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Hi,
Like many of you I have a large DVD collection (300+) and do not intend to "upgrade" it all to BD...
Would you please share your experience as to which titles are worth buying in the Blu Ray version?
Thanks!
Follow Ups:
thanks
...almost all movies will look far better on BD than DVD, even on a smallish screen, say 40" and up. BD is simply a superior medium. Plus, the sound is always better, at least so far. The main issue for collectors is the roll-out - lots of classic and foreign films haven't yet made it BD. If you're not into block busters, the choice isn't as wide as for DVD, although it's getting better.I've heard of a few poor transfers - The Fugutive and Lethal Weapon II come to mind as releases that have not found favor due to artifacts. The Truman SHow apparently has incorrect aspect ratio and has been "stretched". There is also some grousing about edge enhancement and removal of film grain on some few releases - e.g. Zulu, although I thought the latter looked very good on BD, much much better than the DVD. There are lots of review sites such as DVDBeaver.com and hometheaterforum.com where the various releases are discussed and rated for PQ and sound. There is a thread on HT Forum that lists poor transfers and Bds with errors or glitches. See link below.
Blu-Ray does wonders for - of all things - classic B&W movies, which look gorgeous on BD. The Searchers is also stunningly beautiful on BD. The Criterion colection is releasing on Bu now too, which makes me very happy.
So if you love a movie and want to see it in the best home format possible, buy it on Blu, if it's available (and not a known problem disc). Otherwise, you can always rent it on Blu first for a test run. OTOH, we know there will be some films that will not make it to BD any time soon, if ever. Such is life. So I'm sure I'll always have many DVDs in my collection.
Edits: 02/02/09
BBC's "Planet Earth" looks awesome in HD, but don't get rid of the regular DVDs yet, because the high-def versions are bare-bones with no bonus features at all.
Computer-generated animation like Pixar and Dreamworks movies look great too.
Baraka was shot on film, but painstakingly rescanned as HD, and it looks great. Hope your subwoofer can handle the TrueHD soundtrack.
...to joel's question is 'every movie you love'.
I had about 500 DVDs. I bought an HD DVD player and started buying on HD DVD new-to-me movies and replacing some I had. I can't recall one HD that didn't look LOTS better than uprezed DVD. Last year I bought a Samsung 5000 (that plays both HDs and BDs and has an excellent uprezing chip) and started buying BDs, and I can't recall a single BD I bought that didn't look lots better than the uprezed DVD. I now have about a hundred each of HD DVDs and BDs and am down to about 300 DVDs. I'll continue to buy BDs of the movies I love. As someone mentioned, waiting some time after release is one way to lower one's costs.
One hi-rez 'miss' was Lethal Weapon 2 on HD DVD--it was full of motion artifacts and jaggies.
-------------------------------------------------------
Tin-eared audiofool and parttime landscape fotografer.
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr
And if possible, wait 6 months after original Blu-ray release when the price of the movie has dropped by 50 %.
I'm sorry to say it, but there are very few titles on Blu-ray that aren't a seriously rewarding upgrade from DVD. The reason being upscaling is no substitute for 1080p and DD is no match for the audio codecs offered on Blu-ray.
-------------Call it, friendo.
There are VERY few pictures out on BD I care about, that's the problem for me. I'm not gonna buy a BD player just to watch a couple of pictures, I'll watch pictures I like on DVD and LD.
Edits: 02/02/09
Casablanca
Mongol
Goodfellas
Chungking Express
Cool Hand Luke
Oldboy
The Counterfeiters
...with new movies being released simultaneously on DVD and Blu-ray and more catalog titles coming every week, I honestly don't see how anyone who claims to like movies and care about video quality can convince themselves they don't need blu-ray.
-------------Call it, friendo.
"I honestly don't see how anyone who claims to like movies and care about video quality can convince themselves they don't need blu-ray."
I don't need any of those pictures except The Godfather. Unforgiven is mediocre IMO but if The Unforgiven came out I'd consider. Like I said, eventually a tipping point might be reached, not yet.
So you don't understand people who don't think like you, eh? I'm that way about some things myself but not about video.
