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Always way behind on most things tech. My dvd player is quickly dying. Went to Amazon and found a replacement; but then thought to look at blu ray players and the differences in price were not that much so I decided to get one, a Samsung. I will order it this week along with an 'HDM Cable' which is not included, for high-def picture. The fact that it will play all my old dvd's as well is what prompted me to get this, plus I already have Blu Ray discs that were purchased when I purchased many Criterion titles that were 'dvd / blu ray combos'; the blu ray's came along for the ride, as it were. Here's my questions"
1. 'How the West Was Won'. Amazon's descriptions on the many versions of the film are probably not accurate. And the reviews by customers who purchased this title don't specify which is which. I'm seeking the 'Smilebox' version which is the Cinerama curved screen. The blu ray does not say this on the back photo of the item. Is the blu-ray the Smilebox? I already have the big box, Ultimate Collector's Edition, which is excellent as well, but not Cinerama.
2. 'Empire of the Sun' and 'Out of Africa' are the only two films (besides H.T.W.W.W.) that I wish to purchase along with this new player. Those of you who have titles in blu ray as well as regular dvd's, would you recommend titles that are VASTLY superior in blu than it's regular dvd release? Also, are there titles that you'd say 'just stick with the dvd' and don't bother upgrading?
THANKS for your input!
Have you purchased the Samsung yet? If not you might want to check if it can be coded to play all regions of Blu-ray and DVDs. It sounds to me like you might really get into this and if you do there's nothing more frustrating than having a favourite Blu-ray or DVD that won't play because of region coding. When you start up with sites like DVD Beaver and find out that a movie favourite or one you've always wanted to see is coming out and it says that it's region locked it's a great feeling knowing that it really doesn't matter to you because you'll be able to play it anyway.
Too late, Arthur Grant, the Samsung is on it's way. Just as well though as the temptation to get ALL those foreign titles might have made me into a bank-robber or a Senator or Congressman in order to finance my new hobby!
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Dave
2001 BD is reference quality, it comes across like it was made yesterday.
I love the much maligned Speed Racer, on BluRay it is awesome. The Star Trek Reboots are really good on BluRay, Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, the first 3 Bourne pictures. A lot of animated stuff is reference quality, Tangled, Cars, Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2
Of the titles you suggested, '2001' is of serious interest! What I found at Amazon is you can look at Blu Ray titles by decade, and I liked the 1960's, so that's where I found '2001'. But two other titles I wanted were REALLY pricey, 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Oliver!', both from 1968. Most titles are very reasonable, but some I find are for some unknown reason, quite high.
Dave
Yeah, price wise - you just have to shop around, and sometime wait a while. But yes, 2001 on that BD is really remarkable, I would say unless you had seen it originally in the theater you have never seen it this good. The clarity and the contrast between black and light is amazing in this print, and it is amazing that that film and the effects still look so good so many years later. I think I got 2001 for about $11 on Amazon at the time.
'2001' is indeed in my 'saved' queue, but it can wait for the time being as I already have it on dvd. I do want to see what Geoffrey Unsworth REALLY accomplished with that film. The last time I saw it in a theatre was around 1995 in Seattle. At that screening, the sound didn't click on for a few minutes, just the images. So someone in the audience started to loudly make the sounds of the music we all know by heart that accompanies the film, you know, with the loud drums - TADAH.BOM-BOM-BOM-BOM-BOM! THAT, was a memorable screening. But they fixed the sound in a few minutes.
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I sort of stumbled upon the fact that for the best image/sound, I need to buy that HDMI Cable which of course, is NOT included with the blu ray player, you have to purchase it separate. It is coming separate, when the player arrives, as it was 'suggested' very close by the image of the player by Amazon - what a racket! Apparently the blu ray players come with the old RCA jacks and they'll work, but if you really want optimal image/sound, you must get that other cord, which I discovered by reading readers reviews of the player. 'ALIEN' sounds like a title I'd definately want to seek out, as well as 'Close Encounters'...but, in time.
Well it's not so much best image/sound, an HDMI cable is the only way you're going to get HD, otherwise you might just as well be looking at a DVD. And they're really cheap, you can buy them for just a couple of dollars, but I'd spend a little bit more for better build quality.
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I'm thinking that blu ray titles are like 'limited edition' soundtrack special releases, they come out and then become rare and eventually very pricey? 'NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA' and 'OBSESSION' come to mind. Maybe we all should be collecting blu ray discs just to sell in the future?
