The Answer Is...Blu-ray!

I want to have physical possession of the content I watch.  I don't want to stream movies or TV shows.  I want them to look good on my HDTV.  "DVD-quality" is not good enough anymore.  HD-quality is.  And blu-ray is the way to deliver it.

I buy Blu-ray because it is the best quality available so far and consequently is the least likely to distract my attention away from the movie and onto the poor quality of the reproduced images and sound.

I don't find all DVDs unsatisfactory. Many DVDs are really good, and if all DVDs were as good as the best, I might not be interested in Blu-ray.

For this reason, it is essential that producers of both Blu-ray players and Blu-ray discs - for their own good - recognise that they have consistently to get their product right. In other words, BRD producers should get the colors right every time; there should be no excessive and noticeable DNR; the original, perhaps mono, soundtrack should always be the default soundtrack and the worst scratches, dirt and debris should be removed before mastering.  

That one's easy: Blu-ray offers the best possible video and audio quality... at least until the next format comes along (and of course only if it's done right).

Like Steve, I have no interest in downloads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Tannehill 

I want to have physical possession of the content I watch.  I don't want to stream movies or TV shows.  I want them to look good on my HDTV.  "DVD-quality" is not good enough anymore.  HD-quality is.  And blu-ray is the way to deliver it.

That's it exactly.

Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits had some great comment this week about why physical media is preferable to downloads or content "in the cloud." And he's dead on, too.

Blu-ray has a lot to offer, from perfect picture to great sound, and the best BDs really take advantage of the HDTV and surround sound systems many of us have invested in. DVDs remain a great product too, but as technology has moved beyond standard resolution, BDs meet the new standard.

As collectors, we're interested in building libraries, and we want the best edition we can have for our favorite titles.

Like others have said above, I am interested in the best video and audio quality available. I am not interested in downloading content -- I do not download music, either.

The extra features of Blu-ray do not interest me, either. I do not care about BD-Live, U-Control, or fancy menus that take forever to load. Just give me the film with the best quality transfer possible and a menu design that lets me get to the film quickly. That means allowing me to bypass the 10 minutes worth of previews, too.

All of these early and eloquent responders post for me. Additional emphasis mine.

Quote:  I want to have physical possession of the content I watch.  I don't want to stream movies or TV shows.  I want them to look good on my HDTV.  "DVD-quality" is not good enough anymore.  HD-quality is.  And blu-ray is the way to deliver it.

Quote:  That one's easy: Blu-ray offers the best possible video and audio quality... at least until the next format comes along (and of course only if it's done right).  Like Steve, I have no interest in downloads.

Quote:  Like others have said above, I am interested in the best video and audio quality available. I am not interested in downloading content -- I do not download music, either.  The extra features of Blu-ray do not interest me, either. I do not care about BD-Live, U-Control, or fancy menus that take forever to load. Just give me the film with the best quality transfer possible and a menu design that lets me get to the film quickly. That means allowing me to bypass the 10 minutes worth of previews, too.

Quote:  Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits had some great comment this week about why physical media is preferable to downloads or content "in the cloud." And he's dead on, too.  Blu-ray has a lot to offer, from perfect picture to great sound, and the best BDs really take advantage of the HDTV and surround sound systems many of us have invested in. DVDs remain a great product too, but as technology has moved beyond standard resolution, BDs meet the new standard.  As collectors, we're interested in building libraries, and we want the best edition we can have for our favorite titles.

I join what previous posters have said:

1. Best possible audio/video quality (and that includes not trying to "reinvent" the film, as Fox did with its recent reissue of Predator);
2. Physical media, not streaming;
3. Emphasis on the cinematic content, not downloadable gee-gaws.

Rather than quote others, I'm going to be bold enough to quote myself from a recent review of a Blu-ray not issued by Fox (and I've reviewed Fox discs, as well as discs from almost every other major studio):

Because once you go Blu, you'll never be able to watch DVD again...

