The movie 300 in HD having a "black fuzz"?

Question

Since I got no replies to this the first time, I'll try it again.......

I own a HD DVD copy of 300 and just watched it on my new HDTV. The picture seems to have a constant black fuzz in the lighter parts of the screen. I thought at first it was a connection problem but when I play my other HD movies this is not present. I then thought it may be a bad copy but at Target today it was playing on a Blu-Ray display and the same "black fuzz" was noticable as well. So the issue seems to be with HD DVD and Blu-Ray both. In comparison, I played my copy on a non HD TV and it wasnt present. Anyone else notice this on their copy of 300? Is this just how it was filmed?

As a note, my flat panel is a 720p/1080i with a Phillips HDMI connection.

Answer 1

I guess that is why HD DVD is going out of business.  I have noticed that they did do a different type of filming when making this movie to give it a more gritty look, I guess in HD it shows a little more.  If your other discs work then I would either suck up the problem with 300 since you can't return it since you opened it up.  or don't watch the movie.  I am not a fan of how it looks but this is what the director wants.

Answer 2

It is true 300 used various methods to give it a very stylized look. I do believe part of this included a sort of graininess about the film image.  I've noticed this when viewing some of 300 on an HDTV screen at an electronics store like Best Buy as well.  Because the Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD) version shows alot more picture detail then a DVD would... it makes that grainy effect show up more.  It shouldn't be overly/extremely distracting though... just noticable.

A similar phenomenon can be seen when watching some older DVDs, that were not "Mastered in High Definition".  For instance like Star Wars: Episode One.  When I first viewed that on a HD digital projector, I noticed a tremendous amount of grain (film grain I suppose)... because the DVD was made to look good on a regular TV screen, with no concideration for HD.  Episode Two however looked beautiful.. even though it was only regular DVD... but it was at least "Master in High Definition" (says it on the back of alot of DVD cases).

As for 300, if it does border on being distracting.. you could try fiddling with the picture settings to try and minimize it slightly.  Like if your TV has a mpeg/video noise reduction control that's activateable during Blu-Ray (HDMI?) viewing.. although if it works.. it'll make the video a tiny bit less sharp as well.  Oh.. there's also the "sharpness" control on the TV you could try turning down. Even then though.. it'll probably still be fairly visable.

Answer 3

its part of the movie, thats just how they made it

Answer 4

I have the HD DVD and can't say I noticed anything I would call a "black fuzz". I do see noise and other effects that -- according to reviews I have read -- are intentional.

See the review at the link for their complete comments, but here is part:

"Yes, I know that this is the way the film is "supposed to look," but when you're dealing with a source that is so over-contrasted and "crushed down" -- not to mention intensely desaturated and laced with so much video noise that it seems like a swarm of mosquitoes has infested your television -- for me, the "wow!" factor is lessened considerably."

The same comment was present in the blu-ray review.

I suspect you are just noting the same issues as the reviewer, and simply using different terms.

Answer 5

I have 300 on Blu-Ray and what you are seeing is commonly reffered to as "film grain" this is normal and while it can be distracting such as in this case, the ammount of film grain can vary from one movie to another.