Shiny

[andrewducker]

I have no particular interest in Blu-ray at the moment.    I don't feel the need to rebuy all my old DVDs, and in fact tend to watch movies via VoD or download at the moment anyway.  (Or at the cinema).  And the quality improvements didn't really seem worthwhile, until I saw this review of the Zulu Blu-ray.  Scroll 2/3 of the way down and see the difference in quality between the various DVD transfers and the Blu-Ray one.

Still, I'm not about to rush out and buy one - but when the current DVD player finally dies, if the LOTR extended Blu-rays are finally out, then I could be tempted to upgrade...

Comments

[andrewducker]

The current DVD player does upscale though. That was definitely worth it.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's a really big difference... though I wonder how clearly it'll show up on my smallish (26" widescreen) set.

-- Steve may be getting a BluRay player next year, oddly enough a gift from the office as a memento to mark his 10 years' anniversary with the company.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

There's more to extend into? The existing discs each have a week's worth of extras.

[andrewducker]

They're releasing the Theatrical Blu-rays first.

[draconid.livejournal.com]

We're planning on getting a PS3 for Christmas to get bluray capabilities, but have no intention of replacing our old collection. It'll be nice just to have a machine that up-scales the DVDs. Anything we buy new or rent will be on bluray in the future though.

That said, sorely tempted to buy the Zulu bluray disk. It's my favourite film in the world ever and I've already got it in VHS and DVD, might as well get it in bluray too!

[matgb]

Ye gods, the difference just between the different DVD releases is scary. I've only got it on VHS, will probably want a DVD of some sort in the future, definitely need to pay attention to quality.

I want to make an icon of that firing line shot. Excessive?

[andrewducker]

Naah, I say you go for it.

And yes, I assumed that first one was VHS at first, the quality is _awful_.

[martling.livejournal.com]

Wow. Makes you realise just how high resolution good old film is. :-)

And that's from a film that was shot on 35mm stock. Imagine what you could get from true 70mm stuff.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Andy. I could show you at least three things on blu ray which would convince you. Machines are so much cheaper now - I picked up a Philips one for under £100 for kirstys birthday. Once you've seen something like Planet Earth you'll reconsider.

[andrewducker]

I'm not as massive nature documentary person.

But I will almost certainly upgrade when the current DVD player dies.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

Blu Ray images work reeeaaaal nice on my Mac Pro + 30" screen. I don;t have a TV, so will have to wait til someone releases a compatible drive.

[davidcook.livejournal.com]

Impressive ... what struck me is how bad the NTSC looked in comparison with PAL, though. Wonder if Blu-ray (and other forms of HD) are more popular in the US, since the difference is so pronounced ?

[andrewducker]

NTSC is notoriously bad at colour reproduction:
When compared to PAL in particular, NTSC color accuracy and consistency is considerably inferior, leading to video professionals and television engineers jokingly referring to NTSC as Never The Same Color, Never Twice the Same Color or No True Skin Colors

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

You mean the graphs?
You do know those are bollocks, right?
I mean they are certainly accurate and true, but our perception has so little to do with that sort of thing as it stands raw.
Take sound -- most telephones cut out a huge about of frequencies and we don't really notice. There's also a rule about how you can cut out all frequencies from a surprisingly low point and have absolutely no effect on perceived quality.
Same with jpegs. They chuck out swathes of information and our brains don't notice.
Friend of mine is doing research into this thing on video, which is all beyond me but I imagine along the same lines.

[andrewducker]

No, not the graphs. The images beneath them...

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Ah. Indeed.
Sorry, I got a case of TLDR there...

[in-thy-bounty.livejournal.com]

I must admit I was very cynical (and it's not like me at all) about Blu-Ray, but I've become a convert. I've got half a dozen discs now.