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We are almost 4 years into the lifespan of the format, so I guess it's time to refresh our thread a bit. Why should you buy in to Blu-Ray? Simply put: Blu-Ray is the best way to enjoy your favorite movies and tv shows to date, short of a hypothetically perfect theater experience. And indeed, many people these days find themselves preferring Blu-Ray to going out to the theater; theaters tend to have dirty floors, sticky seats, worn-out prints and improperly-calibrated projectors. With Blu-Ray, you can enjoy movies they way they were meant to be seen, all from the comfort of your own home. I kid you not when I say that Blu-Ray has changed my life (in ways other than spending a fuckton more money than I was before). I'm an avid movie watcher - I love being drawn in by the romance and the spectacle of film - which is why when I go to the theater, I tend to miss a lot. Aside from the many distractions and technical imperfections of the theatrical experience, sometimes movie screens are just too drat big to take everything in all at once. And then there are the films you can't see in a theater anymore - films like The Searchers and Minority Report, like Dr. Strangelove and Zodiac, like Battleship Potemkin and The New World - films where otherwise your only option is a low-bitrate DVD that looks muddy and bland in today's era of high definition. Well, Blu-Ray is the answer to this dilemma. The format provides a unique opportunity for films - especially older ones - to be restored and seen like never before. One need only look at the DVD/BD comparisons for North by Northwest and Avatar to see the tremendous advantages the format affords to movie-lovers. I can't tell you how many times watching a Blu-Ray has radically changed my interpretation of a film, by mere virtue of being able to see and hear things I've never been able to see or hear before - not in a theater, not on a television broadcast, and certainly not on a DVD - but solely from viewing a film in jaw-dropping 1080p clarity on my television. What kind of Blu-Ray player should you buy? I can't say this strongly enough: get a Playstation 3. Here, maybe some profanity and the shift key will help: GET A loving PLAYSTATION 3. While there is no single "best" player, the PS3 is the most reliable and versatile player for what it costs - which is astonishing when you consider that it's been around since the advent of the technology. If you ever browse the Blu-Ray.com forums, you will find that at least half of the technical problems people have with Blu-Rays can be attributed to player compatibility. With the Playstation 3, this is a non-issue - I have thrown literally hundreds of discs at my PS3, and never once had a player-related problem. As for whether you should buy a "Fat" PS3 or a "Slim" PS3, that's totally at your discretion. The major differences are that the Slim model has a smaller design, consumes less power and can bitstream, whereas many people have reported that the Fat model has faster loading times. If there's one significant drawback to the PS3, it's that it is unable to play region-locked discs from other territories. If you intend to do a lot of importing and would prefer a region-free player (or a player that can be hacked to play region-locked discs), you should check out Panasonic, Momitsu, or Oppo. The Oppo BDP-83 is widely considered to be the best player that isn't a PS3, and the Oppo BDP-80 is a good lower-cost alternative to the BDP-83. Both are also among the few players that best the PS3 in terms of DVD upconversion, if that's an important feature for you. If you're looking for a decent budget player, I'd recommend just browsing Cnet's reviews so you can narrow your options down to the features and price you're looking for. Note: one thing that I've heard from consumers far and wide is to avoid Samsung players at all costs. I've never had any personal experience with one, but evidently they cause a lot of problems. What's the deal with region coding? Courtesy of Wikipedia:  Blu-Rays, much like DVD's, can be locked to the respective region of their release - so if you buy a region-locked BD from another territory, you will only be able to play it if you have a region-free player. Thankfully, many studios are now coding their Blu-Ray discs to be region free, meaning they should be playable on any player in any territory. Warner Bros, Sony and Universal are among the major studios currently releasing most or all of their titles as region-free discs. If you're looking for the region coding information for a specific title, this website is an invaluable resource. Where can you find out which of your favorite movies are on Blu-Ray? You can find an individual product page for just about every single Blu-Ray, from just about