What to buy on Bluray?

[Blaser]

Hello,

I have seen some BD movie reviews where PQ is reported not to be excellent, whereas some DVDs have a pristine PQ.

I was wondering which movies represent a complete revolution in SQ/PQ in BD when compared to DVD, i.e a must have on BD.

On the other side, which movies are not worth buying on BD if already owned on DVD?

That would help us avoid arbitrarily upgrade everything to BD and not getting so much in return.

[Rambo4]

Good question. I'd like to know this myself.

[tonyvdb]

Honestly, Its seldom worth it to "upgrade" your existing DVD collection to BluRay. If you have a good upscailer most DVDs will look almost as good. Now dont get me wrong the newer titles do look much better but most transfers of older movies really make little difference for the price you pay.
The bigger advantage with going Blu is the new uncompressed Audio formats available. If your system supports it it is very noticeable.

The Waterhorse, DieHard 4 and any of the animated films are ones that look very good in HD as well as The Day after tomorrow for audio.

[mechman]

tonyvdb wrote:

Honestly, Its seldom worth it to "upgrade" your existing DVD collection to BluRay. If you have a good upscailer most DVDs will look almost as good.

Amen to that! I honestly think this may have been part of the demise of HD-DVD. Good upscaler = no reason to pay a premium for HD-DVD movies.

I recently purchased a PS3 60gb and I have no intentions of purchasing any Blu-Ray movies. The HD-A2 upconverts regular DVDs astonishingly well. So why should I fork out the extra $$ when I need to save it for gas this summer!

[Blaser]

6 times more resolution maybe?

[tonyvdb]

blaser wrote:

6 times more resolution maybe?

This totally depends on the original master and the bitrate of the HD video. Most older movies do not look as good transfered to HD as new releases. I have a few DVDs that I also have the BluRay or HD DVD of that are older and there is hardly any difference between the two, not worth the extra $10 or more.
Newer Movies if they are good are well worth getting on BluRay.

[Tristanc1]

If you're a lost fan, I found lost season 3 on Blu to be incredible. I had watched the show a few times in HD on expressvu, and even that doesn't come close to comparing to the blu-ray discs. Really gave me that "holy crap this is real" feeling.

I liked Sunshine as well, found the overall quality of both the video and audio was a big jump up from the SD dvd. Also has a DTS MA track So if you're a sci-fi fan check that one out.

[Wayde]

Personally... I think where hi-def disc formats really stand out in video are in movies with wide shots particularly of scenery. Movies that take place in smaller settings with a lot of tight shots aren't excercising the format.

That said... my absolute favourite BD collection for demonstrating what it's capable of is Planet Earth the complete BBC series Blu-ray collection.

From the opening scene showing the sun peaking out of one side of the Earth is just brilliant. It looks so real to me that when I view it in a dark room I get a dizzy sensation.

The rest of the series is full of shots that are 'that good' although not all. The whole thing is filmed in hi-def but the shots range from a little grainy to spectactular. There are lots of amazing panoramic shots in this - easily the best I've ever seen.

Many shots are taken from planes or helicopters showing you natures marvels like the Angel Falls in Venezuela.

The episode with that scene takes your POV down the river and over the falls - if you have a really big 1080P set I don't recommend this be viewed by the elderly or people with heart conditions.

Some older movies that are restored nicely look very good also. I am very impressed with Blade Runner and the Dirty Harry series which I am going to do a review for. Fox and Warner releases are consistently good quality even the older movies they restore. One problem with older films is that they often descend into graininess when the scene is darker, perhaps someone knowlegable about film can say why.

So... rule of thumb for me is - true classic films I love with lots of outdoor scenes and wide shots I might consider upgrading the disc from DVD to BD. But if it's mainly a character driven story with lots of dialogue I wouldn't bother.

[MatrixDweller]

I bought and watched X-Men 3 on bluray the other day and it totally blows away the DVD version in terms of sound quality. There is way more going on in the surround channels, much deeper bass and greater dynamic range and clarity. I would say it's the best movie I've watched on Bluray so far for sound effects.

The PQ is not mind blowing, but is better than the DVD version. The picture has a slight grain to it, but is still smooth and colorful. I find that most Blurays compared to their DVD counterparts have much better contrast and black levels.

I wouldn't upgrade a whole collection unless you have money to burn. I would however upgrade select favorites and then use a good upconverting player for the rest of your DVDs.

[Blaser]

I liked Pan's Labyrinth a lot on Blu-ray for the plot/PQ and SQ and 16/9 format. Highly recommended.