Was looking at my new Brain Damage LE DVD, and notice the following on the case:

1080P/24FPS High-definition D5 Premastering

Now, I know that we are still years away from true HD DVD. But, what exactly does this mean?

Did they create a HD image, then downgrade it for DVD?

Yes. It's also the same thing that Anchor Bay is doing with their "Divimax" series. Many studios have been doing this on their titles for quite a while, and more recently some smaller outfits with more limited resources have been doing it, as well.

DJ

Of course, it also means they have a nice HD master ready for when HD-DVD becomes a reality and that can't be a bad thing.

I've spoken to people who re-master movies for a living and they say that transfers made from HD masters and then down-converted to PAL or NTSC are indeed somewhat superior to masters made directly to PAL or NTSC.

Good enough for me.