I originally watched Avatar twice in a classic IMAX theater in 3D. I got the DVD today. I actually have a 42 inch 1080P monitor I use as my computer monitor at home. I checked out some of the scenes where the 3D was noticeable, like where the firefly things are settling on Jake and frankly I found I wasn’t missing the 3D at all. Upscaling the DVD to 1080p actually worked pretty good and the movie was quite watchable, but I think I 'll like it better when I get a blu-ray drive, so I can watch it in native 1080P. The image doesn’t look at sharp as it could be.
Since I sit 18 inches from the computer screen, when I turn the lights off, it is almost as immersive as IMAX. I mean classic IMAX. I haven’t seen the movie on the smaller cineplex IMAX screen. I have a 92 inch projector and the movie looks pretty good on that, but sitting 12 feet away I found I was missing the immersive effect.
Of course being able to schedule an intermission to go to the bathroom is also a big plus.
I ordered the combo DVD/BluRay from Amazon. It was only $8 more than the DVD by itself. I figured I’d get a Bluray drive eventually. I’m holding back, because I’m thinking I should get a bluray burner, since I have an HD camcorder.
Correction. I just checked the invoice from Amazon. They lowered the price for the combo from when I preordered from $25 to $20 and the DVD is $16, so the difference is only $4.
Yeah, that sounds about right. At Shopko today (for those outside the Midwest, Shopko is a slightly higher priced Target with a smaller variety of items), the combo pack was on “sale” for $26 vs $18 for the DVD. Even though I have a blu-ray player, I didn’t believe it was worth the extra eight bucks for a second copy. I did find it silly to see about 30 copies of the BD and 100 copies of the DVD on display, though.
