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High Def movies...your "NO BS" assessment
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destrekor
Lifer
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.
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.
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.
This is all sitting just 10 feet away.
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.
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.
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.
sdifox
No Lifer
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.
Eug
Lifer
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
No Lifer
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'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.
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
Lifer
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.
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.
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
Lifer
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.
I got the trilogy for Christmas, and I can't wait to see how good the next two look.
olds
Elite Member
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.
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
No Lifer
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...
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
No Lifer
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?
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