Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -- High-Def Digest

[PeterB]

Making my way through all the Paramount Blu-ray launch titles.

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/laracrofttombraider.html

Another wash in the Blu-ray versus HD DVD debate, though to be honest neither version looks all that great. A weak source is the main problem with this one...

[Maxx_75]

I havent seen the Blu version but the HD-DVD version is not too good. Not terrible mind you. But not good. I think that you are correct in that it just wasnt filmed/produced well.

[Tejstar]

Shame about this as I thought the film was quite fun. May hold out for a better release at some point in the future.

[MrChaos]

You would think if the HD-DVD release looked terrible that Paramount would wait and try to remaster the print or fix it up instead of re-releasing the same garbage. Do they think us early adopters are stupid?

[mischa316]

For a movie that came out in what was it 2000 or 01? IT really didn't look that good. It looked pretty grainy. They could've done a better job on it. Surprisingly a movie that came out in the late 80's Leathal weapon looked better than this one. So I totally agree with you guy's.
Mischa.

[Maxx_75]

You can only fix so much. As I said I dont think that this movie was filmed and or produced well. So the HD-DVD or Blu-Ray can only make it look like it does on film. Which is not good.

[Osko]

I think we'll get the same encodings on both formats for evry release.
So that means there will never be a difference in pq.
IMHO.

[Maxx_75]

Originally Posted by Osko

I think we'll get the same encodings on both formats for evry release.
So that means there will never be a difference in pq.
IMHO.

I am afraid I must disagree. We might get the same MASTER for most releases but the encodings might be different. Alot if not all of the movies released on both formats are taken from the HD-DVD version. Also codex plays a huge role IMHO. Mpeg-2 just doesnt stand up to VC-1. The Blu-Ray releases have been on par with or worse than the HD-DVD versions according to most reviewers.

p.s. It seems difficult to discuss the merits and demerits of a subjective issue such as this outside of the smackdown forum.

[Osko]

What I meant was, that the files for the movie are probably the same only on different kinds of disks.
I'm talking about the movies that were released on both formats with the same codec.

[Maxx_75]

Originally Posted by Osko

What I meant was, that the files for the movie are probably the same only on different kinds of disks.
I'm talking about the movies that were released on both formats with the same codec.

Yes in this regard they would be the same. Where the file is comming from wouldnt matter. HD-DVD,Blu-Ray, or off of a Hard Drive for that matter.

[StoogeFan1118]

I have the movie on SD DVD, and HD DVD I may pick up the Blu-ray version if I can find it cheap. I though the film looked ok on HD DVD but i like the movie so much that I dont mind having multiple versions. As for Paramont Aeon Flux looks so much better than this

[poof2124]

Why are certain Paramount titles being re-issued? I see Tomb Raider Blu-ray for release on June 3, 2008. I don't see anything different in the release details.

I still want to pick it up because this movie's a guilty pleasure for me and I don't hate Angelina yet.

[FourToedStatue]

Originally Posted by poof2124

Why are certain Paramount titles being re-issued? I see Tomb Raider Blu-ray for release on June 3, 2008. I don't see anything different in the release details.

I still want to pick it up because this movie's a guilty pleasure for me and I don't hate Angelina yet.

When Paramount went HD DVD only they stopped producing all blu rays. Now that they're back they're producing them again.

[adam_g2000]

Hi All, hopefully this might be of use to others, so I thought I'd post it here. I received my copy of Tomb Raider on Blu Ray from Amazon's recent 3 for 2 sale. I threw it in the PS3 which promptly tried to read the disc and crashed (the first time it's ever done that). Turned it off, turned it on again, and it's been fine since.

However, when I viewed the movie, there were ghostly vertical stripes or bars of light and dark tones. Doubly odd were that these were not evident in the pre-movie 'Paramount HD' trailer - except when I paused the movie at the Tomb Raider clip.

These bars would change width if I turned the 1080 HD Full setting on my tv to simply Full and disappear completely when I turned it onto the (completely useless) Panoramic setting.

Inspiration struck and rerouting the signal away from HDMI through the Component cables I also have routing through my amp solved the problem. The TV can only produce 1080i from component, but the bars are gone and the change in quality is not all that noticable in such a grainy movie anyway. I hope this info stops others going mad.

[mictrmbl]

Originally Posted by Maxx_75

I havent seen the Blu version but the HD-DVD version is not too good. Not terrible mind you. But not good. I think that you are correct in that it just wasnt filmed/produced well.

I have to disagree with you here, to a point. As far as stability goes, the picture was pretty fair. Inconsistent; boy was it. There were some scenes that just blew me away. Then there were scenes that were so-so. Compared to The Italian Job, this was a huge improvement in video quality. Yes there was that annoying digital looking grain throughout, but it was minimal. Some parts looked like a 1080i hd broadcast while others were beyond words. All in all, a good purchase if you love Angelina Jolie.
Video=8.4/10
Audio=8.6/10