every single region, at Blu-Ray.com. They also have a pretty comprehensive release calendar to see what titles are forthcoming. How do you determine which Blu-Rays are worth buying? Sadly, Blu-Ray is not infallible. For every great transfer, there are two lackluster ones. So as with any new product you purchase, you should try to be as informed as possible before spending your money. The easiest way to educate yourself is by reading reviews. Sites such as Blu-Ray.com and DVD Talk employ A/V experts to review Blu-Rays, and are generally pretty trustworthy. However, even the best of reviewers aren't right 100% of the time - I'm reminded of when DVD Beaver's Leonard Norwitz called the original Gangs of New York release (one of the most hated BD's ever) "exquisitely and naturally rendered." Never trust any one reviewer, but collect an aggregate view of what people think about any given disc - and not just reviewers, either. Feel free to ask people's thoughts in this thread at any time, as even the professionals can all get it wrong sometimes. The best example of this is Patton: a Blu-Ray roundly praised by critics for some strange reason, considering its excessive use of digital noise reduction - a technique that scrubs out grain and fine detail, giving the movie a very artificial/waxy look, and thus completely destroying the visual integrity of the film. So to recap: read reviews, but never be afraid to ask people here to chime in on a particular title you're interested in. Where should you buy Blu-Rays? Welp...depends on where you live, what you're looking for, when you're looking for it, how much you're willing to spend, and so forth. Your safest bet tends to be Amazon, who is constantly running some promotion or another, and usually has the best price on new releases (and if they don't, then they usually pricematch whoever does). If you have Amazon Prime, you get free 2-day shipping on almost everything, and guaranteed release-day delivery on most new releases. That said, you will still find a ton of great deals at brick-and-mortar stores like Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart. As I said above, when Amazon has the best price on something, it's often because they're pricematching one of these stores - so if you'd rather not wait for something to be shipped to you, you can typically run out to your nearest retailer and still get a good deal. If you keep yourself apprised of the weekly ads from these stores, you're bound to come across some awesome prices. I can't tell you how many titles I've seen debut at $25-$30, only to drop down to $10-$15 in under a month. If you don't need to own something immediately, a little patience will typically result in a lot of money saved. You can also stay abreast of the latest and greatest money-saving offers by visiting the deals section of the Blu-Ray.com forums, as well as the Blu-Ray deal megathread from these very forums. And finally, be sure to check out the DVD & Blu-Ray trading thread in SA-Mart! Can you buy empty replacement cases? Absolutely. You can find a variety of different case types at Meritline, Vernon Library Supplies, Sleeve City, and even Amazon. Useful links Blu-Ray.com - News, reviews, and the largest/most active Blu-Ray discussion forum on the net. The Digital Bits - News and reviews from insiders Bill Hunt & co. Often scoops news about major upcoming releases. DVD Beaver - Reviews and screenshot comparisons. Great resource for comparing Blu-Rays to previous home video releases. Also, tits. DVD Talk - Reviews and discussion forum. High Def Digest - News, reviews, and discussion forum. High Def Disc News - News and reviews. The HD Room - News and reviews. Cinema Squid - Good all-around website that includes review aggregation, disc specs, price tracking, and so forth. The Digital Fix - UK news and reviews. Home Theater Forum - Self explanatory. AVS Forum - Reviews, discussion forum, and screenshot comparisons. Their reputation for being full of crazy people actually makes for a useful litmus test - if AVS approves of a Blu-Ray transfer, it's pretty much guaranteed to be good. If you have any suggestions for additions to the op, please let me know! doctor thodt fucked around with this message at 15:04 on May 14, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 04:08
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If you wanted to write up a little blurb for me I'd be more than happy to put it in the op, seeing as how I know next to nothing about computer-based playback. But yeah we could do that list thing... doctor thodt fucked around with this message at 14:42 on May 4, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 06:15
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TV's good, be surprised if anyone here has even watched 10 concert Blus though.
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May 4, 2010 06:21
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Fine, fine. Modern Baraka Minority Report Up Blade Runner Avatar Casino Royale Mad Men Crank Hot Fuzz Band of Brothers Classic North by Northwest Last Year at Marienbad The Prisoner Battleship Potemkin The Wages of Fear Pinocchio The African Queen The General The Third Man The Wizard of Oz
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May 4, 2010 06:43
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I say this every time WB releases a new digibook, but man, what a gorgeous presentation they've given Zhivago. Why can't all Blu-Rays come like this? I don't even like Elvis all that much, but I'll probably buy the Elvis digibook when it comes out just for shits and giggles.
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May 4, 2010 15:43
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I'm out of town for a few days and it's hard to edit from my phone, but yeah I'll add a glossary of common terms when I get back (DNR/EE/lossy/lossless/whatever).
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May 4, 2010 22:42
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ProfessorClumsy posted:The five disc "Ultimate Collector's Edition". Apparently WB just dropped a lot of prices on their DVD to Blu exchange program. Not sure if that title is eligible, but it's worth checking out. I should probably add something about that to the op when I get home too. Speaking of not being home, I'm visiting friends across the country, yet sure enough when I walked into the Best Buy here, they had M on the shelf a week early. I also find it kind of strange that I have nearly 800 Blu-Rays, but just now purchased my first Bond film on the format. Goldfinger looks outstanding though.
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May 5, 2010 16:55
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I'm happy that Hausu is coming so soon, but it would have been even cooler if they had waited until late October and released it concurrently with Kwaidan and Cronos. If August sees releases from Kurosawa, Cronenberg, Malick, von Trier AND Anderson I will probably piss my pants.
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May 5, 2010 19:27
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Diseased Yak posted:Jesus Christ it's expensive, but I will buy this. It'll come down by the release date, but probably not much below $30, if at all. The city I've been in for the past few days has it playing at a dollar theater, but I vowed to wait for the Blu-Ray to watch it again. Gary at DVD Beaver said of the UK release: "I can honestly say that this might be the best looking blu-ray that I've ever come across."
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May 7, 2010 04:15
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James and the Giant Peach August 3 e: Amazon now has a pre-order page for the fabled re-release of Predator (June 29) which will supposedly be re-mastered, provide a plethora of extras, and contain movie cash for Predators. doctor thodt fucked around with this message at 15:40 on May 8, 2010 |
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May 8, 2010 15:34
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the aftermath posted:Anyone heard anything about a possible release of The Wire on blu-ray? It hasn't been ruled out, but I doubt it's on the docket either. The Wire was shot on 35mm so it's entirely doable, but it'd be a lot of work, and HBO's catalogue releases are sparse enough as it is (so far we've only gotten Rome, Band of Brothers, and The Sopranos season 1).
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May 8, 2010 19:17
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Death's Head posted:A review of the Japanese film Departures. Damnit. Region locked to boot.
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May 10, 2010 03:20
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August 24 I love Blue Underground so much. They've got Django and Fulci's City of the Living Dead out in a couple of weeks.
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May 10, 2010 06:19
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Thirst has a new release date from CJ Entertainment: June 18 Psycho is set for October 19 quote:* Feature-length audio commentary with Stephen Rebello (Author of Alfred Hitchcock and the making of Psycho)
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May 10, 2010 13:19
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Death's Head posted:Where have you seen that information? I've looked around and can't find any confirmation on lock status of the disc. Says so at the top of the review you linked.
