Technology

My latest little project

I knocked this one together this evening, once again proving what Anchor Bay could easily have done if they'd invested a little effort, instead of cobbling the missing material together as a bunch of VHS-sourced "deleted scenes". The Italian print has much nicer colours too, which I'm led to believe are an accurate representation of how the film should look, so that's a nice bonus.

The results are fine overall, with the film playing in as seamless a manner as possible when taking into account the language switching (I wish I had the work print available so I could get the original English dialogue for the affected material), although I've had a lot of trouble fitting this one on a single layer disc without major artefacting. The Italian transfer wasn't the best compression job in the first place (it too was crammed on to a single layer disc), and if there's one thing I've learned from these projects, it's that, since the material is effectively going to be encoded twice, you'll need to give your version a higher bit rate than that of the source file, otherwise you essentially get double the artefacts. One of these days, I'd love to get a dual layer burner - maybe I'll wait till HD DVD-compatible drives become available and/or affordable.

Sony announces 94% plunge in profits

Source: The Guardian

The contrasting fortunes of two of the biggest players in the global gaming market were underlined today when Sony announced a 94% plunge in profits for the most recent quarter, while Nintendo said its profits over the first half of the fiscal year had more than tripled.

Sony said the combined cost of its global recall of potentially faulty PC batteries and developing its next-generation game console, the PlayStation 3, had shrunk profits for the July-September quarter to 1.7bn yen (£7.6m) compared with 28.5bn yen for the same period a year earlier.

Hear that? That's the sound of me laughing.

Site status: now with RSS

Hopefully this'll be the last change I make to the site for a while, but it suddenly occurred to me that I never bothered to add support for RSS feeds when I switched from Blogger to Movable Type. In Blogger, such features are included automatically with their prefab templates, but, as always, Movable Type makes things slightly more complex. Now, however, everything should be working as before, meaning that, if you use an RSS reader like SharpReader or the one offered with customised Google accounts, you'll be able to check for new posts on this site without actually visiting it.

To subscribe to the Whiggles.com RSS feed, use this link.

Enemy of the State - image comparison

After absolutely ages, I've finally done a new DVD image comparison. Tonight, I take a gander at Enemy of the State, a silly but highly entertaining thriller from the master of cheese and explosions, Jerry Bruckheimer. How does this year's R1 US Special Extended Edition measure up to the earlier R2 UK "remastered" edition? Find out!

More Sony lies

The Sony Bullshit Machine is fully operational today as, in an exclusive interview with High-Def Digest, Don Eklund, Executive Vice President of Advanced Technologies, and Claire McKittrick, Director of Worldwide Publicity, spew a load of garbage as they attempt to excuse their lacklustre Blu-ray releases, lack of extras and refusal to adopt modern codecs. As always, everything is someone else's fault - the reviewers don't understand what they are reviewing and need to be educated about it, people are using crap TVs, Samsung put out a Blu-ray player with a faulty noise reduction chip, filmmakers are making poor stylistic choices... oh, and the corker:

We as a studio have a responsibility to educate the people who are reviewing our discs; but they also have a responsibility to their consumer to look at our discs on the right kind of equipment. So they can say, "Oh, maybe I could have been wrong? Is it possible that the MPEG-2 delivers a better and more accurate picture than VC-1? And, oh, yeah, what are those funny amoeba-like artifacts that VC-1 can produce, where it looks like there is a jellyfish on the wall that's moving around?"

Bollocks, bollocks, and more bollocks. You blew this one, Sony, and yet you're still not listening. Because admitting you've made mistakes is just out of the question. No, instead you try to tell people that they're not seeing what they think they're seeing. To quote one fan, "I could barely finish the article, I felt disgusted by their patronizing attitude."

Asterix and the Vikings... soon

The French R2 release of the latest Asterix film, Asterix and the Vikings, is due to be released tomorrow. I've had it pre-ordered for some time, but, mindful of my horrible experience with Astérix: La Trilogie Gaumont, which was delayed for over a year, I was half-expecting a last-minute postponement. Luckily, my copy is now packing at Amazon.fr, so with any luck I'll be able to let you know how the disc measures up before too long.

