i totally agree with Sanjay... the dvd is better than this crap and much more value for money... at 900 rupees, this is daylight robbery for such a shitty blu-ray, especially of such a prestigious film which deserves better without a second thought

shame on BHV !!!!!

Sorry about that.

o its ok.....

and ive watched the whole movie 3 idiots will post my full review soon....!~!

WELL HERE'S MY FULL REVIEW OF 3 IDIOTS

MOVIE
talking of the movie this is one of the best bollywood movies made and its commercially the biggest grosser of bollywood and also a critically acclaimed movie....i heard raju hirani(a.k.a Raj Kumar Hirani) say in one of his interviews that he doesn't want people to get "bore" and he puts all his efforts in making a scene interesting and entertaining which holds true for 3 idiots as well.......it has got a good dose of comedy emotions and above all it has got a really good story...the movie never looses its momentum and tells the story with ease and that's the best point of this movie.......it is well scripted well acted and a well directed movie......and one of my personal favorites of all time

MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE
well shantanu moitre is the man behind the music and background score of the movie along with sanjay wandrekar and atul ranniga accompanying him for the background score.......the soundtrack is a very important aspect of any indian movie and so is here.....this soundtrack consisting of amazing voice of sonu nigam in aal izz well which became a anthem for young-istanis and then there is jaane nahin denge which again is rendered effortlessly by nigam espacially the high notes which shows his capability that why he is one of the most successfull singers of the country shreya ghoshal gives him comapny in the melodious zoobi doobi whose theme is played repeatedly in the movie.......this song being my personal favorite in the album....shreya's voice takes this song to another level......then there is give me some sunshine which again is a very good song with acoustic guitar playing in the background and finally there is behati hawa sa that vo by SHAAN which again has got a very melodious voice and this song has a time-less feel to it.....its theme is also played in the background several times in the movie....so the album again is amzinging and now comming to the background score it is again very good and matches the mood of the film and like a typical bollywood film has lots of use of strings orchestra flutes chorus etc which create a pleasing environment

CINEMATOGRAPHY
amazing camera work by the cinematographer of the movie the scenes of ladakh being the highlight though there are many scenes which are out of focus but still the use of corrrect lenses correct exposure and good use of trolleys and cranes throghout the movie at the right time is its best part

SOUND MIX
anup dev mixed the sound of the movie which is very good if not best the surround usage is very good but bass getes boomy at times....this also like typical bollywood mixes is loud powerfull and full of energy throughout the movie......

comming to the blu ray now

the blu ray has many authoring defects as you all know the menus being non functional......left surround not working during a part of the movie use of dnr etc.....it really hurts that one of the best movies on blu ray got such treatment which was totally unexpected because this being distributed by big home video.......which have given us one of the best blu rays........they id a big mistake by not giving this to DEI.......shame on BHV.....

PICTURE QUALITY
the picture is very inconsistant.......colour levels though are correct and picture surely is an eye candy.....but DNR Ruins it.......though its not the worst blu ray to be ever produced in terms of PQ but its nothing more than average........SUCH WAS NOT EXPECTED FROM BHV ATLEAST........its a eros product with bhv's tag on it.....!! though the climax scenes in ladakh are an treat to watch and the primary reason of me saying it is very inconsistant.....the detail levels in close up combined with out of focus shots is not very good....but overall its just average

SOUND QUALITY
other than the issue of left surround not working from Chapter 22 - 02:07:49 till Chapter 25 - 02:24:05(courtesy sanjay for the exact timings) there is no problem though bass may not appeal to all as it gets overly powerfull at times but i like it......

EXTRAS
as such there are no extras but the director's commentry is present which is quite good.......

VALUE FOR MONEY
the defects being present picture quality not being perfect + price tag of INR 900 makes doesn't makes this a value for money BHV should have priced it more sensibly and extra dvd for extras should have been provided

SUMMING IT UP
MOVIE.......................................................................4.75/5
MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE....................................4.50/5
CINEMATOGRAPHY.......................................................4.50/5
SOUND MIX................................................................4.50/5

PICTURE QUALITY.......................................................3.50/5
SOUND QUALITY.........................................................4.25/5
EXTRAS....................................................................1.00/5
VALUE FOR MONEY.....................................................2.50/5

OVERALL..........BHV SHOULD IMPROVE ITS Q.C ANDIMMIDIATELY REPLACE THIS DISK MAYBE RE-AUTHOR AGAIN AND ATLEAST CORRECT THIS MENU PROBLEM IMMIDIATELY

OVERALL

3.75/5 (RECOMMENDED BUT WITH CAUTION)

p.s sanjay my blu ray player is showing the run-time 2 hours 55 minutes whereas the dvd was 2 hours 45 minutes.....what is the case here?? was something missing in the dvd?? that's a good news then..... then the blu ray is the complete version whereas something was missing in the dvd......but frankly speaking i have both and i dont notice any scene missing in the dvd.....can you please throw some light on this topic.....??

