Here are a couple of links to comparison images.
You'll see the differences in color, detail, richness, crispiness, etc. that HD brings to the table:
Link 1
Link 2
Enjoy!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
30 Days of Night Review...
Sorry guys that I hadn't time to update this page.
I've been doing so much stuff... anyway, saw 30 Days of Night on Blu-Ray a couple of weeks ago and I have to give it at least 1 Thumb up! ;-)
30 Days of Night
Ok, so it goes like this.
PLOT: The movie takes place at a town in Alaska where people are packing up and getting ready to leave... why? Because the sun will come down and wont come back up again in 30 days (a really reeeeaaaallly good premise for a horror movie). Some people can't handle living in obscurity/darkness so they catch a ride to wherever and return a month later. The thing is that while people are saying goodbye to their lovers, daughters, husbands, etc. weird things are going on. First all of the cellphones are burnt, sled dogs are killed and you ask yourself, what the hell is going on? The answer, vampires.
So after darkness arrives things really start going on and vampires take over the town. Except for a select few of course, everybody becomes meat popsicles. These brave souls have to endure being 30 days of total darkness surrounded by vampires.
I wont go into subplots or details (watch it if you like a good take on vampires even though they don't really get into the story of these vamps in particular).
The acting is quite solid.
Josh Hartnett, I like him, he does a good job as the local Sheriff and all of the supporting cast does a great job driving their characters (even though they don't get properly developed). I have to say though that for the "bad guys" the make up is not quite up there. To me, the even look funny.
The movie was directed by David Slade. Mehhh... he could have done better I believe (he did not used the material to build proper tension! :-(). And I believe that a major flaw was that we didn't know anything about the setting (i.e. how big is the town, how far is the jail, etc.) This movie involves a lot of running around and since you don't even know if they are going far, you don't really get that involved in the action. Finally, the passage of time... the director didn't even bother to tell us how many days had passed, etc... So no tension = no horror.
Video: This is Blu-ray. This is also a dark movie. The transfer is 2:40 and although most is monochromatic, where there are colors involved (especially red! hehehe) they shine! The transfer is extremely good, the images are so freaking crisp (I didn't notice any halos, a lot of graininess, etc.). And yes, there is film grain but really minimal. So basically I would say that this is a good movie to show off your home theater! ;-)
Audio: There are a couple of tracks included on this release. We have a 24-bit TrueHD 5.1 English track that sounds really good. It delivers a lot of bass and although I'm not testing with a 5.1 system I'm sure that whoever has a good system will appreciate this track. Also on the disc it's a
French TrueHD 5.1 track and Dolby Digital 5.1 in Spanish, Portuguese and Thai.
Extras: Not too hefty compliments but the material included is golden. We have:
30 Images of Night --> Shot comparison (images from film vs illustrations)
Audio Commentary --> With producer Rob Tapert actors, Melissa George and Josh Hartnett.
Eight Featurettes --> Totalling around an hour and delving into production aspects, casting, etc.
A couple of trailers.
All in all, good movie to show your stuff and an enjoyable movie to boot. Still, just 1 Thumb up (or 3 Stars ;-)) as I believe this could have been better.
I've been doing so much stuff... anyway, saw 30 Days of Night on Blu-Ray a couple of weeks ago and I have to give it at least 1 Thumb up! ;-)
30 Days of Night
Ok, so it goes like this.
PLOT: The movie takes place at a town in Alaska where people are packing up and getting ready to leave... why? Because the sun will come down and wont come back up again in 30 days (a really reeeeaaaallly good premise for a horror movie). Some people can't handle living in obscurity/darkness so they catch a ride to wherever and return a month later. The thing is that while people are saying goodbye to their lovers, daughters, husbands, etc. weird things are going on. First all of the cellphones are burnt, sled dogs are killed and you ask yourself, what the hell is going on? The answer, vampires.
So after darkness arrives things really start going on and vampires take over the town. Except for a select few of course, everybody becomes meat popsicles. These brave souls have to endure being 30 days of total darkness surrounded by vampires.
I wont go into subplots or details (watch it if you like a good take on vampires even though they don't really get into the story of these vamps in particular).
The acting is quite solid.
Josh Hartnett, I like him, he does a good job as the local Sheriff and all of the supporting cast does a great job driving their characters (even though they don't get properly developed). I have to say though that for the "bad guys" the make up is not quite up there. To me, the even look funny.
The movie was directed by David Slade. Mehhh... he could have done better I believe (he did not used the material to build proper tension! :-(). And I believe that a major flaw was that we didn't know anything about the setting (i.e. how big is the town, how far is the jail, etc.) This movie involves a lot of running around and since you don't even know if they are going far, you don't really get that involved in the action. Finally, the passage of time... the director didn't even bother to tell us how many days had passed, etc... So no tension = no horror.
Video: This is Blu-ray. This is also a dark movie. The transfer is 2:40 and although most is monochromatic, where there are colors involved (especially red! hehehe) they shine! The transfer is extremely good, the images are so freaking crisp (I didn't notice any halos, a lot of graininess, etc.). And yes, there is film grain but really minimal. So basically I would say that this is a good movie to show off your home theater! ;-)
Audio: There are a couple of tracks included on this release. We have a 24-bit TrueHD 5.1 English track that sounds really good. It delivers a lot of bass and although I'm not testing with a 5.1 system I'm sure that whoever has a good system will appreciate this track. Also on the disc it's a
French TrueHD 5.1 track and Dolby Digital 5.1 in Spanish, Portuguese and Thai.
Extras: Not too hefty compliments but the material included is golden. We have:
30 Images of Night --> Shot comparison (images from film vs illustrations)
Audio Commentary --> With producer Rob Tapert actors, Melissa George and Josh Hartnett.
Eight Featurettes --> Totalling around an hour and delving into production aspects, casting, etc.
A couple of trailers.
All in all, good movie to show your stuff and an enjoyable movie to boot. Still, just 1 Thumb up (or 3 Stars ;-)) as I believe this could have been better.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Update on the Panasonic SC-PTX7
Well, after testing the hell out of the unit, I haven't experienced freezes or lock-ups as other people seem to have suffer. But I noticed that some games, trailers and movies played through the optical (i.e. coming from the PS3) were not giving me any sound output. So what did I do?
Removed the optical from the PS3.
Configured the PS3 to output the sound through HDMI to the TV.
Connected the Optical Out from the TV to the Panny unit.
That's it.
Worked like a charm and it still sounds great.
Just watched Shoot Em Up on Blu-Ray yesterday.
Will post a review this week or over the weekend probably (alongside 30 Days of Night review! ;-)).
See ya.
Removed the optical from the PS3.
Configured the PS3 to output the sound through HDMI to the TV.
Connected the Optical Out from the TV to the Panny unit.
That's it.
Worked like a charm and it still sounds great.
Just watched Shoot Em Up on Blu-Ray yesterday.
Will post a review this week or over the weekend probably (alongside 30 Days of Night review! ;-)).
See ya.
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