that the release date listed on Amazon is a typo, it is actually coming out on May 25th (not March 25th as it states and we previously reported). Apologies for the mix up.

The following titles will be released tomorrow February 2nd, 2010 on Blu-ray Disc:

Amelia [2009] (FOX)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Universal)

The Godfather [Sapphire Series] (Paramount)

The Godfather: Part II [Sapphire Series] (Paramount)

Gone With the Wind (Warner)

Hellboy: Sword of Storms / Blood & Iron (Anchor Bay/Starz)

The House of the Devil (Dark Sky Films/MPI)

New York, I Love You (Palm Pictures/Vivendi)

The Last King of Scotland (FOX)

To Live and Die in L.A. (FOX)

Love Happens (Universal)

Maid in Manhattan (Sony)

Mona Lisa Smile (Sony)

Mystic River (Warner)

The Music Man (Warner)

Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior (FOX)

Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (Magnolia Home Entertainment)

Planet Hulk (Lionsgate)

Triangle (First Look Studios)

Universal Soldier: Regeneration (Sony)

Walk the Line (FOX)

Zombieland (Sony)

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=35389 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35173 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35173#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:37:35 +0000 Brendan Surpless http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35173

has an average rating of 5.4 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
a too short but ALL in Hi-Def
–
– 2009
– 109 Minutes
– Universal
–
Street Date: February 2nd, 2010

Overall Verdict – At Least Worth a Rental

Buy it for $24.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

Trailer:

It absolutely never fails for me. Practically every SINGLE of these romantic comedy type films I receive in (and there are a handful of them) I do the exact same thing. I look at the case, glance at the back to see what the film is about, pop it in my Blu-ray player, sit back and watch. Then after about 2 hours or so, I usually end up with a similar verdict. The films themselves aren’t definitions of cinema at their finest, but I find myself liking them for some reason. Perhaps it’s because I put myself in the shoes of either A) A couple watching the film or B) someone who can relate to the subject matter at hand. For myself I tend to typically rely more on item B than A as I can’t say I typically have someone else to watch these films with. Moving on though…

Some may criticize “Love Happens” and its plot for being too by the book, never really diverting from the road built by countless other genre movies before this one. I will agree with that comment with a slight asterisk. Yes the idea that a man trying to cope with the recent loss of his wife, speaking to others about it, then meeting someone special has clearly been done before. But I can’t really (correct me if you so see fit) think of a similar film where the cast has worked on the level it has here. Eckhart plays the widower with a sense of purpose. We can see the daily pain he must go through not in just re-telling the story but having to deal helping other fight their similar losses. Sheen as the father delivers the sense of wanting to move on but keeps on fighting for Ryan to realize and admit the truth. All the actors, for the most part, bring the story home in a manner that most of us will relate to. The only downside here is that Aniston is rather bland in her role. In fact she has really acted well minus her performance in 2002’s “The Good Girl“.

In closing, “Love Happens” is the kind of film that works on the level it does simply because of the feelings that the story brings out. The subject of losing someone and trying to cope with their loss is known to all. “Love Happens” is a charming film as it mixes both serious tones with humor all of which are well displayed thanks to a solid cast. Well Recommended for both those looking for a good date night film or just a film that you’ll just enjoy.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte, dual layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film’s color palette tends to focus on more of a warmer palette. Even though the film’s main locale of Seattle has a somewhat dreary look to it due to the weather, there are still instances where the colors were solid. The yellows and blues of the flowers in Eloise’s shop occasionally popped off the screen showcasing fine detail. Speaking of detail, fleshtones were accurate as were contrast levels for the most part. Grain is kept to a minimum and the film’s print is in fine condition as there was no damage or noise that I noticed. I couldn’t find many negatives about this transfer as the image has a warm, pleasing flow to it. All in all this earns a “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. The film’s dialogue is well reproduced with no instance of drop out. There was no need for any volume changes as my receiver sat at a comfortable 55/100. With this being a romantic comedy, the sound design does tend to focus on more of a front heavy mix. However, there are a few instances were we do get a bit of surround activity thanks in part to the score by Christopher Young or from the varying background dialogue. LFE is kept to a bare minimum rarely becoming noticeable. Pans between rears, when active, are invisible. All in all this earns an okay “3.5 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials are presented in High Definition video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps.

• BD-Live: As per all Universal titles, BD-Live is included and gives fans access to current and upcoming trailers and bonus content.
• Deleted Scenes: Here we get a few deleted scenes that run close to 13 minutes. Most of the scenes don’t add up to much and we can clearly see why they were cut.
• Giving Romance a New Look: This is a very bland 3 minute look at some of the film’s effect shots.
• Audio Commentary with Filmmakers

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=35173 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35350 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35350#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:18:42 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35350

Panasonic has unveiled today the world’s first Blu-ray 3D authoring facility at their Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) in Universal City, CA. The facility was just recently (last week) toured by the folks over at AVforums who recorded a nice behind-the-scenes video and have posted it on YouTube which you can find HERE.

The PRESS RELEASE regarding this new Blu-ray 3D authoring facility can be found below which has mention of Blu-ray 3D titles being actually ready as early as Spring 2010.

Universal City, CA (February 1, 2010) – Following on the announcement of a broad range of Full HD 3D TV products, from VIERA consumer 3D TVs to a Prosumer Full HD 3D camcorder, at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Panasonic is now unveiling its fully operational Blu-ray 3D™ Advanced Authoring Center located at Panasonic’s R&D facility, Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory. The Advanced Authoring Center was recently upgraded and equipped with the latest 3D technological innovations, based on standards developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association. The Center now offers studios and filmmakers Blu-ray 3D™ image processing, interactive programming, as well as authoring and disc certification services, which are capable of making Blu-ray 3D Discs commercially available as early as Spring 2010.

Long before the Blu-ray 3D™ specifications were finalized within the Blu-ray Disc Association, Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory collaborated with studios and the creative community in Hollywood to conduct Blu-ray 3D™ encoding as well as menu and subtitle authoring trials. This type of early collaboration and research has given the Advanced Authoring Center expertise in guiding and advising companies during the key early planning stages of a Blu-ray 3D™ title.

“Given Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory’s vast experience with HD image processing, we are confident that we lead the industry with MPEG-4 MVC (Multiview Video Coding) 3D image compression technology,” said Jeannine Patton, Vice President & General Manager of the Advanced Authoring Center. “This laboratory, located as we are in the world’s entertainment capital, is proud to offer the filmmaking community the industry’s first complete, end-to-end Blu-ray 3D™ encoding and authoring facility. Blu-ray 3D™ is an exciting new space for the home entertainment industry and our early research and collaboration was extremely helpful in determining what will provide the most compelling experience and optimum performance when designing for Blu-ray 3D™.”

Sony has announced plans to bring the 2009 Pedro Almodóvar (written & directed) film “Broken Embraces” (a.k.a. “Los abrazos rotos“) starring the very lovely Penélope Cruz to Blu-ray Disc on March 16th, 2010. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $27.99 price tag. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio with SPANISH & FRENCH DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. Bonus materials are set to include the following listed below.

- Deleted Scenes
- “The Cannibalistic Councillor” a short film by Pedro Almodóvar
- Pedro Directs Penélope
- On the Red Carpet: The New York Film Festival Closing Night
- Variety Q&A with Penélope Cruz

has an average rating of 8.0 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are just DVD ports but worthwhile
–
– 2003
– 137 minutes
– Warner
–
This uses 34.7GB for the movie out of 41.7GB total.
Street Date: February 2nd, 2010

Overall Verdict – Recommended

Buy it for $17.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Danielle Byington & Justin Sluss —

The story starts off by showing us a moment in the childhood of three male friends, whom, while playing hockey in the street, get side-tracked by writing their names in a freshly molded bit of sidewalk. Caught in the act, a man posing as a policeman convinces one of the boys to get in his car so he can be driven to his mother’s home to confess what he did. The man turned out to not be a member of law enforcement at all, and after the two friends inform their family members, it becomes apparent that he was abducted. We then flash forward to the present, seeing the three boys as adults now. First we are shown Jimmy (Sean Penn), who manages a small grocery shop. He is sitting in his office when one of three daughters, Katie (Emmy Rossum), strolls in to let him know she is going out with her friends that night, to which Jimmy simply cautions her to not stay out too late due to her younger sister’s first communion in the morning. After stepping out of the shop, Katie is surprisingly greeted by her boyfriend, Brendan (Tom Guiry), who is thoroughly a secret she is keeping from her family due to her father’s seemingly irrational distaste for the boy.

Later, we do see Katie and her friends dancing in a bar, in which having a drink as well at the same moment is Dave (Tim Robbins). Dave recognizes Katie as Jimmy’s daughter, being an old friend of her father’s; however, Dave is not just any old friend, he is in fact the boy abducted in the beginning of the film, having escaped a few days later. Dave merely glances at Katie and her friends, and minds his own business at his bar stool. Though, a few hours later, Dave arrives at his home at three in the morning, greeted by his wife who grills him on his whereabouts due to the late hour of his return, but quickly drops any aggression with her interrogation upon seeing quiet the flesh wound in the torso of her husband. Dave can not hide that he is very shaken up, however refuses professional medical attention, and somewhat gingerly tries to shrug off his story of defending himself against a mugger, whom he does mention may have been hurt quiet badly in Dave’s attempt to get away. Naturally, this statement rattles his wife, Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden), and she keep an eye out in the papers for any news of a discovered mugger’s body.

The following day, Jimmy is awakened by a phone call informing him that Katie never showed up for her early shift at her father’s grocery shop. Jimmy plays it cool, assuming that his daughter has simply overslept at a friend’s house having stayed out late last night; though, after some further phone calls, he still can not locate his nineteen year old daughter. Frustrated with not only the fact that he has no idea where his daughter is, Jimmy must go into his shop for a couple of hours to help the short-handed staff, and it thoroughly rubbed the wrong way by Brendan (though he still is unaware of the boy’s relations with his daughter), who comes in to pick up tea for his mother.

After the first communion ceremony a few hours later, Jimmy gets a bad feeling about a fleet of speeding police cars that pass by the church, and follows them to a crime scene where he sees detective and crime scene investigators sifting through his daughter’s car. Sean (Kevin Bacon), yet another old friend of Jimmy’s who was present the day Dave was abducted, is one of the heads of the investigation, and has to break it to his childhood friend that his daughter has been murdered. The investigation ensues with many leads of interest.

In closing, “Mystic River” proves to definitely be one of Clint Eastwood’s most golden credits, with a terrific story conveyed by an excellent choice in casting. Eastwood’s directorial style here gives the story a very “real” vibe, flowing with a strong story that intertwines the past relationship between three childhood friends, and represents the mystery of a murder in a non-generic fashion. Overall, if you have yet seen this film, it is certainly a high recommendation, earning a “4.5 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.4:1 aspect ratio. This 2003 film’s transfer to Hi-Def is certainly top-notch, providing a truly crisp and clear picture. The black level here is very inky, and the seemingly heightened sharpness of the picture stands out perfectly against a somewhat stark and bright color palette, of which even neutral shades within the set design wardrobe cast a hint of vibrancy. Also on that note, bold primaries, such as red, are well saturated with a vivid “pop”, all with out bleeding. Through this heightened sharp look of the picture, fleshtones translate in a generally accurate manner, perhaps appearing just slightly more intense in particular lighting conditions than is natural. Several exterior shots within the Boston setting are exhibited under overcast weather, a condition in which the diffused lighting source brings out the largest abundance of detail visible. Many subjects are prime examples of this release’s far from primitive High Definition display, with extravagant detail in many close-up shots such as the facial details of the cast, textures of the wardrobe and props; the above screenshot is yet another example, with the given clarity seen in the glistening of the damp cement, and the gritty drifts outlining the letters of the boys’ names. Overall, the video quality for this release easily earns itself a “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. Due to the dramatic more dialogue based content of the film, audio splurges throughout the film are mostly occasional, however, are presented well. Some small examples of a more wider use of the 5.1 setup include assigned channel usage and subtle panning involving the shots of the crime scene investigation, reflecting audible sources such as the intercom used by the police, and the swooping helicopter. Also, as we are taken back a few times through Dave’s memories of his abduction, his escape offers a distance howling of wolves, and a gingerly disorientated passing through thick foliage and forest. As mentioned, the film is of course strongly presented through its well written dialogue, with is conveyed from primarily the center front channel, and suffers no flaws. The original music of the film was also done by Clint Eastwood himself, and its presentation within the soundscape is well suited to any accompanying on-screen actions and scenarios, making use of mostly the front channels, some subtle life from the subwoofer, and a more gentle presence in the rear channels. Overall, the presentation of this audio track remains suitable to its content with no complaints, and earns a “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus materials are presented in Standard Definition video with Dolby Digital Stereo sound.

