I stayed with family over Christmas and, as luck would have it, my brothers have already taken the plunge in upgrading to HD (thanks to the recent purchase of a PS3 and a need to update their cheap CRT widescreen TV).
Hey, it's still early adopting, but I don't blame them! If you need a new TV, it makes sense to get a 1080p HD one, and if you're a gamer who's opted for the PS3, you'd be mad not to rent a few blu-rays. Even if HD-DVD eventually wins the HD format "war", you can always sell-on your PS3 and buy a HD-DVD player. Sony's Trojan horse tactic with their next-gen console has definitely worked in that respect...
So, seeing as my brothers had a Playstation 3, connected via HDMI to a brand new 32" Panasonic Viera HD television (able to display 1080p images at 60Hz), we took advantage of their next-gen purchases to view some blu-ray films...
And below is what I thought of each movie we watched (from Blockbusters' depressing small selection and a few titles ordered online from Lovefilm). The ratings only reference the picture quality, not the film's overall ranking. Oh, and my brothers don't have surround sound, so I can't really judge the discs aurally. But they all sounded fine in standard stereo.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The first blu-ray to be watched was one of the formats' so-called "demo discs", apparently the best video transfer of the films its sandwiched between in the trilogy. I'm no fan of the film itself, but it's a wonderful disc to show off HD's capabilities. The 1080p picture is flawless and the levels of detail is remarkable: you can see every wisp of a beard in close-up, you notice all the tiny ropes spiderwebbing sails, the thousands of water droplets can be seen individually during seafaring sequences, and splinters on wood are suddenly in focus. Colours are sumptious, clean and smooth, too.
Of particular note was how more impressive the CGI creations are in HD, especially that "hammerheaded" henchman, the Kraken sea monster, and Davey Jones' squid-face. There is one scene in Cutler's office where you can see through his window, out across a jetty to a moored boat, then past it to the ocean's horizon... and everything is there to see. It's like you're there, seeing it with your own eyes. You can see tiny men standing on the jetty, a few seamen crawling around on the boat beyond, and other people walking along the beach to the left! These details are hazy smears (at best) on DVD, but seeing them really makes the film come to life. A superb viewing experience on every level.
Mission: Impossible III
A very clean and crisp experience, if not exactly jaw-dropping. You can see the pores on Tom Cruise's face, all the computer readouts are pin-sharp, the stone-white Vatican architecture looks brilliant, the night scenes in Shanghai are gorgeous (every skycraper window can be seen), and the explosions in the bridge attack are awesome. It's all very good, and a big improvement on the DVD experience, but the film itself lacks the variety to show-off what blu-ray is truly capable of.
Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix
A great film to test out how blu-ray handles darker films, with Potters' gloomy palette looking smooth and jet-black where it counts. It's a great transfer that outclasses the DVD purely because of how well it copes with the night-time visuals and CGI. Yes, even that shoddy-looking giant is somehow improved by the added detail 1080p affords. But the best stuff is in the Dumbledore vs Voldemort confrontation, with every shard of glass and droplet of water appearing pristine.
Blade Runner: The Final CutFor anyone concerned that HD will just show-up older films' shortcomings, have no fear. Sure, some old-fashioned special-effects might look a bit shoddier now, but if the celluloid print has been maintained and the transfer to HD goes smoothly... the result is jaw-dropping, if Blade Runner is any indication! It's actually hard to believe this film is 25 years old, as it's simply gorgeous to look at on blu-ray and details are astonishing.
Honestly, the already-lauded cityscapes take on new dimensions on HD, and there isn't a dodgy moment to be found anywhere. The remastering has ensured Ridley Scott's masterpiece is crisp, smooth, rich and textured to the nth degree. A truly remarkable achievement. Every dot of light is visible, every background banner readable (check out the cinema billboard when Deckard enters that alleyway!), every drip of rain can be seen, and the colours are smooth as silk. I didn't ntoice any grain on the print and the special-effects (already decades ahead of their time), look like they were created last year. Just marvellous.
ApocalyptoThis is a great disc for the spectacle of mother nature herself, free of obvious CGI tinkering and styling. The film takes place in the great outdoors and the detail/depth to the jungle environment is staggering at times, and improves at the film goes along -- check out the awesome river crossing sequence, or the amazing detail of the temples. Day, night, outside environments, human bodies, fast-moving visuals -- there's plenty here to test blu-ray, and I was surprised by immersive the film became when you're left gawping the scale and clarity of Apocalyto's natural beauty.
And there you have it. Clearly, I was very impressed. HD isn't the quantum leap in quality from VHS to DVD back in the late-90s, but it's quite amazing how more immersive and detailed the picture is. It's what DVD should have been from the start.
Not one of these blu-ray discs left me cold, and getting my own HD set-up is now a more enticing prospect. Blu-ray or HD-DVD, though. Hmmm. That's still the question.