Until then, you might want to check out this review at DVDRama. The text is in French, so I know not everyone who visits this site will be able to follow it, but both the transfer and audio have received very high marks (and this is a site that's generally very good when it comes to audio-visual reviews), and you can see plenty of screen captures from the menus and extras. Most surprising is the audio setup menu screen, which shows that not only does the disc include English subtitles but also English audio. I was half-expecting this to be left out, given that it's absent from DVDFr's spec page for the DVD, and also because French DVD distributors, to be honest, don't have the best track record when it comes to supporting English speakers. Asterix and the Vikings was animated to an English vocal track, however, so it's only right and proper that this is included, even if I have a sneaking suspicion that I may end up preferring the French dub, as I did for Asterix Conquers America. Still, you can't argue with choice, and I'm glad I get the chance to make up my mind for myself. Fingers crossed for the first ever non-problematic Asterix DVD!

Update, October 24, 2006 06:54 PM: As of 6:50 PM, it's now on it's way.

Site complete!

As of 5 PM today, Whiggles.com version 9 is officially complete! The final DVD Image Comparison, What Have You Done to Solange?, was converted over to the new layout, meaning that the entire site is now as it should be. This should be good news to those who enjoy looking at the comparisons, because I have a couple of new ones in the pipeline that I was holding off doing until I'd migrated the current ones over to the version 9 layout. In particular, I'd like very much to cover the R2 UK and R1 USA Extended Edition releases of Enemy of the State, and to finally redo the Scream comparison that I took down a few months back because I didn't think my analysis of it was in-depth enough or the screengrabs used sufficient for illustrating the differences between versions.

Site status update

DVD Image Comparisons have now been converted over to the new layout up to and including The Omen. I decided to more or less stick with the same structure as before, since, while not ideal, it's at least functional. As I've been going through the comparisons, I've been attempting to bring them all into line with the latest format (i.e. one roll-over image using the same JavaScript code as the main menu buttons at the top of each page), as well as adding in data for number of discs, sides and layers where absent.

I hope to have the whole lot done within the next couple of days. I doubt I'll get any more done tonight, though, as I've got a job interview coming up this evening. (More on that later.)

Digital drawing board

Source: YouTube

For the average man on the street, or even the average artist, the benefits of this device would probably be pretty limited, but it looks like a very impressive tool nonetheless.

Corpse Bride - Warner finally hits a home run

My review copy of the recently released HD DVD of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride arrived today. You can read my overall opinions of it in the post I made when I rented the standard definition DVD back in February, and they haven't changed all that much (although I did find myself appreciating the art direction slightly more this time round), but of all the various blockbuster releases that I was offered by DVD Times, it struck me as being one of the more interesting.

Anyway, I've been a little critical of Warner's HD DVDs in the past. Million Dollar Baby and Constantine were both edge enhanced and slightly noise reduced, while Charlie and the Chocolate Factory looked noticeably diffuse (a flaw also affecting the HD broadcast master) and suffered from a few instances of compression artefacts, so I was a little apprehensive about Corpse Bride. Luckily, the results are considerably better than I was expecting - indeed, this is one of the best HD DVDs I've seen so far, beaten only by the majestic Serenity and the flawless Unleashed in terms of visual pizzazz. Edge enhancement is non-existent, contrast is spot-on, colours (in the saturated "Land of the Dead" sequences) are a joy to behold. This is so close to being a perfect transfer, and is marred only by a few mild instances of digital banding in the colours in the background. I feel slightly bad about knocking a mark off the score for these minor problems, but, with my high definition reviews, I want a 10/10-rated transfer to really mean absolute perfection.

Oh yeah, and I pre-ordered the HD DVD of Wolf Creek from DVD Pacific. It's due out on December 5th.

The hammer falls: Sony Blu-ray player delayed again

Source: High-Def Digest

Well, who could have seen this coming? Sony has delayed their Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1, yet again, this time pushing it back from late October to early December. Just in case you've forgotten, this is the player that I originally had pre-ordered for a June 30th release date.

