The best picture quality

[SithLordSi]

Just wondering what demo discs you lot would pull out if you were going to demo how great DVD picture quality was. How about:

Toy Story 2 (R1/R2) - for the sheer wonder of direct digital transfers
Starship Troopers (R1) - for its lack of edge-enhancement
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (R1 Superbit) - for breathtaking detail
Se7en (R1) - to demonstrate superb and subtle colours
Charlie's Angels (R2) - how well does DVD cope with bright, garish colours?
Fist of Fury (R2) - to show how big a difference restoration for DVD can make

I guess the worst ones to show (in my collection) would be:

Chasing Amy (R1) - a little grainy, and badly framed in one part
The Abyss (R1) - although a solid non-anamorphic transfer, it lacks fine detail
Star Wars: Episode I (R1) - edge-enhancement ahoy!
The 'Burbs (R1) - dirty print with a lot of grain in parts
Audition (R2) - the dreaded high contrast print with burnt-in subs

Any other ideas? Perhaps we could devies a sort of 'Top Ten Demo Discs' list! :D

[Bapapapa]

Ocean's 11

[Arch Stanton]

Just watched Final Fantasy the movie and whilst the script might be , to put it kindly 'lacking'. As eye candy it's going right to the top of any picture quality list.


to show off how well old films can look when tarted up for DVD then look no further than North by northwest.

[Gozer]

In my collection either Fight Club, Swordfish or Toy Story 2 have the best picture quality. The picture on Fight Club is excellent. Bringing out the Dead is also pretty good.

Usually its my R1 discs that disappoint with the shimmering. Only Blues Brothers doesn't suffer from this. The worst picture I've seen has got to be Chasing Amy. Everytime someone wearing white came on the area of the picture was awful. Full of dodgy coloured pixels.

[homerjhandley]

The fast and furious!!!

Best quality you could ever hope for. I have seen the film over 3 times and not yet seen ANY blockyness (is that what it is called).

everything pin sharp.

:)

[DrPhobus]

I think that T2 is always on my top list because just about everyone has seen this film on TV at one time or another yet when shown how good an old film can be especially when done with DD or DTS

[Arch Stanton]

T2 Old film!!!!!111111


Kids today, you crack me up. :)

[Gozer]

Thought the picture on R2 T2 was disappointing, not as 'perfect' as I was lead to believe.

On the other hand the picture on the French release of La Haine is perfect.

[Shingster]

Some that come to mind:

Gladiator (Any region)
The Road Home (R2)
Oh Brother Where Art Thou? (R2)

Transfers of older titles:

North By Northwest (R2)
Suspiria (R0, AB)
Encounters of A Spooky Kind (R2, HKL)

[SithLordSi]

Gozer, I agree on T2 and La Haine - the former was a definite let-down (especially in retrospect) but the latter blew me away! Pity the extras don't have subs, tho. :(

[SimonI]

Not often mentioned here, but the two Austin Powers films (at least on R1) have exceptionally good pictures - they bring out that groovy 60s colour perfectly (I imagine)!

Also agree about The Road Home (R2) - that would be my demo disk of choice.

[jroadley]

Toy Story 2
North By Northwest
O Brother Where Art Thou?

[martinb]

Blade has amazing picture quality. I'd second the fast and furious, fantastic quality though the film stinks to high heaven!!

[Dan Druff]

A selection of some goodies viewed on 72" screen:

Lawrence of Arabia
Shrek
North by Northwest
Blade
A Bugs Life
Dances with Wolves
The Shining
Stargate
X-Men
Toy Story 1 and 2

I disagree with The Abyss R1 being there for worst though SithLordSi, it looks excellent projected. Worst I ever saw was Highlander 25th Anniversary Edition.

[Ericf]

I think, for now, I will have to say:
Tarzan R1 Collector's Edition.

The absolute best animated DVD I have. And that's no bad grade.

Usually animated movies are full of compression artefacts. The backgrounds usually have that VHS noise in the colors and if you press pause you see its not color noise but compression artefacts.

So this one is for Disney ( even though they are doing some dreadful things to foreign movies lately ).

Ericf

Adding:
R2 Pal France: Crying Freeman. Superb DVD in all respects. Masterful compression at all times.

R1 NTSC USA: Dark City. With all the dark scenes you'd expect a fair amount of artifacts. None to be seen. And it's a great move too.

The worst DVD I have is:
R1 NTSC USA: Tierra released by Tanelorn Films/Vanguard. The movie is good ( directed by Julio Medem of The Red Squirrel fame ) but the transfer is simple letterbox and it's so full of artifacting that you think the moving parts are going to jump off the screen and right at your throat! Simply awful.

Ericf

[arkham]

i would have to say R4 swordfish, terrible terrible film but superb pciture quality

oh and lets not forget that wee advert showing the difference between video and dvd that plays before the menu screen:D

[jamie_rowe]

Agreed on Toy Story 1 and 2
Also The Matrix and THe Mummy (Ultimate Ed. anyway)

Ghostbusters is a real letdown.



My DVDs (http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mc.asp?alias=jamie_rowe)

[ASaxton]

Cant beleive that no one has mentioned Saving Private Ryan on R1 :nuts: thats has liek the highest constant bitrate of any film i have seen that isnt a superbit title.

Also for old restored movies for picture quality :

Halloween Special Edition (R1)
Blazing Saddles (R2)
Any of the new Kubrick Collection

Later,

Andy

[Ben Martin]

Originally posted by SithLordSi
Chasing Amy (R1) - a little grainy, and badly framed in one part
Originally posted by Gozer
The worst picture I've seen has got to be Chasing Amy. Everytime someone wearing white came on the area of the picture was awful. Full of dodgy coloured pixels.

surely it's worth pointing out though that Chasing Amy was shot on 16mm film and so the fact that it exhibits some grain in the transfer is no big surprise? maybe this has something to do with the other 'pixellation problems' too (though i've not noticed them)? i know you'd think it wouldn't but then you also wouldn't expect that kind of transfer from criterion.

and the framing problem. yes, it's there but it's pretty slight, only one shot and most people wouldn't have noticed it if they weren't already aware of it's existence. okay, it definitely shouldn't have happened, but adding that lot up together really puts this disc in a light it doesn't deserve. the picture isn't as bad as being made out here - and it was supervised by the cinematographer after all, it has quality extras and it's 'problems' have reasons inherent to the film.

[tj_director]

on my 43" beauty, within half a minute of playing Bug's Life (R2) in fullscreen, spectators are sold not only on DVD, but RPTV's!! Every single leaf on the tree is sharp, and every blade of grass is as vivid as the next!!! :cool:

Others:

SPR!! -- best looking R1 i have!
T2 (R1) -- it is gorgeous, just play the truck sequence!!
Se7en -- it makes my TV look like a true mini cinema
Lawrence OA -- ditto
Tarzan (R2) -- Wow!! -- animation like this looks bloody great!!
Fantasia 2000 -- ditto
The Road Home -- the gorgeous scenery looks sexy, Ziyi helps too! ;)
Charlie's Angels -- Diaz, Barrymore and Liu -- who cares what the picture quality is like!!

and basically any other New Line or Columbia title (off course there are exceptions). My personal favourite has to be New Line/WB, for some reason their transfers can really be too good to be true. When their NTSC titles look as good as most other PAL titles, then you know you're talking about quality!! New Line are the best!! :)

[DeadKenny]

Another vote for Blade here.