Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The Film

I’ll point you in the direction of our Eamonn’s DVD review and Gary’s Cinema review as both writers are far better suited to cover the film than I…

The HD DVD

The UK HD DVD release is a two-disc set, with the film and In-Movie Experience contained on Disc 1 and the extras on Disc 2. The packaging is fairly standard and much like any two-disc DVD set there is a hinged flap to hold the second disc. To make way for this the case is thicker than Warner’s usual releases, putting it in the same case thickness as Universal Pictures UK HD DVD releases.

The Presentation

Running a little over two-hours and featuring a predominantly dark palette, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix could have posed a number of issues during the transfer process but fortunately this VC1 encode is right up there with the very best. Presented in 1080P 2.40:1 widescreen the print is naturally in pristine condition while detail levels throughout are high, particularly fine detail on faces and objects. Colour reproduction is superb, but in particular the black levels – so important in this film – are handled with great care and make for some truly stunning imagery with a great sense of depth. The showdown between Voldemort and Dumbledore is an easy example, as the colours in that sequence literally pop off the screen while the depth of the hall the battle takes place in is really brought to life by the deep blacks and fine detail within the shadows. Despite this quality there were a few occasions where the picture appeared ever-so-soft, namely the sequences in the woods with the centaurs and Hagrid’s half-brother, while those excellent blacks would sometimes show a hint of noise during the battle of the light and dark wizards. The latter could simply be down to some fine grain which seems apparent throughout the film, it really is that minor, but it just about stood out at normal viewing distance none-the-less.

In terms of audio the primary track is the English Dolby True HD 5.1 mix, though on my Xbox 360 HD DVD player the transcoded output did very little to distinguish itself from the disc’s alternative DD5.1 mix. Concentrating on the latter then, the soundstage created is one that quite often plays with the viewer, offering a fairly mellow experience during the lighter moments due to the score which does just enough to makes itself known. Out of nowhere though the track does very often open up into a barrage of effects, with the sequence depicting Azkaban prison literally engulfing the room in a thunderstorm while the centaurs can be heard galloping around your room. The showdown between Voldemort and Dumbledore is worth bringing up again because again the explosion of colour on the screen is matched by the sound design which peaks as the hall they’re in literally crashes down around you in a shower of glass. It’s a fine mix, and one I’m sure the True HD takes a step further on the right system.

There are also DD5.1 audio tracks in Dutch and Flemish.

Subtitles (Main Feature): English, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese.

The Extras

The In-Movie Experience found on the first disc is a visual commentary track that features the students of Hogwarts (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and several others) who relay their experiences from the set to you via a picture-in-picture window that is also used to show some behind-the-scenes footage. The age of the participants should give you some insight into what to expect here, with the commentary somewhat light on technical information and heavy on platitudes and relaying how much fun everything was. Radcliffe does attempt to talk more about the development of Harry in the film and how he approached this, though he doesn’t appear to be very comfortable in front of the camera. Watson is guilty of over-describing what is happening on screen, but like Radcliffe does try and bring more to the track by discussing the characters in the film. Everyone else focuses on their experiences making the film with the approach coming over as deliberately audience appropriate (it’s definitely aimed at younger viewers), and this tone is backed up by these little animated character pictures which appear and dissolve into fun facts about the actor. Contrasting well with these lighter elements are 26 branching vignettes (all presented in 1080P) which almost exclusively focus on the special effects and set design seen in the film. Only a few minutes each (with a total running time of 63 minutes), they’re perfect examples of how to reveal the magic of modern day cinema without drowning you in boring technical speak, all using scene progression examples and other visual aids with clear and concise explanations provided by the technical specialists presenting them. There are also a couple of vignettes on the new character Dolores Umbridge, and pieces on Rupert’s giggles, the wand battle choreography and of course the kiss between Harry and Cho.

The interface which controls the IME is a breeze to use, giving you the option to quickly skip to each point in the film where a picture-in-picture segment is using the arrow buttons on your remote while the disc icon which represents the IME in the top left corner of the screen turns gold and starts to spin every time there is a branching vignette available. To access you simply hit enter and you are seamlessly whisked off and then brought right back as soon as it’s done playing.

The IME is subtitled in Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese.

Another HD DVD exclusive found on the first disc are some Web Enabled Features. “Pick Your Favourite Scenes” lets you do just that, only it goes beyond the usual bookmark feature and allows you to assemble them into a montage and share them online (and you can see what others have come up with). There is also a “Live Community Screening” feature which allows you to gather friends together for a virtual screening party (the point of which escapes me). The back cover lists “Wallpaper and Ringtones” as a third option (presumably for a price) but this was not an option on the disc. I’ll hold my hand up right now and admit that I didn’t even bother with the registration required to access these, as none of it interests me and I certainly don’t know anyone else with a HD DVD player, this disc and the interest required for the community features. Still, it’s there if you want it…

Moving onto the second disc, you will first notice that the branching vignettes are available here as well, only you can select and watch them at your own leisure. They’re called “Focus Points” on this disc, and are presented sans decorative border which is present if you watch them as part of the IME. Also present on disc two are:

“Trailing Tonks” is a twenty-minute set tour hosted by Nat Tena who plays Tonks in the film. She takes a children’s TV presenter approach to the tour, bursting with excitement and hitting all of the stops covering the least amount of detail along the way.

“The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter” is a forty-three minute examination of the Harry Potter story, taking us through all five films with plenty of clips and comments by key cast, crew and a few Harry Potter experts. Fairly redundant if you know your Harry Potter, but as someone who’s not read the books and has only seen each film once I found it quite helpful to fill in some of the blanks.

“Additional Scenes” runs just under eleven minutes and mostly consists of scene extensions and some incidental sequences establishing characters or setting the scene. Certainly worth a look and for anyone who thought Emma Thompson was underused in the film then as you get some good extended material here.

“Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing” begins with a five-minute introduction by director David Yates and editor Mark Day who explain the importance of editing with a few examples showing how choice of camera angle, music and sound effects play a key part in making a scene work. Following this you’re given the opportunity to edit your own scene using a simple clean interface that first lets you pick your camera angles (you get 3 shots to make up the scene) and then gives you a choice of music (3 different tracks) and sound effects (2 different tracks). Ultimately it’s all a little too simplistic, with very limited choices particularly when only one each of the music and sound effects tracks are actually any use, but it does let you have a play and should even be easily accessible to kids.

All extras on disc two are presented in 1080i or 1080p widescreen with optional English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Catalan and Portuguese subtitles. Please note that the box lists a very different set of subtitle options (English, Portuguese, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Korean, Latin Spanish, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish) – this list is not accurate!

Overall

I’d never have guessed the Harry Potter films would ever make a battle between wizards so exciting, but they pulled it off here with the showdown between Voldemort and Dumbledore quite beautifully constructed. Via this HD DVD release (or indeed the identical in all-ways but language options and IME/Web Enabled Features Blu-ray Disc) you get to enjoy the film with a crisp, colourful picture with a great sense of depth and an engaging sound mix. The extras aren’t bad either, but as seems to be the norm with the Harry Potter films they’re not particularly great, especially for adults who want something like a documentary they can really get their teeth into. The focus points are certainly the best feature on offer, but what you do also get with this 2-Disc UK HD DVD release is the full suite of extras, presented in HD across the board unlike the USA HD DVD Combo which sacrifices “The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter” and presents the other DVD extras in SD.