Should I upgrade my DVD to Blu...

PWEI

Is there any chance of getting a blu-ray forum on boards? More and more people are getting in to blu-ray and it would be a great way to recommended blu-ray's to buy and the ones to avoid. I've doubled up on a load of films,most I'm happy with but there was quite a few which were not worth buying.

PWEI

PWEI wrote: »

Is there any chance of getting a blu-ray forum on boards? More and more people are getting in to blu-ray and it would be a great way to recommended blu-ray's to buy and the ones to avoid. I've doubled up on a load of films,most I'm happy with but there was quite a few which were not worth buying.

I think this thread does everything you lay out above so there's absolutely no need for a dedicated forum.

Sad Professor

Yeah, there's no need.

Requests for a DVD or Blu-ray forum have come up in Forum Requests many times and never received much support. There's no reason why such discussion can't take place in this forum, or in the relevant music or television forum.

If anyone wants to recommend a film on Blu-ray they can use this thread, or start a new thread if it's deserving of discussion (like the recent Star Wars thread). If anyone want to write a review of a film on Blu-ray they can use the Film Reviews forum.

The problem with a dedicated forum for Blu-ray is that it would probably consist mostly of lists which aren't helpful to anyone.

G-Money

I find some Blu's a bit hit and miss when it comes to picture quality which is probably the most important factor for me as I don't have a sound system and I'm not likely to invest in one anytime soon.

I upgraded my Sony 32" TV to a Samsung 40" TV today so I'm hoping for a lot more eye candy when it comes to Blu-Ray. I have Band of Brothers, Inception and Avatar on Blu still to watch so hopefully they will be a treat.

Mike Litoris

grandmaster wrote: »

I find some Blu's a bit hit and miss when it comes to picture quality which is probably the most important factor for me as I don't have a sound system and I'm not likely to invest in one anytime soon.

I upgraded my Sony 32" TV to a Samsung 40" TV today so I'm hoping for a lot more eye candy when it comes to Blu-Ray. I have Band of Brothers, Inception and Avatar on Blu still to watch so hopefully they will be a treat.

Which model Samsung did you get? Does it have DLNA?

G-Money

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Which model Samsung did you get? Does it have DLNA?

I got the Samsung LE40C530. As far as I know it doesn't have DLNA but to be honest, I'd never heard of that before until I read your post. From looking at the specs, it doesn't have it.

Mike Litoris

As far as sci fi goes Alien and Blade Runner are visual feasts and good showcases for a new TV.

Frisbee

Never really bought into Blu-Ray being much better.

Have Band of Brothers on DVD and must have watched it 50 times at this stage. Girlfriend got it for me on Blu-Ray for Christmas and I watched it on my PS3, I was blown away by how good it was.

Ordered Black Hawk Down, Sin City and 300 on Blu Ray and just waiting on them to arrive now, I can see myself starting to sink money into Blu-Rays... :pac:

krudler

Frisbee wrote: »

Never really bought into Blu-Ray being much better.

Have Band of Brothers on DVD and must have watched it 50 times at this stage. Girlfriend got it for me on Blu-Ray for Christmas and I watched it on my PS3, I was blown away by how good it was.

Ordered Black Hawk Down, Sin City and 300 on Blu Ray and just waiting on them to arrive now, I can see myself starting to sink money into Blu-Rays... :pac:

Sin City looks fantastic. Best looking bluray for me is still Speed Racer, you may hate the movie, but it looks absolutely jawdropping, its as close to a living cartoon as you're going to get.

Kev_ps3

The Pacafic on bluray is amazing with dts-ma sound. If you have the money upgrade to bluray

PWEI

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah, there's no need.

Requests for a DVD or Blu-ray forum have come up in Forum Requests many times and never received much support. There's no reason why such discussion can't take place in this forum, or in the relevant music or television forum.

If anyone wants to recommend a film on Blu-ray they can use this thread, or start a new thread if it's deserving of discussion (like the recent Star Wars thread). If anyone want to write a review of a film on Blu-ray they can use the Film Reviews forum.

The problem with a dedicated forum for Blu-ray is that it would probably consist mostly of lists which aren't helpful to anyone.

