I wanted to start a topic to discuss the formatt, specifically with movies and some excitement on the subject. Most of this is my opinion, mixed with my findings ; so you of course may not agree with my words and feel free to discuss your views and what your excitement and plans for bluray are!From what ive been discovering, there is more to the formatt than I had once dismissed, and a lot to get excited about ; but of course with everything there is good and the not so good aspects. When i first heard of blu ray I figured it was sony trying to monopolize present and future distribution for movie and videogame titles using their technology, and specifically something created mostly to
merely enhance the encoding of movies shot on DIGITAL equipment that is the standard application of filmmakers these days. Obviously what blu ray can achieve and accomodate is far beyond a "present solution going forward".
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The advancement and visual promiseAny decent print of a film made at any stage in history can and will benefit with a bluray transfer, which not only brings it into the correct resolution for HD screens, but perhaps breathes life into it you wouldnt even have seen before. Restoration should be blowing your minds everyday. Several big movies in cinema from as far as 40 years are already landing spectacular transfers on BD. The wizard of oz looks just amazing from the screenshots and reviews ive seen, and for the record that movie is now
70 years old.
Every title depending on the running length of the feature and its extra features can double or tripple the transfer limits, enabling far more bandwidth capability of movies than the DVD formatt, when done right (what i mean by this is with a
vc-1 encoding on a BD-50) making true HD actually deliver the superb picture quality (weve been under the misleading impression we had with DVD) geared to the present and future uses for high resolution plasma and LCD. If youve got a screen in 1080p larger than 40 inch, with a ps3 or high end standalone player with any 2009 release, you are going to see movies at home like you always craved.
IMO movies on a 50+ inch plasma in 1080p with bluray actually now far beat out a cinema experience as far as visual perfection and satisfaction. Looking back It WAS a visual candy to watch (for example) Castaway in the cinema in 2000, simply because it looked better in detail and more grand than anything we could enjoy on the then DVD ; However I can now be blessed with the 2007 transfer to bluray disc, and see this movie in the kind of specific detail I wish was present for my first viewing back then.
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The audio prospectFrom my view sound is not as big of a deal to me, I've been happy with DVD generation sound as being a powerhouse, and so far not yet got a system which brings across 7.1 from bluray. In fact I dont even get end result to my digital output from the bluray. At present I have the hdmi output to the HD LCD, and then normal redNwhite cables go out from the TV to the reciever presenting at best a basic 5.1
However, that still more than satisfies my senses and the modern titles have well refined mixing that it doesnt affect your experience really between DVD and bluray. Ive experienced the difference and so far my budget outways my need for sound superiority.
Ill likely come to this thread in a few months once my ultimate setup is complete, and tell you how crazy I was for saying normal output from bluray is ok, and that im a full convert to the charms of a bluray audio transfar. til then my view is "sounds cool from what people say but in the end WHATEVER"
What really excited me about BD is the chance for bands to make live concerts in 7.1!! I want to get "hell freezes over" by the eagles the second it comes out. They shot it on video tho i think so visual enhancement would be margainal, though im not 100% sure on that. I know that would be one bluray concert id love to listen to in a proper DTS-HDmaster transfer.
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The drawbacksUnfortunately, as with all formatts, nothing changes in the department of consistency. A great deal of backlog titles from studios not willing to invest heavily are going to get less love than others. Already there is mixed results in the upgrades process. Nothing has been par with DVD imperfections but some titles have only minorly fixed the details and poor artifacts present in some mediocre dvd transfers, for the bluray formatt. Basically in those cases its because of existing quality in the print, the intention of the film style (grain still inherint on field of dreams bluray), or the transfer was only early mpg-2 or 4 from 2005-2006 infancy. Even though the resolution is correct to HD, it will always gain detail by using codecs higher than those early releases.
So to be clear, anything that was transferred at the 2006 era of blu-ray should be met with a fine comb. I use blu-ray.com to check out what specs each title is that im interested in and the findings are that any classic title or present title will have a VC-1/mpeg4-AVC video transfer for a BD-50, with often than not a DTS-HDmaster and Dolby-trueHD or both for audio.
Moving on to availability, its clearly a slow process. Seems slower than DVD was back in the day. But now that bluray won the competition war for the future formatt, it will spread quicker over the next 2 years. The adventure classics indiana jones, back to the future, etc are being held back with no notice of a date... Im guessing for special features reasons and to create mass demand from fanbases or for anniversary dates. And though some other lesser classic movies have seen bluray releases, still at least 3-5 hundred what i would call my bread and butter favourite movies from the 80's and 90's still havent been brought across. Im ok with this because im still not in posession of my ultimate setup!
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My philosophyI want to enjoy as if for the first time, my favourite movies of all time that would look cool for bluray, and all those will be purchased. It might be easy for my own reference to just list a fraction of what I feel will amaze me on BD that I want in my collection. Somewhat in order of love for the title ;
[OWN][WISHLIST]- Entrapment ~here~
- Raiders of the lost ark [+trilogy] N/A
- Escape from Alcatraz N/A
- The Man from Snowy River [and part II] N/A
- The Great Escape N/A
- Castaway ~here~
- Goldeneye N/A
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit N/A
- Titanic N/A
comedy/light/teen exceptions [no order : early thoughts][OWN][WISHLIST]edit : refining list all the timeI dont feel as though in regular cases there is a point to getting comedy movies on bluray (or even drama that has no visual spectactle or action in it). For instance, I love the movie "liar, liar", and I watch it often enough, but why spend another 15-20 bucks when I own it on dvd? Thats a basis for my policy, a comedy is just never necesary. Yes there will be exceptions for me but usually my favouritest of movies only.
For present releases and ongoing, the releases that comes out
for rental which have something spectacular in look or effects will be a BD version in my living room. Recently "inglorious basterds" was one such feature. It is deserving of a bluray birth, and I was not dissapointed with that choice, also "star trek" was a Bluray watch i had this month. However "the hangover" was watched with a regular DVD copy which I played in the ps3 that upscaled it to 1080p for resolution effect. Again, a stock-standard comedy does not need a bluray and my aforementioned view, is that why double dip when you can save thus spend more on geared titles.
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Geez, that was a lot of content said, but its my new favourite topic
So no wonder.[/list]
