Video Asylum

• What's with using animations as reference DVDs? Makes no sense to me. - AbeCollins 23:20:11 04/18/05 (1)
  In Reply to: DVD suggestions; Image quality. What are your reference videos? posted by Jack Seaton on April 16, 2005 at 12:26:36:

  I don't understand the reasoning for using an animation as a 'reference' DVD for picture quality. You take something 'fake' like an animation that looks great on ANY screen and consider that to be a reference?
  
  

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  • Reference and testing - jbmcb 08:13:24 04/19/05 (0)
    In Reply to: What's with using animations as reference DVDs? Makes no sense to me. posted by AbeCollins on April 18, 2005 at 23:20:11:

    > You take something 'fake' like an animation that looks great on ANY screen and consider that to be a reference?

    Good animation does look good on many different types of screens, but the contrast, color pallet and detail in well transfered digital animation gives even the best displays a run for their money. You have to look close, but any flaws the display has will be pretty clear.

    If you're looking for overall image quality, then live action is usually better than animation. If you are looking for certain known problems or specs in a video system, digital animation is a very useful tool.

    
    /*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
    
    

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• Monsters Inc. without question - faithnomorefreak 13:15:41 04/18/05 (0)
  In Reply to: DVD suggestions; Image quality. What are your reference videos? posted by Jack Seaton on April 16, 2005 at 12:26:36:

  Best looking DVD I've ever seen.

  For actual film, I use Aliens Special Edition and Terminator 2 Extreme Edition or whatever the crap it's called.

  
  
  

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• references for image quality - Joe Murphy Jr 08:04:40 04/17/05 (0)
  In Reply to: DVD suggestions; Image quality. What are your reference videos? posted by Jack Seaton on April 16, 2005 at 12:26:36:

  Below are some threads that list many DVDs used for reference picture quality. One thing that I will add to this topic, pertaining to "quality", is the quality of the DVD player and the display. If you have a DVD player that sucks at deinterlacing, presents macroblocking or other annoying artifacts when used with your display or have a display that hasn't been set up with at least a calibration disc, it does take away from the reference experience.

  That said, here are some threads on image quality:

  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=261309
  (see Rich's "pictures on my plasma" link)

  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=499800&highlight=reference

  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=456892&highlight=reference

  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=510727&highlight=reference

  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=523236&highlight=reference

  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=501193&highlight=reference

  
  
  

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• Animation - jbmcb 16:45:46 04/16/05 (2)
  In Reply to: DVD suggestions; Image quality. What are your reference videos? posted by Jack Seaton on April 16, 2005 at 12:26:36:

  Toy Story 2 is a great transfer, which makes sense since the film has never touched the analog domain. The begining video game sequence is amazing, if color or convergence is off you'll see it right away. Monster's Inc. works well, too. Pixar is run by techie geeks, they know how to do DVD :)
  
  /*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
  
  

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  • Those reasons are exactly why I don't use digital animation for comparisons... - Harmonia 20:29:01 04/16/05 (1)
    In Reply to: Animation posted by jbmcb on April 16, 2005 at 16:45:46:

    ...between components. They look great on almost any digital display through most DVD players. Now...if I want to wow the neighbors with the HDTV, I do pull out the Pixar magic discs like Toy Story 2, Mosters, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

    I use a mixture of color & B&W film-based material when auditioning gear - Master & Commander, Restoration, Fifth Element(crapy movie, great super-bit transfer), Third Man, Beauty & The Beast (Cocteau not Disney) and my special black levels/shadow detail torture test...Dark City.
    
    

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    • Animation/Live Action - jbmcb 12:19:14 04/17/05 (0)
      In Reply to: Those reasons are exactly why I don't use digital animation for comparisons... posted by Harmonia on April 16, 2005 at 20:29:01:

      > They look great on almost any digital display through most DVD players.

      They do look very good, but if you pause a scene and look carefully any color bleed or imbalance, or contrast problems, or aliasing will leap out at you. The etch-a-sketch in Toy Story is a perfect example, if you look closely at a scene when it's moving you'll see if any decoder in your video chain has the chroma bug pretty quick.

      > my special black levels/shadow detail torture test...Dark City.

      Great movie, great transfer. I'm hoping for a really nice cleanup of Blade Runner sometime soon for the same purposes.
      
      /*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
      
      

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• Re: DVD suggestions; Image quality. What are your reference videos? - rico 13:29:32 04/16/05 (0)
  In Reply to: DVD suggestions; Image quality. What are your reference videos? posted by Jack Seaton on April 16, 2005 at 12:26:36:

  The newest DVDs of "Snow White" and "Gone With The Wind" for three strip Technicolor. "Master and Commander" for modern color. Although I do not care for the film, "The Fifth Element" is a superb transfer. "Goldfinger" for sudden black into light sequences. "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane" and "The Third Man" for black and white films.
  
  

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