This morning I just stumbled across an over at which so perfectly reflects my thoughts that I think it is imperative for me to post it here. Some time ago I reviewed and in the review I mentioned that the image seems to look with waxy skin tones and other issues which I suggested were the result of noise reduction to get rid of the film's inherent grain. Of course, instantly, on numerous message boards and online forums by self-declared experts, some of them claiming , even though these guys had not even seen the Blu-Ray version at all. Well, , as they say, so I couldn't care less about these people who seem to confuse their own innate geekiness with actual expertise. Anyway, is shedding some more light on the subject as a hole, and since he is a real expert on the subject of film restoration I was glad to see that he was using 'Patton' as the poster child for how not to transfer a film to Blu-Ray. Since some folks didn't want to believe me, maybe they will take it from him. The fact of the matter remains that and that it should remain in the movies if it was part of the original filmmakers' intent. It is not a matter of personal taste or public trends, and I'm not sure what's so hard to understand about that.
I am sure many of you have heard by now that over the past weekend, leaving a gigantic hole in the world of movies. Together with Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett, Stan Winston was probably of our time. Almost any blockbuster movie you have seen during the past 30 years that required make-up or prosthetic effects, Stan was the man Hollywood looked to. He was the one who created the unique design of the . Stan was the man who brought to life. Denny DeVito's Penguin-look in was designed by Stan Winston. His is the and most prominently, those scary in the 'Jurassic Park' movies? You guessed it. Stan Winston's babies. The list is truly endless. I have had the pleasure to meet Stan Winston in person some time ago and get a personal tour through his workshop and he impressed me not only as a movie-making genius, but also as an incredibly charming and welcoming person. . Witty, imaginative and always with a smile, Stan Winston has probably inspired more people to get excited about special effects than anyone else since Ray Harryhausen. Unlike an actor – who you either love or hate – someone like Stan Winston and his creations touched everyone's live in one way or another because the movies he was involved in were so many and so immensely diverse. It is needless to say, I believe, that who knew him as well as every movie fan around the world. Only 62 years of age, Stan Winston sadly passed away way before his time.
may have lost the format war but the company still doesn't' let up with the bullshit. Rumors have spawned indicating that Toshiba is working on a that will make DVDs look like Blu-Ray. How's that for a good morning Now, we all know by now that can look much better than played back through their standard definition output chain.Toshiba, in fact, was leading in the effort as the company's HD-DVD players did an amazing job upconverting DVDs to high definition. However, let's not forget that upconversion is just that. Upconversion. images and there are even more inherent limitation in upconverting video streams. Not even the best super-processor in the world can suddenly put back into a picture. The source is limited to a poor 480p resolution and all it can do is make sure the scaled image looks as smooth as possible. By doing that it because the resulting image has virtually nothing in common any more with the original frame. Claiming the resulting image rivals a Blu-Ray image is simply . It's like saying Picasso's blue phase was so striking because of its diversity in color. It is hogwash and just another attempt by the sore loser of the format war to create insecurity in the market. Fortunately we won't see the super-DVD player until the end of the year and hopefully by then people will have learned to appreciate a real high definition image over the . Fake crab meat anyone?
Forget the naysayers, Blu-Ray is marching into homes
I've noticed that recently a lot of have begun to , citing slow release schedules and sales figures below expectation for their disappointment. Could it perhaps be that to begin with? The sad part about this is that it is coming for supposedly respected sources, such as the industry trade papers. I for one do not share their sentiment but let's face it, many of to begin with. Repeatedly now I have seen analysts and writers claim that Blu-Ray is going to be the next Laserdisc – a small niche within the market that caters to no one but the most hardcore cinephiles. This is an utterly , of course, as Blu-Ray is already way beyond Laserdisc status. What these eternal naysayers are forgetting is that thanks to the widespread hardware base of the PS3. Gamers are not cinephiles and yet they use their consoles to watch movies. Also, they seem to forget that Laserdisc painted itself in the corner at the time because of its entirely unrealistic price point of $100 per disc and more. All things considered, . Many people expected it to take off like a bottle rocket the way DVD did but that's always been unrealistic because it is inherently a much . The gap between VHS to DVD was huge - no more rewinding, no degradation of repeat playbacks, higher resolution, no degradation over time, better sound, better colors, smaller cases, and so forth, all made DVD an easy sell and a guaranteed success. With formats like Blu-Ray many of these benefits that helped DVD are no longer there and you're looking at selling a format that offers improved picture and slightly improved audio. Of course, people will be slow to jump into it, especially after witnessing the . Blu-Ray is safely on its way to become the home video standard of the future and if you don't believe me, just sit back and watch. Let's talk again five years from now.