Over at the AV Science Forum, the mood is not pretty. The general consensus is that Sony has backed itself into a corner, attempting to dominate both the game market (with the PS3) and the film market (with Blu-ray movie discs), but, thanks to a lack of blue laser diodes, has had to choose between pushing stand-alone players and pushing the PS3. The gaming market it clearly more important to them, so they're electing to support it and screw Blu-ray. Mark my words: this could be the beginning of the end. Expect Disney and Lions Gate to announce HD DVD support by the end of the year.

This really isn't a good year for Sony, with the news of this delay coming hot on the heels of yet more battery recalls and a predicted net profit drop of 38%. Oh, and they may not hit their PS3 shipment target. Seriously, at this stage, is Sony ends up crashing and burning, I won't be shedding a tear for them. They've strung their loyal customers along for too long and seem content to screw them again and again. The lack of diodes can't have come as a surprise to them. They must have known that they wouldn't have enough for both the PS3 and the Blu-ray player for some time, and yet neglected to say anything until the last minute. If I still had a BDP-S1 pre-ordered, this would be the point when, like many people, I'd say "fuck 'em".

Oh yeah, and the PS3 won't upscale standard definition DVDs. The Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on will.

Update, October 20, 2006 22:41 PM: Sony Computer Entertainment America co-chairman Jack Tretton admits that the PS3's November 17th release date is "more of a target" than something that's set in stone.

Update, October 20, 2006 10:48 PM: And the Pioneer BDP-HD1 Blu-ray player has been delayed until January due to "technical issues".

Delivery deluge

Today has been quite a day for deliveries, with the HD DVD releases of The Machinist and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the latter a review copy) and the DVD of the 25th Anniversary edition of The Fox and the Hound (again, for review) all arriving.

I'm going to discuss The Machinist first because it's definitely the most noteworthy of the three arrivals. It constitutes several first for me: my first non-US HD DVD (it's Japanese), my first HD DVD from a distributor other than one of the major Hollywood studios (it's a Toshiba release), and my first HD DVD using MPEG4/AVC/H.264 as its compression format rather than VC1.

I was a little wary regarding this release given the mixed reports that have come through so far regarding Toshiba's Japanese releases, all of which have used MPEG4 rather than VC1. Essentially, MPEG4 has been characterised as an inferior format, and I was expecting to be a bit let down by The Machinist. I needn't have worried: it looks excellent, and in places is up there with Serenity in terms of detail. For the most part, the image is razor-sharp, and the grain, too, looks excellent. The Machinist is stylistically a very harsh film, with heavily desaturated colours and very pronounced contrasts. All of this is maintained with aplomb on the HD DVD.

Unfortunately, it is slightly marred by a few instances of unsightly edge enhancement. I should point out, however, that this was actually present when I saw the film at the cinema. It was the first time I'd ever seen edge enhancement on a projected film print, and it's indicative of the move towards using digital intermediates as opposed to conventional chemical colour timing in a laboratory. The fact that the entire film is stored on a computer gives technicians free reign to monkey with the image until their hearts content, and it does seem that they have gone way overboard with the artificial sharpening in some shots here. These are exactly the same shots that were affected when I saw it at the cinema, so it is the filmmakers themselves who deserve the blame for this rather than Toshiba.

The film comes with English and Japanese Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 audio tracks and Japanese subtitles, which can be disabled either on the fly using the remote control function or via the menu. A handful of extras are included - a documentary, deleted scenes, two trailers and some filmographies. For these, the subtitles unfortunately can't be disabled. Oh yeah, and, oddly enough, this HD DVD comes in a standard amaray case, which is most annoying given that it's a completely different size from the rest of my collection:

Meanwhile, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is, comparatively speaking, a disappointment. I'm not exactly sold on the film itself (I think Johnny Depp's interpretation of Willy Wonka is cringe-worthily awful, the musical numbers are atrocious, and the subplot involving Christopher Lee as Wonka's father one of the worst additions I've ever seen in a book-to-film adaptation), and the HD DVD's transfer is a real let-down. Reviewers and laymen alike have been raving over it - "Best HD DVD yet!" "10/10!" and so on. Unfortunately, this is actually the worst-looking HD DVD I've seen so far. Like the other two Warner releases I've seen so far, it's slightly edge enhanced, but, unlike Million Dollar Baby and Constantine, it's also quite soft. Some of this is intentional - as with The Machinist, it was digitally colour timed, and Tim Burton, it would seem, took the opportunity to add a further touch of artificiality to the movie by cranking up the automated spot remover beyond what most people would consider a reasonable level. A lot of the time, the actors' faces, even in close-up, look like those of porcelain dolls, and in some scenes, such as the early flashback to when Grandpa Joe worked at the factory, they look waxy and smeared.

These are not, however, the fault of the HD DVD. What is, however, is the overall diffuse look of the film. Throughout, it looks ill-defined and almost outright blurry, but for one occasion: the first Oompa-Loompa musical number after Augustus Gloop has been sucked into the pipes of the chocolate river. Suddenly, the softening disappears and, for a few brief moments, it becomes a 10/10 transfer. The grain that was sorely missing comes back, the individual blades of grass stop being merely a swathe of poorly-defined green, and it all seems much more three-dimensional. It doesn't last, though, and, almost as soon as the song has finished, it goes back to its murky, diffuse look, which remains for the rest of the film.

Also problematic is the encoding. This is the first time that I've seen noticeable compression problems on an HD DVD, but they are here for all to see. I don't have the specific time code references to hand (I'll make sure to note these down when I come to do my official DVD Times review), but on at least three occasions, parts of the screen disintegrate into mushy macroblocks. One occasion involves swirling melted chocolate, while the other takes place in the midst of a series of explosions as Charlie, Wonka and Grandpa Joe right the Great Glass Elevator. These can't have been easy scenes to compress, but this is the first time I've seen an HD DVD encode slip up so badly, and I genuinely hope it's not the start of a trend. Although, given the rave reviews the transfer has been getting, even from so-called experts, I have my fears.

Finally, The Fox and the Hound, and it's the least impressive of today's deliveries by far. Actually, it's a downright disgrace. Despite being promoted and packaged as some sort of 25th anniversary special edition, Disney have done a really crummy job with it. In terms of extras, there seems to be nothing here that wasn't already present in the underwhelming line-up for the previously-released UK version of the film - we're talking a rudimentary behind-the-scenes featurette, a couple of bonus shorts, a sing-along and a narrated "storybook".

Of course, what really counts is the audio-visual presentation, and I'm sorry to report that it's a complete disaster. First, the original mono mix of the film is nowhere to be seen. In its place is a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix, which sounds weak and clumsy, and very clearly wrong. Worse still is the transfer, which is nothing more than a recycle of the pan and scan LaserDisc master used for the previous DVD. That Disney would put out something so shoddy in this day and age is an absolute joke, and I am very strongly recommending that anyone thinking about picking up a copy of this seriously reconsider before plonking down a wad of cash for this lazy botch-job. This is 0/10 for video, 0/10 for audio - who are they trying to kid?

Update, October 17, 2006 03:55 PM: Regular Disney DVD reviewer Dave Boulet, whose comments about The Little Mermaid's transfer were right on the money, has given The Fox and the Hound's DVD an absolute savaging at DVD File - and, for once, I actually find myself nodding my head in agreement as I read a review.

Blu-ray: Lyris goes undercover

No, we didn't buy a Blu-ray player - how daft do you think we are? A store in town did, however, and this afternoon, armed with the copy of Underworld: Evolution I so rashly purchased before the Blu-ray scandal broke, Lyris headed out to give Samsung's BDP-1000 the once-over. It's not exactly the most scientific investigation of the century, but it is a reliable report from someone who knows what they're talking about having viewed what is supposedly one of the better Blu-ray releases on properly set up equipment. The word of the day, it would seem, is "meh".

