Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Is Dark Knight the new demo standard?

I watched Kung Fu Panda on Blu-ray today and I must say the audio and video is reference quality . I was expecting the video to be superb but what really surprised me was the Dolby TrueHd sound track.

The overall sound quality is outstanding. There is lots of LFE in the movie which resonates the room and is prominent throughout (very surprsing and awesome). The use of the surrounds is also very well done, especially with the QS4/QS8 which create that spatial sound field throughout the room, the Axioms truely shine .

I am not one for animated kids films but I must say I enjoyed the actual story. I usually find these types of films annoying and "cheesy" especially the voice acting but I did not find that at all with this film.

This movie is definitly one to please the audiophile as well as the tykes. It is a winner all around!

True, but digital does not mean a clean picture. Digital and film are both just different ways of capturing video. One put it on a filmstrip and the other on to some digital media. If there is a smudge on the lens, it is there on film AND on digital. Not that I would think that a camera man would have a smudge on the lens, but just as example. The recording straight to digital and not to film just makes it easier to add digital special effects (CGI) later on, and makes sure that each copy of the video is an exact match, but again digital does not mean better quality.

Ad for DK and the IMAX filmed piece, there is still a transfer that needs to take place, even if the original source is as outstanding as IMAX. I think that the transfer for DK was excellent, but all transfers are subject to whatever setting are used during the encoding process. With DK, they got the settings right.

Now that I've said all of that, I honestly don't think that I have used any animated video as part of a demo. It has always been a live action flick. Even my demo DVDs that I have (and I have about 35 of them) I usually skip over the animated movies and go for the action ones, or ones that show off ambient sound and good video pieces.

I would think that there is "noice" inherent in any tape product (film) that would be eliminated going direct to a digital hardrive or something.

I thought that "Wanted" had very good sound effects.

Think of it this way, most people think that all MP3's are great because they are digital, but they are compressed (yes, some sound way better than others). Heck, even CDs (digital) are compressed, and some are better than others. I'm just saying that because it is digital doesn't automatically mean that it is... That is all I am saying.

That is definitely true. My point re digital was simply that newer films are making the transfer less of a source of error. In the past a transfer could ruin a good film - e.g., the original 5th Element BR disk that was of lower quality than the DVD. Now, either direct to digital or IMAX source, etc., mean there is more information and less transfer tools need to get a HD image on a BR disk from the original picture. Animation clearly skips that, so noise is not an issue. But even animation can suffer from noise and other anomalies due to bad input – Shit-in, Shit-out. So all have their weaknesses.

And I need to do Panda again. I watched it with the kids on DVD and it was fine, but I have heard many talk about the reference quality of the BR. Also, anyone here used Barka as a demo disk? I have never seen it, but keep hearing it is the be-all and end-all of BR demo material. I still think DK is the best overall I have come across in terms of sound, shadow detail, scale, image accuracy, depth, etc., but I was once told not all people share my opinions...crazy talk.

Yeah, I figured we were on the same page about this, just pointing out two different aspects of that same page....

IMAX is actually over 8x larger than standard 35mm. Don't sell us short!

Good point, I was just thinking 35 v 70, but that does not tell the story in terms of volume of information. Thanks for the correction.

And after much delay i re-watched Kung Fu Panda. Actually, I did Kung Fu Panda, then Madagascar 2, then Casino Royale. Yes my butt was sore. Kung Fu Panda is much better than I gave it credit for. It works the surrounds and sub throughout. I think my sub is lacking the depth it needs to really feel it, at several spots i was just waiting for the shock wave, but it just kind of passed with minimal fanfare. Mada 2 is fine but no standards to be found. Casino Royale was better than I remembered. Great visuals, truly first rate, and the sound was very good. Not up to the Batman level but very good. In my humble opinion, Batman is still the best material i can feed my system to showcase its skill. Although my foray into the Blue Man Group may push that up for sound - wow, what a workout.