The Reader (UK) Blu-Ray not 1080p/24?

[D.J.KRIME]

My wife rented this movie over the weekend (not really my cup of tea) and I am some what perplexed as to what resolution the E.I.V. distrubited UK BD is at.

I say this as the box states FULL HD which I for one take to mean the BD is presented in a 1080p/24fps format yet on starting the Movie it plays at 1080i/50 yet the trailers in HD before the movie are at 1080p/24

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:
My wife rented this movie over the weekend (not really my cup of tea) and I am some what perplexed as to what resolution the E.I.V. distrubited UK BD is at.

I say this as the box states FULL HD which I for one take to mean the BD is presented in a 1080p/24fps format yet on starting the Movie it plays at 1080i/50 yet the trailers in HD before the movie are at 1080p/24

Something wrong here DJ.

The Video: Sizing Up the Picture

The Weinstein Co. produces a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode (1.85:1) for 'The Reader,' and it's lovely. This is not the type of film one would usually equate with brilliant high-def, but it's hard to fault such a good-looking image.

'The Reader' has a nice, film-like look. The print is spiffy, with slight grain but no defects. The image is natural, with great depth and a very textured, detailed appearance. Close-ups, in particular, look great. Colors are warm and rich, with no bleeding or chroma noise. Fleshtones are also accurate. Unfortunately, there is a slight bit of edge enhancement which results in slightly noticeable halos around areas of sharp contrast. It's the only detriment to an otherwise very good-looking, artifact-free encode

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Is that quote from a review of the US disc? as I know that if definatly 1080p/24 but I tried this disk on my mates set up as well and same 1080i/50 results.

 

[ElectroMan]

It seems to be an exact quote from the review on http://bluray.highdefdigest.com !

 

[D.J.KRIME]

ElectroMan:

It seems to be an exact quote from the review on http://bluray.highdefdigest.com !

As I thought this is refering to the US disc.

This is not the first time I have found a E.I.V. UK BD to be 1080i as where the US counterpart is a 1080p/24, it really does look like Entertainment in Video really are taking the mick out of its UK cuonsumers but I can't fint contact details for E.I.V anywhere.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Well it would appear that I'm the only member of this forum who has watched the UK BD of this movie or (I hope not ) the onlt member who cares about getting short changed with the UK BD's released compared to the US conterpart.

After a bit of web-searching there a a few titles that E.I.V.(Entertainment In Video) have distrubited here in the UK that are lesser discs compared to the US release and in 1080i here but can I find contact details for E.I.V.? can I heck! I have even tried contacting their parent company Warner but they do not respond and only send a automated email in reply to any consumer enquires!

 

[Gerrardasnails]

ElectroMan:
It seems to be an exact quote from the review on http://bluray.highdefdigest.com !

Tis indeed. I always use the reviews as a guideline for picture and audio details. I would always check the back of the box to see what was on offer before buying.

 

[Anonymous]

EIV again! As I recall when DVD first came out they cut a lot of extras from discs, they also downgraded some soundtracks to Dolby Surround. The US underworld 1 and 2 have PCM 5.1 but I think the EIV version only has Dolby Digital.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Gerrardasnails:ElectroMan:

It seems to be an exact quote from the review on http://bluray.highdefdigest.com !

Tis indeed. I always use the reviews as a guideline for picture and audio details. I would always check the back of the box to see what was on offer before buying.

Well in this case Gerradrasnails you would be buying a duff disc as the box clearly states FULL HD so as I siad in the OP you would believe that to mean 1080p/24 but the disc is encoded in 1080i/50 AVC.

E.I.V. have also done this on Death Sentance, The Women and Bangkok Dangerious aslo omiting and HD sound from these.

There should be a se of rules where the distrubitor has to clearly state the exact resolution a film is presented in.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:Gerrardasnails:ElectroMan:

It seems to be an exact quote from the review on http://bluray.highdefdigest.com !

Tis indeed. I always use the reviews as a guideline for picture and audio details. I would always check the back of the box to see what was on offer before buying.

Well in this case Gerradrasnails you would be buying a duff disc as the box clearly states FULL HD so as I siad in the OP you would believe that to mean 1080p/24 but the disc is encoded in 1080i/50 AVC.

E.I.V. have also done this on Death Sentance, The Women and Bangkok Dangerious aslo omiting and HD sound from these.

