Should I buy the Blu Ray?

With the constant release of older titles on Blu Ray all of which are all ready available on DVD one has to ask the question, do I buy the Blu Ray even when I own the DVD. Looking through my Blu Ray collection I only own 4 film on both Blu Ray and DVD.

In town yesterday I came across Robocop for a tenner and couldn't decide if I should buy it or not given that I all ready own the Criterion Collection version as well as the trilogy box set. I'm still in two minds about it but figure that the soundmix alone would make it worth picking up.

So with that in mind I thought it could be a good idea if we had a thread discussing what Blu Rays were worth double dipping on and what were not.

So far I've double dipped on:
300
Transformers
The Warriors
Sunshine

Otis Driftwood

Personally speaking its going to be a hell of a long time before I invest in either a blu ray player or discs.
I frankly find it ridiculous the price of blu rays,and for what?
A bit better picture quality or the sound improved on.
I really dont get it.
The way I see it, blu ray is suited to movies from the last few years ie,CGI heavy films like Transformers,300 or the Dark Knight but what can it possibly add to movies like Night of The Living Dead 68,Friday the 13th or Halloween (originals)?
Plus the fact is I wouldnt buy movies like Transformers,300 or TDK anyway so for me,blu ray is a long ways off.

Blu Ray can seriously improve older films as illistrated in the pictures below.







Blu ray has dropped a lot in price in recent months, you can pick up mnost Blu Rays online for about the same price as the DVD and you can pick up the players for about 200 euro. Throw in an decent sound system and television and you really notice the difference.

Voodu Child

If I already own the DVD, I consider that i've already paid for the right to watch the film, sometimes twice over (with VHS-> DVD). So i'll be damned if im paying full price again. I wouldn't mind paying a small amount for the cost of the media and the transfer, but not even close to the current full price.

I might pick up the same title twice if it was around a fiver. That won't happen en masse for years, so tough luck to the movie companies until then. I'll make do with my DVDs.

As for newer movies (that I don't already own on DVD)...bleh, there's nothing much good these days anyway, nothing that would make me want to start a BD system/collection.

rovert

I bought Zulu for the old man it looks and sounds stunning.

Kess73

rovert wrote: »

I bought Zulu for the old man it looks and sounds stunning.

It really does look amazing, far better than the dvd version. A few oldies that I got on Blu ray are the Searchers and Cool Hand Luke. Both look and sound amazing, and the dvd versions look weak in comparison.




I have Night Of The Living Dead on blu ray also, and there is an improvement in the picture, but not as much as the aforementioned films.

The genre that seems to really have gained the most from the format is the westerns. I have the Searhers, Rio Bravo, Unforgiven and many more on blu ray and they all look stunning. The detail is amazing and the sound blows me away on them.



As for the pricing issue brought up by a poster, it is the bricks and mortar high street shops that are charging the silly prices for blu ray. Amazon sell a good range of Blu ray films from 8.98, and even with the exchange rate, that is a good price. They also do special offers on new blu ray films, an example of this would be Dirty Harry on blu ray. For the first week of it's release they were selling it for 9.99, I priced it in HMV in Limerick on the same week and they wanted €27.99 for it, so it was a no brainer where I got it.

foxyboxer

I remember when DVD was in it's infancy and the players were retailing for around £700 (punt!). :eek: You can up a DVD player for 50 euro nowadays.
Same will happen with Blu-Ray. It all depends on if you just have to see Terminator 2 in high def, surround sound etc. I think I'll just stick with the DVD I bought 8 years ago.

deathstarkiller

I think Blu-Ray is only worth getting if you have a decent sized HD TV and surround sound system.
I have a PS3 and hooked up to a small HD tv Blu-Ray looked very good but regular Dvd's looked very good too. On a 50" HD tv the difference between the two is obvious.

Mossy Monk

nedtheshed wrote: »

I frankly find it ridiculous the price of blu rays,and for what?
A bit better picture quality or the sound improved on.

