Blu-ray a sick joke on the consumer?

H

hardc0re

Gawd
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Messages
869
Hi,
I was reading through the Best Buy flyer and noticed a section on Blu-Ray movies, mind you those were old movies (pre 90's) sold for 20-30 bucks a pop, because they were branded as "Blu-Ray". Now, for most (the intelligent human beings) this would come off as a gimmick, my question is, why is Sony pulling this off? is it supposed to be a joke or is there anything I'm missing watching the blu-ray version vs. regular DVD? Should I shell out 500$ for a blu-ray player and another 30$ on a movie I've seen countless times on DVD?
 
If you owned a movie studio or had rights to publish the material, wouldnt you do the same?
Especially when some people will ask for it.
 
Honestly, I've seen some old 60s' stuff on Satellite HD feeds and I couldn't believe how good some of those movies looked. YMV though. I guess if they do a new high-def transfer from the master 35mm stock film, good chance it's going to look great! 35mm has a good amount of resolution to it, most film buffs would probably say it's got more resolution than 1080P.

So yea, some things may be worth buying in BD format if you love the movies, but there's always that chance it's gonna look like 'chit, it all depends on the studio and how much time they spent on making it look good.
 
hardc0re said:
Hi,
I was reading through the Best Buy flyer and noticed a section on Blu-Ray movies, mind you those were old movies (pre 90's) sold for 20-30 bucks a pop, because they were branded as "Blu-Ray". Now, for most (the intelligent human beings) this would come off as a gimmick, my question is, why is Sony pulling this off? is it supposed to be a joke or is there anything I'm missing watching the blu-ray version vs. regular DVD? Should I shell out 500$ for a blu-ray player and another 30$ on a movie I've seen countless times on DVD?
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Er... have you SEEN a blueray movie? Old or not, with a good transfer (the new release of the 25 year old Blade Runner.) you're getting so much more resolution.
 
hardc0re said:
Hi,
I was reading through the Best Buy flyer and noticed a section on Blu-Ray movies, mind you those were old movies (pre 90's) sold for 20-30 bucks a pop, because they were branded as "Blu-Ray". Now, for most (the intelligent human beings) this would come off as a gimmick, my question is, why is Sony pulling this off? is it supposed to be a joke or is there anything I'm missing watching the blu-ray version vs. regular DVD? Should I shell out 500$ for a blu-ray player and another 30$ on a movie I've seen countless times on DVD?
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not that i am console gamer at all, but i am thinking of buying a PS3 just because it uses blue-ray and at least i get a game console that i can use for other things, but then there is the HD DVD question, what to do there? so i don't think you need to speed 500 on a player.

but i agree i have seen blue ray on a full 1080p and it looks amazing, if they can remaster great older movies i would buy them.
 
good 35mm stores plenty of color info and at very high resolution. the only issue that may arise is the difference in aspect ratio.

on a larger screen 1080p is beautiful... end. the only reason i would use 1080p tv's under 40 inches would be as a monitor. 720p looked great on my 44" RCA but desktop real estate what not usable for me.
 
Your best bet would be a dual format ROM drive in your computer, or a dual format standalone. There's going to be some surprising announcements at CES in January. ;)

But some of these old movies look as good if not better than some of the new movies. The film they were shot on is scanned in at over 4000 lines of resolution, then digitally remastered for the HD format of BR or HD DVD. Pick up 2001: A Space Odyssey if you want to shit your pants at the awesome quality of an old movie. :p
 
HD was known for releasing mainly old titles at the start also, they put them through filters and other crap to basically make them HD, funny how such an old movie can suddenly be in HD resolution when the original was filmed in some old 35mm resolution no where near 720 or 1080 resolutions!

was no diff when peopel who owned VHS bought the DVD's... it will always happen.
 
MrGuvernment said:
HD was known for releasing mainly old titles at the start also, they put them through filters and other crap to basically make them HD, funny how such an old movie can suddenly be in HD resolution when the original was filmed in some old 35mm resolution no where near 720 or 1080 resolutions!

was no diff when peopel who owned VHS bought the DVD's... it will always happen.
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yeah... you might want to do some research on 35mm film and how they master old movies to go onto the new formats.
 
He seems to be operating under the ass/umption that if he buys a HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player all of his old movies will explode/cease to work. Until you've seen HD in person on quality gear, you won't know what you're missing, but take the blu/red pill (or purple for format neutral) and be ready for an awesome experience. And no, you don't have to buy the same movie over again. Most HD players upscale very well and will make your DVD's look better (not as good as HD, cuz you just can't replace the info that isn't there). My strategy is to buy new stuff in HD, and replace DVDs that I already own with HD material if I deem it to be worth it. Examples of this are Bladerunner, Pixar films, The Terminators, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy...films of that nature (sci-fi, big explosions, lots of CG effects). I won't be replacing many of my wife's girly films however. They're just not worth it.
 
