Blu-ray News and Deals

[Koray Savas 2,251]

My DVD/Blu collection jut imploded. Since my brother is moving out in a couple days, he packed up all the movies he owns. Now all I've got left is about 100 versus the 600 the closet had stored.

Gonna have to do some serious rebuying, or rather just buying, since I never bought them in the first place.

[Jay 37,352]

What's the point in owning them all? You can just get netflix and save yourself hundreds of dollars a year for the same experience.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I've looked into Netflix. Hell I even went up to the page where you enter your billing information but I backed out. I want options, I don't want to have to choose 2 movies at a time and then wait days to get another when I'm done. Also, once it's bought, it's mine for life. Think of it like if they were offering scores instead of movies. If there was a Net-trax, would you rent 2 scores a month and then send them back? I guess I kinda just hoard and collect. I won't rebuy DVDs though, just Blu.

[Wycket 36]

Well, ever since I got Netflix I hardly find the need to buy movies or tv shows anymore. Instant queue has a lot of options in both department that keep me quite busy, and with the $9 plan I get one DVD at a time, but I plan it so I get 2 a week to maximize my money. Maybe I'm just lucky that a shipping center is close enough that I get it the day after they ship it, but it really eliminates the need to buy things I don't plan on watching all too often (also makes me analyze movies I see in theaters much more carefully).

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Speaking of James Cameron movies inexplicably not available on Blu-ray, Titanic is mysteriously now out of print on DVD. Hmm...

[King Mark 3,631]

I only buy the movies I really really like. I don;t see the point of a shelf with 600 DVD/Blu Ray I'd never watch. I think movies can be compulsive buying if your not careful.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

You're right. Earlier this year I was building up a Blu-ray army. I don't even watch many of the films I got. A lot of good movies, but nothing I will ever want to re-watch as opposed to tried and true all-time favorites (which is what I have limited to at this point). I find myself wondering why the hell I didn't buy the Star Trek movie sets rather than all these other titles I don't even have desire to watch. My DVD collection has also been drastically reduced.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I only buy the movies I really really like. I don;t see the point of a shelf with 600 DVD/Blu Ray I'd never watch. I think movies can be compulsive buying if your not careful.

That's pretty much the stage I'm in. I buy them just because it's what I've always done. I have like 5 Blus I still haven't watched. Gaming is more of my thing these days. In my free time, I just play rather than watch.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'm a bit like that buying games. I buy whatever I have an interest in playing when there's a big price drop or an interesting weekly special. I also like to check out the used game section at EB games and GameStop

It took me 1 year to play 25 games (from start to End Credits) AND I have about 20 titles lined up for the next year or so to play .But at least with 1 game you get 50-100 hours of play time vs just a movie you'll watch once.

Last movie I bought was in 2005 I think (RotS).I only rent them now

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

No way will I ever again rent a movie on disc. The ones I rented years ago looked like they all went for a wild ride. There was never anything wrong with rental video tapes though.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'd rather pay 2$ and the movie skips a few times than buy it

[Trent B 337]

No way will I ever again rent a movie on disc. The ones I rented years ago looked like they all went for a wild ride. There was never anything wrong with rental video tapes though.

Maybe from a local video store, ya. With Netflix you're guaranteed to get a brand new scratch free disc with each movie that you select. When I did the trial with them, I had rented a couple of movies I wanted to check out on Blu and each movie came to me in brand new condition.

[King Mark 3,631]

Seriously sometimes you wonder what people do with these disks. It's like they put them on the floor face down and step on them instead of putting them back in their cases

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah I've seen friends use DVD cases as coasters and just have a stack of a bunch of discs on a dresser or something. I cringe inside whenever I see that.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

My bro used to do that. He'd rob my DVDs and store them in one of those bulk CD-R packages or just dump them in a drawer. Arrgghh.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Anyone else find that some of their DVDs still hold up really well even with their BD counterparts on the market? I was watching Batman and Batman Returns on my set-up and I was blown away by how good these transfers looked. They were vibrant, finely detailed, and with solid blacks. The DTS tracks were great too, especially on the second film. This is really how standard definition should look.

But then I decided to watch Batman Begins, and my jaw dropped at how mediocre this transfer was; the video was soft and muggy, fine details were lost, there were compression artifacts abound, and even the audio sounded lossy. I've seen YouTube videos that look better. This was at a time in 2005 and 2006 where I was convinced that new releases on DVD were purposefully made to look crappy to emphasize how fantastic their high definition counterparts would be a couple of years down the track. For more evidence, see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Superman Returns.

Then, of course, I watched The Dark Knight, which had very crisp video on par with Burton's films, and audio that thumped my speakers. So good, I can't be bothered with the BD just yet.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Some dvds hold up very well. But others just have a fuzzy/grainy look to them. I don't know if it is because of age or the dvd. Blu is definitely the way to go though.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

That noisy video grain sometimes found of DVD is awful, but I like grain on BD if it's accurate to the film source.

