Ran - HD-DVD vs. R1 (Criterion) vs. R2UK (Optimum)

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Aug 2008, 15:09

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Aug 2008, 15:12

The HD-DVD comes out favourably here, definitely a good deal better than the DVD's.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Aug 2008, 21:00

Pity it has no bloody English subs

. Is it the Warner or Optimum UK R2?

Agreed the HD-DVD looks the best, then the UK DVD, then the Criterion. The Criterion looks a bit of a mess, does anyone else reckon it's minutely sharper than the UK DVD? Even so it's bolstered colours look rubbish. I don't know why I went for it over the UK DVD (Warner at the time).

I understand the Optimum UK DVD is essentially the same but slightly sharper and has removable subs.

Thanks btw Lourdes.

Kris · Post by **Kris** » 05 Aug 2008, 15:12

The HD DVD looks like shit. Almost certainly a PAL-master upscale, with the biggest difference from the UK DVD apart from compression being contrast.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 05 Aug 2008, 15:14

My thoughts exactly.
Edge-enhancement, contrast boosting, no extra detail in wide shots...
Seriously disappointing.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 05 Aug 2008, 15:24

There's a choice of the HD-DVD or the DVD's that look a lot worse. Simple one to make!

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 05 Aug 2008, 17:02

Or hold on to your DVDs - which in comparison to the HD-DVD don't look as bad as you're letting on - and wait optimistically to see if a better HD release surfaces in another region.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Aug 2008, 17:34

Lourdes wrote:There's a choice of the HD-DVD or the DVD's that look a lot worse. Simple one to make!

Exactly! No one said the HD-DVD looked superb, just better. Although the UK R2 also looks good.

Lourdes: Can you add if it's the Warner or Optimum DVD please?

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 05 Aug 2008, 19:04

The difference when actually watching it is significant, it's a long film and all the DVD's are one disk only without sufficient bitrate. The HD-DVD improves this to an extent, during the dark battle scene with all the flames, smoke, blood and bright uniforms the difference is very apparent. It's also a very grainy film, the HD-DVD doesn't preserve this very well but it does so much better than the DVD's where it's just noise and artefacts.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 06 Aug 2008, 01:19

Presumably the HD-DVD can be had relatively cheap as well?