How to tell if Blu-Ray offers better quality over the DVD version?

X

xFROSTx

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 8, 2001
Messages
2,984
Curious question here. I am considering re-doing some movies on my HTPC, switching them from DVD to Blu-Ray copies. The more I started looking into this, the more I realized I don't know how to tell if it would be even worth it. I understand that re-doing The Godfather in blu-ray, isn't really going to make much of a difference. I just don't know when to draw the line. I figure it is probably somewhere around the mid 2000's since that's about when blu-ray came out. Anyone have more insight on this than me?
 
It really doesn't matter when blu-ray came out, because most movies are shot for the theatre, and are natively better quality than even blu-ray can hold, and even old movies must be compressed to fit on blu-ray, so unless the studio is lazy and screws up the transfer or the original print is damaged, blu-ray will look much better than DVD. But there are size+viewing distance restrictions. Get too small of a screen, or sit too far away and the difference betweeen DVD and blu-ray starts to disappear. I notice this on my 42 inche HDTV, from 2-3 feet away (sitting in my desk chair, tv mounted above computer monitor) blu-ray is much better, from about 10-12 ft away (sitting on bed) it looks kinda the same.
 
www.blu-ray.com is another site with good reviews, and it keeps track of upcoming and already released blu-rays, allows you to maintain an online collection database, and has good forums.
 
xFROSTx said:
I understand that re-doing The Godfather in blu-ray, isn't really going to make much of a difference. I just don't know when to draw the line. I figure it is probably somewhere around the mid 2000's since that's about when blu-ray came out.
Click to expand...

There's no logic to it OP, what you're saying makes perfect sense but it often doesn't pan out that way.

Some older DVD movies were horrible VHS to DVD transfers with little touchup work done, and despite being on a DVD, they were nowhere near "DVD quality". But when it came time to turn the same movie into blu-ray, they either used different (cleaner) sources, or they just put more time and effort into cleaning up the video beforehand. Blu-ray has finally offered me decent copies of old movies that were horrible quality on DVD and VHS.

The guides and rankings that others linked here are great resources to refer to, they've helped me out a few times.
 
As was said above, film is far higher resolution than HD, so as long as the original film stock is in good shape, you can have a beautiful Blu-Ray transfer. Even some older movies, such as the Godfather, had to be restored, but the results are very good from what I have read.
Now there are some awful transfers, but most I have been quite impressed with.
 
I haven't yet experienced a case where I thought a DVD was superior to its Blu-ray counterpart. Not once.
 
phide said:
I haven't yet experienced a case where I thought a DVD was superior to its Blu-ray counterpart. Not once.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%.

I don't see any reason other than cost to go DVD over bluray.
 
If you get them at the right time tho, Blurays sell for under 20. Just gotta keep a sharp eye.
 
phide said:
I haven't yet experienced a case where I thought a DVD was superior to its Blu-ray counterpart. Not once.
Click to expand...

Price? I love my bluray player I got for $60 but I only have 5 bluray movies. I wish they would come down in price, bluray looks alot better. I just do the bluray with net flix. 2 months costs the same as one movie and I can watch a bunch of movies and if I don't like it I don't have to keep the movie.
 
28 Days Later is the only movie I have that utterly sucked as a bluray, but it was shot with a Canon XL-1S I found out after investigating it's crappyness, so DVD is as good as it could get. Otherwise the jump to BD is so worth it.
 
Some early blurays looked worse than DVDs, 5th element being one of them.

Today its safe to say that almost every bluray is better than its dvd counterpart. Even with older movies.

I'm currently replacing my action/adventure/fantasy dvds. There is really no point on watching a chickflick on bluray.
 
phide said:
I haven't yet experienced a case where I thought a DVD was superior to its Blu-ray counterpart. Not once.
Click to expand...

True enough. The only one I thought was a close call was my "The Fifth Element" superbit vs the first release of it on Blu ray.
 
the James Bond series on BluRay is soooooo much cleaner than the previous DVD release.
They got rid of all the flaws and used the optical prints that came right out of the film camera.
The Dr No BD has the featurette showing the transfer and touch up of the films.
 
the James Bond series on BluRay is soooooo much cleaner than the previous DVD release.
They got rid of all the flaws and used the optical prints that came right out of the film camera.
The Dr No BD has the featurette showing the transfer and touch up of the films.
Click to expand...

May look into updating my James Bond collection if this is the case...
 
munkle said:
Price? I love my bluray player I got for $60 but I only have 5 bluray movies.
Click to expand...
I buy one or two movies a month, on average, and typically from Amazon (with free two-day shipping via Prime). I pay somewhat more than the DVD, but not significantly more, and I usually wait around for deals that come around pretty often. So, Blu-rays don't end up being much more expensive for me, typically.

The Donut said:
I have; but only once. The first release of The Fifth Element.
Click to expand...
What was the issue? Edge enhancement gone bad?

There was a similar issue with the first release of Gangs of New York, but compared to the DVD, I still thought the BD looked a little better. It was re-released not long ago and fortunately looks fantastic.
 
It was a little more than just EE gone bad. Resolution in general just looked like it disappeared. They re-released it though and it is much better and closer to the reference quality everyone was expecting in the first place.

Anyway, Blu ray will always look better than its DVD counterpart these days no matter hold old the source material.
 
Zepher said:
the James Bond series on BluRay is soooooo much cleaner than the previous DVD release.
They got rid of all the flaws and used the optical prints that came right out of the film camera.
The Dr No BD has the featurette showing the transfer and touch up of the films.
Click to expand...

Oh yea, the James Bond series is really great! I watched Moonraker recently and there is a scene where the Moonraker shuttles are lifting off and I could see the wires! I was like dang this is sharp, never saw those on DVD.
 
Zepher said:
the James Bond series on BluRay is soooooo much cleaner than the previous DVD release.
They got rid of all the flaws and used the optical prints that came right out of the film camera.
The Dr No BD has the featurette showing the transfer and touch up of the films.
Click to expand...

i agree. i have watched all the Bond films available from netflix on blu and they looked incredible for their age. some of the movies looked better than some modern releases that ive seen. the depth of the detail in most scenes was endless.
 
Some early blurays looked worse than DVDs, 5th element being one of them.
Click to expand...

No the Fifth Element looked better on bluray than the DVD, although the difference was miniscule it certainly didnt look worse than it.

DVD - http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u98/adzez/DVD/49dcbc84.png
Blu - http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u98/adzez/Bluray/dd0ef5dd.png

DVD - http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u98/adzez/DVD/dda14701.png
Blu - http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u98/adzez/Bluray/8604777f.png

Again all images from Xylon at AVS.
 
I picked up Italian Job and it looks horrible on bluray. It had lines running through it and everything. Searching on the web shows lots have the same issue. However everything else I have seen looks great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top