Batman Begins BD Quality :(

[evilkat]

Hi guys, just got BB on BD for my PS3! This is my first BD movie ever, but I have to say I am a bit disappointed by the quality of the movie! I'm not sure if I have some setting wrong on the PS3 or if it's the movie transfer itself...but I find a lot of 'noise' in the movie, esp in the beginning scenes where Brucie is climbing the mountain and there's lots of blue sky overhead. The OTA HD reception I get seems to be much sharper and noise free!

I'm playing on a 720p panny, with what I think are correct settings. Would love to hear any advice on the issue, or if others are encountering the same problems.

Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

Huh?? This is one of the better looking BDs. It got a 4 1/2 out of 5 on video quality on HDD. It is essentially the same transfer as what was used for the HD-DVD and I found that to be quite good looking. It isn't perfect, but it is very good. I haven't watched the whole BD yet though; mainly just The Dark Knight scene

HDD Video comments:

The Video: Sizing Up the Picture

Mirroring the previous HD DVD release, Warner again presents 'Batman Begins' in 2.40:1 widescreen and 1080p/VC-1 video. There are surprises here, as this appears to be an identical encode. That ain't a bad thing, however, as I really can't find anything real to fault here.

I've always thought that the dominant color of the Batman cinematic universe has been black, from the black of the Gotham skies to black rubber of Batman's suit to the black chrome of the Batmobile. Even recalling my 'Batman Begins' experience in the theater, I remember it being a rather dour experience. Which makes this Blu-ray such an eye-opening experience. Even if the film remains appropriately dark and even grimy in spots, colors are rich, vivid and free from oversaturation. Right from the beginning, such as in the early flashback scenes of Bruce Wayne as a child, oranges, yellows and greens are quite rich and pure. Even the training scenes early on with the Liam Neeson character, which are shot in overcast exteriors, exhibit flashes of striking color, such as the deep blues of the arctic ice or the subtle shadings on a flower. Hues never bleed or smear, and no chroma noise is apparent. Only fleshtones appear a bit artificial.

The source material has also been kept in pristine shape. Blacks are rock solid and contrast excellent. The image has great "pop" but even the harshest whites don't bloom or obscure detail, and shadow delineation -- essential to a dark and moody Batman flick -- is superior. Even in the darkly-lit lair of the Scarecrow, for example, I could still make out the texture on the burlap sack cover his head, right down to the lines in the rope holding it together. Much sharper than the disappointing DVD version, the sense of depth is consistently top-notch throughout. The encode is likewise strong, with no macroblocking or any type of posterization is present. And though there is some slight film grain present at times, there are no compression problems or resultant noise. 'Batman Begins' may offer nothing new for those who already own or rented the HD DVD, but it still looks great.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I have both the HD DVD & Blu-ray versions of Batman Begins. Both look and sound awesome.

How does SD DVD look on your TV and PS3?

Maybe you need to increase noise reduction in your TV. I can't remember if PS3 has noise reduction. Also turn down the Sharpness setting on your TV.

Almost everything looks fantastic on my Denon BD because it has a great noise reduction and video scaler for SD DVDs.

I turn the noise reduction on my TV off.

I think the Sharpness setting is usually the culprit. Turning it down makes the picture resemble the film quality in movie theaters.

 

[jostenmeat]

Hmm... I only have the HD-DVD version which I've seen several times. It has very good PQ. Not the very best, but definitely better than most.

I believe "blue skies" are often a bit more difficult to pull off in the estimation of other videophiles. I've never seen OTA HD, but since that is uncompressed, maybe its the best there is?

Also, some people mistake film grain for "noise". There is grain in other movies with good PQ, whether Casino Royale on BD, Bourne on HD-DVD, etc. Even some cartoons artificially add grain such as "Surf's Up". A pretty cool effect if you ask me.

Generally speaking, I think that most people would advise against noise reduction. I remember reading about Samsung owners disabling Dnie to make certain Planet Earth scenes much more palatable. But, of course, DNR is a personal taste thing. Grain lovers want none of it, and demand that others use it with outboard devices when desired. I'm blabbering.

Great movie though!

 

[j_garcia]

I usually turn noise reduction OFF. Yes, there is definitely a difference between grain and noise/artifacts. The problem is, when you get a great transfer, that also means that grain will likely be more obvious. Grain doesn't bother me however, as that is obviously a necessary evil at this point.

 

[evilkat]

Thanks for the input guys. Strange, but SD DVDs look absolutely phenomenal when played via the PS3 (was watching Knight's Tale the other day, and it looked incredibly clear - much better than what i was getting using with FFDShow and a host of filters on my PC).