Well I beg to differ. There would be a lot of advantages in having a separate blu-ray forum. User's could discuss the latest blu-ray news,blu-ray rumours,latest releases,forthcoming releases,picture quality,audio quality,extras. On top of all that we could post blu-ray bargains and blu-ray discount voucher codes. I know sometimes these are posted on the bargain alerts forum but that is such a busy forum that they get lost very quickly & it's hard to find them if you haven't been on the forum for a few days. But if they were on a separate blu-forum they would be there for all to see no matter what day you signed in to the forum. I often post blu-ray bargains in the bargain alert forum but would post a lot more if we had a dedicated BR one.

Have a look at these and tell me again there is no need for a blu-ray forum on boards;

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-news-f13.html

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-chat.html

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-bargains.html

PWEI

PWEI wrote: »

Well I beg to differ. There would be a lot of advantages in having a separate blu-ray forum. User's could discuss the latest blu-ray news,blu-ray rumours,latest releases,forthcoming releases,picture quality,audio quality,extras. On top of all that we could post blu-ray bargains and blu-ray discount voucher codes. I know sometimes these are posted on the bargain alerts forum but that is such a busy forum that they get lost very quickly & it's hard to find them if you haven't been on the forum for a few days. But if they were on a separate blu-forum they would be there for all to see no matter what day you signed in to the forum. I often post blu-ray bargains in the bargain alert forum but would post a lot more if we had a dedicated BR one.

Have a look at these and tell me again there is no need for a blu-ray forum on boards;

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-news-f13.html

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-chat.html

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-bargains.html

Why can't people discusse it all in this thread, maybe the mods could consider sticking this thread and changing the title to The Ultimate Blu Ray Discussion thread or something along those lines. If there was to be a Blu Ray forum I could see it getting very little activity as most people will simply post in the films specific thread here.

If someone wants to post up a Blu Ray bargain then it's best suited for the bargain alerts forum, otherwise people will be looking for a dedicated bargain alerts thread for every forum on boards, there is absolutely no advantage to spreading the discussion of specific films and their realease across a number of forums.

Renn

PWEI wrote: »

Well I beg to differ. There would be a lot of advantages in having a separate blu-ray forum. User's could discuss the latest blu-ray news,blu-ray rumours,latest releases,forthcoming releases,picture quality,audio quality,extras. On top of all that we could post blu-ray bargains and blu-ray discount voucher codes. I know sometimes these are posted on the bargain alerts forum but that is such a busy forum that they get lost very quickly & it's hard to find them if you haven't been on the forum for a few days. But if they were on a separate blu-forum they would be there for all to see no matter what day you signed in to the forum. I often post blu-ray bargains in the bargain alert forum but would post a lot more if we had a dedicated BR one.

Have a look at these and tell me again there is no need for a blu-ray forum on boards;

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-news-f13.html

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-chat.html

http://www.cheapbluraymovies.co.uk/forum/blu-ray-bargains.html

Just do what I do and use blu-ray.com.

jaykhunter

how about a lovely poll to sort out this blu-ray business. tbh if something's specific to blu-ray just make a thread in it and have [blu-ray] in the subject.

i think the vast majority talk about films regardless of the resolution. do DVD releases get much press around here? (like when is a film being released etc)

Sad Professor

I think we have enough stickies. And the "recently watched" thread gets by just fine without having to be pinned to the top of the page. If everyone is really so eager to recommend Blu-rays it shouldn't need to be stickied.

I'm hesitant to rename it "Blu-rays to get/avoid" because it will probably turn into a list thread. And renaming it the "ultimate Blu-ray" thread would imply that's it's only place for such chat, when it isn't. If people want to have a more specific discussion about a particular Blu-ray or about Blu-rays in general they can start a thread about it. This was always the case. There's plenty of room in this forum for DVD/Blu-ray discussion.

PWEI, I would recommend that you start a thread requesting a Blu-ray forum over at Forum Requests when it re-opens. The creation of new forums is up to the admins.

Anyway, this thread is going widely off-topic. How about we all get talking about Blu-rays instead of debating whether there should be a dedicated forum or an official sticky or whatever.

