You're right, it's a Dolby Digital Plus track. However, it still sounds very subpar. It needs a remaster badly. The only reason I complained about the lack of DTS is I don't like seeing features and options getting dropped.

I just got Underworld: Evolution and haven't had time to watch it but I did put it in last night for a brief look. For a film that is dark throughout, it certainly didn't hurt the detail. This looks great. The opening sequence is very sharp and colorful, even though it takes place at night. also, the PCM track is simply awesome. I flipped back and forth between it and the DD track and the PCM blows it away. I'm realling digging those.

I just watched Sleepy Hallow on HD DVD. I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the transfer. I know it was a soft picture, but that fits the style of the movie. There was a tremendous amount of detail. Great movie too! Highly recomended!

This will be one of the free HD DVDs I get from the Toshiba rebate offer.

Casablanca (HD DVD) review:

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/casablanca.html

Nice review of 12 monkeys. Nice to see that the image softness wasnt a negative as it was done on purpose. I fully expect to see some reviews bash the quality of this transfer as its not super sharp like alot of people expect from every release. Gilliam actually used an early rendition of what is now the Zeiss Softar line of filters to get that soft image in the scenes shot in the past. Its an awsome line of filters that allow the softening of an image without the bleeding into subjects associated with alot of soft filters.
One of my top 5 Sci-fi movies and this release is hands down awsome. I agree that the soundtrack had issues tho. I had to adjust my center channel a bit higher to get the appropriate dialogue volume. Its one of the first times I have had to do this with a HD-DVD. Very minor problem considering how great the rest of the disc was. great review!

PS..

Just got done watching MI3 and its an amazing release with another great IME commentary track. Amazing picture, amazing sound, amazing extras. A top notch release by all standards except one thing that stuck out to me as I watched the movie. In a number of scenes the skin tones on alot of the characters seemed very unnatural. I dont know how to describe it exactly but it just didnt look like a normal skin tone. It wasnt during the entire movie either. It was just in a handful of close-ups that I really noticed it and it was the ones of Tom Cruise that really stuck out the most. Anybody else have a problem with this?

Besides that one small complaint its definitly one of the top HD-DVD's released thus far which isnt too surprising given its Universals biggest home release of the year basically.

PS..

It's Paramount, not Universal.

Yes it is, was just looking at some universal titles on Amazon and the name stuck in my head. My bad.

PS.

I just posted my fiftieth HD DVD review. I'm not sure if I should be proud or horrified.

Quite the impressive number Adam. I myself have 39 reviews (on my drive) written.

Just read your Slither and The Thing reviews and they are great reviews that Icompletly agree with. Keep up the great work.

PS..

Thanks!

Fantastic Four review:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/fantasticfour.html

lol, believe it or not but this is one movie I wish I could get on HD-DVD. I am just a sucker for superhero movies and even tho this wasnt that good, I still enjoyed it and eventually want to get it in HD.

PS..

I've watched the dvd several times. It's not the best superhero movie, but I think it's very entertaining. Looking forward to the sequel next Summer.

Just read the Fantastic Four & X-Men3 BD reviews for the fun of it and had a couple questions. In both you seem to take a pretty lax stand on the studios responsibility to bring to market a full package on par with the SD versions. Where do you stand on the xtras debate and wether you think they should absolutly include at least all of the SD xtras? You just seem really ok with the fact that Fantastic Four left basically all of the SD extras out and then for X-Men you seemed really ok with the fact that its a really bare bone release and that they will eventually double dip this title with a better edition.

Your overall reviews are great but I feel that you are really taking it way too easy on the studios here. Again going by your review you seem 100% ok with the fact that this X-Men3 release is really bare bones based on the fact that another version will come later. I just dont understand this mentality at all. How can we be so lax, especially in reviews that get read by alot of people, on topics like double dipping and such. Is it really ok to release such a bare boned version just because we know they will release another one later that will have alot more stuff. I think its really the resposibilty of reviews to call foul on stuff like this. I give you credit for bringing it up its just your overall take was so lax on the topic that it made it seem like it was ok.

