'March of the Penguins' - High-Def Digest Review

[jed]

'March of the Penguins' - High-Def Digest Review

We just posted Peter's review of 'March of the Penguins,' and it's another winner for Warner -- a charming doc that boasts excellent picture quality and solid-enough audio (there's just so much you can do with location sound, narration and score). The slim set of extras echoes the disc's standard-def DVD release, but includes a great doc about the making of the film.

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

[Blurry]

Really excellent. It sounds like it will be gorgeous to watch, and I am very glad that I ordered this.

[MasterOB1]

Never seen this but plan to soon...looks like a great HD DVD.

[bear89103]

Loving it! I wanted to get this anyways, but now with a good review, it just confirms my purchase.

[TaiwaneSTUD]

damn i have the DVD already..

[bezzer69]

I ordered this from movietyme and watched it last week I turned it off half way through mainly because the transfer its terrible, its soft and dull and not at all how I expected this hd to look granted its better than the dvd version but only marginally

[HomeTheatreFreak]

Originally Posted by bezzer69

I ordered this from movietyme and watched it last week I turned it off half way through mainly because the transfer its terrible, its soft and dull and not at all how I expected this hd to look granted its better than the dvd version but only marginally

You have serious hardware issues and I dont know if its from your HDTV, your calibration of your HDTV or in the player itself and that will be up to you to figure out becaue the image on this release is utterly stunning with some of the best detail I have seen yet. Soft and dull? If anything its sharp as a tack and a bit contrasty, exactly the opposite of what your saying it is.

So if I were you I would take a serious look at what equipment your using and I would take the time, effort and cash required to get your system properly calibrated. Given I have no clue what system your using and I have no idea what your taste in picture quality is but anyone who finds this release soft and dull has either serious problems with thier system or serious problems with thier eyes because HD pictures dont get much better than this.

[bezzer69]

Unfortunately some people find it hard to hide their emotions! I too am allowed an opinion and my opinion is that I didn't think the HD image was very good, any other film I own on hd looks perfect, but not this one. Would you rant on at a reviewer for saying a HD transfer is poor? I think not!

[HomeTheatreFreak]

Originally Posted by bezzer69

Unfortunately some people find it hard to hide their emotions! I too am allowed an opinion and my opinion is that I didn't think the HD image was very good, any other film I own on hd looks perfect, but not this one. Would you rant on at a reviewer for saying a HD transfer is poor? I think not!

First of all I am not upset, lol. Why is it people on here think that other people get emotinally involved with what other people say. Ill never understand it. Again I am not even approaching upset, I am in a fantastic mood.

Second, if a reviewer came out with a terrible review and said a transfer was crap when it in fact wasnt crap then I wouldnt hesitate to bash a reviewer or his review. While you are correct that peoples overall view of an HD transfer is an opionion, there are also certain aspects of transfers that arent opinion. Such as saying that this transfer has a slight cast of grain is not an opinion but a fact and anyone that knows what film grain is can see it.

So with that being said i stand by my original statment. If your unhappy with this transfer than that is your opinion and your entitled to your opinion however the fact remains that this transfer is not soft and if what your looking at on your screen is soft then you have equipment problems or eye problems. I am sorry you take offence to that but when someone deems an image soft when its this sharp there is obviously a problem on that persons end and while you may take offence to my suggesting that you take a look at your equipment and possibly get it calibrated it was an honest suggestion to help you get the most out of your home theatre. I am sorry you find that offensive or upsetting.

[bezzer69]

My system is fully calibrated by an ISF engineer, and was done so last week. and I have perfect 20/20 vision, what you may want to consider is that I may have a dodgy HD DVD disc. Instead of being unpleasant and telling people they should get there eyes tested.

[HomeTheatreFreak]

Originally Posted by bezzer69

My system is fully calibrated by an ISF engineer, and was done so last week. and I have perfect 20/20 vision, what you may want to consider is that I may have a dodgy HD DVD disc. Instead of being unpleasant and telling people they should get there eyes tested.

LOL, whos getting upset here? this will be my last post on this topic as this isnt the smack down forum and I am not going to get into an argument on here. If you dont like my assessment of the situation then again that is your opinion and your entitled to it. As for me being unpleasant, I am sorry you feel that people telling the truth on here is unpleasant. How would you have had me word my post, I would be curious to see that.

The fact is that this is not a soft image period and no matter what gear you have and no matter who calibrated it, if your getting a soft image then you have problems on your end plain and simple. Maybe its just the wording where we are running into problems but when someone says an image is soft, only slightly better than SD DVD and it is an image as sharp as the one i just saw, well there is either a serious equipment problem, serious eye problem or a serious breakdown of communication, you take your pick which one it is and again I stand by what I have said 100%. If your getting a soft imge from this title I would have a serious look at your gear because something is wrong. This title pops off the screen and is almost a bit overly contrasty and is sharp as a tack. Thats all I have to say.

[bezzer69]

Lol :d

[Njål]

This is a French movie.
The original version is in French, and with a totally different soundtrack.
Regardless of how good the Freeman narration is, why is it OK not to have the original version?
This makes it a no-buy for me, I simply won't buy releases with dub only.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by Njål

This is a French movie.
The original version is in French, and with a totally different soundtrack.
Regardless of how good the Freeman narration is, why is it OK not to have the original version?
This makes it a no-buy for me, I simply won't buy releases with dub only.

Technically it is not really a dub since it is a narration. Simply a different narrator is used. But I agree it would have been nice to include the original for those interested. Are you sure it doesn't?

[Dr_Gonzo]

Originally Posted by Blurry

Technically it is not really a dub since it is a narration. Simply a different narrator is used. But I agree it would have been nice to include the original for those interested. Are you sure it doesn't?

The french narration, which I heard at the cinema, is horrible, it use two voices of a man and a woman, that are talking like we hear the penguins thoughts. The danish dub use the same aproach and is fucked up as well. I think i Freeman naration is far better.

Regarding the transfer, its exelent, but it's true that its a bit soft in the wide shots, but I don't think thats because of the transfer, but more a result of the Film-stock used and the exstreme condisions the film was filmed under.