[King Mark 3,631]

Anyone else find that some of their DVDs still hold up really well even with their BD counterparts on the market? I was watching Batman and Batman Returns on my

Then, of course, I watched The Dark Knight, which had very crisp video on par with Burton's films, and audio that thumped my speakers. So good, I can't be bothered with the BD just yet.

Right now I don't have a Bly Ray player but if I bought a movie I'd get the DVD/BluRay combo pack.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

It's tough for me to go back to DVD. I'm just too used to the film grain, the overall lack of edge enhancement and digital noise and the glint in people's eyes. But the Batman SE DVDs were good transfers.

[Jay 37,352]

Some new cover art I recently came across:

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

But the Batman SE DVDs were good transfers.

Yeah, but I still can't work out where they went wrong on Batman Begins. There is no excuse for a film made in 2005 to look inferior to two films made in 1989 and 1992 on the same format, with the DVD releases the same year.

[King Mark 3,631]

Well,I decided to get a Play Station 3 today (for the Blu Ray+ games). My TV is a 3 year old 720p sharp Aquos . Anyways I used a HDMI cable and optical cable on the optical out and adjusted the resolution settings but the image starts blinking whenever I pop in a DVD (or just randomly) .

Edit: After long research it seems it has to do with the audio. For some reason my TV doesn't accept a HDMI signal with no audio so I can't use the optical out to my receiver (the PS3 doesn't output audio to HDMI and Optical at the same time) I have to use my TV speakers until I get a better TV.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

That sucks. Technology can be such a pain in the ass.

[King Mark 3,631]

Ok ,the problem is clearly the TV as my 1080p computer monitor works perfectly with the PS3 with HDMI+ optical out.

So I can only use my TV speakers with HDMI . At least the PS3 is not malfunctioning.

Tomorrow I'll rent a Blu Ray to see how it looks.

[Jay 37,352]

Rent a pixar (or other computer generated) film... they look amazing. The colors are so vivid in the Up blu ray it almost looks 3D

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Yeah, but I still can't work out where they went wrong on Batman Begins. There is no excuse for a film made in 2005 to look inferior to two films made in 1989 and 1992 on the same format, with the DVD releases the same year.

It's possible Warner "down-converted" it as you theorized to create a more defined line between standard and hi-def video quality. They knew what was up and Begins would be an ideal hip title to sell the HD technology. Fans and videophiles would be fools to stick with their lackluster DVD presentation when there's a 1080p masterpiece on the market. But, of course, they'd have already bought the available standard release and deluxe edition.

In the case of the Batman and Returns Special Edition DVDs, they were trying to sell the remastered video quality in addition to the special features. I still remember how much better than ever they looked in the Anthology set. I don't know, this sort of thing can be weird. I think it was also theorized that Indiana Jones IV was downgraded on DVD since it is a particularly mediocre presentation on standard def and the Blu-ray is a phenomenal thing to behold. It's like studios don't care to make the standard-def versions all they can be. Not with Blu-ray around.

[King Mark 3,631]

Ok so I'm watching Watchmen on Blu Ray. Like I said I have a 37 inch LCD TV and the best resolution for the movie is HD 720p.

I can see it's sharper than up converted DVD movies but I'm not "blown away" by the difference. I guess I'd need a much larger (like 46 inches) 1080p TV to really see the benefits

[pixie_twinkle 48]

We have a 52" 1080 Sony Bravia, and you can really see the difference.

The problem we're having is that the TV keeps losing track of the sound. It doesn't matter what the input is: DVD, Blu, Cable. Every couple of days the sound starts stuttering and then cuts out completely. All we have to do is pause the DVD/Blu/TV for a second and the sound comes back. It's as if it gets off track and just needs to be paused to get it back on again. Bloody annoying though. Rather ruins the whole "great picture" thing when the sound keeps cutting out. We had the Geek Squad over to look at it and of course they refuse to admit there's a problem unless they can see it for themselves. Naturally they will not get to see it unless they stay at our house with us for a couple of days. Grrr.

[Quintus 5,399]

Blu-ray 1080p on a good release is mindblowingly stunning on the eyes, and I say that as someone who is also quite content with 720p, on occasion, and even upscaled dvd.

Honestly, The Dark Knight really does look almost 3D, on Blu.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Personal favorite BD transfers (that I've seen) are The Searchers and North by Northwest. Both were filmed in the 50s in VistaVision with that old-school Technicolor. Looks really nice in hi-def. NBNW has a bunch of 3D-esque scenes.

[King Mark 3,631]

Blu-ray 1080p on a good release is mindblowingly stunning on the eyes, and I say that as someone who is also quite content with 720p, on occasion, and even upscaled dvd.

Honestly, The Dark Knight really does look almost 3D, on Blu.