• Audio Commentary by Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon
• “Mystic River: Beneath the Surface” (22:52) is a behind-the-scenes / making of style featurette. It includes interviews with director Clint Eastwood and the cast.
• “Bravo TV Special Mystic River: From Page to Screen” (11:32) is nice to see included and serves as another behind-the-scenes / making of style featurette and again includes interviews with director Clint Eastwood and members of the cast.
• “The Charlie Rose Show” Interviews” are included for Clint Eastwood from 10/08/2003 (41:51), Tim Robbins from 10/13/2003 (50:26) and Kevin Bacon on 12/26/2003 (19:05).
• Trailers are included in both the “Teaser” form (1:15) which features Clint Eastwood’s opening narration and “Theatrical” form (2:20) which sadly does not feature Eastwood doing narration.

Overall, the bonus materials are pretty impressive when you add up how much they total up to roughly 2 hours almost but they are all in Standard Definition and I’ll remind you are just the DVD ports. Still, fans of the film who see it for the first time on Blu-ray will be happy with the set of supplemental materials included.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34603 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35286 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35286#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:01:08 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35286

Warner (WEA) has plans to bring the 2009 concert film / documentary “The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights” directed by Emmett Malloy to Blu-ray Disc on March 16th. Tech specs and bonus materials are unknown for the release at this point but stay tuned and we will keep you updated. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $16.99 price tag. More information as well as the trailer for the release itself can be found over at the band’s official website’s page for it, found HERE.

NOTE: This is now our fifth Hardware Review so let me describe how we will be doing things. You can view the Hardware Review in either HTML (Web) format below or you can download the Adobe Acrobat PDF file presentation by clicking the image below. The second option reads more like a magazine hardware review. This PDF layout was created by myself (James Segars) with the help of Justin Sluss and will be the style that all our future hardware reviews will be published in, as well as the basic HTML below.

this requires Adobe Reader to view.

Is Velodyne’s DEQ series up to snuff? We weigh the pro’s and con’s of Velodyne’s excellent mid-level digital EQ subwoofer. They say you never forget your first car. I on the other hand will never forget my first subwoofer, the VRP-1000. It was my first standalone subwoofer (one that is sold separately from a home theater in a box (HTIB) system) and it remains as one of my all-time favorite Christmas gifts that I’ve received over the years.

It’s difficult to put into words just how much that upgrade changed my life and my view of home theater audio overall — particularly the quality of low frequency effects that could be achieved in the home — and the VRP-1000 remained a constant in my home theater eco-system for many years, that is until it was recently replaced by the A3-300 subwoofer from Elemental Designs that I previously reviewed, and subsequently purchased following the completion of the review.

If you recall the A3-300 review, I was blown away by the increased low end output, and the overall decibel increase offered by the A3-300 over my slightly aged (but still potent) VRP-1000. Fast-forward a couple months to CEDIA 2009 where I popped into the Velodyne booth in order to see what sorts of subwoofer technology they were sporting at the show.

Alongside the absolutely stunning Digital Drive 1812 Signature Edition series subwoofer, there was another set of subwoofers that appeared unassuming, the DEQ-R series. But knowing Velodyne’s track record, small form factor doesn’t mean less impact. They’ve got a real talent for engineering small boxes that pack a real punch, so it’s safe to assume that virtually any sized Velodyne subwoofer will provide a pleasant listening experience, depending on your preferences and budget of course.

As for me, I took an almost immediate liking to the DEQ-12R unit — one that sports a 12 inch driver — because I thought that it would be great to review it alongside my A3-300 (also a 12 inch driver) in order to see how the two units differed, and also to see how the new Velodyne unit improved upon the performance of my older VRP-1000.

— Review by: James Segars —

Within a couple months after CEDIA I would finally have the opportunity to do just that when a brand new DEQ-12R showed up on my doorstep.

The DEQ-12R series subwoofer comes packaged very well, and very tightly — something that is paramount in every way when it comes to shipping electronics equipment. It came double boxed, with sturdy white foam inserts sandwiching the subwoofer which was wrapped in a loose plastic. Accompanying the unit is a remote control, an EQ microphone, microphone stand, and a user manual — oh and yes, batteries are included for the remote control, a simple, but welcome inclusion indeed.

The entire unboxing process was very quick and painless because there are so few parts and the unit itself is considerably lighter than most 12 inch subwoofers on the market, weighing in at 61 pounds. In other words, this makes placement a snap and you can most definitely do this all on your own without the need for a second pair of hands, which is a relief if you find yourself wanting to move the subwoofer around freely to find the sweet spot in your home theater that yields the most output/even performance.

In the first week, I was forced to setup the subwoofers (my A3-300 and the DEQ-12R) at ninety-degrees to each other, with one on the front wall, and the other on the right wall. This was only a temporary solution though, as I was merely waiting on the shipment for a center speaker stand that would replace the table it was currently resting on and thus yield more floorspace that would facilitate the placement of both subwoofers in a front wall, front firing configuration, which is widely believed to be one of the most optimal configurations for dual-subwoofer installations.

I sought to establish this placement standard because I wanted to provide the most constant and equal playing field for the evaluative listening tests. In an ideal world, or a home theater sandbox environment (where space is virtually limitless and of no concern) I would have stacked the subwoofers on top of one another, but because that would block my projector screen that is simply not an option here.

At any rate, let us get back to the initial settings. The first order of business was to run the auto EQ function. I plugged in the supplied microphone after removing the subwoofer grille that otherwise conceals the microphone jack, and I ran the mic to my central seating area, raising it to ear level. After I held the EQ button on the remote for a few seconds, the subwoofer began to emit a series of subwoofer sweep tones, which took no more than a minute to complete, perhaps less. It should go without saying that you should remain quiet during any equalization process, for fear that you might throw off the adjustments. Once that was complete, I decided that it was time to level the subwoofer using my SPL meter.

With no signal running to the subwoofer, I wanted to check just how high the volume control on the subwoofer went. Viewing the digital display on the front, I learned that the subwoofer’s max volume is at 80. After noting that, I promptly returned it to it’s factory standard volume and set about balancing the output level.

In order to do this, I maintained my receiver’s subwoofer output level (as it is matched for my A3-300) and I dialed down the DEQ-12R until it read roughly 75dB on my SPL meter — which was, in my case, 24 on the subwoofers master volume control.

Next up was the phase control. Normally, this has little effect on the subwoofer, and it should typically be left at 0, however in the event that you get better/louder bass with a different phase setting whether it’s a toggle switch (0 or 180), free range dial (0-180) or select preset variables in this case (0, 90, 180, 270) you should stick with what yields the best bass.

In my installation, I found that a phase setting of 0, even when I was running both subs at once was perfectly fine, and there appeared to be little advantage or difference in performance when I toggled/cycled through the phase control settings.

With the phase properly dialed in, I thought it was time to tinker with the four provided presets for the unit. Overall, while watching/listening to a variety of material I noticed differences in the subwoofer performance, but none that were particularly desirable. I prefer to have a reference-style setup where everything plays back on an even sound stage, and so presets such as these that tweak the original settings to enhance a single type of listening material aren’t really my cup of tea. However, I think there’s no harm in having them in the event that someone enjoys the performance differences they yield, and there’s no doubting the “cool” factor that comes along with a novel feature such as this that can be switched on command via a remote control. Another one of these convenient features is the “night” mode that is enabled/disabled exclusively on the remote control. From what I could tell, this throttles the overall output subtly but not quite as pervasively as I thought it would, which, depending on what you’re hoping to get out of that feature may or may not be satisfactory. In other words, if you were hoping for a more aggressive output restriction you would probably be better off scaling back the master volume control over using the night mode exclusively. That would be the best way to ensure that you don’t end up waking up the kids, or agitating your neighbors. Just my two cents on the otherwise nice feature.

Lastly we come to the crossover control. Because the master crossover control is set in my receiver at 80Hz I usually disable (turn the subwoofer’s crossover control all the way up to the max, usually 120Hz) the subwoofer’s crossover. Usually you do this in order to avoid using the crossover twice. However, in the case of this DEQ-12R unit, I found it was necessary to drop the onboard crossover to 90Hz in order to curb the subwoofer’s high end response. I determined this using a subwoofer sweep signal, and by disconnecting the other speakers in my system to ensure I was only hearing the DEQ-12R. Sure enough, despite the master crossover being set in my receiver at 80Hz, I was indeed getting sound above well above 90Hz from the DEQ-12R, and so I promptly set the subwoofer’s crossover to 90Hz in order to diminish the high end frequency output. What’s also important to note is that I opted not to have both crossovers match perfectly (at 80Hz) but that I actually staggered the subwoofer’s onboard crossover because of the frequency roll-off that occurs naturally in the subwoofers crossover control.

With all of the settings properly dialed in, I was just about ready to begin my month long evaluation, but in doing some preliminary evaluation, I noticed an odd performance issue with the unit. It’s one that’s hard to put into words, but the best way I can describe it is as an occasional muted delayed response, or in other words, a very subtle low volume “echo” or hum after a bass note was output. I only noticed this during my night time viewing where the overall volume of the programming was low, but it was consistently there. The good news is that it is extremely subtle and I’d venture to guess that very few people would ever notice it at all. However, it is a persistent issue with my unit, but one that hardly warrants any further complaint because it is so faint and only apparent during very low volume watching. As for what could be causing this, I’m not comfortable speculating because it could be specific to my unit and not the entire production run.

My viewing evaluation method was broken up over the course of four weeks. During that time I sampled/viewed twenty-five films on blu-ray/hd dvd as well as select video games. Many of the films that I sampled make up what will be referred to as “The Gauntlet” from here on out. This group of films that will remain constant for the most part, with a couple substitutions whenever appropriate, will represent my metric for deducing the performance capacity of subwoofer units. I believe that the wide variety of material, and the outstanding bass information found on many of these discs make “The Gauntlet” one of the best ways to put a subwoofer to the test. I’m not concerned with charts, graphs or specs. I want to know if a subwoofer has what it takes to reproduce some of the best bass on disc and perhaps more importantly whether or not it can reveal new and exciting bass passages that had otherwise been obscured or neglected by underpowered units.

It may not be wholly scientific, but I think it’s what really counts — performance. And “The Gauntlet” represents quite a few of the greatest LFE bullshit detectors on the market today.

Without further ado, let’s get rolling.

Viewed: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Wanted, Sunshine, Shoot ‘em Up, The Dark Knight, Domino, Quantum of Solace.

Without question, the latest and greatest LFE demo disc is the latest Transformers film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Surpassed only by Cloverfield and it’s predecessor Transformers, the sequel boasts some of the most pleasing, detailed and bombastic LFE material to date. Having seen the film in IMAX theaters upon release, I had astronomical expectations for the home video release on Blu-ray, and I was very eager to get the DEQ-12R off to a smashing start in order to see if it would deliver the goods.

I was pleasantly surprised. The DEQ-12R handled virtually everything in the film remarkably well, sporting very nice low frequency extension, commendable output and relatively outstanding stability, only buckling under the weight of the bass heavy material a couple times. This is expected of course because the film’s sound design is extremely aggressive, and it doesn’t shy away from tossing out some earth-shattering bass. Still, the unit held up extremely well considering I had the volume cranked quite high on my receiver.

In fact, it wasn’t until I ran back the film for a second time with my A3-300 (and the DEQ turned off) that I was made aware of the times where the DEQ faltered, failed to dip as low, or belt out the bass notes as loudly as the A3-300. However, as I said before, it performed extremely well and I was excited to see how it would handle the rest of the listening material I had planned for it.

With Wanted, Sunshine, Shoot ‘em Up, and Domino the performance of the DEQ-12R was more or less transparent to that of the A3-300, if only slightly less impactful at times. The differences between the two units though were highlighted in viewing The Dark Knight and Quantum of Solace. With Quantum, a few of the explosions, crashes and gunfire lacked a bit of “oomph” and weight that is achieved by the A3-300, and with The Dark Knight, the same is true, but beyond that the bat mobile and the bat pod in particular didn’t have nearly as commanding an on-screen presence as I’ve come to expect from the A3-300. In particular, the ultra-low-end that is present on the The Dark Knight (nearly sub-sonic bass material) wasn’t nearly as powerful with the DEQ-12R, even with the receiver volume turned up quite high. Surely, I could crank the subwoofer volume itself but doing so would result in an overpowering/unbalanced and potentially boomy listening experience. That being said, I never found the DEQ-12R unpleasant or weak, but instead slightly lacking in overall ultra-low-end output and impact.