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I'm thinking that blu ray titles are like 'limited edition' soundtrack special releases, they come out and then become rare and eventually very pricey? 'NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA' and 'OBSESSION' come to mind. Maybe we all should be collecting blu ray discs just to sell in the future?
Na, there's a few Twilight Time titles that have sold out, like The Egyptian & Mysterious Island (ha, I have both), but most releases are around for ages & are really quite cheap. If you want some forties colour that will laser your eyeballs, try The Red Shoes & The Life & Death Of Colonel Blimp, they're both very cheap in the UK, but will probably cost more in America as they're Criterion releases.
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I totally agree with mastadge about "Out of Africa," a film I adore, but I immediately kicked myself for buying it because it just didn't jump out at me and I felt that my DVD of it would have been enough.
I also have "Lawrence of Arabia" and agree with mastadge on that one too (it's gorgeous!). I was able to get the complimentary Ultraviolet digital download, but I happen to hate Ultraviolet (as opposed to the ones that allow us to access them through iTunes). One movie I bought with Ultraviolet was only available in Britain, not the U.S., and I STILL can't download the 5 "Twilight" movies -- I'm always overjoyed when the manufacturer has chosen iTunes over Ultraviolet!
My first Blu-ray player was the top of the line Samsung at the time, and I have since bought 2 more, though not Samsungs -- my TV is a 55-inch Samsung, and if I turned off the Blu-ray it also turned off the TV, but I don't have that problem now that my primary Blu-ray is from a different manufacturer (the big new Oppo universal). But I also made sure that #3 played SACD, which #2 didn't, and it remains an important feature for me.
Try not to replace too many of your favorite DVDs with Blu-ray -- I've repeatedly made the point that I have over 4,000 DVDs, and it's been a challenge not to replace all my favorites with Blu-rays as they are released. I'm up to 200, but it is slowing down, mainly because I ask myself "How many times will I watch this?" I already have an embarrassing number of Blu-rays that have been watched once and won't be touched again, as well as some I've not even taken out of their shrink wrap. So try to be sensible! And I hope you have it hooked to a good surround sound system, which makes a BIG difference! Many of the Blu-ray manufacturers go out of their way to offer amazing audio -- I love the isolated score of "Oblivion," which shook my house in a very good way! (The Blu-ray of "Oblivion" is one of my favorites, plus they give it to us digitally on iTunes as well!)
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Posted: |
May 6, 2014 - 10:38 AM
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By: |
CinemaScope
(Member)
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I totally agree with mastadge about "Out of Africa," a film I adore, but I immediately kicked myself for buying it because it just didn't jump out at me and I felt that my DVD of it would have been enough.
I also have "Lawrence of Arabia" and agree with mastadge on that one too. I was able to get the complimentary Ultraviolet download, but I happen to hate Ultraviolet (as opposed to the ones that allow us to access them through iTunes). One movie I bought with Ultraviolet was only available in Britain, not the U.S., and I STILL can't download the 5 "Twilight" movies -- I'm always overjoyed when they manufacturer has chosen iTunes over Ultraviolet!
My first Blu-ray player was the top of the line Samsung at the time, and I have since bought 2 more, though not Samsungs -- my TV is a 55-inch Samsung, and if I turned off the Blu-ray it also turned off the TV, but I don't have that problem now that my primary Blu-ray is from a different manufacturer (the big new Oppo universal). But I also made sure that #3 played SACD, which #2 didn't, and it remains an important feature for me.
Try not to replace too many of your favorite DVDs with Blu-ray -- I've repeatedly made the point that I have over 4,000 DVDs, and it's been a challenge not to replace all my favorites with Blu-rays as they are released. I'm up to 200, but it is slowing down, mainly because I ask myself "How many times will I watch it?" Already I have a number of Blu-rays that have been watched once and won't be touched again, as well as some I've not even taken out of their shrink wrap. So try to be sensible! And I hope you have it hooked to a good surround sound system, which makes a BIG difference!
I bought more Blu-rays than I thought I would, that's because if you shop around, they're so damned cheap, cheaper than DVD's were back in the day. I usually pay between £6-£8, & I've bought a lot secondhand for £4 & under (never had any problem with s/hand Blu's). Now waiting for Gravity to fall below £10, it won't be long. Well I have to spend any spare cash I have on something. These days there's only 2-4 soundtracks released in a year that I want, & as a life-long film fan, it's great owning all these movies.
