High Def movies...your "NO BS" assessment

[aphex]

Absolutely... I paid $100 for my HD-A2 w/ 7 free HD-DVD's (and if you count the ones i resold including my old upconverting player, I came out about $20-30 ahead)

My only issue is that all of the movies I currently want are on BD

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Genx87
Got my Toshiba A2 for 100 bucks. So yeah it is worth it. However I wouldnt drop 200+ on HiDef just for the sake of having it. yes, the picture is crystal clear. But not worth 200+ for the player imo.

This is surprising because even a decent DVD player runs 200 bucks. To get a HD one for the same price seems like a no brainer. This is the same argument that says buy the cheapest CD player there is.

It just isn't true. 200 bucks to get HD playback is the bargain of the century IMHO. The color alone is worth it, not to mention the resolution.

I hate to be an elitist arse, but if somebody doesn't view HD movies and drop their jaw over a regular DVD then something is wrong. Something is very wrong.

Well you have to realize I barely watch TV and watch even less movies. So to me 200+ for a DVD player is ludicrous. 200+ for HD isnt worth it. For 200+ I can put the money into something computer related or into a retirement account.

 

[Chaotic42]

King Kong looks amazing in HD, especially when they're walking around Skull Island.

 

[Rio Rebel]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Genx87
Got my Toshiba A2 for 100 bucks. So yeah it is worth it. However I wouldnt drop 200+ on HiDef just for the sake of having it. yes, the picture is crystal clear. But not worth 200+ for the player imo.

This is surprising because even a decent DVD player runs 200 bucks. To get a HD one for the same price seems like a no brainer. This is the same argument that says buy the cheapest CD player there is.

It just isn't true. 200 bucks to get HD playback is the bargain of the century IMHO. The color alone is worth it, not to mention the resolution.

I hate to be an elitist arse, but if somebody doesn't view HD movies and drop their jaw over a regular DVD then something is wrong. Something is very wrong.

Well you have to realize I barely watch TV and watch even less movies. So to me 200+ for a DVD player is ludicrous. 200+ for HD isnt worth it. For 200+ I can put the money into something computer related or into a retirement account.

That's fine, and certainly a legitimate position, but it doesn't really add anything to the thread, does it? You aren't giving any input on the value of HD, you're just giving input on how much you value video in general.

 

[Rio Rebel]

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is absolutely worth it. If nothing more than the color alone.

A lot of people will miss this point. It is a very important one. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is not just an improvement of video resolution, it is also an improvement of color and of audio.

 

[destrekor]

I have a 32" 720p LCD, I sit maybe 5-6' away, and it's absolutely worth it. Sound imaging had been amazing on almost every movie I have watched.
The color, sharpness, and depth of the image alone makes it worth it. On a disc with great video quality, the image appears to pop out of the display, and when coupled with great audio, you really seem to be 'there', and it helps the immersion factor.

Even though my display is an LCD, the color is simply amazing (it's calibrated too, and the difference is very much present). I am not a fan of the black levels, but the video quality on the better discs helps negate the problem of the black levels by having great detail in the shadows and a lack of black crush. But like I said, if I had a more recent LCD or a plasma that had even better contrast, the blacks would be gorgeous. I'm happy now, and looking forward to four years from now when I may be able to afford a larger and better display. With 720p looking so good, I am excited for 1080p viewing.

I love my PS3 and BD.

 

[zach0624]

HD is totally worth it. My parents just got a HD-A3 player for their 62inch 1080i Mitsubishi ($800 dollars ) and we just watched the Bourne Ultimatum on it. The sound track sounded great on our 5.1 system and the picture was amazing. The disc was scratched though and we flipped it over to the dvd side and the picture (upconverted) looked duller and fuzzy (still a great upconvert though) and the sound was not quite as clean.
This is all sitting just 10 feet away.

 

[TVNoob]

7 foot away from a Sharp Aquos 1080p TV and it's worth every penny. I watched half a dozen movies on my old CRT TV in the past year.

In the month I've had this TV I've watched a hi-def movie or documentary every single day, and it still blows my mind to see the quality and gorgeous visuals.

BBC Planet Earth is the best I've seen for jaw droppingly stunning camera work and fantastic panoramic images.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is absolutely worth it. If nothing more than the color alone.

A lot of people will miss this point. It is a very important one. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is not just an improvement of video resolution, it is also an improvement of color and of audio.

Yeh, moreso than anything else it was the color the popped at me. Especially in the very colorful fields and scenery in Last of the Samuri.

I need to re-rent Curse of the Golden Flower in Blu-Ray and see if my eyes explode with the insane colors that are in the movie.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is absolutely worth it. If nothing more than the color alone.

A lot of people will miss this point. It is a very important one. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is not just an improvement of video resolution, it is also an improvement of color and of audio.

Yeh, moreso than anything else it was the color the popped at me. Especially in the very colorful fields and scenery in Last of the Samuri.

