Best upscaled movie...Lord of the Rings

[Aristottle]

First of all I would be the first to say that I have never seen an SD DVD upscaled that is as good as an HD DVD or Bluray....although some certainly are better than others.

To date the SD DVDs that I have been MOST impressed with upscaled are the Lord of the Rings DVDs....I have been watching my extended cut versions on my Plasma TV for the first time....and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised....they look incredible....even REFERENCE QUALITY for SD DVD.....I can only imagine how incredible they will look when they are finally released on BLURAY.

[iontyre]

Originally Posted by Aristottle

First of all I would be the first to say that I have never seen an SD DVD upscaled that is as good as an HD DVD or Bluray....although some certainly are better than others.

To date the SD DVDs that I have been MOST impressed with upscaled are the Lord of the Rings DVDs....I have been watching my extended cut versions on my Plasma TV for the first time....and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised....they look incredible....even REFERENCE QUALITY for SD DVD.....I can only imagine how incredible they will look when they are finally released on BLURAY.

I watched "Becoming Jane" with my wife and "Across the Universe" with my daughter yesterday, two $1 a day rentals from Red Box. They both were STUNNING on my A2 connected to my Philips 42" 720p plasma. If I had a 65"1080p plasma I suppose a true HD source would be noticably better, but I probably got as good a picture as I was going to get at my viewing distance (10 feet) with this combination.

That makes me feel a bit better, since I cannot afford a blu-ray player now, and will probably be making my last HD DVD purchases (I Am Legend, and maybe the Ocean's 11 and 12 releases) very soon. I can't buy SD DVD's anymore, it just bothers me too much, so these $1 a day rentals are probably the way I will go for now. Very sad and frustrating situation. I will be infuriated if blu-ray does not do what is necessary to become mass market, as they clearly killed a format that was poised to do just that.

[Blu-Balls]

If you have Terminator 3 and haven't seen it upconverted, pop that sucker in. It looks pretty damn good upscaled by my PS3.

[Snadinator]

Sweeney Todd looks great upscaled. So does Things we lost in the fire.

[Neo991lb]

Originally Posted by iontyre

I watched "Becoming Jane" with my wife and "Across the Universe" with my daughter yesterday, two $1 a day rentals from Red Box. They both were STUNNING on my A2 connected to my Philips 42" 720p plasma. If I had a 65"1080p plasma I suppose a true HD source would be noticably better, but I probably got as good a picture as I was going to get at my viewing distance (10 feet) with this combination.

That makes me feel a bit better, since I cannot afford a blu-ray player now, and will probably be making my last HD DVD purchases (I Am Legend, and maybe the Ocean's 11 and 12 releases) very soon. I can't buy SD DVD's anymore, it just bothers me too much, so these $1 a day rentals are probably the way I will go for now. Very sad and frustrating situation. I will be infuriated if blu-ray does not do what is necessary to become mass market, as they clearly killed a format that was poised to do just that.

I love using Red Box for the SD DVDs but every time I go it's a hassle because there is a line of 6 people taking 5 minutes each.. I'm always standing there waiting in line forever because people don't know what they want and if they do it's not in stock...

I agree with the Lord of the Rings comment. Back before HD DVD and BR I conned my dad into buying an upscaling dvd player to 1080i and I remember watching Fellowship multiple times on it. I imagine the technology has improved since then to say the least so I might have to give it another go. The entire trilogy was on TNT HD last night with limited commercials! That's a gorgeous HD channel to watch.. Could go without the commercials though

[CochiseGuy]

Originally Posted by Aristottle

Best upscaled movie...Lord of the Rings

All 3? Which edition, Theatrical or Extended?

I've been debating picking up the EE DVD, tired of waiting for it to come out in High-def, and if it does I bet not until next holiday season.

I've long since given away my Full Screen editions. Yeah, yeah - I know. Well, at the time they came out on DVD I was working overseas, and playback on my Laptop was my only option.

[comixguru]

The score or so SD DVDs I've rented in the last two months have looked remarkable upconverted. All have looked like an HD source at one point or another. Many could have fooled me for the length of the entire movie. I have a 42" 1080P plasma and I sit close, 5'-6', sometimes less. I think this is the sweet spot for upconversion.

Apparently, I saved myself a fortune by not getting a 50-58" display. (or, gasp!, did I trap myself into buying a larger display just to further appreciate the HD stuff? nah, I'll just buy a projector next year.)

As for Lord of the Rings, I really like the upconverted EE SD DVDs on this display. I've watched them twice. I've also snagged some of the those 720P EE digital files (8 GBs each) that have been around now for about 3-4 months. The upconverted SD looked better, but the files had many scenes with more detail.

The zoomed to 16:9 HD broadcasts this weekend on TNT looked great -- but not worth the "limited commercial interruptions".

