Wednesday, March 23, 2011

BLAH-RAY...

Now, let me qualify this comment.  I'm playing the Concert For George Blu-Ray on a standard low-to-mid-price Sony Blu-Ray player.

Still, I'm expecting to be (even somewhat) wow-ed by the picture.  I'm not.  At all.

Anyone else?

8 comments:

ChrisJVargo said...

How's the audio compared to the CD? Same mix? Different?

Jerry said...

I can't be a good judge of the audio yet, I recently moved and my surround speakers are nowhere near set up... on the surface it's fine. I'm more distracted at the underwhelming picture quality. I'm going to re-check my settings, maybe I have a setting wrong or something...

Anonymous said...

That's too bad! Concert for George is, in my opinion, one of the best looking DVD released. Really would have hoped that the BluRay release would be just as good.

Anonymous said...

Funny, because I popped it in yesterday and was thinking the exact same thing. I really didn't notice a difference in the sound or picture. Very strange.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the video quality is not exactly eye-popping. It's not bad at all. It's an upgrade from the DVD. It's just not a-grade demo material. It's in 1080i instead of 1080p, although I don't think that in and of itself has a great impact. As I've been able to research, it was shot in HD (not on film), but shot at 24fps so it "looks" like film. Again, that's fine in and of itself. I think this is a case of it being an older HD transfer (probably the 2003 HD master which was down-rezzed to make the DVD), an earlier-era HD camera setup (2002), and just a "look" (i.e. dark and a bit "Soft") at the show that doesn't result in a shiny, slick HD look.

I never thought the DVD was amazing-looking either, but it's due to the style and shooting conditions as much as anything. It's a bit dark, grainy, and soft, especially for something apparently/allegedly shot natively in HD.

None of it ever looks bad. The DVD looks fine, the Blu-ray is an upgrade from that. But it doesn't have that "shot on HD video, slick, shiny, "live"" look to it.

If you're into getting the best available version of this, the blu-ray is the way to go. If you're not into minor SD-to-HD upgrades, this isn't a must unless you need the new 5-minute-long featurette on drummers.

Jerry said...

I thought that would have been the main feature of a Blu-Ray disc, an improved picture.

There's no fine detail. It's much too soft.

That can't possibly be because the HD technology in 2002 was THAT dull.

The set was gorgeous. The Royal Albert Hall is generally breathtaking... and this is the way it looks on Blu-Ray?? You gotta be kidding me!

That concert should look awesome... and it just doesn't.

Anonymous said...

What is the Blu Ray exclusive feature, 'drummers' like?

Jerry said...

It's a nice little feature segment. They're just having fun at rehearsals and so on. Ringo is his usual fun-loving self. A nice little bonus...