Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Picked up Transformers 2 Blu-Ray today....

found this...what a crock of crap...this really sucks when you zoom your projector to get the black bars off the screen, probably would not have purchased this version had I known.

As I mentioned, this edition calls out the IMAX shots with a clear shift from a 2.4:1 aspect ratio to 16:9 (1.78:1). That's actually not the accurate aspect ratio for IMAX, but it is ideal for home video, to maximize the appearance on widescreen HDTVs. The first of two such instances begins at 59:23 (ending at 1:02:44, then cutting back for about another minute to conclude the scene) as robo-hero Optimus Prime takes on three Decepticons in the forest. The image quality is absolutely gorgeous, but is it a night-and-day difference? No, but only because the rest of the movie looks so damned good.

Colors are amped but not cartoonish, soft imagery somehow manages to keep the ringing and other artifacting to a minimum, and even darker or out-of-focus areas of the frame, typically poison for Blu-ray, are relatively clear and natural. The second IMAX sequence starts at 1:51:25, cutting back and forth throughout a lengthy battle in the desert with a super-ultra-combo-Decepticon that eats other robots. These special effects-heavy shots are indeed very big and very crisp.

The version which cuts back and forth between aspect ratios is exclusive to Walmart, it's called the "Big Screen" edition. Other versions use the IMAX footage, but it's been reframed so as to not cut off important things in the top of bottom of the 4:3 IMAX frame.

You can read reviews covering both versions here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2638/transformers_revenge.html
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2780/transformers-revenge_imax.html

The projector to start spewing gold coins at the end of the movie. Is that so unrasonable??

Um, nice "Spoiler Alert" there Randy! I STILL haven't seen the movie and now, it is ruined for me. I will curl into a ball and sob for 2 hours contemplating the meaning of life and how I can possibly go on....

Seriously though, you should have "spoiler alert" flagged that one...

Nick - Randy was joking. Don't believe me? The only way to find out is to buy the movie. :p

Jason

Figured everyone had watched the movie by now. Ok Nick, I'll give you this much, Optimus is saved by a Camaro.

That tears it for me. I am not giving my disposable income to Wally World.

Stop It!

Hey Jason... Look back to see who started this thread....

I'll wait....

OK, back now? Yup, it was me... (just picking on you)

I do own the movie.

Anyway, with my travel schedule, it seems like I don't get to watch much of anything anymore and what I do watch is whatever my wife and/or kids want to watch.... which is OK since I am just happy to be home.

Maybe this next week I'll have better luck.

Oops, good point Nick. I should have said "the only way to find out is to WATCH the movie."

By the way, for people who do not have a setup like Randy with constant image height, the IMAX scenes are awesome. I would buy this version again after seeing those specially added scenes in the Wal-Mart version.

Jason