Watching "Desperado" brings back all kinds of memories for me, it being one of the early DVD releases, a pretty stunning one in it's time, and one I used over and over again in my early HTPC experiements, first with a Chromatic Research Mpact board, then with my Matrox 400 setup.
This movie, in it's original version, has an interesting combination of vivid picture rendition and very complex, gritty looking backgrounds from the locales shot in Mexico. Some of the shots of the town streets, with highly detailed masonry, and focus which reveals the texture of clothing to an unusual extent, made this a must have for picture quality evaluations- it was particularly adept at showing up the huge quality advancement between DVD on a conventional 4:3 TV, and computer playback in progressive scan and anamorhpic aspect ratio. Mind you, this was almost two years before the first progressive scan STB DVD players came out.
Well, the SuperBit version continues in the same tradition- great depth of field, over the top action sequences, even more cleanly delineated audio track, and razor sharp screen definition, clearly a reference quality disk. No edge enhancement whatsoever that I could discern on a monitor with true optical 1600X1200 resolution (based on size and dot pitch), with playback scaled to 1280X720 widescreen. It may not be HD, but it's so much closer than what you typically see in the stores that it's not even funny.
Antonio Banderas is something of a hoot in this movie; he didn't speak English when this film was made, and had to memorize English lines by rote. Helma Sayek is, as always, Helma Sayek; this transfer does nothing to make her any less easy on they eyes; but now, perhaps, you can count her eyelashes in some scenes.
If you're a fan of Rodriguez, this movie is worth the coin. If you want a demo peice for a hi rez video system, this is my number two choice right after "The Fifth Element".
Regards,
Jon
Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....
This movie, in it's original version, has an interesting combination of vivid picture rendition and very complex, gritty looking backgrounds from the locales shot in Mexico. Some of the shots of the town streets, with highly detailed masonry, and focus which reveals the texture of clothing to an unusual extent, made this a must have for picture quality evaluations- it was particularly adept at showing up the huge quality advancement between DVD on a conventional 4:3 TV, and computer playback in progressive scan and anamorhpic aspect ratio. Mind you, this was almost two years before the first progressive scan STB DVD players came out.
Well, the SuperBit version continues in the same tradition- great depth of field, over the top action sequences, even more cleanly delineated audio track, and razor sharp screen definition, clearly a reference quality disk. No edge enhancement whatsoever that I could discern on a monitor with true optical 1600X1200 resolution (based on size and dot pitch), with playback scaled to 1280X720 widescreen. It may not be HD, but it's so much closer than what you typically see in the stores that it's not even funny.
Antonio Banderas is something of a hoot in this movie; he didn't speak English when this film was made, and had to memorize English lines by rote. Helma Sayek is, as always, Helma Sayek; this transfer does nothing to make her any less easy on they eyes; but now, perhaps, you can count her eyelashes in some scenes.
If you're a fan of Rodriguez, this movie is worth the coin. If you want a demo peice for a hi rez video system, this is my number two choice right after "The Fifth Element".
Regards,
Jon
Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....
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