PornoStar

Here are the results for Hi-Def Digest's Best of HD in 2006

http://www.highdefdigest.com/feature...s_of_2006.html

Individual Catagory Winners

Best Transfer - King Kong (HD-DVD)
Best Overlooked Gem - The Matador (HD-DVD)
Best Catalog Title - Casablanca (HD-DVD)
Best Exclusives - Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift (HD-DVD)
Best Music Title - Phantom of the Opera (HD-DVD)
Best Animation - Monster House (BD)

HD-DVD - 5
BD - 1


The Best Overall

Batman Begins (HD-DVD)
Bourne Supremacy (HD-DVD)
Casablanca (HD-DVD)
The Hulk (HD-DVD)
Devil Wears Prada (BD)
Mission Impossible 3 (HD-DVD & BD)
Ray (HD-DVD)
Superman Returns (HD-DVD & BD)
V For Vendetta (HD-DVD)
World Trade Center (HD-DVD & BD)

HD-DVD - 9
BD - 4


Honorable Mentions

Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift (HD-DVD)
Superman The Movie (HD-DVD & BD)
Seabiscuit (HD-DVD)
Constantine (HD-DVD)
The Descent (BD)
Casino (HD-DVD)

HD-DVD - 5
BD - 2


Worst Transfers

The Fifth Element (BD)
Taladega Nights (BD)
Army of Darkness (HD-DVD)
XXX (BD)
Christmas Vacation (BD & HD-DVD)

HD-DVD - 2
BD - 4


Dishonorable Mentions

Crash (BD)
Robocop (BD)
Field of Dreams (HD-DVD)
A Christmas Story (BD & HD-DVD)

HD-DVD 2
BD - 3


HD-DVD outperformed BD for 2006, at least going by this websites opinion which I think seems to be pretty accurate. This is a good chance to reflect back and congratulate Toshiba for really coming out and doing exactly what they needed to do to have any shot at winning this thing. Having a bad launch could have been something that Toshiba might have never recovered from given that BD has a major advantage in studio support ATM. They came out strong and finished strong and they made 2006 the most enjoyable home theatre year I have had yet. I dont regret buying into this format early for even a second.

Hopefully they follow up with a great 2007 and going by that list that got leaked awhile back it certainly looks like it will be as great as everyone is hoping it will be. Hopefully they come out at the CES with some killer announcements as its kinds been dry on the announcement front for a bit. Anyways great job Toshiba and here is to 2007!!

PS...

Mopower

Sweet. And I actually thought Army of Darkness looked pretty good compared to the SD version.

matome

Since we're quoting hidefdigest.com here, someone did an interesting average breakdown of ALL their reviews, to keep things in perspective:

Hammer99

Oops.

flashburn

The problem with that, is if you go back and look at their old reviews, they didn't give any sort of ratings, and that includes all of the horrible Lions Gate/Sony titles that were first released.


Also, I have to disagree with 'A Christmas Story' being on that list. If anything 'Full Metal Jacket' should be there instead.

PornoStar

Sorry but this is a pointless average. It takes nothing into consideration like just what films were released on what format. Compariosns only matter when your comparing the same film, not random different films. It woluld be like comparing the score of Aeon Flux to the score from backdraft. Both have transfers that are almost a perfect match to thier original theatrical display yet they are completly different. Aeon has a super crystal clear picture and Backdraft was mean to have a grainy feel to it. Again its an absoultly pointless comparison.

The only way that score means anything is if you only compared films that were released on both formats and then averaged the scores together to see what you get. By the way this best of 2006 was quoted from the people that review the movies for that site, not from some fanboy on the forums. There are also 2 glaring problems with it besides what I have already explained and that is that HD-DVD has like 18 more films reviewed on that site than BD does and that the early films didnt have scores associated with them so all of the really bad flims from BD didnt get averaged into that score.

Bottom line is this best of 2006 is credible, the averaging of all total scores isnt.

PS....

namja

Neither is useful data, but if anything, the latter might be more credible. It's only natural that the Best of 2006 will include more HD DVDs than BDs since more titles were released in HD DVD than BD.