I'm with you though. My BIL's ~60HDTV has a much better picture than my X1, I can see that easily. Does it bother me, no. Sound; seriously important, particularly for music. But video, eh. If I had endless cash I'd get an HD PJ and probably BD. But as it stands, I'll wait for my X1 bulb to blow first. When it needs replacing I'll go HD.
There are just too many things to spend my money on (even just in my room) before I'd upgrade the picture.
I bought a fine HD DVD player shortly before that became the wrong choice, and I own about 15 HD DVDs, all that I could think of wanting. Now I own a fine Blu-ray player,and I haven't found a single thing (yet) I want to buy that I don't own in the HD DVD format. Moreover, there are only a few films that I can find that I even want to rent. I'm sure I'm getting to be an old fogey, as I find that the vast majority of new films being released today hold little interest for me. They suffer from many faults: poor writing, silly plots, high dependance on action and stunts, overly loud and noisy sound for its own sake, etc.
But the picture quality in HD on my 58-inch plasma set is stunning, and the sound quality played through my system is better than any theater around. This is why I have invested in this technology. There are many fine older films now gradually coming out in BD. And opera on BD can be a vastly more enjoyable experience than it is just listening to audio recordings. So I have hopes that as many classic films and those that have special appeal to me become available plus opera discs become more numerous I will definitely get my money's worth out of this. I'm close already.
Joe
to buy titles? How many films are you going to watch so often that you feel the need to own it? Who has the time? My wife buys lots of titles and never watches them. I rent something when I want to see it. I've owned DVD players since the Sony 7000 and don't own any.
-Wendell
And I get your point. I rent a movie about once per week. I own around 20-30 (?) movies, ones I like to plug in when there's nothing to rent (OFTEN!), and/or half the movies I own are because they were in the "same price (or close) as rental" bin at the local grocery superstore. The rest are movies that I like enough to actually buy.
The thing is for me, once I've seen a movie I rarely want to see it again. There are of course exceptions, but for the most part I'm done. And if I really want to see it again, well, I can always rent it again. :)
I know plenty of people though who:
1 - Are retired so have plenty of time to watch plenty of movies
2 - Like watching movies over and over again
I enjoy listening to great music more than once, seeing Shakespeare plays or Mozart operas more than once, reading great books more than once, so I watch great films more than once - and sometimes they aren't even great films, but ones I simply enjoy very much. I like having them on hand to view any time, or access the bonus material when I want.
I'd never buy a movie just to watch it. I only buy what I've seen before.
Movies I just want to check out, or that I want to see only occassionally, those I rent, or use cable on-demand. Most movies released fall into that category.
I still prefer to see first run movies in a theatrical setting, up on the big screen in the dark with a crowd of stranegrs. Nothing compares to that communal ritual for me, when the movies are well presented.
Some of the films I own on DVD/BD are rare, imports etc. by favorite filmmakers or with favorite actors.
I don't buy movies cuz they're bargains, only because I love them and would watch them more than once. If you look at movies as product and diversions, not as essential or as art in themselves, then it makes perfect sense not to own many - or any, for that matter.
Soon enough I imagine few of us will have the storage media in our possession anyway. We'll be downloading movies from a central source, as many are downloading from Netflix now.
It has to do with being able to watch what I want when I feel like it. Nothing more. If I had to justify it based on cost...don't think I could. But I do try to shop carefully, and I doubt any disc (except Criterions) has cost more than a couple tickets to a movie, most less...if you want to look at it that way.As to the main topic: wow, most people have been much luckier than me. I have noticed tons of BDs with lousy transfers. It is only a medium after all, they can (and do) put anything on it, the medium itself does not guarantee quality. That HTF thread is about problem discs, not really about subpar transfers. Unfortunately there is no "lousy transfer" thread. I suggest being wary of many Fox back catalog BDs. Many of the recent built-in upscalers can do just about as well with the DVD. To be fair, many of these were not that great transfers on DVD either, so the bar is low. I am being more careful about what BD titles I upgrade from the DVD now.
Edits: 02/03/09
Here is a list of discs with Edge enhancement and/or DNR, along with descriptions and links to screen grabs etc. when available. I'm not sure how up to date it is.