All in all, my first week with the DEQ-12R was a very enjoyable one, with only a few shortcomings/differences brought to light. One thing is for sure, the DEQ-12R is leaps and bounds beyond my old Velodyne unit.

Viewed: Cloverfield, Transformers, John Mayer: Where The Light Is Live In Los Angeles, Top Gun, Tropic Thunder, 300, Superman Returns.

With one week behind me, it was time to initiate phase two of “The Gauntlet.” Those of you that read my review of the A3-300 know that Cloverfield was one of the key discs that blew me away when evaluating the Elemental Designs subwoofer, and here too, the DEQ-12R delighted me, filling the room with excellent, pulse-pounding bass. However, I did find that it lacked the earth-shattering, gut-punching output provided by the A3-300 in the most demanding scenes. Nonetheless, the DEQ-12R succeeded in reproducing virtually everything else in the film’s low end to perfection, creating a harrowing and terrifying atmosphere.

Of course, just because the new Transformers film is out on Blu-ray doesn’t mean that I’m going overlook the first one (arguably the best audio demo disc until the sequel’s release). Here, heard on the DEQ-12R, Transformers sounds excellent, with an impactful atmosphere and substantial weight behind all but the most extremely low notes/tones in the film. Again, it didn’t go as low as the A3-300 but it did a fine job reproducing almost all of the low frequency material found in the film, of which there is a ton like its successor.

As for the rest of the films viewed in the second week, the DEQ-12R did a fine job handling the musical passages on the John Mayer disc, the screaming jets and flat spins found in Top Gun, pyrotechnics and gunfire in Tropic Thunder, the crash of waves and thunderous marching elephants in 300, and last but not least the thrilling sonic booms and earth splitting cracks found in Superman Returns.

Upon wrapping on week two of my evaluation, I reflected on the overall performance of the DEQ-12R subwoofer thus far. While it never revealed any new details in the low frequency range, it rarely failed to produce a powerful and satisfactory atmosphere, and perhaps that says far more than where it’s weaknesses lie. If the unit can go toe-to-toe with the A3-300 and only falter a handful of times, that’s saying quite a lot about the performance of the DEQ-12R because I consider the Elemental Designs A3-300 the best subwoofer you can buy in its price range ($550). On to week three we go.

Viewed/played: Iron Man, Band of Brothers, Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, V for Vendetta, Halo 3, The Orange Box: Half Life 2, Heat

Much of this section of “The Gauntlet” remains unchanged, although I’ve subbed in the new release of Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut (DD TrueHD, instead of DTS-HD: MA) and also the highly anticipated Michael Mann crime-epic, Heat. Both of these films boast a great deal of low frequency demo material, however the sound design and low frequency material featured in Heat can hardly compete with the earthquake-inducing LFE track that is featured on Watchmen, nor should it. Heat is a perfect film, and so is its soundtrack, just don’t expect it to rock your house the way modern film soundtracks tend to do these days.

Anyway, getting back to the evaluation of those two films, the DEQ-12R presented both films to the best of its ability, delivering a virtually transparent rendition of Heat to the A3-300’s performance, but the same can not be said of Watchmen. For the most part, the DEQ-12R went note for note with the A3-300 in Watchmen, but as in the past, there were times where the A3-300 simply went lower and louder than the DEQ-12R was able to go. In particular, the monstrous kicks and punches in the film lacked some low-end emphasis and the Archimedes fly-bys didn’t rattle the room as much as I expected, nor did the nuclear bomb dream sequence. Of course, these are minor complaints and minor shortcomings. As usual, the DEQ-12R brought the pain wherever appropriate and I was generally quite impressed with its output given the demanding source material.

Outside of the new additions, the ever-indomitable LFE experience on Iron Man was a real treat to behold on the DEQ-12R, as was the bombastic explosive finale in V for Vendetta, and the countless explosions, artillery reports and gunshots in Band of Brothers. Nary an LFE detail was lost on the DEQ-12R.

As for the video games, Halo 3 sounded as good as ever, complete with resonant grenade explosions and pleasantly full sounding gun fire. Naturally, the video game evaluation wouldn’t be complete without giving Half Life 2 a go, and firing off more than a few rounds of the combine pulse rifle. Here I was very pleased to find that the reproduction of the pulse rifle’s gut-thumping kick was preserved almost entirely. It still sounded very powerful, but it did lack a bit of the weight that the A3-300 lent the sound effect. Still, the DEQ-12R held up quite well with respect to the A3-300’s rendition of the video game soundtracks.

Viewed/played: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Australia, Hot Fuzz, The Incredible Hulk, Sigur Ros: Heima, The Fountain, Gommorah.

Once more, I decided to start the week off with a bang. This time however, it would be with the latest (and greatest) addition to the long line of Call of Duty franchise games with the release of Modern Warfare 2. Fans of the game franchise will be quick to agree that it boasts some of the most awe-inspiring multi-channel gaming sound design and effects across the board. Along with that, there are more than a dozen cool ways to evoke a bombastic LFE experience, whether its the concussive report of the Barrett .50 Caliber sniper rifle, a remotely detonated C4 explosive device, frag grenades exploding all around you, or strategically planted claymores there is no shortage of low frequency material. Predictably, the DEQ-12R did an excellent job with the LFE track present on the game. In fact, in comparing this particular game between the A3-300 and the DEQ-12R, I came to notice that the DEQ-12R actually had a bit more pronounced and fuller high-end low frequency response, which should not be confused with “boominess.” Why I hadn’t noticed this until now, I can’t say for certain, but doing A/B comparisons, toggling back and forth between the two subs the difference was definitely apparent. So you see, where the DEQ-12R lacks a bit of the low-end extension, it narrowly bests the A3-300 in the upper register of the low frequency range.

Moving on to the film portion of the final week evaluation, I found certain segments of the haunting Italian film, Gommorah, to be particularly resonant via the DEQ-12R. Of note, the scene where two of the trouble italian youths are firing grenade launchers and machine guns in a desolate coastal locale to be very powerful and startlingly realistic, but also beyond that, the drive-by execution of a character and subsequent car crash gripped me thoroughly.

Another favorite of mine that didn’t make the cut for “The Gauntlet” last time around is Aronofsky’s The Fountain. It is a powerful film on its own, but the soundtrack (both the score and the sound design) carry a healthy bit of LFE all-their-own. The climax of the film is without question the most powerful scene in all respects, and I was glad to hear the DEQ-12R keeping up with all but the lowest notes in the finale. It performed very well.

However, while the DEQ-12R kept up with nearly everything during this week’s evaluation, it struggled a bit with the triumphantly powerful low end featured on The Incredible Hulk. As I previously stated in my A3-300 review, this film is incredibly demanding and it churns out a massive amount of ultra-low-end material, and in many ways (alongside some of the aforementioned titles in weeks past) it is one of the greatest bullshit detectors around. Thankfully, the DEQ-12R only faltered sporadically, and even then it wasn’t that it became distorted, only that it couldn’t dive as deep as the track wished to go.
Moving on, the DEQ-12R finished off the fourth week of evaluation quite well, offering up a splendid rendition of the Sigur Ros documentary, Heima, while also reproducing the thunderous hooves of stampeding cattle in Australia, as well as the big-time-booms resonating from a flurry of shotgun blasts and gunfire featured in Hot Fuzz. All in all, it was the perfect sign-off to a rather impressive evaluation period.

All things considered, the DEQ-12R is a very capable 12 inch subwoofer. It was able to go toe-to-toe with what I believe to be the best “bang for your buck” subwoofer on the market today (the A3-300 @ $550), and in the end it really only loses points on the areas of Extension, and Output. It simply can’t compete with the A3-300 in the ultra-low-end of the frequency range, but in many ways, that may work for consumers who aren’t looking to reproduce near-subsonic bass and really shake things up. In that way, perhaps the DEQ-12R would be the best option. It’s a very stable, highly precise subwoofer with great extension, great output and a host of features that you won’t find on the A3-300, including the convenient auto-EQ feature. However, all of the bells and whistles do come at a price, as does the established Velodyne brand name; the DEQ-12R rings in at $650, making it a whole hundred dollars more than the Elemental Designs offering.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you, the consumer, values more. If you’re a die-hard Velodyne fan, chances are you’ll likely stick with the familiar brand even though the DEQ-12R might be slightly underpowered compared to the cheaper unit from Elemental Designs.

Rest assured though, no matter which you choose (if either) you will be purchasing an extremely capable and potent subwoofer that will outperform virtually anything in its class/price range, internet direct or otherwise.

It has been a real pleasure reviewing the DEQ-12R series subwoofer. Velodyne is constantly improving their products, finding new and exciting ways to provide the consumer with excellent bass, and the DEQ series is no exception. I’ll be sad to see it go.

Product Image:
click the thumbnail below for a larger view

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=35253 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35237 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35237#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:11:05 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35237

Disney, in an early alert to retailers, has announced plans to bring two classic 90’s action films to Blu-ray Disc on May 4th, 2010. The first title is Michael Bay’s 1998 film “Armageddon” starring Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thorton and Liv Tyler. The second title is George P. Cosmatos‘ 1993 film “Tombstone” starring Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton. Both titles are available for PRE-ORDER (click the titles above for listings) and both carry $20.99 price tags. No word yet on tech specs or bonus materials but stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

Disney (parent company of ABC) has announced plans in both a somewhat official form which was reported a day or so ago by our friends over at TV Shows on DVD and now by early retailer alerts over at Amazon. The plans are to bring the final installment, “LOST: The Complete Sixth Season” and also a bundle of it all “LOST: The Complete Collection” to Blu-ray Disc on August 24, 2010. Tech specs so far are unknown but judging from last season you can expect 1080p Hi-Def (obviously) and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. PRE-ORDER’s are up for both. “LOST: The Complete Sixth Season” which will be on 5 Blu-ray Discs, carries a $55.99 price tag and “LOST: The Complete Collection” which will span across 36 total Blu-ray Disc, carries a $195.99 price tag. Bonus materials for the sixth season include the following listed below “and much more”.

• Original scripted content that goes deeper into some of the stories, exclusive to Blu-ray and DVD produced by Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse
• LOST Bloopers & Deleted Scenes
• LOST on Location – Go behind-the-scenes and get the stories from the set, on location in Hawaii from the actors and crew who make it happen.
• Crafting A Final Season – Investigation into the goals and expectations of the season through interviews with writers, producers, cast, and crew
• Audio Commentaries
• LOST University (BD Exclusive, powered by BD-Live)

The complete collection box set is said to have “one full disc of bonus exclusive to the Complete Collection…At least two hours of content.”

has an average rating of 6.7 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 25gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 MA & PCM 2.0 Stereo
are a bit short but still worthwhile
–
– 2009
– 95 minutes
– Dark Sky Films (MPI)
–
This uses 19.1GB for the movie out of 21.4GB total.
Street Date: February 2nd, 2010

Overall Verdict – Recommended

Buy it for $21.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

Trailer:

During the 1980s over 70% of American adults believed in the existence of abusive Satanic Cults…

Another 30% rationalized the lack of evidence due to government cover ups…

The following is based on true unexplained events…

“The House of the Devil” was written, directed and edited by Ti West. The film is a classic throwback visually to the horror films from the mid to late 1970’s and especially those from the 1980’s — in which the film happens to take place. The great thing about this film that accomplishes that classic throwback visually is the fact (as I’ll discuss further in video quality below) this was shot on old school 16mm film such as horror classics like “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” or “Black Christmas” — originals of course, not the remakes. The story revolves around a girl in her late teens or early twenties by the name of “Samantha” played by Jocelin Donahue. Samantha as we see her in the beginning of the film is looking at an apartment that is essentially a sectioned off area of a large house. One would see the film’s cover art or originally poster and assume that this film is going to be about a haunted house. It is in fact not about a haunted house but that is cool that it can actually lead you to thinking that, as even critic Roger Ebert cited himself in his theatrical review of the film.

