New Batman Begins 1080p WMV HD Trailer

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/ContentShowcase.aspx' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/ContentShowcase.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/screenshot_batman.jpg" /><br /><br />If you've got a computer with enough firepower, download this 164 MB trailer in high-definition WMV. I just watched it on a 26" LCD TV, and boy did it look nice. :-D High-definition WMV looks fantastic - I wish there was more content! Maybe Microsoft should buy one of the little movie studios. ;-) I'm going to see this move Friday night, and am looking forward to it. It looks like a return to the roots of the original Batman: gritty, realistic, and grim. The way Batman should be.

[Felix Torres]

&lt;
If you've got a computer with enough firepower, download this 164 MB trailer in high-definition WMV. I just watched it on a 26" LCD TV, and boy did it look nice. :-D High-definition WMV looks fantastic - I wish there was more content! Maybe Microsoft should buy one of the little movie studios. ;-) I'm going to see this move Friday night, and am looking forward to it. It looks like a return to the roots of the original Batman: gritty, realistic, and grim. The way Batman should be.

MS had a shot at MGM just a few months ago but passed.
They don't want to offend any of those guys on the ve of the blue-laser war. ;-)

I think there is a wmv high-res trailer floating around for SERENITY.
Looks great, too.

As for the Batman movie it is *great*.
(I caught it last week.)
An adult, character-based story, for a change; well-grounded and reasonably realistic.
Most of his toys either exist or could be built with cutting-edge tech out there in today's labs.
Very good story and excellent acting from the whole cast.
I'm glad the sequel is on its way already.

BTW, keep an eye out for the not-so-hidden political message. Very much a sign of the times... 8)

[lonesniper]

I don't have the computer horsepower to watch the HDWMV trailer, but Batman Begins is (I think) the best film of the summer. Hollywood must erase any trace of the old Batman movies as they are a discrace compared to this one. Can't wait for the next one 'Batman Continues'.

[Brandon Miniman]

Good find, Jason.

[boeman]

The movie is great... it has a few parts I could've done without... but all in all, it was $8.50 well spent!

[Mr. MacinTiger]

I kind of prefered Burton's take on the Batman thing, both "Batman" and "Batman Returns" were pretty good in my book. The set designs in "Returns" were particuarly fantastic.

Still, I'll give "Begins" a chance and check out the new Willy Wonka to get my Burton fix.

[g0099]

Just came from seeing the movie. You know when quality work is appreciated when the audience gives an applause at the end of the movie. I just kept thinking through the whole movie...this is how batman was suppose to be!! By the way, the trailer was great!!

[Jason Dunn]

Wow, we're getting more new people posting in this thread than most - I guess I need to talk about movies more often. Or maybe I need to start Movie Thoughts.com. :D

Edit: Damn, Movie Thoughts.com is taken. Figures. :roll:

[OSUKid7]

Or maybe I need to start Movie Thoughts.com. :D

Edit: Damn, Movie Thoughts.com is taken. Figures. :roll:
heh, between the time I clicked on this post and I had checked the whois data and clicked quote, you had edited. Expires in February though, so maybe you'll get lucky. ;)

On another note, I downloaded and watched this trailer when I saw DMT's previous WMV HD Content Showcase - Updated (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/index.php?action=expand,8437) post. It was definitely worth the 164MB download. :D

[Philip Colmer]

How much horsepower is required to play this clip? I've got a 2.8GHz PIV and it is struggling. The audio is slipping out of sync and the video isn't playing full speed.

I love the quality of the image but it isn't going to be much good if I can't play it.

I also seem to remember reading that someone had bought the T2 Microsoft Edition and found that it only played on US computers because it checked the IP address when fetching the licence!

--Philip

[Suhit Gupta]

How much horsepower is required to play this clip? I've got a 2.8GHz PIV and it is struggling. The audio is slipping out of sync and the video isn't playing full speed.

I love the quality of the image but it isn't going to be much good if I can't play it.
Philip, I totally agree with your point. I have a dual 2GHz machine with 1GB of RAM and an nVidia 6800 Ultra and the movie was totally jittery on my screen.

Suhit

[sundown]

From the MS System Requirements Page:

Optimum Configuration
(to play 1080p video with 5.1 surround sound)
# Windows XP
# Windows Media Player 10
# DirectX 9.0
# 3.0 GHz processor or equivalent
# 512 MB of RAM
# 128 MB video card
# 1920 x 1440 screen resolution
# 24-bit 96 kHz multichannel sound card
# 5.1 surround sound speaker system

[Jason Dunn]

# 3.0 GHz processor or equivalent

Yeah, until they're able to tap into the GPU to shoulder some of the burden, it will continue to need massive CPU firepower. It played fine on my 3.4 Ghz and AMD 3500+ systems.

[Suhit Gupta]

# 3.0 GHz processor or equivalent
Yeah, until they're able to tap into the GPU to shoulder some of the burden, it will continue to need massive CPU firepower. It played fine on my 3.4 Ghz and AMD 3500+ systems.
Wonderful, Microsoft has done it again. They have found another way to take a good technology and make it pseudo-inaccessible. :(

Suhit

[Jason Dunn]

Wonderful, Microsoft has done it again. They have found another way to take a good technology and make it pseudo-inaccessible. :(

Come on, you're a comp-sci guy, you know it's just a matter of math - it takes huge CPU resources to decode high resolution video, there's no way around that until the GPU can be brought into play, or perhaps HD decoding code can be hard-wired into future CPUs. But blaming Microsoft is silly.

