| Sharper Focus June 2006
High-Definition DVD
High-definition DVD is here! The
HD DVD group has beat the Blu-ray team in being the first to release a
high-definition video format. If you’ve been on a long jaunt in the Alaskan wilds and
are just getting back in touch with reality, two incompatible systems will be competing
for your hi-def DVD dollar, with no universal player yet in sight. In this column, we will
try not to take sides, but rather to cover new releases as objectively as possible. Right
now, we are reporting on HD DVD because it’s the only system available. We will
cover Blu-ray when it comes out, which might be by summer’s end.
To review the first HD DVD releases, I bought a
Toshiba HDX-A1 player. As far as players go, Toshiba is for now the only game in town,
with two models, the HDX-A1 ($800 USD) and the HD-A1 ($500). If you’re used to the
flimsiness of the current generation of DVD players, you’ll be shocked at the HDX-A1,
which weighs more than 20 pounds and is built like the proverbial truck. I like this --
the player has substance.
The two biggest differences from a regular DVD player that
I noticed right away were that the HDX-A1 has a whisper fan in the rear and that the
player takes a very long time to start. Toshiba addresses this in its well-written
owner’s manual, noting that the player operates more like a computer than like a
regular DVD player. The HDX-A1 has a microprocessor, an operating system, and RAM, and
when a disc is loaded, transferring information takes a little time. The computer analogy
also explains the fan. I could hear the fan when I placed the player near me during use,
but its sound was constant and quiet, and after a while my ears had tuned it out.
To view high-definition images, you can connect an
HD DVD player to your HD video monitor with an HDMI cable, an HDMI-to-DVI cable, or a
component-video cable. If your receiver or preamplifier has DTS circuits, you can connect
the player with an optical or coaxial cable. If your receiver or preamplifier lacks a DTS
circuit, you can connect it using the 5.1-channel analog inputs found on most receivers
and preamps made in the last three or four years. If you have one of the brand-new
receivers that comes equipped with HDMI ins and outs, you can connect it all with single
HDMI cables. Most HD DVDs contain Dolby Digital Plus audio tracks; these can be
output through the optical or coax bitstream outputs, but will be read by your receiver or
preamp as DTS signals.
It all worked. I have a typical system and was able to
connect the HDX-A1 to my Mitsubishi HD monitor with an HDMI-to-DVI cable and to my Outlaw
processor with an optical cable.
The picture was even a little better than a hi-def
broadcast, but if what you’re used to is a regular DVD played by a regular DVD
player, the difference will be astounding. However, the Toshiba’s incredibly good
upsampling circuitry can upconvert standard DVD to the 1080i realm, making a regular DVD
image look close to HD. If you play all your discs on the Toshiba, the differences between
DVD-Video and HD DVD will be subtle, but will include a bit more sharpness, richer
color, freedom from shimmer, and a general feeling of rock-solid stability. This is good
news for those with large collections of DVDs -- you might not need to replace everything
with an HD version. I need some more time with Dolby Digital Plus before I make any
conclusive statement, but my initial impression is that it has better highs and a more
open sound than regular Dolby Digital 5.1.
So far, all HD DVDs are packaged in a sexy, slim,
transparent red case that’s shorter than a DVD-Video keepcase but taller than a
DVD-Audio case. The shape can’t be mistaken for anything else. The case also has a
newly designed hub that securely locks the disc in place, as well as space to hold a
booklet.
Here are the first two HD DVD releases I received.
I’ll cover more next time because there will be more releases to review, and I
won’t have to introduce the format itself.
...Rad Bennett
radb@hometheatersound.com
This month’s reviews:
 Serenity (Universal 27849)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Serenity was a great choice for Universal’s
very first HD DVD. The film has a loyal following from the TV series Firefly,
on which it’s based. It’s a darn good retro-techie space opera, and it has
excellent image and sound. I first watched the regular DVD upsampled by the Toshiba
HDX-A1. That was very cool. Then I put the HD version in and was rewarded with even more
detail, deeper color, and awesome sound that was incredibly transparent and had
exceptionally wide dynamic range. The extra features were identical to those on the
standard DVD, but accessing them was a totally different experience. Because HD DVD
is computer-oriented, you can multitask and pull up the menu as an overlay while still
watching the film. From that, you can do such things as easily A/B back and forth from the
film soundtrack to director’s commentary without having to interrupt the film to go
back to a menu screen to set it. Another plus of the HD DVD edition of Serenity
is that it’s on a single layer -- there was no slight pause as the laser beam
switched layers. Watching Serenity in HD was a theater-like experience....Rad
Bennett |
 The Last Samurai
(Warner 80934)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480i
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
This epic film is a tribute to the last days of
Japan’s samurai tradition. Tom Cruise stars as an American military officer,
recruited to train a Japanese army, who is captured by a samurai warlord, then trained as
a samurai himself. It contains thrilling fight scenes and evocatively composed images of
Japanese life circa the late 1800s. I first played the regular DVD edition upconverted by
the Toshiba HDX-A1, followed by the HD DVD. The foregrounds looked dandy in the upsampled
version, but the HD DVD also gave the backgrounds good definition, giving me a
greater feeling of three-dimensionality -- an impression that carried through to the
expressive close-ups of the actors’ faces. The HD DVD color was slightly richer,
and the sound was exceptionally transparent and clean for a film containing such violent
battle sequences.
The soundtrack was mastered at a much lower level than Serenity’s;
I had to crank up the volume control quite a few dB to achieve a satisfactory listening
level. But once that was done, the soundfield was remarkable, with Foley effects imaging
to the rear and sides -- in fact, all around a full 360 degrees. The extras are the same
as those on disc 2 of the standard DVD edition, but are contained, along with the
154-minute feature, on a single side of the HD DVD.
The Last Samurai included one feature I
couldn’t find on the Serenity HD DVD: Zoom. This can be activated during
play by pressing "A" on the remote control. The image is enlarged, after which
you can use the remote’s direction keys to scan it from side to side. I’m not
sure why anyone would want to use this feature -- the enlarged image is grainy and far
from hi-def -- but it’s there for those who do.
So far, The Last Samurai is the only HD DVD
I’ve tried that presented a tracking problem. Two hours or so into the film, the
image froze; after about two seconds, the film continued. It was all much like a layer
change on a dual-layer disc. I played that same section another four or five times but was
unable to duplicate the glitch. Perhaps a loose bit of dirt or dust had distracted the
laser. Because blue-laser DVDs have smaller pits than red-laser discs, it might be more
important to keep them whistle-clean, at least during these early days of HD DVD and
Blu-ray, until better error-correction circuitry is developed....Rad Bennett |
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