Kev_ps3

This place needs at least a dedicated thread for blurays. Bit of a joke it doesnt have already tbh

jaykhunter

Shutter Island on Blu-Ray came in the post there. Probably my favourite film of last year. Looks fantastic but still noticeable film grain. I imagine it's there on purpose?

Anyway, something that I've gotten into is zooming my films so it fits the 16:9 screen (i hate bars at the top and bottom) but I can't do this with DVDs/Blu-Ray on my PS3 controls or with my TV. It does kinda put me off watching films on disc. Anyone know any workarounds?

jgr12

The Thing looks fantastic on blu ray, I have the dvd and there is a lot of artifacting in the opening snow scenes but the blu ray is just perfectly clear, would recommend it.

I got the Apocalypse Now three disc set for Christmas, looks amazing and the sound is superb, looking forward to watching Hearts of Darkness too as I've never seen it.

Have the alien box set and agree, I was blown away by Alien more than any of the other films, it looks and sounds better than ever.

jaykhunter

Frisbee wrote: »

Ordered Black Hawk Down, Sin City and 300 on Blu Ray and just waiting on them to arrive now, I can see myself starting to sink money into Blu-Rays...

Just lower your expectations for 300, there's intentional film grain (high resolution grain lol) so making the HD jump isn't that great. Black Hawk Down and Sincinatti look great.

jgr12 wrote: »

The Thing looks fantastic on blu ray [...]Have the alien box set and agree, I was blown away by Alien more than any of the other films, it looks and sounds better than ever.

Yeah,the Thing looks beautiful. And the physical props look far more disgusting than any CG could do! Alien looks great on blu, definitely. Haven't watched 3/4 yet though, i'm hearing bad things?

jgr12

jaykhunter wrote: »

Yeah,the Thing looks beautiful. And the physical props look far more disgusting than any CG could do! Alien looks great on blu, definitely. Haven't watched 3/4 yet though, i'm hearing bad things?

I was never really a fan of 3 and 4 but they look good, as expected, I had never seen the extended cut of Alien 3 before, better than the theatrical cut but still just alright.

I also have Dirty Harry on Blu ray and think it looks great, much more detailed but still grainy, even has scratches showing which I think adds to it because its a gritty 70's movie

johnny_ultimate

I have been working my way through the Toy Story trilogy boxset over the last few days.

Blu-Ray was made for Pixar movies. Fifteen year old film looking absolutely flawless! I don't really mind if I miss live action films on Blu-Ray (except for the few - like Inception - that nigh on demand it) but I see little point getting animated films on anything other than Blu-Ray if high-def option is available!

jaykhunter

Question there lads. I know CGI films are immaculate, talking about live-action movies, do they all have some amount of film grain?

I just bought Shutter Island (amongst others) on Blu-Ray, but noticed it has a lot of film grain. Is that the way it was shot? Will it always have grain? Like it's still incredibly sharp, but sharp grain lol.

I also noticed that The Dark Knight, the scenes shot in IMAX look noticeably better again. No grain whatsoever :pac: same can't be said for the normally-shot shots lol.

Are there any live action films on blu-ray devoid of grain?

Sad Professor

Grain is just a natural part of how film looks. How grainy a film is depends on various factors, such as the type of film stock used, etc. The more sensitive the film, the grainier the picture will look.

Shutter Island was probably shot in Super 35, which has been Scorsese's format of choice for many years. It's grainer than films shot with anamorphic lenses as it involves chopping off a significant part of the frame to make the widescreen aspect ratio. And it's possible Scorsese and Richardson did other things to make the film intentionally grainy as well. Minority Report, for example, is extremely grainy because Spielberg wanted to imitate the look of films from the 70s.

Many studios have taken to using digital scrubbing methods to remove grain from a film for the Blu-ray release. When used to excess this usually results in a very plastic-looking image that satisfies the AV-freaks but sends film fans into fits of rage. A recent example of this was the Predators Blu-ray. Although it is generally believed that the Aliens Blu-ray got just the right balance - cleaning up the picture, but preserving the grain as it originally looked.