You answered it yourself. Anyone I have shown my Rambo Bluray to on a big screen was blown away but the picture quality. Blows any dvd away. The sound is also incredible.

Basq

To be honest.. I've said it once and I'll say it again - I buy Blu-ray for the uncompressed sound.

The picture is of course very important but uncompressed sound is the kicker for me.

I've "double-dipped" on The Nightmare Before Christmas, 28 Days Later and Transformers.

Mossy Monk

Mossy Monk wrote: »

You answered it yourself. Anyone I have shown my Rambo Bluray to on a big screen was blown away but the picture quality. Blows any dvd away. The sound is also incredible.

Rambo is amazing on Blu Ray. Definetly one of the best examples of just what the format can do. I Robot is another fantastic title. I saw it beign demoed in a shop awhile back and am seriously considering picking it up in the next few days even though I have the DVD.

I was thinking that us boardsies could recommend which Blu Rays are worth the double dip. Basquille's recent thread put me off picking up the 28 Days Later Blu Ray as I all ready own both the normal and special edition but was considering the Blu Ray also.

Basq

Deleted User wrote: »

I was thinking that us boardsies could recommend which Blu Rays are worth the double dip. Basquille's recent thread put me off picking up the 28 Days Later Blu Ray as I all ready own both the normal and special edition but was considering the Blu Ray also.

It's in my collection as well as yours Darko so I'd be inclined to think 'Sunshine' is well worth the double-dip... the sound (with the single best soundtrack of the last few years) and picture make it a must-own.

Sleipnir

Most Blu-Ray players will upscale DVD's to 1080p anyway so I wouldn't bother buying the same title on Blu-Ray. Unless you want the audio codecs it provides but I would only want that for something like "Heat" (which isn't out on Blu-Ray...yet)

basquille

basquille wrote: »

It's in my collection as well as yours Darko so I'd be inclined to think 'Sunshine' is well worth the double-dip... the sound (with the single best soundtrack of the last few years) and picture make it a must-own.

Sunshine is definetly worth picking up. I've been using it as a demo disc and quiet a few people have been impressed with it. I'm waiting to double dip on Sin City. First time I watched the DVD on a 52" HD tv my jaw dropped so I can only hope that the Blu Ray repeats it. I also have Stargate on both DVD and Blu Ray and the Blu Ray sounds fantastic. Really does enhance the experience.

I would buy the Searchers on Blu Ray but I have the HDDVD and it's simply amazing. I just realised that I own both Transformers and 300 on DVD, HDDVD and Blu Ray. :eek: And even scarier is that I have multiple copies of Transformers on DVD, damned limited editon steel boxes and holographic covers.

Sleipnir

Sleipnir wrote: »

Most Blu-Ray players will upscale DVD's to 1080p anyway so I wouldn't bother buying the same title on Blu-Ray. Unless you want the audio codecs it provides but I would only want that for something like "Heat" (which isn't out on Blu-Ray...yet)

On a small screen the difference between an upscaled dvd and the blu ray may not be that noticeable but on a big screen the differnce is immense. I played the DVDs and Blu Rays of both Sunshine and Rambo side by side on the same screen and the difference was amazing.

My friend who oned the Rambo dvd was swayed to Blu Ray and bought a Blu Ray player the next day. He's been signing its praises since.

iMax

All about the sound also. However I'm kind of deciding that apart from animation (disney/pixar/dreamworks) and superhero movies or event titles, I'm not really into buying movies. I don't watch them anymore

rednik

I personally think if you are a serious film fan well then blu ray is a must. Upscaling is great but it does not equal the quality which blu ray acheives. I have bought over 80 BD in the past year and recently started buying concerts on BD. The picture quality on most is superb but the audio as long as it is HD lossless sound it has no equal.
I have double dipped on several discs and found the difference worthwhile but I normally wait for the reviews on the AV forums to help. I have made a few blind buys and only one has been disappointing and this is Escape from New York which is a dreadful transfer.
The prices are falling all the time but I have bought most of these on the net. I was in HMV on Sunday and saw American Gangster for 16.99 so needless to say I bought it.

iMax

Actually, just looked & I have double dipped on Die Hard (1,2 & 4). There is a marked improvement in them.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Deleted User wrote: »

With the constant release of older titles on Blu Ray all of which are all ready available on DVD one has to ask the question, do I buy the Blu Ray even when I own the DVD. Looking through my Blu Ray collection I only own 4 film on both Blu Ray and DVD.

