- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: PG-13
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Run time: 90 Mins.
- Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: February 7, 2012
- List Price: $24.99
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Metal Shifters on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:1.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:1.5/5]
A cheesy B-grade sci-fi flick that is ripe for SyFy channel’s Saturday night prime time slot, Metal Shifters is a bad and often dull cash-in on the Transformers blockbusters. The story follows two brothers, Jake (Kavan Smith) and Ethan (Colby Johannson) in small town Idaho who discover a downed satellite in a field that they sell to the local junkyard. Unbeknownst to everyone, the satellite carried a metal-infecting alien bacteria that would go on to infect and animate a 17-ft tall statue, or Gollum, made of junk and go on a deadly rampage through the town.
The plot for Metal Shifters is razor thin, although the acting is decent, given the limited quality of material the cast is given to work with. It’s also good to see the lovely and talented Nicole de Boer (TV’s The Dead Zone; TV’s Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) popping up in something, even if it is this forgettable time waster.
(For a different take, read our Metal Shifters Blu-ray Review by Brendan Surpless)
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 encodement for Metal Shifters has a good amount of detail and life-like reproduction of colors. While blacks aren’t completely inky, they are pretty solid and deep and shadow delineation is nicely extended, even if grain jumps a bit during the darkest of scenes.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
The 48kHz/24-bit Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack isn’t quite as aggressive as one might expect for a sci-fi flick like this, but given that its primary purpose is for television, it seems rather typical. The surround channels do come alive on occasion with some discrete sound effects like clanking metal and so on, but it tends to sound a bit out of place given that the mix is mostly front heavy. Dialogue is clear and weighted to the center channel while low frequencies are beefy, but not like the biggest Hollywood blockbusters might produce.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
The supplements, while in 1080p, are pretty pointless and add nothing to the release.
The supplements:
- Metal Shifters: Behind the Scenes (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:15:02)
- Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:2.5/5]
This sci-fi action flick is one you can afford to miss, even if the Blu-ray from Anchor Bay Entertainment offers up a decent amount of entertainment value in its audio and video quality. Still, this a pretty poor attempt at a Transformers imitation and there are a lot better was to waste your time.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B006BZ8NQQ[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Metal Shifters on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:1.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
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