[Fjorko]

Hi

Got this the other day and tonight watched a few episodes via my PS3. I was a bit disappointed in the picture quality in most of the shots. It looks a bit "DVD" quality in that it doesn't look HD ( crisp, well defined, great detail ) at all !!! There are some short moments where you can see a much better picture that looks High Def quality. I wonder if they perhaps didn't use a HD camera in alot of the the shots.

I have a Full HD Samsung LCD TV and as I said I play back via the PS3 ( set to output 1080p). Does anyone here own Planet Earth and do you agree that the picture looks "soft" as if you were watching a SD DVD ?

Many thanks !

[philbam]

I've only watched the one disc so far, 'Desert Lions and Snow Leopards', but can assure you that judging by that disc alone the picture ranks as one of the very best High Definition reproductions so far.
Looking forward to the main part of the set (Planet Earth as opposed to 'The Natural World' disc that I've watched, because if its even close to the disc I've watched it will be awesome.
Jaw droppingly good!!!!!

[Fjorko]

Originally Posted by philbam

I've only watched the one disc so far, 'Desert Lions and Snow Leopards', but can assure you that judging by that disc alone the picture ranks as one of the very best High Definition reproductions so far.
Looking forward to the main part of the set (Planet Earth as opposed to 'The Natural World' disc that I've watched, because if its even close to the disc I've watched it will be awesome.
Jaw droppingly good!!!!!

Yeah, I watched only disk one so far and alot of the footage didn't look HD to me ( apart from a few bits here and there ) - most of disk 1 looked more upscaled DVD quality and there were quite a bit of "noise" on some of the footage.

Maybe the other disks will look better, I will see.

Thanks

[Sonic67]

I have this on HD DVD and it is full of 'wow' moments.

[Bald Monkey]

I have the HD-DVD version, and whilst the majority of this is stunning, there are some bits which arn't.. It was a long time ago now that I last watched it, but underwater shots of the Amazon River for example were IIRC film in SD Video, and there are a few scenes dotted within the HD footage that arn't HD. IIRC some places were simply too difficult to get the HD cameras to, or for other technical reasons they used SD video. I don't think it distracts too much from the overall quality!


EDIT: had a quick look, can't find the discussion about this, that I seems to remember, but this is an interesting post

[Fjorko]

Originally Posted by Bald Monkey

I have the HD-DVD version, and whilst the majority of this is stunning, there are some bits which arn't.. It was a long time ago now that I last watched it, but underwater shots of the Amazon River for example were IIRC film in SD Video, and there are a few scenes dotted within the HD footage that isn't HD. IIRC some places were simply too difficult to get the HD cameras too, or for other technical reasons they used SD video. I don't think it distracts too much from the overall quality!

Hmm.. thats what I thought . . . .

I was worried when I heard that it was "only" 1080i, but I got my copy last week and I couldn't be happier.

The picture quality in most (nearly all?) scenes is nothing short of stunning.

[Pana440]

Wasn't it said that the actual footage was 1080p?

I am still confused as to which copy to go for Although would I even notice any difference between the two? Wanted to hold out for the UK version

[robo989]

Hmmmm....I'd say 95% of it was definately filmed in HD and the other 5%, for example some under water bits\dodgy places\arctic nonsense etc etc looked like SD....or HD material that had deteriorated...

At the end of the day this stuff was never shot in digital anyway, so saying some of it was "SD" doesn't make any sense...but it prolly had been shot on lower mm film.

[ani4ani]

Originally Posted by Fjorko

Yeah, I watched only disk one so far and alot of the footage didn't look HD to me ( apart from a few bits here and there ) - most of disk 1 looked more upscaled DVD quality and there were quite a bit of "noise" on some of the footage.

Maybe the other disks will look better, I will see.

Thanks

Hi there, I have been waiting for my new 1080P screen before I watched PE and have to say, that especially on Disc 1 there is quite a bit of noise on the picture. I am almost certain that it is disc based since I have tried it on 3 BD players [PS3, Pioneer PC, and Sharp standalone] and each plays the disc with a lot of noise. However, when its good it's very good. I must say after watching the first disc there was periods when I was underwhelmed with the quality at times.