Speaking of the film being able to fool you, I would like to point out even here in my assessment of the movie that this film with the cover art and its unique “old school” grainy visual style can actually fool folks into thinking that it actually is a film from the 1980’s. That in my honest opinion is a really cool thing for the writer, director and even editor Ti West to think about. Anyway, back to the film itself and the plot. Our leading lady Samantha lives on campus in a dorm where she (obviously) attends college. She shares a dorm room with another roommate, who is a very sloppy, slutty girl who always has boys over. This girl as the roommate totally conflicts with our leading lady, who is a very neat and frankly seems to be still a virgin. It is obvious she is hating her time at college mainly due to just this living arrangement. She is desperate to get her own apartment as we see in the beginning of the film, but she needs some extra cash to be able to pay for the apartment. She sees a flier on the bulletin board on campus for a babysitter job and calls to only get an answering machine on which she leaves a formal message. She uses the pay phone on the campus to make this call and then walks off. We are immediately startled, just as she is by the pay phone ringing. She turns around and goes back and answers the phone. It is the person who is seeking a babysitter and that is where I will honestly end my synopsis to avoid any (further) spoilers.

In closing, “The House of the Devil” is an impressive horror film in a very retro throwback way to the films from the late 70’s and 80’s as I mentioned above. A lot of folks felt this didn’t start to really get scary until too late in the film, I on the other hand loved the fact that it built up its suspense and took its time along the way to give us some back story to Samantha, so that we (as the audience) would actually want her to survive the film. Now obviously, I cannot tell you if she does or does not survive the film as that is the biggest spoiler imaginable but I will tell you that the film has its scary side to it. My favorite element though is not so much the film’s scary side as much as its actual throwback to the retro horror films I grew up on as a kid and have enjoyed ever since. I commend Ti West on what is in my own honest opinion a job very well done. I look forward to his future projects, he is definitely a very visionary personal in terms of writing and directing.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-25 (25 gigabyte single layer Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. As IMDb clearly states under the technical specifications for the aspect ratio, this was shot on old-school 16mm film and that is why it has that extremely vintage feel to it. I at first, when viewing the film, thought that it had been shot digitally and then a series of filters and such had been applied in post-production but apparently I am wrong. The bonus materials here lack an audio commentary and the few featurettes really have no mention of using 16mm cameras (aside from actually showing one close-up on more than a few occasions) or any mention of post-production visual filters. The amount of film grain is heavy but in a very cool vintage 1970’s or 1980’s horror film way. The opening credits also are very retro and remind me of something that would excite even the big man himself, Quentin Tarantino. Unlike Tarantino’s film (“Death Proof“) from his “Grindhouse” retro double-feature extravaganza with Robert Rodriguez, this film actually pulls off an almost flawless retro presentation that can actually fool some folks into thinking it was a film from the time period it is set in; that is if they don’t look at the copyright date on the back of the packaging or on IMDb.

This amazing retro visual presentation comes much thanks to the wonderful work of the DP (Directory of Photography) Eliot Rockett. I really cannot find anything here to complain about in the video quality but I won’t say that is 100% flawless or demo material either. I will say however it is a very impressive visual presentation, thanks to its throwback to old horror films and it looks really great to be from a 16mm source. Speaking of it being from 16mm source, it really contains a great amount of detail, especially in close-ups which is impressive for 16mm. The black level is solid here which is always key in a horror film, the fleshtones are accurate and the color palette although a tad subdued is at times somewhat vibrant. “The House of the Devil” earns a solid “4 Star Rating” for overall video quality.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 Stereo. Things start up with the film’s original music done by Jeff Grace which gets a good presentation in the 5.1 mix, with some decent rear channel presence and good LFE (bass). The dialogue is delivered very distinctly throughout the film and requires no volume adjustments. The film’s audio presentation is never really too over the top unless it needs to be, to put you on the edge of your seat, which it does when the time comes. Overall there’s nothing to complain about her but also nothing too overly impressive with the 5.1 presentation. It does a bit more than get the job done, especially for a horror film of this style, earning “The House of the Devil” a solid “4 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.

Bonus materials are presented in both 1080i High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @256kbps.

• Audio Commentary with Director & Cast
• Audio Commentary with Director, Producers & Designers
• Trailer (2:08 – SD)
• “Deleted Scenes” (6:42 – SD) prove to really be probably have been better off left on the cutting room floor.
• “In The House of the Devil” (13:34 – SD) is the more in-depth of the behind-the-scenes or making of style featurettes. It includes interviews with the cast and crew as well as behind-the-scenes footage and such.
• “Behind The House of the Devil” (4:40 – HD) is a behind-the-scenes making of featurette with interviews from writer/director Ti West as well as cast members Jocelin Donahue, AJ Bowen, Greta Gerwig and Mary Woronov.

Overall, the bonus material a tad bit short but they do prove to be very worthwhile. If you enjoyed the film you will be happy with the fact you get the 2 audio commentary tracks (both of which include director Ti West) as well as the deleted scenes and featurettes.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34965 1 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35165 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35165#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:28:07 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35165

Joss Whedon fans will be very happy with this.

UPDATE: Amazon now has a PRE-ORDER listing up with a $13.99 price tag for “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” on Blu-ray Disc set to street on May 25th, 2010. The 3 episode online mini-series (of sorts) written by Joss Whedon, his brothers and one’s fiance starred Neil Patrick Harris (a.k.a. “N.P.H.“), Nathan Fillion (of “Firefly” fame) and Felicia Day. No word yet on tech specs for the release or bonus materials but stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

As we reported to you earlier this month (article found HERE), it turns out now that Warner officially DOES have plans to bring the 2009 Guy Ritchie directed film “Sherlock Holmes” starring Robert Downey, Jr. & Jude Law to Blu-ray Disc on March 30th. The studio offers a trade ad as proof (pictured above and in full HERE) which we just received as an e-mail. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio with DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. The title is not yet available for pre-order but stay tuned and we will keep you updated. Below you will find a list of bonus materials set to be included on this “Combo” release, meaning it will include the Blu-ray, a DVD and Digital Copy of the film on 3 discs total.

* WB Maximum Movie Mode (TRT Feature Length)
– Director Guy Ritchie Walk On
– PIP
– Focus Points
– Storyboard Comparisons
– Still Gallery Timeline
* Sherlock Holmes: Reinvented
* Deleted Scenes – TBD
* BD-Live

has an average rating of 7.6 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
include original DVD ports & D-BOX
–
– 1998
– 119 Minutes
– Universal
–
This uses 31.5GB for the movie out of 33.7GB total.
Street Date: February 2nd, 2010

Overall Verdict – Worth a “Trip”

Buy it for $18.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

While watching “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” for the second time, I couldn’t help but think that the hallucinations and what not that occurs is kind of a metaphor for what Las Vegas is. Sure the physical drugs do create the illusions and “trips”, but for any of you who have ever had the experience that one gets when they visit Las Vegas, I’m sure some of you out there will agree that Las Vegas is a “trip” in and of itself. And I believe that is what both Thompson, the writer, and Gilliam, the filmmaker, were trying to speak on. Vegas is overly dependent on the money that comes in and out, the shows, the over excess. Vegas, essentially, is every aspect of being over excessive by sheer definition. You don’t have to take the drugs that Duke and Gonzo take to experience the “trip” they do, but all you have to do is visit Vegas. No one I’m not saying that you’ll become “high” or “disillusioned” if you visit Vegas, but rather I’m speaking on the overall impact Vegas has on a both an international and domestic level. This aspect of Gilliam’s work is what makes it worthwhile to at least myself. The idea that it’s a kind of social commentary on our views of Vegas as a whole, what we’ve made it.

In closing, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is quite the oddity. While the film wasn’t a critical or monetary success in the least sense, the film has become a cult classic in the last 12 years. This, I believe, lies in the message that the film tells. While not everyone may get the same exact result out of the movie that I did, I believe if you go into it with an open mind and don’t immediately dismiss it like many have, you may find something in this that oh so many haven’t been able to see.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte, dual layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. “Las Vegas” has a very different kind of color palette. By this I’m not meaning that the film uses out of this world color schemes, but rather that the choice of colors perfectly compliment the film’s thematic elements. The golden hues of colors like blues and yellows that dominate the film all pop off the screen with exquisite detail. Speaking of detail, the film’s print is in immaculate condition with no evidence of damage or noise to the print. Darks are bold, blacks are inky and fleshtones are accurate. Contrast levels are fine as well with no instance or sequence really that might have one wonder if the contrast was ever pumped up. The only issue here is that some of the grain levels can be a bit cumbersome at times, but this isn’t a huge overall issue. I was thoroughly impressed by this image. All in all this earns a “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. Having only seen this film once through (on the ill-fated HD DVD), I remember being quite impressed with the TrueHD track that was found there. Well the provided DTS-HD is equally as good. Even though this film may be dialogue heavy at times, the film’s soundstage does open at times. Atmosphere is great, especially in the dream moments where varying effects heighten the aural experience. LFE is deep at times adding in a nice, solid boom here and there. Dialogue, as briefly mentioned above, is clear and intelligible even though Depp’s speech can be slurred at times. Pans between rears are fine as well with no instance of drop out. All in all there isn’t any real upgrade over either visual or audio here, but what is presented is just fine earning a “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials are presented in Standard Definition video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps.

• BD-Live: As per all Universal titles, BD-Live is included and gives fans access to current and upcoming trailers and bonus content.
• Deleted Scenes: Here we get about 11 minutes of deleted scenes, all of which are presented in very rough condition.
• Spotlight on Location: This runs close to 10 minutes in length and serves as your a-typical making of featurette with interviews and what not.
• D-Box: This is another disc that has D-Box enabled motion content included. Boy I wouldn’t mind having one of those chairs in my home theater (hint hint D-Box). Plus, I can only imagine would it would be like to be a bit drunk and watch this film with D-Box roaring on full-force. Definitely would be a “trip” — that much is for sure.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34828 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34995 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34995#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:01:29 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34995

has an average rating of 7.7 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are short but in Hi-Def & worthwhile
–
– 2009
– 106 minutes
– Universal
–
This uses 30.4GB for the movie out of 37.4GB total.
Street Date: February 9th, 2010

Overall Verdict – Recommended

Buy it for $19.49 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

Trailer:

Returning strongly to their comedy roots is to be expected of the Coens but the taking on a Jewish main character and story that revolves pretty heavily around Jewish religion and even terms (words, phrases, ritual names, so forth) is a bit out of left field so-to-speak. Then again, who am I to judge, after all I am just a critic basically here and not anyone to say what the Coen brothers should or should not do as their next film. You must first know, I am not Jewish, in fact I’m not honestly that religious of a person at all but I guess I’d consider myself a “Goy” or whatever you’d like to call me. With that being said, it is a bit hard to pick up on some of the Jewish terms and such being used throughout the film but I have watched my share of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and other shows or films focusing around a Jewish lead actor, so I knew what to expect somewhat. I hope that statement does not offend anyone of Jewish faith, I just want to be upfront that I am not Jewish and that because of that, I found it a bit confusing at times the words being used. Luckily, for folks like myself there exists a great featurette on the bonus materials, which you will hear me discuss more down way further in this review.

As mentioned (or rather hinted above), the film takes place in a Minneapolis suburb during 1967 and revolves mainly around a 30 or 40 something Jewish man “Larry Gupnik” (played by Michael Stuhlbarg). Larry is a physics professor at the local university. He has a wife, two teenage children, a boy and girl and he has a brother unemployed that is staying with him. This home life is less than worthwhile even before things start to go wrong for Larry but they soon do and things become even less worthwhile it seems to him until he has a little bit of self discovery. Larry’s son “Danny” (Aaron Wolff) has his own adventure smoking marijuana with his friend and then getting chased home daily by the guy who he owes twenty bucks for the weed. This is just the crazy humor we have come to expect from the Coens over the years.

