Beauty and the Beast

[borghe]

Being what I would consider somewhat of an expert on the current DVD (my daughter has watched it at least 3 dozen times. I am not kidding or exxagerating), tonight's HD presentation on 12.1 completely and totally decimates the DVD. There are so many saturation and over-compression issues on the DVD. It actually looks worse than my laser disc (which I still have). The HD picture though, wow. I honestly can't find a fault. I hope that Disney continues hand drawn animation, because HD truly brings out every last detail of work. The best possible complement to the artists (notice the usage/spelling of complement).

[Matt Heebner]

I totally agree. I have never seen true cartoon(not CGI) animation look so damn good!
God I love HD!!!!!!!

Matt

[ReesR]

I also have the laserdiscS (notice plural) of Beauty and the Beast.  But when that first frame came across there was this sudden realization what I have been missing all these years.  What a wonderful experience.

------------------
Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver:  Sony KD-34XBR2 16X9
Bi-directional AntennaCraft VHF Yagi Model #2260P
+
2 Winegard PR9022 UHF yagi's pointing N & S
Antennas at about 30 feet
Samsung SIR-TS160 HD Directv receiver

[Pat]

FWIW, Beauty and The Beast, and maybe all recent Disney animations, is only "semi" hand drawn.

The animators use several computer-assisted techniques.  Some that I can think of are:

1.  Animator draws some widely spaced cells.  Computer fills in the gaps.  This is called "in-betweening", I think.  In the old days, a master would do the widely spaced cells, and apprentices (or over-seas labor) would fill in the gaps.

2.  Animator draws no cells, but slowly and carefully directs the software to handle some aspects of the animator's art that have yet to be duplicated in software.

3.  Animator "traces" cells by hand that were generated by computer.  I believe the ballroom scenes in B&TB were done this way.

[mcq]

I saw Shrek on HBO in Hi-Def... WOW. I can only imagine what B&B looked like. (We opted for the Marquette game.)

[Rafiki]

Borghe:

I just got the new Classic B&B DVD. I played it on my Toisheba Pro Scan player and was very satisfied with the picture. HDTV broadcast of B&B = 10 Pro Scan = 9.

B&B was the first Disney animation to link hand drawn and painted cells with computer animation.  I believe that Disney now hand draws some cells but all painting is done by the computer.  If I read correctly, Lilo and Stitch had hand drawn and painted backgrounds. This allows for greater depth in the picture.  With competition coming from SKG and soon Pixar, Disney will surely remain out in front.

Sony 57" 16x9
RCA box for DirecTv