Top 5 must have Blu-Ray movies

[Dharris]

I'm new to the world of Blu-Ray, so I need some guidance.

[audio amateur]

Well whatever your favourite movies are, no? Unless you're asking for top quality video blu-rays... In that case I'll leave it to the others

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I'm new to the world of Blu-Ray, so I need some guidance.

What do you like to watch? There are good Blu rays in every genre including concert music videos.

[Feanor]

I'm new to the world of Blu-Ray, so I need some guidance.
You've meaning to purchase?

As yet I don't have a Blu-ray capable TV or player, but hopefully I will before long so I appreciate you question. But I don't buy many films anymore; it's cheaper to rent several times from Zip.ca if I want to see it again.

My major criteria for buying will be:

Will my wife enjoy it too?
Is it or will it be a favorite rewatcher? (There a plenty of great movies, but many of these I wouldn't care to watch over and over again)
Is it good Blu-ray production? Maybe this is more a problem for reissues than that current films. I think SirTtT will attest that not all Blu-rays are great, (though his standard is very high).I'll be looking for the following, a few of my favorite all-time rewatchers:

Fifth Element
Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters 2
Lord of the Rings
Godfather & Godfather II
True Lies
Chronicles of Riddick
Conan the Barbarian
Terminator
... and maybe Star Wars, Eps. IV - VI ... though I have too damned many versions of these as it is.

[GMichael]

Fifth Element
Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters 2
Lord of the Rings
Godfather & Godfather II
True Lies
Chronicles of Riddick
Conan the Barbarian
Terminator
... and maybe Star Wars, Eps. IV - VI ... though I have too damned many versions of these as it is.

Nice choices. I would add Polar Express. We watch it at least once a year.

Maybe Independence Day.

[nightflier]

Well I'm being very picky about BR. I've added a criteria to my shopping list: "BR Worthy." Basically it boils down to:

1. Does it have great visuals (vast scenery, special effects, complex action sequences, etc.)
2. Does it have good color and sound
3. Does it have re-watchability.

At $30 a pop, I'm not going to spend that kind of money on anything less. And yes, that pretty much excludes most catalog titles unless they've done a good job of improving on the DVD version. Frankly I'm pretty irritated when they are selling 4-6 year old titles at full price, with few enhancements over the DVD version, and banking on the commercial success of the latter to generate sales for the BR version. I wish they would just separate the catalog dregs from the new releases on store shelves and online sites, for that matter.

These are some titles I bought recently:

- Star Trek
- Terminator Salvation
- Miami Vice
- The International
- The Hurt Locker

Obviously comedies, documentaries, TV shows, and most dramas aren't going to make my BR list, but that's why I bought a decent upconverting player.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Blu rays at $30 bucks?

I haven't paid that kind of money for a Blu ray disc in almost a year!

Has anyone ever heard of Amazon.com?

[nightflier]

Well the list price for new releases is $39.99. Yes, I hunt for bargains too, but on new releases, they're pretty hard to come by, especially at B&M stores.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Well the list price for new releases is $39.99. Yes, I hunt for bargains too, but on new releases, they're pretty hard to come by, especially at B&M stores.

Nobody charges list price unless you go through the studio's website.

Over the months of November and December I purchased about 45 new Blu rays, with the average price of about $19 bucks. I never go to brick and mortar because they charge the most.

I made 100% of all my Blu ray disc purchases on Amazon. The most I have every paid for a disc was $34.99 for a rare European copy of The Goonies which was an import. Aside from that, I have never paid more than $25 bucks for any of the disc I have actually purchased. If I pre-order, then I get the disc a day earlier than the official release date.

[nightflier]

But you're paying for shipping.

[Woochifer]

As others have asked, what do you like to watch?

The choice of what to purchase depends on what you're into and what you want out of Blu-ray. Just about any new studio release is going to have very good video and audio quality. Much of the post-production work is now done entirely in the digital domain, even if the images were originally captured on film. So, with Blu-ray you now have a shorter path from the master source that goes out to theaters (whether that's a file for digital projection or film print) to the disc.

Among the newer titles, pretty much any of the Pixar releases are great choices, and Star Trek also looks great.

Lot of controversy about The Dark Knight. Many of the scenes were originally filmed in IMAX, and they look incredible in theaters. The controversy is in the edge enhancement used in creating the IMAX release prints (which were used for the Blu-ray transfer). It sharpens the image, but some people complain that it makes the images look fake. Even with this complaint though, the detail and image quality (especially in those full frame scenes done with the IMAX cameras) really pop out on that disc. Then again, you can say that about a lot of the newer titles.