In closing, “A Serious Man” is definitely one of the funniest films the Coen brothers have made but in all honesty, not THE funniest of all — that goes in my opinion to “Raising Arizona.” Still, this has some really great humor to it, a unique Jewish style of humor that is rarely seen this way in film. The performance given by lead Michael Stuhlbarg is very memorable and should definitely win him at least an “Oscar” nomination for best leading actor. Fans of the Coen brothers previous films may not like this film as much, or get it rather as much as their other films; mainly because of the strong amount of Jewish religious content but proves to be definitely worth giving a chance.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and 1.37:1 for the opening segment. As IMDb clearly states, this was shot using Arriflex cameras on Super 35mm film and it makes for one beautifully vibrant, detailed Hi-Def visual presentation. In fact, I was almost convinced this had to have been shot in Hi-Def when I first saw the 1.85:1 footage after the introduction segment. The slight, I mean very slight bit of film grain is what lead me to realizing that it was shot on traditional film and not digitally in Hi-Def, plus that info I mentioned on IMDb helped me confirm that. Regardless of what this was shot on, it looks marvelous with rich vibrant colors, accurate fleshtones, a solid black level and just all around pleasant visual presentation with excellent cinematography from Roger Deakins who served as Director of Photography on yet another of many films with the Coen brothers. Deakins cinematography really translates, just as the Super 35mm film source, perfectly here to Hi-Def and is at times “jaw dropping” in the amount of minute detail and angles, as well as the actual physical (visible) amount of detail present visually in the transfer. This is by my eyes, simply flawless and a visual treat, especially in terms of cinematography and detail. “A Serious Man” on Blu-ray Disc earns Universal a perfect “5 Star Rating” for overall video quality. Extremely impressive effort here.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. This film, just as with most other Coen brothers films relies heavily on dialogue which is delivered perfectly here in the 5.1 mix, primarily through the front center channel. The front left and right channels get the majority of the Foley, sound effects in the mix but the rear channels also get a tad bit of action for some environment style audio effects. The LFE (bass) level here is pretty decent but never really nothing too loud or intense. The film’s original music by Carter Burwell (another veteran working with the Coen’s) sounds excellent as does the Jefferson Airplane song “Somebody to Love” which is played numerous times throughout the film. One other thing worth mentioning is that this film does contain Hebrew and Yiddish at times but if you do not understand them, the dialogue is accompanied by subtitles. All and all, this audio presentation is pretty decent and does a little bit more than get the job done, earning it a solid “4 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.

Bonus materials are presented in High Definition (HD) video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps.

• BD-Live is include on this Universal release which requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access online content from the studio as well as share content such as bookmarks (“My Scenes”) and other features.
• “Becoming Serious” (17:04 – HD) is your basic “making of” style featurette that includes interviews with writer/directors Ethan Coen and Joel Coen discussing how this is one of their more personal films to-date. The Coens also discuss how the opening bit of the film (the 4×3 material with black bars on the sides) is a fake Yiddish folk tale they made up that has no real significance to the rest of the film.
• “Creating 1967” (13:43 – HD) is a behind-the-scenes style featurette that takes a tour of the Minneapolis neighborhoods they filmed in as well as set pieces.
• “Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys” (2:14 – HD) is for the non-Jewish viewers like myself to have a better understanding of the Hebrew and Yiddish languages.

Overall, the bonus materials are actually impressive and very worthwhile despite only being a little over 35 minutes or so in total length (run time). One thing that is a definite plus is the fact ALL the featurettes are presented in Hi-Def video quality. If you enjoyed the film you will be pleased here by the bonus materials and if you are a “Goy” like myself you’ll appreciate the final featurette explaining the Hebrew and Yiddish languages.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34995 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35051 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35051#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:22:44 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=35051

Disney this time it seems official, in yet another (see our previous story HERE) early alert to retailers has announced plans to bring the 2009 family-friendly comedy “Old Dogs” starring John Travolta & Robin Williams to Blu-ray Disc on March 9th. This title will be available in a standard release (PRE-ORDER available at Amazon with a $35.99 price tag) and also Three-Disc “Combo” release (PRE-ORDER available at Amazon with a $40.49 price tag). That 3-Disc release will contain a DVD and Digital Copy as well as the Blu-ray of the film. Both versions are available for PRE-ORDER in the links above. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound (likely). Information regarding bonus materials can be found below (taken from the PRESS RELEASE).

• A Collection of Hilarious Deleted Scenes and Bloopers
• Audio Commentary by the film’s director Walt Becker, producer Andrew Panay, and writers David Diamond and David Weissman
• “Every Little Step” — A new music video performed by John Travolta and Ella Bleu Travolta

The three-disc Combo Pack (BD+DVD+Digital Copy) includes all of the above as well as:

• “You’ve Been A Friend To Me” — A music video performed by Bryan Adams
• “Young Dogs Learn Old Tricks”

has an average rating of 6.6 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 25gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
are bare minimal and not worthwhile
–
– 2009
– 98 minutes
– First Look Studios
–
This uses 20.6GB for the movie out of 21.4GB total.
Street Date: February 2nd, 2010

Overall Verdict – Worth A Rental

Buy it for $14.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Danielle Byington & Justin Sluss —

The movie revolves around Jess (Melissa George), a single mother with an autistic son. We see her briefly going about the hassles of daily chores at her home through, and dealing with the typical frustrations of parenthood. Moving along, it is apparent that Jess has plans to get away from these things for an afternoon as we see her arrive at a dock for a few hours of sailing off the coast of Miami on a friend’s boat named, The Triangle. Ignoring most of the on-boat drama between a couple of the passengers, Jess attempts to simply take in the beauty of the ocean setting, and let go of her worries. However, this is just not intended to happen as the winds abruptly stop, and an eerie calm surrounds the waters. This silence is broken quickly by a sudden approaching storm, which violently throws The Triangle about. As quickly as it happened, the storm soon ends, leaving the remaining passengers stranded atop the upside-down floating remains of the boat.

Beginning to see this situation as hopeless, the mood is turned around as a large cruise ship appears to be heading in the survivors’ direction. The large ship gently passes right by the stranded sail boat, and Jess and the remaining passengers gingerly climb aboard through a side staircase. The nature within this ship’s amenities is both luxurious, yet empty, as despite the size of the luxury liner there is no sign of other passengers or even a crew; though there are fresh appetizers awaiting the stranded passengers of The Triangle in the dining area. The group of friends begin to wonder the cabin halls, still find no other passengers, yet Jess finds her own keyring lying in the hallways, which is of course very odd, considering she has never been aboard this 1930’s cruise ship. An ominous feeling of un-ease fulfills Jess, and she is about to find herself in a radically unexplainable scenario that literally works against time.

In closing, “Triangle” could best be described as if Richard Kelly re-made “The Shining” on a boat. The strongest qualities of this film seem to show an influence that reflects that statement, with its use of themes revolving around the relevance of time/quantum physics, and the visuals of the set design creating a feeling of hopelessly being trapped within what is basically a mind-f*** of a floating hotel. The film does hold an intriguing spark with the directions it takes, and with an unusual spin on its finale, it does offer a cluster of afterthoughts and reflections; however, general audiences may dislike that this film requires you to think, rather than just give you an ending full of answers. Yet on that note, there is a great deal left unanswered within this movie, and though it is a nice attempt of a time-relevance themed thriller/sci-fi flick, maybe even the writers got lost in the looping plot and rushed a final product. Overall, the movie’s subject material is atleast interesting, just perhaps not executed in the best fashion on-screen, receiving a “3 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-25 (25 gigabyte single layer Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The film, according to IMDb’s technical specifications for the aspect ratio was shot digitally in Hi-Def using the Panavision HD camera. Aside from the Red One camera, this is one of my favorite cameras out there and usually produces some excellent Hi-Def visual presentations based on previous films shot on the Genesis. This film is not a complete exception but it is not one of the best films shot on the camera visually. It does deliver a pretty much solid presentation though, with an almost solid black level, somewhat accurate fleshtones with honestly a dull at times subdued color palette, but with the occasional vibrant color in some of the opening title shots and of course the shots of the ocean and such.

Definition varies from scene to scene, with a smoother look visible within the interior shots on the cruise ship, and yet very impressive detail captured in some of the exterior shots under much brighter lighting conditions. Also keep in mind that a decent amount of CG was used in this film as well, most of which translates pretty well in Hi-Def, especially considering this was pulled off by an independent studio. Overall, the video quality here fluctuates from a crisp and cleaner picture, to some lesser than shots, all in all landing itself with a “4 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. The audio track that accompanies this thriller flick definitely wants you to know that it is there, as it borderlines over-kill throughout even seemingly quiet moments in the story’s content. It is actually almost difficult to decide where to begin in discussion of what sort of flips and cartwheels the 5.1 setup performs, and this is a rather flattering statement aimed towards the independent First Look Studios, because you really do not get an impressive sound design all to often on these smaller title independent films. One of the first intense scenes providing an uproar from the soundscape follows along with the sudden storm at sea in which the violence of the ocean conveys its most realistic rush of aggressive waves, wind, rain, and thunder to the front and rear channels, with a robust presence of bass as well. Speaking of the subwoofer usage of this film, it is as though it is nearly constant, which is the primary factor that may lead audiences to feel that the audio track was overdoing it. Something you should keep in mind however, is that much of this rumbling bass presence that occurs during scenes in which it may seem unnecessary is coming from the long drawn-out rolling from the subwoofer which is the audio track’s representation of being on a luxury liner from the 1930’s. On that note, this deep LFE performance is not totally smooth, and does have a slight issue in its presentation, and it is the primary factor that does tend to go overboard at times.

Other subjects of the release’s audio track prove to do rather well in the 5.1 setup, with an occasional disoriented swirl of panning movement of the sound conveying the time-trapped content of the film appropriately, providing front channel presence, and well as moderate rear channel presence. Dialogue translate well, coming form primarily the front center channel, and does not suffer any issues of being taken-over by the other elements within the audio performance. Overall, the audio track on this release does prove to give its all, and it certainly is worthy of its “4 Star Rating“, and could have reached a higher rating in fact with just some small refining.

Bonus materials are presented in Standard Definition video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.

• “Cast & Crew Interviews” (5:59) is your basic rundown interview with obviously the cast and crew, as they discuss their own personal opinions of the film, and experiences during the production.

Overall, the bonus materials are definitely the bare minimum in terms of supplemental material with only one featurette in total that doesn’t even have more than a 10 minute runtime total. Fans who enjoyed the film will be only semi-satisfied here with bonus content.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34642 1 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34932 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34932#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:38:59 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34932

Disney has officially announced plans to bring the Ron Clements & John Musker directed 2009 hand-drawn style animated film “The Princess and the Frog” to Blu-ray Disc on March 16th. This title will be available in a standard release (PRE-ORDER available at Amazon with a $27.99 price tag) and also Three-Disc “Combo” release (PRE-ORDER available at Amazon with a $31.49 price tag). That 3-Disc release will contain a DVD and Digital Copy as well as the Blu-ray of the film. Both versions are available for PRE-ORDER in the links above. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. Bonus materials are set to include the following listed below.

The single disc version comes with these exciting bonus features:

• Deleted Scenes
• Audio Commentary by John Musker and Ron Clements (co-writers and directors) and Peter Del Vecho (producer)
• “Never Knew I Needed”- Music video by Ne-Yo
• Games and Activities
• What Do You See: Princess Portraits — A bayou-style quiz tests viewers’ knowledge of all of Disney’s beautiful princesses. Ray’s firefly family creates twinkling portraits of each princess and if the player correctly identifies her, they can enjoy a tongue-cheek mini re-telling of that character’s story.

The Blu-ray Combo Pack edition comes with additional bonus features, including:

Backstage Disney

• Magic In The Bayou: The Making of A Princess — Co-writers and directors John Musker and Ron Clements take a freewheeling, behind-the-scenes look at the making of Disney’s newest animated film as it grows from an initial concept to a lavish animated film set in the enchanting world of New Orleans and the surrounding bayous.
• The Return To Hand Drawn Animation
• The Disney Legacy
• Disney’s Newest Princess
• The Princess and the Animator
• Conjuring The Villain
• A Return To The Animated Musical
• Bringing Life to Animation with an introduction by John Musker and Ron Clements.
• Deleted Scenes introduced by the filmmakers
• Art Galleries — A collection of storyboard art traces the visual development of The Princess and the Frog’s rich gallery of characters and settings.

NOTE: This is now our fourth Hardware Review so let me describe how we will be doing things. You can view the Hardware Review in either HTML (Web) format below or you can download the Adobe Acrobat PDF file presentation by clicking the image below. The second option reads more like a magazine hardware review. This PDF layout was created by our lead hardware editor James Segars (with the help of Justin Sluss) and will be the style that all our future hardware reviews will be published in, as well as the basic HTML below.

this requires Adobe Reader to view.

eD continues to deliver the goods with another killer home theater subwoofer entry — the A5-350. Audiophile. Upon hearing this word one might think of someone who is searching for not only good audio, but audio that is clean and clear no matter the volume level. Enter Elemental Designs, a fairly new company that has it’s mind and heart set on exactly one goal; delivering high-end audio and performance, but at a price that won’t empty your wallet. I hadn’t heard of the company before the review our own James Segars did for their A3-300 sub. Apparently the company was rather impressed with the work James did, so they decided to send out another sub for us to review, this time the A5-350.