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I totally agree with mastadge about "Out of Africa," a film I adore, but I immediately kicked myself for buying it because it just didn't jump out at me and I felt that my DVD of it would have been enough.
I also have "Lawrence of Arabia" and agree with mastadge on that one too. I was able to get the complimentary Ultraviolet download, but I happen to hate Ultraviolet (as opposed to the ones that allow us to access them through iTunes). One movie I bought with Ultraviolet was only available in Britain, not the U.S., and I STILL can't download the 5 "Twilight" movies -- I'm always overjoyed when they manufacturer has chosen iTunes over Ultraviolet!
My first Blu-ray player was the top of the line Samsung at the time, and I have since bought 2 more, though not Samsungs -- my TV is a 55-inch Samsung, and if I turned off the Blu-ray it also turned off the TV, but I don't have that problem now that my primary Blu-ray is from a different manufacturer (the big new Oppo universal). But I also made sure that #3 played SACD, which #2 didn't, and it remains an important feature for me.
Try not to replace too many of your favorite DVDs with Blu-ray -- I've repeatedly made the point that I have over 4,000 DVDs, and it's been a challenge not to replace all my favorites with Blu-rays as they are released. I'm up to 200, but it is slowing down, mainly because I ask myself "How many times will I watch it?" Already I have a number of Blu-rays that have been watched once and won't be touched again, as well as some I've not even taken out of their shrink wrap. So try to be sensible! And I hope you have it hooked to a good surround sound system, which makes a BIG difference!
I bought more Blu-rays than I thought I would, that's because if you shop around, they're so damned cheap, cheaper than DVD's were back in the day. I usually pay between £6-£8, & I've bought a lot secondhand for £4 & under (never had any problem with s/hand Blu's). Now waiting for Gravity to fall below £10, it won't be long. Well I have to spend any spare cash I have on something. These days there's only 2-4 soundtracks released in a year that I want, & as a life-long film fan, it's great owning all these movies.
To Ron Hardcastle and CinemaScope: With the exceptions of 'How the West Was Won', 'Empire of the Sun' - which is my alltime favorite film, and 'Lawrence of Arabia' and the upcoming Criterion 'Red River', all the titles coming in blu ray will be one's I do NOT currently own. There are some titles I looked at, but since I own the dvd's already, I will not go down that slippery slope. I have discovered some good prices to films I love, but don't currently own: 'Absence of Malice', 'Contact', 'In Cold Blood', 'Rain Man', and 'A.I. Artificial Intellegence'. The biggest surprise (for me) was the discovery of Hector Babenco's 1985 film of 'IRONWEED', starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. When I saw it on opening day in San Francisco, only a handful of people were in the auditorium. Years later I tried to get the dvd and found it to be a horribly washed out thing that was only available in pan-and-scan. Now I've found 'Ironweed' at an excellent price on blu and it's WIDESCREEN, as it was originally! Film is not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it!
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I totally agree with mastadge about "Out of Africa," a film I adore, but I immediately kicked myself for buying it because it just didn't jump out at me and I felt that my DVD of it would have been enough.
I also have "Lawrence of Arabia" and agree with mastadge on that one too. I was able to get the complimentary Ultraviolet download, but I happen to hate Ultraviolet (as opposed to the ones that allow us to access them through iTunes). One movie I bought with Ultraviolet was only available in Britain, not the U.S., and I STILL can't download the 5 "Twilight" movies -- I'm always overjoyed when they manufacturer has chosen iTunes over Ultraviolet!
My first Blu-ray player was the top of the line Samsung at the time, and I have since bought 2 more, though not Samsungs -- my TV is a 55-inch Samsung, and if I turned off the Blu-ray it also turned off the TV, but I don't have that problem now that my primary Blu-ray is from a different manufacturer (the big new Oppo universal). But I also made sure that #3 played SACD, which #2 didn't, and it remains an important feature for me.
Try not to replace too many of your favorite DVDs with Blu-ray -- I've repeatedly made the point that I have over 4,000 DVDs, and it's been a challenge not to replace all my favorites with Blu-rays as they are released. I'm up to 200, but it is slowing down, mainly because I ask myself "How many times will I watch it?" Already I have a number of Blu-rays that have been watched once and won't be touched again, as well as some I've not even taken out of their shrink wrap. So try to be sensible! And I hope you have it hooked to a good surround sound system, which makes a BIG difference!