I need to re-rent Curse of the Golden Flower in Blu-Ray and see if my eyes explode with the insane colors that are in the movie.

*cough*
The 5th element
*cough*

 

[sdifox]

Bottom line is still the movie in question. I don't care how high the resolution is and how well transferred to BRD or HD-DVD is, if the movie suck, high resolution is not going to make it any better. If you already have a big dvd collection and have a decent upscaler, then I am not sure it is worth it to replace the library.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is absolutely worth it. If nothing more than the color alone.

A lot of people will miss this point. It is a very important one. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is not just an improvement of video resolution, it is also an improvement of color and of audio.

Yeh, moreso than anything else it was the color the popped at me. Especially in the very colorful fields and scenery in Last of the Samuri.

I need to re-rent Curse of the Golden Flower in Blu-Ray and see if my eyes explode with the insane colors that are in the movie.

*cough*
The 5th element
*cough*

Do you know if they only have the fixed up version? That would be a concern

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: sdifox
Bottom line is still the movie in question. I don't care how high the resolution is and how well transferred to BRD or HD-DVD is, if the movie suck, high resolution is not going to make it any better. If you already have a big dvd collection and have a decent upscaler, then I am not sure it is worth it to replace the library.

It may not be worth it to replace the whole library, but it most definitely is worth it to replace many of your favourite ones.

Of course it depends on your setup, but on a big screen from relatively close, even the best upscaling doesn't even come close to real HD. Not even in the same league, not just because of resolution, but for other factors as well, including better colour, less artifacts, better sound, and better extras.

Some people argue that something better will come along. Maybe so, but I would guess that HD DVD & Blu-ray will be the last mass market optical format for movies. Sure, they aren't 4K or whatever, but their quality is stellar. The big changes coming are in distribution methods, not image quality, because both HD DVD and Blu-ray are so awesome to begin with in terms of image quality, if done right.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: sdifox
Bottom line is still the movie in question. I don't care how high the resolution is and how well transferred to BRD or HD-DVD is, if the movie suck, high resolution is not going to make it any better. If you already have a big dvd collection and have a decent upscaler, then I am not sure it is worth it to replace the library.

It may not be worth it to replace the whole library, but it most definitely is worth it to replace many of your favourite ones.

Of course it depends on your setup, but on a big screen from relatively close, even the best upscaling doesn't even come close to real HD. Not even in the same league, not just because of resolution, but for other factors as well, including better colour, less artifacts, better sound, and better extras.

Well, I am currently on a HD72 shooting 92" so no 1080p to 480p comparison. I can tell the diff, just not sure I am willing to buy all 1200 of them again in hd... especially if it is a newer movies, where they tend to be digital source, then the difference is not as pronounced. I do record HD off my OTA tuner though (cough cough)

 

[Rio Rebel]

I'm not willing to replace the library, either. "The Pursuit of Happyness" or "Blazing Saddles" isn't going to lend itself to the advantages of high def. But "The Last Samurai" or "Troy" is going to be so much better.

And we still haven't seen the potential tapped for audio. Get "Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis" and you will be floored with the lossless audio.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: sdifox
Bottom line is still the movie in question. I don't care how high the resolution is and how well transferred to BRD or HD-DVD is, if the movie suck, high resolution is not going to make it any better. If you already have a big dvd collection and have a decent upscaler, then I am not sure it is worth it to replace the library.

It may not be worth it to replace the whole library, but it most definitely is worth it to replace many of your favourite ones.

Of course it depends on your setup, but on a big screen from relatively close, even the best upscaling doesn't even come close to real HD. Not even in the same league, not just because of resolution, but for other factors as well, including better colour, less artifacts, better sound, and better extras.

Well, I am currently on a HD72 shooting 92" so no 1080p to 480p comparison. I can tell the diff, just not sure I am willing to buy all 1200 of them again in hd... especially if it is a newer movies, where they tend to be digital source, then the difference is not as pronounced. I do record HD off my OTA tuner though (cough cough)

I considered the Optoma HD72, but it didn't fit my mounting preferences (and I was worried about possible rainbows). So, I got a Panasonic PT-AX200U instead, shooting 90".

I sit 9 feet away, and the difference is absolutely enormous IMO. No, I wouldn't replace 1200 discs. It would be far too expensive, and I don't have time to watch all of those anyway. However, for my favourite movies I have no qualms about replacing those... that is if the hi-def version is a good quality one. Not all of the hi-def releases (on both formats) have been good ones. Star Trek (original series) is awesome on HD DVD, despite being from the 1960s. However, I'm told that The Meaning of Life has a relatively poor transfer on HD, so I didn't bother rebuying that one.

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel
I'm not willing to replace the library, either. "The Pursuit of Happyness" or "Blazing Saddles" isn't going to lend itself to the advantages of high def. But "The Last Samurai" or "Troy" is going to be so much better.

And we still haven't seen the potential tapped for audio. Get "Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis" and you will be floored with the lossless audio.

