Blu-Ray made movie look less "film like"...why?

Question

I was at Best Buy this previous weekend, and was viewing "Ultra Violet" and "Into The Blue" on a Sony Bravia 50inch, and the picture quality was amazing when watching it on Blu-Ray. The only thing I noticed was that, it felt like the movie lost that "film like" feel when you watch it in the theater or on DVD, the quality was so high you can see every detail, it almost gave that feeling of a "reality show" that you would see on MTV, where the video camera shows more of a personal video camera type quality. It is hard to describe, but it did feel like I was viewing a home video, because the quality and detail was a little edgy or detailed. Any ideas why? Could it be the frame rate? The movie lost that "imaginative/fantasy" type feel to it. It felt too much like a news report done in HD rather than a "movie". Can anyone help and tell me why?

Answer 1

I know what you mean. My thought is that it is because 'film like' is associated with a smooth image without individual dots (pixels).

In digital terms this might be associated with what could be called (inaccurately) a soft focus ... whereby the edges of the individual pixels run together slightly. I say inaccurately because the film like effect is not directly associated with focus. I have an LCOS projector which gives a film like image ... yet if I look at the screen close up every pixel is sharp.

I suggest that if you view from a bit further back the image will soften as visual acuity limits ability to see the individual pixels.

Part of what you are seeing is called "screen door effect" (SDE) and it is for this reason that there is a minimum viewing distance suggested for displays. It varies with technology type, but is typically about 1.5X screen size for an HD display.

But I agree it's more than just focus, viewing distance and SDE ... there is something else too that seems inherent in certain displays.

But bottom line ... you are not alone. Many viewers express a preference for film like images rather than razor sharp. It's part of personal preference.

Answer 2

There are 2 ideas that pop to mind:

- TV's in stores are often turned up to 100% brightness and contrast to be 'eye catching'. Getting the unit home and calibrating the display with a setup DVD often softens things and increases details.

- Some movies (like sci-fi & action movies) are shot in such a way that they look ultra sharp. But the director/cameraman can choose film & lenses to create more grain and film-like qualities. "The Fifth Element" has video that is sharp, but "Firefly" is shot to have a softer, grainer look.

Answer 3

a) The TV in store is in Vivid mode; way too bright. To emulate a movie environment you need to lower the brightness of the screen (try for ex. "movie" mode in the TV).
b) You were probably too close to the TV. For a 50" TV you need to be about 10 feet away.