What's the Deal with Indpendence Day?

[ShnuggMac]

Was it just me or was the transfer on the Independence Day BD terrible??

I received this in the mail the other night, after ordering online, and couldn't believe my eyes in certain scenes -- overall, the image is cleaner, yes, than the numbing countless DVD THX DVDs that are out there (I am selling my "Limited Edition" now that I have the BD), but some scenes were just riddled with grain and noise; most of the transfer just looked like it was ported over from the DVD to be honest; there was nothing that really looked like a Fox "1080p" transfer to me...

The audio, in "DTS-HD Master Audio," fast becoming a Fox staple, downmixed to the core DTS on my system, and it sounded okay, but not really night and day between it and the Dolby Digital mix on the DVD; bass was still heavy in appropriate scenes, and the initial attack sequence on L.A., New York and Washington all kind of sounded very much like the Dolby track on the DVD -- it was hard to tell them apart. The fire engines and cars all flew into the surround channels during that sequence in the same manner they did on the DVD; perhaps with a tad bit more clarity, if you're really listening for it, but nothing that would really blow your wife's black dress up...

[tonyvdb]

I have not seen this particular movie on Blu but I also hear that The 5th element is also really bad on Blu considering it was one of the best for video quality on DVD.

[ShnuggMac]

tonyvdb wrote:

I have not seen this particular movie on Blu but I also hear that The 5th element is also really bad on Blu considering it was one of the best for video quality on DVD.

Yes, Tony, I have heard this too about Fifth Element; it is often talked about in HT circles in terms of its horrendous PQ.

[Blaser]

Older movies do not benefit from BD that much. Also to notice a difference size screen size should be very big, otherwise the benefits of 1080p are useless IMO.

The remastered edition of the fifth element should be good in BD.

IMO, pristine quality transfer will have minimal benefits on BD compared to DVD, and that's why Ihave decided not to upgrade my collection. What I own on DVD will stay as it is and I will think BD for the newer movies only.

[Richard W. Haines]

I suspect the problem is they are now mastering films at 4K resolution.
Earlier features that relied heavily on CGE were created at 2K. You're
stretching the limited resolution from 2K to 4K which may be the cause
of the artifacts and other problems with the transfers.