Απο τον Amir Makidimehr, Corporate Vice President,Windows Digital Media Division (επικεφαλης του VC-1 codec που χρησιμοποιει το HD-DVD).
To ξερω οτι ειναι νωρις για εμας, απλα σας προθερμαινω!
"OK, here is my list at long last….
It took me a while to create it because I was searching for a point of view. Then it came to me. As an engineer at heart, when I look at these titles, I am always searching for difficult to encode content as my eyes zoom right in, looking for artifacts. So the list more or less is from the point of view of the challenge involved in creating the picture quality you see. Other times though, I let the “heart” sneak in and bias the selection some. So at the end, it is mishmash of what I thought looks great in HD DVD
. And titles I want on my shelf to show off HD DVD.
Oh, a disclaimer. It is very hard to rank some of these titles. One could easily swap two of them and still be right. So please don’t assume this is the most accurate order. But I did give it a shot. So, on with the show.
1. Training Day. Warner Bros.
A lot of things impress me here. First is the high-rise shot which is crisp and as close as one can get to a resolution chart. Then it is the clean and fine grain in the image. Next is the superb resolution evidenced in seeing every detail in Denzel’s face. One for example sees a faint scar above his eyebrow. Then a spit coming out of Denzel’s mouth as he is driving and talking. And finally, the hood ornament and water droplets on the hood as the car moves (combination of motion and great resolution). It doesn’t get much better than this folks.
2. Swordfish. Warner Bros.
Incredibly clean look. Frame to frame. Explosion to explosion. Just when you get impressed with the shear fidelity of the image, the next scene comes and it is just as satisfying. The consistency of quality should be the hallmark of optical HD formats and this title delivers in spades.
3. U-571. Universal.
OK, I love submarine movies and this one, in HD DVD is a delight. The fine graduations of the green water is rendered with zero banding (quantization noise). The detail on people’s faces in the sub is amazing. You can read the signs behind people. And easily detect mis-focus shots. Dark content is hard on the codec. It thinks it can allocate less bits to it than your eye tolerates. It takes a good encoder and expert compressionist to render so many dark scenes so well. Great story and great image and sound. What else would you ask for?
4. Serenity. Universal
One only has to look at the opening scene of the shot of the planet to be blown away with superb clarity and contrast. The textures in the lady teacher near the beg. of the movie just makes you feel like you are there. Dark space scenes are pitch black. Graphics just sing. Wish the story was a bit better and acting too. But otherwise, it is a stellar title.
5. The Chronicles of Riddick. Universal
If you have a projector with good contrast ratio, this is the killer title. The space scenes are just amazing. As is the detail in faces. High-motion sequences show no sign of bit starvation. Atomic-style explosions show zero quantization noise and with smooth gradations that warm the heart of any codec engineer. The quality is so good that one forgets about less than great story and acting.
6. The Last Samurai. Warner Bros.
OK, no jokes about Tom cruise
. This title deserves a lot of credit. There are shafts of light rendered with such high fidelity that one feels like he/she is there – really hard stuff to encode. Early carnival scenes show beautiful color and near perfect rendering of textures. And landscapes have a great, “settled” look (no busy compression artifacts here). But I have to confess, I picked this movie also for other reasons. My best vacation trip was in New Zealand where most of this movie is shot (instead of Japan) and the place I love to go time and time again to photograph is Kyoto – another venue used in the movie (but sadly, in only a few shots). With these HD DVD titles coming out of Japan and US technology, I thought it was fitting to have a title like this that bridges the two worlds. OK, I promise, I won’t be sentimental from here on
.
7. Happy Gilmore. Universal.
Yes, an Adam Sandler movie. I must confess, I can barely stand most of his movies but this one is pretty good. But what is great is the gorgeous color and resolution of this movie. The starting scene where he is putting outside of the house is just eye candy. Bright, colorful, sharp as a tack. And it doesn’t stop here. Later, you marvel at the texture of the shirts everyone is wearing. The level of realism is unbelievable at times.
8. Firewall. Warner Bros.
A modern movie benefiting from superb transfer. The images are sharp and clean and unlike scifi movies, have ample lighting so that you can count the strands of hair in Harrison Ford’s daughter earlier in the movie. Or the saliva on the toy tire that the dog chews up! But perhaps the most remarkable thing is that this is a hybrid disc that plays in both HD DVD and DVD (and BD!) players. We are seeing such superb quality in just 15 gigabytes on the HD side. Anyone who has doubts about efficiencies of VC-1 or level of headroom, only needs to look at this title (and Rumor Has It).
9. Bourne Supremacy. Universal.
A pretty good story, with fast action that is murder on the codec. Yet it delivers. But I picked this title for another reason. This is the title that is beginning of something new. It is the title that starts the era of using sophisticated iHD interactivity subsystem to deliver the director’s commentary in a PiP overlaid and fully synchronized with the picture. This extra almost came by accident. We needed some demo material to showcase what could be done with iHD and this was the title we picked together with Universal for CES show. Once we were done, they were so impressed, the funded the development of the real thing.