We made a few here at 'DVD Review' and a few more may follow in the weeks ahead. One of the ones that will stand out most to long-time readers is the to the reviews. For the longest time we were reluctant to do so but I think the time has come to make this addition. In the info panel on the right hand side of our review you will now find a giving you an immediate idea about the quality of the release. This rating will represent the release as a whole, not just the quality of the movie itself. Read it as in 'Is it worth your time and money?' I hope you will find this addition helpful as you go through our reviews and see if you would agree with them. Who knows? Maybe somewhere down the line we'll even include ratings from our readers, to complement our own. also, as we're always interested in hearing what people are looking for in a website such as ours. Switching gears for a moment, I wanted to send out to us. I know they are not nearly as abundant on releases these days as they used to but I'm sure there are still plenty of discs out there with some great Easter Eggs on them. Please let us know when you find them because as you know, DVD Review is the longest-standing authority when it comes to DVD hidden features. Just send a quick email with info to this email and we'll check it out. I'm eager to hear about all those great hidden gems you will uncover!
So, as you all know, the . It's been about time, is all I can say to this, but I am glad that things have developed so quickly in the end. Toshiba pulls the plug, Universal announces Blu-Ray support the very same day, and Paramount the day after. So now, and we can finally begin to ring in the high definition era. Nonetheless, let us not forget that has been done over the past two years over the course of this war-that-never-should-have-been - kinda reminds me of the Iraq war, but that's a different story. The this format war has created among consumers is serious and the fallout will be noticed for at least another year. Although the actual war may be over I have no doubt that even around Christmas 2008 you will still have people walking into stores asking 'Isn't there another format?' Let's face it, when you are talking about the mainstream body of people, information trickles down very slowly sometimes and simply because they haven't heard the news yet that the war is over, because they feel insecure, or because they don't believe it - or perhaps because they do not trust the peace and expect some other format to crop up from somewhere. All these are issues that the entire industry has to deal with and that will need to be addressed. A great many people have suspended purchasing movies altogether over the past year - they saw DVD as becoming obsolete and at the same time didn't want to put their money on either of the high def formats in fear they may bet on the losing horse. I can't blame them. It will require a very strong push out of Hollywood to get the gears grinding again, to inspire people, give them hope and say One of the best ways to do that of course is to bring out the big guns. I am hoping to see some of the real fan favorites and heavy weights like 'The Lord Of The Rings,' 'Star Wars,' 'Indiana Jones,' and others in high definition soon.
I am always amazed at how this world seems to be dominated by complete morons. Our entire culture these days is centered around the fact that you can always find some idiot somewhere who spoils the fun for everyone. Case in point, some moron in Connecticut called Bob McGovern, who is suing Samsung because his Blu-Ray player won't play certain discs. Now, I agree that incompatibility issues can be aggravating at times, they are typically resolved rather easily with a simple firmware upgrade. But all of that doesn't help if you're faced with some lowlife hellbent on getting rich quick through a frivolous lawsuit. It is for people like this that our entire society is essentially run by lawyers these days, who make a killing putting fear into every corporation and who encourage anyone to sue others even if there are no grounds to speak of. After all, they have nothing to lose – they win either way. In a world where people should have gotten used to the fact that every item we carry contains high technology, and where we should have learned that such technology is always flawed, a lawsuit based on an 'inconvenience' is simply ridiculous. Not even my cell phone does what it's supposed to do properly. Do I sue the manufacturer as a result? No, because I have a sense of decency that seems to be missing from way too many people. Only once we get of the preposterous assumption that everything around us is there only to cater to our whims and personal satisfaction, we may actually make this world a better place again. Until then, we have to watch legions of filthy lawyers get richer every day rubbing their hands in anticipation of their next client idiot who may be a little disgruntled.
I have heard that there is an going on on the Internet through which people try to get Warner to continue support for the HD-DVD format. While I understand that no one likes to lose, this is a ridiculous undertaking for a number of reasons. First of all, does anyone honestly think that can make a difference in this corporate decision? took a long and hard look at its sales numbers and they know how few HD-DVD users are out there and how little revenue they generate. They to understand that these people who put their money behind it do not want to lose their format. They might be executives but they are not retards, people, and they've been looking at these numbers for months now. Much more importantly however, I think that this petition is pointless because to put if very bluntly, It was the weaker of the two formats form the get-go and it keeps dragging on the war-that-never-should-have-been, resulting in massive consumer confusion and people not adopting high definition at the speed that they otherwise would. For all those of you who haven't heard yet, high definition is the future and yes, it is much better than DVD, and it is backwards compatible, which means all your cool DVD movies will still play on a Blu-Ray player. So go and get one, already. You won't regret it! I know I will take a lot of flak for saying this, but the fact of the matter is that HD-DVD is done in. It has reached the end of the line and the sales figure prove it as well. After Warner's announcement to abandon HD-DVD the sales figure jumped exponentially resulting in a brutally smashing for high definition players being sold and a 85% market share for high definition software sales, according to NPD Group. I think the number speak for themselves and the verdict is as simple as it is clear. The world doesn't need HD-DVD and more importantly, , so let's put an end to it and move on already!
