What's next? half-ass transfers on every title? I'd prefer to push studios in the right direction.

Only worse is those who come into threads and add NOTHING but wasted time and space.

It seems that only those who don't join in on the complaints about something (not specifically the complaints in this thread, but about a variety of subjects) and instead disagree with those complaints, or simply not want anything to do with them, are wasting people's time.

I for one don't see ALL the flaws in the image, only the occasional shimmer. Not nearly enough to bother me. I love the shifting AR, and don't give a damn about the endless complaints either, because nitpicking becomes a hobby for so many and it just gets annoying after a short time but I guess I'm wasting time and space (?) here by saying that..

Mod Note: While you may not feel that the transfer is something worth complaining about, keep in mind that calling a group of posters "sad" and "jackasses" is just as much of a personal attack as calling an individual poster those words. Do not do it again.

No, I see your point but as you said many like to read opinions on how transfers look before buying specific titles. What drives one person up the wall may go unnoticed by another. (Such as: EE/DNR)

On the same subject, I showed a friend the DNR used in ELF a few days ago and he was surprised he never noticed it before. You can either complain and hope WB/New Line put out the best material they can, or you can just take whatever is given. Sadly the New Line titles all seem to be toyed with in one way or another these days.

Here is my review of the Australian Blu-Ray Release:

The Movie:

The Dark Knight continues one year after Batman Begins ended and this time Batman and Lt. Gordon are joined by new D.A. Harvey Dent as they wage war on the city’s crime syndicates, but things are going to get ugly when a new criminal known only as The Joker comes on the scene and unleashes the full extent of his insanity.

The Dark Knight is not just another superhero movie or a sequel, this is simply a terrific piece of movie making in its own right, dark, ambitious and hugely exciting, director Christopher Nolan keeps a tight hold on the reins and the late Heath Ledger lets his manic ness come to the forefront as the Joker, I wish I could say more but you really have to see this film for yourselves: 5 out of 5.

The Blu-Ray:

The Dark Knight arrives on Blu-Ray in a special IMAX presentation, in which certain scenes were shot using this format, the rest was shot with normal 35mm cameras, this will be outlined below.

The Video as I said is a special presentation, the IMAX footage expands to a 1.78:1 aspect ratio whilst the normal footage is the 2.35:1 footage which was used for theatre screenings, the clarity of the IMAX footage is sensational, allowing you to pause to study the shots to see the detail of it all, the regular footage looks good as well but don’t expect an eye popping video as the film is dipped in dark and muted colours, something I’m very glad to see replicated here.

The Audio is again very well done but viewers need be warned that the mix at times is a little uneven, with some areas louder than others, but apart from that, its clear and well done.

The Movie comes with 2 discs full of HD content, the first of which is sadly uneven like the film’s audio transfer, its called “Gotham Uncovered: The Creation of a Scene” and in various segments talks about the planning and production of various scenes from the film, my favorites being the use of the IMAX cameras on the Prologue and Hong Kong sequences as well as the creation of the Joker theme music, but most of the segments range from okay to boring.

Following that, we move to the second disc which is full of extras, which are outlined below in the three main sections:

Behind the Story:

Batman Tech: The first of two documentaries in this section, this details some of the technology Batman comics have had throughout the years and how that has mirrored real world technology, worth watching once but that’s about it.

Batman Unmasked: Batman Unmasked is the second of these documentaries and examines the psychology of Bruce Wayne/Batman as well as his gallery of villains, although it has some good sections (The exposure segment was very informative), the rest gets rather boring if you have seen any of the previous Batman DVD Documentaries.

Extras:

Gotham Tonight News Segments: This is easily one of the best extras on this set, here Mike Engel who appears briefly in the film hosts a faux news shows which has appearances from the actors in the film, the show stealer being Eric Roberts in his segment, I really enjoyed seeing these after I saw the film and that opinion hasn’t changed.

Still Galleries: Here a 4 photo galleries detailing conceptual art, the Joker’s cards from the destruction of the Judge’s car, production photos and the poster art, having really enjoyed the film and its ad campaign, it was nice to see it fully represented here.

Trailers and More:

Teaser and Theatrical Trailers: Easily my favourite extra on this set is the three main trailers for the film, with only the third one being the first released after Heath Ledger’s sad demise in January, I dare anyone to tell me they didn’t want to see the film after seeing these.

TV Ads: Here a 6 TV ads, although one or two are good, this extra is most likely worth watching once and then leaving it, sadly something you could also say with most of the extras on this set.

Final Thoughts:

Although the Dark Knight is a strong film that will and has mesmerized many, this Blu-Ray is sadly uneven, ranging from well done to boring, it also comes up trumps compared to the excellent work done on Iron Man, hopefully given the amount of money Warner Brothers has earned with this movie, they will do better next time around.

IMAX DMR is the "Digital Re-Mastering" process used to upconvert 35mm film footage to IMAX prints. The 35mm footage is digitized, then DNR'ed, edge enhanced, and output onto IMAX stock.