...I have to tell you it sometimes a subjective call on cetain titles - just see the debate on Zulu. I don't like removal of film grain to satisfy modern tastes, but the current BD of Zulu is by far the best version of the film I've seen - I think it looks very good, despite the nay-sayers.
Also, I think tolerance for certain discs depends on the display size. I'm watching BDs on a 50" display - if you have a FP and 110" screen your preception may be different from mine. I admit the edge enhancement is something I can easily detect, but on the whole, most BDs are superior to their DVD editions, on the movies I have seen.
I can tolerate a very light touch of of DNR once in a while, but more often than not they are rather heavy handed with it. Its not just film grain that goes, but fine detail-skin textures. I honestly don't see the point except to make it more palatable to the video game crowd. This is a sad trend.
I guess you heard that Max Fliesher's Gulliver's travels will be altered when it comes out on BD so it will be 16X9 instead of the 1.33:1 it was made in.
Bothersome trends for the kiddies.
Jack
...having fought against full screen butchery of widescreen movies to fit 4:3 TVs, we now must fight against clipping academy ratio films to make them faux wide-screen. Butchery is butchery.
Original aspect ratio please!! This is nuts!
I just don't see what the problem is with films grain. If the best source is flawed, so be it. I don't care for the plastic looking skin that results. However, as I said above, some films folks have criticized, like Zulu, I think look pretty darned good, especially compared to the poor DVD transfers.
"How many films are you going to watch so often that you feel the need to own it?"
A great many.
"Who has the time?"
I do.
"I rent something when I want to see it"
That's swell.
...and I'm going to buy a BD player.I guess every movie fan, depending on taste and means, has a different threshold. If you have a smallish display, and you don't sit close, BD isn't probably gonna matter that much.
If your favorite movies aren't on Bd, then it m akes sense to wait.
For me, there are enough BD titles out now, and the PQ is so superior, that it's worth it to me to have 20-30 movies I really really like in the highest format possible. I don't have much interest in blockbusters. But there are enough good films - classics, foreign, indpendents etc. that I like for me to go ahead. Now that Criterion is releasing BDs, I expect that number to rise.
I'm actually buying far fewer movies of any type these days - if I like a film but don't absolutely love it, I'll rent it from Netflix. I'm sure there will be scores of movies I like that will never make it BD any time soon, so those DVDs will be staying in my collection. I only have a couple LDs left, neither of which is available on DVD. Heck, I even have some VHS movies that aren't on DVD (The Advocate, Who Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe).
I recently saw The Seacrhers and Pride & Prejudice on BD - WOW. Difference is not subtle so I gotta buy a player.
Here's a few of the films on my BD interest list:
The Searchers
Taxi Driver
Goodfellas
Raging Bull
Casablanca
Master & Commander
The Man Who Fell To Earth
Walkabout
400 Blows
BBC Planet Earth
An American In Paris
Amadeus
Let The Right One In (although I may go with the Euro import on this release, depending on UA version)
Pride & Prejudice (1995 and soon 2005)
Winged Migration
2001
Dr Strangelove
Becket
Dark City DC
Blade Runner
The Day The Earth Stod Still
Dog Day Afternoon
Godfather I & II
Harry Potter & The POA
Hunt For Red October
LA Confidential
The Last Waltz
Lonesome Dove
Life Of Brian
The Third ManThis does not count a dozen or so foreign BD releases not available in US that I plan to get like Zulu, In My Father's Den, Black Narcissus, Cabaret etc.
Edits: 02/04/09
I understand you and I may go BD myself once a certain tipping point is reached. I have The Searchers on my DVR from HDNET movies but I'm moving soon and will lose it (along with Cheyenne Autumn, 2001 and several other good pictures). Seeing as The Searchers in one of my favorite pictures ( I saw it as a kid when it came out and I never watched Roy Rogers again) the move might do the trick.
I'm a big fan of the big format pictures of the 50s and 60s---Ben Hur, South Pacific, Ten Commandments, El Cid and such, Zulu too. Once enough of those are on BD I'm certain to go.
...as I think almost all those are in the works for BD. Zulu is out. I saw that one in theaters.