In town yesterday I came across Robocop for a tenner and couldn't decide if I should buy it or not given that I all ready own the Criterion Collection version as well as the trilogy box set. I'm still in two minds about it but figure that the soundmix alone would make it worth picking up.

So with that in mind I thought it could be a good idea if we had a thread discussing what Blu Rays were worth double dipping on and what were not.

So far I've double dipped on:
300
Transformers
The Warriors
Sunshine

I'm not a fan of Blue ray. The reason being is that DVD was the major leap forward (after VHS; Laserdisc never really hit it off here) and (imo) Blueray is essentially an "upgrade". Yes you'll get the better picture and sound but it'll cost ya. The Blurays that many people seem to refernce that are worth getting are usually action (or something with some CGI) or old(er) films. Yes both may benefit from an "upgraded" picture but what's wrong with the DVD ? I don't think it will always be a case that the BD is the winner hands down.

There's a thing with the films that are actually being released on bluray too. It's mainly big mainstream fare with the likes of your arty-farty, foreign or independent not getting much of a look in . Though this may change when if bluray completely renders DVD obsolete. I don't think it will, there's still people who hang on to their laserdisc and VHS collections (obviously more so if the titles haven't been released on DVD).

It's not just the cost of the discs or the players (but yes , both have come down in price very fast in the last year - this is due to Warner and Sony's PS3 I reckon) but also the televisions too. I've still got a CRT TV and won't be getting anything high-def anytime soon cause I don't want to get into debt just for a telly like.

So for now , I think DVD is amazingly affordable (with most new releases being reduced in price within about 2months) and it's still a brilliant format. It's still got it's problems what with better DVDs (as in more comprehensive extras and better quality transfers) available in different regions.


Btw, Robocop's a great film but eh, 3 copies ? I don't think it's that good

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare3/robocop.htm
I think the Region 2 MGM version comes out pretty well in that comparison. Except for the last pic there were it's a bit soft.
Not sure if you can really compare DVD and BD on the one computer/laptop screen can you ?

Mossy Monk

Alan Rouge wrote: »

also the televisions too. I've still got a CRT TV and won't be getting anything high-def anytime soon cause I don't want to get into debt just for a telly like.

Go into any tv shop now and it is all lcd and plasma. The price of these has plummeted too so getting into debt is unlikely unless you buy one every year.

Vic Vinegar

I'd check out High Def Digest first for reviews before buying a Blu-ray movie, as some of them would have fairly crap transfers and wouldn't really be worth the extra cash to have on blu-ray (28 days later is one, although that's mainly the fault of the director for using a vary basic and low res camera in filming)

http://www.highdefdigest.com

It breaks the reviews down into sections and gives ratings for sound & video quality as well as the movie itself and the the extras it comes with. Very handy!

jArgHA

I bought my first BD a couple of months back and have slowly but surely started purchasing more of them (up to 6 titles now ) after being so impressed with the first I bought (BBC's Planet Earth). It is obvious that the quality of picture and sound is (for the most part) far superior to the DVD release of the same title.

However, as another poster said above, I think the decision of whether to go with BD is largely down to the person and TV in question, with many not being too fussed about superior clarity / audio, especially when if the TV being used will not show much of a difference. I am lucky to have use of a HD projector, so the difference between the upscaled DVD & BD picture is very obvious, and therefore the choice of what format to buy on is now a no brainer for me.

I also use High Def Digest, Bluray.com and avforums.com to read Bluray release reviews before deciding on a purchase, as the above poster says, sometimes the BD release just doesn't cut it and is not worth buying in that format, when it can be got for cheaper on DVD.

