Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World (Widescreen Edition)

From the opening cannon battle's visceral sound design you know you're in for a treat with this dts-HD Master Audio presentation from Fox. For several years now we've had high resolution digital audio for our music, but only over the last two years has it finally hit the video market. Master and Commander on DVD was a disc I was impressed with for the quality of the 768Mbps dts track, but good Lord the improvement of this Blu-ray track is seven-fold. I continue to be impressed by the sound quality on Fox's discs, including Independence Day, I, Robot, The Day After Tomorrow, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and now Master and Commander. This is what home theatre is about! All speakers are in use here and the directionality is spot on. I truly believe I have cannons beside my sofa, powerful, heavy cannons. Not for the faint of heart is this one at reference level volumes.

Where picture quality is concerned there are one or two scenes that I did find to be not eye-popping, but these are few and far between. On the DVD release of Master and Commander there are many scenes in the ship under-deck that are a mess, with mpeg-noise all over the place, a shortcoming of DVD's bandwidth. On the Blu-ray Disc you'll find no such errors. The level of detail watching this movie on a 1080p plasma is incredible and there are no complaints whatsoever of the day scenes. Although this will not compare when stood beside the sheen of I, Robot, one of the most incredible pictures I've experienced so far on Blu-ray, it definitely is a huge improvement over its DVD counterpart.

Fox have made very little effort here with the extras, but have included D-Box functionality for those with a bit more money to spend on their theatre seating. That is not something I can afford so I can't comment on it, but D-Box tracks are starting to catch the attention of the other studios and you will see Disney or Sony Blu-ray's coming soon with D-Box tracks. If you want to go more into the history of the time there are numerous special features on the DVD, but with the movie already running 137 minutes this is one reviewer that has yet to ever pop in that second disc, ever. Missing out on porting over the DVD extras is something a lot of reviewers, amateur and professional, gripe about. I do not care for extras if they are in standard definition. I have all three of the Lord of the Rings Platinum Edition 4-DVD sets, I bought them because of the 6.1 dts:es tracks and the extended footage. That amounts to 6 DVD's that have never been released from their plastic teeth. I will likely watch some of them when the inevitable Blu-ray Disc versions come out if they are in 1080p, but otherwise I just don't have the time to watch that much extra footage about each movie I buy. Master and Commander is a pretty incredible movie with excellent performances all round and the subject matter is interesting, but when the movie's over, turn out the lights.

I dock Fox 1-star for not including the extras for those that have never bought the original DVD, but this release for the sheer improvement of audio and picture quality and being able to enjoy this on a large screen that even the best up-converter for DVD's cries beside, gets 4-stars.

For those wishing to wait for the "inevitable" double dip, consider renting this title from your local Blockbuster or Netflix, you'll not be disappointed.

Picture Quality - 4/5
Sound Quality - 5/5 (Reference!)
Extras - 1/5

even at a discounted price of 28 dollars - it feels like an enormous jip by Fox to assume blu-ray buyers would fork out that much for SO LITTLE - for the film... fine... but for so few supplements - that's highway robbery. Shame on you Fox, shame! 'Predator' was mentioned, but 'Commando' was omitted as being another lame attempt by Fox, 'Master and Commander' continues the trend.

As notes in a previous review, why would you spend premium dollars for a 1-Disc stripped down release when the Widescreen Collector's Edition is still available. Does Fox think the general public will just buy it because it is on Blu-Ray? Shame on you Fox!

Save your money, but if you like the movie as much as I did, buy the Widescreen Collector's Edition.

When you look at the Blu-Ray effort that studios like Warner are making on great titles, it really puts Fox to shame. You get far more features and packaging for less money than Fox expects for a disc, a plastic shell and no extras. This is a great movie Fox. Make an effort for crying out loud! You would have had my money from the gate but when you charge more than other studios and don't even include the extras that you already have available on standard DVD, don't expect the greatest support. Yes, I will eventually buy this movie. When it reaches $14.99 or gets an upgrade.

1. This is a great movie.
2. The reviewers say the blu-ray transfer for the video is near reference quality.
3. The reviewers say the Blu-ray dts-hd ma IS perfect.

I am getting asap!!