I found this paragraph to be the most interesting thing in the entire article:

The whole process is even bigger than just going high-def. With film being transferred onto 4K-capable LTO (Linear Tape Open) magnetic tape, and being moved around the imaging building via servers that collectively hold 700 terabytes, this isn't the Warner Bros. that Bugs Bunny knew. (Fun facts: a finished film typically takes up 12 terabytes. The raw footage goes over 1 petabyte — or 1,000 terabytes.)
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mutazx said:
Did we make hardc0re run for the hills or something? :)
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I don't get the OP's point in singling out Blu-Ray cause the HD DVD camp is doing the same thing. Regardless it's not like its a crime to re-release old movies on a new format; it's actually pretty stupid not to, it would be like not re-releasing something like Casablanca on DVD just because it was on VHS (or Betamax or what other format).

Either way; the OP is just really a troll. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
my intentions were not to inflame tempers but to get a intelligent conversation going to help the layman consumer make a wise decision.

Blue-Ray was an example as I did not see any advertisments for HD DVDs in the flyer.

If Joe Shmoe walks into Best buy and gets hassled by a clerk to spend 10 000$ on a home theatre setup and is pressured to buy a blue-ray/hd-dvd player for 500 bucks, then needs to buy the movies for 30 bucks a pop, is this a wise decision? did Joe Shmoe get ripped off? Is there honestly that much different in watching "terminator" or "casablanca" in HD?

I'm just saying the bottom line is that the whole thing is a rip-off and smells like a dirty scheme to milk money .
 
If you don't like HD, stick to your standard def stuff. You aren't helping the conversation in an intelligent way. You are trying to make it look like high definition is somehow a ripoff or conspiracy theory. If people want the extra quality of high definition, they pay for it. If they don't want to pay for it, they wait until it comes down in price. It is as simple as that.
 
hardc0re said:
my intentions were not to inflame tempers but to get a intelligent conversation going to help the layman consumer make a wise decision.

Blue-Ray was an example as I did not see any advertisments for HD DVDs in the flyer.

If Joe Shmoe walks into Best buy and gets hassled by a clerk to spend 10 000$ on a home theatre setup and is pressured to buy a blue-ray/hd-dvd player for 500 bucks, then needs to buy the movies for 30 bucks a pop, is this a wise decision? did Joe Shmoe get ripped off? Is there honestly that much different in watching "terminator" or "casablanca" in HD?

I'm just saying the bottom line is that the whole thing is a rip-off and smells like a dirty scheme to milk money .
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You make it sound like you have no choice.
Its your money, make decisions for yourself.

If you dont buy they are hardly ripping you off.
If you do buy it and if you dont need it, its your fault.
If you do need it then what are you complaining about?

What part of it is a ripoff?
 
They are a ripoff. I laugh when I see a $40 tag on an HD version of any movie new or old.

Its why they need BOGO deals almost every week to move units. Just not worth the premium for non CG/sci-fi movies.

Other than Transformers that I purchased along with my HDDVD player its all been BOGO deals. Won't be repurchasing ay movies I already own either. HD is nice but not at twice the price of a SD disk.
 
I never built up an SDDVD collection. I'm only 23 so when DVD came out they were too expensive for me to build up a library.

As it stands, I've bought at least 5x more HD than I ever did on DVD.

I've got 42 HD DVD titles currently. A little over 10% of their entire catalogue.
 
w1retap said:
If you don't like HD, stick to your standard def stuff. You aren't helping the conversation in an intelligent way. You are trying to make it look like high definition is somehow a ripoff or conspiracy theory. If people want the extra quality of high definition, they pay for it. If they don't want to pay for it, they wait until it comes down in price. It is as simple as that.
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Word. Consumers holds the wallets. If consumers don't want it, prices will drop.


Also, this is bestbuy too, not exactly a "Best" "Buy" for these kinds of things.
 
Hey, when you buy a 25 year old movie in High definition you will finally be able to see the film grain in all its glory! I mean even alot of movies newer than 25 even on a normal DVd is full of the film grain. Take T2 Extreme for example, when it was released with frame by frame restoration and "Digitally Remastered" is full of film grain and other artifacts.
 
It all depends on what type film, what lens, and what ISO it was shot on. Also, grain is a personal preference. IMO, it gives it a more authentic look. It also captures more detail.
 
i picked up one of those $98 Toshiba HDDVD players at walmart because i figured either it will win the format war, or in future all players will support both formats. Impressed w/ new releases in HD & happy w/ my Full Metal Jacket port. I wont go & replace my 300+ collection, but will buy all future releases on HD even tho they are $5-10 more than normal DVD.
Sony doesnt always win the war in getting their products main stream. Im thinking BluRay becomes their latest memstick, umd, sacd, minidisc, betamax product.
 