Thus far the only release I have on both DVD and BD is 2001, and I consider the BD purchase to have been well worth it. I will most likely sell any DVDs with I end up purchasing the BD release of, as I don't see the point in having double copies.

mle1324

Deleted User wrote: »

With the constant release of older titles on Blu Ray all of which are all ready available on DVD one has to ask the question, do I buy the Blu Ray even when I own the DVD. Looking through my Blu Ray collection I only own 4 film on both Blu Ray and DVD.

In town yesterday I came across Robocop for a tenner and couldn't decide if I should buy it or not given that I all ready own the Criterion Collection version as well as the trilogy box set. I'm still in two minds about it but figure that the soundmix alone would make it worth picking up.

So with that in mind I thought it could be a good idea if we had a thread discussing what Blu Rays were worth double dipping on and what were not.

So far I've double dipped on:
300
Transformers
The Warriors
Sunshine

buy the ps3,well worth the money

Red Sleeping Beauty

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Go into any tv shop now and it is all lcd and plasma. The price of these has plummeted too so getting into debt is unlikely unless you buy one every year.

I'm not disagreeing that there's lots of them around but are the "affordable" sets the best ? ie , the best suited for the purpose? There's still TVs north of a grand and it's not got as much to do with the size. I was in PowerCity here in Dublin the other day and their whole "entertainment" section was devoted to TVs. I'm still not buying one
There's one already in the house I'm in and that's plenty I reckon. Still CRT for me

Has anyone picked up the X-Men box set on Blu Ray? I've been toying with it the past few days as it's only 40 euro in HMV. I all ready have all 3 on DVD but reckon that like Sunshine they could be well worth picking up.

Galvasean

There are a few titles on my Blu-Ray 'double dip' wishlist that I plan to pick up if I find the for other a tenner, including Transformers and 300. Also possibly the Dark Knight.

Valmont

I can't see myself going blu-ray for a good while. I enjoy being able to amble into HMV and pick up something like HEAT for a fiver. It's the reason I have such a great collection. Maybe when I start making some money I will.

MooseJam

I don't think I'll ever buy a blu - ray , even if they were giving them out free I wouldn't take any they are just dust collecters, with broadband speeds increasing all the time and hard drive sizes going up you can download anything you want, in HD or plain old divx.

I go into the likes of HMV quite a lot and just stroll around with my mobile taking a memo of anything that looks interesting - music films or TV shows then I go and download them at home, seriously I think the times of owning physical collections are coming to an end

SirLemonhead

MooseJam wrote: »

I go into the likes of HMV quite a lot and just stroll around with my mobile taking a memo of anything that looks interesting - music films or TV shows then I go and download them at home, seriously I think the times of owning physical collections are coming to an end

Yeah but that's just a retarded point to make - that's not legal. I don't fancy downloading a 12+ gig HD film myself anytime soon

mewso

For those with Blu-Ray a quick question. Does CGI look better or more CGI-y if you know what I mean? I just thought with more detail the differences between the real and the computer generated might appear more obvious and distracting.

musician

musician wrote: »

For those with Blu-Ray a quick question. Does CGI look better or more CGI-y if you know what I mean? I just thought with more detail the differences between the real and the computer generated might appear more obvious and distracting.

CGI looks fine in most Blu Rays. Transformers is a great example of it looking fantastic on the format. Dragon Wars is another, a pretty average film which just happens to look absolutly fantastic.

branners69

Those who feel that blu ray isnt worth the money have not experienced the full audio and visual glory it offers, if you did experience it you would know you are talking sh1te!

To see a dvd on my 92" HD projector is a struggle, bang in a blu ray and the magic starts, then the surround sound kicks in and thats it, true cinema experience at its best sitting in my laz-i-boy recliner with a fridge full of beer, who needs the cinema!

