I plan on getting an HDTV and a blu-ray player in the near future. However, I don’t want to replace all my DVDs. What blu-rays are so superior that I should upgrade? Yes, I know all blu-rays are better than all DVDs, but which ones really stand out?
Personally I wouldn’t replace any of my existing DVD collection for Blu rays just because. In fact I still buy the bulk of moves on DVD now due to the cost factor. (Not sure if this is the case in the US but in Australia Blu-Rays are 25-50% more expensive than the equavalent DVD.)
For me the only things I would specifically go out of my way to buy Blu ray are nature doco’s. The details are just fantatic if they’ve been filmed in HD.
We bought an HDTV and blu-ray player last Christmas, too, and we are also being choosy with which movies we’ll pay the extra bucks for blu-ray. We don’t buy a lot of nature docs, but I can see that they would be worth the money. We’re basing ours puchases mostly on whether it is a special effects heavy movie. I was fairly lukewarm on blu-rays, but after having watched a movie like Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland,” I’m on board - it really is that impressive.
FYI, some of the studios have decided to subsidize upgrading some DVDs to Blu-Ray. Here’s Warner Bros site:
Amazon’s trade-in program can net you a few coins for your old DVDs, too:
I generally upgrade on the movies that are very “visual” to begin with (epic movies like Last of the Mohicans, action movies, scifi movies, Pixar movies) or just any favorite movie that I know I will watch again many times. But before I buy a blu-ray, I check out the blu-ray specific reviews at sites like DVDTalk and DVDBeaver. Some movies are released with not-so-great transfers on blu-ray, so it’s worth it to do a little research.
Also, if you use Netflix, you can pay an extra buck or two a month to get the blu-ray versions (if available) of the movies in your queue mailed to you instead of the DVD versions.
I think the BBC series Planet Earth stands out.
Not to dump on your thread, but why bother? All media is slowly shifting to online, e.g., Netflicks, Hulu, and many other services. Purchasing discs seems like an awful waste of money now.
Until around two years ago, I was buying 4 to 5 movies a month. However, as more became available online, my purchases decreased in equal measure. I now haven’t purchased a movie in over a year, and may never again.
Also, after considering replacing my VHS movies with DVD and not doing it, considering replacing my laserdisc movies with DVD and not doing it, and then considering replacing my DVD movies with Blu-ray and not doing it, I think I’m ahead of the game.
There is a release of the Godfather trilogy on DVD and Blu-Ray called the Coppola Restoration that’s supposed to be worthwhile. So I’ve purchased that, despite having an earlier DVD release of the movies. But in general, I only bought Blu-Ray releases for a very few movies I already had on DVD, mainly ones I really liked and wanted to see in the best possible format. (And then I’ve tried to make a point of buying the Blu-Ray versions of any new movies.)
The quality of the audio and video is inferior on every streaming service. These services compress the signals. If your preference is older films that you watch from 15 feet away on your 40" HDTV (using its speakers) then it doesn’t really matter.
If you have equipment that allows you to fully enjoy the benefits of the format, Blu-Ray can’t be beat.
If you grew up watching The Wizard of Oz on crappy TV, the Blu-Ray will knock your socks off.
I will always say anything animated should be played in HD, even hand drawn things (like the Simpsons Movie, or Family Guy episodes/movies) look just gorgeous on HD
For the unitiated: could I still play my existing DVD’s on a new Blu-Ray, and if I can, will they look any better or worse than they do on my current DVD?
Yep, I get that. I guess it’s simply not that important to me any longer, and certainly not enough for me to spend money to replace my current library, or even a fraction thereof, with the same content in higher resolution.
I have a newer player that accepts both standard DVD and blu-ray discs and I think I have one or two movies on blu-ray. Yes, the quality is better, but I have the same experience watching a movie via Netflicks online in standard resolution. YMMV of course.
Yes you can. You just have to get a player that accepts both. It’ll say it on the box. The quality of your DVDs will probably be the same as when played in your old DVD player. At least that’s my experience.
The Gone With the Wind Bluray truly is amazing. You’ll have no idea it’s a movie from the 30s!!!
I typically only double dip if the Bluray is a new restoration. If it uses the same master as the DVD did, then the difference won’t be substantial. Criterion, in particular, is doing new masters for all of their double-dip Bluray releases (and for some reason is even re-releasing these new prints to DVD again as well) and they make it easy to spot them since the new versions always get different cover art.
I upgraded my entire library, it was absolutely worth it. And by “library” I mean “Netflix subscription”.
But honestly, I have three source movies, so that there’s always something around if I really just want to enjoy my tv and surround sound:
Planet Earth
Firefly
Band of Brothers
And, of course, whatever Netflix has sent me. You can get Band of Brothers much cheaper from the UK Amazon portal.
The player will most likely up-convert the DVD to a higher resolution. While there is no new information generated, an up-converted DVD does tend to look better, especially if you were used to watching DVDs in 480i and are now getting them in at least 480p or better.
I’m going to be in the market for a new HDTV soon, so will be getting a Blu-Ray player of some kind at the same time. perhaps a PS3. Haven’t decided yet. Anyway, I also have been wondering which discs I’d re-purchase in HD.
The conclusion I came to was:
I will buy many future DVDs in Blu-Ray, but not all, and I’d only pick a few of my most watched favourites in my back catalogue to replace. Things like Back to the Future, the Pixar and animated Disney oeuvre, Pirates of the Caribbean, and such like. I’m not even sure what is available on Blu-Ray.
This may be true in America, but not so much in other countries I fear. There are a minimal options available here in Australia, but nowhere near the level of availability and simplicity that the US has. Unfortunately we’re burdened with expensive and very limited internet.
It also depends on how you used to connect your DVD player to your TV. If it already had an HDMI out, the difference won’t be that startling, but if you used to have a composite video cable and are now using the Blu-Ray player’s upscaler and HDMI, it will look a million times better than before. Native Blu-Ray is a different beast altogether, though.
Check out this website:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/
They usually give you a lot details about the quality of the blu-ray transfer. Keep in mind that blu-ray is not magic and they are at the mercy of the quality of the print they are working from.
Also check into the upscaling quality of the blu-ray player. Some DVDs upscale very well.
BTW, a comment on Netflix streaming. It is more heavily compressed than a DVD. Most of the time it looks fine, but in some scenes with a lot of motion, where there can be annoying artifacts. I remember watching a scene in Waterworld where there was a lot of moving water that was quite distracting.