One of the greatest TV miniseries ever, Band of Brothers (just take a look at that imdb rating), was announced on HD DVD by Toshiba Entertainment some months ago. However, the HD DVD release was announced for Japan only and at the moment there is no HD DVD release date for any other region.
Instead of a 5-disc boxset, the 10 episodes are split evenly on 5 discs, each sold separately. The price, printed on the covers, is 3800 yen (~US$32/€24) per disc. By placing my pre-order at Amazon.co.jp three weeks before the release date, I got a very nice discount, thus saving more than 20 euros in total. (Also a big Thank You to Juha, who helped me save a bundle in shipping costs and import taxes!)
Video is specced as “1080i Hi-Def” on the back cover, but I have a feeling that’s incorrect. It wouldn’t be the first time Japanese mark 1080/24p as 1080i. (Actually confirmed this a moment ago: video is 1080/24 on disc.) Video has been encoded as H.264/AVC, with a bitrate that very rarely dips below 20mbit/s. During some of the most intense battle sequences the bitrate peaks at over 25mbit/s. Image looks gorgeous, generally speaking. The show was originally shot on film and film grain is ever present, although during bright daylight scenes it’s barely noticeable. During the parachuting sequence at the beginning of episode two, I noticed quite a lot of banding in smoke and clouds on a Dell 24-inch TFT. Another look at the same sequence on a Sony 55-inch SXRD RPTV (with Toshiba XE1/XA2) proved that practically all banding was in fact caused by the Dell monitor, or PowerDVD.
There’s oodles of detail, very little motion blurring and the image is usually razor sharp. There is a downside, though. The filmmakers have decided to go for a natural look, shooting some twilight and indoor scenes with very little artificial lighting. The film grain really, and I mean really, jumps up in such scenes. While the amount of grain can get quite distracting at times, there’s really nothing wrong with the transfer or the video encoding. Massive grain is simply caused by shooting with sensitive film stock in very low light, and this release reproduces the grain almost obsessively.
Audio, then. There are two audio tracks: one English original and one dubbed in Japanese. Both are encoded as 5.1ch DTS-HD High Resolution, with a constant bitrate of 2046kbit/s. The mix is quite front-heavy and surround use could be described as subtle. There are some very discrete gunfire and explosion effects during battle scenes, to liven things up. I noticed something odd while listening to the mix on a PC: right surround channel is mute. I haven’t yet re-checked the mix on another sound system, but I checked the PC playback by listening to 300 (Dolby TrueHD), Hot Fuzz (DD Plus) and Motörhead’s Live HD DVD (DTS-HD HR). Regardless, it’s still possible PowerDVD is messing something up. Also, the jury’s still out whether PowerDVD is in fact playing back only the DTS core.
There are some extras on every disc, but I haven’t delved into those yet; mostly because they are in 480i and a very quick glance told me the image quality is quite horrific. Apologies for the complete lack of photos. I took a bunch off the Dell TFT screen, but they were all ruined by a nasty moire effect.
Well, if the feature film has been shot on film, the film grain MUST be visible. The resolution of film is based on the fact that the visible grain is NEVER at the same place than frame before or on next frame. Then you are able to see and feel the brilliant and all-powerful visual experience.
Remember the facts when you are going to a regular movie theater: You will see from 3rd to 5th generation of the original. How is it with Blu Ray??? 24 fps… From master to original? Generally it will be 2nd or 3rd generation.
The real fact for true Home Theater enthusiasts: Today you are able to see better picture and sound quality at your home than any movie theater.
Tommi