I was one of those who paid out £700 for a Pioneer dvd player and a further £1500 for a 32" Phillips wide screen tv! With a collection of over 600 dvds I am now starting to build up my blu ray collection.

I have started on my favourites Shawshank, Rambo Boxset, Simpsons, Black Hawk Down, Batman 1 & 2 (Bale ones), 300, Band of Brothers boxset, Godfather boxset, Fight Club, Bladerunner, The Searchers, Die Hard 1 and a few more. I also have Dirty Dancing for the missus and maybe 7 or so animation films such as Tinkerbell and Cinderella for my 2 year old girl.

I have a list as long as my arm of films I want to watch in HD but it will take a while to replace all 600 dvds!!

iMax

CGI is probably the best thing on BD. It really is stunning. most of my stuff is animation & I the cgi stuff (even the older CGI stuff) is beautiful.

And as for moosejam: I think the times of owning physical collections are coming to an end

Not a chance. it's great to have a backup copy, but we're not going to have afordable in home fast broadband here for decades. spend a week downloading a HD movie, cost you more in electricity than it would to buy it & what happens when your HDD fails ???

Galvasean

Deleted User wrote: »

CGI looks fine in most Blu Rays. Transformers is a great example of it looking fantastic on the format. Dragon Wars is another, a pretty average film which just happens to look absolutly fantastic.

On the flip side, Ghost rider looked awful.
I think its a case of good CGI looks better, bad CGI looks even worse.

MooseJam

MooseJam wrote: »

I don't think I'll ever buy a blu - ray , even if they were giving them out free I wouldn't take any they are just dust collecters, with broadband speeds increasing all the time and hard drive sizes going up you can download anything you want, in HD or plain old divx.

I go into the likes of HMV quite a lot and just stroll around with my mobile taking a memo of anything that looks interesting - music films or TV shows then I go and download them at home, seriously I think the times of owning physical collections are coming to an end

Thought I'd replied to this all ready. There are a number of problems with downloading HD material. Lets take a film such as Akira. To get the full HD with no compression means that you'll be downloading a 20 gig file. That means that you'd only get 50 HD films on a terrabyte hard drive. It's also not exactly convient when you consider the time it takes to download. Then you have to consider the possibilities of it being deleted, lost, etc.

Now you could go out and buy the Blu Ray of Akira for as little as 12 euro in some places making it far more cost effictive to simply buy the Blu Ray.

MooseJam

Deleted User wrote: »

Thought I'd replied to this all ready. There are a number of problems with downloading HD material. Lets take a film such as Akira. To get the full HD with no compression means that you'll be downloading a 20 gig file. That means that you'd only get 50 HD films on a terrabyte hard drive. It's also not exactly convient when you consider the time it takes to download. Then you have to consider the possibilities of it being deleted, lost, etc.

Now you could go out and buy the Blu Ray of Akira for as little as 12 euro in some places making it far more cost effictive to simply buy the Blu Ray.

You probably did, feels a bit deja vu, with regards to downloading HD films yes at the moment it is a lot easier to buy however improvements in broadband and storage mediums will march on , the very same factors you have just mentioned would have limited you in downloading a DVD 10 years ago, but now I can download a DVD rip, any DVD you would find in a highstreet shop, in 10 minutes, in a few years it will be the same for blu-ray, yes you are going to still be looking at some type of lossy compression, but it will still be HD and far better than DVD quality,

MooseJam

MooseJam wrote: »

You probably did, feels a bit deja vu, with regards to downloading HD films yes at the moment it is a lot easier to buy however improvements in broadband and storage mediums will march on , the very same factors you have just mentioned would have limited you in downloading a DVD 10 years ago, but now I can download a DVD rip, any DVD you would find in a highstreet shop, in 10 minutes, in a few years it will be the same for blu-ray, yes you are going to still be looking at some type of lossy compression, but it will still be HD and far better than DVD quality,

Better than DVD quality is all well and good but it won't be true HD. You seriously believe that a HD download will retain the sound mix, the one aspect of Blu Ray that in my opinion makes it a must buy. You also say that you can download any DVD you find in a high street, this isn't exactly true. There are dozens and dozens of films that you can't find on any torrent site or if you do they are dead due to lack of seeders.