— Review by: Brendan Surpless —

Arriving on a rather nice September afternoon, I was eager to hook this bad boy up after hearing so much excellent feedback on another ED product we covered (HERE) from our own James Segars. Being dropped off by a Fedex truck, I attempted to carry this sucker inside. However, with the clocking in at 107pds, I knew I needed a bit of help (thanks Oliver!). I was a bit surprised to find that the unit wasn’t protected by any type of plastic, but rather by 4 heavy-duty foam pieces that covered each corner of the sub. After removing everything from the box, I immediately noticed that the sub didn’t come with any type of manual, just the sub and nothing more. Laying the sub down directly next to my television stand (see below), I ran into my first issue.

I didn’t have any extra speaker wire nor a subwoofer analog cable! How on earth does a home theater not have an extra material laying around you might be asking right? Well, let me example. The way the wiring works for my current setup (Bose) is that everything runs directly from the speakers to the subwoofer, nothing into the actual receiver. Now this was a bit of a problem for me as I had ran all the wiring for the Bose setup into the wall, down across my basement and back up for the 2 rears. What I had to do was disconnect all the wiring and then re-run wiring through my basement with your standard 16-gauge speaker wire. Not necessarily the biggest issue but definitely a small sidestep.

After that speed bump, I was ready to go! I first made sure to enable the sub setting inside of my avr menu setup. With everything balanced out (with the exception of the Center Channel being at +4db), I figured I’d pick a few of my favorite discs first. I clearly threw in a few quick demo discs (Transformers, The Dark Knight) and found myself quite impressed with the range of performance the sub gave; however, more on that later.

One aspect I had came to discover with this sub, especially
in comparison to my Bose sub, is that you have to adjust the sub settings for each program you watch. Now some might simply shout ‘well duh’ here but keep in mind that minus the Bose sub, I had never had a ‘real’ sub so I’m a bit new to this. However I do feel that I know a fairly good amount about home theater, certainly enough to handle this on my own.

With that said, I will mention that the overall range this sub can perform on is downright impressive. During the course I had the sub, I obviously sampled some of my favorite discs (which I go through below), but also put the sub to work on just about anything I could get my hands on. I’m talking about comedy, action, drama, music, tv, etc. While clearly Transformers will easily beat out something like Family Guy, I still found that the sub provided each demoed sample with just the right amount of oomph. However, like I mentioned above, I did have to tweak each disc. Below I’ll list what I found the best settings to be for each particular genre as well as what I sampled.

Generally with a comedic affair, I didn’t notice all that much LFE response. Due to this, I found that I had to increase the sub output to roughly 40% to 45%. By increasing the output from the typical output I watched other genres at (30%), I found that, for example, a film like Bruno offered more response than I knew originally existed.

Now with a genre like Action, I actually found that I had to lower the output from the normal 30% to 25%. One might think why would he lower the output, wouldn’t he want more LFE response during those heightened moments of action? Well the answer to that is two-folded. On one side is that I did initial try the higher end output (as high as 40% at one point), but I found that the LFE response was just too powerful (and this was with my AVR sub db set at +0db). Perhaps it’s the size of my room (12×18), but other people in my house felt like the walls were shaking and, at one point, the water pipes were rattling. Haha guess this sub really does pack a whallop!

Moving to a typically more reserved genre, whenever I found myself watching something like drama (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, etc), the best setting for the A5-350 was the higher end spectrum. While most of the LFE from these films comes from the score associated with the movie at hand, I still found that a comfortable 45% to 50% output was the setting that worked for me.

Now these aforementioned settings will not be the perfect settings for everyone as room sizes and preferred LFE response will vary from person to person, but for those that view their films in the size room I do and live in a house with others, I found these settings to be perfect giving just the right amount of LFE while at the same time not annoying others in the house.

Instead of mentioning what I watched each week like James did, I’m going to review this sub in the same manner that I reviewed Beats by Dre from Monster Cable, in that I’ll pick my top 5 favorite demo scenes.

• Transformers – Opening Attack by Soundwave •

My first immediate idea was to re-watch all of my favorite demo discs (some of which I mentioned above). Even though some may disagree with this next statement, I know that both James and myself feel strongly that Transformers is THE definitive demo disc available today. With a true sense of incredible sonic atmosphere creation, perfect dialogue and deep, immersive bass, this is and has always been the demo disc I’ve reached for since its arrival to high definition (including the ill-fated HD DVD). It’s sequences like the first opening moments of not even the film. As we begin the ball drops into the water and the logo comes up, the LFE kicks up a notch. But the LFE is never overwhelming nor is it too loud. And let’s not forget to mention the attack sequence at the army force base. WHEW! In fact this scene was voted the best demo sequence in a recent poll that Elemental Designs ran on avsforum.

• The Dark Knight – Joker Goes After Harvey Dent •

Many list The Dark Knight as the true definitive demo disc. While the overall disc is quite impressive, I don’t completely feel that way, as Transformers is still the king in my home theater. Still, that’s not to say that the disc doesn’t have many demo worthy sequences. One in particular is the sequence where The Joker goes after Harvey Dent. Not only visually due to a vast majority of this scene being in IMAX, but the audio here really is top notch. As soon as we see the “Slaughter is The Best Medicine” truck smash into one of the SWAT vans, the LFE kicks up a notch. Similar to Transformers, the LFE never is overly powerful but rather is impressive on all ranges. Whether it was the slight low-end courtesy of the score when The Joker was caught by Commissioner Gorden or the high-end of the bazooka being fired at the Batmobile, the disc never failed to impress.

• Cloverfield – Army fights back against beast •

The sequence where the army decides to fight back against the beast is an absolute stunner of a demo sequence. The LFE response here is defining and is the pure definition of a “room rattler”. Not only is the LFE deep, immersive and solid, the LFE is so powerful that you will feel as if you’re actually being pursued by something. As I had mentioned in my review of the film (found HERE), “From the opening seconds of the film, the LFE starts up with deep, booming bass that pretty much continues (except in a few quiet dialogue sequence during the first 20 or so minutes of the beginning) throughout the film. The bass is powerful and rattling (at one point my wall started to vibrate). Dialogue is great as well with no sense of dropout. Some might complain that the dialogue does drop out during the heightened moments of terror, but this just adds to a greater sense of realism.”

• Live Free or Die Hard – Tunnel Sequence •

While some may be mixed on the 4th adventure for the iconic John McClane, one aspect nearly all agree on is the film’s audio track. Whether it’s the more dynamic shoot-outs, explosions or simple dialogue back and forths, this track delivers on all fronts. While this tunnel sequence is a surefire demo, there is one 5-second moment that always is an eye-opener for those listening. This quick scene, where John has to suddenly pull the kid to the ground to prevent a car from crushing him, features LFE output that is perfect. As the car rolls towards them, the action doesn’t slow down necessarily but the LFE response is deep and booming creating a scene I’ll play over and over again. As I had mentioned in my review (found HERE), “One of the most impressive aspects I found here was that the bass, especially when one compares it to the other Die Hard films available now, is just about defining here. The bass is incredibly deep and powerful, never relenting but constantly giving us that kind of boom we’ve come to love from high-octane action films.”

• Pearl Harbor – Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor •

While the film itself is questionable (the R-rated cut is far superior to the PG-13 love-fest but still does lack overall impact), one thing is instantly clear though that being the film’s audio. The disc has always been one of my more used discs going back to the 4-Disc Director’s Cut with its fabulous DTS 5.1 track. The Blu-ray, however, moved up to a lossless PCM 5.1 (though not fully lossless at 16-bit) and is even more impressive. From the moment the initial explosion occurs, this sequence is literally
a 15-minute assault on our ears and body. While clearly the overall atmosphere created here is stunning, the LFE response is equally impressive. LFE is continuously booming throwing us right into the action, but also slows down at some of the more tender moments (like those in the hospital scene, which have been slowed down to create a lasting effect).

Having never had a standalone sub before using this Elemental Designs A5-350 sub for a little over 3 months, I can easily see why audio purists do spend the amount of money they do. While there may be better subs out there, what separates this A5-350 from other subs is the sheer output and overall performance the sub gives. Whether it’s lower-end material like your basic TV sitcom or the higher-end film one of the aforementioned demo sequences, the A5-350 performed on all levels. If you’re looking for a standalone sub but don’t want to necessarily take out a loan, definitely consider this A5-350. And if the price is still a bit high, definitely consider their other range of subs as one aspect has become extremely clear. Elemental Designs may be a newer company but they are here to stay.

Product Images:
click a thumbnail below for a larger view

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34892 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34875 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34875#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:38:24 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34875

Anchor Bay (A Starz Company) has announced plans in a trade ad (pictured HERE) to bring the 2009 film (the latest from the “Broken Lizard” comedy troupe) “The Slammin’ Salmon” to Blu-ray Disc on April 13th. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $31.49 tag.

UPDATE: Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound. The bonus materials will include the following listed below.

- Audio Commentary with writer/director Kevin Heffernan and writer/actor Steve Lemme
- Audio Commentary with Broken Lizard’s Jay Chandrasekhar, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske
- “Hellish Kitchens: Art Imitates Restaurant Life” Featurette
- Theatrical Trailer

The following titles were released today January 26th, 2010 on Blu-ray Disc:

Atonement (Universal)

Fame: The Original Movie (Warner)

Michael Jackson’s This Is It (Sony)

Paris, Texas (Criterion Collection)

Pride & Prejudice [2005] (Universal)

Saw VI (Lionsgate)

Soul Power (Sony)

Surrogates (Touchstone/Disney)

The Toolbox Murders (Blue Underground)

Whip It (FOX)

WWII in HD (History/A&E Home Video)

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34869 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34857 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34857#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:50:13 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34857

According to numerous other stories floating around today and even a tweet from the studio’s home video department (found HERE), Paramount is bringing the 2002 DreamWorks film “Minority Report” directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise to Blu-ray Disc on April 20th. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video (in what is said to have been a 4K transfer) and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. Below you will find a list of bonus materials set to be included on this 2-Disc release. It is definitely a pleasant surprise to see almost half of the bonus materials are set to be presented in Hi-Def. Speaking of which, believe that a majority of these materials will be found on the second disc and the film itself on the first disc.

The following new bonus features are all presented in high definition:

* The Future According to Steven Spielberg (HD)
* Inside the World of Precrime (HD)
* Philip K. Dick, Steven Spielberg and Minority Report (HD)
* Minority Report: Future Realized (HD)
* Minority Report: Props of the Future (HD)
* Highlights from Minority Report: From the Set
o The Hoverpack Sequence (HD)
o The Car Factory Sequence (HD)
* Minority Report: Commercials of the Future (HD)
* Previz Sequences
o The Hoverpack Sequence Previz (HD)
o Maglev Chase Previz (HD)

Previously released bonus material is presented in standard definition, except as noted:

* From Story to Screen
* Deconstructing Minority Report
* The Stunts of Minority Report
* ILM and Minority Report
* Final Report
* Production Concepts
* Storyboard Sequences
* Trailers (HD)

UPDATE: This title is now available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $20.99 price tag.

Lionsgate has officially announced plans to bring the 2009 Jim Sheridan directed film “Brothers” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire to Blu-ray Disc on March 23rd. Tech specs have yet to be announced as have bonus materials but the press alert hinted that “…contain numerous bonus materials that include two featurettes plus a director commentary“.

UPDATE: This title is now available for PRE-ORDER from Amazon with a $27.99 price tag.

Sony has announced plans to bring the 2009 Marc Lawrence directed film “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker to Blu-ray Disc on March 16th. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and a lossless 5.1 sound mix (likely in DTS-HD Master Audio). The bonus materials set to be included are listed below.

# A Bear of a Scene
# Deleted Scenes
# Commentary with Marc Lawrence and Stars Hugh Grant & Sarah Jessica Parker
# Location, Location, Location!
# Cowboys and Cosmopolitans: The Stars of Did You Hear About the Morgans
# Park Avenue Meets the Prairie: The Fashions of Did You Hear About the Morgans
# Outtakes
# movieIQ and BD-Live
# International Special

UPDATE: This title is now available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $24.49 price tag.

Sony has announced plans to bring the 1984 Barry Levinson directed film “The Natural” starring Robert Redford to Blu-ray Disc on April 6th. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and lossless 5.1 audio (likely in DTS-HD Master Audio). The title is not yet available for pre-order but stay tuned and we will keep you updated. Bonus materials are set to include the following listed below.

