Here’s what Stuff readers thought of Extreme Earth II
We invited crew, Philips TV and Stuff readers down to an exclusive premiere of Extreme Earth II at God's Own Junkyard in London.
Last week, we unveiled part two of our Extreme Earth video series, which saw the Stuff crew and a pair of lucky readers venture into the wilds of the Arizona desert to make a film for Philips OLED TV. The resulting 90-second video is absolute stunner. But while we’re quite happy to toot our own horns, we we also wanted to know what everyone else thought of the film.
That’s why we invited the crew, Philips TV and Stuff readers down to an exclusive premiere of the film at God’s Own Junkyard in London. Recalling the bright lights of the Vegas strip that begin Extreme Earth 2, God’s Own Junkyard is a spectacular mishmash of Americana and flashing neon that proved to be the ideal backdrop for the premiere.
With the film shot with Ambilight in mind, and processed on the same TV sets that will eventually display it at the IFA consumer electronics expo in Berlin, hopes were high for a warm reception at the premiere. The moment comes and spectacularly goes. The orange hues of the canyon dance on the wall behind the TV, while the crew’s night sky timelapses showcase the infinite-contrast of OLED. The opinion is unanimous: a job well done.
Check out a video of the premiere above, or click here to watch the 90-second video and accompanying documentary.
OLED + AMBILIGHT: THE ULTIMATE TV EXPERIENCE
If you’re going to fly a production crew—plus prize winners—halfway around the world, you have to be sure the film you’re making is going to look its absolute best. Thankfully, part two of Philips’ Extreme Earth series was shot for the incredible 65-inch OLED803 TV (a 55-inch 55OLED803 version is also available). These Ultra HD, OLED sets offer the infinite contrast ratio the film crew were banking on when they shot their overnight timelapses, as well as HDR, allowing the crew’s footage from the canyons—where there was often a huge difference between the brightest area of a frame and the darkest—to stand out without clipping detail in the highlights or losing important textures in the shadows. Philips’ P5 Perfect Picture Engine results in the sharpest images, the smoothest, most natural looking motion as well as HDR processing. Picture quality isn’t the only headline. The premiere TV was set up by Philips’ own experts. Fortunately, if you don’t have your own TV expert to hand, there are various built-in wizards designed to get your TV set up and looking its best in no time. Plus, with Android TV built-in, you have access all the smart TV features and on-demand services you need. One of the stars of the show—and the reason our intrepid crew’s location was chosen—was Philips’ Ambilight technology. Ambilight is a series of LEDs behind the TV that detect colours near the edge of the display and fire them backwards onto nearby walls, producing a more immersive, colourful and impactful show. That means the neon of Las Vegas appear to spill well beyond the TV’s generous frame, while the orange walls of the canyon extend past the edges of the screen to produce an experience as close as you get to being there without picking desert sand out of your teeth.
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