|
I complain a lot about what most DVDs look like. Most discs are compromised and aren't as good as they could be. And, when reviewers sing the praises of discs that could be better - and most offensively, when they abuse terms such as "Perfect" and "Flawless" - it drives me NUTS. So, quite correctly, some people will ask, "Well, what DVDs DO look good, then?"
Normally in response I'd point them towards the DVD Transfer Hall of Fame over at my brother Mike's site, but for several reasons, that page is now here instead. (Since my site is heavily based around the technical sides of video, I think this is perhaps a better place for it, anyway). Mike's original page showcased only 10/10 video transfers - that is, transfers that are as good as a Standard Definition MPEG-2 DVD could possibly be. I've extended this a little to also include some 9/10s. So, on this page, you'll also find some transfers that are excellent, but with a flaw or two. I'll point these out when I discuss them.
NOTE: These files are large. They were saved in Photoshop as JPGs with a compression level of 9 in order to minimize detail loss.
21 Grams (UK, PAL)
Icon
1.85:1, anamorphic
The UK version of 21 Grams has a really nice video transfer. It definitely does look a little filtered, which stops it from being classed as Perfect, but there's still a good amount of detail. Most impressive though, is the fact that the grainy look of the film has been carried over brilliantly. Obviously the grain, too, has been filtered so appears a little clumpier than actual film stock would, but the fact is that all of it's here and there's what looks like no attempts to remove it (which would cause Noise Reduction artefacts). The compression is also handled very well, with almost no blocking, despite all the grain giving the encoder a work-out.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Blade (USA, NTSC)
New Line
2.35:1, anamorphic
Mike correctly says: "New Line's transfers tend to be overrated by most DVD reviewers. So many people praise them to the skies, when in fact in my opinion the majority are mediocre at best, frequently suffering from heavy filtering and edge enhancement. Their best transfer by far is BLADE, which is incredibly sharp and has practically no filtering or edge enhancement to speak of. Only a slightly inadequate bit rate causes any complaint; otherwise, this is one of the best transfers on any DVD".
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Eyes Without A Face - The Criterion Collection (USA, NTSC)
Criterion
1.66:1, anamorphic
Only some very slight ringing stops EYES WITHOUT A FACE getting a 10 from me, there is an excellent amount of detail present in this 1959 film.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Danny the Dog - a.k.a. "Unleashed" (France, PAL)
Europa Corp
2.35:1, anamorphic
This is another title that is, like many, filtered, but retains a good amount of detail, so it still makes it into this list despite ringing around high contrast edges (look at the tops of the buildings against the sky at 35:25, for example). The actors' rough facial texture survives here and doesn't blur up upon movement, indicating that no Temporal Noise Reduction has made its way in during the transfer process.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Home Movies Season 4 (USA, NTSC)
Shout! Factory (through Sony Music Entertainment)
4:3
OK, so it's not exactly the nicest looking animated show on the air, but the video transfer is excellent. Quite frankly, if a show this simple looked bad on DVD, I'd be a little worried. But luckily that's not the case.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
The Incredibles (UK, PAL)
Buena Vista
2.35:1, anamorphic
From Mike: "This is undoubtedly Buena Vista's best digital transfer and indeed probably the best digital transfer I've seen at all. The colours are excellent, there is plenty of detail, practically no trace of edge enhancement, and, for a film full of frenetic action, surprisingly few problems with the compression. Why can't all Disney's transfers look like this?"
And, I agree 100%. When I first saw this in March 2005, my first comment was, "Wow. That's the first time I've seen an animated DVD and not been disappointed".
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Monsters Inc. (UK, PAL)
Buena Vista
1.85:1
More excellent work on a Pixar title with Monsters Inc. This is pretty close to a perfect transfer, and it contains a number of elements that are difficult to compress, such as Sully's hair and a fast-paced race through a blizzard. There is a small amount of edge enhancement, and the occasional compression artefacts, but otherwise this is just about as good as it gets for standard definition DVD.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
My own disc (PAL)
Home-made
1.85:1
"It's easy to criticise, but can you do better?" Yes, yes I can, but to avoid appearing arrogant I won't say any more than that and will need to wait until I can get someone else to comment on the quality of these.
Someone I showed this test disc to said "I don't know whether to laugh or cry". Have a look for yourself. The source was 1080p Windows Media HD sample clips downloaded from the web, Bileanear resampled to PAL DVD resolution (720x576) and encoded at a fairly average bit-rate with a 192kbps soundtrack.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Panic Room (UK, PAL)
Columbia
2.35:1
Panic Room is difficult material to convert to DVD: taking place almost entirely in dim half-light, it requires a superb reproduction of the grayscale and great handling of the grain in darker sequences. The UK transfer is much better than either the US Superbit or Special Edition releases in terms of encoding, and boasts a superb amount of detail to boot. It's also free of any edge enhancement.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes! (USA, NTSC)
Paramount
4:3
Digital ink and paint means that these cartoons - which are some of the best cartoons this decade on so many levels - never touched any sort of analogue medium. In addition to this, no filtering or edge enhancement has gone on. Stunning in every way.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
The Rock - The Criterion Collection (USA, NTSC)
Hollywood Pictures Home Video (through Criterion)
4:3
This version of this film is still what I use to benchmark displays and DVD players, as it has a stuning amount of detail visible. In the interests of objectivity, I need to point out that there are some halos visible around high contrast areas, and on one shot, I did notice some blurred stubble, indicating temporal noise reduction, although the effect was light. The second-most stunning part of this film is the car chase scene in Chapter 11. I don't know how in the hell they've encoded this, but it's a good few minutes of glass shards flying, cars racing around, shaky camera shots, and general mayhem. And there are no easily visible compression artefacts. It's a stunning example of what's possible with MPEG-2.
Oh, and the film grain structure is intact, too, meaning that this still looks like a film. Very impressive indeed.
Oddly, shots with titles or location type over them are much lower quality and look like an average DVD. The rest of the transfer however, looks great and only narrowly misses a "perfect".
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Se7en (USA, NTSC)
New Line
2.35:1
After re-evaluating Se7en, I almost chopped it out of this list for the simple fact that there's a
pretty obvious amount of ringing around horizontal edges. It's certainly not quite as good as "Blade", but
it's a hell of a lot better than New Lines later efforts, like the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which was a ringy, un-detailed disappointment). The grainy look of the film is retained nicely and despite it's flaws, I
don't think it deserves to be not included here.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Thirteen (UK, PAL)
Universal
1.85:1
This is some seriously good encoding. Whoever was in charge of authoring this disc deserves a round of applause. A word of warning to any potential buyers - this film is GRAINY, the way it was intended to be seen. It's filmed on 16mm film stock and looks gritty on purpose, so if you consider film grain to be a flaw rather than a characteristic of the medium, then stay away.
Especially in comparison with the mess that was the US version (from Fox), Universal have done an incredible job with the UK disc, handling the grainy film stock wonderfully and retaining a fantastic amount of detail. This is difficult material and it looks better than the majority of pristine 35mm movies.
[back to top] | [back to main site]
Site Design © by David Mackenzie. Unless stated, the opinions contained herein are entirely my own. I make no claim to any other properties or trademarks mentioned. NOT AFFILIATED with Lyris Technologies, an e-mail marketing software provider. This site uses a cookie to store your preferred visual style. Some Javascript functions are the work of other programmers (used with permission).
|
GET QUOTE