Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

HD Moods Beaches Blu-ray Movie Review

I've never been on such a boring vacation to the beach.

Reviewed by Dustin Somner April 23, 2010

I consider myself fortunate to live within a ninety minute drive of endless Pacific Coast beaches. When Oregon isn’t doused with trademark northwest downpours, or enduring stiff coastal winds, the beach can be a refreshing escape from the reality of our rigorous lives. Thankfully, with the invention of home theater entertainment, we no longer need to leave the comfort of our own home in order to enjoy the experience I just described. All you need is a large display, Blu-ray player, surround sound, and your very own copy of HD Moods: Beaches. If you feel like going all out, you could spring for a scratch and sniff sticker of seaweed and wet sand, or simply dump a bucket of sand down your shorts. As you can tell, a little imagination goes a long way when needed.

In all seriousness, the concept of exercise discs for your display are meant for a small niche market within the Blu-ray community. I’ve reviewed a number of these titles over the past year, attempting to find meaning in the idea of offering the disc version of a bottle of sand. In some cases, I’ve discovered environments or destinations that are intriguing enough to hold my attention throughout the duration of the program. However, more often than not I ask my wife to hide the remote so I wouldn’t be tempted to fast-forward through dreadfully long shots. In the case of HD Moods: Beaches, I not only asked my wife to hide the remote, I even told her to hide the batteries within the remote.

There you have it, the one impressive shot in the entire feature.

HD Moods: Beaches is separated into two segments titled Pacific and Tropics. Each category is selectable from a pop-up menu, though there are zero chapter breaks within each forty-minute series of shots. Getting down to the nuts and bolts of the feature, we essentially witness a camera rolling from a static position for approximately eight minutes, before moving on to the next shot. I’ve included a description of each scene in the next section (just in case you aren’t interested in scrolling through the thirteen screenshots).

Tropics:

Shot of a coastline with forested mountains rising away from the water.
Close-up view of crashing waves covering the beach, with a distant beach in the background.
Shallow, sand-covered cliff edge with some form of canopy resting on top.
Horizon shot of the ocean with a narrow strip of sand appearing and disappearing as the tide moves in.
Coastline shot with the camera placed several feet from the incoming tide.
Horizon captured at a slight angle with the setting sun almost at water level.

Pacific:

Beautiful shot of massive rocks jutting up from the water with clouds in the distance.
Inland beach with sparse shells littering the sand.
Same massive rocks as before, but captured with long-stemmed grass in the foreground.
New grouping of rock masses protruding from the water with green plants in the foreground.
Ground level view of a sandy coastline immediately after a receding tide.

As you’re probably aware from my introduction, this is not one of the better examples of ambient television. Without the benefit of something taking place during each extended take, we’re left with an experience that drags on far too long, and clearly wasn’t meant to be viewed in a continuous fashion. As a distraction in the background, I could see a bit more logic to the structure of the feature, but I still have trouble grasping the point in leaving a looping vacation destination running on your home theater display. To make matters worse, there’s a randomly appearing boy that shows up in two of the Tropics shots, as if the cameraman had no idea. If the production staff was aware, I can’t fathom why they wouldn’t shoot additional footage without the boy constantly staring with a bewildered look at the camera. For a brief moment I suspected the boy’s presence was intentional, but as soon as you witness him pick his underwear out of his crack in full view of the camera, you’ll begin to change your mind.

HD Moods Beaches Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in 1080p utilizing the VC-1 codec (at an average bitrate of 20Mbps), HD Moods: Beaches offers only a marginal visual presentation, effectively eliminating any worthwhile reason to own the title. This came as a bit of a surprise considering the impressive quality of the HD Moods: Flowers production I'd reviewed prior. I suppose the difference in quality could be attributed to a completely different crew handling the photography and production design, but no matter the cause, this is not the title to own if you intend to show off your brand new high definition display at the next dinner party. Detail remains marginal at best, the blue shade of the ocean lacks depth, contrast seems a bit blown out or overly bright, and I noticed several instances of artifacting. All in all, I'd say this is lackluster presentation that fails to capture the essence of a trip to the beach.

HD Moods Beaches Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From an audio standpoint, it's difficult not to be somewhat disappointed in the lack of lossless options. Instead, we're given the choice of three different audio tracks, each presented with the option of Dolby Digital 2.0 or Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. The first option is a natural sounding track, primarily consisting of crashing waves and chirping seagulls. The second audio option is a music-only track containing new age inspired numbers that feel light and airy. Sadly, there's no option to take in this track along with the natural sounds, which seems like the ideal way to enjoy the main feature. Lastly, we have a synth-heavy audio track with a noticeable bass emphasis. This was my least favorite option out of the three choices, since it seemed to contradict the calming effect that should be the goal in a nature-themed production of this sort. I sampled all three tracks throughout the runtime of each feature (it appears the same tracks run during the Pacific and Tropic segments, rather than incorporating different audio in each one), and noticed decent surround use in comparison with the 2.0 tracks. In the end, all of the tracks offer sufficient clarity, but I never felt there was anything special about the overall audio experience.

HD Moods Beaches Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Considering the main feature is hardly more than a supplement, it isn't terribly surprising to find zero special features on the disc (unless you consider a pop-up menu an "extra feature").

HD Moods Beaches Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Unless you have fifteen bucks burning a hold in your pocket, and an hour of your life you're willing to trade for little in return, I'd suggest you set your sights on a worthwhile addition to your collection and let this disc fade from memory.