Best looking movie when upscaled

I can honestly say that The Nightmare Before Christmas is easily the best looking upscaled movie I have ever seen. I have the HD DVD version of The Corpse Bride and the SD DVD version of The Nightmare Before Christmas. When played in the HD-A35 player in the living room on my HD-DILA 56" 1080p screen, The SD DVD version of The Nightmare Before Christmas looks ALMOST as good as the HD DVD version of The Corpse Bride. I have a theory about animated type movies such as Schreck and claymation movies such as The Corpse Bride and how they look better than traditional non-animated type movies when upscaled by an HD or Blu player. Is anyone else of this opinion?

Yeah, it's true. And I have a theory too. Edges are processed by upconversion quite nicely, and animation is just full of edges, and simple gradients. Textures are repetitive for the most part, and if textures contain elements too small for 480 they aren't missed - well certainly it doesn't affect PQ anyway. It's easier to compress this kind of information, and it's easier to upscale once decoded.

But real life films are so much different. They contain RANDOM little pits and speckles and things like split ends of hair on people's heads that vastly increases the complexity of each frame. Quantitatively, theres many times the information there.

Live action: "Star Wars: A New Hope." Second best: "Star Wars: A New Hype."

John

The original Star Wars trilogy looks AWESOME upscaled!!! Hellboy looked pretty good too.

-JS

I used to think "I Robot" looked great upscaled until I bought the Blu-ray. Then I was blown away.

Anyone wanna buy my I Robot standard DVD that looks great upscaled?

Pretty much all of the Pixar movies look good upscaled but also Night at the Museum, Revenge of the Sith (as well as the original Star Wars trilogy), Ray, Scarface (two disc anniversary edition), THX 1138 and Bridge to Terabithia.

Any CGI-generated video clips will look fine upscaled. Reason: Natural skin tone reference need not apply. Pixar movies, including any other cgi movies, like SHREK or ICE AGE... looks very nice upscaled.

Another eye-candy movie that looks nice upscaled: ULTRAVIOLET... because the whole movie is layered with gelatin-saturated colors t. Think of every frame of the movie PHOTOSHOPED. Color distortion & jaggies at minimal.

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[Post edited by xplaytendo on Apr 15, 2008]

ALL.

American Gangster SD upscaled looked better than it HD counterpart!!!

The Indiana Jones movies, Deja Vu, and Ultraviolet looked sweet upscaled on mine. You wouldn't know they were SD DVD unless you really tried to discern.

Second that on Indiana Jones (though, I only did Last Crusade). Across the Universe looks damn sweet upscaled too!

Hey, has anyone else besides me been wondering about Tosh's Super-Upconverting and DVD2 lately? I mean, yeah it's great Blu-Ray is getting out there, but the lack of profile compliant players puts a hinder on things. I'm just wondering 'cause their possibility could really catch on.

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Hey, has anyone else besides me been wondering about Tosh's Super-Upconverting and DVD2 lately?

Not me. I generally make it a habit not to wonder or otherwise concern myself with things that don't exist, have not been announced, and whose entire premise was invented by some internet poster banned from every site except this one.

Hope that helps!

PS. If you think Across the Universe looks good upscaled, you should try it in real high definition! It rocks!

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[Post edited by Skyhawk on Apr 17, 2008]

I have had the benefit of being able to watch the Jack Ryan, Patriot Games, rental from zip.ca that they may not get back , on HD DVD on my Samsung combo player BD-UP5000 and compare it to the playback on my Toshiba AD-H3 as well as my Toshiba SD-4750 SD-DVD player with my original Jack Ryan boxset.

Now that I have seen Patriot Games on HD DVD, I am even more pissed that Paramount continued to delay and cancel this package...

I watched the HD DVD on both my Samsung and Toshiba and did A-B comparisons between this and the SD DVD on my old SD-4750...even running the Samsung playing the HD DVD with the SD DVD playing on my H3 and vise versa...

I do not care how much everyone proposes how good upconversion is, IT DOES NOT HOLD A CANDLE TO A TRUE HIGH DEF SOURCE

Yes, the upconversion can help SD DVD picture look slightly more detailed at 1080i than as a 480p playback, but there is a way too obvious lack of sharpness, fine detail, color tonal balance and contrast that the HD DVD presents.

I am now more obsessed than ever to find a copy of the Jack Ryan set on HD DVD because I cannot watch the SD DVD set I currently own

BTW - I am running this through an ISF calibrated Toshiba DLP with HDMI connections for the BD-UP5000 and the HD-A3 and component for the SD-4750.

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[Post edited by r-u-serious on Apr 18, 2008]

Thanks for those comments r-u-serious. It's why I (and others here) just don't feel that the so-called "super-upconversion" technology that Toshiba is supposed to be prepping for DVD computer drives (and possible stand-alone players) will ever truly satisfy those that have seen and enjoyed REAL HI-DEF QUALITY as seen in the HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats. Sure, 'Joe Public' may take a liking to it (if it's cheap), but others like myself want the best quality, and will make purchases of hi-def discs, over SD-DVDs that can be 'super-upconverted'. It's especially noticeable on a large-screen (50" inches or more) HDTV just how much better hi-def is over standard upconversion.

-JIMI LOVE (the Voodoo Child)

Hendrix, what percentage of people do you think own TV's bigger than 50"? You would be amazed how many people don't have TV's that big.

Also what percentage of people do you think are as obsessed with movies and technology as we are here on these boards? Probably even less.