# movieIQ and BD-Live
# When Lightning Strikes: Creating the Natural
# When Lightning Strikes: Pt 2, The Line-Up: Assembling the Moviemaking Team
# When Lightning Strikes: Pt 3, Let’s Play Ball: Filming the Show
# For the Love of the movie…and the Game
# A Natural Gunned Down: The Stalking of Eddie Waitkus
# Knights in Shining Armor: The Mythology of “The Natural”
# The Heart Of The Natural

Sony, in an early alert to retailers, has announced plans to bring the 2005 Catherine Hardwicke (of “Twilight” fame) directed film “Lords of Dogtown” to Blu-ray Disc on April 6th in an “Extended Cut“. The film was based on a true story of “The Z-Boys” and starred the late Heath Ledger, Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, John Robinson, Johnny Knoxville, Rebecca De Mornay and featured the late comedian Mitch Hedberg. Tech specs aren’t yet announced but one could assume that it will contain full 1080p Hi-Def video and a lossless 5.1 mix (likely in DTS-HD MA). No word yet on bonus materials either but stay tuned and we will keep you updated. The title is available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $17.49 price tag.

OPPO has unveiled plans to us over the weekend and we can now share them with you regarding a new more affordable Blu-ray Disc Player they now have available in addition to their existing line-up. The new player is the “BDP-80” and it is now available to order online over at their official website (found HERE) carrying a $289.00 price tag. Below you will find some specifications on the player itself and a couple more images of the unit itself. The specs are almost comparable to the more expensive BDP-83 unit. Similar to the BDP-83, the BDP-80 also includes some of same features but in a new sleek, more compact hardware design (as you will see below).

* “Profile 2.0″ capable for BD-Live access (1gb storage)
* “Profile 1.1″ capable for Bonus View Picture-In-Picture
* DVD Up-Conversion
* DVD-Audio (DVDA) & Super Audio CD (SACD) playback
* HDMI 1.3 with True24 (24fps, 24Hz) 1080p video output
* Fully capable of decoding Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD MA up to 7.1
* Dual USB inputs (1 on front / 1 on back)
* PAL/NTSC conversion
* Glow-in-the-Dark Remote Control

has an average rating of 7.8 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
includes the original DVD ports
–
– 2005
– 129 Minutes
– Universal
–
This uses 27.2GB for the movie out of 30.6GB total.

Overall Verdict – Perfect Gift for Valentine’s Day

Buy it for $17.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

Enter Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), friend of Mr. Bingley and a man who “owns half of Derbyshire”. Elizabeth takes an immediate dislike to Darcy after he refuses her attempts at a conversation. Later on, at a ball in Netherfield, Elizabeth accepts a dance with Darcy and lays out his disgust of him so he understands her side. It’s here that both seem that they can’t refuse one another, to the point where the other guests become disgusted leaving the two of them on the dance floor. While I could keep explaining the rest of the story, I’ll move forward and say that the rest of the film deals with Elizabeth, her sisters and their interactions with their parents, Darcy, Collins and others all while commenting on both 18th century topics like relationships, dance and speech. It’s safe to say that both the novel and the film are both fine works if not only because of their ability to absorb us into the time period via word (novel) and performance (film).

I really feel like this is becoming the norm saying for me lately, but it seems like I can’t comment on a Keira Knightley period film without mentioning that she was built for these types of roles. She brings not only a sense of style, charm and intelligence to each performance, but it clearly shows in each sequence that she puts her all into the role. Capturing each scene isn’t the easiest, but Knightley makes it seem like this is not even challenging. She is complimented by Macfadyen here in a manner that was similar to that of how McAvoy did in “Atonement“. Even though the chemistry between the two here isn’t as moving nor convincing as felt in “Atonement“, which is due to having previously seen the A&E version of the novel, I’ll still mention that the pure, raw emotion is there. Moments exist were we’re all emotions are on display. Truly moving material.

In closing, “Pride & Prejudice” has had the lasting impact it has on literature simply because of Austen’s ability to convey her thoughts on both the time period in a manner that is both intelligent and serious. This 2005 remake is equally as important if only because of the fine performances found here. I’m sure the women around the world have cheered and cried over the film, but as a guy I have no shame in admitting that “Pride & Prejudice” is well worth a watch fellas. You may be surprised as the strength and power the film may have on you.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte, dual layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. With its varying locales, the film has a very rich and vibrant color palette. Featuring solid blues, whites and yellows (mostly from the excellent costume design), the film holds great detail. Detail does pop off the screen in many sequences. Again referring to the costumes used throughout, the detail here is simply amazing. Grain levels are in check and there is no evidence of EE or any DNR, which is a blessed sigh. Due to the amount of grain found, I was very pleased with the image here, which felt and looked very film like. There didn’t ever feel like anything was adding in digitally but rather that everything was fully shot by an actual camera. All in all this earns a near-perfect “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. With this film being comprised of mostly dialogue, dialogue clarity and reproduction is a key factor to a good audio presentation. Luckily the provided DTS-HD track is quite good. Dialogue is consistently kept in check with no instance of drop out. There are a few moments where the film’s score (by ) does tend to require a volume change, but I didn’t notice this more than once. Dynamics are prevalent throughout with solid rear channel presence either from background characters speaking or varying effects. Pans were invisible and the transition between rears was just fine. LFE is somewhat subdued mostly showing up due to a rise in the music. All in all this earns a good “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials are presented in Standard Definition video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps.

• BD-Live: As per all Universal titles, BD-Live is included and gives fans access to current and upcoming trailers and bonus content.

• Audio Commentary by Director Joe Wright
• Audio Commentary with Cast and Crew: This runs 6min17sec and features each cast member commenting on one another.
• Jane Austen: Ahead of her Time: This runs 8min3sec and takes a look at the impact Austen themes and works have had on literature and film.
• A Bennet Family Portrait: This runs 6min2sec and looks into the Bennet family tree and the role marriage played in the novel.
• HBO First Look: This runs 13min8sec and is your a-typical making of with cast and crew interviews, set notes and how director Joe Wright tried to be as true to the novel as possible.
• The Politics of 18th Century Dating: This runs 4min24sec and shows the differences between modern dating and the dating of Austen’s time.
• The Stately Homes of Pride & Prejudice: This runs 15min58sec and shows the various locales the film used.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:





Screenshots:




















































NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34462 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34070 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34070#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:58:35 +0000 James Segars http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34070

has an average rating of 5.0 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are mediocre in all honesty.
–
– 2009
– 119 minutes
– Sony
–
This uses 27.8GB for the movie out of 39.6GB total.


Overall Verdict – One Screwed Up Movie



Buy it for $23.99 @ Amazon.com


— Review written by: James Segars —


Trailer:






The Movie Itself is directed by Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween [2007]).

Rob Zombie is a fucked up individual, and on top of that, I find him to be a tasteless, talentless director. This remake-sequel is an abomination, and should have been aborted long before production commenced. If you thought the first remake from Rob Zombie couldn’t possibly get any worse, you’re in for a real treat… it does!

This is the third film of Zombie’s that I’ve seen, and quite honestly I’m amazed that I keep wasting my time on his piss-poor films when there are so many other quality films out there to see. I suppose it all stems from my deep love of the Halloween franchise. I’m a complete sucker for anything Halloween, even if it doesn’t look promising — Halloween: Resurrection, anyone? — and I can safely say that this is the absolute worst entry in the series; even worse than the druid-infused Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.

So where does Zombie go wrong? How can he possibly screw up the sequel that badly? Allow me to explain. For starters, a bit of a primer. The original sequel was shot by Rick Rosenthal, and it was a direct continuation (in fact, overlapping slightly) to the first film. In it, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is transported to a local hospital for the treatment of her injuries sustained in the first film. Meanwhile, Michael Myers is still at large and en route to the hospital to pay Laurie one last visit, despite the best efforts of the Haddonfield Police Department. And so, the stage is set for one of the most intense, claustrophobic and thrilling installments in the series.

Only… that’s not what Zombie had in mind. No, he wanted to put his own spin on things. Shake things up a bit. Oh, and he really wanted to jam some half-baked “white horse” imagery down our throats too. Sound awesome? Didn’t think so.

In case you were wondering how the film starts and progresses, here’s what you need to know:

1) The hospital setting is reduced to a nightmare, and because of the way it’s shot and positioned in the film, we’re not sure if any of it really happened (did Laurie get attacked in the hospital, or just treated and released?).

2) After the “Hospital Nightmare” we’re told that two years have passed since the first film, and Michael Myers has been roaming fields for two years, cultivating a ZZ Top beard, sporting a hoodie (no mask) and having visions (are they supposed to be dreams?) of his mother and a white horse.

3) Laurie Strode is going crazy (not a bad touch, but a little heavy-handed thanks to Zombie’s blunt writing/direction).

4) Dr. Loomis has transformed into a soulless, money-hungry prima donna that is exploiting his experiences in the first film to sell a new book.

To Zombie’s credit, I found the first remake passable, if only slightly but that’s simply because he stuck fairly close to Carpenter’s formula. Here, Zombie goes off the reservation entirely. Instead of adhering to the mythology set out in front of him, he took it upon himself to blaze a trail all his own, and while I somewhat respect that decision — in principle, anyway — the results are abysmal. Every single character in this film is reduced to a caricature of their former selves, including Michael Myers. As for the reason, it all comes down to Zombie’s efforts to add depth and motivation to Michael Myers — who really should have remained as a soulless killing machine — and Laurie’s painful descent into insanity, and of course, let’s not forget the sophomoric imagery that Zombie employs throughout the film (see the screenshots below for some examples). All of these failures — and more — compound upon one another making this a film that is ultra-violent and entirely off-base. How Zombie missed the mark this badly, I’ll never know, nor do I care to. Skip this one if you’re a fan of the series. It’s not worth the time or the money.




Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte Blu-ray Disc).

Thankfully, the video presentation on this film is pretty damn good, otherwise I might have bailed on the film entirely. Interestingly, Zombie has switched to a 1.85:1 ratio, leaving behind the 2.35:1 ratio the previous remake featured. As a result, we get a taller image overall, but be warned that this film is exceedingly dark. If you thought the first film was erring on the side of uber-dim lit interiors, just wait until you see how dark and obscure detail becomes in this film. The good news however is that the black level is not crushed in an effort to punch up the blacks, on the flip-side though, the bad news is that the black levels throughout are awfully grayish and dim. This is not the fault of the studio or the mastering, it is the fault of the production, and something that is actually faithful to the original films — relying almost predominantly on natural lighting sources and/or very limited lighting equipment. In other words, this presentation doesn’t have a lot of punch, nor is it anywhere close to as vibrant as the best looking Blu-rays out there, but I can’t help but feel like it’s entirely faithful to the original source material, and that, as always is one of primary concerns. The grain structure throughout is upheld, and not suppressed by DNR. Minimal edge-enhancement is used, as there were only a few instances where I noticed some faint halos, and there were even fewer cases where I noticed some Mosquito Noise flitting around some edges. Fine object detail isn’t stunning in the slightest, but it isn’t bad either. All in all, I think that Halloween II is deserving of a “4 Star Rating” for overall video quality. It’s not going to blow you away, but it is faithful to the source.




Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio.

Faring even better than the video presentation, the unsettling audio presentation on this film is without question the best aspect of this film. Compared to the previous film — which sounded great — this one sounds equal to, or better than it. The sound effects, LFE and the mixing in general sound much improved. The horror “stingers” (sound cues when a killer pops out) in this film are even more unsettling and jarring. Shattering glass, and blood-curdling screams are unnerving and realistic, as is the sound of a head being sawed off with a shard of glass. Put simply, the sound mix handles the gruesome nature of the film with ease, and it does wonders with the material, in fact, I think the sound design is much scarier than what we see on screen. It all sounds so frighteningly real. Truly scary stuff. As such, this mix easily secures a “4.5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.




Bonus Materials are almost entirely presented in High Definition (except where noted otherwise).


