Blu-ray DVD Movies Disc - Avatar

Avatar

Product Description

An ex-Marine finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people.

Reference quality. Demo worthy. Grade-A eye candy. Whatever you want to call it, Avatar on Blu-ray is the kind of material that not only sells discs, it sells entire home theater systems. It抯 a visual showpiece from start to finish, and if the big box stores start playing Avatar on their floor displays梞aybe they already are桰 guarantee they抣l see a spike in HDTV and Blu-ray player sales. I don抰 want to gush. I抦 not a gusher by nature. But put quite simply, Avatar抯 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer梖ramed in James Cameron抯 preferred 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling up almost the entirety of a 50 GB disc, and coasting along at an extremely high bit rate梚s nothing short of superlative in nearly every objectively measurable or subjectively eye-balled category. Clarity is astounding. The texture work and resolve of the various CGI creations shows a degree of fine detail that抯 unprecedented. The skin of the Na抳i is defined and has a palpable presence, keenly reflecting light and glistening with perspiration. You can even make out each bead on the high priestesses?intricate beadwork shawl. Live action elements are just as well attributed. In establishing shots of the environment, individual blades of grass can be seen bending in the wind of a helicopter抯 blades. The human actors are crisp and, with very few exceptions, blend in seamlessly with the gorgeous digital backgrounds.

Color is nothing if not eye-popping, with deep jungle greens, phosphorescent purples, bright orange bursts of fire, and, of course, the Na抳i抯 Smurf blue, all contrasted against the bleak fluorescence and gunmetal grays of the human military base. Just as impressive are the deep black levels and right-on contrast, which sculpt out an image that抯 frequently so dimensional that you really don抰 miss the 3D. My notes while watching the film looked something like this: 揟his is the most vivid, immersive scene I抳e seen yet on Blu-ray.?A few minutes pass. 揥ait, no, this is the most vivid, immersive scene I抳e seen.?And so on, with the film constantly one-upping itself. On the technical side of things, the encode is flawless, with no compression-related concerns whatsoever and practically zero noise. My expectations were certainly surpassed. Like it did in the theaters with 3D, Avatar has just raised the bar for home video on Blu-ray.

With all of the visually stunning landscapes to take in, it抯 easy to overlook the immersion, power, and intimacy of Avatar抯 soundscape, brought to Blu-ray via an exceptionally detailed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. There are certainly several sonic shock and awe moments here that will rattle your ribcage, shake the walls, and wake your neighbors梞assive LFE-heavy explosions, spitfire machinegunning, and metal-rending, tree-cracking crashes梑ut where this track really succeeds is in crafting an engaging, believable world of sound. The surround channels are almost ceaselessly active, filling out the space around you with directionally accurate ambience. Just listen to the diversity of minute sounds as the characters traipse through the jungle梥trange bird calls, wind, ominous rustlings, the chatter of the Pandoran equivalent of chimps. The cross-channel effects梲ipping arrows, the rush of helicopter rotors, the flapping of enormous pterodactyl-like wings梐re seamless and transparent, shot through the soundstage with pinpoint precision. More so, the sounds themselves have weight and clarity梩he dynamic range is expansive梐nd the mix is effortlessly balanced. Meaning, no volume boosting or trimming required. I set my receiver to my usual listening level, and I don抰 think I touched my remote for the duration of the film. Dialogue remains discernable in the forefront, except for a few chaotic moments when the voices are intentionally梐nd realistically? difficult to hear. James Horner抯 score veers quite closely into Titanic territory at times? during one motif I can practically hear Celine Dion singing 揘ear, far厰梑ut it抯 appropriately epic, complementing the film well. I really can抰 imagine Avatar sounding any better than this.

Blu-ray DVD Movies Disc - Avatar Features

Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Audio

Subtitles

Package Content

Blu-ray DVD Movie Disc(25GB) - Avatar x 1