What next gen releases set the standard so far?

[Njr Scrawl]

What animation, live action & general releases so far, set the standard for how good a Blu or HD DVD can & should be?

[Sensuifu]

In terms of PQ, I'm not seeing too many positive reviews (worthy of reference) from the current releases. Afaik, Freedom (HD-DVD) supposedly has the best PQ available on any of the HD formats right now, but it's still difficult to make comparisons when many of the releases don't seem to have been remastered/restored/cleaned for a HD release.

[ataru moroboshi]

Freedom is head and shoulders above any other anime HD release so far. Nothing compares to it on any front, be it picture quality or extras.

I quite like the Patlabor 1 & 2 BD releases too, but they're more 'good for their age' type releases rather than genuinely stunning HD presentations, which Freedom certainly is. They also lack any extras, while Freedom has some pretty awesome picture in picture stuff and some online downloads.

[Sensuifu]

I quite like the Patlabor 1 & 2 BD releases too, but they're more 'good for their age' type releases rather than genuinely stunning HD presentations, which Freedom certainly is.

That's true to some extent, but if I were to see Akira in HD, should I not expect to find a vast improvement from what is currently available on DVD? The DVD release is probably one of the better looking transfers out there and with the move to HD I'm expecting even more detail and clarity from the restoration to be revealed. It's too bad a lot of these current titles are seemingly getting slapped onto the discs without much care or consideration to make them as nice as they could be. Though I think I know the reason why...given any thought of seeing 're-mastered/LE/Collectors editions' of HD releases? Sad, but may be true.

[Chris Beveridge]

Wings of Honneamise is really excellent in terms of its audio quality. The video is nothing to sneeze at either, though it shows more flaws in the source material than I wish it did. But it also shows far more detail as well. At the end of the day though, it's the AQ that really shines the most and is "next gen" in comparison to the DVD.