Where you will find much greater variation in the picture quality is with older titles that have to be scanned in from film prints. That's where you can find both horrid looking transfers, as well as great transfers that bring the viewer incredibly close to the original film projection.

Blu-ray's greater resolution means that elements like film grain no longer need to be scrubbed to maintain the image integrity. With DVDs, the film grain (and a lot of the detail) had to be cleaned up, otherwise the lower data rate and resolution would result in visible macroblocking and other artifacts. While the resulting picture quality might look fine, a lot of the detail is lost in the process and the film grain is often part of the look that the cinematographer wants to convey.

One of the best examples on Blu-ray is Blade Runner. I've seen this movie numerous times in 70mm, and the Blu-ray transfer maintains much of the original look that I recall from the 70mm projection. It's not like a lot of discs that look overly processed or digitized. It looks very much like a good film projection. And if you're a fan of the movie, this is a must have. It has all three of the release versions, plus the new Final Cut as well as the rarely seen workprint (which I saw in theaters as well). And it comes with a new 2+ hour documentary and numerous other features.

[GMichael]

But you're paying for shipping.

Most ship free freight if you don't mind waiting a week, plus you don't pay tax in many cases.

Click me... http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=blu+ray

[Woochifer]

Well the list price for new releases is $39.99. Yes, I hunt for bargains too, but on new releases, they're pretty hard to come by, especially at B&M stores.

Try shopping during the week of release. That's when you see the steepest price reductions on new releases.

During the price wars in November and December, I got Star Trek on BD for $18 and Up and Monsters, Inc. for less than $14 each after factoring in the week-of-release price reductions and coupon deals.

The pricing pattern on new releases at B&M stores is $17 to $25 during the first week, and the prices jump back up to around $25 to $30 the next week. The prices will remain at that level for at least a few months (with occasional sales), and then move back down later on. It's all a matter of timing.

List prices don't mean anything. The wholesale cost on new release BDs is around $22 (and it has supposedly gone below this in some cases), and the street prices usually don't exceed $30. The week-of-release pricing is the loss leader designed to drive traffic into the stores. At $20, they might take a hit on that BD purchase, but will make that up if the customer picks up another title or some accessories or even that bottled soda and candy by the checkout stand.

[nightflier]

Then what is the point of even mentioning the msrp at $40? I mean I can understand the purpose of a higher price, but we're talking a difference of up to 70% in some cases. That makes the msrp price absolutely ridiculous. Moreover it leaves me wondering what the real value of the movie really is and whether this isn't some arbitrary bean-counter-generated figure that has very little meaning beyond a calculation of averages.

[GMichael]

Then what is the point of even mentioning the msrp at $40? I mean I can understand the purpose of a higher price, but we're talking a difference of up to 70% in some cases. That makes the msrp price absolutely ridiculous. Moreover it leaves me wondering what the real value of the movie really is and whether this isn't some arbitrary bean-counter-generated figure that has very little meaning beyond a calculation of averages.

MSRP in a gimick to make people believe that they are getting a special price when they get to pay less. Anyone who pays MSRP on anything just didn't shop around. There are plenty of people who would rather pay more than to be bothered with shopping.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

But you're paying for shipping.

Nope! As an Amazon Prime member, I do not pay for shipping. The cost of membership? $79 bucks a year which I more than make up in shipping charges of what I buy. When you think about it, with 45 disc at $1.99 per disc shipping, I already made my money back in those two months alone. When You combine the entire year, I have made it back several times over.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Try shopping during the week of release. That's when you see the steepest price reductions on new releases.

During the price wars in November and December, I got Star Trek on BD for $18 and Up and Monsters, Inc. for less than $14 each after factoring in the week-of-release price reductions and coupon deals.

The pricing pattern on new releases at B&M stores is $17 to $25 during the first week, and the prices jump back up to around $25 to $30 the next week. The prices will remain at that level for at least a few months (with occasional sales), and then move back down later on. It's all a matter of timing.

List prices don't mean anything. The wholesale cost on new release BDs is around $22 (and it has supposedly gone below this in some cases), and the street prices usually don't exceed $30. The week-of-release pricing is the loss leader designed to drive traffic into the stores. At $20, they might take a hit on that BD purchase, but will make that up if the customer picks up another title or some accessories or even that bottled soda and candy by the checkout stand.

Bingo!

[recoveryone]

Hey Nightflier, how does Hurtlocker look on BR? I purchased it on regular DVD cause I felt it would not be worth it. From the previews it looked similar to Black Hawk Down in scenery and I didn't think BR would shine with this film.