However, other releases, e.g. CR etc look exceptional in 1080P

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by robo989

Hmmmm....I'd say 95% of it was definately filmed in HD and the other 5%, for example some under water bits\dodgy places\arctic nonsense etc etc looked like SD....or HD material that had deteriorated...

At the end of the day this stuff was never shot in digital anyway, so saying some of it was "SD" doesn't make any sense...but it prolly had been shot on lower mm film.

i think you will find it was shot with hd digital cameras.

[chrishull3]

a bit out of date [prices etc ]but proves made with digital cams as are most nature programns now.

[leckie]

It was filmed in HD and 35mm. But if you look say in the snow leopard special his camera is only capable of capturing 720p.

[philbam]

I noticed that too. Stunning picture,though, simply awesome.

[chrishull3]

http://www.tvtechnology.com/pages/s.0082/t.1997.html
only a fraction on film

[chrishull3]

wow received mine today and not impressed,does not look like hd most of the time ,of note on my ps3 player shows MBPS playing dvd varies between 4.7 and 5.7,my own blue rays from camcorder footage average between 24-26 MBPS as does the searchers,casino royale a fraction higher.the planet earth discs vary between 5 and 24 but most is between 15 to 21 mark .i know some is standard def but on the whole i am dissapointed.

[Fjorko]

Originally Posted by chrishull3

wow received mine today and not impressed,does not look like hd most of the time ,of note on my ps3 player shows MBPS playing dvd varies between 4.7 and 5.7,my own blue rays from camcorder footage average between 24-26 MBPS as does the searchers,casino royale a fraction higher.the planet earth discs vary between 5 and 24 but most is between 15 to 21 mark .i know some is standard def but on the whole i am dissapointed.

Yeah I must agree, there ARE glimpses of HD ( you can deffo see that ) but, MOST of the footage is less than 1080i and looks very soft with lots of noise.

There is more "HD" material (AFAICT) on Disk 4 - I saw more HD moments on this disk than on all the others combined !

Disappointed too !

[psikey]

I had the US blu-ray when I had my PS3 and then got the DVD version off a friend to try and I couldn't believe how poor the DVD looked compared to the blu-ray ... Blu-ray was simply stunning.

I couldn't watch it anymore on DVD and have now bought the UK version off the forums for use with my newly built blu-ray HTPC.

I could tell the difference even on a 1360x768 Bravia let alone a full 1080p. Even the wife noticed and thats saying something

It was the first title that the difference between HD compared to upscalled DVD was really noticeable.

[KniFenForK]

Doesnt the USA release output 1080p whilst the UK is only 1080i? Could explain the differences in opinion. Im looking to by this any day now but will get a US release if the UK one is poorer. Just hope good old Attenborough is narrating as i heard Sigourney Weaver narrates on the US one? Also i swear the UK release is 5 disc and the US 4?

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by KniFenForK

Doesnt the USA release output 1080p whilst the UK is only 1080i? Could explain the differences in opinion. Im looking to by this any day now but will get a US release if the UK one is poorer. Just hope good old Attenborough is narrating as i heard Sigourney Weaver narrates on the US one? Also i swear the UK release is 5 disc and the US 4?

well mine came from across the pond,but i am disapointed with the picture,better than dvd but far and away the worse bd discs i have including my own home made ones [camcorder ].by the way mr A narrates so i dont understand the sigourney weaver thing on us discs.

[jeremyrose77]

hello all, just to clarify, there are three hi def versions of this set.

Planet Earth: (US Version) 1080i/AVC MPEG-4 Four-Disc Set (sigourney weaver)
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/983/planetearth_us.html


Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series 1080p/VC-1 Four-Disc Set [US Import]
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/668/planetearth.html


Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series 1080i Five-Disc Set
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planet-Earth...5753393&sr=1-1

i have the US import that's 1080p but Picture Quality issues are on all (blu ray/hd dvd) versions.

