sanjay0864
Well-Known Member
Title: Dabangg
Year: 2010
BD Release: 2010
IMDB Rating: 6.8
Category: Action | Comedy | Musical | Romance
Distributor: BIG Home Video
Authoring House: Digital Entertainment
Region Coding: A/B/C
MRP: Rs. 699/-
Media: Main Feature - 50GB BD
Running Time: 02:06:02 hrs
Chapters: 20
Video:
2.35:1, HD 1080p 16:9, AVC 24Hz
Peak Bitrate 38.7 Mbps | Average Bitrate ?Mbps
Audio:
1/2 Hindi - DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48khz 5.6 Mbps - peak) <-- Default Track
2/2 Hindi - Dolby Digital 5.1 (48khz 448 kbps)
Subtitles: <-- 2.35:1 Screen Friendly (Positioned at the bottom of the picture area)
1/1 English
Special Features: SD | 4:3 | MPEG2 | DD 2.0 (224 kbps)
1. The Making of Dabangg (40:56)
2. Making of The Songs (27:41)
3. Photo Album
Special Mention:
1. Pop-up menu during extras, for selection of extras' titles.
Authoring issues:
1. Pop-up menus do not close on their own and stay up forever or until manually closed by the menu button or a selection is made.
2. No option to 'Play All' in the 'Song Menu' <-- This should be a no brainer for all Bollywood films.
3. There is no chapter/title information displayed when played on a PS3. Even on the Oppo BDP-83 player, the title number of the title playing does not display. This seems to be a problem with all BDs authored by Digital Entertainment.
4. The left/right/enter keys on the PS3 'remote' do not function as rewind/forward/pause buttons, like they do with all other BDs/DVDs. This too is a problem with all BDs authored by Digital Entertainment.
5. Intemission/Interval missing. <-- This is totally unacceptable as this amounts to meddling with the actual film.
Review:
Movie: Very well scripted with very witty dialogues. Well acted and tightly edited. Outstanding music, both songs & background score. All in all, a very entertaining film. This is the kind of movie where although the action is quite exagerated and stylized, it still falls in the realm of 'suspension of disbelief' and one can still enjoy it. The characters too, are well etched out and totally believable, unlike the characters and their actions in the average so called 'entertainers' from bollywood. Ofcourse what helps, is the able performances of the entire cast, both in major and supporting roles. The film has no pretentions of being anything but what it is, ie. an out to out entertainer and it totally succeeds in keeping the audience involved with not a tiresome moment. I had already seen the movie in the theaters, but still actually enjoyed the film even more the second time around on blu-ray.
Video: Sadly the blu-ray suffers from framing issues. This is a problem that is there with the 'Kites' blu-ray too and had also been there with the 'Rock On' blu-ray. Out of the total 'Ten' BIG Home Video blu-rays released so far, three of them have had framing issues. It is obviously an issue with whoever is doing the mastering for BIG Home Video and something that they need to look into. Also, I think that they may be viewing their transfers on a monitor using overscan and thus may be oblivious to the problem. It is only when viewing on a projector that this problem becomes apparent. Although in the case of 'Rock On ', the framing was bad enough to be noticed on most TVs too. Once again the DNR does rear it's ugly head and robs the video of sharpness and fine detail. Although I must point out that the problem is not anywhere as bad as it is with the blu-ray of 'Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai' or for that matter even 'Kites'. Inconsistent color tones and saturation levels along with a yellow tint throughout most of the movie, are other factors that keep the video from really shining. But then again, I must mention that I don't recall being very impressed with the picture quality even when I saw the film in the theater.
