All on The Dark Knight on DVD and Blu-ray

If possible - Please keep posts regarding the upcoming "The Dark Knight" DVD and Blu-ray releases in this thread.

So I am reading all the reviews on TDK, and is it really that bad looking????

IB..."bad" in what way? Are you talking about the IMAX shift?

Jason

"So I am reading all the reviews on TDK, and is it really that bad looking????" --IB

So, "bad looking" in what way? If you nitpick, you'll find fault with it, as you will with any live-action high-def movie. Softness? Yeah, in parts. Edge enhancement? Yeah, occasionally. Noise? Yeah, very minor. Too dark? Yeah, mostly intentional. DNR filtering? Probably but it's applied lightly to most films and here it's not severe enough to notice unless somebody told you.

As I said in my review, if you were one of those videophiles who picked apart "Batman Begins" on HD DVD and Blu-ray, criticizing every little detail you didn't like while holding a magnifying glass to the screen, you'll find fault with "The Dark Knight," too.

As far as the switches back and forth of screen ratios are concerned, I honestly hardly noticed them except to admire the IMAX's bigger panoramas.

John

InvisibleBiker,

Nitpicker!



The picture is perfect . . .
. . . The picture is perfect
The picture is perfect . . .
. . . The picture is perfect
The picture is perfect . . .
. . . The picture is perfect . . .

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[Post edited by Tim Raynor on Nov 25, 2008 - CST 11:39 AM]

Always seems like with every major new release, there's some amount of controversy, so I'm not surprised people are already crying about Dark Knight just because they see a couple screen captures.

I read John's review and none of his complaints really sound bad at all. I don't buy many blu-ray movies (usually rent) but this one was an easy sale for me. I can't wait for Amazon to ship me mine!!!

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[Post edited by steveo73 on Nov 25, 2008 - CST 12:08 PM]

Guys relax I am not nitpicking. I loved this movie, hell I bought a Blu Ray player just for this movie. I was just saying that I read a few reviews and I wanted to know from this site which I rely on all the time.

..ok, we are starting to come to our senses a bit here, but still..how hard would it have been to attach a standard camera to the imax camera in order to get the exact same shot for home video release? this shifting of aspect ratios is just stupid imo.

like i said in my previous post before i pulled it on the other thread..i saw this in theaters twice, and even then noticed that it was very dark, murky (in parts), and had a brownish and then bluish color temp. that seemed to switch depending on the scene. i did not expect this title to wow like the recent wall-e or hellboy2, but when i saw those screen comparisons at avs..it simply did not make sense.

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[Post edited by bladerunner1 on Nov 25, 2008 - CST 2:15 PM]

IB,

It's a matter of what and how much causes a distraction for you. I once bought a computer monitor with one dead pixel in the upper right-hand corner. I lived with it for a day before it started driving me crazy, and I exchanged the set.

Every artifact that a person could find in a Blu-ray transfer you'll find in "The Dark Knight." But are they severe enough to distract you or even catch your eye is the question. For most viewers, I'm betting the movie will look glorious. For other, fewer, viewers it will be like the dead pixel. The defects will be all they notice because it will eat at them that the thing isn't perfect.

There was only one type of artifact in "TDK" that concerned me: the moiré effects. They aren't many, but there is one in the panorama shot of Hong Kong that made me stop the player, back up, and watch it again to be sure I wasn't seeing things. After the film, I experimented. I watched the flickering lines in several Hong Kong buildings in 1080p/60 and 1080p/24: no difference. I tried watching with the Cinemotion and Motion Enhancer functions of my Sony XBR6 turned on and off: almost no difference. I checked to be sure I had my sharpness and noise-reduction settings turned off: all was correct. I took the disc upstairs and played it on my little Bravia 720p set in the bedroom: same moiré effects. They exist. But if I hadn't obsessed with this one shot, I wouldn't have even remembered it. Likewise with the edge enhancement, DNR filtering, overly dark facial hues, occasional mosquito noise, etc. Most people who even see them will find them minor, but if you obsess about them, they will drive you crazy.

Also, because everyone has a different set and setup, everyone will view any movie differently, from people with giant 100" projectors to people watching on 17" computer screens. Even if two people had the exact same TV set and BD player, they would likely have them adjusted differently and see the same defects to a greater or lesser extent. And everyone's tolerance level is different.

John

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[Post edited by John J. Puccio on Nov 25, 2008 - CST 1:31 PM]

Great review gents. I'm glad that two people reviewed this so we get two different opinions of the movie and it's presentation on bluray.

Now I feel more at ease and I'll be buying it when it comes out.