'The Fog' (French Import) - High-Def Digest Review

[jed]

Just posted our latest import review, for the French HD DVD release of
'The Fog.' Peter's a longtime fan of the flick, but while this release
offers a decent video upgrade over the standard-def DVD, unfortunately
it's not enough to make up for a subpar soundtrack and a total lack of
extras.

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/fog1980_fr.html

[messin18]

Good thing i'm a fan of it

I have to say i found the difference between my sd and hd version to be pretty substantial.

[Spideybat]

I have the SD and am on the fence about this. If it were less, it would be an instant buy.

[Legobricke]

Well, thanks to Peter on bring in this review....

but, I must respectfully disagree on his SD vs HD....

We compared both of these discs 2 months ago using the A1 as our player and projected both onto a 20 foot screen.... at 1080i.

Hands down the HD showed much better contrast, much better color reproduction, and better blacks. The SD was so muddy that it was very difficult to see.

If you are looking for the upgrade, this is certainly the disc to get....

Lego

[Gary16]

I purchased the British release of "The Fog" from amazon.uk and was very pleased with the picture quality. Not razor sharp, but very clear with good color and contrast. The disc included a trailer but nothing else.

[eNoize]

I agree with the review. Not the best transfer, but a significant upgrade.

[DVDTherapy]

Originally Posted by eNoize

I agree with the review. Not the best transfer, but a significant upgrade.

That sums it up Just a shame there are not extras

[AllSport11]

Originally Posted by messin18

Good thing i'm a fan of it

I have to say i found the difference between my sd and hd version to be pretty substantial.

I have to agree. The HD version is a vast improvement over the SD version. It is a shame that there are no extras though. Would have definately made a good disc better.

[Grodd]

I have to greatly disagree with the various comments here, and the overall review score.

This transfer is HORRIBLE. A VERY slight upgrade from the DVD. The transfer pushes red and bleeds in many of the shots. The image was overly softened to reduce film grain. This is the worst transfer I have seen on HD DVD yet. (Although I've heard the Game and the Fugitive were also terrible.)

Watch the early shots of the old man telling the ghost story, or watch the boatman sequence while they are drinking their beers. Its a blurry red mess.

A FAR FAR BETTER TRANSFER is the HD broadcast version currently shown on Monsters HD.
Its night and day. The biggest problem however is the Hd broadcast version was mastered too bright thereby showing compression artifacts and heavy grain. However once you turn down the blacks on your TV at bit things comes in rather nicely. The trade off between grain and a overly softened image is well worth it. This is the biggest improvement over an HD DVD transfer I have ever seen.

As a side note both new transfers gives the ghost ship boarding sequence a much brighter different look as opposed to the older transfers. Older transfers also have different color schemes. I guess it's something worth mentioning considering Bracke's history of lowing an overall picture score.


If you can get someone to burn you a copy of the HD broadcast (even on standard DVD) I would go that route.

[dvdvision]

Hi,

I happened to run into the lab when this was being remastered in high definition. (Because I worked on another movie at this time).

You guys would not believe when this 1K transfert was made.







Early 2001.

A bit late and perhaps some revisitation might have been good no ?

[Grodd]

I watched the rest of the Fog HD DVD. In some places the transfer is a strong upgrade from the DVD in others spots its worse. There is clearly some bad color problems. Interiors fared the worst.

Here is a comparison of the HD DVD vs. Monsters HD.

The photos are poor and are crushing the highlights, but they should get the point across of how bad the colors are off on this HD DVD. Its a bloody red mess!

I'll see if I can post more later.

[Grodd]

Here's one from Grandmas house that also shows the red push. Although not as bad here.

Not all shots have the bleeding red, in fact some times the transfers are very close. (Like in the some daylight shots) However, the HD DVD is always softer.