DVD details for for
The Truman Show (1998)

Michel Hafner (26 June 1999):
If this Paramount DVD had come out just 2 months later, it would probably be 16:9 enhanced since Paramount has changed its policy shortly after this DVD's release. Well, it is not. And it shows.
The film master used is in good shape and clean. Image steadyness could be better though at times. Some shots are jittery, such as the sequence where a spot light crashes on the street. Color and contrast are very good though. The noise and grain level is low. And for a not 16:9 enhanced disc "The Truman Show" is sharp. Especially some close-ups look very good with fine skin detail normally only available on enhanced product. Nonetheless a 16:9 version would have been even better looking. And the missing scanlines are apparent in many shots in the form of aliasing. Also, to sharpen the image digital edge enhancement has been applied, and white halos are easily detectable in many shots. Pssst! There is an artifact free way to sharpen images, dear studios. It's called 16:9 enhancement. Please use it and keep the fingers away from the edge enhancement boxes, ok?
The sharp close-ups often reveal a problem, compression artifacts. Texture parts are floating around and tend to lose more detail than necessary when in motion. The phenomenon, which could also be related to digital noise suppression, can be nicely studied at the start of chapter 15 where Truman empties his heart to his best friend. Another example of a compression problem that simply should not go unfixed these days, where we have double layer technology at low cost, is in chapter 2 at 2:41 and following. The window part behind Truman is twitching around and the phone is moving against all laws of physics. Too bad, that gives minus points.
To summarize, "The Truman Show" DVD has some image quality problems, but nothing really bad. It looks pretty good. Compared to what the medium can do though it's a bit disappointing for a brand new release of a brand new movie. Paramount, you can do better than that!