Everyone else has pretty much summed it up - blu-ray offers the best available audio/visual presentation of any format. It often equals or exceeds the quality of a good 35mm print.

Unlike some of the other posters, though, I mainly rent and only buy particular favourites that I know I'm going to rewatch. I'm also not opposed to downloads and have rented i-Tunes and PS3 titles in HD that aren't available on disc, and was quite surprised at how good they looked.

I suspect that downloading will one day replace physical media, but for now prefer blu-ray because it is more convenient (even with a high speed connection, it takes several hours to download an HD title) and offers superior quality.

Why Bluray over (X)

Why Bluray OVER DVD:

* Bluray offers superior native video & audio as noted

* Bluray is a living format, with access to online and changing content

* Bluray provides superior access to potential content, extras.. it's additional storage space means that if well done, more information is available.

Why Bluray Over Instant/Online Formats:

* Bluray provides significantly superior audio & video

* Bluray provides access to stills, long pauses, limited glitches and doesn't require high speed network connections.

* Bluray provides extras.. which are impossible with streaming/online media

* Bluray provides portable ownership, the title can be moved between various units with no user interaction

* Bluray is accessible by those who do not have broadband internet available to them.

* Bluray gives the buyer a tangible buy-once, own forever assurance which can be cost-efficient to those who watch frequently.

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbbb1138 

Because once you go Blu, you'll never be able to watch DVD again...

It will surprise absolutely nobody that I am going to be the voice of dissent here.

DVD is a perfectly fine technology and it will be with us in the mainstream for at least another 5 years.  It was OVER ENGINEERED for the time it was released and is very pleasing to me to watch top quality encodes at 90+ inches on a front projector upscaled to 720p.  On a 40 inch monitor or less DVD is absolutely a pleasure to watch.

Streaming technology is perfectly fine for non top tier content. 

Of course we want to see Avatar on Bluray.  It deserves to be shown with the highest possible audio and video quality.  As do thousands of movies we know and love.

But I for one am absolutely content to watch TV programming, older films and other content (heh sorry didnt mean to use it both ways there, but there you go) on DVD.

I am further content to watch documentaries and 'lower tier' films, TV shows and other content on streaming media.  Especially if it's free, ala the excellent Netflix instant streaming.

I have thousands of little plastic disks and I am considering just how very important it is to me to take the vast majority with me to my new home.  As streaming technology gets better and better it will be more and more difficult to justify the waste of precious oil on plastic that will rarely be used and on dead tree covers to hold them in not to mention the space in a home to store it all.

This:
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Tannehill 

I want to have physical possession of the content I watch.  I don't want to stream movies or TV shows.  I want them to look good on my HDTV.  "DVD-quality" is not good enough anymore.  HD-quality is.  And blu-ray is the way to deliver it.

It's as simple as that.

Added emphasis on the "physical media" part. Whether it be a movie on BD (or DVD, if the higher quality version isn't available), a music CD (or tape, or record), a videogame disc or cartridge, or a book/magazine/comic, I want the physical media in my hands.  Not on some server somewhere, out of my hands.

I want to be able to take it over to a friend's house and share it without worrying about DMR/copy protection.

I want to know that I really have the version/edit of the item that I have, the version I wanted to own, and that somebody can't change my server-based copy that I supposedly "own" for a different version because of a couple of naughty frames whimsically inserted by the people who made the film (The Rescuers) or because of some lawsuit which, while it may have merit, actually changes the meaning of a key scene in the film (The Devil's Advocate), or whatever.

I want to know that I can buy and sell used physical copies, and that the studios aren't cutting out my ability to have a garage sale later because it cuts into their profits.  I want to know that there will be used book stores, used comic book stores, used record stores and used DVD stores for my son (and his eventual children) to enjoy.  Finn, you can't tell me you don't know the joys of rummaging through garage sales, flea markets, and library sales, thrift stores, and used book/music/videogame/movie stores and finding that one gem of an item that you've wanted, that nobody else did (which is why it's discontinued and out of print), that just brightens your day to add to your collection?