I bought more Blu-rays than I thought I would, that's because if you shop around, they're so damned cheap, cheaper than DVD's were back in the day. I usually pay between £6-£8, & I've bought a lot secondhand for £4 & under (never had any problem with s/hand Blu's). Now waiting for Gravity to fall below £10, it won't be long. Well I have to spend any spare cash I have on something. These days there's only 2-4 soundtracks released in a year that I want, & as a life-long film fan, it's great owning all these movies.
For me, watching the DVD of "Gravity" was more than enough and except for huge fans of it I can't see the purpose of buying it on Blu-ray -- frankly, I'll never watch it again, although I recognize that there are fans out there who simply adore it.
Montana Dave mentioned "Contact." That's another Blu-ray that I felt wasn't much better than the DVD and regretted buying, unless you can find it cheap, which you probably can. "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"? I have it on both DVD and Blu-ray and it looks and sounds very good, but feel that those who have it on DVD shouldn't spend much if they just HAVE to have the Blu-ray. Frankly, I spent far too much for it! "Absence of Malice"? I have it on DVD and have no plans to upgrade -- how many more times do you think you'll watch "Absence of Malice" again? Case closed!
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My story of 'PICNIC', (1955). I went to Amazon a couple of months ago looking for 'Picnic' in regular dvd. Found it, but even though it said 'Picnic - Restored', it was in pan & scan. And this film had gorgeous widescreen cinematography by James Wong Howe, so I passed on it. Then I saw there was a Kim Novak Collection of films on 3-dvd's for a decent price and it included 'Picnic' in Widescreen and I thought I'd struck gold. But then I read buyers warnings saying that though 'Picnic' was widescreen, Sony and been cheap and put it with another film on the same disc, and didn't clean-up the film at all. So finally found a copy at Amazon on Blu Ray at $49.00, which for me was way to expensive. Then I remembered one of you guys saying to 'shop around' and you can find some deals.
I did. Though I never even looked at the Blu Ray Discs at SCREEN ARCHIVES, I found 'Picnic' at a much more reasonable price, along with 'Nicholas and Alexandra', and both titles were from TWILIGHT TIME, which is a company some people have mentioned as buying titles that went out of print because of their popularity.Ordered BOTH titles. So, I guess I'll keep an eye out for TWILIGHT TIME'S releases.
As I await my Blu Ray Player for next week, anyone: HOW'S THE 'PICNIC' Blu Ray (with the isolated music track?)
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.
For me, watching the DVD of "Gravity" was more than enough and except for huge fans of it I can't see the purpose of buying it on Blu-ray -- frankly, I'll never watch it again, although I recognize that there are fans out there who simply adore it.
Montana Dave mentioned "Contact." That's another Blu-ray that I felt wasn't much better than the DVD and regretted buying, unless you can find it cheap, which you probably can. "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"? I have it on both DVD and Blu-ray and it looks and sounds very good, but feel that those who have it on DVD shouldn't spend much if they just HAVE to have the Blu-ray. Frankly, I spent far too much for it! "Absence of Malice"? I have it on DVD and have no plans to upgrade -- how many more times do you think you'll watch "Absence of Malice" again? Case closed!
I have some seriously awful films on Blu-ray (Year One or Johah Hex anyone!). I see a bit of a film on the telly & think, it's bad, but looks amusing. I then buy it s/hand from Amazon Marketplace for around £3 delivered (the cost of a couple of newspapers). I have a pile of guilty pleasures to watch, & will then just donate them to a charity shop. I'm thinking about the re-watchability of Gravity, some friends of mine have the 3D version, I haven't seen them for about a year. I should phone them & get myself invited round, that way I get a movie & a meal.
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.
For me, watching the DVD of "Gravity" was more than enough and except for huge fans of it I can't see the purpose of buying it on Blu-ray -- frankly, I'll never watch it again, although I recognize that there are fans out there who simply adore it.
Montana Dave mentioned "Contact." That's another Blu-ray that I felt wasn't much better than the DVD and regretted buying, unless you can find it cheap, which you probably can. "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"? I have it on both DVD and Blu-ray and it looks and sounds very good, but feel that those who have it on DVD shouldn't spend much if they just HAVE to have the Blu-ray. Frankly, I spent far too much for it! "Absence of Malice"? I have it on DVD and have no plans to upgrade -- how many more times do you think you'll watch "Absence of Malice" again? Case closed!