There should be a se of rules where the distrubitor has to clearly state the exact resolution a film is presented in.

I see your point DJ. I would send it back.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Luckly for me it was only a rental but I doubt if you had bought it that any shop would take it back for this reason (doubt many of them would understand what the heck you were going on about!)

I have tried to find contact details for E.I.V. but to no avail as it would be nice to get a explainition from them seeing as they are responsible for the disc.

 

[RodhasGibson]

Hi DJ, Look my wife has also ordered Reader from Amazon, but it"s not released until May 25th. How did you obtain a region B copy before this date, as I thought Discs were released for sale before being available to rent. Anyone know if I am right or wrong for that matter.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

RodhasGibson:Hi DJ, Look my wife has also ordered Reader from Amazon, but it"s not released until May 25th. How did you obtain a region B copy before this date, as I thought Discs were released for sale before being available to rent. Anyone know if I am right or wrong for that matter.

Rented it from local Blockbusters, think it is on one of their early rental period deals thay have from time to time.

Would appreciate if you could post your findings as to 1080p/1080i when you have recieved it.

All I can think is that E.I.V. are pressing their BD movies on a single layer 25gb disc and not dual layer 50gb ones to keep production costs down hence encoding the movie at 1080i as it requires far less disc space compared to 1080p

 

[tvmog]

RodhasGibson:Hi DJ, Look my wife has also ordered Reader from Amazon, but it"s not released until May 25th. How did you obtain a region B copy before this date, as I thought Discs were released for sale before being available to rent. Anyone know if I am right or wrong for that matter.

I'm a bit puzzled by this too. I've got it on my reserved list at LoveFilm where is has a DVD release date of May25th, and no current release date at all for the BD version.

 

[RodhasGibson]

Will let you know for sure, btw just looked at our Amazon Order and the Blu-Ray estimate is now 11th to 15th June no less. Dvd is still 25th May. Wonder where BlockBusters got your copy DJ. as TVMog says even Lovefilm don"t have it. Strange.

 

[tvmog]

I suspect that E.I.V. may have knocked out a slightly inferior and cheaper version for the Blockbuster promotion. I guess we'll have to wait for the full release to know for sure.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Just a quick update on these E.I.V. BD's, I have managed via a contact to get hold of the press office for E.I.V. who have forward my concerns to E.I.V. I will post their response in due corse

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:Just a quick update on these E.I.V. BD's, I have managed via a contact to get hold of the press office for E.I.V. who have forward my concerns to E.I.V. I will post their response in due corse

Nice work.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Well after the long Bank Holiday weekend I have recieved a reply from EIV which is as follows

"Dear D.J.KRIME

In response to your query, I have been in touch with those responsible for the authoring of Entertainment in Video's BD titles, and this is their response:

There are no hardware issues with EIV BD titles - all released BD titles are presented in FULL HD image resolution 1920 x 1080, therefore the information presented on the packaging is correct.

With reference to the query on 'i' or 'p' - this just refers to the frame rate rather than the resolution itself: 1080i (interlace) refers to the fact that the picture is made of fields and not full progressive (1080p) frames. The picture resolution is identical at 1920 x 1080; it ' s just a different way of getting the picture onto the screen. For your information, the frame rates of the titles mentioned is listed below.

Death Sentence 1080@50i

Bangkok Dangerous 1080@50i
The Women 1080@59.94i
The Reader 1080@50i

I hope this helps.

Kind regards - #######

Media Communication"

Now is this the biggest cop-out or what!

Is it just me that would believe the term "FULL HD" on a Blu-Ray box to lead you to believe that the movie is in 1080p? but according to EIV because the pixel count is 1920x1080 it matters not that the movies are encoded in a interlaced mode as to them this is still "FULL HD" so by EIV terms SkyHD is also "FULL HD"

 

[gagagaga]

So they see nothing wrong in speeding the films up to 25 frames per second? Nothing wrong in a (progressive) film being encoded as interlaced?

This reply stints of 'shut up little person, you don't know what you're on about'

I've just got the reader through on rental - yes it's 50i, 5 minutes shorter than it should be and as a result i'll never buy it. Arrogant idiots.

 

[nws56]

Rented B. Dangerous a while back and was also puzzled when 1080i popped up onscreen . Even more puzzled to see that the alternative ending was 1080p and that you could see the improvement !

