Vintage Blu-Ray Users

[Brian Sheridan]

Some GREAT news for all of us with Blu-Ray players:

Casablanca is coming out as a single disc, as is Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, Wizard of Oz, Adventures of Robin Hood....

and the ultimate - a Anniversary Edition of Gone with the Wind!

http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Anniversary-Ultimate-Collectors-Blu-ray/dp/B0013N7FZ6/ref=pd_sim_d_2

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Plus North by Northwest!!!!!! Lawrence of Arabia!!!! Singing in the Rain!!!!

 

[Bugsy]

!!

I'm certain most of you will think I've snapped my tolley line here, but I cannot tell the difference between a Blu-Ray and a regular DVD. Does this make me a bad person?? [huh]

 

[Wally_Hood]

Classics on Blu-ray!

Some GREAT news for all of us with Blu-Ray players:

Casablanca is coming out as a single disc, as is Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, Wizard of Oz, Adventures of Robin Hood....

and the ultimate - a Anniversary Edition of Gone with the Wind!

http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Anniversary-Ultimate-Collectors-Blu-ray/dp/B0013N7FZ6/ref=pd_sim_d_2

Definitely going for single disc Casablanca, Wizard of Oz and Kane.

Lawrence of Arabia on blu has been rumored for some time... didn't find release date on Amazon.

I'm waiting for The Incredibles on blu-ray; should be eye popping.

 

[Wally_Hood]

I'm certain most of you will think I've snapped my tolley line here, but I cannot tell the difference between a Blu-Ray and a regular DVD. Does this make me a bad person?? [huh]

Not a bad person. I wonder what player and what monitor you are using. What titles have you watched?

 

[Edward]

I'm certain most of you will think I've snapped my tolley line here, but I cannot tell the difference between a Blu-Ray and a regular DVD. Does this make me a bad person?? [huh]

That's the kicker. Whereas DVD was a very perceptable upgrade from VHS picture quality, in order to get the benefit of the Blu-Ray format visually, you need to have a high definition television. If you've been watching on a regular TV, you won't see any difference.

 

[Wally_Hood]

That's the kicker. Whereas DVD was a very perceptable upgrade from VHS picture quality, in order to get the benefit of the Blu-Ray format visually, you need to have a high definition television. If you've been watching on a regular TV, you won't see any difference.

I was hoping Bugsy would reply. You are absolutely correct vis a vis the display. And, even standard def dvds look better with an upconverting blu ray player.

 

[Edward]

Yes, all BluRay players are designed so as to 'upscale' the image on the disc, sharpening it. I don't know that it will be just as good as with a 'true' HD Blur Ray disc, but it'll be better.

The other big advantage of BluRay - the much greater storage capacity on the disc - can be enjoyed with a standard TV. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the format soon, myself.... I was holding off for a DVD player / recorder / HDD recorder / BD player all in one box, but it struck me recently that I simply don't have any need to record anything from the television any more - truth be told, I don't think I have so much as plugged my VCR in more than once in the last six years, and then only to watch a recording lent me by a friend..... of a Doctor Who episode that I could have found on iPlayer. That being the case, I will probably buy a BluRay player after Christmas.... watch this space.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

However, it does not improve ALL standard DVD's. The muddy transfers of Acorn Media's POIROT sets look horrible on my Blu-Ray player. I need to watch those on standard def DVD players otherwise the fuzziness is too distracting.

I wish they would put out CHINATOWN on Blu Ray.

 

[Edward]

Itr is possible for the resolutoin to be too good for the sourced disk, yes. I won't be parting with my DVD player just yet, even once I do have the BD.

 

[Nighthawk]

I recommend http://www.blu-ray.com/ for reviews, you can search by movie. They also have release dates and awesome screen shots! Alas, I don't have the money to get a player right now, but definitely in the future. I think I would rather forgo cable TV and get a BR player instead! I see that several of Kubrick's films have been released so I may not be able to wait too much longer...


NH

 

[Giben]

They also have "The african queen" 1951.

 

[Edward]

I recommend http://www.blu-ray.com/ for reviews, you can search by movie. They also have release dates and awesome screen shots! Alas, I don't have the money to get a player right now, but definitely in the future. I think I would rather forgo cable TV and get a BR player instead! I see that several of Kubrick's films have been released so I may not be able to wait too much longer...


