The Corpse Bride - High-Def Digest

[MrChaos]

Peter Bracke on Tim Burton's Corpse Bride:

After debuting on Blu-ray a few weeks back, the film impresses just as equally on HD DVD. A winner across the board with a great transfer, soundtrack and plenty of extras, there is little reason to not pick this one up -- even if you already own the film on standard-def DVD.

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

[xymor]

Very nice, I'm eager to read some reviews on the Ps3 as a blu-ray player and the HD-DVD addon for 360.

[Hippoeater]

Wow, no comments at all on this movie? I just ordered it from Amazon and having never seen it I was quite curious to see what others had to say about the HD DVD release...sadly I guess there are no opinions

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by Hippoeater

Wow, no comments at all on this movie? I just ordered it from Amazon and having never seen it I was quite curious to see what others had to say about the HD DVD release...sadly I guess there are no opinions

I rented it, and never made it all the way through after several attempts. But, I'm just not a fan of animation nor Tim Burton; I thought the story was pretty silly. But, it's one of the top rated HD DVDs for PQ.

[Rich86]

We just watched this bargain priced HD-DVD after letting it sit on the shelf all these many months. We had seen the film before, so we knew we liked it. The HD-DVD is absolutely awesome in quality. Find it bargain priced - and snag it!

[vinnie97]

Unless you're tired of carrying the dead weight of your aging HD DVD equipment around. I'm on the cusp of slimming down and minimizing the complications/# of required home theater components (this is why I went combo in the first place).

[Blckman]

Originally Posted by Rich86

We just watched this bargain priced HD-DVD after letting it sit on the shelf all these many months. We had seen the film before, so we knew we liked it. The HD-DVD is absolutely awesome in quality. Find it bargain priced - and snag it!

Hey Rich86. You are so right. I was watching this the other day and is absolutely stunning. I mean, I didn't see any grain on my Toshiba 51H83 at all. And my television only goes 1080i. Just a masterful peace of work by Tim Burton. Nobody should ever miss a film like this. It was a bit hard for me to get it at first, but it was worth every penny. Good call Rich86.

[Rich86]

Originally Posted by vinnie97

Unless you're tired of carrying the dead weight of your aging HD DVD equipment around. I'm on the cusp of slimming down and minimizing the complications/# of required home theater components (this is why I went combo in the first place).

Well, if your HD-DVD equipment is dead, and you are carrying it around, I surely suggest you stop. Fortunately my equipment remains pristine and installed in our home theater and continues to function perfectly, permitting enjoyment of our HD-DVD title collection - including "The Corpse Bride" HD-DVD (which is actually what this thread is about).

[vinnie97]

You are gleaming meaning from my post that isn't there. It's becoming an asset and only serves to waste space as the catchup titles continue to be released (though announcements have sadly been stalled). I'd rather keep hardware that is futureproofed (i.e. the Oppo BD player) and has a high likelihood of seeing more improvements down the line than obsolete hardware by a couple of companies who can't drop support quickly enough. Yes, I understand what this thread is about but even then, I wouldn't recommend buying anymore HD DVDs at this juncture as hardware becomes even more scarce. The BD of this title is currently sitting at $11.50 on Amazon, so it's not too much of a price to pay if you are done adding to your obsolescent collection (as I am).

[Rich86]

Originally Posted by vinnie97

You are gleaming meaning from my post that isn't there. It's becoming an asset and only serves to waste space as the catchup titles continue to be released (though announcements have sadly been stalled). I'd rather keep hardware that is futureproofed (i.e. the Oppo BD player) and has a high likelihood of seeing more improvements down the line than obsolete hardware by a couple of companies who can't drop support quickly enough. Yes, I understand what this thread is about but even then, I wouldn't recommend buying anymore HD DVDs at this juncture as hardware becomes even more scarce. The BD of this title is currently sitting at $11.50 on Amazon, so it's not too much of a price to pay if you are done adding to your obsolescent collection (as I am).

I have no problems with your sentiments, if they serve your personal agenda. I also purchase blu-rays if they are priced attractively over HD-DVDs at this juncture. However, the comparable HD-DVDs perform as well as the blu-rays, and this thread is discussing HD-DVD releases, specifically "Corpse Bride". If you have realized your combo player is more trouble than it is worth, so be it, but it doesn't have much to do with the rest of us, and absolutely nothing to do with this particular HD-DVD title.

[vinnie97]

For the record, I would feel similarly with a Toshiba standalone.

[Grubert]

Pity about no lossless audio though. (That goes for the Blu-ray as well.)

[Rich86]

Originally Posted by vinnie97

For the record, I would feel similarly with a Toshiba standalone.

To each his own - my Toshiba equipment performs flawlessly - unlike combo players. You were one of the key folks who convinced me to stay away from combo players and stick with separate high def format players in the first place - and it has worked out very well. Your shared experiences helped me make a better decision about what equipment to get when expanding my high def format capabilities - and I very much appreciated your help. I have no need nor intentions of abandoning my excellent HD-DVD equipment and titles as a result. Both players live quite happily together in our home theater system stack - and those red and blu cases live integrated in the movie rack as well.
By the way - do you have any commentary related to the actual topic of this thread (the Corpse Bride HD-DVD)? Do you have it? Have you watched it? Did you like it? What did you think of the PQ/AQ?

[vinnie97]

Glad I could help...if I could do it all again, I would buy another one. The combo players are close to perfection but the few remaining teething problems don't do them any favors. The current HD DVD players on the market are a finite quality and I'm not interested in buying something used on Ebay with an unknown history.

Yes to all of the above questions. It's been quite a while but it was an unsuspecting bit of quirky fun. I don't remember specifics about the sound but the PQ was razor sharp and the claymation-like movements actually were quite fitting for a movie about the dead.

[Rich86]

Originally Posted by vinnie97

Glad I could help...if I could do it all again, I would buy another one. The combo players are close to perfection but the few remaining teething problems don't do them any favors. The current HD DVD players on the market are a finite quality and I'm not interested in buying something used on Ebay with an unknown history.

Yes to all of the above questions. It's been quite a while but it was an unsuspecting bit of quirky fun. I don't remember specifics about the sound but the PQ was razor sharp and the claymation-like movements actually were quite fitting for a movie about the dead.

Yes - you warned me about those remaining problems/issues with combo players, and I became convinced they would never be addressed given the demise of the HD-DVD format and subsequent loss of market for combo players. I'm going to skip over the rest of your commentary about HD-DVD players as it isn't really relevant and I do not own any players purchased used over EBay or anywhere else anyway.

I was really impressed with the PQ of Corpse Bride. All my high def titles (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) are enjoyable, including the ones that are only marginally better than their standard definition DVD counterpart. But every now and then a title leaps off the screen at me in terms of video quality - and Corpse Bride was one of those for me. And I do enjoy the theme of the film besides (a little bit of horror, a little bit of love story, a little bit of humor . . sounds like words to a song . . .). Some of the extras were quite interesting describing how the movie was made, etc. I would not have the patience (or skills, of course) to get through the process required to make even 5 minutes of this film.