While speeds are certainly improving I really don't see the internet service providers in Ireland getting good enough to make downloading HD worthwhile. Even TV shows on Blu Ray are dropping, I got a HD rip of Terminator 2 and while it looked good the Blu Ray I watched of it was far, far superior. The picture was at least twice as good and the sound ten times as good.

I do download quite a bit but if I like something I will go out and buy it eventually. It's just so much handier having something on disc close to hand as I don't spend my time worrying that it could be deleted by accident. I know that you can pcik up a decent external hard drive for a 100 euro or less htese days but who want's 2 hard drive full of the same films and shows?

MooseJam

Deleted User wrote: »

Better than DVD quality is all well and good but it won't be true HD. You seriously believe that a HD download will retain the sound mix, the one aspect of Blu Ray that in my opinion makes it a must buy.

To be honest I don't know much about HD and what it's sound mix is like but I do think saying it's just too big there's no way is just not true and with the onward march of technology size just is not a limiting factor any more, not when you are talking about years, massive will always end up small, who would have thought we'd be downloading 10gb games just a few years ago

Deleted User wrote: »

You also say that you can download any DVD you find in a high street, this isn't exactly true. There are dozens and dozens of films that you can't find on any torrent site or if you do they are dead due to lack of seeders.

Well that was a bit of an exaggeration, certainly there are films not available to download but they would generally be very old or specialist, average joe punter looking for films currently on the new release shelf in extravision isn't going to have a problem

Deleted User wrote: »

While speeds are certainly improving I really don't see the internet service providers in Ireland getting good enough to make downloading HD worthwhile.

We were all on dial-up a few years ago, now 20 meg is common, gigabit broadband is going to happen, might be a while off yet but it is going to happen.

Deleted User wrote: »

I do download quite a bit but if I like something I will go out and buy it eventually. It's just so much handier having something on disc close to hand as I don't spend my time worrying that it could be deleted by accident. I know that you can pcik up a decent external hard drive for a 100 euro or less htese days but who want's 2 hard drive full of the same films and shows?

This is very true all right, there's always the chance a disk could die, I have my music collection on two drives at the moment because mp3's don't take up much space , I only have my movies on one and I could lose them, but the pro's - it's free - outweight the negatives.

Anyway the main point I'm making is that while it may be massive now it's going to be small in time, how much time who knows, but its as sure a fact as any, in the not too distant future you will be able to store your entire bluray collection on a memory key

MooseJam

MooseJam wrote: »

To be honest I don't know much about HD and what it's sound mix is like but I do think saying it's just too big there's no way is just not true and with the onward march of technology size just is not a limiting factor any more, not when you are talking about years, massive will always end up small, who would have thought we'd be downloading 10gb games just a few years ago

We could be arguing the bulk of this for the next year and not get anywhere. I agree that speeds and storage has improved immensly, I can testify to that myself as I've often gone to bed only to wake up and find 6-10 gigs has finished downloading during the night.

I do believe however that if you have never heard a Blu Ray sound mix that you should rectify this immediatedly. It really does improve make the difference. While the picture is a nice bonus if Blu Ray discs were simply DVD quality with HD sound I would still buy them. Get your hands on a copy of the Sunshine Blu Ray and see what you think of it.

mewso

Deleted User wrote: »

. You also say that you can download any DVD you find in a high street, this isn't exactly true. There are dozens and dozens of films that you can't find on any torrent site or if you do they are dead due to lack of seeders.

While I agree with buying something when I like it I wanted to point out that it's quite possible to find almost anything these days. Forget torrents. Google any film followed by a word that rhymes with animal snare and you'll often find it.

