Buying the blu-ray version when you already have the DVD...

[RGA]

Yes I have an eye on the Blade Runner but I won't spend more than $20 on a movie. The prices always end up coming way down and I am going to be patient. Ever since I got screwed over on Schindler's List DVD boxed set I have learned my lesson. I bought it for $75 when it came out. A month and one day later it was $26.99. Blu Ray is coming out at near double the price of DVD. There is no excuse for one movie to be $12.99 and another one like Blade Runner to be $36.99. It is a cash grab IMO.

Thanks for the information. Next summer I may do a review of a surround sound system for the "2 channel guy." The folks that like an amp that has a power knob and a volume knob and a control knob. The thing that was frustrating about my Pioneer Elite reciever was the vocal track. You would have to turn it up to hear the dialog and then an explosion would blow you into next week.

If you have to fiddle with the bloody remote the entire movie - it's a crappy system IMO. Things are better now I hear so I may look into Arcam/Rotel and others that have some semblence of clarity - the Pioneer also sounded like complete mud until I brought in a Bryston. I have to say with all my complaints of Bryston - I would consider them first and foremost in a home theater application - which may sound contradictory but 20 year warranty and the ability to have slam and a low noise floor with a lot of separated sound on a sane budget - Hmm.

EDIT
Just a note because I didn't want to unfairly knock Pioneer:

Sorry take no stock in my comment about Pioneer Elite - my Elite was back in the mid 1990s VSX-95 - new receivers are entirely different animals compared to back then. My current marantz 4300 which is $300 sounds better than the $2000 VSX 95 I had. The VSX 95 was their top of the line model with the rosewood side panels but it sounded dead. In fact the first one I bought was D.O.A. Pioneer was not as good then. The new flagship models are something like $7000 and are apparently serious beasts.

[RGA]

Here is the VSX 95 - it sure was the sexiest looking amp I ever owned. With the Bryston 3B hooked up it was a lot lot better but the cost outweighed the sound.

[RGA]

Here's the rear

[RGA]

And specs - this was my first amplifier so it brings back some memories.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

That beast is old. When is the last time anyone saw a rear and center amps at 40 watts, while the L/R channels are at 125 watts. That the old prologic days for sure!

[pixelthis]

There is a 60 watter from the seventies at work, works fine.
35 years old, don't make em like that anymore.
I HAVE REPLACED several DVD's with BLU, all to the good, except for total recall.
Some BLU are redone dvd versions, with upgraded menus.
TERMINATOR II BLU is a modified version of the edition done for the short lived computer based Microsoft HD format. SAME MENU, etc, just upgraded.
THE PICTURE IS SUPRIZINGLY GOOD, and the disc is cheap.
A must buy.WORST VALUE? THE MATRIX.
Worst quality? Total recall, you are four for five, Arnold.

[RGA]

That beast is old. When is the last time anyone saw a rear and center amps at 40 watts, while the L/R channels are at 125 watts. That the old prologic days for sure!

Yes the interesting part was I added the 120watt rated Bryston and it greatly improved the front left/right. The center and rears were probably enough. Hey it was AC-3 capable. LOL

[RGA]

So HMV was selling the 3 pack Star Trek movie set for $39.99 and BestBuy charges $57.99 - WTF. Anyway, I go to Best Buy and ask them to price match. They look it up and HMV is advertising $26.99. Best Buy matches it at that price less 10% so I got the set for $23.89.

Long story short - check prices guys. Many people could have paid $57.99 when with just a quick check at another store I got the same thing for $23.89. $34.10(plus 12.5% tax I would have paid on that difference) saved. I mean it's crazy how different the prices are at different stores.

American Werewolf in London at HMV $14.99 at Future Shop $26.99. I don't mind paying a dollar or two more from one store to the next but 80% more is idiotic. And HMV is usually the place where prices are terrible. But almost every title was cheaper at HMV. The exceptions seemed to be TV series. But $14.99 for Kill Bill one and Two as a combined set and Future shop was $16.99 for each of them. Yikes.

[Woochifer]

Yes I have an eye on the Blade Runner but I won't spend more than $20 on a movie. The prices always end up coming way down and I am going to be patient. Ever since I got screwed over on Schindler's List DVD boxed set I have learned my lesson. I bought it for $75 when it came out. A month and one day later it was $26.99. Blu Ray is coming out at near double the price of DVD. There is no excuse for one movie to be $12.99 and another one like Blade Runner to be $36.99. It is a cash grab IMO.

Blade Runner has been out for almost three years now. There's a reason why that set remains expensive -- it's a FIVE DISC set. It's about as extensive and thorough a BD set as you will find for any single movie. If the price goes down in the future, it will only be because a single-disc movie-only edition came out.

The BD set has the five different complete versions of Blade Runner -- the new final cut that Ridley Scott put together in 2007, and the four different versions that came out in theaters at some point. This includes the American and International voice-over versions from 1982, and the "director's cut" that was widely released in 1992 and for years remained the only version out on DVD. The BD set also includes the rare workprint version that was only shown to test audiences in 1982, and to audiences in LA and SF in 1991 during limited week-long releases (I was there), which got the whole Blade Runner revival going by showing the movie for the first time in public without Harrison Ford's voiceover and the happy ending.

The set also has a brand new documentary that clocks in at over 3 1/2 hours, commentaries galore, audio recordings with Philip Dick, 48 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes, more documentaries on the technical stuff, and yet another documentary that summarizes all of the changes made between the different versions of the movie.

The thing that was frustrating about my Pioneer Elite reciever was the vocal track. You would have to turn it up to hear the dialog and then an explosion would blow you into next week.

Starting point would be level matching all of the speakers with a SPL meter. I use a +3.5 db offset for my center speaker.

If you have to fiddle with the bloody remote the entire movie - it's a crappy system IMO.

Or that's the original intent of the soundtrack. The receiver has no say in how the audio engineer chooses to mix the various sound elements in a 5.1 mix.

Plus, if your previous system was a Prologic setup, and you were feeding it a downmixed 5.1 soundtrack rather than a dedicated 2.0 Dolby Surround track, the dialog is not going to sound right. In order for the center channel to be properly balanced (assuming you've level matched your system), you need either a discrete 5.1 playback on a 5.1 receiver, or a dedicated 2.0 playback on a Prologic or 5.1 receiver. Playing a 5.1 soundtrack through the L/R analog outputs on a DVD player will ensure that the sound effects from the L/R/LS/RS channels drown out the center channel because of how the downmixing by the DVD player is done at fixed levels.

Sorry take no stock in my comment about Pioneer Elite - my Elite was back in the mid 1990s VSX-95 - new receivers are entirely different animals compared to back then. My current marantz 4300 which is $300 sounds better than the $2000 VSX 95 I had. The VSX 95 was their top of the line model with the rosewood side panels but it sounded dead. In fact the first one I bought was D.O.A. Pioneer was not as good then. The new flagship models are something like $7000 and are apparently serious beasts.

A few years ago, I A-B'd a midlevel Pioneer Elite receiver against the similarly priced Denon AVR-38XX models, and the Pioneer sounded noticeably better. I know that with that particular series, Pioneer made a serious effort to upgrade their receivers and challenge the established players in the mid and high end receiver market. Someone did a teardown on those Pioneer's receivers and indicated that there was no way they could have made much money with the components they were using. I have no idea if they subsequently decontented their receivers in their more recent releases, but the ones they made a few years ago were very well executed.