[Suhit Gupta]

Wonderful, Microsoft has done it again. They have found another way to take a good technology and make it pseudo-inaccessible. :(
Come on, you're a comp-sci guy, you know it's just a matter of math - it takes huge CPU resources to decode high resolution video, there's no way around that until the GPU can be brought into play, or perhaps HD decoding code can be hard-wired into future CPUs. But blaming Microsoft is silly.
But in today's day and age of very powerful GPUs, I find it hard to understand the rationale behind the decision to do all the decoding with the CPU. Also, a 2GHz (and I have a dual 2GHz machine) is not a slow machine by any stretch of the imagination. I think it would have been prudent for some sort of algorithmic way to reduce the decompression loads. While I acknowledge that the technology is wonderful, it is not currently something that everyone can avail themselves of.

Suhit

[Felix Torres]

But in today's day and age of very powerful GPUs, I find it hard to understand the rationale behind the decision to do all the decoding with the CPU. Also, a 2GHz (and I have a dual 2GHz machine) is not a slow machine by any stretch of the imagination.
Suhit

No, but it pales in comparison to what even last-gen DSPs can do.
Don't forget that you're talking general-purpose CPUs optimized for branchy code as opposed to highly vectorized devices optimized for verry specific functions.

Even VGA-res MPEG2 will stress a 1GHz CPU unless there is dedicated special-purpose hardware.

The thing to consider is that MS is positioning WMV HD to be dominant over a decade or more, starting about next year.
We are only *now* just barely starting to see hardware that can decode and display this stuff with anything less than a 3GHzP4 (Buffalo Link theater, XBOX360, etc.)

This trailer is not just a preview of the movie, it is also a preview of where the industry will be in 07.

And of course, by 07 most of us will be looking at new PCs, right? ;-)
So why hamper the quality of an 06-07 product to cater to an installed base that will be fading just as the spec starts to come into its own?

[Philip Colmer]

This trailer is not just a preview of the movie, it is also a preview of where the industry will be in 07.

And of course, by 07 most of us will be looking at new PCs, right? ;-)
So why hamper the quality of an 06-07 product to cater to an installed base that will be fading just as the spec starts to come into its own?
This is a good point, and I totally understand where you are coming from. A similar view is Longhorn - when MS first started talking about it, they were quite clear that they were designing some aspects of it, e.g. the UI, for future hardware and not current (at the time of development).

My concern, though, would be the potential risk of putting people off the technology. If I'm not going to get a good experience now out of what I consider to be a reasonable (not fantastic) PC, it does make me wonder (and it did!) just what sort of hardware I've got to have to get a good experience.

My next concern would be what that hardware is going to cost me, 'cos if it is bleeding edge, it is going to be expensive.

If the MS intention really is that they expect us to be playing these clips on 2007 hardware, I wonder if they ought to have waited until 2007 ... or at least until more of us have got capable hardware?

--Philip

[Felix Torres]

If the MS intention really is that they expect us to be playing these clips on 2007 hardware, I wonder if they ought to have waited until 2007 ... or at least until more of us have got capable hardware?

--Philip

Maybe I should've added "mainstream" in front of '07? :wink:

Today's bleeding edge is tomorrow's mainstream--and vice-versa, no?
There are enough high-end boxes out there today to make the release viable and necessary, if nothing else, to show us the benefits of moving to newer hardware.
Think of it as advanced warning and justification...
And not just for the PC--but also the HDTV display these clips are really intended for.

You've heard MS and Samsung will be co-advertising the Xbox360 and Samsung HDTVs, this fall, right?
One feeds the other; if you have an HDTV no console will look as good as the 360--and 360 games will of course look best on big HDTV displays.

The same here; if you have the hardware, you can see how good WMV HD can be. If you don't have it, you'll know you'll need it to play HD content, whether in WMV or one of the lesser contenders.
Either way, a point is made...

[Jason Dunn]

If the MS intention really is that they expect us to be playing these clips on 2007 hardware, I wonder if they ought to have waited until 2007 ... or at least until more of us have got capable hardware?

But you've got to start somewhere, right? You can guy 3.6 Ghz CPUs today - a 3 Ghz CPU is at least a year old, so we're not talking "bleeding edge" here. Am I upset because I can't play WM HD on my wife's four year old 1.6 Ghz computer? No, not at all - it's an old computer and I shouldn't expect it to be able to do anything that requires a lot of power. I full expect the same type of complaints when Longhorn comes out from people who have old machines and are angry about having to buy a new computer or upgrade. But considering you can get a 3 Ghz Dell for under $500 USD, I don't think these requirements are at all unreasonable.

I think the reality is that some people in this thread aren't used to thinking of their CPUs as inadequete because they've been fast enough for everything else. ;-)

And the other reality is, hey, it's just a video trailer - it's not like your PC is less useful to you now that it can't play WMV HD. ;-)