Interesting, but in actuality not much of a mystery. As per my notes for the blu-ray review, "Running Time: 02:51:07 hrs". Go figure. Since I have returned the BD for a refund, I cannot reconfirm. But although I don't recall, whether I noted the runtime on the PS3 or the Oppo, I am still quite sure, that I noted the correct run time of the main feature as reported by my player. I certainly don't remember seeing any extra or for that matter notice any less scenes on the blu-ray vis-a-vis what I saw in the theater. By the way, Wikipedia too lists the 'running time' of 3 Idiots as '164 minutes', ie. 02:44:00 hrs.

Anyhow, the difference in runtime has to do with the frame rate at which the blu-ray and DVD have been mastered/authored. The blu-ray is encoded at 24Hz, matching the original film frame rate. Whereas the DVD, based on this difference in run time, is in most likelihood PAL. In fact the time difference exactly matches the difference in speed of PAL and film. The original 24 frames of film are encoded at a 4% increased speed, ie. 25 frames per second in PAL. Therefore, if you calculate 96% of 02:51:07 (the runtime noted by me for the blu-ray) you will get exactly 02:44:16, which is very close to what you report as the DVD runtime. Wikipedia too, quite incorrectly and in most likelihood, has gotten it's runtime figures from what has been reported of the Indian PAL DVD.

PS: The very slight difference between '2hrs 45min' and my calculated '2hrs 44min 16sec' could be due to a difference in the deleted frames carrying the 'interval' logo frames. What remains a mystery though, is why I noted a runtime of '2hrs 51min' for the blu-ray, whereas you are reporting '2hrs 55min'.

you are the man sanjay.....!!! thx for your inputs......

I sincerely request all forum members to contact BHV and give them an earful. It worked with T-Series and hope these idiots will listen and recall this BD! I am just bummed. How can BHV that owns Lowry Digital screw up this BD big time? This is just appalling!

Email Address for BHV: inquiry.west@bigmusicvideo.co.in

Does anyone have any screenshots of the Blu-Ray cover?

Saw the blu-ray last night...oh dear...

One Word: Avoid.

Oh dear..... I will get a chance to watch this today or day after tomorrow. After reading reviews and feedback from members I am feeling quite negative about it.

Sanjay,

Did you get any reply from BHV? I am going to watch the BD this weeka and I will write to them after watching the BD demanding a recall or re-release.

I got the 3 Idiots and Dabaang BD for review purpose on Tuesday but couldn’t watch either of them due to other engagements. I had a quick look at both the BDs yesterday night after watching The Last King of Scotland BD. I will do a proper viewing of 3I and limited viewing of Dabaang this weekend and post my thoughts.

Meanwhile, here are my preview comments on 3I BD based on 10-15 mins of random viewing.

The menu is a big mess and not sure how it passed the quality control. A simple menu operation is what they should have checked

PQ: (Bear in mind I had a limited viewing only)
As a whole agree with most of you who have posted their comments. It is mix of good, average and some below average picture wise. The reason is inconsistency in the PQ. Some scenes do stand out with crisp images and right saturation where as some scenes look slightly better than DVD, have saturation issues (both low and high), color smearing and white level issues. The only thing I found more or less consistent is the black level and shadow detail (black level is an issue in Dabaang. See in the other thread).

Softness issue is seen throughout the BD with some scenes appearing relatively sharper than the rest. I have seen this movie in the theater twice and being relatively new film sharpness shouldn’t have been the issue. The detail is there (although in some cases it is lost due to white balance issue) but lack of appropriate sharpness or use of DNR fails to bring it out. While watching various portions, you might think you are watching different BDs in different scenes.

With my random viewing I won’t say it as a disaster in terms of PQ. The picture seems acceptable in parts but isn't close to very good/excellent/reference level. I guess the expectation on this movie was so high, we (me included) were expecting the best and that is quite a reasonable expectation. This weekend I will do a proper viewing to review the BD.

AQ
Sound to me seemed alright and balanced, albeit the typical loudness you get with bolly BD is very much present. I will give a proper listening this weekend.

Will post a full review soon.

Anyone knows if 3I to be released by Eros in UK will be different from the BHV release?

Cheers

Ani

It would be nice if the people providing the reviews of Blu Rays could list the equipment used in their reviews...the bluray player, display including size, type, sound system and other pertinent info!

This information is always listed at the bottom of all my reviews.