Christopher Nolan is big on high resolution, hence his use of IMAX. He shoots anamorphic and prefers not to put his films through a digital intermediate for colour correcting, so grain and other noise is usually kept to a minimum in his films.

jaykhunter

Thanks SP, could you clarify some things for me? The stuff highlighted i've no idea about. I'd rather a boardsie tell me than trust some anonymous american on wikipedia!

Sad Professor wrote: »

Grain is just a natural part of how film looks. How grainy a film is depends on various factors, such as the type of film stock used, etc. The more sensitive the film, the grainier the picture will look.

Shutter Island was probably shot in Super 35, which has been Scorsese's format of choice for many years. It's grainer than films shot with anamorphic lenses as it involves chopping off a significant part of the frame to make the widescreen aspect ratio. And it's possible Scorsese and Richardson did other things to make the film intentionally grainy as well. Minority Report, for example, is extremely grainy because Spielberg wanted to imitate the look of films from the 70s.

Christopher Nolan is big on high resolution, hence his use of IMAX. He shoots anamorphic and prefers not to put his films through a digital intermediate for colour correcting, so grain and other noise is usually kept to a minimum in his films.

Also, when filming at night-time, how come the picture looks so much worse?

Sad Professor

There are many different types of 35mm, etc film stock. And just like with still photographic film, some will be more sensitive to light with larger grain, while others will be less sensitive to light with finer grain. This decides whether you get a sharper or grainer image. A film's cinematographer will select the film to suit what and where they are shooting.

Film will usually look worse at night because there's less light, so the filmmakers have to use a more sensitive film stock which results in a grainier picture. If they wanted a finer, sharper image they'd need to use more artificial light which is difficult to make look good if they are shooting night scenes.

Super 35 is a bit complicated. But it appeals to many directors because it allows them to frame for television and the cinema at the same time without having to sacrifice half the picture. But with the advent of widescreen televisions this is less of an issue now days. Special effects are easier to do on Super 35 as well.

Digital intermediate just refers to the process of transferring a film onto a computer and then transferring it back. This is necessary to do digital effects and also for digitally grading the picture, i.e. changing the colours, etc. This is used a lot in fantasy films to give scenes a certain hue, or in some cases just to fix a mistake. It's overused.

jaykhunter

Thanks again, sorry to continue this tutorial -- If you generally have to put it through the computer to add special effects, shouldn't films be shot digitally then (since it's already in a digital medium)? Or is it just tradition that they don't, or someone mentioned before that some film resolutions are better than HD? How can different films be better for adding special effects?

Shouldn't films be shot in higher res. than HD so it looks better downscaling it to blu-ray? And it'll look great for the successor to blu-ray? (or that isn't widely available yet?)

One last thing, there are people who think the latest Blu-ray release of Predator looks good? :eek: Everything looks less grainy if I put a coat of vaseline on my TV! :P

Sad Professor

jaykhunter wrote: »

If you generally have to put it through the computer to add special effects, shouldn't films be shot digitally then (since it's already in a digital medium)?

Digital makes it a lot easier alright. This is one of the many arguments for using digital. And overall digital is more convenient, it just doesn't look as good as film. Digital can look great too, just look at what David Fincher is able to do with it. But it requires a lot of effort and expense, especially in post-production, to make it look that good. Even Fincher's own cinematographer has questioned whether it is worth the hassle.

Shouldn't films be shot in higher res. than HD so it looks better downscaling it to blu-ray? And it'll look great for the successor to blu-ray? (or that isn't widely available yet?)

Film resolution is higher than HD. High Definition as it relates to Blu-ray and TV is really just a consumer label. And there's unlikely to be a successor to Blu-ray. If anything Blu-ray probably offers more quality than many people want, need or appreciate.

jank

Film technology has been around for decades, the same cannot be said about digital. Film has a certain "life" about it that is hard to re-produce imo in digital, for now anyway. That is why animation looks so good in blu-ray. Can you imagine The Godfather shot in digital, it would probably look as good as dishwater. Boring and lifeless.

jank

jank wrote: »

Film technology has been around for decades, the same cannot be said about digital. Film has a certain "life" about it that is hard to re-produce imo in digital, for now anyway. That is why animation looks so good in blu-ray. Can you imagine The Godfather shot in digital, it would probably look as good as dishwater. Boring and lifeless.

