Mosquito Noise and other compression artifacts on Blu-ray

[Ilya]

I've spent an hour at Circuit City today watching Blu-ray. They had Samsung player connected to Samsung 1080p display via HDMI (I verified that). They were using 720p mode initially, so I made them switch it to 1080p.
I watched fragments of XXX, The Fifth Element and the Demo disc. In short: I was very disappointed with what I saw. Tons of compression artifacts: banding in color gradients, loss of detail on moving objects, overall softness, and the most annoing one: Mosquito Noise, which I saw almost everywhere! It was like watching the EquatorHD channel, if you know what I mean.

Of the three titles, the Demo disc looked best. But even that one was far from perfection and showed some noticeable artifacts. They definitly blew it with the first titles! Very disappointing! I hope Sony Pictures will start using better compression algorithms (VC1 or MPEG-4) and will figure out how to print dual-layer discs. Looks like 25 GB is just not sufficient for MPEG-2.

 

[vurbano]

Sad fact is there were NO advertisements for HD DVD players or HD DVD's in todays sales flyers from CC or BB. Only heavy advertisements for Blu Ray! What a crock These jerks companies are NOT interested in what looks best, only what makes them the most money. And the mindless monkeys that work there just think more expensive = better

 

[Ilya]

Since Circuit City doesn't carry Toshiba players in general and they don't have the RCA HD DVD player yet, I can't blame them for pushing Blu-ray.
And I must admit this particular display was much better then those I saw in Best Buy. Good lighting conditions, a comfortable chair in front of the TV set at a reasonable distance and a decent audio setup. And unlike my nearest Best Buy store, they didn't refuse to play discs other than the Demo.

I have no hard feelings about this CC store. But I am really upset about Sony Pictures for releasing the first titles in such poor quality!!!

 

[jgantert]

You want to see poor quality try House of Flying Daggers.

-John

 

[vurbano]

Since Circuit City doesn't carry Toshiba players in general and they don't have the RCA HD DVD player yet, I can't blame them for pushing Blu-ray.
And I must admit this particular display was much better then those I saw in Best Buy. Good lighting conditions, a comfortable chair in front of the TV set at a reasonable distance and a decent audio setup. And unlike my nearest Best Buy store, they didn't refuse to play discs other than the Demo.

I have no hard feelings about this CC store. But I am really upset about Sony Pictures for releasing the first titles in such poor quality!!!

Circuit City sells the RCA HD DVD player, but I guess online only. http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/DVD-Players/sem/rpsm/catOid/-12873/N/20012866+20012872+20012873+312872005+40001382/link/ref/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do
IMO thats just as bad. In the store the HD DVD's occupy about a 6 inch space on the bottom row at the end of a rack behind a crate sitting on the floor.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/DVD-...3+312872005/link/ref/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do

 

[Ilya]

You want to see poor quality try House of Flying Daggers.

You were so right! I stopped at another CC store last night. They were playing House of Flying Daggers. That one was indeed even worse than the other two I mentioned above! A lot of video noise. Definite compression artifacts, not a faulty source, I am pretty sure!

It's just unbelievable! How could this pass any Quality Control???

I want to see the Lionsgate titles. I hope they will be much better than those from Sony Pictures. They can't possibly be worse than that...

 

[ChrisPC]

One local BB has both right next to each other, and I even saw the Sahara trailer on both. HUGE difference! They had several Blu-ray players still in stock, but no HD DVD players left. I wonder why.

 

[jgantert]

They had several Blu-ray players still in stock, but no HD DVD players left. I wonder why.

As much as I would like to say it was a monster demand for the HD-DVD player, it's much more likely that the one player they had for sale back in April sold and they haven't got any more in.

-John

 

[ChrisPC]

Stores here are still getting regular shipments of HD DVD players. I just found one at a local Sears. I've heard production is ramping up, and there will be a huge shipment later this month.

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

Sad fact is there were NO advertisements for HD DVD players or HD DVD's in todays sales flyers from CC or BB. Only heavy advertisements for Blu Ray! What a crock These jerks companies are NOT interested in what looks best, only what makes them the most money. And the mindless monkeys that work there just think more expensive = better

They are doing the same exact thing pushing LCD and DLP on the public over CRT. Facts show CRT is better. But the profit margin is not as high so the new cheap sets are pushed on people as better.