V for Vendetta and Miami Vice specs unveiled

The cover art and full specs for the upcoming HD DVD releases of V for Vendetta (October 31st) and Miami Vice (December 5th) have been unveiled (see here and here respectively).

V for Vendetta:

• 1080P 2.40:1 Widescreen
• Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1
• Dolby Digital-Plus: English 5.1, French 5.1
• English, French and Spanish subtitles
• In-Movie Experience - Director's Notebook: Reimagining a Cult Classic for the 21st Century - Director James McTeigue (joined by stars Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving and other creative team members) traces in detail the V saga from graphic novel origin through the movie's execution.
• Designing the Near Future
• Remember, Remember: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
• England Prevails: V For Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics
• Freedom! Forever!: Making V For Vendetta
• Saturday Night Live Digital Short
• Cat Power Montage
• Theatrical Trailer

Miami Vice:

HD DVD side (HD30):

• 1080P 2.40:1 Widescreen
• Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1
• Dolby Digital-Plus: English 5.1
• English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
• Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Michael Mann
• Miami Vice Undercover
• Miami & Beyond: Shooting on Location
• Visualizing Miami Vice
• Behind the Scenes Featurettes

DVD side (DVD9):

• 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
• English, French & Spanish DD5.1 Surround
• English DVS DD2.0 Stereo
• English SDH, French & Spanish subtitles
• Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Michael Mann
• Miami & Beyond: Shooting on Location
• Miami Vice Undercover

Additionally, it should be pointed out that the HD DVD side contains the unrated director's cut of the film, whereas the DVD side features the R-rated theatrical cut.

Looks as if both are going to be fantastic packages. In the case of Miami Vice, I've no idea whether or not the extras themeselves will be in high definition on the HD DVD side (similar to the recent Blu-ray release of Click), but either way, having all the extras on the HD side (and indeed, more than there are on the standard definition side) is indeed convenient. This, and the inclusion of a Dolby TrueHD track, shows the major benefit of having been able to get dual-layer HD DVD/dual-layer DVD combo discs working.

I'm looking forward to seeing this film, by the way. I've never seen the TV series on which it's based, and the only Michael Mann films I've come into contact with are Manhunter and The Last of the Mohicans, but I've heard so much about Miami Vice, both good and bad, that I'm itching to make up my own mind about it.

Update, December 19, 2006 05:47 PM: Fixed dead link.

Warner becoming more selective about Blu-ray?

Well, it seems as if Sony have finally made good one one of their blustering promises: after considerable delay, the first 50 GB dual-layer Blu-ray title has arrived: the, er, classic Adam Sandler vehicle Click. Yep, looks like they picked a winner to launch their high-capacity media.

It's not all fun and games at camp Blu-ray, though. Warner and Universal have announced their initial slate of HD DVD titles for release in France, among them some high-profile titles like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong. These are the same titles that are already available, or will soon be available, in the US, so nothing on the list is particularly surprising. What is insteresting, however, is that a number of major Warner titles, including Harry Potter and Batman Begins, are listed as being HD DVD exclusives.

Warner is, as you probably already know, a format-neutral studio, along with Paramount, both of whom so far have a decent record of releasing material of similar quality on both formats. The suggestion that Warner are going to become more picky regarding which titles they port to Blu-ray, however, is pretty noteworthy. Warner recently announced that it was lowering its high definition software sales forecast from $500 million to $150 million. The reason? It's speculation, but the theory is that its Blu-ray sales have been a fraction of what they had been expecting. That they now seem to be withholding some of their most prized titles from Sony's format would seem to suggest a considerable shift in their faith in it. Another theory, of course, is that, as the titles marked as HD DVD exclusives are all fairly long and/or feature significant bonus materials, Warner don't want to have to pay for the more expensive (and currently in short supply) dual-layer discs.

Time will tell how this pans out, of course, but on the face of things, this would seem to be major news for a studio that, not long ago, was espousing the merits of complete format neutrality.

