In This eNewsletter:
• Lights Out? by Thomas J. Norton
• Blu-ray Follies Continue, HD DVD Shines On by Shane Buettner
• HD DVD: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow by Thomas J. Norton

By Thomas J. Norton

In our July 2006 eNewsletter I discussed flat panel displays, how they're starting to dominate the market, and what you need to consider when shopping for one.

Next month I'll take a look at another major category of video displays—rear projection. But first, a letter from a reader, plus a review I recently completed, got me thinking once again about a subject critical to anyone seeking the best home theater experience he or she can afford: What is the effect of ambient room light on the video image?

We all know (don't we?) that a front projector must be used with the lights completely off, and no outside light leaking in from elsewhere. Ideally, with the projector off, you should not be able to see your hand in front of your face. Sure, many projectors will give you an image with some light in the room. You might even be able to enjoy it. But you won't get the image quality you expected when you signed that four- or five-figure loan contract.

But what about one piece displays—flat panel plasmas and LCDs, and rear projection devices using LCD, DLP, and LCoS technologies?

Apart from the CRT, most rear projection sets offer more light output than anyone outside of a showroom could possibly need. One salesman even told me that a couple brought their set back because they had to watch it with sunglasses on! That's probably an exaggeration, but not by much.

Still, there's no question that it takes a really bright image to really "pop" in a fully lit room. The only problem, however, is that a brightly lit room destroys black level and shadow detail, even on the brightest display. I just reviewed the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR2 LCD flat panel HDTV. To avoid the effect of stray room light falling on the screen, I conducted the measurements (as I do on all sets) with complete control of ambient lighting—that is, with the room lights off and no light entering from outside. The black level on this set is surprisingly good for an LCD, although not up to the level of the best plasmas. Really deep blacks are still beyond the capability of current LCD technology.

But I also measured the black level of the BRAVIA in a room with subdued room lighting- translucent shades drawn, no direct sunlight in the room and no direct reflections on the screen. While the light was comfortable to move around in and carry on normal activities apart from serious reading, it was definitely closer to Victorian Gloom than a Modern Sun Porch. The result? The measured black level increased more than ten times, from 0.072 foot-Lamberts in the dark to 0.755fL in the light.

This means that room light—and not very bright room light—will swamp the differences in blacks and peak contrast ratio between different display technologies (though some LCD advocates claim that plasmas use a reflective glass screen, while LCD screens are matte-finished and are thus a bit less affected by ambient light). It also means that if you always watch with the room lights on, you don't need to be paranoid about measured black levels or peak contrast. But you will also never see the best images that modern video technology has to offer.

For really serious viewing, you should watch in either total darkness or in very subdued room lighting. Even with the best sets, there is no way to duplicate the dark room experience with room lights on. I've said it before, but must say again: No video display "creates" black. It produces black by blocking the light source. And many modern sets can't do this as well as the best CRTs of the past, which actually did shut off the light source—or nearly so—when called upon to generate black. Any light falling on the screen invariably raises the black level.

But total room darkness presents problems apart from spilling your snacks. A relatively small but very bright image surrounded by darkness can produce eyestrain—like high beams coming at you on a dark road. There are two ways to avoid this without turning on the room lights. The first, and the one I prefer, is to adjust the set to the maximum light output you can manage without anyone in the family complaining of headache or eyestrain over the course of a relatively bright, average-length movie. Then back off by another 10% or so to provide an extra margin for the occasional scene of Antarctica at high noon in December.

While this technique works for me, it might not be the best option for everyone and every set. Because the "floor" of the image—its black level—is relatively high in most modern sets, reducing the peak output using the Contrast control also reduces the picture's dynamic range. With less range between white and black, many sets begin to look drab and lifeless long before they become dim enough for comfortable viewing in a darkened room. But I've found that a few sets, most often those offering either variable irises (on rear projection designs) or adjustable backlights (on LCD flat panels), can lower the light output significantly without squeezing the juice from the image.

But the more typical solution is to install a so-called backlight behind the set. This light can and should be dim, and none of its light should fall either in your eyes or directly on the screen. You should be aware of its presence only by its reflection off the wall behind the set, and that wall should also be a neutral gray color to prevent the wall from altering the light's color balance. The latter, ideally, should be the D6500, the same as the optimum setting for the display. The only source I've seen for such a light is www.cinemaquestinc.com, though there may be others.

If you can meet these requirements for a backlight, you're home free. Well, almost. Apart from the obvious problem of placing a backlight behind a wall-mounted flat panel display (!), my main issue with backlighting is that it takes you out of the experience. Granted, even a darkened room is illuminated somewhat by reflected light from the television. But room lighting—even a backlight—constantly reminds me that I'm in a room at home and not in Narnia, Middle Earth, or Kansas.

But life is full of such compromises. You just need to find the right one for your home theater situation. For me, the right "compromise" is a front projection display on a large screen for serious movie watching. In this case you don't want or need any room lighting at all, not even a backlight. Eye fatigue is rarely an issue because the image is both large (covering much of your field of vision) and relatively dim compared to one-piece displays. Although front projection isn't right for everyone, it's a subject I'll have much more to say about in a future Hot Tip!