Obviously hidef movies are the best available right now but a lot of people are happy with good looking DVD's or upscaled DVD's. Heck I'd be willing to bet those $50 DVD players with DIVX still sell like crazy.

Not everyone is into movies like we are nor do they have the budgets required to get the equipment some of us have. Some people drive Jaguars and Benzs, others are happy with less prestigious vehicles. Price have to come down bigtime for people to leave DVD because let's face it, it's still a really good product no matter how you slice it.

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Price have to come down bigtime for people to leave DVD because let's face it, it's still a really good product no matter how you slice it.

Of course Blu-ray however is 5 to 6 times better. And it does seem that people are "leaving DVD", or at least picking up the Blu-ray when available.

Good point Skyhawk. And I understand Falcon's point too, as DVD is still strongly at the top of home video sales. But high-definition adoption, and particularly Blu-ray -is- growing...

> Skyrocketing Sales of PS3 and Blu-ray Movies

The skies are looking very bright and Blu these days, as first quarter hardware and software sales reports are even stronger than anyone expected.

Sales of Blu-ray Disc-based PlayStation 3 videogame machines were up nearly 100% in March, and Blu-ray movies catapulted 351% in the first quarter, according to Home Media reporting of Nielsen VideoScan sales data.

Separately, Sony reports PS3 sales of 257,120 units in March, up more than 98% from a year ago, with more than 1.9 million software units sold for PS3 in March, a 139.2% increase from last year, according to according to NPD Group March 2008 sales data.

Lionsgate president and co-COO Steve Beeks told Home Media, "Blu-ray had its second-best week ever in the week ended March 23, and we anticipate Blu-ray sales of $800 million to $1 billion-plus for all of 2008, up dramatically from approximately $300 million last year."

Meanwhile, Sony says year-to-date (Jan-March), the PlayStation brand generated more than $1.55 billion in revenue, representing an increase of nearly 13% for the same period last year.

PlayStation total hardware revenue was $186.2 million in March on total PlayStation hardware sales of more than 770,794 units, representing a year-over-year growth of more than 23%.

PlayStation total software revenue in March was $304.7 million, representing a year-over-year growth of 25%.

And the picture for PS3 is sure to get even brighter with the April releases of "Gran Turismo 5 Prologue" and "Grand Theft Auto IV" and upcoming titles exclusive to PS3 later this year, "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots," "LittleBigPlanet," "Resistance 2," and "SOCOM: Confrontation," combined with an even bigger slate of Blu-ray movies from every Hollywood studio.

Further supporting the PlayStation format and growing the market for online connectivity (the essence of Blu-ray's new "BD Live"), Sony reports more than 3.7 million registered PlayStation Network accounts in North America.

More than 67 million pieces of content have been downloaded from PlayStation Store to date.

"Our sales momentum continues to defy what is traditionally a sluggish sales month," says Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "It is proof that, in these economically challenging times, consumers recognize the long-term value of our platforms and the tremendous heritage of our brand in delivering the best entertainment experience. This further proves the trend that 2008 is the year for PlayStation." -[END]-

-JIMI LOVE (the Voodoo Child)

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And it does seem that people are "leaving DVD", or at least picking up the Blu-ray when available.

Sigh. So what you're saying is that when a movie is available on DVD and bluray people are buying the bluray version instead huh. So I'm guessing by that example the bluray version of..say...I Am Legend outsold the DVD version.

Skyhawk you kill me sometimes

Anyway yes of course now that there is ONE hidef format it's expected that bluray sales should go up. I'm not so sure it will ever be close to DVD at it's peak especially with all these other options in the works like movie downloads, etc.

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[Post edited by Falcon01 on Apr 18, 2008]

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Sony reports PS3 sales of 257,120 units in March

only 257,120 units! Wii had over 720,000 and DS close to 700,000 units. Maybe Microsoft never "backed the wrong format", but perhaps Toshiba backed the "wrong console".

Perhaps Toshiba should've picked Nintendo as their console partner instead of Microsoft. Imagine if that had happened, perhaps the format war would still be over but with a completely different "wiinner".

BTW, going back to topic, I agree: All Pixar movies look great upscaled. Also Indy films, Star Wars, LOTR, The Cat in the Hat, etc.

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Sigh. So what you're saying is that when a movie is available on DVD and bluray people are buying the bluray version instead huh. So I'm guessing by that example the bluray version of..say...I Am Legend outsold the DVD version.

Yes, people are picking up the Blu-ray version instead of the standard DVD. English may not be your first language (it's not mine either), so I'll give you a break in your mediocre reading ability. No where did I say the MAJORITY of people have abandoned the standard DVD format. However, people are definitely buying the Blu-ray versions instead when provided the choice. In fact, lately many new day and date releases on Blu-ray represent over 10% of sales which is rather significant and already places the format way beyond "niche" status.

Skyhawk, you're my new Comical Ali

Now as far as what you're saying the same can be said for HD DVD's and even movie downloads.

By the way, english IS my first language.

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Now as far as what you're saying the same can be said for HD DVD's and even movie downloads.

1. There is no such thing as a day & date HD DVD release. Blu-ray won the format war. Remember?

2. Movie (legal) downloads are a rental model option and do not currently compete directly for media sales. Perhaps someday they will cannibalize conventional rental B&M outlets.

I'm watching THE ISLAND and it looks very good upconverted.

Now that the last big release has come and gone for HD DVD (I Am Legend) I definitely see bluray sales going up. I don't expect Twister to be a big seller on HD DVD.