I just think we should expect more with these HD formats and when I read a couple of reviews that take these topics so lightly its just very disapponting. Reviewers above everyone else really should call them like they see them and make it known that it isnt ok to release a sub standard edition just because a double dip will come down the road that will be much better. Again I give you credit for bringing them up but you then just brushed it off like it wasnt a big deal at all.

I am not just saying this because its a couple of BD releases either. Iexpect reviewers on both sides to take these aspects of the releases seriously and if the King Kong release this week is as it is rumored to have dropped most of the SD extras then I expect the reviewer of that film to do the same.

Its just simply not ok to drop most of the xtras or to release a bare bones edition so they can later release a much better one. I just think its a reviewers duty to bring these issues out and give them thier proper due. Not to just mention them and make it seem like its no big deal.

Again overall great reviews, I just dont like the easy stance you took on these issues. It makes them seem unimportant in the overall aspect of the disc and that is just not the case.

PS.

lol, yeah I just read your FF review and was shocked to see that there actually was another person out there that enjoyed it. It was just a fun super hero movie and I agree with your review 100%. I think it didnt do as well because it was so light hearted and wasnt dark like the other super hero movies. If this had been a really dark take on FF then Iam sure it would have been much more popular.

I want to stress I really enjoyed your reviews by the way. Dont take my critism the wrong way. Great reviews I just felt your take on the issues I brought up was a bit weak.

PS..

I got my copy of The Fifth Element yesterday, and watched it last night.

Its not as bad as people have made it out to be!

The image is grainy and the print does have a lot of dirt spots, but its definitely high definition material. At no point did it look like an upconverted DVD to me (unlike Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back). And at proper viewing distance, I hardly noticed the grain. It was only when I got real close to the screen that I could see all the grain action that was going on in the background. The dirty print was slightly annoying, but to me it is the best version of the film out there right now. The sound was absolutely amazing in PCM, especially hearing the high notes of the Diva scene. If you can get it for under $20, definitely worth the price of admission.

Video: 3.5
Audio: 5.0

1 = Crap on a disc
2 = DVD quality at a higher price
3 = Better than DVD
4 = Great stuff
5 = It doesn't get any better

ha. That wasn't written by me. I didn't know where else to post that review.

Now, I am one of the 5 people who liked this movie. This movie begs for a director's cut. It flies by. I'm sure there are plenty of character development scenes cut because Fox wanted a quick action adventure instead. Daredevil is the same way. The theatrical version feels rushed, but the director's cut with the added subplot makes the movie so much better. and no surprise that was another Fox production. I guess they like 'em short and sweet.

This is $15.99 at Target this week. Still, I'm left wondering why they didn't use the same master that they did for the Superbit edition. Or did they?

Here's my take on King Kong: (not being reviewed by me for the site).

Video - Presented in a 1080p, VC-1 Encoded, 2:35:1 Widescreen Aspect Ratio, King Kong has a lot of his shoulders. If this HD DVD doesn’t look anything short of magnificent, HD DVD will take a huge blow. Luckily though, King Kong looks absolutely stunning in full 1080p glory.

Budgeted at $200 Million Dollars, the money spent truly shows in Kong as production design, locales, and CGI effects look stunning. Color usage is simply amazing as the jungles contain rich, lush blues, greens, and reds (mostly of the animals). Fleshtones as well are perfect. This gives the film an eye-popping 3-D realness. I could have sworn in some scenes, literally now, that the image quality was so perfect that it looked as if I was viewing the jungle directly in front of me, not on the TV, but almost in person.

The film’s locales, particularly the jungle setting, looked amazing. Andrew Lesnie, Director of Photography, brought these jungles to life creating numerous breathtaking moments as Kong fought for his life against the Rex protecting Ann. When he’s captured and brought to New York, the ice rink scene (one of my favorite video and audio wise), boasted such amazing whites and clarity. A truly great job here Andrew.

A big negative for critics of the film has been the extensive CGI effects Jackson and his WETA team used. Critics complained that the effects were overly soft and fuzzy giving Kong a fakeness that could be easily seen through. Whether or not you’re for the effects, you can’t really argue that the effects don’t look immaculate here. Universal has delivered a true stunner. I can’t imagine Kong looking much better than he does right now. Kong is certainly my new demo disc.