 

[D.J.KRIME]

gagagaga:

So they see nothing wrong in speeding the films up to 25 frames per second? Nothing wrong in a (progressive) film being encoded as interlaced?

This reply stints of 'shut up little person, you don't know what you're on about'

I've just got the reader through on rental - yes it's 50i, 5 minutes shorter than it should be and as a result i'll never buy it. Arrogant idiots.

I agree as I would never now buy any EIV BD software and there is no direct route of contacting them (as I previously mentioned I have had to contact them via their external press office)

As to your coment about them taking the shut up little man, well I could not agree more and until a big publication (hint hint Whathifi) takes something like this on board and pushes those responsible to at least have a set of rules where the actual exact resolution and frame rate the movie is encoded at clearly stated on the box so we the consumer can make a choice with all the facts at our disposal if we purchase the BD or not.

 

[Anonymous]

I rented The Reader from Block Buster a couple of weeks back - the disc didn't even indicate that it was Blu-Ray, my initial reaction was that I'd been given the DVD!

No problems once in the PS3, I don't recall whether the TV reported 1080p or 1080i but the picture quality was excellent, easily as good as other Full HD discs I own and better than some.

We've seen the arguments before about whether Full HD should mean 1080p, there was a long thread last year about Philips TV's being 'misleading' in this regard and the arguments swing back and forth. I agree that what we want is the resolution and frame rate on the box (better still the disc too!), then you know what you're getting.

I enjoyed the film, though it was very good and Kate Winslet's performance worthy of the Oscar win.

Saw Star Trek at the flicks last night - there's a movie that deserves a good BD transfer with HD sound - can't wait!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

In response to EIV's reply that I have previously posted this was my reply

"

Hi #####,

Thanks for your reply, I fully understand the differance between a interlaced and progressively encoded signal and the differing frame rates there in, but in terms with Blu-Ray software it is widely regarded that the term "FULL HD" would lead the consumer to believe that the movie was encoded at the optimum picture resolution and frame rate for Blu-Ray of 1080p/24FPS thus displaying the movie at its correct frame rate and not encoded into either a PAL50htz or NTSC60htz interlaced signal.

Personally I find the response that it makes no differance as to if the 1080 signal is either interlaced or progressive a "technical" loop-hole for EIV to release a product inferiour to the US versions and is from my point of veiw obviously being done to keep production cost down so that EIV can release thier movies on a cheaper BD25 disc rather than a BD50 as a movie encoded in a "interlaced" field requires far less data storage space over a "progressive" one.

Do EIV there for not aggree that they should also include on their packageing if the movie is 1080i or 1080p so any further miss understanding on the behalf of the consumer can be avoided? as In my honest oppionion ommiting such information (all their competotors openly include such information)is a way of useing the term "FULL HD" to their advantage"

And this was the reply I got

"Hi D.J.KRIME

Well I spoke with EV who apologise if you believe you have been misled by their packaging.

Full HD refers to the resolution of the picture. All the information provided is always as accurate as possible on the advice of technical advisors from their authoring house.

EV always obtain the best available materials for Home Entertainment releases directly from the production company involved; their objective is to supply the UK customer with the best product possible and there is no intention to cut corners.

As far I know there are no plans to start putting the frame rate on their packaging.

I hope this is satisfactory to you.

Kindest regards - #####

Media Communications"

So EIV are blaiming the production company for supplying the 1080i master yet the same production company has supplied the distrubitors of the US BD with a 1080p/24pfs master, so if EIV are in fact giving the UK consumer the best possible product why have they not used the same 1080p/24fps as the US BD?

And the fact that EIV have no plans to openly publish on their BD software packageing the exact resoultion and frame rate the movie is encoded at IMHO would point to the fact they are trying to hide the fact the movies are at 1080i and not 1080p/24fps.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Here we go again... We had all this with DVDs and aspect ratios etc, and i've already experienced several BDs where the technical spec varies from packaging to disc (typically on the audio side).

But with no standardised meaning for 'Full HD' (unlike HD Ready),
they've not lied - though I agree they've been disingenous, and their
response is depressing.

In this case, I'd guess they've sourced the Blu-ray from an HD TV master (hence 1080i) of the film, rather than the original print or digital transfer.

I'll see if I can find out more....