Writings > DVD Image Comparisons > Silent Hill (SD vs. HD)

Silent Hill

DVD: Region 2 (UK) - Pathé
vs. HD DVD: Region 0 (Germany) - Concorde Home Entertainment

Details

Bit Rate

R2 UK

Screen Captures

Example 1

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DVD | HD DVD

(720x720 crop - HD DVD actual size/DVD upscaled to 1920x1080)

Example 2

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(720x720 crop - HD DVD actual size/DVD upscaled to 1920x1080)

Example 3

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(720x720 crop - HD DVD actual size/DVD upscaled to 1920x1080)

Example 4

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(720x720 crop - HD DVD actual size/DVD upscaled to 1920x1080)

Example 5

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(720x720 crop - HD DVD actual size/DVD upscaled to 1920x1080)

Example 6

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(720x720 crop - HD DVD actual size/DVD upscaled to 1920x1080)

Example 7

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(720x720 crop - HD DVD actual size/DVD upscaled to 1920x1080)

Example 8

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(720x720 crop - HD DVD actual size/DVD upscaled to 1920x1080)

Comments

Few high definition titles show as much detail as the Silent Hill HD DVD, which shows visual information down to the pixel level - a ratity, regardless of format and native resolution. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the UK DVD, which is moderately filtered, introducing ringing and obscuring fine detail. Obviously, a 720x576 DVD was never going to look amazing in comparison with the 1920x1080 HD DVD, but it could still have looked somewhat better than this. Unsurprisingly for such a recent film, the same HD master has been used for both versions, giving them very similar framing and colour. Note that they both have slightly elevated blacks, meaning that the darkest shade is very dark grey rather than true black, but this can be appropriately compensated for by dialling down your brightness control a few notches.

One of the HD DVD's most impressive qualities, aside from the phenomenal detail, its the richness of the film grain, something which is all but obliterated on the DVD, rendering it as thick, blocky clumps. The prevalence of the grain, particularly in the early outdoor shots, is such that those who believe that HD and pristine clarity are synonymous will have a hard time understanding my praise, but those who understand and appreciate film will, I hope, agree with me when I say that this is one of the finest presentations of a movie ever created for a home entertainment medium.