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"TRAFFIC" on HD DVD is a 480i upconvert, ignorant DVD reviewers praise transfer to heavens
Newsflash, ladies and gentlemen. It's just been discovered that the HD DVD of the movie "Traffic" is, in fact, not HD at all. It's actually a blow-up of the Standard Definition version!
Worse still, this blow-up has had a lot of Sharpening applied, so it actually has LESS detail and looks WORSE than the NTSC DVD! Have a look for yourself (pictures courtesy of Xylon on the AVS Forum):
NTSC Standard Definition DVD:
1080p HD DVD (seriously):
720p HDTV Broadcast:
There are two extremely worrying issues here. The first is obvious: how could Universal even dare to put this out? It looks WORSE than the NTSC Standard Definition version.
The second issue is the reviewers. Remember how I said that a lot of "professional" DVD reviewers often don't seem to know much about video transfer quality? Well... take a look at these review snippets. They come from two major HD review sites.
HighDefDigest.com's "review":
VIDEO SCORE: 4/5
"Bottom line, this HD DVD transfer delivers. The source material is as good as the film stock allow, [sic] with no major defects visible such as print tears or distracting blemishes, though grain is intentionally excessive for much of the film.
[...]
Overall detail and depth to the image is about as good as can be expected. No, I was never blown away by the presentation as I've been with other HD DVD releases, but then I never anticipated otherwise."
DVD Authority (the name is making me laugh!) "review":
VIDEO SCORE: 4.5/5
"Well, as it turns out it looks pretty darn good. The 1.85:1 HD transfer looks absolutely pristine in some scenes and rather "so-so" in others. As anyone who has seen the movie knows, the physical look of this movie is all over the map. The different hues vary according to which storyline they're following.
[...]
As expected, the detail level is what really stood out and I noticed some things that I hadn't really ever noticed before. Writing on signs in the background, you can tell the time on people's watches. I'm constantly amazed at how crystal clear HD DVD can be and "Traffic" is the latest example."
DVDTalk's "review":
VIDEO SCORE: 3/5
"The disc looks exactly like the film is meant to look, and it actually has some fascinating textures, but this just isn't the type of movie you buy for crystal clear HD image quality. While certain scenes show off the High-Def fairly well (primarily the blue-filtered Michael Douglas segments), on the whole there isn't much fine object detail or depth. Aside from some minor edge ringing in a few scenes, the disc represents the movie's intended style faithfully and I can't fault it for that, but most viewers will probably not find it a huge upgrade over standard DVD."
Now, the DVDTalk reviewer at least points out the existence of edge ringing (but calls it "minor"?!). Don't even get me started on the High Def Digest one. What's extremely disturbing is that neither of these reviewers actually picked up on the fact that they were watching something that looks worse than most normal DVDs. I think it says a LOT about the psychology behind getting shiny new discs for shiny new HD machines.
I'm just amazed, really. How in the hell can these "reviewers" fail to differentiate between 1080p and a 480-line blur-fest that has been artificially stretched up to fit the HD resolution?
There are even more screen shots at the AVS Forum thread, as well as a small-scale brawl between one of the reviewers and angry customers.
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Muratcan
Absolutely dispeceble on Universals part and the incorrect reviews by the HD Digest and DVD Talk .
Are there no bodies in place akin to the BBFC that take a look at these films before release to see how pure the transfers really are?