The SD-DVD & HD Comparisons thread

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 08 Jul 2006, 14:02

Don't you guys read what I'm posting:

Users can only delete their very last post they have made.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 08 Jul 2006, 14:41

Not true.

Users can only delete their very last post... only if there hasn't been any reply.
As soon as there's a reply, the "delete" button disappears.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 10 Jul 2006, 18:40

As I've only got the R2 of The Wild Bunch and no one has the R1 there seemed little point posting a comparison with one version. lol

I took a few caps for my own benefit to place aside DVD-Basen's R1 caps (which are far too big to use) and conclude that the R2 is virtually identical.

Both editions are as good as each other. So it's really just a case of whether you prefer R1 or R2. R1 has some trailers I believe.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 11 Jul 2006, 12:23

Tom2681 wrote:Player -> Advanced -> Snapshot -> Capture to clipboard.
Custom size: 720x404 for 16/9.
720x540 for 4/3.

This way, the settings will be as neutral as possible.

Erm, you don't want it as neutral as possible, you want what's stored on the disc. AFAIK Power/WinDVD doesn't do that.

If anyone wanted shots somewhere from the "old" R1 Wild Bunch I have that somewhere...

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 11 Jul 2006, 12:46

OK. How do you actually extract the picture from the disc ?
I mean... You gotta put it through a decoder at some point... no ?

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 13 Jul 2006, 14:30

Yeah you do, but it's just that I don't thrust the "decoders" of Win/PowerDVD has far as I can toss'em.

Decoding MPEG is fairly straightforward, but those software players does so many small things to "improve and adapt" that I don't thrust'em

(Which must be why I've seen screenshots that in NO WAY resembles the image that is on the actual dvds...)

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Jul 2006, 20:07

What software do you recommend?

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 17 Jul 2006, 13:51

Anybody got the HKL of Heroes Shed no Tears yet ?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 17 Jul 2006, 23:23

Can we please stop trying to crop caps ourselves just to get them to match up better?

It's such a pointless exercise IMO and also manipulates the results of the comparison.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 17 Jul 2006, 23:35

Huh? Which ones have been cropped? I wasn't aware any had been cropped. Agreed if they have.

None of my few have been cropped. I've literally saved directly to JPEG and then resized them. That's it!

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 17 Jul 2006, 23:46

I have never cropped a cap in any of my comparisons.
Tell us who did it so we can chop off his balls and feed them to the dogs.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 18 Jul 2006, 00:08

I've never cropped a cap. Fact.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 18 Jul 2006, 01:27

bradavon wrote:I suspect Eva means Resize not Crop. Of which we came to an agreement on this ages ago.

No, I mean crop. I recall Hungfist cropped some Azumi 2 screenshots to match the other DVD release it was being compared to.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 18 Jul 2006, 13:37

May 4th, French thread:

HungFist wrote:Here's new caps from the jp, without the framing problems this time.

Does it mean that he cropped them ?
Not necessarily IMO.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 18 Jul 2006, 14:51

EvaUnit02 wrote:
bradavon wrote:I suspect Eva means Resize not Crop. Of which we came to an agreement on this ages ago.
No, I mean crop. I recall Hungfist cropped some Azumi 2 screenshots to match the other DVD release it was being compared to.

I posted those caps long before we started making these ”real” comparisons. I admit I didn’t know what I was doing back then. We were talking about Azumi 2, and I posted some old pics I found from my computer to give people an idea on how bad the UK release was compared to the Japanese release. I tried to crop the small black borders from the image and ended up accidentally cropping a very small amout of image. In my post I said ”don't pay any attention to the minor difference in framing, that's only a result of my incompetence in trying to make both caps the same size without loss of quality”. Once Tom suggested about making a real dvd comparison, I took new, non-cropped caps (with power dvd, instead of windvd) to get everything correct.

Aside from that one time, I have never cropped any pics I've posted into comparisons.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 18 Jul 2006, 23:15

Evidence exhibit A: Shows we have one case of cropping yet the Prosecutor claims allegations of a mass cropping frenzy.