By Shane Buettner

In spite of all the posturing by the HD DVD camp over the last couple of years, the door was wide open for Sony and Blu-ray when it prepared to launch in June. Toshiba hadn't even gotten close to its plans to launch in 2005 with an avalanche of titles by Christmas. In the summer and fall of 2005 Warner and Paramount jumped shipped announcing they would also support Blu-ray, giving Sony's format a seemingly insurmountable lead with respect to studio support. Although Toshiba did manage to get out a $500 HD DVD player at launch, the players are plagued with slow response time and ergonomic bugs. The software has come out at a pace that can generously be described as a trickle. And yet as I write this, Blu-ray's launch is stalled in first gear for at least another month.

First, rather than wait until its own player was ready, Sony moved forward in launching Blu-ray software with only Samsung's BD-P1000 player on the market. In last month's eNewsletter I wrote how myself and virtually everyone else was less than bowled over with what we were seeing from Blu-ray on the Samsung player. Well, we found out one of the reasons why.

On July 20th it was revealed that the Samsung player had in fact shipped with an inherent defect. The noise reduction feature in the Genesis chip set used in the player's video processing suite was inadvertently switched on at a high enough level to soften the image, and ostensibly cause other artifacts that were clearly contributing to Blu-ray's poor showing. And before anyone could ask how this could happen, Samsung dropped the bomb that while a firmware fix is in the works, it won't be available until September!

Holy holding patterns Batman!

Ever intrepid, Sony and Lion's Gate are plugging along and releasing more and more Blu-ray titles throughout the summer—in spite of the fact that there will not be properly working player to play them on until at least September! In addition to Samsung fixing its player at that time we should also see players from Panasonic and Pioneer Elite, followed by Sony's own in late October.

So, thus far while Blu-ray appears to be serving as a model for how not to launch a format, HD DVD is looking more and more like the little format that could. While it's only got three studios behind it, two of those studios, Warner and Universal, are pushing hard. While Warner has something over twenty HD DVD titles available as I write this, the studio has gone on record as stating it will have as many as 50 more out by the end of the year, including a day and date with DVD release of The Sopranos: Season 6 in November. Universal says its number of HD DVD titles will reach a total of 60 this year, and while Paramount isn't stepping up with big numbers, they have just announced that the Tom Cruise vehicle Mission: Impossible 3 will debut on October 30th on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray.

But numbers aside, HD DVD is setting a performance benchmark by providing consistently outstanding picture and sound quality. On top of the overall quality, just about every other title is mind-blowing, best HD I've ever seen type of stuff. Ergonomic foibles aside, we can forgive a lot when the performance reaches this level. Right now, we're waiting to see if Blu-ray can make a game of it.

HD DVD: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon, Bai Ling, Omid Djalili and Angelina Jolie. Directed by Kerry Conran. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (16x9). 106 minutes (film). 2004. PG. 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus (English, French, and Spanish), 5.1 DTS-HD (English). Paramount Home Entertainment 07040. $29.99

Picture 3.5* (out of 4*)
Sound 3.0*
Film 3.5*

This summer hasn't exactly seen a cornucopia of major DVD releases. But with the continuing release of interesting HD DVD and Blu-ray titles, it hasn't been a boring season, either. And even the not-so-compelling movies in those formats are interesting releases, given that they generally look and often sound better than ever.

As one of the first four HD DVD releases from Paramount, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is particularly interesting. The movie was filmed almost entirely with live actors performing in front of blue screens, with the computer animated backgrounds and CGI special effects added later.

It's a bizarre adventure with a mad scientist (Laurence Olivier's image was "recruited" for the role!), a tech wizard (Giovanni Ribisi as Dex), and a hovering British aircraft carrier with a sexy chief pilot (Angelina Jolie as Franky, a one-eyed flyer with in a fetching eye patch). The art deco look of the sets and the alien craft that our heroes battle combine with an often monotonic, sepia-tinted color scheme to put this story firmly in the late 1930s.

That's when science fiction meant Amazing Stories, and Popular Mechanics imagined we'd all have our own personal flying craft by 1970. Pre WWII technology mixes freely here with sci-fi gadgets, robots, futuristic aircraft, and rocket ships straight out of that era's pulp magazines and comic books. German dirigibles moor at the top of the Empire State Building (nicely patched up after that messy King Kong incident a few years earlier), their passengers experiencing the most dangerous part of their trip: disembarking across a gangplank suspended over 1000 feet in the air!

The story centers around crack pilot and all around hero Joseph "Sky Captain" Sullivan (Jude Law), and pretty, perky Poly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), intrepid reporter and Joe's former main squeeze. With the help of their friends, not to mention the most incredible single-engine prop fighter plane ever built - it can turn on a dime, fly thousands of miles without a relief tube, in-flight meal or apparent refueling stop, and do all sorts of other magic tricks- they fight to save the earth from the plans of an evil genius.

