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Info: Which HD-DVD is better than Blu-Ray? — Page 3

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dark_jedi said:

The Mummy
The Mummy Returns

I've got these 2 and The Scorpion King.  They all look really nice.

Does that French Terminator 2 set have each version on a separate disc?

 

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 (Edited)

This is a rather good list a guy made some time ago but I have several of these HD-DVDs and this information is correct to my knowledge, especially in regards to discs such as The Deer Hunter, Animal House and The Thing.

from AVS Forum...

"I have personally confirmed the following HD DVDs look better than their Blu-ray counterparts either due to better grain structure, less contrasty boosting, or both:

RELEASES THAT LOOK *MUCH* BETTER ON HD DVD than Blu-ray
Animal House
Apollo 13
Army of Darkness
The Big Lebowski
Coming to America
Daylight
The Deer Hunter
The Sting
The Thing
Waterworld

RELEASES THAT LOOK *SLIGHTLY* BETTER ON HD DVD than Blu-ray
Casino
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
U-571

RELEASES WITH BETTER AUDIO ENCODES ON HD DVD than Blu-ray
The Lady in the Water

RELEASES THAT LOOK SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER ON BLU-RAY THAN HD DVD
12 Monkeys
The Breakfast Club
Flags of Our Fathers
Miami Vice

RELEASES THAT ARE CONFIRMED TO LOOK SIMILAR ON HD DVD & BD
An American Werewolf in London
Billy Madison
Bulletproof
Darkman
Dune
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Happy Gilmore
Tremors
Most Warner/Paramount titles unless otherwise specified.

RELEASES THAT LOOK and SOUND BETTER ON STANDARD DVD than any HIDEF release
The Last Starfighter (1999 CE DVD - Blu-ray / HD DVD extremely DNR'd and has missing audio cue)

RELEASE THAT HAVE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS ONLY ON DVD, HIDEF only have modified SOUND EFFECTS or MUSIC
Conan the Barbarian series (Blu-ray music problems)
Smokey and the Bandit (DVD Pursuit Pack - HD/BD dont have original sound effects)
Terminator (extremely old Image DVD is actually best mono track - HD/BD dont have original sound effects, subsequent DVDs have comparatively poor bass on mono track)"

 

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Really Waterworld and Army of darkness US theatrical i take it look better? i would love to see some comparisons.

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Flexicon9 said:

RELEASES THAT LOOK *MUCH* BETTER ON HD DVD than Blu-ray
The Big Lebowski

Didn't know that this edition existed. Is it better than the Italian BD (with less DNR)? I haven't seen it in awhile and would love to see it looking good.

The Deer Hunter

The foreign Region A/B Studio Canal BD is better I believe; got a bigger file size. I haven't done any side by side comparisons though. The only thing is that the 5.1 is screwed up but the original theatrical audio (stereo) is fine and lossless so it doesn't bother me.

RELEASES THAT LOOK and SOUND BETTER ON STANDARD DVD than any HIDEF release
The Last Starfighter (1999 CE DVD - Blu-ray / HD DVD extremely DNR'd and has missing audio cue)

Spartacus would also got underneath this category. The color timing is not to Kubrick's intentions; it looks like a transfer straight off the negative. Criterion's DVD was color-corrected manually to a Technicolor IB's palette and looks all the better for it. Also, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are hit hard with the grain reduction stick. The HD-DVD is technically slightly better because it doesn't have fake-looking, fake grain put over it after the fact like the BD does.

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This is a U.S. release list... should have stated that.  I can confirm that films like Fast Times, American Werewolf and Dune look exactly the same on HD-DVD and Blu-ray.  Army of Darkness is totally up to you guys.  I don't have that HD-DVD.  The Deer Hunter looks damn good on HD-DVD.  DJ mentioned he picked up Talk To Me, which I have and looks great.  Lady In The Water also is a damn fine HD-DVD if you're into that flick.
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What about 2001 on HD-DVD?  Is it worth the purchase?

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Word has it that the 2001 releases are identical.
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Flexicon9 said:

Word has it that the 2001 releases are identical.

What about audio options for it, which is better?

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 (Edited)

Here's a really good analysis of 2001 BD vs. HD-DVD...

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews33/2001_HD_Blu-ray.htm

Audio:  

     The HD supports the usual audio - a TrueHD English 5.1 track and a Dolby Digital Plus English 5.1 sounding duplicated to the 5.1 track on the SE  - plus DUBs in French Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. The TrueHD sounded a shade more buoyant and pure playing Also Sprach Zarathustra or The Blue Danube and the rest of the score by György Ligeti. Dialogue audio is very consistent and supported by English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, or Portuguese, subtitles, in a white font with black border (sample above). 