I have not been much impressed by the results I've seen. I'd rather watch a quality 35mm presentation. The fact that IMAX has relaxed its standards for screen size, and many IMAX screens are barely larger (if even) than the regular stadium seating theaters in my area doesn't help.

Thanks for the writeup, Moonstone.

Perhaps this explains why you saw excessive DNR when you saw TDK and I did not. The IMAX where I work isn't just full size, with a large size projector, but is the theater most used by IMAX Corp themselves for screenings and tests. Nolan himself came to our theater to look at The Dark Knight before approving the transfer.

I watched this on Blu-ray this afternoon and thought it looked very good, not absolutely perfect, but good.

I haven't delved into Disc 2 but people are giving the extras a lot of shit, but I found the focus points to be great. Really nice substitute for a commentary and some great BTS stuff there.

I don't see how this would make a difference in the DNR and edge enhancement artifacts added during the IMAX DMR upconversion of the 35mm film elements. In fact, the larger the screen, the more pronounced they look.

I suspect that Nolan was simply not sensitive to these particular artifacts and wasn't looking for them.

Real IMAX content on an IMAX screen is terrific. I'm just not a fan of the DMR conversion of 35mm content.

God damn you people are whiners, just enjoy the movie and quit fucking nitpicking. Not every fucking release is going to be absolute perfection and up to your insanely high standards, deal with it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Easy. Are you that god damn bored to waste your time bitching about how the ratio shifts, shimmers, edge enhancement, and whatever other stupid shit you can whine about, jesus.

You know, people come to boards like DVD Talk so they can read detailed, educated opinions on new releases, so they can better make up their minds on whether to spend their money. For you to complain about such posts makes you sound like ... well, a whiner.

I didn't buy it, Mercury&Solace. And I wont buy it until I come across a release that is up to my standards. I'm not asking for much. Just no edge enhancement, no shimmering (or at least as little as the hardware/software makes possible), and no DNR.

All these things can be avoided since all these things are eye sores that are usually added (well, not the shimmering) when the colorist gets his/her hands on the video. All I ask is that they not add these things as all they do is degrade the quality of the image.

I didn't buy it.

I didn't buy it either, but thats because I'm hoping somebody will gift it my way (I'm a tad broke right now).

It is a gorgeous looking transfer for a majority of the runtime, blemishes and all. Oh and it absolutely pisses all over the DVD.

But then again, edge enhancement has always been overcriticized imo. A little DNR? Fine, just as long as the faces don't go glossy.

Oh and a little DVDTalk complaining has nothing on the AVSforum bellyaching.

Out of curiosity, are all the movies in your collection perfect demo material?

Perhaps he sees the writing on the wall that a re-issue is imminent, and he's voting with his wallet.

Truth be told, we should all do this...

(But this movie is so damn good!!)

Yeah there's just no way I could stay away from this release. I've already watched it twice. To put it in perspective, I have many discs owned for years I haven't viewed once.

Watching it back to back with Batman Begins, it's definitely more "digital" in appearance but not terrible either.

I also noticed with the exact same volume settings, TDK is considerably hotter on the TrueHD track than the BB Blu-Ray.

Bought it, watched it, didn't see anything wrong with it. I'm fine with this release.

Yep, same here.

Or holds the Dark Knight to a different standard. I was just curious, since he kept talking about his standards for a release and if it applies to all releases or just specific ones since surely there are movies owned with less then perfect picture quality.

And since I don't anticipate a re-issue in the near future I'm ok with what I feel are just minor issues.

I think this is definitely the case for many.

If you get Dumb and Dumber on Blu-Ray, your expectations are reasonably in check. Not to mention you know a re-release in the near future is not very likely.

But with TDK, it's the #1 movie of the year, one of the best of the year, and so people want perfection. And I don't think it was outside WB's ability to give that, but instead we got a disc with some flaws. Not enough to keep me away, but for some, yes.

Do not be surprised to see a re-release of this towards the holidays next year a la the I Am Legend Collector's Edition this year. Whether or not it will have different PQ/AQ is the 64,000 dollar question.

While I was disappointed in the majority of the disc, I still bought it because it destroys the DVD, the IMAX scenes look fantastic, it's got lossless audio and I love the flick.

If they double-dip in the future with better PQ, well, I'll buy that version as well. I mean fuck, I bought "Batman Begins" on Blu after owning the HD-DVD just for the friggin' prologue.

My point. It's Batman. I'll buy it despite it's flaws.

Sadly, no. But this is a clear candidate for re-release. And this is quite an underwhelming treatment of a new film. This isn't some low budget indie film or an old movie whose prints have fallen prey to the ravages of time. This is a new release that has no excuse looking as underwhelming as it does.

These issues taken on their own are indeed relatively minor but as a whole, it's just not worth forking over $25+ for this particular release.

As Qui Gon Jim stated, I'm voting with my wallet.