When watching OTA HD, and DVDs on the PS3, the sharpness settings on the TV worked absolutely fine...but perhaps the BD movie has issues with it? Didn't think about messing with the TV settings.

I will try that next. I know a lot of movies have film grain, but this didn't look like it...but I could be wrong!

 

[j_garcia]

I had to recalibrate my set for the PS3, because it is quite different from my Denon or the A2, however I found that the same calibration seems to work perfectly for the Oppo. Prior to calibration, I got a lot of fuzz with the PS3 also.

 

[allargon]

A lot of people on AVS don't think the HD DVD looked that great. I think it's okay.

Evilkat, check out Ratatouille, Cars or the Pirates of the Carribean movies for some impressive visuals on Blu.

This being Audioholics, what did you think of the bass in Batman Begins?

 

[evilkat]

Okay, I think I've just about given up on the quality of this movie I'm not sure what else I can do (unless I get a calibration disc or something), and the picture quality will just not improve. I've got the sharpner on the TV off, and I tried messsing with the other settings on the TV and still don't see a marked improvement. Here are the settings I'm using now:

Picture Mode: Standard
Picture: +22
Brightness: +8
Color: -1
Tint: -4
Sharpness: -14
Color Temperature: Warm
Enhanced Black Level: Off


If anyone else has a Panny TH42px60u and playing BD, would you mind sharing your settings too?


The bass is tight, but nothing spectacular in my opinion. My PS3 does all the TrueHD deocindg, and sends it to my receiver...still v. good, but nothing note-worthy. I'm just a bit dissapointed with the disc. I will try some other discs too, before rendering a final verdict on the format though.

 

[j_garcia]

I haven't had a chance to compare to the HD-DVD yet. Will try to get to it tonight.

 

[j_garcia]

OK, so I compared them tonight and I found that in the sky scenes where he is climbing the mountain, both formats display some ringing in the clouds/fog. There is a bit of flashing or pixelation that is present in both, in the first pan across the sky. That says to me that this is from the transfer or the mastering, since both are from the same print. To be honest, had it not been mentioned, I wouldn't have noticed it.

 

[mfabien]

Evilkat,

You say you are playing your BB BD on a Panny 720p, have you selected 720p as an output resolution on your BD player? Because the source is in 1080p, the player may be converting to 540p then to 720p (as some HD DVD player do) and you lose a lot. I would try setting the player to 1080i resolution and see the difference.

BTW, is your Panny really a 720p display or does it have 768p as native resolution?

 

[evilkat]

mfabien,

You are correct, the panny is actually a 768p capable TV. I have selected the 720p output option on the PS3, because I think my PS3 would do a better job of scaling than the TV would. Are you saying that I should essentially let the TV do the scaling to see if it makes a difference? I will try that and see if it makes a difference!

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[mfabien]

In general, a TV does the best job in converting resolution.

In this case, if you select 1080i as an output for the PS3, the reduced resolution to 768p will have more data compared to having the PS3 output 720p.

 

[evilkat]

Well I'll tell you what, this is a v. close call. Setting the PS3 to 1080i hasn't done anything noticeable for the blue skies, but it looks like the other scenes are SLIGHTLY more clean. 'Course it could all be in my head too I'm surprised that the TV could deinterlace as well as the PS3 itself! Anyone else notice similar behavior?

 

[mfabien]

evilkat,

In general the TV does a better job. For HDTV viewing, I would do the same... get the STB or DVR to output 1080i and let the TV display it's native resolution of 768p.

 

[evilkat]

I have another question for you BD peepz:

Are there any BD movies that are full screen (16:9)?? I was frankly dissapointed that the Batman movie was shot using the 2.xx aspect ratio, meaning that I'd need letterboxing around the image. I had gotten so used to the OTA HD that I expected the Batman movie to be shot in a similar way.

At this point, it almost feels like upscaled DVDs are 'better' because it fills the whole screen at least. Yes, I know you get wider views with cinema-scope, but I'm not sure it's worth the trade-off...you have all that lovely HD resolution, but only a tiny image to see it all in Feels like watching 1080p on a 32" screen....

 

[mfabien]

Two days ago I watched:

"The Bucket List", a BD movie with Jack Nicholson and G. Freeman. The aspect is 1.85:1

 

[darien87]

I just watched The Bank Job last night. Pretty sure that was full screen. I know there are more, but I can't really think of them. If I recall correctly, The Golden Compass and The Spiderwick Chronicles were both full screen.

 

[j_garcia]

With SD DVD, I know that if it was 16:9 anamorphic, it would stretch, but if it was just letterbox or non-anamorphic at whatever ratio, it wouldn't. If I am not mistaken, both the HD-DVD and the BD of this one were both the same 2.35:1 and non-ananmorphic.