'End Of Days' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

Peter's review of 'End of Days' is up. He says the film is enjoyable camp. This Blu-ray has audio and video comparable to its HD DVD counterpart, but drops the supplements in the transition, leaving only a single commentary ported over from previous releases. For fans.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/endofdays.html

[gamma626]

I'll get the pack then instead of just this. thanks for the review!

[Super-VHS]

Originally Posted by Peter Bracke

Universal has repackaged the previous 1080p/VC-1 encode found on the HD DVD here, only re-encoded it in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 (with a slightly expanded bitrate, thanks to the use of a BD-50 dual-layer disc).

Yeah, a few problems...

First, again with the codec - is it really AVC? EDIT: It appears I was wrong and Universal did indeed use the AVC codec for video (as per Blu-News.) Cause (again, as I mentioned in the Miami Vice thread where the exact same mistake was made) Universal stated that VC-1/DTS-HD MA were there codecs of choice. If they did indeed change codecs from their norm it's surprising but maybe it's the case (I don't know, I haven't actually watched this)... though I think it's more the case that the review is incorrect (again.)

Second, the BD-50 mention..... wrong. Both U-571 and this (End of Days) are mentioned here (at HDD by said reviewer) to be on BD-50s... this is incorrect. Both of these releases were pushed onto single-layer BD-25s. This would be why the video extras "mysteriously disappeared" on End of Days.

[HectorB]

pass on this as well! i think U-571 might be really worth upgrading if the audio is that much better than the hd-dvd.

[Konrad]

I will get this one. The movie is ridiculous, that's for sure, but it has something to it. The mother-daughter-satan threesome was kind of nice to watch and quite an original idea...

[Blu-News.com]

Post review on my blog:

Blu-news.com review

[Super-VHS]

^^^^ VC-1 encoding confirmed???

[Blu-News.com]

Originally Posted by Super-VHS

^^^^ VC-1 encoding confirmed???

Nope, that was my mistake. Need to fix it. It's AVC

[Super-VHS]

Really? BD-25 confirmed? (I've read multiple sources confirming but this AVC 'surprise' makes me wonder.)

[Blu-News.com]

Originally Posted by Super-VHS

Really? BD-25 confirmed (I've read multiple sources confirming but this AVC 'surprise' makes me wonder.)

The case states it's a BD-25, as does the press releases included with them. I don't know how I would check other wise? And yeah, it's AVC, just popped it in and checked, don't know how that passed me.

EDIT: Also, if it was on a BD-50, it would have not dropped the extras most likely.

[Super-VHS]

Originally Posted by Blu-News.com

The case states it's a BD-25, as does the press releases included with them. I don't know how I would check other wise? And yeah, it's AVC, just popped it in and checked, don't know how that passed me.

BD 25s have one barcode 'ring' on the bottom (or back)... BD50s have two.

It's strange that Universal is using AVC.... I wonder if this is a permanent change for them? (which would seem strange, having all launch titles be VC-1 - including Day and Date Doomsday. Then two of the three "action pack" titles use VC-1 and this one uses AVC? It doesn't make sense....)

[Blu-News.com]

Originally Posted by Super-VHS

BD 25s have one barcode 'ring' on the bottom (or back)... BD50s have two.

It's strange that Universal is using AVC.... I wonder if this is a permanent change for them? (which would seem strange, having all launch titles be VC-1 - including Day and Date Doomsday. Then two of the three "action pack" titles use VC-1 and this one uses AVC? It doesn't make sense....)

I just checked and it's one ring, compared to Miami Vice with two. As for the encode, who knows. We'll have to wait and see other upcoming releases.

[Super-VHS]

Originally Posted by Blu-News.com

I just checked and it's one ring, compared to Miami Vice with two. As for the encode, who knows. We'll have to wait and see other upcoming releases.

Great, thanks for the info.

And yeah, I wonder about the their video codec of choice. HDD has stated that specs for Sarah Marshall, The Thing and a many other upcoming Universal releases indicate AVC so I think a change may be coming... it's just strange is all.

[PeterB]

Heya

End of Days is AVC, while U-571 and Miami Vice are VC-1.

I finally got a response today from the studio's tech side as to why they have begun using two codecs:

"The reason is due to the authoring software. Sony’s Blu-print does not support all features well for VC-1. Seamless branching and multi-angle are the biggest problems on the Blu-print side. Universal titles that employ these features may end up being AVC. I believe 40 Year Old Virgin is AVC because of this."

I'm still not sure why they opted for AVC on End of Days, which has no such features?

As for the BD-25 error, it was my mistake. I updated the review.

[Super-VHS]

Originally Posted by PeterB

Heya

End of Days is AVC, while U-571 and Miami Vice are VC-1.

I finally got a response today from the studio's tech side as to why they have begun using two codecs:

"The reason is due to the authoring software. Sony’s Blu-print does not support all features well for VC-1. Seamless branching and multi-angle are the biggest problems on the Blu-print side. Universal titles that employ these features may end up being AVC. I believe 40 Year Old Virgin is AVC because of this."

I'm still not sure why they opted for AVC on End of Days, which has no such features?

As for the BD-25 error, it was my mistake. I updated the review.

Thanks for the info and update Peter.

Switching to AVC makes sense in the context in which they say it will be used (branching and such) I guess.... I just find it very strange that they used AVC for End of Days because it (as you say) doesn't have any of those 'special features' (heck it doesn't have any extras except a commentary...)