Top Gun

ID: PA-HD71692

Price: 20,000 yen

Discs: 2

Sound: A-Mode/EFM

Running Time: 2:14

Released: Panasonic

You should know what the movie Top Gun is….everyone has seen it.

Unfortunately the picture is dreadful on this disc.

The transfer is far too dark to even see half the picture elements available. Adjusting the brightness (not a satisfactory solution) made the picture ‘watchable’ but there is very little detail to be resolved that hasn’t already been washed away by an overly dark transfer. Colors are okay, not great, not bad. Detail is hard to see, and this disc doesn’t show off the Hi-Vision format in the best light.

Artifacts are present, but not in such a way to warrant a poor rating. One other bad mark is that the film is cropped on this disc to 1:78:1 (16:9) rather than the original aspect ratio of 2:20:1

EFM track was auditioned, sounds identical to the NTSC disc. Good sound, nice bass reproduction, but not enough to save this disc. The A-Channel was also auditioned and sounded a little bit smoother with better channel separation.

Unless you love this film or can pick it up cheap, I’d recommend staying away from this particular disc in light of the poor transfer. Not a good Hi-Vision reference disc.