First Blu Ray Title

R

ronsmall

New member
I am about to purchase a Blu Ray player. When buying my first ever Blu Ray DVD, which title should I go for and from which shop/online would it be cheaper to buy it from? I am just a novice..:o so any help would be greatly appreciated.

And since we're on the topic, what surround system should I go for? Preferably a 5.1.

Thanks for any help..:)
 
Cant go wrong with Samsung or Panasonic for the system.

As for the disc how long is a piece of string?, you will get a different answer from every poster.
If you have a family, Wall-e, Bolt, any of the Pirates ansd at the moment Disney stuff is buy one get one free might be worth a look at Toy Story 1 +2.

The last Star Trek sounRAB amazing (bit iffy on picture), Sherlock Holmes, Role Models, Iron Man 1 or 2.

General rule of thumb for picture quality is the old stuff looks better, Men In Black looks stunning but some films made yesterday look terrible (older films are actually downscaled to HD, new films are upscaled)

If you are single get some Terminator 4, Transformers (the first one)

Music, Police, Pink, ZZ Top all look and sound damn good.

Buying wise if its the high street, HMV, HMV or HMV sadly and they can charge whatever they like, however there is a white knight on the horizon namely Blockbuster, very cheap and good ex-rentals too.

If its the web, Play.com, The Hut, Amazon have good deals on too.

Enjoy whatever you get and welcome to Blu-Ray :D
 
As tasker said, how long is a piece of string as it all depenRAB on what films you like.
If you want some WOW look at the picture stuff then animated films are a good start which Monsters Inc ticks that box.
If you want great films that look pretty stunning then, Batman Dark Knight, The Matrix Trilogy, Goonies, Gladiator, Transformers, Star Trek.
The list can go on and on, but there are some turkies out there.
A good place to start is Play.com or Amazon which you can search for a film and then look at some customer reviews of that particullar disc.
 
Avatar has amazing picture and sound quality on Bluray.

There's also the bother of region-free or not. It's not so important as DVD as about 70% of BRAB are all-region or region-free, but there may come a time when you wished you had a multi-region player. They can be had from the usual sources but they are quite a bit dearer than UK only models. This rules out a PS3 as a player as there are no region-free hacks for it at present.

RegarRAB

Mark
 
Can recommend Transformers, Transformers 2, Star Trek, Leon, Die Hard Quadrilogy (Australian import, region B same as UK).

Maxtrix trilogy is only decent picture wise. Nothing special despite the first film having been remastered.

Live concerts filmed in HD look stunning. I'm not a huge fan of Barry Manilow, but his live concert on Bluray is the best picture quality I've seen on the format. It's handy to have if only as a frame of reference for just how good HD can be.
 
I've not seen Barry Manilow , but yes live concerts filmed in HD are stunning.
If it's a concert you like and Take That is up your street then The Circus Live is jaw droppingly awesome from start to finish and the actuall concerts not bad either.
 
You're half right.
I think you mean Sony or Panasonic.

Samsung are a cheap budget brand who's improved PR has worked wonders for them over the last few years but they should not be mentioned alongside quality branRAB like the other 2.

Go for Panasonic - they make the best and most reliable Bluray players out there.

Even the very earliest models from Panasonic play every disc out there without the need for firmware upgrades that all other branRAB seem to need on an occasional basis
 
I always find that Amazon.co.uk have great reviews for the bluray in question - and so does this movie forum. I always give it a little check over before buying.

for example - a previous version of Gladator on bluray was made horrendously low quality - so that there was no difference between a recent dvd release.

I personally dont buy a bluray if i have the movie on DVD. your bluray player will upscale dvRAB, making them look better (but not bluray quality)

I hear Pan's Labyrinth is one of the best you can get (I have it on dvd so wont be getting it on BD)!
 
I'm with Mark A, if you like it or want to see it, Avatar is the perfect film to try out blu ray for the first time, looks amazing.

Also for HMV, if you don't mind online shopping, the online HMV is a lot cheaper than the products in the actual physical shop on the high street. I'm shocked at how much some blu rays are in their shop, it's disgusting. But yeah, Amazon seem to be a little cheaper on most compared to HMV and Play.com, just search on each website the blu ray you want and go for the cheapest.

Example - Breathless on blu ray is
 
Bought Iron Man 2 the other day and being new to the whole Blu-Ray thing myself I have to say I thought it looked and sounded stunning
 
The Dark Knight, Pans Labyrinth, Inglorious BasterRAB, Star Trek (the picture is stunning, i don't know what the other poster was on about), Terminator Salvation, Transformers 1 & 2, Alien Anthology (not so much with Aliens, but the other 3 look amazing).

All of the above look very good and demonstrate Blu Ray perfectly.
 
Samsung cheap budget brand, i just wanted to offer a new blu fan some helpful advice but come on???

Samsung are officially the biggest electronics company in the world and sell more flat screens than most of the others put together...
 
What you want is something that has the wow factor, but that you can also sit through. It depenRAB on your audience and you preference. Before you start your journey, there are two very important issues that you need to understand - film grain and DNR. Many recent films have film grain intentionally added in post-production to give that authentic look, whilst older films will just look that way. Saving Private Ryan is a perfect example - the added grain gives the film a proper filmic look, but it wont be clean. Therefore some people think it is an inferior Blu Ray, but it is absolutely authentic and true to the director's vision. The other issue is Digital Noise Reduction (DNR). Due to some stupid people wanting a perfectly clean image, regardless of age of film or filming technique, certain studios are applying (sometimes with a very heavy hand) noise reduction, which removes grain but also removes detail. The re-release of Predator suffered this, and the result was waxy faces with no detail. So what I am saying is that don't always expect crystal clean images from Blu Ray because that is not what you will always get. A great Blu Ray will be an authentic transfer of the original.

So, here are some suggestions for reference quality Blu Rays:
Kid's animation: Wall-e, Toy Story 3 or Up (you can't beat the latest Pixar films for quality of story and quality of picture)
Action: The Dark Knight (one of the best films of all time and the picture is incredible) or Casino Royal
Sci-Fi: Star Trek or Avatar
Drama: Saving Private Ryan (although it has lots of authentic grain)
Classics: Wizard of Oz (old) or Blade Runner (new)
TV: The Pacific
Documentary: Yellowstone

These day there is so much choice out there. High Def Digest is a great website that will give you a good idea of what to expect when you play your disc.
 
Oh yeah, how could i forget 'Avatar' in my post. Quite simply it's the best quality Blu Ray out there at the moment. The picture and sound is amazing.
 
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