10. Cinderella Man. Universal. Million Dollar Baby. Warner (tie)
Both titles exhibit great skin textures and gory detail you sometimes don’t want to see. They do have a special look that is rather low in contrast and hence the lower ratings in my book. But there is still plenty of dark material to challenge the ability of the codec to keep clean. And of course, the storylines are quite good as is the acting.
So there you have it. I will update this list as my mood changes, I get new movies, or I am told by too many people I am blind to have picked some movies on this list
.
__________________
Amir
Microsoft
HD DVD insider "
To ξερω οτι ειναι νωρις για εμας, απλα σας προθερμαινω!
"OK, here is my list at long last….
It took me a while to create it because I was searching for a point of view. Then it came to me. As an engineer at heart, when I look at these titles, I am always searching for difficult to encode content as my eyes zoom right in, looking for artifacts. So the list more or less is from the point of view of the challenge involved in creating the picture quality you see. Other times though, I let the “heart” sneak in and bias the selection some. So at the end, it is mishmash of what I thought looks great in HD DVD
Oh, a disclaimer. It is very hard to rank some of these titles. One could easily swap two of them and still be right. So please don’t assume this is the most accurate order. But I did give it a shot. So, on with the show.
1. Training Day. Warner Bros.
A lot of things impress me here. First is the high-rise shot which is crisp and as close as one can get to a resolution chart. Then it is the clean and fine grain in the image. Next is the superb resolution evidenced in seeing every detail in Denzel’s face. One for example sees a faint scar above his eyebrow. Then a spit coming out of Denzel’s mouth as he is driving and talking. And finally, the hood ornament and water droplets on the hood as the car moves (combination of motion and great resolution). It doesn’t get much better than this folks.
2. Swordfish. Warner Bros.
Incredibly clean look. Frame to frame. Explosion to explosion. Just when you get impressed with the shear fidelity of the image, the next scene comes and it is just as satisfying. The consistency of quality should be the hallmark of optical HD formats and this title delivers in spades.
3. U-571. Universal.
OK, I love submarine movies and this one, in HD DVD is a delight. The fine graduations of the green water is rendered with zero banding (quantization noise). The detail on people’s faces in the sub is amazing. You can read the signs behind people. And easily detect mis-focus shots. Dark content is hard on the codec. It thinks it can allocate less bits to it than your eye tolerates. It takes a good encoder and expert compressionist to render so many dark scenes so well. Great story and great image and sound. What else would you ask for?
4. Serenity. Universal
One only has to look at the opening scene of the shot of the planet to be blown away with superb clarity and contrast. The textures in the lady teacher near the beg. of the movie just makes you feel like you are there. Dark space scenes are pitch black. Graphics just sing. Wish the story was a bit better and acting too. But otherwise, it is a stellar title.
5. The Chronicles of Riddick. Universal
If you have a projector with good contrast ratio, this is the killer title. The space scenes are just amazing. As is the detail in faces. High-motion sequences show no sign of bit starvation. Atomic-style explosions show zero quantization noise and with smooth gradations that warm the heart of any codec engineer. The quality is so good that one forgets about less than great story and acting.
6. The Last Samurai. Warner Bros.
OK, no jokes about Tom cruise
7. Happy Gilmore. Universal.
Yes, an Adam Sandler movie. I must confess, I can barely stand most of his movies but this one is pretty good. But what is great is the gorgeous color and resolution of this movie. The starting scene where he is putting outside of the house is just eye candy. Bright, colorful, sharp as a tack. And it doesn’t stop here. Later, you marvel at the texture of the shirts everyone is wearing. The level of realism is unbelievable at times.
8. Firewall. Warner Bros.
A modern movie benefiting from superb transfer. The images are sharp and clean and unlike scifi movies, have ample lighting so that you can count the strands of hair in Harrison Ford’s daughter earlier in the movie. Or the saliva on the toy tire that the dog chews up! But perhaps the most remarkable thing is that this is a hybrid disc that plays in both HD DVD and DVD (and BD!) players. We are seeing such superb quality in just 15 gigabytes on the HD side. Anyone who has doubts about efficiencies of VC-1 or level of headroom, only needs to look at this title (and Rumor Has It).
9. Bourne Supremacy. Universal.
A pretty good story, with fast action that is murder on the codec. Yet it delivers. But I picked this title for another reason. This is the title that is beginning of something new. It is the title that starts the era of using sophisticated iHD interactivity subsystem to deliver the director’s commentary in a PiP overlaid and fully synchronized with the picture. This extra almost came by accident. We needed some demo material to showcase what could be done with iHD and this was the title we picked together with Universal for CES show. Once we were done, they were so impressed, the funded the development of the real thing.
10. Cinderella Man. Universal. Million Dollar Baby. Warner (tie)
Both titles exhibit great skin textures and gory detail you sometimes don’t want to see. They do have a special look that is rather low in contrast and hence the lower ratings in my book. But there is still plenty of dark material to challenge the ability of the codec to keep clean. And of course, the storylines are quite good as is the acting.
So there you have it. I will update this list as my mood changes, I get new movies, or I am told by too many people I am blind to have picked some movies on this list
__________________
Amir
Microsoft
HD DVD insider "
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