Supermallet

Army of Darkness for worst transfer?? What the fuck?

king slug

You just lost any and all credibility for ever posting in the forum again. You just tried to post an "average breakdown" from someone on the HD-DVD/Blu-ray Smackdown board. That board is filled with mindless idiot fanboys who have nothing better to do with their life besides think of the most minute details of their beloved player and try to talk it up like the greatest thing ever. Just a few thread's started in the Smackdown board:

HD DVD = betamax?
TIME declares PS3 One Of The 5 Busts Of 2006
One Month Old - PS3 Blows X360 Away In Japan
More and more HD DVD supporters going to Blu-ray of course followed by the:
More and more Blu-ray supporters going to HD DVD
Blu-ray Going To Win Format War...
Updated amazon numbers...
Blu-ray drives only $1 more than HD DVD

I think I just proved my point. Amazon numbers? Comparing HD-DVD to Betamax? PS3's selling in Japan? Blu-ray drives only being a dollar more in computers? And this is what you are getting your "average breakdown" from? Give me a break. Why don't you ask someone in that board for stock market tips as well since everyone who posts there is so damn knowledable. If I was you, I would go bury my head in the sand somewhere to save myself from any more embarassment in my life.

matome

Sure, as credible as the subjective thoughts of one site are (or more specifically, one reviewer, Peter Bracke). Nothing is definitive as your thread title suggests, though. I can agree with a lot of his stuff, but to say that an overall disc like Full Metal Jacket or Spartacus is better than Talladega Nights, is stretching it. And where is the Best Audio presentation award?

Also as a note, Batman Begins, V For Vendetta, Casablanca and Constantine will all be on Blu-Ray in 2007, as indicated by Warner's HD VP.

matome

Oh Christ. Number one, I took that list directly from the hidefdigest boards, so I don't even know what fucking boards you are referring to. Please take your calculator and do the averages for the listed titles and tell me the numbers are wrong. Think before you post.

corbin dallas

Switching to DEFCON 2 in 5,4,3,2...

king slug

Funny that in the same post the poster (dobyblue) on the high def forum even wrote in clear view: "Smackdown!" I mean geez, you can't even read the word "smackdown" in the same post. Maybe I should also get a calculator and incorporate how many less BD reviews there are to HD-DVD reviews that were in these so called "numbers." You even said in your own post "(76HD/58BD)" How can you even make an accurate numbers game when even the numbers for the reviews don't add up? What a joke.



Sorry, but in my 3 or so years of visiting the DVDtalk boards, what matome posted was one of the funniest/most ignorant things I've ever read. To take something off high def's "Smackdown" board, and try to incorporate it into an actual conversation on the DVDtalk board is insulting to anyone that has ever read anything on DVDtalk.

matome

Seems like you haven't been reading these HD boards for even the past six months because all the crap you're spouting off about shows up in the conversations from both sides here and in every other forum that deals with BD/HD-DVD (e.g. just do a search for "thedvdwars" in this forum or read our very own "smackdown" threads, the Vs. ones). You just need to know how to sift through them.

As for rating averages here are your finite, equal and hard numbers from the last 20 HD-DVD & BD reviews from hidefdigest (with nothing to do with their "smackdown" board):

HD-DVD: PQ=3.85 AQ=3.56
Blu-Ray: PQ=4.00 AQ=3.90

And just for good measure I removed the only music title (BD's Legends of Jazz Showcase 4p/5a rating) and replaced it with one of the "worst" BD titles Talladega Nights 2a/4p (which, according to PB's 2 star rating, is the worst transfer out there). This is reflected in the above averages already. I can easily change the number of reviews in the spreadsheet if anyone desires. And yes, I know the earlier titles may have issues, but the newer releases are definitely more indicative of the trajectory headed with all the studios now releasing discs and BD50's available. And as far as the mentioned comparison for older titles go, Backdraft scored a 4.5 while Aeon Flux scored a 4.0. Again, totally subjective.

So if you want to hold hidefdigest up as the bellwether for all things HD, fine, but just look at the entire picture.

namja

king slug, this THREAD came from data from that web site. Only natural to take other data from the same web site for comparison, even if it's from their forums. Anyway, now that matome has provided more objective (not from forum) numbers, now what?

Anyway, this thread title is a great exaggeration.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Does anyone know what's wrong with A Christmas Story?

bunkaroo

Yep. Nothing. Looks great considering the style of the visuals. It is a noticeable improvement over the DVD.

flashburn

Highdefdigest should not be relied on for their reviews. Better off sticking with DVDTalk, as they seem much more consistent.

bretski

Amen. Not a damn thing wrong with it, and the best it has ever looked on any consumer format. The folks @ hidefdigest seem to think that every movie needs to look like Seabiscuit to be considered a great HD release.

pabster

QFT. You can't compare a transfer of a film 20 years back (or more) to something shot and produced in 2006. It just isn't a fair (or valid) comparison.

I have to say that even the titles rated as crap vis-a-vi transfer quality look noticeably better than their DVD counterparts.

Supermallet

In the end, their reviews are just as much of a product of the combination of their equipment and their opinions as our reviews are a product of our equipment and our opinions.

dobyblue

Despite being taken from the forum, those numbers were actually an average of all rated discs from the site.
Here's the full list, as I keep track of not just HDD, but also Home Theater Spot and DVD Talk as well.


High Def Digest (77HD/59BD), Home Theatre Spot (105HD/97BD) and DVD Talk (124HD/98BD) review comparison. Last updated 12.27.06