darkside

Will HD-DVD bring an end to edge enhancement or is this a problem that will always haunt us?

murphy_wmm

Exactly. Some people are a bit dense. I really don't know why people always have to complain, I don't think I've ever seen a DVD where everybody said, "wow, what a great picture"... there is always a flaw. Although in this case there is no flaw, as we don't watch our DVD's zoomed in like that, at least I hope others don't.

onabudget

Although I had read about the viedo artifacts in the Beaver site, when I watched this wonderful movie over the weekend on my 88" screen I didn't notice them. I guess I got totally immersed into the story

Hiro11

I bought all three the day they came out. It's great to finally have Totoro in 1.85 anamorphic. It's my five-year-old's favorite movie and one of the few I'm very happy to watch over and over with her. I watched it again last night and it never ceases to amaze me just how much emotion the movie generates out of simple situations in a seemingly benign world.

The real surprise for me is "Whisper of the Heart", a movie I've owned for a while in another version but never watched. It's now one of my favorite Ghibli movies, which is saying something. The movie's plot and characters are simply wonderful but the portrayal of Tokyo and Japanese culture it contains is even more evocative than 'Lost in Translation". It also contains some of the best Ghibli artwork I've seen.

If you haven't seen it, but enjoy Ghibli movies, "Whisper of the Heart" is a must buy.

ShagMan

I'm going to counterpoint that; I've been picking up more and more of the Ghibli titles over the past year; out of the titles I've seen (Nausicca, Porco Rosso, Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle and Whisper of the Heart), the last one is my least favorite. It was beautiful to watch, and was the most "realistic/real" feeling of the ones I watched, however it didn't have any of the whimsy I've grown to love, was more of a straight drama. I do agree it has a great portrayal of Japanese culture and Tokyo. I guess it depends on what you want from a Ghibli film!

Honestly, one thing that immediately threw me off was the John Denver song during opening credits; man, how out of place!

Josh Z

Here's the same shot on the R3 edition zoomed in using the exact same method.





The zooming process does add some artifacts and magnifies others, but the e.e. is clearly much, much worse on the R1 disc. It is visible to the naked eye during regular playback, whether you choose to notice it or not.

Just because you aren't discerning enough or your TV isn't revealing enough to see the problem doesn't mean it isn't there or that others won't see it. You ask why people have to complain; I ask why people settle for mediocrity when they could and should have something better?

Do you not see any problem with DVDs such as Pirates of the Carribbean, The Phantom Menace, or Tombstone, either?

talemyn

Honestly, I hardly ever notice stuff like that . . . and I've got a 61" TV.

ShagMan

Josh is right, those type artifacts are in a lot of DVD's. I was kinda pissed off about the halo'ing on episode 3 the other night, and from what I read around here, everybody loves that transfer. It's just that some people worry about it more, and some less. I'm starting to get aggravated with it, now that I have my projector tuned out... but heck, I'm glad these are released and in OAR, anythign else is cake to me. Episode 3, however, I would have expected a bit more.

bis22

Personally, I hate edge enhancement and sometimes it even prevents me from watching movies in my collection that I know have it, and I use a 27" TV. I've got HMC and Totoro on order, so hopefully it won't be too noticeable to me on those.

Josh Z, could you post the original screenshot to give an idea of how much it was enlarged?

Rogue588

In those two caps, the r1 looks less "cloudy"...

ShagMan

This is the same reason why nobody can agree on FFDShow settings for their HTPC... some like more sharpening/filters, while others only want the resolution increase and no filtering. I tend to add light filtering mostly to reduce noise. Josh Z probably wouldn't ever do filtering

Josh Z

Episode 3 doesn't have any e.e. If you're seeing it on that disc, it's something in your signal chain adding it. Ep. 1 has terrible e.e., but Eps. 2 and 3 are clean.

Yes, that's true, and I noted that in my review. The R3 disc has other flaws. The intent of the screen caps is to compare the edge enhancement, to prove that it wasn't just the zooming in that's making the R1 cap look edgy.

You're right, I want to see what's on the disc without filtering, for better or worse.

Rogue588

ahhh. Wasn't passing any judgements, just commenting on what I saw. In fact, i've yet to watch Howl's. I'm hoping I don't come away with the same experience that Mrs. Z did.

WOLFie

During a month long tribute Hayao Miyazaki I was able to see both on TMC. I was really looking farward to seeing Tortoro after hearing good things but it was Whisper of the Heart that really surprised me also. What a great movie that just came off as being genuinely real. Not many movies stay with me but man that one did. Both are must buys.

Josh Z

Here's the original, un-resized and with minimal compression.

The other cap was cropped and magnified 2x.



Even at this size, you should be able to see the ringing around Sophie's mouth, her chin, and the band of her hat. Now extrapolate how much more obvious that looks on a large TV or, as I'm watching it, front projection.

bis22

Yeah, it's pretty easy to see the ringing even at that size. It's such a huge shame that they still put out transfers with annoying flaws like this which I assume could have been avoided so easily. Stuff like this almost makes me feel like I've been ripped off.

talemyn

Eh . . . again, I woudn't have noticed it there if it hadn't been pointed out. I can see it, but it doesn't jump out at me unless I actually try to find it.

I guess I should watch my copy sometime soon to see if I notice it there, huh?

Brooklyn

Watched Howl's tonite at a friend's on a 42 inch Sony LCD and I have to say it was very
noticible, especially on the lines in the women's dresses. Now this didn't stop me from
enjoying the film, but those damn lyric subs across the center of the left side of the
screen sure as hell detracted from my enjoyment of the ending. The dialogue subs were
high enough, what were they thinking putting the song lyrics directly over the point of
action???

Josh Z

It was like that in theaters as well. I agree that it's annoying.

Nickel-01

I just watched Totoro, did anyone notice the forced French subtitles when you select SUBTITLES OFF?!! When there are written words on screen like a sign or some books, the forced subtitles will show up! I thought that was weird and might've been due to the audio channel (?) (I was watching it in English). I tried setting it to Japanese and sometimes it's still showing up! (Meanwhile, subtitle #3 English is mostly empty until those same spots with written words on screen.

Seems like this would be too big a problem to have no one complaining... perhaps it's my DVD player? I have the Philips DVP-642 (the one that plays DivX).

Can someone please confirm Subtitles OFF == Subtitles ALL OFF for you?

Thanks!!

jmj713

The R1 seems to have better color than the R3 and is sharper. I watched it and enjoyed it tremendously, without noticing any flaws. Of course I don't wacth on a huge screen. I'm more ticked off at the lack of extras - on all the Ghibli films really. I may not be appreciative of the art of storyboarding, but I feel there should be more on the second disc in addition to the whole film in storyboard. Also would have loved commentaries (subtitled in English, if they're by the Japanese artists). The video looks fine.

fujishig

Wait... you had French subtitles? I watched the film with English language, didn't choose subs, and there were subs for stuff like the girl's notebook, which were written in Japanese, and the Nekobus's sign for the hospital.

dx23

Does anyone know why the FOX release of this film is selling for over $40 bucks on Ebay and amazon.com?

darkhawk

Don't know. I do know it's $19.97 at Target

milo bloom

Didn't it have a different dub? Or am I thinking of Akira?