IMAX: Under the Sea 3D (Single-Disc Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray Combo)
- IMAX-UNDER THE SEA 3D BLU-RAY (BLU-RAY DISC)
Imagine a world of incredible color and beauty. Of crabs wearing jellyfish for hats. Of fish disguised as frogs, stones and shag carpets. Of a kaleidoscope of underwater life. Now, explore it in FULL HD on Blu-ray 3D. The makers of Deep Sea and Into the Deep take you into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef and other South Pacific realms, as Blu-ray 3D immerses you as never before possible in the comfort of your own home. Enter the exciting next dimension in home entertainment!
List Price: $ 44.95
Price: $ 27.99
The Universe: 7 Wonders of the Solar System [Blu-ray 3D]
![The Universe: 7 Wonders of the Solar System [Blu-ray 3D]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dU2ot8SHL._SL160_.jpg)
- UNIVERSE, THE-7 WONDERS/SOLAR SYSTEM BLU (BLU-RAY DISC)
We are in the midst of the greatest era of space discovery. Twenty first-century spacecraft and sophisticated imaging technology are venturing into uncharted territory every day, and much of the extraordinary phenomena are happening right in our own cosmic backyard.
Take an exhilarating, unprecedented 3D tour of the seven most amazing wonders of our solar system, beginning with a trip to Enceladus, one of Saturn s outer moons, where icy geysers spout from its surface. Then venture to Satu
List Price: $ 24.99
Price: $ 14.69
Possibly the best application of 3D among Blu-Ray 3D discs so far,
This disc represents the best example of 3D photography available for Blu-Ray 3D at this time (17-Nov-2010). And, where one might fear that it would be undermined by insipid commentary from Jim Carrey, that fear turns out to be misplaced, with only a few brief exceptions.
Having done 3D (it should really be called “stereo”) photography in the past, I can say that there are ways to do it well, and ways to do it poorly. Poor technique, and/or difficult subject matter, lead to artifacts (like distracting cases of the left image bleeding through into the right image, and vice versa – imperfect presentation technology is a factor in such cases, but stereo photographers know they face such problems, and failure to allow for them shows a lack of care) and, in extreme cases, even to difficulty in mentally assembling the 3D scene.
The stereo photography on this disc is not perfect in every case, but, overall, it is the best I’ve seen yet from any Blu-Ray 3D title (and I’ve bought all of the IMAX conversions available to date, and several of the few available films). Sit directly in front of your TV, and you can reach out and touch many of the creatures they’ve captured. It is a thing of beauty. (You will, for instance, probably never see a potato cod captured more perfectly.) In the rare cases where quality problems emerge it is in situations where stereo photography is just plain problematic – scenes with significant, but unpredictable, depth of field, high contrast elements, and subjects whose proximities to the camera(s) vary uncontrollably, leading to excessive parallax at times. I have no idea what equipment the photographers who made this IMAX film worked with, or what the state of the art currently is (or was at the time), but, in my experience, they’d have been hard-pressed to do better in practice.
If I were to pick any of the currently available Blu-Ray 3D titles to show-off 3D (stereo) television, or just for the pleasure of repeated viewing, this is the one I would choose.
Was this review helpful to you?
|most accurate color I’ve seen,
I am a scuba diver and I have dove all over the world including the South Pacific.
Many friends ask me what it looks like when we scuba dive. White balance is extremely difficult when shooting pictures under water, and changes constantly. You need to take a white card and rebalance the camera every few minutes. This movie, shot in the South Pacific, New Guinea, New Zealand, The Great Barrier Reef etc, is the most accurate ocean movie I’ve ever seen. They have somehow accurately captured the rainbow of colors we see when we dive. You will never see anything as bright and colorful as tropical fish and coral. The film crew must have a huge array of lights to shoot this.
Fish “school”, move together, so nearsighted larger predator fish, sharks and such, will think they are one big fish instead of a thousand small fish and not attack them. This movie shows thousands of small fish schooling together, which is a fascinating and hypnotic process to watch.
Movie also contains a scene of the fabulous reclusive Leafy Sea Dragon one of the strangest creatures in the sea, which I have only seen here and in the Monterey Aquarium.
Yes, it’s a little short. The film crew doubtless shot hundreds of hours of movie and has provided the viewer with the choicest and most interesting parts. (it’s damn hard to get those fish to pose!)
It’s the closest you can come to diving without getting wet.
Recommended
Was this review helpful to you?
|Beautiful scenery with funny commentary.,
I rented this movie at Blockbuster to watch on a Samsung UN55C8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV.
IMAX offers many different movies that cover a wide range of topics that are great for children and adults.
Needless to say, the quality of the movie is simply breathtaking.
The movie shows various animals and species in their natural underwater habitat that most of us simply will never get to see in our lifetimes.
Jim Carrey’s narration is an added bonus to the overall entertainment value. He narrates with a relaxed yet charming voice with small jokes you and your family will be sure to enjoy.