As for my list, eye candy:

Transformers 2
Star Trek
Serenity
any animation flick

I read some of the other choices above, and have to have reservation on some of those picks. Great movies during their time of release, but some do not transfer well over to BR format since they were never shot in HD format to start. For me BR picks need to be HD type (originally shot) films and not re-mastered to reach HD quality. To re-master a sound track is one thing, due that you can bring back the artist to re-do their parts and recreate sound effects. But trying to add enhancements to a film is a catch 22. I'm sure Sir TT can explain it better than I.

[eisforelectronic]

Zombieland! I've watched it 4 times in less than a week.

I buy a lot of used Blu-ray's from Suncoast. They often have a buy 3 used discs and get 1 free deal.

[canuckle]

...Great movies during their time of release, but some do not transfer well over to BR format since they were never shot in HD format to start. For me BR picks need to be HD type (originally shot) films and not re-mastered to reach HD quality.
All film exceeds HD in terms of resolution. Your belief that film is equivalent to 480p is terribly incorrect. You also don't understand what re-mastering is.

[recoveryone]

All film exceeds HD in terms of resolution. Your belief that film is equivalent to 480p is terribly incorrect. You also don't understand what re-mastering is. I feel you do not understand. I know film is shot in higher res, but the final product does not result in a HD cut. thus the need to do a re-mastering of films in the first place. I never said or imply that film was shot in 480p or any other res, just that technology has improved and older films do not always transfer properly to HD/BR. With any re-mastering there is always some type of artificial enhancements made to the film. If what you are saying (or what I am interpreting) is that all film is shot at higher res than BR and should transfer over to BR with no problems. And if that is your case you are sadly mistaking about re-mastering/BR transfers

[canuckle]

Alright, I'll play. Just to highlight that you don't know crap about anything coming out of your mouth, lets look at this tidbit of wisdom:

To re-master a sound track is one thing, due that you can bring back the artist to re-do their parts and recreate sound effects.

When did remastering have anything to do with getting people to re-do things?

Remastering is the process of making a new master for a movie. It refers to the process of porting a recording from one analogue medium to another digital one.

The only way to make a blu-ray is to remaster the original stock. Not - as in your world - is it a process where you re-record anything.

And all film does have a higher resolution than standard DVD and therefore benefits from remastering to blu-ray.

[audio amateur]

As far as i understand it, there is no such thing as a film shot at 480p. Old films I believe were shot using an analog medium (35mm or 75mm film), which is why they can look good when transfered to Blu-ray, as the inherent proprety of an analog medium is that is has 'infinite' quality (i.e you can make gigantic sized photos of a picture using its negative). On the other hand, digital pictures are restricted as their quality is limited by their resolution. Negatives don't have this problem.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Remaster is an oft misused word by the AV press. Remaster is not just a simple going back to the original elements and creating another master. That is nothing more than striking another print.(Canuckly be careful when quoting Wikipedia, there information can sometimes be a little incomplete)

Remaster in the truest terms means going through the complete post production process all over again to create a new master. That means transferring the film(or soundtrack) to a medium that can be easier to manipulate(like film stock to digital interpositive via scanning) where you can clean up pops, clicks and drop outs (the audio equivalent is to de-hiss), correct the color(the audio equivalent is EQ), change or correct the aspect ratio(audio equivalent is re-mix to 5.1, or upsample) which results in a improve new master tape or digital file.

When is movie is being preprared for video release, the film has to be digitally scanned which results in a digital interpositive. From there you can color correct and fix any video related issues before compression.

Film comes in 35mm, 65mm and 70mm sizes. It does not have infinite quality, there are definately resolution limits to film. 35mm has just a hair more resolution than 1080p, especially when subjected to the pathway of a 35mm projector with its judder and film drag.

Recovery one, Film does have more resolution than DVD and a hair more than Blu ray disc. You have to compress to fit the resolution limits of the medium. Neither the scanning or compression process adds anything to the process.

I think everyone here is mixing up remastering with transferring. The two are not the same processes.

[nightflier]

Recovery, I haven't seen Hurt Locker yet - still in the shrink-wrap. I moved my primary player to my 2-channel system to compare the 2-channel output, so I've been limping along with my old HK player the last couple of weeks. I also have a standard BR player, but it's at my brother's (I'm trying to convince him that BR is worth it).

[recoveryone]

Thank you Sir TT for that bit of info, knowledge is POWER! even tho I never said Film has less res than DVD or BR.