NH

lol It was the arrival of Rocky Horror on DVD which was my jump-off point into the new medium. It was always likely to be the same with BluRay, though with RHPS slated to come out on BD in 2010, I have already bought three discs - the Watchmen Black Freighter spin off, Spinal Tap, and Watchmen: The Director's Cut. I hope also to pick up the super-duper Watchmen after Christmas - due out on 8 Dec in the UK, this is the one that combines the director's cut with the Black Freighter animated short, the latter being edited back into the film at the same points in the story as in the book.

BDs are suddenly becoming a bit more affordable now: it is possible to find a BD of Casablanca for GBP10 now - this is where DVD was about four years ago. It is extremely rare nowadays that I spend much more than GBP5 on a DVD, and I should imagine that it won't be much different for BDs in not so many years.

 

[Tokyo Jones]

I'm amazed no one has yet mentioned Criterion's release of "The Third Man." If ever there was a release to prove Blu-ray's point (for TF Loungers), this is it.

I have a 1080p projector with a 120" screen, and at the distance I sit the impression is very much like watching the film at a traditional movie theater. With Blu-ray, the visual acuity I can achieve is very, very close to what one typically sees in a movie theater, in some ways better. I was struck with the idea, when I first watched the film, that not since 1947 had it been publicly available to view as it was intended - on a large screen, in sharp 35mm (or it's nearest digital equivalent).

But this is TFL, and one of the most pronounced differences with BR is how clearly one can distinguish textures in clothing. For the first time, I could see how the cloth differed in Holly Martins' outfit; from his cotton tie to his tweed jacket to his wool coat. Detail that most of us have never before seen is now available.

This has a subtle effect on the film's narrative, as well, in details that before might have been under-appreciated or missed entirely. For instance, when Martins visits Ms. Schmidt's apartment, we see in the building's entryway the effects of Vienna's war-time trauma: rubble strewn everywhere, great gashes and scrapes torn from marble walls and columns by flying debris.

In her apartment one can distinguish the shapes of ornate wall fixtures by the absence of grime, suggestive to the alert viewer of looting and the chaos which only in 1947 began to finally recede from the city. (The film was shot almost entirely on location in Vienna, so these details are real artifact's of the city's experience in the war.)

It is interesting to observe, in the following scene, the almost baroque clutter of Dr. Winkel's home. It is not by accident one almost wants to look for the remnants of Ms. Schmidt's apartment in Dr. Winkel's ("...Veenkel...") study. That contrast, however, had been lost to me until I saw this film on a big screen, in Blu-ray.

It's a great time to be a cinephile!

 

[Brian Sheridan]

The 50th anniversary edition - in BLU RAY - of "North By Northwest" hits stores today!!!! It includes the wonderful documentary by TCM on Grant.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Good review by DVD Savant of NBNW on BD

http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s3014nort.html

 

[Edward]

This is all driving me - when comes the time to upgrade - further and further in the direction of a 50" screen.... maybe not so good when it comes to attracting ladies... for some reason all the women I know seem to dislike larger tv screens intensely. [huh]

 

[Wally_Hood]

This is all driving me - when comes the time to upgrade - further and further in the direction of a 50" screen.... maybe not so good when it comes to attracting ladies... for some reason all the women I know seem to dislike larger tv screens intensely. [huh]

Mrs. Hood, about a year ago, relented and let me buy a 50" 1080p plasma, and then a blue ray player. My film watching enjoyment has skyrocketed. The blue ray upconverts even standard discs to a better picture, the superior sound mix enhances the viewing, and I am able to replicate, in a miniature sort of way, the film-going experience. Watching those classic films in a way that approaches watching them in a movie theater is wonderful

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Good review by DVD Savant of NBNW on BD

http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s3014nort.html

The review is dead-on. The best just got better!

RUN, don't walk (to quote the title of Grant's last film), to buy NBNW on Blu-Ray. If I didn't own a player, this would make me get one.

 

[Edward]

Mrs. Hood, about a year ago, relented and let me buy a 50" 1080p plasma, and then a blue ray player. My film watching enjoyment has skyrocketed. The blue ray upconverts even standard discs to a better picture, the superior sound mix enhances the viewing, and I am able to replicate, in a miniature sort of way, the film-going experience. Watching those classic films in a way that approaches watching them in a movie theater is wonderful

That's the appeal for me too - the next best thing to a proper cinema, and in the case of many of the films in my collection or yet to be added to it, the closest I am ever likely to get to 'the real thing'.