I saw The Ten Commandments as a very small child, and certain scenes absolutely terrified me. I hated that the Pharoh's horses got drowned along with the soldiers and went screaming up the aisle.
AFter seeing Ben Hur, I had simultaneous crushes on Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston.
What scared me in The Ten Commandments was the killer green fog.Scar was scary as Hell in The Searchers and when John Wayne scalped him I freaked. Even then (I was seven) I knew that sometimes Americans scalped Indians but to see it on the screen was shocking.
Seeing the road show version of Ben Hur in 1959 was when I became aware of hi-fi. When I heard the blasts of the overture's opening fanfare, reproduced magnetic multi-track through (presumably) Altec A4s or A2s I was hooked. Hell, I still prefer big Altecs over all other speakers and any system must pass the Ben Hur test to be first rate in my book.
Edits: 02/03/09
It started dripping off the moon and coiling through the streets - I started covering my eyes. I wasn't enchanted with the lamb's blood on the doors either. I didn't like to see blood in those days.
Speaking of blood, turning the water into pools of blood were scary too.
Oddly, one of the things that scared me the most was when the Israelite slave got his loincloth caught in the log rollers.
But it was Yaweh drowning the horses and charioteers that sent me running up the aisle.
I think I was 4-5 years old.
Ben Hur was the first movie that REALLY impressed me.I think live music presentation also had an effect on my enjoyment and desire for good stereo equipment, but certainly road show presentations like Ben Hur, How The West Was Won et al had an effect too.
... versions of films released in different formats, regions and zones. DVDbeaver reviews are more objective than most since their primary focus is image and sound quality rather than content.
While this site probably won't answer every question related to a specific title (they overlook many films and versions of films based upon the sheer volume of releases each week), they do provide a valuable service to collectors frustrated about the cost of double dipping to get better mastered copies of their favorite films. I always do a search through their current reviews and archives before deciding whether to replace DVDs with the same titles in Blu-ray.
-------------Call it, friendo.
These guys are operating on a shoe-string budget and continually provide some of the best comparisons on the net. Plus, they review a wide range of DVDs, not only the mainstream stuff.
I'll take their reviews over the nut-jobs at Blu-ray.com any day.
You can even click on each image to get the full resolution. DVD Beaver can't compete.
-------------Call it, friendo.
If the comparison demonstrates a night/day difference, then it's more obvious that the Blu-ray would be a worthwhile upgrade over existing DVD; if not, then the consumer has enough information to make an informed decision. Blu-ray screen shots, by themselves, do not always tell the whole story; furthermore, you aren't going to get an evaluation of European versions of releases in both formats at the Blu-ray site. Capice?
AuPh
;O)
-------------Call it, friendo.
... seek counseling or a good tailor! ;0)
I've got about 1400 DVDs, more or less, and there are very few that I am duplicating these days. Sci-Fi seems to be a good choice generally speaking, but remember, not all BDs are fantastic looking.
Jack
I have thousands of DVDs, and wouldn't upgrade more than a small fraction of them even if I could eventually get them all on BD. Thing is, many will likely not make it to BD, for all sorts of good reasons.
Here's the ones I "upgrade" from DVD to BD: generally action and wide-scope drama, movies with lots to see and hear. Comedies are generally (so far) to be avoided as IMO the transfers are typically sub-par and you won't benefit much from the lossless sound (there are some great exceptions though!!). There are a lot of crappy BD issues that don't look much better than upscaled DVD, rushed to market...usually you can tell as they are the cheapest BDs out there.
I also upgrade anything I watch a lot or really like...kind of obvious.
Use google "blu-ray review movie_name" and check out the titles you're thinking of upgrading to help eliminate the real dogs. Again, there are LOTS of crappy BDs out there, being on BD is no guarantee of any sort of quality. I personally will not buy a BD that doesn't have lossless sound as IMO that is part of the HD experience...I guess most people here would agree sound is important.
The least expensive way to add to your movie collection or replace your favorite DVDs with Blu-ray is to watch for sales locally and on the 'net. My favorites, though not all at one time, are getting the blu "make-over" as they are released and new movies that I want are purchased in Blu-ray. The DVD collection is around 500, so not every DVD ( <20%) will get upgraded to Blu-ray.
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