Nenu said:
If you owned a movie studio or had rights to publish the material, wouldnt you do the same?
Especially when some people will ask for it.
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Even though it isn't ethical he's right. However, any logical person should know they are wasting their money since older movies cannot be in HD being they weren't ever filmed in that resolution. The DVD and the HD version will not look any different.
 
lol, they've done it with every movie so far released on both high def versions.
 
w1retap said:
lol, they've done it with every movie so far released on both high def versions.
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Hmm, both Blue Ray and HD-DVD? I was helping someone the other day with Casino. It looked like DVD quality. When we switched to Pirates 3 it looked like it's supposed to. So, perhpas they're doing most, but not some?
 
 
w1retap said:
No, they are all done properly.

Casino HD DVD?

This is not DVD quality. :p

http://www.gigafiles.co.uk/files/4491/casino1080p/01.png
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Interesting. He thought he had fixed his problem. I guess not. I'll have to talk to him. Perhaps he has some settings messed up. Thanks for the info though. I don't like spreading misinformation and don't mind being corrected. ;)
 
Excellent. Now that we're all on the same page try to help out those who don't know how old movies are mastered. Keep in mind it all depends on how good of shape the original film is in and what type film was used. Some may look better than others, but they are certainly going to look better than a regular DVD. In the HD DVD and Blu-ray market, people usually know this and that is why they made the jump and pay the extra money. It is all about watching your favorite movies in the best quality possible. (at the moment)
 
35mm and virtually any other shooting format has like 4000p resolution. Seriously, it's no joke.

Once 1440p comes out and we have HD DVD2 we'll be buying these same movies all over AGAIN and guess what -- they'll continue to look better.

w1retap is the man.


Though, NOT all movies look great in HD. Check out Traffic on HD DVD, it's basically a 1080i upconvert of the DVD. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. But check out Hot Fuzz or King Kong. DAMN SWEET
 
But also, therein lies the problem. It all comes down to visual acuity and screen size vs viewing distance. You can't really cram a big enough screen in a house with a standard 8 foot ceiling to be able to tell the difference between 1080p and 1440p. It all gets ridiculous. I think we'll start seeing better quality 1080p TV's and alternate forms of viewing before we see 1440p. But I won't buy a 1440p TV. That really is a gimmick in a home where you can't have a big enough screen to notice a difference. Hell, most people can't tell the difference between 1080p and 720p due to where they are sitting in their homes with their current HDTV's. Even on my 105'' screen 1440p would be a waste of money.
 
Remember how CDs used to cost a ton? So did the players? Then they came way down. Aol sent the things out for people to use for shotgun practice.

Remember how DVDs and DVD players used to be horribly expensive? Now days you could buy one with your lunch money. Movies still arent cheap but they've come down.

Now notice how you now look back on those times and think "Rip off!!!"

Ima ressurect this post in a few years and see what you guys think of supporting 1000 dollar players and 40 dollar movies as worth the money when the players are 30 bucks and the movies standard cost.
 
Jakalwarrior said:
Remember how CDs used to cost a ton? So did the players? Then they came way down. Aol sent the things out for people to use for shotgun practice.

Remember how DVDs and DVD players used to be horribly expensive? Now days you could buy one with your lunch money. Movies still arent cheap but they've come down.

Now notice how you now look back on those times and think "Rip off!!!"

Ima ressurect this post in a few years and see what you guys think of supporting 1000 dollar players and 40 dollar movies as worth the money when the players are 30 bucks and the movies standard cost.
Click to expand...
Just for future reference, I'm going to input a timestamp.

January 3rd, 2008 @ 4:28pm EST
1080p HD DVD and Blu-ray players cost $299. You can get a HDDVD/Blu-ray/DVD computer ROM drive for just under $300. HD DVD-ROM drives and Blu-ray-ROM drives are about $200. The Xbox 360 HD DVD standalone unit is $130 to $170.
Movies cost $19 to $34 on average, with buy one get one free weeks almost every other week.
 
w1retap said:
Just for future reference, I'm going to input a timestamp.

January 3rd, 2008 @ 4:28pm EST
1080p HD DVD and Blu-ray players cost $299. You can get a HDDVD/Blu-ray/DVD computer ROM drive for just under $300. HD DVD-ROM drives and Blu-ray-ROM drives are about $200. The Xbox 360 HD DVD standalone unit is $130 to $170.
Movies cost $19 to $34 on average, with buy one get one free weeks almost every other week.
Click to expand...

I wanted to point that last part out as well, since I've purchased about a dozen HD-DVDs this holiday season for an average of $10-12 apiece. My Xbox360 player cost me $180 and I received Heroes season 1 and 7 free movies with the player.

And I only re-buy movies that are worth having the extra resolution, or movies that I particularly enjoy.

Also for reference:
http://rob-the.geek.nz/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/resolution_chart.png
 
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