28 Days Later looks like ****...Help

[swingline]

Does this DVD just look like ****?

I've got a 60" Sony Grand Vega and a Panasonic S97 player hooked up via HDMI. I was playing the widescreen version and it literally looked so bad that I stopped watching it. Everything was blurry and washed out. All my other movies are fine.

[DeathKnight]

It’s difficult to assess this transfer because of the use of digital video. On the one hand you’ve got the director’s intention of making things look a little less pristine than usual, highly fitting for a film of this ilk. On the other hand you’ve got an inherent loss of sharpness and detail that comes along with shooting on video, digital or otherwise. The 1.85:1 transfer fares quite well regardless, though if anything the quality of the DVD brings out the flaws in the degraded format. Softness is the biggest issue, with most of the wide establishing shots suffering badly from lack of detail. Nevertheless, you’ve got to look at it in terms of the director’s intentions, so on the whole there’s really nothing wrong with any of it.

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/28-days-later2.html

Although they says this for the US version:

The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is very good. The digital video and intentionally grungy look make it hard to judge just how “good” the picture here is. Based on what I saw in the theater and in comparison to several other DV films I have seen on DVD, I can honestly say this is an accurate transfer. The only major issue to be found is a few scenes that have some noticeable edge enhancement. These scenes are few and far between and due to the nature of the raw DV picture, it is less likely this edge enhancement will be noticed by casual viewers.

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/28-days-later-widescreen-special-edition.html

[swingline]

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd...ys-later2.html

Although they says this for the US version:

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd...l-edition.html

I knew it was shot in digital video and wondered if that had something to do with it. I can tell you though, the quality of the transfer is not "very good" - it looks like utter dogshit. As in, the version I watched on Cinemax a week ago looked way better.

[DeathKnight]

I dunno. Take it back and get another one (rent or buy?). I haven't seen any reviews anywhere that state it looks like total garbage.

[swingline]

I dunno. Take it back and get another one (rent or buy?). I haven't seen any reviews anywhere that state it looks like total garbage.

I'm going to try it on another player just to see. But like I said - my other DVD's are fine.

[DeathKnight]

Yeah, which is why it may be a borked copy for some reason. Let us know how it goes.

[GamerGuyX]

I suggest you take a look at my thread on the AVS forum:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=783637

While the thread may be in regard to a possible Blu-ray version of the film, it does contain a lot of useful info on the way the movie was filmed.

[swingline]

I suggest you take a look at my thread on the AVS forum:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=783637

While the thread may be in regard to a possible Blu-ray version of the film, it does contain a lot of useful info on the way the movie was filmed.

Helped out. Lots of other people reporting that the DVD looks like turd.