'Brotherhood of the Wolf' (UK Import) - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Peter didn't love the film itself, but in terms of visual panache and ear candy, he says this British HD DVD import delivers in spades with a wonderful video transfer and a five-star soundtrack.

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/broth...hewolf_uk.html

[Blurry]

Wow, 4.5 rating - nice to hear. I also own this and highly receommend it.

[Josh Z]

I wasn't quite as impressed with the video quality as Peter. I'd probably knock a star off.

Also, Peter, if you're reading, Even with the new Onkyo receiver you're still only getting the DTS core audio. HD DVD players, even the XA2 with HDMI 1.3, aren't capable of transmitting the raw DTS-HD MA bitstream for external decoding. The player decodes what it can (in this case the DTS core) and sends it as PCM over HDMI.

It's a great sounding disc, regardless. The movie has a hell of a soundtrack.

[kannisto]

The movie itself would deserve more stars It's one of my top favorites in my HD DVD collection so far in terms of movie quality / entertainment value.

[half-sane]

i need to buy this!

[Feminism Rug]

Josh Z beat me to the punch, HDMI 1.3 isn't yet ready to properly handle these high res tracks natively, even with the sr605. Needless to say, it cements the idea that SQ/AQ is very subjective. I have the French version but i've yet to give it a spin, i'll check back later with my 2 cents.

-FR

[hmurchison]

I love this movie.

I definitely think it's worth more than a 3 star to me. Glad the quality of audio and video is up to snuff.

I'll be purchasing this movie soon.

[Master X]

I might blind buy this, I never seen the movie.

[tibbydriver]

A Blind buy for this title was a great decision on my part as far as im concerned. I loved the movie.

[JU1CYFRU1T]

Peter/ Jed,

Can you confirm or deny that this disc was outputting DTS MA to the receiver? It's a simply glance at the display on the receiver (it will say DTS MA). I'm not doubting your review... we are all simply under the assumption that the XA2 can't output MA bitstream.

Thanks

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by Master X

I might blind buy this, I never seen the movie.

It was a blind buy for me, and I really like it. Peter is a horror movie buff and I'm anything but, so I was glad it's not very 'scary' - but a great story with beautiful cinematography. And the DTS audio is terrific.

I just have the XA1 with HDMI 1.2, and the Onkyo 605 receiver, but even with the XA1 set to output Bistream over HDMI, it ignores that and just decodes the DTS, which my receiver says it receives as multi channel PCM.

Still sounds terrific, they did an excellent mixing job.

[jed]

Originally Posted by JU1CYFRU1T

Peter/ Jed,

Can you confirm or deny that this disc was outputting DTS MA to the receiver? It's a simply glance at the display on the receiver (it will say DTS MA). I'm not doubting your review... we are all simply under the assumption that the XA2 can't output MA bitstream.

Thanks

You were right to doubt the review -- it was wrong. The XA2 can't output MA bitstream. The review is being edited right now to correct the error. Thanks to all who pointed this out.

[Feminism Rug]

Foul!! Before HDD realized they were not listening to DTS MA, they gave it five stars for audio. Now that they have been corrected, and realize that the audio is only 1.5 mbps DTS, they bump the AQ rating down a half star. Why? Is HDD grading AQ and PQ based on stats and specs more than subjective reviewing? I am a little dissapointed, looks like hype over substance yet again.

-FR

[bembol]

If customs up here didn't rape me on my last two orders, I would definitely be Blind Buying this (and other UK Exclusives).

The last two were The Goblet of Fire and Serenity, what's worst was amazon.co/uk shipped it separately and paid like $60 CAN each after everything!

[casper77]

I have the French version which the same sans the movie trailer. Although I have yet to complete watching it so far I was impressed with the video and audio quality.