Minimum Blu-Ray Requirements

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
5,158
46
1,225
Albuquerque, NM
www.fightingconcepts.com
I'd be interested to know what our members look for when considering the purchase of Blu-Ray discs.

1. Will you buy BDs that have 1080i video? (Note that some BDs, mostly concerts and opera, only come with this resolution).

2. Do you demand lossless audio?

3. Do you prefer PCM uncompressed audio?

4. Do you care much about the extra features, digital copy, companion DVD, etc.?

I'm sure there are more questions, feel free to submit them as well as discuss 1-4 above.

Lee
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
I'd be interested to know what our members look for when considering the purchase of Blu-Ray discs.

1. Will you buy BDs that have 1080i video? (Note that some BDs, mostly concerts and opera, only come with this resolution).
If it is the native format of the original source, I prefer that to someone else butchering it into 1080p. If they leave it in 1080i, I have a choice of equipment to convert it to 1080p. Most TVs do a good job on this these days as it is also required for broadcast TV.

2. Do you demand lossless audio?
I am not sure I demand it. I demand good entertainment first. Good picture quality second. And good audio third for most movies. If musical or special content with high production values, then I like lossless (which is standard fair there anyway).

3. Do you prefer PCM uncompressed audio?
Don't see a reason for it as PCM is wasteful with no value add.

4. Do you care much about the extra features, digital copy, companion DVD, etc.?
I very much care about extras. I usually watch the movie twice! Once normally with my wife. Then when it finishes, I watch again with the commentary track. Often I learn things I missed. For example, in the movie Sixth Sense, I missed the color red symbolism. I don't care about digital copy. Companion DVD is not useful either as we have HD players in every location now. And it drives up cost of production.
 

Johnny Vinyl

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 16, 2010
8,570
51
38
Calgary, AB
I got into Blu-ray about 3.5 yrs ago when "The War" was still going on. I didn't really pick a side and kinda defaulted to Blu-ray because of the PS3. At the time the PS3 was "the" Blu-ray player to have, but more importanly for me, it offered the ability to enjoy various other media.

At first I bought some movies simply for the WOW factor and concentrated on the VIDEO aspect of the format. Then I discovered some great Concert BD's, which necessesitated my looking into the audio being delivered from the BD format more closely. I guess what I'm saying is that both VIDEO and AUDIO are important to me with the Blu-ray format. I expect that movies, concerts and the like on Blu-ray are released with proper transfers, and if they aren't, I will simply not fork over the additional dollars for what is still a premium-priced format.

The EXTRAS are not important to me, and I wouldn't make a judgement call for purchase based on the inclusion or omission of them. It's a non-issue for me.

I should add that I have a real problem with the Disney/Pixar releases, despite the fact they may represent the best of what the Blu-ray format has to offer. My gripe is price! I refuse to be gauged by their ridiculous MSRP's and, as such, my collection consists of only one title (Ratatouille).

John
 

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
5,158
46
1,225
Albuquerque, NM
www.fightingconcepts.com
I should add that I have a real problem with the Disney/Pixar releases, despite the fact they may represent the best of what the Blu-ray format has to offer. My gripe is price! I refuse to be gauged by their ridiculous MSRP's and, as such, my collection consists of only one title (Ratatouille).

John


John,

Join Disney Movie Rewards online (free with no commitments) and get discount coupons on many releases. I got Toy Story and Toy Story 2 for $16.00 combined. On many titles, if you have the DVD version, they also offer a "rebate" coupon for $10 off on the BD. Also watch Amazon for specials. Got Sleeping Beauty for $9.99 there by combining a couple discounts.

Lee
 

rsbeck

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
848
11
0
1. Will you buy BDs that have 1080i video? (Note that some BDs, mostly concerts and opera, only come with this resolution).

I have and I will continue depending on the situation.

2. Do you demand lossless audio?

I want the best version available. If that means no lossless audio, I'm okay with it -- until a better version comes out. This is also a situational deal. I recently bought The African Queen on blu-ray. Absolutely wonderful restoration. The sound is well represented and I doubt a lossless track would add much, if anything. Read a Robert Harris article where he explained why the producers chose not to use lossless and said it was because it was from an old degraded analog soundtrack and hi-def audio would have simply exposed more problems so a soundtrack with a little compression actually sounded better. Like I say, IMO, it is just a fabulous restoration. I've read on some other A/V sites some folks stating they will not buy it because it doesn't have lossless audio. IMO, that's a little nuts. I could see it if your latest Hollywood special effects blockbuster failed to deliver lossless, but a dialog driven film from the 40s? Come on.


3. Do you prefer PCM uncompressed audio?

No.

4. Do you care much about the extra features, digital copy, companion DVD, etc.?

The kids use the digital copies to put films on their ipods, so if it is appropriate, I will try to get the version that includes a digital copy. I like to watch the film a second time with commentary track, so that kind of extra feature is nice. I'm bored to death with "making of" extra features, they are all made with the same cookie cutter. I don't use BD Live and it seems like every new blu-ray has some new feature like that which I do not employ.

If you get the blu-ray of Bullitt, there's an extra feature called The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing presented in 1080p with 5.1 audio which includes interviews and sample sequences with some of the industry's best film editors -- it's almost worth the price of the blu-ray, so this type of extra feature is absolutely a welcome addition.
 

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