MooseJam

Deleted User wrote: »

I do believe however that if you have never heard a Blu Ray sound mix that you should rectify this immediatedly. It really does improve make the difference. While the picture is a nice bonus if Blu Ray discs were simply DVD quality with HD sound I would still buy them. Get your hands on a copy of the Sunshine Blu Ray and see what you think of it.

I don't have a HD tv myself, I do have a big ass monitor that does 1900x1200 though, I also have 5.1 sound but I don't know if this is adequate, I have given some thought to buying a bly-ray player for the pc with the prices coming down but would I have to go and buy 7.1 speakers or would 5.1 do the job ?

MooseJam

MooseJam wrote: »

I don't have a HD tv myself, I do have a big ass monitor that does 1900x1200 though, I also have 5.1 sound but I don't know if this is adequate, I have given some thought to buying a bly-ray player for the pc with the prices coming down but would I have to go and buy 7.1 speakers or would 5.1 do the job ?

At home it's a 7.1 set up and the sound is absolutly breath taking. i'm using a 5.1 set up myself and even with them the sound is impressive. Watching Universal Soldier on 5.1 and it was fantastic.

Voodu Child

Better than DVD quality is all well and good but it won't be true HD. You seriously believe that a HD download will retain the sound mix, the one aspect of Blu Ray that in my opinion makes it a must buy.

Blu-Ray audio quality is only as good as your sound system and speaker setup (placement, room acoustics, calibration etc). Most people in the DVD-era didn't have a good enough sound system to get the full benefit of it. (It might still have sounded great, but they werent approaching the limits of the format).

It's not going to be any different in the Blu-Ray era. You can put 7.1 lossless audio on a disc, but if you're listening to it through a basic/cheap system, it might as well be 448kbps AC3. Anybody saying differently is fooling themselves tbh. It's like someone saying they can hear a 'breathtaking' difference between CD and 192kbps MP3 on their crappy Argos micro-system. :pac:

Mr. K

I've double-dipped with Batman Begins and Casino Royale. Transformers and the Spidey and X-Men trilogies are tempting me too. Oh, and I bought Robocop on BR, having never picked up the DVD. I haven't seen Akira in years either, I'd buy it if I came across it cheap.

iMax

voodoo_child wrote: »

Blu-Ray audio quality is only as good as your sound system and speaker setup (placement, room acoustics, calibration etc). Most people in the DVD-era didn't have a good enough sound system to get the full benefit of it. (It might still have sounded great, but they werent approaching the limits of the format).

It's not going to be any different in the Blu-Ray era. You can put 7.1 lossless audio on a disc, but if you're listening to it through a basic/cheap system, it might as well be 448kbps AC3. Anybody saying differently is fooling themselves tbh. It's like someone saying they can hear a 'breathtaking' difference between CD and 192kbps MP3 on their crappy Argos micro-system. :pac:

Yes & no. I have a 7.1 amp (although set up as 5.1) with both a BD & DVD running through it through HDMI & if I put on my DTS die hard (available for purchase on adverts - shameless plug) on the DVD & then the same scene on BD (loseless) there is a noticeable difference.

mcwhirter

Deleted User wrote: »

Blu Ray can seriously improve older films as illistrated in the pictures below.







Blu ray has dropped a lot in price in recent months, you can pick up mnost Blu Rays online for about the same price as the DVD and you can pick up the players for about 200 euro. Throw in an decent sound system and television and you really notice the difference.

It all depends on the original source material though.

Fighting Irish

I bought into DVD, fook buying into anything else.

Digital copy > *

toiletduck

MooseJam wrote: »

II go into the likes of HMV quite a lot and just stroll around with my mobile taking a memo of anything that looks interesting - music films or TV shows then I go and download them at home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05KrEjHW6g :pac:

rednik

It doesn't just depend on the source material it also depends on the company given the task of overseeing the transfer. Recently good source material has been transfered badly by certain companies. The director of the movie may also have an input into the transfer as is the case with The French Connection where William Friedkin completely recoloured the movie for blu ray. This has met with a lot of criticism. For me personally all I want to see is the best transfer possible of the source material but as close to its original release.