Not impressed with Planet Earth BD PQ, did I get a lemon?...

[Jack Hammer]

...I bought a used copy of Planet Earth on BD off of Amazon, it's the BBC 4 disc release. I've only watched the first two episodes and while the content is totally cool, I love nature programs, the picture quality is lacking (maybe 3.5 out of 5 stars). After everything I've read, i really expected it to be one of the better looking, pq-wise, BD's i'd seen. Ghost Rider looks much better.

So now I'm wondering if I ended up with a bootleg copy or something and how I can tell. What got me thinking that was the discs have a light smell of burnt rubber. They also have a slightly different look to the shiny side than the other BD's I have. All my other discs have a wavy circular pattern reflected on the shiny side, these don't, they look more like a regular cd (shiny side only).

The picture looks flat and slightly out of focus. The colors are ok but not as vibrant as I would expect. Honestly, I watched a show on wolves the other day on PBS, via OTA, and it looked much crisper, more focused, and had better colors. And that was just using two old pieces of speaker wire for an antenna.

Any opinions?

Jack

 

[Davidt1]

I don't have blue ray, but if it makes you feel any better, the hd-dvd discovery version I bought looks a bit soft/blurry too.

 

[stratman]

Did you buy it from Amazon itself or one of their retailers?

 

[jostenmeat]

Jack Hammer, I totally understand. When PE first was released on my former cable tv system,, I was in absolute HD heaven. This series was a strong reason to even jump on the BD/HD wagon for me. The transfer is average at best, if not even below average, IMO. I think this is an absolute shame as the content is so worthy of high quality transfer. It was the first BD of any kind I bought, the PE series.

Thankfully, I've found much better jobs since. However, with some of my very first puchases, I bought some "bombs" to the disapointment of one fellow hi-def fanatic since I did not research beforehand. I've never used PQ threads before to aid my purchases, but now I always do. I think a couple of the bombs that I bought might have been Sleepy Hollow and House of Flying Daggers.

Also, I have seen advice given for TV settings that help on certain scenes of PE. It could have been DNR, or some specific setting on Samsungs (which I don't have), stuff like that... but I don't specifically remember.

Something interesting I find is the really different results with older movies. For example, I found Darkman to be very sharp on HD-DVD, but the color palette was not the best. I didn't know that in later years, digital cameras were used for film due to much lesser costs. The film looks sharper than many modern movies, but since its older film stock, the color might not be as good (don't know for sure, I am VERY new to video, actually audio too for that matter).

I have 3x BDs than HD-DVDs, but most of the "older" stuff is on HD. Peter Jackson's The Frighteners does suffer in PQ, though still very fun. The Last Starfighter has PQ that is somewhere between Darkman and Frighteners.

I've been using the AVS BD PQ tier thread to assist purchases. I will definitely say that there are variances in consumer opinions. Its hard to know who is watching a 37" from 12 ft, or who is using very high end 150" PJ system. You get an idea who is more obsessed with this stuff, and its easier to trust their opinions. I am going to purchase The Orphanage due to rave reviews, something I would have not bought otherwise for I found Pan's Labyrinth (same director) a bit dissapointing in PQ. Its still helpful nonetheless. You will note that there are maybe only a dozen live action films that make the top tier, and the rest are cartoons.

I must say that my subjective disappointments and happy surprises surely were extremely dependent on my expectations.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316

 

[Jack Hammer]

Did you buy it from Amazon itself or one of their retailers?

Used from a retailer with fairly solid feedback. I've always had good luck with Amazon as it doesn't suffer from the high level of cheap knock-offs that plague eBay. Physically, the discs themselves look fine. It's just that I had read many 5 star reviews of pq for this series and so far I'm not seeing it. What i'm seeing is soft and slightly fuzzy.

Jack

 

[Jack Hammer]

Jack Hammer, I totally understand. When PE first was released on my former cable tv system,, I was in absolute HD heaven. This series was a strong reason to even jump on the BD/HD wagon for me. The transfer is average at best, if not even below average, IMO. I think this is an absolute shame as the content is so worthy of high quality transfer. It was the first BD of any kind I bought, the PE series.

Thankfully, I've found much better jobs since. However, with some of my very first puchases, I bought some "bombs" to the disapointment of one fellow hi-def fanatic since I did not research beforehand. I've never used PQ threads before to aid my purchases, but now I always do. I think a couple of the bombs that I bought might have been Sleepy Hollow and House of Flying Daggers.

Also, I have seen advice given for TV settings that help on certain scenes of PE. It could have been DNR, or some specific setting on Samsungs (which I don't have), stuff like that... but I don't specifically remember.

Something interesting I find is the really different results with older movies. For example, I found Darkman to be very sharp on HD-DVD, but the color palette was not the best. I didn't know that in later years, digital cameras were used for film due to much lesser costs. The film looks sharper than many modern movies, but since its older film stock, the color might not be as good (don't know for sure, I am VERY new to video, actually audio too for that matter).

I have 3x BDs than HD-DVDs, but most of the "older" stuff is on HD. Peter Jackson's The Frighteners does suffer in PQ, though still very fun. The Last Starfighter has PQ that is somewhere between Darkman and Frighteners.

I've been using the AVS BD PQ tier thread to assist purchases. I will definitely say that there are variances in consumer opinions. Its hard to know who is watching a 37" from 12 ft, or who is using very high end 150" PJ system. You get an idea who is more obsessed with this stuff, and its easier to trust their opinions. I am going to purchase The Orphanage due to rave reviews, something I would have not bought otherwise for I found Pan's Labyrinth (same director) a bit dissapointing in PQ. Its still helpful nonetheless. You will note that there are maybe only a dozen live action films that make the top tier, and the rest are cartoons.

I must say that my subjective disappointments and happy surprises surely were extremely dependent on my expectations.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316

Thanks for that link. They have PE listed in the category that is just a little better than an upconverted dvd, and that is based on user reviews. I'd have to agree with that assessment from what I'm seeing. Most of what I'd seen online prior to that is how amazing the picture is, and how it's solid reference material. Here's an example on HighDefDigest.

I watch programs like Nature, Nova, Jean Michel Cousteau's Ocean Adventures, IMAX, etc on WTTW-HD (local PBS) quite often, and while this has good content, I've seen a lot better pq broadcast over the air for those other programs.

Jack

 

[jostenmeat]

Thanks for that link. They have PE listed in the category that is just a little better than an upconverted dvd, and that is based on user reviews. I'd have to agree with that assessment from what I'm seeing. Most of what I'd seen online prior to that is how amazing the picture is, and how it's solid reference material. Here's an example on HighDefDigest.

I watch programs like Nature, Nova, Jean Michel Cousteau's Ocean Adventures, IMAX, etc on WTTW-HD (local PBS) quite often, and while this has good content, I've seen a lot better pq broadcast over the air for those other programs.

Jack

You are most welcome, Jack. You can imagine my disappointment when I saw that my purchase of House of Flying Daggers was the 2nd from the worst of all ranked movies!! LOL.... oh wait, that's not funny is it... what a total waste of money.

Ah, fellow nature show lover! I honestly think that the BD had zero improvement to the cable provider I used to have in regards to PE. Zero. (I have no tv anymore, will research OTA in the future, though I fear the hills blocking me). I've bought Galapagos, and watched about 1/3 of it so far. It is decidedly better than PE. However, Im not 100% sure I would rank it as high as others have. The content is excellent, but as one might presume, its pretty hard to compare to the content of PE.

Almost forgot... I see the samsung in your sig (which I didnt notice during my previous post). I believe people said that disabling dnie helped with water scenes, particularly waterfalls? As david mentions, the hd-dvd doesn't look any better. I was so disappointed in the BD version, I was very hopeful that the HD version was better... and others have said similar things.

 

[h317]

So now I'm wondering if I ended up with a bootleg copy or something and how I can tell. Any opinions?

BD Planet Earth is my very first BD disc and I found the PQ stunning. How was the package done? Is the cover graphics good? If you have a regular DVD player, pop this BD copy in to see if it plays. If it does, then you may be screwed.

 

[Jack Hammer]

BD Planet Earth is my very first BD disc and I found the PQ stunning. How was the package done? Is the cover graphics good? If you have a regular DVD player, pop this BD copy in to see if it plays. If it does, then you may be screwed.

The cover looks fine. I tried it in my dvd player and it doesn't recognize it. It's definately a Blu-Ray disc, the only thing that made me think it might be some sort of a copy is the faint burnt rubber smell and the soft/slightly fuzzy picture.

Jack

 

[j_garcia]

I thought it looked very good, but it ISN'T up there with the best looking titles IMO. I noticed that the video quality varies from section to section, even in the same show.

 

[mtrycrafts]

The cover looks fine. I tried it in my dvd player and it doesn't recognize it. It's definately a Blu-Ray disc, the only thing that made me think it might be some sort of a copy is the faint burnt rubber smell and the soft/slightly fuzzy picture.

Jack

The HD version is in 1080i, not 1080p. That may affect the PQ?

 

[j_garcia]

I don't think it being 1080i alone would make it lower in quality. Different sections are shot with different cameras, in different conditions, so some scenes are better than others. There are some solid spots here and there, but overall I wouldn't call them "reference" material for every episode.

 

[h317]

I did not know that there are bootleg BD discs out there. Granted, I have seen some bootleg DVDs in one of those stores with BD packaging (you know top maring in blue with the logo). Some of the movies don't even have a legit BD release. That's why I am don't think Jack's PE is a bootleg version.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I've only watched the first 3 episodes (disc 1) so far. There really hasn't been any "Wow" scenes that I recall seeing yet. Overall, I'm enjoying the content, and I wouldn't call the pq bad, just not what I had read and been led to believe it would be. There were a lot of remarks about it being "reference" and "demo" material. I hope the pq gets better in the later episodes.

Jack

 

[j_garcia]

Demo yes, reference no

 

[wish]

I think you got a lemon but as I think someone else mentioned (or am I confusing threads) some of the scenes weren't shot with HD equipment. So from scene to scene it may vary.