Ok ,so the problem now is that I want a new, bigger TV. Something I didn't need a few days ago. And I bought the PS3 on a whim. I didn't really need it but I was bored and wanted to purchase something cool.

[Quintus 5,399]

I wouldn't worry - 720p is perfectly acceptable and really nice actually; buying a new tv for the extra res is a hard sell and probably a waste of cash. If it was me I'd just wait till I had plenty of spare cash again before thinking of upgrading. Remember: it's only Blu which uses 1080p; all your games (including any PS3 titles) run at native 720p and under.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

A lot of the cheapie brands that use screens and components from LG and Panasonic always bring out the previous year's models with good price tags.

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah, if he shopped around the net he could pick up a decent 46" 1080p for only a few hundred dollars. Here in the UK they can be picked up for around £450.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I'm still waiting to upgrade. I have a 2 year old 32" Sony Bravia downstairs. Value model, solid set. Blu-ray looks great. But prices on these things are going to continue to drop and when everyone's jumping on bigger sets, I'll pull the trigger on a nice 40 something inch.

[King Mark 3,631]

46 inches is the sweet spot now. and I think that would be my "definitive no compromise" size

I exchanged the PS3 for another one. i'll re-install it tonight. I can't take the risk that the first one was buggy because of my TV and not actually defective. We'll see.

I figured out my problem by looking at AV forums. My TV can't play a HDMI signal with no sound so I can't just turn off HDMI sound and Optical On . There is a way to output sound to both connector so my TV doesn't crap out but it's not even explained clearly in the instructions because it's only possible because of a PS3 update from late last year (had to read an AV forum). Nice going Sony.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

All this bullshitty software updating for home theatre equipment these days makes me yearn for the good old days of analog.

[King Mark 3,631]

Well I was lucky there was a workaround. This is a side effect of the Blu Ray copy protection over HDMI.

Still have to test it with a game. I'll try to buy Demon Souls tomorrow

[Jay 37,352]

Why buy? Just subscribe to gamefly and have them send you discs. You beat the game, you send it back and they send you another.

[Wojo 2,453]

46 inches is the sweet spot now. and I think that would be my "definitive no compromise" size

That's what she said.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

46 inches is the sweet spot now. and I think that would be my "definitive no compromise" size

That's what she said.

[King Mark 3,631]

Why buy? Just subscribe to gamefly and have them send you discs. You beat the game, you send it back and they send you another.

That doesn't work here in Canada.

But I like actually buying games anyways

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah I like to own games as well, much much more than movies too. Most of my funds are going towards gaming these days. I think I have 4 already pre-ordered for the rest of the year, and a fifth I plan on getting.

[King Mark 3,631]

I never pre-order . I have the games I want bookmarked from my big box electronics shops(Best Buy and Future Shop) Every Friday they change the specials so I check and few weeks one of the games I want has a 20$ discount or so then I buy it. I never buy a new game over 40$ this way (except Final Fantasy 13 because I wanted to play it right away)

Usually you can expect a 20$ discount about 2 months after a game is released.

I also watch news on many upcoming games I want from the Gamespot website.

[Wojo 2,453]

I don't pre-order games because they might turn out to be stinkers that I should not have bought before reading a review.

[Quintus 5,399]

If they could guarantee release day delivery I would pre-order Halo Reach, but I don't want to risk it.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

From the 4 games I have pre-ordered right now on Amazon, all of them will be on my doorstep on release day, and I will have a total of $50 to put towards a future game purchase because I pre-ordered. That'll give me LittleBigPlanet 2 for free.

Madden NFL 11 ($20 pre-order bonus)

Medal Of Honor LE ($10 pre-order bonus)

Fallout: New Vegas (In-game pre-order bonus)

Call Of Duty: Black Ops ($20 pre-order bonus)

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Using a gift voucher, I got two BDs, Predator 2 and Batman Returns. As stated recently in this thread, I wasn't going to upgrade my Batman DVDs, but it was a gift voucher and the store didn't really have such a great range, so I caved. It really looks great and (surprisingly!) much more detailed, and the Dolby TrueHD audio track shows how great lossless audio really is.

Also, the DTS-HD track on Predator 2 simply blew me away! I always thought the old DD track on the DVD was probably about as good as it'd ever get, but that was before I knew about bitrates and compromises in compression.

Does anyone else have a preference between DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD? I mean they're both lossless formats, so what you hear couldn't really be all that different.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Star Wars next Fall via Lucas at geek convention in Orlando, Florida. Of course, it's Star Wars. BUT, they rather predictably announced that the deleted scenes they've been sitting on will be featured. Confirmed is a sequence at the beginning of Return of the Jedi which has never been seen before, but which Williams actually composed music for. Vader contacts Luke through the force in his chamber and we see Luke finishing his lightsaber in a cave with the droids. I'm not sure if this will be incorporated into the movie or what.