That's fair... way too much flip-flopping today though! I think they are

PS. Early congrats on 10K posts!

That's a perfectly fair edit for HDD. If he feels its superior, he should post in the HD DVD thread for potential buyers. Glad they reverted back to the original score which should reflect how it was at the time of arrival (and as a comparison to other HD DVDs).

It is still a tough call, though. If the point of the reviews is to provide potential buyers with accurate and objective information, leaving the old review at five stars could mislead some consumers. If someone misses that note at the end of the audio section, they might not know that the BD has what the reviewer believes to be a superior audio track.

Granted, in this particular case it probably won't make a big difference, since I don't think there are too many copies of the Transformers HD DVD still available for purchase. But on general principle, if an old review awards stellar marks to a given title, but a new title (or a new edition of the same title) raises the bar, then there should be some way to note that in the marks awarded to the newer title. Otherwise, it can easily appear that the two are, at best, equal.

It seems you may get your wish, bunkaroo. From the HDD review:

Mod Note: What's with this resurgence of bad blood? I thought the format wars had ended. First the Speed Racer threads, now this. Gizmo, your "Did you really expect anything less?" comment was nothing but bait. At the same time, several other members here are just as guilty of perpetuating the same tired, stupid arguments that have been beaten beyond the grave here. At this point, I'm going to say take it to PM or risk a suspension. I can't believe I even have to make this threat at this point. Blu-ray won. End of story. New encodes will come out. People will say they are better than HD DVD, fairly or unfairly. This is not an excuse to open up an old can of worms. And if the targeted comments don't stop, the posters will find themselves quiet for a week or more.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

Yeah it is worth noting that when I checked the review for the HD DVD version, the reviewer was also quite delighted with the bass content (as was I), so you may want to take that with a grain of salt. Still, I hope you get what you're looking - err - listening for.

Thanks, Gizmo. Alas, I don't see any POP tabs on the Target exclusive Transformers set. Does it say if UPC can be substituted?

Any good deals yet on this disc?

None that I've seen. SO I think I'll stick to my pre-order with Amazon.

Review's up here at dvd talk, surprised this isn't at the top of the page. I am definately looking forward to this next Tuesday.

I probably won't get mine until Thursday next week due to Labor Day, assuming Amazon doesn't ship until Tuesday.

I have too many DVD-r's and SD DVD's to upgrade before I upgrade HD DVD's that I paid retail for. I wasn't that thrilled with the movie in the theaters but definately liked it on disc. Unless my A35 gets fixed the only HD DVD's I may upgrade are a few combo discs that seem to choke in the player and I end up watching the SD side.

Stopped by a BB on my way to my parents' place to browse around. Came back home with Transformers on blu-ray.



Sorry for the crap quality resized iPhone pics.

Hmmm interesting - maybe BB isn't holding this for Tuesday. I've seen this happen before on other previously-HD DVD only titles there like V For Vendetta.

Might have to pop by and check - thanks for the info.

I have to say that I enjoyed the movie in theaters, probably for nostalgia reasons, but when I got the HD DVD version of it, I fell asleep half-way through. I don't think it holds up on multiple (heck 2 viewings) so be warned if you are considering a purchase.

To me it's held up quite nicely to repeat viewings. Sure the middle drags on a bit (though there some pretty funny stuff there it really should have been tightened) but the first and final third feature great action and a fun home theatre workout.

I'm older than the core group here so Transformers was WAY after my time. I was already through college in the early 80's by the time they got popular. So although I didn't know the backstory, the movie held just enough humor and eyecandy, to hold me over until the subwoofer kicks in and bodies start flying.

When I go to bestbuy.com, the in-store pick-up option is active for Transformers. It shows all of my local stores as having it in stock. Hmmm

Same here. I put an order in for pickup a few hours ago but haven't got a reply yet for pickup. I'll stop by tonight to see what's up.

Apparently it was a glitch, because the listing is back to "pre-order".

Must have been. I stopped by a BB after work and saw 0 copies on the shelf.

Well I was able to get them to give it to me. Actually the people there seemed to have no idea it was not yet released. None were shelved, and it took them forever to find it "in back", but they did produce it after 10 minutes.

I did a very quick comparison of a couple scenes on my gear (shockwave attack at base, blue dress chick), and I did find the LFE to be a little higher on the BD. At the same time I think I came across a possible issue with the HD DVD on at least my setup. it seems even though I have my XA2 setup to bitstream, the first time I loaded the discs I noticed my receiver was reporting it was receiving PCM. I stopped the disc, restarted, picked DD+ again, and this time it was reporting DD+. The sound was noticeably better when this was corrected. Not sure if this is an HDMI thing or what. Once I had the DD+ bitstreaming, A-B comparisons with the TrueHD bitstreamed on my receiver (to the same port via a switch), I found the overall levels appeared to be very close, with a small bump in LFE for the Blu-Ray.

PQ seemed identical in motion. I realize there are some screenshots over at AVS that show some difference, but on my 61" 1080p display I don't see any kind of glaring differences.

I will reiterate what I have said in the past - I was looking to the BD to provide an additional insight into how this movie should sound. With it sounding basically the same on my equipment except for the LFE bump, I'm content with the BD.

IIRC, those screen shots that looked different were discovered to have been taken from different frames. The overall quality is the same, but the grain pattern shifted a little from one frame to the next.

So is the LFE slightly deeper or simply somewhat louder?