[psikey]

OK to add to this discussion because I've seen a lot of conflicting info on the web.

I had the first Planet Earth Blu-ray from the US which was the BBC 1080p version with David A doing naration which I watched on a PS3 I had. Stunning picture but some juddering during panning (compared to standard DVD version anyway) Think this was before I had the update for 24p support on the PS3.

Anyway, I sold that ages ago intending to buy the UK version.

Bought the UK version then saw concerns over it being 1080i.

I now have a Pioneer Blu-ray drive in my HTPC and use PowerDVD Ultra to watch movies over a VGA connection at my Bravia's 1360x786 to get 1:1 pixel match (rather than TV scaling 720p/1080i).

Anyway, I fired up Nero 8 Nerovision to create a video from the blu-ray streams to see file info & it identifies the sections as 1920x1080, VC1, 16:9, 24fps (some sites report the UK blu-ray as AVC I think).

So, if its showing 1920x1080 VC1 16:9 24fps is it 1080p or 1080i

NOTE: I don't get the juddering I saw with the US version but could this just be the difference between using a PS3 as against the PC?

Also, after reading up about broadcast HD (1080p/30) and film HD (1080p/24) then true HD 1080p/60 is just each frame shown twice so in reality the amount of information you see with 1080p or 1080i is the same isn't it???

[chrishull3]

i said mine is the us 4 disc set with DA commentary shows as 1080i,but after watching the first disc right through i am more happy,perhaps i overeracted as mostly the quality is fairly good certainly blows away dvd[i may be hard to please.only watched the first through yet mind.

[Junglist]

The main program content is in 1080p on the UK version. I was annoyed that it would be only 1080i but my tv (Sony X2000) shows 1080p in the corner when the program actually starts.

[lazycoward]

I'm finding this to be pretty spectacular...

but has anyone noticed 'flashing' on the helicopter shots of angel falls at the start of the 'fresh water' episode?

I can't work out if its a BD artifact, or some cock up in the shooting. Anyone else noticed this?

Brand new UK blueray version.

[tylerjosh]

do u have a 24hz capable tv and a ps3 if so and your playing it on the ps3 switch of the 24hz in the ps3 menu and try it again.
On my tv/ps3 setup when i have 24hz enabled it causes's flicker samsung le46f86 switch it off no flicker.
Not sure whether this problem occured until i updated the ps3 firmware to 2.10???

[pjclark1]

On the UK Blu-Ray release

Disk 5, "Desert Lions" is 1080i
The other episodes appear to be 1080p
How the original material was filmed .... I have no idea.

[Rizob]

Originally Posted by lazycoward

I'm finding this to be pretty spectacular...

but has anyone noticed 'flashing' on the helicopter shots of angel falls at the start of the 'fresh water' episode?

I can't work out if its a BD artifact, or some cock up in the shooting. Anyone else noticed this?

Brand new UK blueray version.

Yeah i get the same problem on my US Blu-ray version. It's such a pain as it's one of my favourite shots from the entire series! It happens on a few of the other episodes too.

[pugheaven]

Well, the box says 1080i on my HD-DVD UK version, and that's what I feed through on my Ep30. However, the picture is quite simply gobsmacking, it's incredible infact... not one complaint, and the program itself is one of the greatest ever created. I've learned so much, it's a gem in the BBC Crown. Well done BBC for not thinking cost and chucking whatever it needed for funding.

I've been blown away by this and my Bladerunner HD-DVD... both mate me go "JEsus"

[ProDelgado]

Originally Posted by lazycoward

I'm finding this to be pretty spectacular...

but has anyone noticed 'flashing' on the helicopter shots of angel falls at the start of the 'fresh water' episode?

I can't work out if its a BD artifact, or some cock up in the shooting. Anyone else noticed this?

Brand new UK blueray version.

I noticed what seems to be flashing and digital noise on that scene and also the slow motion scenes of the crocodiles and wildebeast, I guess it's just the disc, not the PS3 or the telly.