Originally Posted by HighDefDigest View Post

"Warner gave us the first chance to do a head to head comparison of TrueHD vs. PCM... the results are in:
Out of the twenty comparisons (ten for him, ten for me), we could only detect differences on four scenes total. But of those four, we both always preferred the PCM track, if only a smidgeon."
I think you're safe with the BD of 2001.  It has a PCM track.

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dvdmike said:

The Griff said:

zeropc said:

french blu-ray of silent hill is the best version. period.

Indeed.

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/index.php?vergleich=silent_hill_bd1

Blown out clipped whites? 

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/index.php?art=part&x=563&y=159&action=1&image=1&vergleich=silent_hill_bd1&lossless=0#vergleich

 

Lovely 

I noticed that. But on the upside, the black levels and the gamma are much improved.

At any rate, it is director-approved and remedies what was a fairly murky viewing experience (on my projection set up, at least).

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That's pretty astounding the early Last Starfighter DVD could look better than it's HD counterpart. Glad I still have it somewhere.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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The Last Starfighter CE DVD from 1999 is still available and pretty cheap so I think I'll pick it up.  I never have purchased that film in any form but I still have fond memories of it from my childhood.
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Im curious about the HD DVD of GRAND PRIX.  It is confirmed that the HDDVD and BluRay use different transfers, but I have not read anywhere if one is better than the other.

Im pretty sure the HD DVD has standard Dolby digital, wheras the BD had Dolby Digital Plus.  Not sure if there are other differences

aka nostromo777 on myspleen

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Echo3 said:

Im curious about the HD DVD of GRAND PRIX.  It is confirmed that the HDDVD and BluRay use different transfers, but I have not read anywhere if one is better than the other.

Im pretty sure the HD DVD has standard Dolby digital, wheras the BD had Dolby Digital Plus.  Not sure if there are other differences

 

Really the BD had the same master as the dvd http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?art=part&x=451&y=281&action=1&image=0&cID=675&cap1=3907&cap2=3897&lossless=#vergleich
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Echo3 said:

Im curious about the HD DVD of GRAND PRIX.  It is confirmed that the HDDVD and BluRay use different transfers, but I have not read anywhere if one is better than the other.

Im pretty sure the HD DVD has standard Dolby digital, wheras the BD had Dolby Digital Plus.  Not sure if there are other differences

 

Really the BD had the same master as the dvd http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?art=part&x=451&y=281&action=1&image=0&cID=675&cap1=3907&cap2=3897&lossless=#vergleich

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 (Edited)

Look like the BD has more detail and less compression.  Good to know!

 

Anyone compared "shawn of the dead"?

 

I already have the HDDVD of the thing, but based on the discussions in this thread, Ill be picking up Apollo 13 and the XBOX drive as well. 

My HD DVD player is sitting at my dads house being used as his regular DVD player, and My HDVDs have been sitting in the garage.

I bought an HD DVD player a few years back and bought Grand Prix, Forbidden Planet and The Thing.  Three of my favorite movies, which at the time were not on Blu. 

aka nostromo777 on myspleen

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Echo3 said:

Look like the BD has more detail and less compression.  Good to know!

 

Anyone compared "shawn of the dead"?

 

I already have the HDDVD of the thing, but based on the discussions in this thread, Ill be picking up Apollo 13 and the XBOX drive as well. 

My HD DVD player is sitting at my dads house being used as his regular DVD player, and My HDVDs have been sitting in the garage.

I bought an HD DVD player a few years back and bought Grand Prix, Forbidden Planet and The Thing.  Three of my favorite movies, which at the time were not on Blu. 

Like Hot Fuzz the BD is better 

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Someone told me Batman Begins looks better on HD-DVD but i thought the HDTV version, the HD-DVD and the blu ray all came from the same master.

The BD is not horrible but its not really blu quality either.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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I've yet to hear of a Warner title that has different video on its HD-DVD and Blu-ray versions - that studio would regularly use identical VC-1 encodes for both (I see Blade Runner was mentioned earlier in the thread, but it's definitely identical in the original releases).

Interesting that Universal did so with such regularity, then - almost as if they were aiming for two different markets.

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Universal didn't get into Blu Ray right away on account of the ill advised format war. (I think they were exclusive with Toshiba for a while?) Getting as many catalog titles out the door was imperative, so whatever existing HD masters were handy got used, warts and all.

Warners was playing both sides of the street, so to speak.

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Where were you in '77?

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Ah, got it. It's a pity more films didn't find themselves in that situation.

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Jonno said:

I've yet to hear of a Warner title that has different video on its HD-DVD and Blu-ray versions

Grand Prix, mentioned a few posts back.

aka nostromo777 on myspleen

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skyjedi2005 said:

Someone told me Batman Begins looks better on HD-DVD but i thought the HDTV version, the HD-DVD and the blu ray all came from the same master.

The BD is not horrible but its not really blu quality either.

It barely resolves over 720 in detail, it is really bad 

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dvdmike said:It barely resolves over 720 in detail, it is really bad 

Do you agree that the HD DVD is better?