# Blu-Ray Recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002 "2010-02-14T22:23:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/1 "2010-02-14T22:23:05Z")
I’m not looking for movie recommendations per se, but recommendations for movies that look especially good in 1080p. What films look awesome on Blu-Ray? I’ve heard good things about Dark Knight and the recent Bond films. What else? Is there a good website for these things? Is the conversion to Blu-ray of films like Heat any good? ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/2 "2010-02-14T22:51:08Z")
The Dark knight looks good during the IMAX scenes. Both new Bond movies Iron Man The Incredible Hulk I, Robot Inglourious Basterds Star Trek This Is It Watchmen Zombieland I use Star Trek to show off my projector and HD audio to people that have never seen Blu-ray. This Is It has some of the best sounding music I’ve ever heard reproduced at home from a “movie.” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/3 "2010-02-14T23:01:57Z")
Ford has a great list. Also, animated movies look amazing. Also: Planet Earth (BBC documentary) Baraka ---
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/4 "2010-02-14T23:13:02Z")
[Blu-ray.com](http://www.blu-ray.com/) has reviews of almost everything, with screenshots. [Wild China](http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Wild-China-Blu-ray-Review/777/), from the makers of Planet Earth, is awesome. And [North By Northwest](http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/North-by-Northwest-Blu-ray-Review/762/) looks amazing for a 50-year-old movie. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/5 "2010-02-14T23:18:19Z")
I can recommend [http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/](http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/) as a great place for blu-ray reviews. They review the movie, then they review the video and audio. Both the arts and the tech reviews are fairly in-depth, with time taken to explain the terminology. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/6 "2010-02-14T23:25:45Z")
I saw most titles in bluray as they came out, and there’s never been a more breathtaking transfer than John Ford’s _The Searchers_. Stands up to even the highest-end digital films of the last couple years. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/7 "2010-02-14T23:30:06Z")
Another vote for Star Trek - I’m up to a couple dozen Blu-Rays now and that’s the one that I use to show off my AV system. There are a couple of space battle scenes with little pieces of debris going everywhere and epic music playing that really show off in a “DVD can’t do this” sort of way. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/8 "2010-02-14T23:58:21Z")
**Up** … Or frankly anything animated. Animation is just beautiful in HD ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/9 "2010-02-15T00:04:53Z")
_Star Trek_ was the first Blu-Ray movie I got. I also just finished watching, of all things, _Speed Racer_. If you’re looking for eyecandy, that movie has it in spades. So fun to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/10 "2010-02-15T01:34:27Z")
Not a movie, but BBC’s _Planet Earth_ is drop-dead gorgeous in 1080p. Worth having. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/11 "2010-02-15T02:09:39Z")
I forgot Wall-E on my list. Any Pixar movie though. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/12 "2010-02-15T02:12:56Z")
pardon the minor hijack, but can anyone recommend a decent/inexpensive Blu-Ray player? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/13 "2010-02-15T14:38:07Z")
Thanks for the recs everyone. **phungi** , I was looking for the cheapest player that wouldn’t have obvious problems, and I ended up with a Panasonic DMP-BK60k. It doesn’t do a lot of the internet streaming (netflix, pandora etc.) which seems to be all the rage, but it does the basics really well. I haven’t watched enough movies with it to offer my personal recommendation, but it was the result I reached from my research. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/14 "2010-02-15T17:00:12Z")
I haven’t seen it in blu-ray yet, but I’m assuming that Sin City would be gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/15 "2010-02-15T17:02:33Z")
> [@Fritz](#): > > Not a movie, but BBC’s _Planet Earth_ is drop-dead gorgeous in 1080p. Worth having. I want to third this recommendation. If you can only own one film on Blu-Ray, this would be what you should get. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/16 "2010-02-16T02:45:56Z")
The “Band of Brothers” Blu-Ray only special features are so good, I kind of wonder what I did the many years I’d watched it before getting the discs. Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/17 "2010-02-16T03:03:15Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > The “Band of Brothers” Blu-Ray only special features are so good, I kind of wonder what I did the many years I’d watched it before getting the discs. Amazing. I love Band of Brothers. What are the special features? ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/18 "2010-02-16T03:31:15Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > pardon the minor hijack, but can anyone recommend a decent/inexpensive Blu-Ray player? If you’re a downloading kind of guy/gal, LG’s [play mkv’s, avi’s, Netflix,](http://www.lge.com/us/tv-audio-video/video/LG-blu-ray-dvd-player-BD570.jsp) and a bunch more formats. One caveat: I think the USB port only takes .fat files, so instead of plugging an external drive in, I have to transfer whatever I’m watching onto a thumb thumb drive. But mine’s an older model, may be improved now Oh yeah, great on Bluray movie- Children of Men. It’s a very visually-detailed film, and bluray really makes it shine ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/19 "2010-02-16T04:32:35Z")
> [@Annie](#): > > If you’re a downloading kind of guy/gal, LG’s [play mkv’s, avi’s, Netflix,](http://www.lge.com/us/tv-audio-video/video/LG-blu-ray-dvd-player-BD570.jsp) and a bunch more formats. One caveat: I think the USB port only takes .fat files, so instead of plugging an external drive in, I have to transfer whatever I’m watching onto a thumb thumb drive. But mine’s an older model, may be improved now There’s also the [BD-P1590](http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/tv-video/blu-ray/blu-ray-players/BD-P1590/XAA/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&returnurl=), which will connect to Netflix, Pandora, Youtube, and Blockbuster, but it won’t play video files like AVIs. When I picked it up after Christmas, it was $150. Be wary of cheap Blu-Ray players, though. For some reason mine simply will not play the movie _9_ (I tried with two different discs of the movie), and there may be others it locks up on. Other than that one oddity, though, it’s been great. The value in streaming Netflix to the BR player is not to be underestimated. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002/20 "2010-02-16T10:56:04Z")
I’ve had good luck with my Magnavox NB530MGX model. Cost me 80 bucks, plays DVD and Blu-Ray, and even is smart enough to know widescreen from normal. It _does_ need the firmware update, but once you do that, it’s fast, doesn’t freeze up at all, etcetera. Doesn’t play Divx, but the old DVD player does, so there you go. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blu-ray-recommendations/529002.md?page=2)