Digital can look absolutely fantastic in the hands of a proper film maker, Michael Mann has done some amazing stuff with it and while I did find Public Enemies hard going due to the pretty poor sound mix it did at times look amazing.

granted youtube is never going to do the clips justice but seen on the big screen or Blu Ray or DVD they do look absolutely fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W85mbsD_5_U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp9UVFNNfkI

G-Money

I watched Avatar on Blu-Ray at the weekend on my new 40" Samsung TV, it looked pretty good I have to admit. I've also ordered Speed Racer on Blu-ray. No idea if it's any good or not but it was £5.99 on Amazon UK so I figured it was worth the investment, even if it's just for some eye candy

I haven't upgraded my LOTR's DVD's to Blu-Ray, yet. I doubled dipped already buying the theatrical and then extended editions on Normal-Ray (standard DVD) so I don't want to do the same with Blu-Ray. Having said that, the reports of the transfer aren't great so maybe it's good to hold off.

I watched the first episode of Band of Brothers last week on Blu as well, it looked pretty good.

Frisbee

Just finished watching Black Hawk Down for the 50th time. First time on Blu Ray though.

That. Was. Awesome.

Galvasean

Deleted User wrote: »

while I did find Public Enemies hard going due to the pretty poor sound mix

Is that what that was? I assumed my cinema's speakers were a bit wonk

Galvasean

Galvasean wrote: »

Is that what that was? I assumed my cinema's speakers were a bit wonk

Nope wasnt the cinema but the film its self, when I watched it on Blu Ray the mix was all over the place, I had to literally sit with remote in hand to constantly lower and raise the volume every few seconds.

Renn

Don't think the sound mix was the main problem with Public Enemies fwiw.

Word of warning to anyone who is tempted to pick up the recent release of The Game on Blu Ray. Don't bother, it's one of the worst transfers I have ever seen, in fact the DVD is of a much higher standard. I watched both side by side and was shocked to see just how much more detail was in the upscaled DVD over the Blu Ray. Black levels were also much better on the DVD. Criterion are planning a Blu Ray release of the film later in the year so anyone tempted should wait till then.

krudler

Deleted User wrote: »

Word of warning to anyone who is tempted to pick up the recent release of The Game on Blu Ray. Don't bother, it's one of the worst transfers I have ever seen, in fact the DVD is of a much higher standard. I watched both side by side and was shocked to see just how much more detail was in the upscaled DVD over the Blu Ray. Black levels were also much better on the DVD. Criterion are planning a Blu Ray release of the film later in the year so anyone tempted should wait till then.

lol would you believe I added it to my amazon basket just this morning with a few other things, glad I havent ordered it yet so if thats the case, I wanna get all Fincher's movies on blu as they all look great, I watched Zodiac on dvd recently and the bluray is miles ahead of it, its full of artefacting on the dvd.

I love The Game, one of the most underrated movies around, whether you love the end or hate it the movie itself is class.

jank

If it hasn't been mentioned before then blade runner is class on blu-ray. Make sure you get the Final Cut edition though

Phony Scott

krudler wrote: »

the bluray is miles ahead of it, its full of artefacting on the dvd.

One thing I'm glad to see less and less of on Blu-ray is this and ghosting. I'll take an extremely grainy picture any day of the week over these two things.

donnamc5

Hi all,

I am getting an LED TV and Blue Ray Home cinema system delivered tomorrow and as I am completely new to all this was hoping that someone might be able to recommend to me the best blu ray's available at the moment that will show off the picture and sound at it's best. So far Avatar, Inception, Speed Racer and Sunshine sound like the best options going by this thread and what I had already seen but was hoping for a few more ideas. I know lots of people are not happy with the idea of lists but a little one of say top 5 current recommendations might be useful to people like me who are new to all this, just to get us started like.

Cheers.

jaykhunter

The Dark Knight (imax scenes especially are stunning)
Attenborough's Planet Earth/Life
Terminator 2
The Mist (there's a fantastic black & white version - gorgeous!)
Black Hawk Down

I think Casino Royale looks spectacular.

