tofferman

I have been holding off on buying certain Warner Brothers HD-DVD titles that were supposedly "bobbed" (i.e. 1080i transfers were used instead of 1080p transfers). The titles supposedly "bobbed" include: Enter the Dragon, Lethal Weapon 1, Lethal Weapon 2, The Fugitive, Full Metal Jacket, and possible also The Perfect Storm.

The reviews on other HD-DVD websites (avsforum for example) have been both positive and negative on the above-mentioned releases. Seeing that I have all of these titles on SD-DVD, are they worth upgrading? or perhaps, do you regret buying them on HD-DVD? I would be surprised if Warner Brothers were to remaster these titles in the forseeable future, say 3-5 years.

Knowing how expensive HD-DVD titles are, I usually trade in SD-DVD's when I upgrade to HD-DVD and want to make sure that I don't regret it. I'm playing HD-DVD's on an A1 connected to a Toshiba 65H80 (1080i) via component input. I welcome your input.

MrChaos

Out of those titles, I only own 'The Fugitive'. I wasn't aware of this problem when I bought the film, which is the reason why I haven't purchase any of the other titles.

So yes, I do kind of regret it.

darkside

I've watched Enter the Dragon twice and never have found the defects. Not saying they aren't there, just that I have no regrets on my purchase.

Supermallet

I bought Lethal Weapon, Enter The Dragon, The Fugitive, and Full Metal Jacket. I received Lethal Weapon 2 to review. Of all of those, FMJ and Lethal Weapon 1 looked the worst, but I enjoy the movies, so I regret none of the purchases.

bboisvert

I own Lethal Weapon, Full Metal Jacket, and The Fugitive.

While I'd welcome (and hope for) eventual remasters -- especially for FMJ -- I consider each one of these to be an 'upgrade' over what I had previously on SD. I don't actually regret any one of these purchases.

joshd2012

I've been avoiding FMJ because of the bobbing. I may reconsider, but I'm still hoping for a fixed release at some point.

awmurray

Of those, I've seen Perfect Storm, Enter the Dragon and FMJ.

I bought Perfect Storm and Enter the Dragon with no regrets.

FMJ is the only one I've seen that looks defective (jaggies all over the place). I would say it could be scaling issues with my display except no other titles I've seen display this behavior.

The Edit King

We just watched 'The Fugitive' last night, and I said to my woman, "This doesn't look much better than the regular DVD!"

However, we don't regret buying it as it has it's 'shiny blood', higher-def moments.

Boogie76

The only one I have is Enter the Dragon, but I don't regret that one for a second. It looks great, especially for an older film.

flashburn

I said the same thing until I sampled the DVD afterwards, pretty huge difference IMHO.

I definitely don't regret purchasing that or Enter The Dragon. I did buy Full Metal Jacket for around $15, but I have yet to watch it. I don't expect much from it though.

Drexl

This site has some real screen shots of some HD-DVDs. In FMJ, TPS, and ETD, the stairstepping is easily visible, although in some shots it's less noticeable than in others.

bretski

Drexl, which screen shots of FMJ on that link show the stairstepping? I just looked at a couple, but my connection is going slowly right now...

Drexl

The first one in particular shows it. Look at the guy on the left holding up a gun. You can see it on the edges of the gun and strap.

bretski

Ah, thanks. I didn't zoom-in the first time I looked at that picture. Can see it clearly now...

awmurray

If you look at it full sized, a lot of the jaggies go away on my screen. So some of that could be scaling... have you tried it full sized?

EDIT: I just tried it on this computer (home) and it shows a lot of jaggies at full size but none if it is set to fit-to-window (using Windows image and fax viewer). You should definitely look at those pics full sized.

Drexl

I look at them full-sized. My monitor is 1152x864 so I only see a portion of the image and have to move it around to see the whole thing. I see the jaggies on those titles, but not on other titles like The Polar Express or The Last Samurai.

The Edit King

Oh, I believe and agree with you, fb!

Actually, it's been some time since I watched the SD version. I just think it has some pretty serious blurry & grainy moments compared to what I've come to expect from my 'HD DVDs' is all I was sayin'.

-THEEK!

fataldog187

If these titles we're bobbed then wouldn't the pattern of pixelization be more horizontal than vertical? From what I understand, the process of bobbing basically doubles the horizontal lines but the screenshots look just the opposite, vertical lines were doubled rather than horizontal? Anyone else see this or know what I'm talking about?

dkny75

I don't regret buying them at all because they still look and sound better than their SD counterparts.

PornoStar

I have Enter the Dragon, Lethal 1 & 2, FMJ and Perfect Storm. Every one of these titles is a big improvment over SD with FMJ being just slightly better. I dont regret upgrading at all. They still look the best they ever have at home and that is why I got HD-DVD. I fully realize that not every title is going to blow your head off from being so impressive. Bottom line is some transfers transfer over to HD differently and some transfers are given more attention than others. I dont have a single regret for 1 single movie I have purchased on HD-DVD. I cant say the same for regular DVD's.

PS..