-comix

[Aristottle]

I have both the theatrical release and the extended editions...IMHO the extended edition is much better as far as the story goes and that is the one that I am watching now......anyway this was the first time I have watched the LORD OF THE RINGS since I bought my home theater system.....and it looks incredible on my 42 inch plasma and sounds great too.

I was sitting on the couch last night watching it with a smile from ear to ear. I use my A30 for playing SD DVDs as I prefer the real counter on it and find the upscaling a little better than my PS3.

I don't have any of the Terminator movies on DVD, as I am planning on picking them on HD DVD or Bluray.

Anyone that hasn't watched Lord of the Rings upscaled should give it a try.....it is pretty damn good.

[Aristottle]

Oh from what I have read online....it could be quite a while before we see Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars released on Bluray. So we will have to live with SD DVD for the time being.

[Liqwid]

A lot of people may disagree with me, but I think Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom looks great upscaled. It's probably one of the best upscaling DVDs that I own, actually.

[taygan315]

Originally Posted by Aristottle

I have both the theatrical release and the extended editions...IMHO the extended edition is much better as far as the story goes and that is the one that I am watching now......anyway this was the first time I have watched the LORD OF THE RINGS since I bought my home theater system.....and it looks incredible on my 42 inch plasma and sounds great too.

I was sitting on the couch last night watching it with a smile from ear to ear. I use my A30 for playing SD DVDs as I prefer the real counter on it and find the upscaling a little better than my PS3.

I don't have any of the Terminator movies on DVD, as I am planning on picking them on HD DVD or Bluray.

Anyone that hasn't watched Lord of the Rings upscaled should give it a try.....it is pretty damn good.

I have never seen any of the LOTR movies. I may have to give it a shot now. Some other sd dvds you should try that look good upconveted (imho) are: Titanic, Blow, Open Water, Sweeney Todd, Casino, and Zombie's Halloween.

[Motorheadache]

Originally Posted by taygan315

I have never seen any of the LOTR movies. I may have to give it a shot now.

WWWHHHHAAAAAA?????!!!!!




Seriously though. You've gotta see them. Now. Go!

[mojo16]

Originally Posted by comixguru

The zoomed to 16:9 HD broadcasts this weekend on TNT looked great -- but not worth the "limited commercial interruptions".

-comix

Personally, I was a little disappointed in TNT's HD presentation of the movies (aside from them being the theatrical cuts, which is understandable due to its TV presentation). I didn't think they looked much better at all than upscaling the EE DVD's on my A35 or PS3 (I've watched a little on both). The results of upscaling on both machines have been fantastic. Furthermore, the aspect ratio was changed on the TNT broadcast to fully fill a 16:9 screen, so you loose a little of the picture. Not to mention, the DD EX and dts-ES tracks on the DVD's are much better than the DD track we got on the broadcast presentation.

[resevilfan86]

Originally Posted by taygan315

I have never seen any of the LOTR movies. I may have to give it a shot now. Some other sd dvds you should try that look good upconveted (imho) are: Titanic, Blow, Open Water, Sweeney Todd, Casino, and Zombie's Halloween.

You really need to watch them. For just about everyone though, they seem to be too long. But the extended versions are so good. If you want, try out the theatricals first and then get into extended versions. Just give them a chance. I had never read the books until after I saw the theatricals, then I watched the EE and I appreciated them sooooooooooo much more.

Originally Posted by mojo16

Personally, I was a little disappointed in TNT's HD presentation of the movies (aside from them being the theatrical cuts, which is understandable due to its TV presentation). I didn't think they looked much better at all than upscaling the EE DVD's on my A35 or PS3 (I've watched a little on both). The results of upscaling on both machines have been fantastic. Furthermore, the aspect ratio was changed on the TNT broadcast to fully fill a 16:9 screen, so you loose a little of the picture. Not to mention, the DD EX and dts-ES tracks on the DVD's are much better than the DD track we got on the broadcast presentation.

I saw parts that did look better than any LOTR movie unconverted, Helm's Deep and Battle of Palenor Fields looked pretty detailed but nothing like what it could be on Blu-ray. I for one hated the cropped 1.77:1 aspect ratio, you missed so much on screen just because of that. One instance I remember that being the worst was in TT when Treebeard was telling the hobbits that they voted and agreed they were not orcs, when Treabeard says that, on the widescreen DVD, you can see the other 2 ents on the sides shaking their heads. And don't get me started on the sound.

[FreddyC]

Sin City looks tremendous. But this morning while I was doing a little picking up around the house, I had this thread in mind and put in "The Empire Strikes Back". Wow....pretty damned nice. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by just how good the image was. Not overly soft and the colors had good contrast. Freddy