Actually Blazing Saddles is supposted to be fairly good on HD DVD. That's not really surprising though, since it's from a film source, which was cleaned up relatively recently.

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/blazingsaddles.html

It depends on how much you like the movie though of course.

P.S. I bought Casablanca on HD DVD, and I'm glad I did. It's a very old black and white movie, but it looks quite nice on HD DVD.

 

[Rio Rebel]

I really liked Blazing Saddles. The point I was trying to make, though, is that high def movies are too expensive to just go through and replace everything in my library, so I am more selective now on what I buy. I look for movies with more action (Batman Begins), large epic scenes (Troy), or vivid colors (Transformers). I have several movies like Pursuit of Happyness and Identity, where I have watched them once and not played them again.

 

[dainthomas]

Just watched Mission Impossible on my 42" LCD and I couldn't believe how good it looked for a supposedly average transfer. Especially the scene in the CIA vault. :thumbsup:

I got the trilogy for Christmas, and I can't wait to see how good the next two look.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Genx87
Got my Toshiba A2 for 100 bucks. So yeah it is worth it. However I wouldnt drop 200+ on HiDef just for the sake of having it. yes, the picture is crystal clear. But not worth 200+ for the player imo.

This is surprising because even a decent DVD player runs 200 bucks. To get a HD one for the same price seems like a no brainer. This is the same argument that says buy the cheapest CD player there is.

It just isn't true. 200 bucks to get HD playback is the bargain of the century IMHO. The color alone is worth it, not to mention the resolution.

I hate to be an elitist arse, but if somebody doesn't view HD movies and drop their jaw over a regular DVD then something is wrong. Something is very wrong.

Well you have to realize I barely watch TV and watch even less movies. So to me 200+ for a DVD player is ludicrous. 200+ for HD isnt worth it. For 200+ I can put the money into something computer related or into a retirement account.

That's fine, and certainly a legitimate position, but it doesn't really add anything to the thread, does it? You aren't giving any input on the value of HD, you're just giving input on how much you value video in general.

Perhaps you forgot the title of this thread?

High Def movies...your "NO BS" assessment
Was it worth the price to you?

 

[Chaotic42]

I just watched Oceans 13 on HD-DVD tonight. Its image quality was less than stellar.

 

[olds]

My HD A3 finally came today. I hooked it up and threw in The Bourne Identity. When the Warner logo came on the first words out of my mouth were "holy fvcking shit!"
The movie looked good, better than SD for sure.
300 looked great but I hadn't seen it in SD so I had nothing to compare it to.

 

[zinfamous]

I would say that the prices certainly aren't there for the general public to feel that it is worthwhile--but HD TVs aren't yet standard. and HDM isn't necessary on an SD TV. the ave consumer won't be able to appreciate the difference until they get a larger screen at HD resolutions.

being that so many deals have been available for BD and HD DVD media, it has become worthwhile for me to switch to HD. I didn't see huge differences at first, but it was when I started re-watching some of my SD DVDs that the lack of quality was apparent. I'm sure that had I stuck with an upconverting DVD palyer through the year, I would be still be happy with it. Once I made the switch, I realized I could never go back...

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is absolutely worth it. If nothing more than the color alone.

A lot of people will miss this point. It is a very important one. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is not just an improvement of video resolution, it is also an improvement of color and of audio.

Yeh, moreso than anything else it was the color the popped at me. Especially in the very colorful fields and scenery in Last of the Samuri.

I need to re-rent Curse of the Golden Flower in Blu-Ray and see if my eyes explode with the insane colors that are in the movie.

Curse of the Golden Flower is the first BD I saw on my Plasma--and still what I use as a benchmark on my set.

rent Immortal Beloved. you'll be floored, if not for the sound alone

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is absolutely worth it. If nothing more than the color alone.

A lot of people will miss this point. It is a very important one. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is not just an improvement of video resolution, it is also an improvement of color and of audio.

Yeh, moreso than anything else it was the color the popped at me. Especially in the very colorful fields and scenery in Last of the Samuri.

I need to re-rent Curse of the Golden Flower in Blu-Ray and see if my eyes explode with the insane colors that are in the movie.

*cough*
The 5th element
*cough*

Do you know if they only have the fixed up version? That would be a concern

I think that Netflix only has the first release. (hard to confirm with out the box-"TRUE HD" in gold stamp on the back, lower corner). although, I suppose your eyes could be a good judge.

I was in a Sony Style store over the holiday, and noticed that every copy of the 5th Element that they had in stock was the original crappy release (some 30 copies). This surprised me, as I've never seen them sold at BB, CC Fry's, or any other typical B&M or online store since the new one was released. Did Sony just absorb all those old copies?

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I just watched Oceans 13 on HD-DVD tonight. Its image quality was less than stellar.

Yes, although that was the director's intent for Ocean's 13.

It looked like crap in many scenes, but it was done that way on purpose. Think Traffic, although while I liked the look in Traffic, like you I didn't like the look in Ocean's 13, but nonetheless it is what it is.