DVD sucks!

[AlbertSiegel]

I just bought a Blu-Ray player and a few movies. Some of them I had on DVD and I must say that the Blu-Ray versions look and sound soooo much better. Normal DVD can no longer please me. The only thing that sucks is that Blu-Ray movies cost about 50% more than DVD. Oh well, I guess it's worth it if the movie is good.

No point to this post.... just wanted to let someone know how much I love movies in HD.

[Iraira]

I just bought a Blu-Ray player and a few movies. Some of them I had on DVD and I must say that the Blu-Ray versions look and sound soooo much better. Normal DVD can no longer please me. The only thing that sucks is that Blu-Ray movies cost about 50% more than DVD. Oh well, I guess it's worth it if the movie is good.

No point to this post.... just wanted to let someone know how much I love movies in HD.

By any chance, do you work for a company that is in any way affiliated with the Blu-Ray industry? Or, perhaps, have you invested in a company that does?

[AlbertSiegel]

By any chance, do you work for a company that is in any way affiliated with the Blu-Ray industry? Or, perhaps, have you invested in a company that does?

No, I am a simple photographer with no interest or desire in the markets. I just happen to love movies at home.

What format is doing well in Japan? The main reason I jumped into Blu-Ray is I got a good deal on a player and it seems to be the way things are going.

[amdg]

I just got a blu ray player from the wife (as a reward for not trying to fuck with immigration officals/machines when I recently re-entered Japan)- looking forward to trying it out on the 46 inch plasma (wedding gift). Perhaps this weekend.

[MaxPower]

I gotta agree you on this one. I almost wish I hadn't started watching blu-ray movies. DVDs look like crap now. Only new movies look better though. I gave the scien"fuck"tologists some of my hard earned cash and got the mission impossible 3 pack. The new one looks unbelievable compared to dvd the 2nd on 1st one look just like a dvd.

[AlbertSiegel]

Yeah... The SuperMan Returns Blu-Ray I bought last night looks only a little better than the DVD, however the Letters from Iwo-Jima Blu-Ray is stunning. My TV is only 720p.. I wonder what it looks like in full 1080p...

BTW, I really like that I have yet to see some super stupid animated DVD menu that takes like 10-20 seconds to even be able to make a selection.

[amdg]

I gotta agree you on this one. I almost wish I hadn't started watching blu-ray movies. DVDs look like crap now. Only new movies look better though. I gave the scien"fuck"tologists some of my hard earned cash and got the mission impossible 3 pack. The new one looks unbelievable compared to dvd the 2nd on 1st one look just like a dvd.

Only new movies look better? Does this mean only movies that were filmed in high-def? How do you tell the "new" ones from the old ones?

I want to pick up a few blu-ray discs to check out all the fuss, but don't know how to recognise the "good" ones. Any help?

Also, can I rent blu-ray discs from tsutaya? I checked their website but couldn't find any.

[Charles]

Only new movies look better? Does this mean only movies that were filmed in high-def?

The studios scan old films for HD, so the quality of the disc depends on the quality of the old print (and the digital restoration). But don't look for a HD version of "Casablanca" anytime soon, they only want to promote new blockbusters.

[Kuang_Grade]

It seems to vary from movie to movie and studio to studio. It seems that some films are just being dumped into a new format with no additional effort going into it, while others get special attention and care before being put out in HD. The blu ray of Terminator 2 got a fair bit of grief for having close to a SD level transfer and having far fewer extras than the $7 Standard Def DVD...but I haven't seen it myself, so I can't say if that's true or not.

As for old movies in HD, I watched a HD DVD version of The Searchers in the fall, and while I could tell that it wasn't shot in HD, it still looked spectacular. So while stuff shot in HD will, on average look better than stuff shot in SD (the Mission Impossible 3 HD DVD was almost too sharp at times, given that you could clearly see Tom Cruise's makeup on more than a few occations), it really depends on how much effort the studio put in the production of the HD product.

The reviews on Amazon can be used somewhat as a guide, although it seems that more often than not, the reviews are split between 'the transfer is teh suck' and "those whiners don't know what they are talking about because clearly I have much better TV than them and it looks great to me".

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/dvdmenu.html#hdbrd

I like reviews on the digital bits website....They are not the fastest folks to put up reviews nor do they cover every release but they seem to cover everything I could be ever possibly curious about on a given DVD. They were very thorough when they reviewed the recent DVD/HD release of Blade Runner
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviewshd/bladerunnerfinalallver01.html

[amdg]

Thanks guys, I guess I'll check out the reviews before I buy.

Re the HD being too sharp - yeah I think I mentioned before when I saw spiderman 3 at the cincema on the HD system it was just TOO clear. I don't want to be all THAT familiar with Tobey Maguire's pimples and moles. *shudder*

[Charles]

Re the HD being too sharp - yeah I think I mentioned before when I saw spiderman 3 at the cincema on the HD system it was just TOO clear. I don't want to be all THAT familiar with Tobey Maguire's pimples and moles. *shudder*

Seen any HD porn yet?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Thanks guys, I guess I'll check out the reviews before I buy.

Re the HD being too sharp - yeah I think I mentioned before when I saw spiderman 3 at the cincema on the HD system it was just TOO clear. I don't want to be all THAT familiar with Tobey Maguire's pimples and moles. *shudder*

That's why I haven't bought into the whole HD thing myself.

[Grumblebum]

But don't look for a HD version of "Casablanca" anytime soon, they only want to promote new blockbusters.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I0RR7Q

[Caustic Saint]

I just bought a Blu-Ray player and a few movies. Some of them I had on DVD and I must say that the Blu-Ray versions look and sound soooo much better. Normal DVD can no longer please me. The only thing that sucks is that Blu-Ray movies cost about 50% more than DVD. Oh well, I guess it's worth it if the movie is good.

I got my player (actually, a PS3) last November when the slightly more reasonably priced 40GB model came out. It came with Spider-Man 3 free (less said about that turd, the better) and that was the only BR movie I had for 4 months.

They're simply too expensive in Japan. 5,000 for a new release? PASS! Thankfully I found a good sale back in the US in March, which was a "buy 3, get 1 free" deal and all the movies were about $20-25. Amazon is another great source. Right now they've got a "2 for $30" special. Even with shipping to Japan it's much, much better than buying locally. I'm glad they made Japan and the US the same region for BR.

I just ordered a few more from there. Hard to pass up the 5-disc set of Blade Runner for $15.

No point to this post.... just wanted to let someone know how much I love movies in HD.

Same here! Divx is almost painful to watch now, especially after I upgraded my setup from a 720p projector to a 1080p one.