Spread the hate

What is it about Disney and reviews that brings the slavering fanboys out of the woodwork? First I was attacked by "Jens" for my less than favourable review of the direct to video nightmare Mulan II, and again for a throwaway comment in my review of Bambi pertaining to the preview for its own shoddy-looking cheapquel. Now it's happening again, this time because I've had the audacity to suggest that the transfer for the new Platinum Edition of The Little Mermaid is not as good as it could have been.

According to the poster by the name of "Dingbats",

If you want to see reasoned comments from people who actually care about this movie you ought to go to www.ultimatedisney.com and ignore this biased reviewer who clearly hasn't got a clue what he is talking about, and seems only able to make sounds from his rectum.

Well, it's good to know that my reviews are so appreciated. You know, when it comes to video-related matters, if people could just say "Well, I don't see the problems you're referring to," it wouldn't be half as bad, but the fact that some people actually feel the need to tell me I'm wrong and don't know what I'm talking about really irks me. Do they think my eyesight is defective and adding artefacts that aren't actually there? No, many of them are just too blindly loyal to Disney to believe that the studio could possibly be in the wrong. What's even more annoying is the assertion that, because I criticised the transfer, I don't "care about this movie". If anything, the opposite is true: I'm voicing my concerns precisely because I think the film deserves better. Read the whole review, moron.

Luckily, people in the know like Home Theater Forum reviewer David Boulet and film restoration expert Robert A. Harris concur with my opinions, which is not particularly surprising to me, but is certainly nice, as it means I'm not the lone voice of dissent. By all means go and read the Ultimate Disney review if you want a sycophantic love letter to Disney written by someone who praised the likes of the grubby, non-anamorphic The Black Cauldron and Hercules releases. But, without getting too full of myself, I like to think that I'm offering a somewhat more objective service.

Play's Blu-ray bias

I received a copy of the latest Play.com catalogue this morning. A brief flick through it reveals that this UK supplier, at least, is actively advertising the high definition video formats that are due to debut in this country very soon. Oh, wait a minute, that's not quite right. They're advertising high definition video alright, but it turns out that they're only advertising one of the two formats. Care to guess which one?

Apparently,

[t]he Samsung BD-P1000 is the next generation in disc players. Designed to accomodate our High-Def lifestyle, it will let you watch all discs containing your HD favourites [...] These give the best-quality picture for HD recordings and each one will hold up to 25GB on a single side (or, in the case of a dual-sided* disc, 50GB!).

So, Play, what's your game? Have you never heard of HD DVD? I'm guessing you have, given that you have the Toshiba HD-E1 up for pre-order at less than half the price of the BD-P1000, but I'm guessing you've got a good enough reason for not bothering to advertise it. (So come on, how much is Sony paying you?) One thing's for sure, Play, you're going to have quite a few angry customers at your door when they discover that, in actual fact, the Blu-ray machine doesn't "let you watch all discs".

* I think they mean dual-layer, not dual-sided.

Wolf Creek HD in December

Source: High-Def Digest

The Weinstein Company have confirmed a release date of December 5th for the already announced Wolf Creek. While I don't think the film is any sort of masterpiece, I did consider it to be a reasonably effective horror movie, and the fact that it was itself shot in 1920x1080 high definition (the same resolution as HD DVD) should make it an interesting title, because, barring lossy compression, it should essentially be a 1:1 copy of the original source material. Another one for the list, then.

Blu-ray to begin region coding; HD DVD remains region free

Source: AV Science Forum

From Variety (subscription required, so I'm quoting it in full):

To keep a lid on piracy, the Blu-ray Disc Assn. has decided to use regional codes for film discs released in the format. The coded discs will debut this fall.

New code system differs from the one in place for standard DVDs in that Japan, the Americas and East Asian countries other than China all share Region 1. Europe and Africa are grouped in Region 2, while China, Russia and any remaining territories are lumped into Region 3.

New system will be used for pics and games including Sony PlayStation 3.

To thwart the use of all-region players, Blu-ray regional codes will be burned into the optical discs.

