Outbreak (1995) [13632]VideoThe transfer is near excellent. Everything you would expect from a disc dating 1995. The video is very stable. No speckles, dots, scratches or any imperfections which is expected on this fresh transfer. I didn't see any aliasing or major bad edit. Gennum VXP deinterlacer stayed in film mode throughout the film. It is totaly noise free. Just a tiny bit of chroma noise that is inherit with Laserdiscs. Blacks are deep and solid(thanks to low chroma noise). There is good amount of grey detail. There isn't any artificial contrast boosting. Colors are very strong however LDs shortcomings are apparent here, especially on flesh tones. If LD had a little more chroma bandwidth, this could be a very film like experience. Fortunately I couldn't see any trace of edge enhancement or video noise reduction. Overall the picture is soft. I have seen transfer very clean, free of edge enhancement and overall sharper. This transfer is not sharp by any means. There might be some minor gaussian filter applied which caused the soft image but I couldn't see any ghosting or smearing indicating digital video noise reduction. Side changes are between appropriate scenes, nothing distracting. The aspect ratio is a nice 1.85:1 which fits perfectly with modern widescreen displays. My copy is totally rot free.
EditI just read the review on blu-ray.com on the blu-ray release of the film. It's nearly a perfect match to my observations. That review also mentions dull colors on flesh tones and a possible filter that cause the image to be soft. This confirms either the Blu-ray disc was sourced from the same transfer or this movie simply looks like this. I guess blaming LDs chroma bandwidth was unnecessary since the BD release also has the same narrow colors.
AudioAvailable soundtracks are AC-3 and Dolby Surround on PCM channels. This review is for the AC-3 track. It is absolutely perfect. Very clean and detailed. I couldn't hear any roll off on the high frequencies. The bass is strong and deep. This mix utilizes all 5.1 channels to full extend. If you want to show off discrete surround channels, especially overhead effects, this is the demo disc for you. Helicopters flying over your head is absolutely fantastic. This will be among my audio demo discs.
EquipmentPioneer Elite Kuro Pro-141FD 60" Plasma monitor (ISF calibrated)
PMS Crystalio II VPS-3800 Video Processor
Pioneer HLD-X0 (BNC Composite output)
Lexicon LDD-1 RF Demodulator
McIntosh MX-121 Pre-Amp/Processor (All speakers are calibrated and tuned)
McIntosh MC207 7ch Power Amp
Martin Logan Theos Fronts
Martin Logan Stage X Center
Martin Logan Descent I (Two subwoofers)
Martin Logan Motion 4 Rear and Sides
All wires,interconnects, power cords and other cables are Audioquest
SettingsHLD-X0 has its sharpness up by 2 notches out of 8. Chroma noise reduction(CNR) at 2 out of 8. All other settings are off.
Crystalio II is using Gennum VXP deinterlacer in film mode. 3D comb filter is enabled. Luma and chroma gain are both at 1, luma and chroma coring both at 25. Dot Crowl filter is set to adaptive. Smooth scaling is set to 2 for less aggressive scaling(nearly no ringing). All other settings are disabled. Output is 1920x1080p59.94.