Audio: The movie has an excellent sound mix and the rear channels are very active throughout the movie. The songs too have been well mixed and all in all, the audio does full justice to the action in the movie and adds a lot to the overall experience of the movie. Pleasantly for a change, specially considering the genre of the film, the audio level is quite good and not too high as it is with most Indian blu-rays. The Dolby Digital 5.1 alternate audio track on the other hand, keeps up the tradition and is not only much louder than the DTS-HD MA track, but is just way too loud. Thank heavens, that the redundant DD 5.1 track actually has no use for atleast the vast majority of consumers, if any at all. Overall, this is one of the best blu-rays so far, as far as audio is concerned and the only thing that keeps the audio rating from being even higher, is that the volume level in the rear channels is a bit too loud and can do with atleast a 3db reduction, if not more.
Extras: It is really good to finally see extras being included on recent BIG/Digital Entertainment blu-rays. The last three 'BIG/Digital Entertainment' blu-rays have all included extras. Considering that all three were relatively short movies, there was ample disc space leftover for the extras. Therefore 'not' including the extras would have been silly, since the 'extras' do not in any way compromise audio/video quality. Fortunately good sense has prevailed at 'BIG/Digital Entertainment' and they have started including extras atleast when space permits. The extras on this blu-ray are presented in SD 4:3 with DD 2.0 audio. There are two featurettes, both providing substantial insight into the making of the music and film.
Conclusion: This is an above average blu-ray of an above average bollywood film and thus I have no reservations in recommending it.
Highly RECOMMENDED
My ratings: (out of 5.0)
Movie: 4.0
Video: 3.75
Audio: 4.6
Extras: 3.5
Misc.: 4.0
Overall: 4.0
Screen shots Courtesy: DDR
Equipment used for testing:
Projector: Panasonic PT-AE2000U
Screen: Da-Lite 4:3 120" 'Model B' - White Matte
Viewing Distance: 11' 6"
A/V Receiver: Denon AVR5800
Speakers: 5.1
Front/Main: Paradigm Reference 100 v2
Center: Paradigm Reference Studio CC v2
Rear: Tannoy - Mercury M5
Subwoofer: Paradigm Reference Servo 15
BD Player:
Oppo BDP-83 (Hardware Modified 'Region Free' with 'BDP83-50-0424' firmware)
PS3 (80GB US 'Region A' with firmware v3.50)
Year: 2010
BD Release: 2010
IMDB Rating: 6.8
Category: Action | Comedy | Musical | Romance
Distributor: BIG Home Video
Authoring House: Digital Entertainment
Region Coding: A/B/C
MRP: Rs. 699/-
Media: Main Feature - 50GB BD
Running Time: 02:06:02 hrs
Chapters: 20
Video:
2.35:1, HD 1080p 16:9, AVC 24Hz
Peak Bitrate 38.7 Mbps | Average Bitrate ?Mbps
Audio:
1/2 Hindi - DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48khz 5.6 Mbps - peak) <-- Default Track
2/2 Hindi - Dolby Digital 5.1 (48khz 448 kbps)
Subtitles: <-- 2.35:1 Screen Friendly (Positioned at the bottom of the picture area)
1/1 English
Special Features: SD | 4:3 | MPEG2 | DD 2.0 (224 kbps)
1. The Making of Dabangg (40:56)
2. Making of The Songs (27:41)
3. Photo Album
Special Mention:
1. Pop-up menu during extras, for selection of extras' titles.
Authoring issues:
1. Pop-up menus do not close on their own and stay up forever or until manually closed by the menu button or a selection is made.
2. No option to 'Play All' in the 'Song Menu' <-- This should be a no brainer for all Bollywood films.
3. There is no chapter/title information displayed when played on a PS3. Even on the Oppo BDP-83 player, the title number of the title playing does not display. This seems to be a problem with all BDs authored by Digital Entertainment.
4. The left/right/enter keys on the PS3 'remote' do not function as rewind/forward/pause buttons, like they do with all other BDs/DVDs. This too is a problem with all BDs authored by Digital Entertainment.
