Does the Sony XBR + Blu-Ray Discs create a strange quality look to you?

Question

I read that the Sony XBR line of TVs use 120Hz technology. While this sounds gimmicky, I believe it has an effect on Blu-Ray movies.

I was at Fry's and I saw two Sony LCD TVs hooked into a Blu-Ray disc player. One was some Sony LCD (a), the other was the Sony XBR LCD (b). The movie in the player was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

While watching the movie on the first LCD (a), the movie had the 24 fps, normal Blu-Ray high quality picture.

But while watching the XBR (b), I noticed something strange. The picture was clearer, but somehow appeared too clear. It looked like I was watching a live play or even a soap opera. I could see the lighting details so clearly, it actually looked like I was on the set with the actors. The backgrounds were not as vibrant as the foregrounds. It also appeared to de-synchronize the audio and the video sometimes (the video going too slow then speeding up to catch up).

Although it was clearer, it made the movie look strange. Discuss.

Answer 1

This has been noted in professional reviews (see link for source):

"Engaging either of the Sony's two 120Hz modes, Standard or High, had a marked effect on nearly every scene in Flags, but shots with lots of camera movement were the most obvious. When the camera pans over the beach in the middle of Chapter 10, for example, the scene was nearly judder-free and uncannily smooth in Standard, and basically completely smooth, with almost no visible judder, in High. In both cases the camera seemed like it was on rails, the handheld shots moving past the injured soldiers appeared less jerky and much steadier. As with the Toshiba, we found the smoothing effect disconcerting in these scenes and in general throughout the film. Looking at other film-based sources, including the motorcycle chase from Chapter 9 of Ghost Rider (which looked so unnatural and video-game-like we couldn't help laughing) and the pan across the luncheonette at the beginning of The Departed, which again was looked too-smooth for its own good, we've come to the conclusion that for film, judder is mostly a good thing. Subjected to the Sony's processing, most scenes looked like TV instead of film, and we're so used to the latter look that we preferred to leave the Sony's motion enhancer set to Off when watching film-based material."

I suspect this is one of those technically superior, but potentially jarring features that people will either dislike or accept/embrace according to their nature.

It is certainly something consumers should be warned about and manufacturers should allow it to be turned off.

Answer 2

no

Answer 3

YES!!!!

I HATE the way it looks.  What sony is doing is taking that 24-fame signal, and instead of repeating it 5 times (24x5 = 120) they use a process called interpolation.  Basically they are trying to convert the 24 frame film into a video 30 frame signal, and they try to add information between the frames.  

I had seen this at CES last year, except it was done on a Super-Expensive Faroudjia processor.  It's a process that tries to smooth out film judder, but makes film content look......too smooth like you described.  Philips has done this for years and called it Digital natural Motion, except it was on 60 htz.  

I'm a BIG proponent of film, and no matter what you do to an image, you can only do so much.  If done correctly Film can look great IF ITS repeated exactly without adding information.  But what can happen is when there are certain pans in a movie, you can start seeing the :judder" effect.  

You can do this by going to a sportsbar, look at a Football game in HD (sports are usually shot at 30 or 60 frame Video) and then go watch a movie at a theater.  Right away you'll see a choppy picture, because of how it's shot (24 frames per second)  

What is interesting is Cine photographers are actually trained to do slow pans of wide shots, because if it's too quick the audience will experience "Judder' and you may get some sick people on your hands!