The look of the film is very much a nostalgic re-imagining in the style of an old Flash Gordon serial, absent Ming the Merciless and Buster Crabbe. But here we have state-of-the-art computer graphics instead a burning sparkler simulating a rocket ship's exhaust. The intent in Sky Captain is not to produce photo-realistic effects, or ape the camp of those old serials, but rather to produce a world unlike any you've seen before—a world both familiar and strange.

The film was a bust in the theaters, but not for lack of trying. Perhaps the future as imagined in 1939 was more intriguing than the 1939 concept of the future looks to us today. But the film worked for me, and was one of the most original films of 2004—a weird blend of science fiction, action, and film noir.

The HD DVD is smooth, detailed, and clean, but sometimes a little (or even more than a little) soft. It was almost certainly shot like that originally—or modified to look that way in post-production.

The live photography, by the way, was shot in high definition video at 1080p/24 using Sony HDW-F900 video cameras. As an all-digital production it is an ideal vehicle for a high definition DVD release. Apart from that occasional softness and other stylized elements, it looks terrific. While the blacks occasionally appear a little crushed early in the film, the video dynamic range should work well on most good digital displays. The shadow detail in some of the movie's later scenes (one of them in a dark cave) is remarkable, more so as seen on a 78" wide screen from a good DLP projector like BenQ's 8720 than on a smaller flat panel LCD (Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR2). The tinted color was most certainly done in post-production, which makes flesh tones and other familiar, real world colors irrelevant. But the look of the film is consistent, so we buy it.

The standard definition DVD also looks very good, but next to the HD DVD it clearly lacks resolution.

I listened to the HD DVD using the digital output of my Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player into the new NAD Masters Series preamp processor and Pioneer EX series speakers (pre-pro and speakers under review). The sound was very good—generally well balanced with wide dynamic range, thunderous bass, and active surrounds. But it could be a little bright at times, and the music score was also more than a bit lean and edgy. This isn't the best sounding HD DVD in the shed, but there's nothing about it that's distracting enough to spoil the fun, either. While I listened primarily to the 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack, the DTS track sounds just a little sweeter on top. But it's not entirely clear what the DTS soundtrack actually is. The jacket says DTS-HD, but the disc menu just says DTS.

Shane Buettner comments on the extra features: Seldom have I so completely devoured the extras on any movie presentation as with Sky Captain. While that's certainly a reflection of my appreciation for the film, it's also a tribute to the combination of factors that make these extras so outstanding. Among other things, the story of Sky Captain's complete production is told both thoroughly and entertainingly through these extras, and the film's production itself is so unique and unusual.

While the commentaries (one by producer Jon Avnet and especially the other by writer/director Kerry Conran and the members of the FX team) are informative and insightful, it's Chapters 1 and 2 of the "Brave New World" documentary that's the money shot here.

Sky Captain began, amazingly, on an Apple II computer in Kerry Conran's apartment. Conran took four years assembling the six minute short film World of Tomorrow (also included on this HD DVD in its entirety, though in standard definition). His brother Kevin worked on the visuals and the design, and they shot the live footage they needed in front of a blue screen in Kerry's apartment too! What happened once the short was completed will be either inspiring or maddening to any wanna-be filmmakers out there. The brothers Conran showed the short to a friend who worked with big-time producer Jon Avnet; she set up a meeting with Avnet the day after seeing it; Jon Avnet liked what he saw and produced the movie!

While that sounds like a Hollywood ending, it was, of course, only the beginning. Both chapters of the documentary are filled with insights, wonderful interviews, and in general serve as a scrupulous chronicle of the film's production. It moves fast, hitting everything from the IT issues of doing 1100 CG effects shots with one team in one building to Kerry Conran's thoughts and fears of directing Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow on his first day on set as a movie director!

A welcome companion to the "Brave New World" is "Anatomy of a Virtual Scene" in which the entire process of layering and rendering Sky Captain's Radio City Music Hal scene is dissected from top to bottom.

Kevin Conran is given screen credit as Sky Captain's production designer, but his role was much larger. Testament to that, Kevin more or less gets his own featurette entitled "The Art of World of Tomorrow" that's loaded with the drawings that were used to create the movie's characters, costumes, locations and props, and is narrated by Kevin himself.

There are deleted scenes, which are short and of little consequence, and a gag reel that's pretty good. (We learn that contrary to his matinee idol good looks, Jude Law isn't someone you'd want to share a cockpit or any other confined space with!)

In addition, there are three trailers for Sky Captain included in full HD, as is noted on the package. I've never seen so pathetically little done with so much. With marketing support as dismal as this it's no wonder this film failed to reach its potential at the box office. It's frustrating to me that so many bad movies have those great trailers that fool us all into plunking down our ten bucks, while a truly special and wonderful movie like this is stuck with three trailers that don't offer even a hint of the feelings behind the movie. Beyond clueless.

Aside from how much I enjoyed them, the other immense compliment I can pay these extras is they made me excited for the Conran Brothers next effort, whatever that may be.