5. Intemission/Interval missing. <-- This is totally unacceptable as this amounts to meddling with the actual film.
Review:
Movie: Very well scripted with very witty dialogues. Well acted and tightly edited. Outstanding music, both songs & background score. All in all, a very entertaining film. This is the kind of movie where although the action is quite exagerated and stylized, it still falls in the realm of 'suspension of disbelief' and one can still enjoy it. The characters too, are well etched out and totally believable, unlike the characters and their actions in the average so called 'entertainers' from bollywood. Ofcourse what helps, is the able performances of the entire cast, both in major and supporting roles. The film has no pretentions of being anything but what it is, ie. an out to out entertainer and it totally succeeds in keeping the audience involved with not a tiresome moment. I had already seen the movie in the theaters, but still actually enjoyed the film even more the second time around on blu-ray.
Video: Sadly the blu-ray suffers from framing issues. This is a problem that is there with the 'Kites' blu-ray too and had also been there with the 'Rock On' blu-ray. Out of the total 'Ten' BIG Home Video blu-rays released so far, three of them have had framing issues. It is obviously an issue with whoever is doing the mastering for BIG Home Video and something that they need to look into. Also, I think that they may be viewing their transfers on a monitor using overscan and thus may be oblivious to the problem. It is only when viewing on a projector that this problem becomes apparent. Although in the case of 'Rock On ', the framing was bad enough to be noticed on most TVs too. Once again the DNR does rear it's ugly head and robs the video of sharpness and fine detail. Although I must point out that the problem is not anywhere as bad as it is with the blu-ray of 'Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai' or for that matter even 'Kites'. Inconsistent color tones and saturation levels along with a yellow tint throughout most of the movie, are other factors that keep the video from really shining. But then again, I must mention that I don't recall being very impressed with the picture quality even when I saw the film in the theater.
Audio: The movie has an excellent sound mix and the rear channels are very active throughout the movie. The songs too have been well mixed and all in all, the audio does full justice to the action in the movie and adds a lot to the overall experience of the movie. Pleasantly for a change, specially considering the genre of the film, the audio level is quite good and not too high as it is with most Indian blu-rays. The Dolby Digital 5.1 alternate audio track on the other hand, keeps up the tradition and is not only much louder than the DTS-HD MA track, but is just way too loud. Thank heavens, that the redundant DD 5.1 track actually has no use for atleast the vast majority of consumers, if any at all. Overall, this is one of the best blu-rays so far, as far as audio is concerned and the only thing that keeps the audio rating from being even higher, is that the volume level in the rear channels is a bit too loud and can do with atleast a 3db reduction, if not more.
Extras: It is really good to finally see extras being included on recent BIG/Digital Entertainment blu-rays. The last three 'BIG/Digital Entertainment' blu-rays have all included extras. Considering that all three were relatively short movies, there was ample disc space leftover for the extras. Therefore 'not' including the extras would have been silly, since the 'extras' do not in any way compromise audio/video quality. Fortunately good sense has prevailed at 'BIG/Digital Entertainment' and they have started including extras atleast when space permits. The extras on this blu-ray are presented in SD 4:3 with DD 2.0 audio. There are two featurettes, both providing substantial insight into the making of the music and film.
Conclusion: This is an above average blu-ray of an above average bollywood film and thus I have no reservations in recommending it.
Highly RECOMMENDED
My ratings: (out of 5.0)
Movie: 4.0
Video: 3.75
Audio: 4.6
Extras: 3.5
Misc.: 4.0
Overall: 4.0
Screen shots Courtesy: DDR
Equipment used for testing:
Projector: Panasonic PT-AE2000U
Screen: Da-Lite 4:3 120" 'Model B' - White Matte
Viewing Distance: 11' 6"
A/V Receiver: Denon AVR5800
Speakers: 5.1
Front/Main: Paradigm Reference 100 v2
Center: Paradigm Reference Studio CC v2
Rear: Tannoy - Mercury M5
Subwoofer: Paradigm Reference Servo 15
BD Player:
Oppo BDP-83 (Hardware Modified 'Region Free' with 'BDP83-50-0424' firmware)
PS3 (80GB US 'Region A' with firmware v3.50)
Last edited:
