Blu-Ray Discs

[aenemaTron]

Looking at the October/November releases, it looks like they're getting serious with these things.

New releases, news price drops, whatever the fuck.

These lists aren't complete. I included only things I've heard of. Nature docs and such, find out for yourself.

Today
Kill Bill: Volume 1 & 2
Baby Mama
Jerry Maguire
Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor)
Day Watch: Unrated (Dnevnoy Dozor)
Rudy
Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Fourth Season

Next week 9/16:
Speed Racer
The Mist
Pirates of the Caribbean: 3-Movie Collection
Pushing Daisies: The Complete First Season
Hulk
The Love Guru
1408
88 Minutes
Risky Business: 25th Anniversary Edition

9/23
Blow
Boston Legal - Seasons 1-4
The Godfather Collection - Four-Disc Coppola Restoration
L.A. Confidential
Leatherheads
Madagascar
Run Fat Boy Run
Sex and the City
Shrek The Third

9/30
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Can't Hardly Wait
Daredevil Director's Cut
Dawn of the Dead
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Iron Man
Knocked Up
Land of the Dead
Maid in Manhattan
Mona Lisa Smile
My Best Friend's Wedding
Sixth Sense
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Thing

OK... I give up weeding out randoms. Get ready for "Eye on Extreme Monster Trucks"

10/7
Body Heat
Carrie
The Happening
The Omen Collection
The Omen
Original Faces of Death
Otis
Ray Harryhausen Box Set (Blu-ray)
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad
Sleeping Beauty
Visitor
You Don't Mess With the Zohan
Young Frankenstein

10/14
American Gangster
Casino
The Code
Constantine
Coral Reef Adventure
Cosmic Voyage & Destiny in Space
Dolphins
Eastern Promises
Eye on Extreme Monster Trucks
Eye on Extreme Professional Bull Riding
Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag
Gangsters Giftset
Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Interview with the Vampire
Jewel of the Nile
Jewel: Essential Live Songbook
Living Sea
Mongol
Mystery of the Nile
Poltergeist
Romancing the Stone
Saving God
Standard Operating Procedure
Stuck
The Ultimate Matrix Collection
War, Inc.
Warren Miller: Playground

10/21
Africas Super Seven
Atmospheres: Earth Air & Water
Breed
Casino Royale
Die Another Day
Dr. No
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
The F Word
For Your Eyes Only
From Russia with Love
Holiday Favorites with the Wonderland Carolers
Incredible Hulk
James Bond Blu-ray Collection Three-Pack, Vol. 1
James Bond Blu-ray Collection Three-Pack, Vol.2
Kiss of The Spider Woman
Live and Let Die
Oceans Origins
The Strangers
Sweeney Todd
Thunderball
The Woods Have Eyes

10/28
Baraka
Beat the Devil
Bird People in China
Chihuly In The Hotshop
Cruel World
Dead Space
Elf
Essential Holiday Collection
The Final Countdown
The Final Patient
Hd Aquarium
Hd Fireplace
Hd Flowers
Hd Mountains
Hd Traveling Rock
Hd Tropical Beaches
Hell Ride
Jack and the Beanstalk
Last Time I Saw Paris
Malice@Doll
Mysterious Island
Polar Express/3-D
Prince & Me 2: The Royal Wedding
Prince & Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon
The Terror
Tinker Bell
Zombie Strippers

[mike]

Hd Flowers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ProfessorShutYoMouth]

This list hastens my plans to actually purchase an HDTV.

[pmottaz]

Granted, I haven't exactly STUDIED the performance differences between DVD and BluRay, but this purported "switch" feels like such a lateral move in quality to me.

At least when we all went from VHS to DVD, I could see multiple differences/improvements:
-Letterboxing became more mainstream*
-Much-Improved Image
-Improved Sound
-Chapter skips
-Special Features
-Smaller Storage Necessity

and such and such.

But the differences between BluRay and DVD seem marginal at this point.

-Better picture, I guess.
-Sound quality even more awesome
... uh... are the chapter skips still on there?

So I'm holding off. I'll probably wait til they release "Men In Black" for the 18th time on BluRay before I jump on that big boat.



*I know I'm a huge snob when it comes to this, but does anyone else get a kick out of their kinda-lame relatives who would argue over and over about how "Letterbox sucks... I don't like seeing the black bars... I'm not using my entire TV screen!" so they would by exclusively Fullscreen DVD's... but now if these same kinda-lame relatives want to improve their TV, they practically MUST buy a widescreen TV? Fools. FOOLS, I tell you.

[yumitree]

not really, because those are the people who, when they have wide screen, high definition televisions, just stretch 4:3 images and don't care that all the images are deformed. anything is better than wasting screen space.

[nadsat droog]

HD has been around for a while and it's still impressive to me. I do remember being skeptical at one point, but I'm fully willing to embrace the technology now after watching various programs and movies on HD cable.

One movie I haven't seen mentioned on any upcoming Blu-Ray release lists is Lawrence of Arabia. That should be the first movie released on any new format.

[AggroCrag]

not really, because those are the people who, when they have wide screen, high definition televisions, just stretch 4:3 images and don't care that all the images are deformed.

What he said. Not only are most cable stations still running movies in 4:3, we now watch the full screen image stretched out to look as ugly as can be.

[Cameron]

Granted, I haven't exactly STUDIED the performance differences between DVD and BluRay, but this purported "switch" feels like such a lateral move in quality to me.

At least when we all went from VHS to DVD, I could see multiple differences/improvements:
-Letterboxing became more mainstream*
-Much-Improved Image
-Improved Sound
-Chapter skips
-Special Features
-Smaller Storage Necessity

and such and such.

But the differences between BluRay and DVD seem marginal at this point.

-Better picture, I guess.
-Sound quality even more awesome
... uh... are the chapter skips still on there?

So I'm holding off. I'll probably wait til they release "Men In Black" for the 18th time on BluRay before I jump on that big boat.

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I remember reading somewhere that the jump in picture and sound quality from DVD to Blu-Ray is actually greater than the jump from VHS to DVD.

[P-Dub]

In any case, I'm sure a lot of people won't be able to rent Blu-Ray disks without dipping their fingers in mayonnaise and dragging their keys against them.

[theodoric]

I've got both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray machines, and even my mom can tell the difference over regular DVD.

Netflix rents 'em, too (same price), and yes, they do come scratched and sticky.

[Fentmore]

Blockbuster makes it a point (Best Buy too in ad form) to ask you twice when you rent a Blu-Ray if you have a device that can play it. I asked about this "guard against stupid", and they said I wouldn't believe how many people return their rentals complaining they couldn't get it to work.

[P. J. Head]

Blockbuster makes it a point (Best Buy too in ad form) to ask you twice when you rent a Blu-Ray if you have a device that can play it. I asked about this "guard against stupid", and they said I wouldn't believe how many people return their rentals complaining they couldn't get it to work.

It also doesn't help that not all Blu-Ray discs work in all Blu-Ray players. The PS3 is the only one that can handle just about anything.

[aenemaTron]

To be fair, it's the first widespread format update that is more or less identical to the previous version. No one was trying to fit DVDs into their VHS player. And DVD marketing has been so insane, what with the superbit releases and whatnot, it's totally understandable.

[pmottaz]

To be fair, it's the first widespread format update that is more or less identical to the previous version. No one was trying to fit DVDs into their VHS player. And DVD marketing has been so insane, what with the superbit releases and whatnot, it's totally understandable.

Maybe on some basic level, this is what I'm talking about regarding this transition. I'm sure the picture is better, but I didn't hear anyone complaining about the picture quality for DVD.

With VHS, you could complain here and there (if you were the type) about the image quality.

[nathansmart]

and there's no blu-ray player on the market worth getting besides the PS3.

[RegularKarate]

Does anyone that owns a blu-ray player own a 720p only t.v.? Or even more like MY situation, a 720p TUBE tv? Is it really that much better than an upconverted DVD?

When I watch the HD signal of the office it looks better than the DVDs of the episodes, but it's not THAT noticably different.

Are there any players out yet that will upgrade to the next release other than the PS3?

[nathansmart]

I think most blu-ray players are coming with some sort of internet functionality - I think. But, honestly, you play video games - you might as well pay the extra 50 bucks or so and get a super video game player.