The ones you mentioned also looks great. If you like Tron, Tron Legacy looks fantastic, has 16:9 iMAX scenes much like the Dark Knight. It has a specific art style so if u like that, go for it!

best of luck with ur new TV/Blu-Rays. Going HD, there's no going back!!

krudler

donnamc5 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am getting an LED TV and Blue Ray Home cinema system delivered tomorrow and as I am completely new to all this was hoping that someone might be able to recommend to me the best blu ray's available at the moment that will show off the picture and sound at it's best. So far Avatar, Inception, Speed Racer and Sunshine sound like the best options going by this thread and what I had already seen but was hoping for a few more ideas. I know lots of people are not happy with the idea of lists but a little one of say top 5 current recommendations might be useful to people like me who are new to all this, just to get us started like.

Cheers.

On a side note, if you can get a disc that has a THX optimiser on it, use it, Terminator 2 and all the Pixar movies have them, in face most Disney discs do, it helps you adjust the colour, contrast and brightness levels, do not, repeat, do NOT leave them on factory settings, it absolutely baffles me why shops only leave their display models on factory settings with SD connections, throw something like Wall-E on fully optimised and the tvs would sell themselves

zimovain

Is 'Heat' worth getting?

PWEI

donnamc5 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am getting an LED TV and Blue Ray Home cinema system delivered tomorrow and as I am completely new to all this was hoping that someone might be able to recommend to me the best blu ray's available at the moment that will show off the picture and sound at it's best. So far Avatar, Inception, Speed Racer and Sunshine sound like the best options going by this thread and what I had already seen but was hoping for a few more ideas. I know lots of people are not happy with the idea of lists but a little one of say top 5 current recommendations might be useful to people like me who are new to all this, just to get us started like.

Cheers.

Blade Runner is a must. It's like watching it for the first time with the newly remastered version. Also comes with every version of the movie ever released.

The new re-mastered Gladiator is a must have. The original blu-ray release was very poor so Paramount released another remastered version which is far superior.

The Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy is another one of my favourites. I owned them on video, on dvd & now on blu-ray & the films have never looked as good. There's a small bit of grain on the picture but that's supposed to be there.

Sad Professor

zimovain wrote: »

Is 'Heat' worth getting?

As a film, yes. But as a way to show off your HDTV, I'm not so sure. The DVD was utterly dreadful and the Blu-ray transfer is a big improvement - very natural looking, but nothing mind blowing. A lot of it is probably just down to the way the film was shot and lit (Mann doesn't like artificial light). I think it looks great though.

the_monkey

+1 to Gladiator the NEW bluRay transfer is absolutely stunning, be really nice to show the LED off with that !

V for Vendetta I really like too ... + The Prestige looks great

Enjoy!!

edit - just saw Red Heat is out on BluRay, is it a good transfer?

Harrocks

Definitely Agree with previous post about terminater2 and the THX optimiser for getten the best picture quality.MY Samsung out of the box had everything way to high contrast brightness etc.Saving Private Ryan is well worth a purchase on blu-ray and Cloverfield for the sound 30days of night for both sound and picture 3:10 to yuma is another thankfully Blu-ray is really starting to kick in at last.

donnamc5

Thanks for all the great advice. Went into grafton street after work and got inception. Was given the distinct impression that lots of the animated blue rays will be on sale on Monday so gonna hang on til then to get some more. Hope that helps some of the rest of you as well.

rednik

Disney buy one get one free starts on Mon 28th.

A few oldies with great transfers
In cold bllod
Zulu
How the west was won
North by Northwest.

Movies just announced for release.
Platoon :)
Scarface :)

filmbuffboy

How to train your dragon
Star Trek 2010
Kick Ass
The Pacific
The Fall
Pans Labyrinth

some of the blus ive watched in the last few months that come to mind that have great transfers.

jaykhunter

Just finished "The Fall" (2006) on Blu-Ray. Absolutely stunning.



The film was shot on 26 stunning, real life locations over 18 countries. The story is very interesting but even as a tech demo, this film was made for blu-ray. Highly recommend. It's like 7 euros on Zavvi!