Serenity
HD-DVD Specs
Region: -
HDCP Required: No
Release Date: Out now
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 119 minutes
Screen Format: 1080P 2.39:1
Codec: VC1
Number of Discs: 1
Disc Type: HD30
Soundtracks: - English DD-Plus 5.1 / - French DD-Plus 5.1
- Italian DD-Plus 5.1 / - German DD-Plus 5.1 / - Spanish DD-Plus 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese
Special Features:
- Audio commentary with writer/director Joss Whedon
- Deleted scenes with optional commentary by Joss Whedon
- Outtakes
- Future History - The Story of Earth That Was featurette
- What's in a Firefly featurette
- Joss Whedon introduction
- Re-lighting the Firefly featurette
- A Filmmaker's Journey featurette
DVD Distributor: Universal
HD DVD Presentation
When I reviewed the US HD DVD release of Serenity back in July, I proclaimed it the greatest-looking non-theatrical presentation of a film I had ever seen. That particular disc retained that title for an impressive period of five months, before being dethroned... by its UK counterpart. As it happens, the US release was actually mastered using an early version of Microsoft's VC1 codec - a codec that they have continually worked to refine, bringing down the bit rate requirements. For the UK release, Universal decided to have another crack at Serenity, partially in order to free up some space for additional audio tracks (given that VC1 is now capable of producing excellent results with a mere 10-15 Mbps bit rate).
La persona que escribió esto, dijo en Julio, que la edición americana era la mejor presentación de una película, fuera del cine en si por supuesto, que vió en su vida. Ese disco mantuvo este peculiar título por cinco meses hasta que... salió la edición de UK
.
La edición de USA fue masterizada usando una versión anterior del codec VC1 de Microsoft, el cual se afina constantemente (serenity now HD-DVD collectors
). En UK se hizo un nuevo transfer con mejor tasa de compresión para poder albergar las pistas de audio adicionales que requiere el continente.
The US release, to me, looked absolutely perfect. Sharp as a tack, beautifully grainy, rich colours and contrast, and not a smidgen of edge enhancement on display. The UK release is... more perfect, if that's possible. No, the differences aren't massive, and I don't expect the majority of people to even notice them, but the new encode takes an already spectacular-looking disc and makes it look just a hair better. The most significant difference, if we can actually call it significant, is that the grain is very slightly more pronounced, further amplifying the film-like nature of the HD presentation. It also seems to be microscopically more detailed. This tends to be most noticeable in the form of improved definition of the skin texture during facial close-ups, although some of the wider shots also look a little crisper. I rated the US version a 10/10 for image quality, and I don't think I'd drop it to a 9 even having seen the UK version - perhaps more of a 9.8 (although I prefer not to get that specific when it comes to overall ratings). It's too bad I don't have more than one HD DVD player, and it takes upwards of a minute to switch discs, because that makes it pretty much impossible to perform any sort of a scientific comparison. I really hope that affordable PC drives and software capable of displaying titles in their full 1920x1080 resolution become available before too long, because I'm itching to subject some HD DVDs to the same in-depth comparisons as I currently do for standard definition material.
La edición de USA era perfecta, la de UK es MAS perfecta, si eso es posible. Es mejor por un pelito. Bla - bla - bla.
Subtitles are included in a wide variety of languages, including, of course, English. Unfortunately, they are the usual Universal type that are positioned creatively around the screen in order to clue the audience in to who is speaking, rather than being placed in the bottom centre of the frame. All of the extras, including from the audio commentary on the deleted scenes and film itself, are subtitled in all languages (unlike the US version, where the commentaries were unsubtitled).
Los subtítulos en TODOS los idiomas se extienden a TODOS los extras (a diferencia de la version Americana, en donde los comentarios no son subtitulados (y los extras subtitulados en español en USA ? ... bien gracias, ni a palos, je je je
)
Extras
Finally, the UK release adds an additional featurette not found on the US release, entitled A Filmmaker's Journey. This 20-minute piece is not particularly enlightening, but it is fun enough, featuring the cast and crew joking around and discussing their experiences on the film, and its inclusion here is certainly appreciated.
La edición de UK agrega una featurette que no tiene el de USA, un documentalcito de 20 minutos titulado "A Filmmaker's Journey".
FUENTE: http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63484
Bueno, ya saben, los HD-DVD son distintos según el continente, inclusive los transfers, no solo los audios, subtítulos, extras y subtítulos de estos mismos. Hay que tener paciencia y comprar la edición que van a aprovechar al 100% y no la primera con que se topan. Saludos y SERENITY NOW !!!