I have some seriously awful films on Blu-ray (Year One or Johah Hex anyone!). I see a bit of a film on the telly & think, it's bad, but looks amusing. I then buy it s/hand from Amazon Marketplace for around £3 delivered (the cost of a couple of newspapers). I have a pile of guilty pleasures to watch, & will then just donate them to a charity shop. I'm thinking about the re-watchability of Gravity, some friends of mine have the 3D version, I haven't seen them for about a year. I should phone them & get myself invited round, that way I get a movie & a meal.
Would not watch 'Gravity' again if you paid me and fortunately saw it as a rental. There were so many Oscar nominees for Best Picture from last year that I did not enjoy - and wondered HOW they got to be considered Best Picture Material. Of course, movie tastes vary and many people in The Academy considered them of great merit. 'Gravity', I admired it's technical aspects and look, but I really didn't care if Sandra Bullock lived or died, but I knew she'd live, after all, it's Hollywood. '12 Years a Slave' I stopped watching at the 1-hour mark as I just disliked the film so much. Of course, this went on to get the Oscar, which was why I rented it in the first place. 'Dallas Buyers Club' I thought in advance would be a film that surely I'd enjoy, but, nope. Even though the lead actors went through tremendous physical transformations for their roles, I didn't 'like' either one's performance, and wonder how THAT film got into the top-tier? 'NEBRASKA' was my favorite which I've seen over and over again.
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Posted: |
May 7, 2014 - 10:16 AM
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By: |
Ado
(Member)
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Would not watch 'Gravity' again if you paid me and fortunately saw it as a rental. There were so many Oscar nominees for Best Picture from last year that I did not enjoy - and wondered HOW they got to be considered Best Picture Material. Of course, movie tastes vary and many people in The Academy considered them of great merit. 'Gravity', I admired it's technical aspects and look, but I really didn't care if Sandra Bullock lived or died, but I knew she'd live, after all, it's Hollywood. '12 Years a Slave' I stopped watching at the 1-hour mark as I just disliked the film so much. Of course, this went on to get the Oscar, which was why I rented it in the first place. 'Dallas Buyers Club' I thought in advance would be a film that surely I'd enjoy, but, nope. Even though the lead actors went through tremendous physical transformations for their roles, I didn't 'like' either one's performance, and wonder how THAT film got into the top-tier? 'NEBRASKA' was my favorite which I've seen over and over again.
Such refreshing opinions Dave, I love it, yeah, I wrote the Oscars off a few years ago.
"Best Picture of the Year"
has become synonymous with
"Most self-important and preachy boring movie of the year"
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I've been searching for an answer for this elsewhere but haven't found one.
If I use a ps3 or blu ray player to play a blu-ray and output video via HDMI and want to do audio through Optical (from the device to the receiver) are any of the protected blu-rays going to stop this? Or would it work but with some limitations such as stereo audio only for some blu-rays?
I have that exact same set up with my PS 3 (optical out from PS 3 to receiver) and it's a 7.2 surround sound set up that works exactly the same as it would if you were using the HDMI for sound.
The quality of sound will be at least as good as the HDMI with no limitation whatsoever. The software has no encoding that concerns this feature either.
Please do not confuse this response with region encoding. Your PS 3 (as is mine) is not capable of being converted to multi-region capability. So I have another Blu-ray machine (a rather cheap model) converted to play region A - B.R. Discs (my Playstation here in Australia like the U.K. is a region B player) that I use when playing Criterion or Olive region locked A discs with HDMI used "all the way".
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Good to know thanks. I was about to buy a sweet deal on a 32 inch 720p Samsung TV until I realized that it didn't do Optical Out. Then I thought that optical out from the TV might not be necessary. At least for now the majority of my content would be consumed through the PS3. It has apps that let me access most of what the "Smart TVs" have with the added benefit of a wired connection to the internet.
Hi again,
Unless you want the sound to come directly through your T.V. it doesn't matter whether it has Optical anything. That optical wire goes from your PS3 to the receiver.
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arthur: I was about to say the same -- no point in using an optical to the tv -- it's from the Blu-ray player to the receiver, which then converts it to your 6 (5.1) or 8 (7.1) or 9 (7.2) speaker array. Do TV's even have an optical input? My 55-inch Samsung certainly doesn't have one, although all 3 of my Blu-ray players do have optical (and other) outputs for the receiver.
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