Audio - Universal provides Kong with the standard Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Audio (encoded at 1.5mbps) available in either English, French or Spanish. While it was a disappointment to not find a Dolby TrueHD audio track here (it seems to me that only WB is including these anymore), the provided Plus 5.1 Track still sounds excellent. Honestly though, I don’t think anyone could possible even think that Kong wouldn’t sound anything close to excellent.

No matter what scene you decide to use to show this disc off (I can imagine though what many will pick), every scene screams to life with such rich, vibrant clarity. The film’s soundfield, surprise in the Kong vs. Rex fight, is immersive and surrounding as Kong punches, breaks and roars against these big beasts. Dynamic Range is also top notch creating such low, powerful bass that rumbles the room in a smooth, accompanying manner.

While many will instantly pick the Kong vs. Rex fight, I must inform you about the ending Empire State Building sequence. As the bi-planes whizzed by Kong, James Newton Howard’s score (a true shame he didn’t win an Oscar for this considering what he created in the short time he had after James Horner left) sounded perfect giving us the tense, seriousness of the moment. Shooting bullets at Kong, I found myself wanting to hear this sequence over and over again that it got to a point where my brothers were getting annoyed with the continuous rewinding. Truly a sequence that screams ‘demo me’.

Attention to sound detail, as it was in the Lord of the Rings films, is perfect. Jackson and his massive Sound Department have created, arguably, the soundtrack to beat all soundtracks. As Carl and his team approach Skull Island interacting with the inhabitants of the island, sound attacked me from all sides never relenting. Amazing stuff here. Also, dialogue, despite all the aural delights occurring around you, never becomes muddled or hard to hear.

Universal needs to go down in the record books right now. King Kong sounds absolutely enthralling on HD DVD and can easily go along aside Batman Begins as a true example and definition of the word ‘demo’. A top-notch, first rate effort.

Special Features - A complete disappointment on the feature front. This only makes me fear that Universal is planning an HD double-dip in the near future.

U-Control - The two included HD exclusive features are being dubbed as U-Control which is a feature that Universal has included on three previous releases in Tokyo Drift, The Break-Up, and today’s Accepted. I must admit this is the only real downer found on this HD disc. Both features contain various excerpts that any real fan will instantly recognize from the Production Diaries released earlier this year. Universal provides new, exclusive features for The Break-Up but not for Kong? Would it honestly have been hard for Universal to include a few more features?

Closing Thoughts - King Kong is being billed as one of the most anticipated HD DVD titles since the format’s inception nearly 7 months ago. Does the title deliver? Well, yes and no. Yes, the film is amazing, the video is breathtaking, and the audio is fabulous. What really hurts this package is the extreme lack of features on Universal’s part. With an Extended Edition being released today on SD-DVD, why didn’t Universal throw in another disc or two with all these features? I’m sure fans wouldn’t have minded paying more to get more. Nonetheless, the film comes recommended for those looking for latest video/audio demo disc.

Sorry josh, I've seen this on a properly calibrated DLP (doing, yes, 1080p), and it at no time looked like HD. I even did some A/B'ing with the Superbit and the Superbit upconverted clearly looked better.

That's the great thing about reviews, everyone can form their own opinion. If I would have listened to the majority of reviews out on there, I would have missed this disc, and that would have been a shame.

Of the 13 discs I own, I would put 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' and 'Unforgiven' beneath The Fifth Element in terms of video.

Bummer review for Ricky Bobby...this was one title that I was actually wanting from BD (BHD being the other)...

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/talladeganights.html

Sounds like the screwed up the picture.

BD isnt helping themselves for me. I was getting closer to purchasing, but took a step back today.

Is your set calibrated by an ISF tech? Isnt it 768?

Those can make huge differences. I didnt think The Fugitive hd-dvd looked all that bad on my 61in 720p set and then I watched it on my 71in DLP 1080p set (ISF calibrated by the best!!). I could definately see what people were talking about.