The defence wins because of lack of substantial evidence

Ray_Rogers · Post by **Ray_Rogers** » 23 Jul 2006, 12:56

Would it be alright for me to ask for a comparison for RONIN? I have in mind the original R1 release, the R2 JPN NTSC Ultimate Edition (which I'm planning on buying) and the R1 Collector's Edition. A visual representation would be nice. Thank you kindly since I'm new around these parts. :mrgreen:

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 23 Jul 2006, 13:28

Of course you can ask but whether peeps have these versions is another matter. Why are you buying the JP R2 over the R1?

I'm guessing for DTS right? Odd it was dropped when porting over from the European R2. If you can play PAL the UK R2 SE is very nice (the same as the R1 SE but WITH DTS, nicer cover art too).

I'm also guessing you'd like NTSC + DTS fair enough. The DTS could be full-rate on the JP R2. I doubt it is on the UK R2, more likely half-rate.

The problem you'll probably find is most here who want Ronin would've already bought the UK R2 SE which has DTS and Extras: The JP R2 only has DTS and the R1 SE only has Extras. The UK R2 SE came out about a year before the R1 SE too.

If anyone can add the R1 or JP R2 I can probably add the Original UK R2 and UK R2 SE (my Dad should still have the former).

Ray_Rogers · Post by **Ray_Rogers** » 23 Jul 2006, 13:36

bradavon wrote:Welcome Ray.

Of course you can ask but whether peeps have these versions is another matter.

Why are you buying the R2 JP over the R1? I'm guessing for DTS right? Odd it was dropped when porting over from European R2. If you can play PAL the UK R2 is very nice (the same as the R1 SE but WITH DTS).

I'm also guessing you'd like NTSC + DTS fair enough.

If anyone can add the R1 or R2 JP I can probably add the Original UK R2 and UK R2 SE (my Dad should still have the former).

That's very true in my wanting of the R2 JPN NTSC Ultimate Edition 2-Disc w/DTS over the Collector's Edition sans/DTS here in the U.S. I own the first release here in R1 and I figured I might as well have a look-see as to what the transfer quality is like for the R2 JPN Ultimate Edition. I've even looked on dvdcompare.net and to me the version I stated above for NTSC-signal base is better than the one which was released here which is the Collector's Edition. Figure I might as well stay in my native NTSC thing and go for the R2 JPN Ultimate Edition.
But I have no qualms about buying the R2 UK PAL Special Editions for both They Live and Starman since they're exclusive. (They are exclusive, right?)

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 23 Jul 2006, 18:24

Anyone got any comment on the R1 DVDs of DAVE (yeah, the Kevin Kline film) and DEATH WARRANT (yeah, the JCVD film) as I've read that the R2 releases are, well, shit in the image department.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 24 Jul 2006, 08:34

Ray_Rogers wrote: But I have no qualms about buying the R2 UK PAL Special Editions for both They Live and Starman since they're exclusive. (They are exclusive, right?)

Extras wise, the R2UK They Live is far far better (the Carpenter/Roddy Piper commentary is excellent). But the R2UK is heavily cropped to 2.10:1, very noticeable when Piper looks at the billboards with the glasses on.

Also the R2/4 of Carpenter's Starman shits all over the R1: - excellent Carpenter/Jeff Bridges commentary + a terrific DD5.1 remix.

Figure I might as well stay in my native NTSC thing and go for the R2 JPN Ultimate Edition.

Fair enough, but the Ronin R2UK SE will probably far cheaper than any over-priced Japanese disc - I got my R2 SE for £6 IIRC.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 25 Jul 2006, 12:59

Anyone got the R1 or French DVD of Kiss of the Dragon?

A comp on-line shows the French image to be better than the R1 but how does the R2 (UK) compare to either of those?

I have the UK if anyone can do matching caps?

LMK.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 25 Jul 2006, 13:34

I've got the old R4 I think...

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 25 Jul 2006, 14:27

Tom2681 wrote:I've got the old R4 I think...

It's the exact same disc as the R2UK then, don't bother.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 25 Jul 2006, 15:51

I used to have the French KOTD but I gave it to Bruce, don't know if he still has it.

Bruce?