Viewed once gets a 5 for picture quality over at hifiddigest and i get the story unlike many it seems.
?11 delivered...
review by hifidigest.com
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture
'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' first arrived on standard-def DVD back in late 2001 with quite a lot of hoopla. Back in the day when direct digital-to-digital transfers were relatively rare, 'Final Fantasy' was hot stuff, and the DVD looked pretty terrific. Given that the source has not aged a day since (literally), accordingly this first-ever Blu-ray release of the title holds up smashingly.
Sony presents 'The Spirits Within' in a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode at the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and the master is, again, pristine. Blacks are pitch perfect, and contrast perfectly balanced. The film's visual style is not bright and bouncy like a Pixar film, but colors remain perfectly saturated, with no bleeding or noise to mar the presentation. Since such a big deal was made at the time of the film's release about its photo-realistic rendering of human characters, it's worth mentioning that "fleshtones" do look splendid. And while the overall palette is a bit stylized at times, there are moments that are still utterly unnerving in their believability.
The level of detail to the transfer is also often stunning. Fine textures such as hair, skin and non-solid objects (such as water, etc.) look strikingly three-dimensional. The animation is also quite sharp, with little of the over-done motion blur that sometimes mars these types of all-CGI features. Also a plus is that, unlike the old standard-def DVD, there are no compression artifacts to speak of. With no real visual flaws to speak of, 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' earns a rare five-star video rating.
?11 delivered...
review by hifidigest.com
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture
'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' first arrived on standard-def DVD back in late 2001 with quite a lot of hoopla. Back in the day when direct digital-to-digital transfers were relatively rare, 'Final Fantasy' was hot stuff, and the DVD looked pretty terrific. Given that the source has not aged a day since (literally), accordingly this first-ever Blu-ray release of the title holds up smashingly.
Sony presents 'The Spirits Within' in a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode at the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and the master is, again, pristine. Blacks are pitch perfect, and contrast perfectly balanced. The film's visual style is not bright and bouncy like a Pixar film, but colors remain perfectly saturated, with no bleeding or noise to mar the presentation. Since such a big deal was made at the time of the film's release about its photo-realistic rendering of human characters, it's worth mentioning that "fleshtones" do look splendid. And while the overall palette is a bit stylized at times, there are moments that are still utterly unnerving in their believability.
The level of detail to the transfer is also often stunning. Fine textures such as hair, skin and non-solid objects (such as water, etc.) look strikingly three-dimensional. The animation is also quite sharp, with little of the over-done motion blur that sometimes mars these types of all-CGI features. Also a plus is that, unlike the old standard-def DVD, there are no compression artifacts to speak of. With no real visual flaws to speak of, 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' earns a rare five-star video rating.