The rival HD DVD camp, led by Toshiba, will not use regional codes.

Decision to using a coding system emerged from talks between Advanced Access Content System members who belong to the Blu-ray Disc Assn. Warner Bros. reportedly opposed the system, citing the ineffectiveness of the current coding setup for conventional DVDs, but was outvoted.

So they're pulling out the "piracy" argument again to justify their anti free trade restrictions? Yawn! What has regional coding got to do with combating piracy? Importing a disc from a different country is not piracy in any shape or form... and, if they're worried about people buying cheap bootleg copies from China and Russia (which they specifically grouped into the "pirate" region of Region 3, as it happens!), then I have to ask what self-respecting pirate would even consider applying regional codes to his wares?

In other news, with only a month to go before they're due on shelves, Playstation 3 units at the recent Tokyo Game Show were apparently overheating. Yep, the future's looking pretty blu...

Fear and Loathing of the State

The extended edition of Enemy of the State (R1 USA) and the recently-released HD DVD version of Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (R0 USA) both arrived today from DVD Pacific. I've given Enemy of the State the once-over, and my report will, for now, be brief. Basically, it contains the same extras as the R2 UK release I already own - nothing more, nothing less. The transfer, meanwhile, features considerably less obtrusive edge enhancement than its British counterpart, but on the downside looks abnormally soft. Additionally, it strikes me as having much weaker colours than the R2, although I'll have to do a side by side comparison to make sure. Either way, I'm curious to see the extended cut, but the new transfer doesn't exactly set the world on fire.

On to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, where I'm happy to report that things are better all round.

We all know how weak Criterion's transfer of the film was, right? Actually, we probably don't, because practically every review I've ever read of that release gave it a 10/10 (or equivalent) for image quality.

(On a side note, isn't it amazing how a company's own self-publicity can convince the public that said company is providing a better service than it actually is? The number of reviews I've read where writers praise Criterion to the heavens is just astounding, when in fact the discs they're praising are so mediocre that they're clearly not in a position to distinguish in the first place between a good disc and a great one! I actually bought into it myself for a long time, on the basis of a couple of stellar titles and a couple of not so stellar ones, whereby I believed the hype and assumed that the not so stellar ones were just blips. As it turns out, the reverse is closer to the truth: the stellar transfers are the ones that are the blips. In the end, as it happens, the average Criterion release is no better in terms of image quality than one from any other studio. I still thank them every day for spearheading the movement to present films in their original aspect ratios, and for creating the first LaserDiscs with bonus features, and for brilliant-looking discs like The Rock and Naked Lunch, but nowadays I'm convinced that the praise of their DVDs is a prestige thing rather than something grounded in reality.)

Anyway, the Criterion DVD looked abnormally poor, as did Universal's version. Luckily, though, they've now been superceded by an HD DVD release which, while being rather bare-bones in comparison with Criterion's stacked 2-disc release, and while not featuring a "perfect" HD DVD transfer like Serenity and Unleashed, is so much better than what preceded it that it's literally like watching a different film.

Taken from a film element (presumably the 35mm interpositive also used for the Criterion and Universal standard definition releases, judging by the identical print damage), the first thing that leaps out is the monumental increase in clarity. The opening drive through the desert looks fresh and new, lacking the hazy, foggy appearance of the DVDs and literally coming alive in terms of film grain. The close-ups are eye-popping - for example, I never noticed Johnny Depp's character's clumsy shaving job before. Naturally, the increase in clarity continues to be evident throughout the film, although this is more evident in some scenes than others. The dark, low contrast sequences in the hotel, for example, unsurprisingly look slightly less defined than those taking place in the stark sunlight of the desert. The transfer is also pleasingly free of tampering, although, like Red Dragon, it also exhibits a degree of horizontal edge enhancement.

This is overall a mid to high 8/10. It's fairly near the bottom of the heap as far as Universal's HD DVD transfers go, but that's no small achievement given how uniformally excellent they've been so far. For comparison, I'd put it on around the same level as Warner's Constantine, which also suffered from slight edge enhancement.