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May 10, 2010 21:28
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Spartacus reviewed City of the Living Dead (UK) reviewed doctor thodt fucked around with this message at 10:31 on May 11, 2010 |
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May 11, 2010 10:26
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Honest Thief posted:how are Warner Bros. Blurays usually like? I'm thinking of getting Exorcist which comes out September according to play.com All of their classics are tremendously good, their new releases are satisfactory, and all of the catalogue titles in between range from piss-poor to pretty good. On the whole, I'd say they're probably my favorite major studio aside from Sony, just because nobody else comes close to the money, time, and effort they put into restoring their classic titles. I have little doubt that The Exorcist will be well worth your money, assuming Friedkin hasn't had too large a hand in the restoration. City of the Living Dead (US) reviewed Django reviewed
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May 11, 2010 17:42
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On the Saving Private Ryan issue: you can either return your disc to the retailer, or call 888-370-8621 for exchange details. Fixed discs should be in stores by next Tuesday. I like how they'll recall SPR over a teeny-tiny little sync issue but Gladiator has been on store shelves for months when the whole movie is hosed. doctor thodt fucked around with this message at 23:09 on May 12, 2010 |
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May 12, 2010 23:07
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doctor thodt posted:888-370-8621
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May 13, 2010 00:59
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800+ Blu-Rays and I'm just now finding out that Vanishing Point has already been on Blu-Ray for over a year 
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May 14, 2010 00:10
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Is anybody interested in setting up some kind of Blu-Ray/DVD exchange? I have so many goddamn discs that I have absolutely no use for, and rather than going through the hassle of trying to sell them I figure I could just trade them for stuff I want instead. Is this kind of thing permissible in SA-Mart?
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May 14, 2010 14:19
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Alright well I set it up if anyone's interested: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3304220
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May 14, 2010 15:03
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Damnit 
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May 14, 2010 15:57
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That's ok, we can all take solace in the fact that Paramount doesn't give a poo poo what any of these idiots think and will continue to release grainy-as-hell Spielberg BD's. Looking forward to War of the Worlds next month, probably as much so for the lossless audio track as for the video transfer. That tripod horn is going to level my house.
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May 15, 2010 15:31
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Bambi posted:Apologies if this has come up before, but what's a good website I can use to catalogue all my my Blu-Rays (that also has info for import titles and exclusive releases and such)? http://www.dvdaf.com/
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May 17, 2010 00:47
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Django reviewed. drat, Blue Underground is killin' it. Meanwhile, another reviewer from the same website gave Spartacus 4 stars for PQ but doesn't even know what kind of TV he's watching it on.
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May 17, 2010 05:07
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Digibook 
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May 17, 2010 17:27
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Digibooks are terrific  
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May 17, 2010 20:55
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bad movie knight posted:Nope, it still sucks.  The fixed copies have a yellow upc, like so: 
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May 17, 2010 21:53
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Most stores have them in now and will exchange your copy no questions asked.
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May 17, 2010 22:14
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Number of digibooks: 25 (not including 4 announced) Number of digibooks re-released in regular cases: 5 (including 1 announced) Number of digibooks re-released in regular cases as a different version of the film: 1 Number of regular releases re-released as digibooks: 2
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May 17, 2010 22:46
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Sporadic posted:Number of digibooks that contain anything of substance in the book section: 0 Granted a lot of it's just fluffy bios and trivia, but some of them have some pretty neat little blurbs, and they all have fantastic art design. I just think it's a really cool and unique aesthetic for a film presentation. Yes, most of the written material is pointless, but it's still way nicer than a regular blue case, and there's obviously the potential to fill them with something more substantive if and when the studios choose to do so.
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May 17, 2010 22:58
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Got my hands on the Brakhage set. Now if only I could find some mushrooms.
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May 18, 2010 17:01
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Harlock posted:Is it one of the double-sided discs? If I recall, there was some defective ones. That was the third movie, and the problem was fixed before the discs hit store shelves. Mystery Train reviewed Alice in Wonderland reviewed
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May 19, 2010 14:59
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War of the Worlds reviewed gently caress me sideways.
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May 19, 2010 22:00
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Spartacus: Blood and Sand Season One 9/21
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May 20, 2010 03:13
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I watched the it on the recommendation of a goon whose opinions I trust implicitly, and I don't think I've ever seen such a remarkable turnaround from "nearly unwatchable" to "remarkably awesome" in my life. It becomes an entirely different show after the pilot, and then again after the 4th or 5th episode, and both times for the better. Check it out.
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May 20, 2010 03:21
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Glee Season 1 9/14 with a $89.99 MSRP...yeowch.
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May 20, 2010 20:01
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 "The funniest comedy since 'The Hangover'!" -God
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May 21, 2010 16:29
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The Man With No Name Trilogy reviewed Looks like a pretty safe buy, zooming aside.
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May 23, 2010 02:46
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