• “BD-Live” – is included on this release which requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access online content from the studio, in this case Sony. Once on Sony’s BD-Live portal you can access trailers for upcoming films, Blu-ray Disc titles as well as current films available.
• “Movie IQ” (powered by gracenote) is a new feature that uses BD-Live to retrieve live in-movie information about the film, the cast, the crew, music and production. This was my first experience using the Movie IQ feature, and I gotta say, I really enjoyed it a lot. It’s essentially an interactive, and dynamic IMDb-like interface that allows the user to find out what song is playing on screen, what actors are in the scene, and perhaps over time, any number of facts or trivia could be presented here. And all of this is possible due to BD-live connectivity, ensuring that the information is always up-to-date and pertinent. As such, this makes Movie IQ my new favorite Blu-ray feature, and I hope to see this on all discs across the board in the future.
• Commentary with Writer/Director Rob Zombie I’ll be honest, I skipped over this entirely. Usually I’ll give the commentary a listen even if I didn’t like the film that much, but here, I couldn’t care less, and there was no way in hell I would waste any more time on this abomination, let alone here Rob Zombie try and justify his “artistic choices”. No thanks.
• Deleted Scenes & Alternate Scenes (25:14) A decent smattering of deleted/alternate material, though there was nothing here that could have possibly redeemed the film.
• Blooper Reel (4:26) Not one of the funniest blooper reels I’ve seen, but I’m glad to see the cast/crew had fun making the film, and that it wasn’t as torturous for them as it was for me watching it.
• Audition Footage (SD – 9:37) Here you get your standard audition tape footage. Might be worth a look for die-hard fans.
• Make-up Test Footage (3:35) In-camera testing to see if the make-up for the film looked good on-screen.
• Uncle Seymour Coffin’s Stand-Up Routines (8:40) I didn’t appreciate this guy’s stand-up in the film, and here as a standalone feature, I feel the same. Skip this unless you find him utterly hilarious.
• Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures Music Videos (HD/SD – 19:11) Awful music, and awful music videos, in my opinion anyway. If you enjoy the band, I’m sure you’ll appreciate this collection of music videos, I on the other hand…
• Previews

Overall bonus materials here are the standard fare. The inclusion of the MovieIQ is a nice touch, and as always the presence of BD-Live is welcome, but the rest of the features didn’t entertain or inform — not that I cared one way or the other, either. I’m not sure what fans will think of these features, but I will say that the extras package is far slimmer than Rob Zombie’s Halloween (no 4 hour-long documentary here, folks).



Blu-ray Disc packaging:





Screenshots:


































NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34070 6 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34682 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34682#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:38:47 +0000 Justin Sluss http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34682


Palm Pictures, independent distributor/producer has announced plans, in an early alert to retailers, to bring the 1995 Scott Kalvert directed film “The Basketball Diaries” to Blu-ray Disc on April 20th. Tech specs include what we assume will be full 1080p in the 1.77:1 aspect ratio and what is being listed as Dolby Digital and DTS tracks, likely in a 5.1 configuration. These tech specs I’m listing are based on the details on the PRE-ORDER listing, already up over at Amazon with a $22.49 price tag. Stay tuned for further details regarding this upcoming release.




]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34682 0 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34388 http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34388#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:46:17 +0000 Danielle Byington http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=34388

has an average rating of 6.3 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are short but ALL in Hi-Def
–
– 2009
– 89 minutes
– Touchstone (Disney)
–
This uses 20.4GB for the movies out of 27.3GB total.
Street Date: January 26th, 2010


Overall Verdict – O.K. Film, Great Disc



Buy it for $23.49 @ Amazon.com


— Review written by: Danielle Byington —


Trailer:





The Movie Itself is directed by Jonathan Mostow (“Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines“, “U-571“), with the writing credits of Michael Ferris & John D. Brancato (screenplay), based on the graphic novel involving Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele.

The movie opens with a bit of a prologue to the story in the form of a collage of news report video clips taking us from roughly our day and age to a few years in the future, all to show the progressive technology that has become what is known as a surrogate. In the future setting that the film’s story picks up, the busy buzz of society still exists, only our physical bodies are laying back at home performing all of these tasks through a very life-like robotic surrogate that the human mind can control through what has become common technology involving a system that sends and receives neurological frequencies that provide us with a voyeuristic real-time experience of sight, sound, and if you fork out some cash for upgrades, the sensation of touch. Swallowing all of that information, your mind most likely begins a vague hypothetical run-down of all the possibilities, and you perhaps realize that though the “pro’s” could be amazing, may be there are some draw backs.

At least the “con’s” are what the Dreads see to be as more significant, being a rebellious brigade of “humans only” who oppose society’s viral usage of surrogates. As any anti-something organization acts, the Dreads, led by a man who is only known as The Prophet (Ving Rhames), are seeking the head of the surrogacy system’s creation, Dr. Canter (James Cromwell). Canter of course encourages his own son to make use of the family’s wealth of surrogates, loaning him a robotic extension to attend an opera. Of course, being a college student and all, Canter’s son has a change of heart about attending the opera, and opts to venture to a club. No matter his venue of recreational choice, it seems a “meat-bag” from the Dreads was set on assassinating not only young Canter’s surrogate, but with the weapon powered by technology at-hand, also murdering the user.

A murder may seem typical in a plotline involving action and crime, though, ever since the widespread use of surrogates has taken hold of the population, crimes such as these have become nearly non-existent; really, what is the point of attempting to put someone out if there is a possibility they are only a surrogate, leaving the intended victim (user) unharmed? Jumping right into the case is agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis), and his partner, agent Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell). The destruction of young Canter’s surrogate is fairly bewildering to Greer and Peters, especially adding into the mix the fact that the user was also killed. Greer and Peters go on to discuss the investigation with elder Canter, and their pursuit of tracking down the Dreads behind this crime ensues.



In closing, because bits and pieces of this fictional futuristic idea of a neurologically controlled technology does exist in some form or fashion, the general idea of the story is very intriguing as the subject of these robotic surrogates is vaguely within mankind’s grasp; not quite as sophisticated, but it is out there. Given the Director’s previous work, you may feel that a similar “Terminator” series’ essence impacted some of this film’s qualities due to its sci-fi/action nature. A very focused intent was applied by the filmmaker and production members to create and uphold a fictional world ruled by the surrogacy system, from impressive efforts in make-up and special visual effects, casting of “ideal” surrogate extras, and so forth. On a similar note, obviously the action sequences are polished in their choreography as well, and just as mentioned in the virtual round table discussion with Jonathan Mostow, he of course states the complexity of filming one of the chase scenes on the Paramount backlot; as perhaps some of you may have physically walked that territory, I personally have as well, and to recollect that filming location, and see how the filmmaker executed said sequence is rather wowing.

All of those qualities of the movie are definitely worth appreciating, and I say so because moving on, the skeleton of the movie, the actual story, being as redundantly essential to the impressions that this film would make as it is, is moderately frail. All of the curiosity and intrigue reigned by a future of robotic masses may distract your train of thought from the actual bones of the storyline, just as of course lots of car crashes and explosions will do, too. The story seems very bright and well meaning in the first third, but is drowned out by all of the superficial layers of cinematic glitz, leaving this release to be better defined as a watchable ride for the senses. Overall, the movie itself earns a “3.5 Star Rating“.




Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte, dual layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio. As a slightly different start to the video quality for this release, as compared to the typical discussion in our reviews, you may have read our news coverage of the recent “virtual round table” with Jonathan Mostow. The director himself does exhibit a keen interest in the topic of High Definition, and below are two relevant questions I felt pertained to the video quality portion of this review which Jonathan Mostow selected to answer asked by myself and Justin Sluss, respectively:

“Q: It is mentioned in the bonus features that the makeup effects and visual effects basically worked hand-in-hand in the smoothing look of the robotic surrogate characters; was this perfection that is seen in the final product more challenging than in past productions you have worked on, being that this film was coming to Blu-ray?

Jonathan Mostow: Well certainly Blu-Ray has raised the bar for make-up because high-def shows every facial imperfection, skin pore, etc. And in this movie the bar was even higher because we had to create the illusion that many of theses actors were robots, so we had to erase any facial flaw that could distract from the illusion. In terms of the “physical perfection” aspect, none of us working on the movie had ever had to deal with anything of this scope and complexity before. By the end, we all felt simpatico with the plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills.

Q: Ever have any plans to shoot a film digitally in Hi-Def as opposed to using the traditional 35mm film approach? Namely what do you think about the Red One camera?

Jonathan Mostow: Although I’ve never used it, from what I understand, the Red is a great camera — although, like anything it has its plusses and minuses, which are too technical to get into here. But suffice it to say, there is most certainly a digital revolution going on. Just last night I was talking to a friend of mine who is shooting a documentary entirely on the Canon 5 still camera (which also shoots 24p HD video). I’ve seen some of what he’s done and the stuff looks gorgeous. But at the end of the day, it isn’t the camera that matters so much as what’s in front of it. Surrogates was shot in 35mm for a variety of technical reasons. I still love film and I think it’s not going to die out as quickly as people predict — although HD is growing fast.“

Moving along, it is obvious that definite attention was paid to the robotic aspect of the cast in their portrayals of the surrogates (as mentioned above), and this topic is further touched on in the bonus features. Make-up effects alone were not suffice, and visual effects did do moderate touch-ups that translate perfectly into what the production was aiming for to create this fictional unbelievably perfect surrogate race, with out taking away the reality of the existent detail in surroundings and props. As the film’s story progresses and we see Bruce Willis‘ character transform from his surrogate self, to the physical character of Tom Greer, the smoothed visual effects become absent with his on-screen presence, and the abundant detail on this Blu-ray release takes its stand as seen in the crisp shots displaying facial close-ups depicting the age-features of Bruce Willis, beard stubble, and so forth. The character portrayed by Ving Rhames is another excellent example of an individual on-screen who is intended to translate to the audience as a human. It is interesting to see this applied effect in the film with surrogate characters on-screen, and for most who are familiar with things such as DNR, would like to automatically assume that a Digital Noise Reduction filter was used; however, upon further inspection of scenes (which are often displayed in dutch angles, something that actually worked really well for this film), you will notice that film grain is retained, and the textures of the surrogate characters’ wardrobe also bare obvious detail.

Tackling the basics of this release’s video quality, this picture has a very inky black level, as it also possesses the appearance of heightened sharpness, accompanied by a rich and vibrant color palette; all in all, this offers a really crisp and clean look. Portions of the film do use more of a warm filter, such as in the chase scene between Tom Greer and the Dreads, which is really the only point that fleshtones translate into more of a peachy hue; otherwise, fleshtones are accurate in all other sequences. The CG and other special effects applied to this production translate well in High Definition, adding extra flawlessness to an already well-established picture quality. The exterior shots as seen during Tom Greer’s first walk through the outside world as himself rather than his surrogate, as well as his confrontation with The Prophet, are notably some of the highest points of the video quality’s best display within the release’s runtime, providing the keenest definition and overall clarity seen in the film. Overall, the video quality of this release is certainly strong and pleasing in its Hi-Def presentation, receiving a “4.5 Star Rating“.




Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio Surround. As you may imagine, this Sci-Fi flick has its fair share of action sequences, which are the primarily content for some really kicking experiences within this release’s audio track. As the first large chase scene in the film endures, the fleeting roar of speeding vehicles and the pursuing helicopter all flutter about the soundscape respectively to the action seen on-screen. The sound design of this and other bold audible moments found on this release are certain evidence of a great effort put forth to complete the intended and well-played adrenaline-rush-feel. These mentioned audio highlights provide intense LFE usage, and most noticeably a very impressive amount of panning; for example, the chase scene discussed above exhibits all expected foley with brightness and clarity, as it smoothly transitions from left to right channels, and also never rests in solely the front channels.

However, the entire film does not rely on loudness and noise to convey its story, and these remaining pieces of the movie are not of any less audio quality, despite a less aggressive amount of audible content performance. Dialogue is pristine, and is conveyed from primarily the center front channel never presenting any flaws of suffocating under climatic 5.1 occurrences. Even smaller sound effects during these potentially quiet scenes make intelligent use of the soundscape, as can be witnessed in a scene where Tom Greer breaks an electric-shock drug device used by the surrogates, creating a bright crackle/shatter of glass that pops-up from the right rear channel. Also accompanying the movie’s duration is the original score composed by Richard Marvin (composer for television shows “The O.C.“, and “Six Feet Under“), which provides a fulfilling presence from all channels, including subwoofer usage, and rich sounds of string instruments from the front and rear channels. This is definitely an exciting audio track to experience, and this release’s “bang” is worth the bucks as it overall receives a “5 Star Rating“.




Bonus Materials on this release are presented in High Definition, using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

• “Audio Commentary“
• “A More Perfect You: The Science of ‘Surrogates‘” (14:34) is a brief documentary styled feature that discusses much of the real life technology we have in the world today that inspired some of the ideas seen in the film.
• “Breaking the Frame: A Graphic Novel Comes to Life” (6:33) gives viewers a look at the illustrated visuals taken from the graphic novel, and compares them to many scenes from within the film.
• “Deleted Scenes” (5:15) includes 4 scenes.
• “‘I Will Not Bow‘ Music Video by Breaking Benjamin” (3:49)

Blu-ray Disc packaging:





Screenshots:






















NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

]]> http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?feed=rss2&p=34388 0