With stunning images and vivid colors and scenery, this movie must not be missed.
The only drawback to this movie is the length at under an hour which will leave you either wanting more or simply watching it again.
I am placing an order on Amazon for my own copy after I finish writing this review.
Was this review helpful to you?
|You’ll hate yourself in the morning,
I wanted to like this, I really did. I like science. I especially like physics and astronomy. And, as a relatively new 3D owner, I’m still pretty tolerant.
Here’s what the product info doesn’t tell you. This is not an IMAX movie, or any other feature. It’s one of those History Channel science shows. There are short segments on each of the “7 Wonders of the Solar System”. The science is pretty simplistic. (The Sun is Hot, the Earth is Pretty, Saturn has Rings). The places where we come back from commercial and they recap what has been in the previous part of the show and what’s coming up after the next commercial break comprise more than 10% of the content. They might have improved it by at least editing this as if we were going watch it commercial free.
The 3D quality? Very poor. The primary 3D is an animated frame that shadowboxes the edges of the 2D content. By animated I mean drawn, not moving – it’s pretty stationary. The poor little animated spaceship is what your kids make when they get their first animation software. Only a couple of times when it goes to hyper drive is there actually a 3D effect of the stars.
There are maybe 10 minutes of okay 3D in this – a couple of minutes of NASA spacecraft animation, a couple of minutes of nature footage in the Earth segment, and (the only really nice thing) a recreation of the data from the 3D solar observatory. The sun looks rather conical, but at least it’s high def and interesting.
If you must buy this, try to get in touch with those who wrote the 5 star reviews- they must have way better vision than I do, or possibly mood altering potions to share.
Was this review helpful to you?
3D Review by a 3D Connoisseur,
My ratings are based mainly on the QUALITY OF THE 3D, not the video content.
Not counting the repeating graphics, There are about 14 out of screen effects that extend about 10% of the way, from the screen to the viewer. Another 3 around 25%. For 10 seconds stars fly OOS around 50% and one makes it to 70%. Rocks OOS around 25% for 10 seconds, leafs blow by up to 25% for 15 seconds, a satellite graphic, swings out to 40% and a dolphin’s nose extends to over 35%. 18 times the same simplistic space ship council extends 10% and at least 8 times a graphic overlay floats at 20%.
Some short segments were so flat they didn’t appear to be in 3D at all.
Excess parallax easily visible in a few scenes.
And yes, as other reviews have said, the graphics add a cheese factor.
Repeating graphics and some repeating scenes.
*** If your not interested in the subject matter, don’t buy it just for the 3D ***
MY 3D RATING = POOR to FAIR
(poor, fair, good, very good, excellent)
Note: As far as the percentages go, everyone’s eyes are different. What I see at 25% you may see at 15% or 35%. To fully realize how far something is out of the screen for you, pause on an effect and direct a partner with an extended finger to the tip of what you are seeing. You may be surprised.
Click on `’ for the lowdown on other 3Ds
Was this review helpful to you?
“7 Wonders” is Wonderful,
This 3D Blu-Ray exceeded my expectations. I was expecting the same episode that originally aired on The History Channel, probably with some gimmicky 3D effects added in (yes, I bought it anyway, hoping that I was wrong). However, I was surprised to see (what I believe to be) some new, 3D interview footage and some new narration recorded specifically for this release. The 3D effects are very good. Seeing tiny Mercury eclipse the giant Sun in 3D is breathtaking as are some of the beautiful images of the rings of Saturn. Sure, most of it is CG, but that’s fine because it looks really great. The only poor CG has to do with the spacecraft in which you are supposedly touring the solar system. Really, my only complaint is that there is some substantial crosstalk in many scenes, mostly when you see an object against the blackness of space. If that weren’t true, I would have given this release 5 stars instead of 4.
My 2-year-old son is showing a lot of interest in space/planets/astronomy, so I thought he might enjoy this. Indeed, he did. He sat riveted through the whole thing (which, if you knew my hyper son, is pretty amazing). “Is that Saturn?”, “Look, the Sun! It’s coming out of the TV!”, “Wow, the Sun is very hot!”, etc. One thing this video accomplished for my son is something I had been unable to articulate to a 2-year-old; that is the sheer size of the planets. The 3D really helps to illustrate this in a way that nothing else can. I think he now has a good sense of how enormous the sun is when compared to other planets.
This video satisfied an itch that I hoped would have been scratched by many of the 3D Imax documentaries out there that disappointed me. It’s a good, 3D documentary that can serve as a good demo of your new 3D TV, yet also be interesting and watchable in its own right. “7 Wonders of the Solar System” accomplishes this nicely. Sure, it has a few problems (crosstalk, poor CG graphics for the spacecraft, etc.), but overall I’m really happy with it. Videos are subjective though, so your mileage may vary.
Was this review helpful to you?