I own over 30 videogame systems, including the PS3 and Wii, but going back to the vintage era with Atari 2600, 5200, Intellivision, Coleco, and Vectrex...among others.  All working, and with something like 600 carts/discs for them.  I've got boxes of VHS tapes, including films that aren't on DVD (much less Blu-ray), like If You Could See What I Hear and Pretty Maids All in a Row.  I've got at least 300 comic books, and my library of novels ranges in the thousands.  I've got records, tapes and CDs...over a thousand of them.  And I might rip my favorite songs to my iPod Touch, and I might download Pac-Man and R-Type as apps to play on them, but I still have my original physical media to fall back on whenever I want to.  You can't enjoy collections like this with "digital".  And who would want to?  By the same token, I put ACTUAL photos on my walls.  I don't scan them and put up a "digital frame" with a slideshow.  Who watches those anyway?  But I stop in the hallway and touch a picture of my late father every once in a while.  And when I play Space Invaders on my 2600, I remember that my dad bought me that game. That same game.

Why Blu-ray? So we can continue the age-old tradition of buying our favourite films over and over and over again until the next format arrives and than carry on buying the same films again on that new format, on and on it goes, until we die.

Oh and Pixar animation looks fantastic on Blu-ray. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbbb1138 

Because once you go Blu, you'll never be able to watch DVD again...

pfft that's what you think. I have thousands of films and shows and docs on DVD, they still look good to these eyes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Posten 

It will surprise absolutely nobody that I am going to be the voice of dissent here.

 

DVD is a perfectly fine technology and it will be with us in the mainstream for at least another 5 years.  It was OVER ENGINEERED for the time it was released and is very pleasing to me to watch top quality encodes at 90+ inches on a front projector upscaled to 720p.  On a 40 inch monitor or less DVD is absolutely a pleasure to watch.

 

Streaming technology is perfectly fine for non top tier content. 

 

Of course we want to see Avatar on Bluray.  It deserves to be shown with the highest possible audio and video quality.  As do thousands of movies we know and love.

 

But I for one am absolutely content to watch TV programming, older films and other content (heh sorry didnt mean to use it both ways there, but there you go) on DVD.

 

I am further content to watch documentaries and 'lower tier' films, TV shows and other content on streaming media.  Especially if it's free, ala the excellent Netflix instant streaming.

 

I have thousands of little plastic disks and I am considering just how very important it is to me to take the vast majority with me to my new home.  As streaming technology gets better and better it will be more and more difficult to justify the waste of precious oil on plastic that will rarely be used and on dead tree covers to hold them in not to mention the space in a home to store it all.

I agree. I never liked it when they called DVD isn't good enough any more. I think it's that DVD is good, and Blu-ray is simply better. For me, I know that many of the movies that I love (mostly the Dutch titles in my collection) will probably never be released on Blu-ray. So, I have to watch DVD for those, and I'm glad to. Sure, I wish that every title available will get a great BD release, but realistically that's never going to happen.

DVD isn't good enough.... For HD TVs.

DVD is perfectly fine if you are watching on a screen at the resolution that the DVD is putting out. (SD)

You can't get more detail by upconverting. The best you can do is tricks to make it look better.

I am sad to say I have 100's of DVDs that I can no longer watch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Borst 

 

I agree. I never liked it when they called DVD isn't good enough any more. I think it's that DVD is good, and Blu-ray is simply better.

So do a lot of people in this thread. Even before the self-styled "voice of dissent" spoke up, a number of people had expressed their continued appreciation for DVD.

I didn't think any comment on DVD was warranted, because the question was "why Blu-ray?" But for the record: DVD is still a perfectly viable medium, and a well-produced DVD can be a joy to watch. So anyone seeking to grandstand on the basis of being a DVD defender has (how shall I put it?) painted with too broad a brush.

Blu-Ray for the movies and TV series I treasure and rewatch. Want the best picture and sound possible.

Everything else is fine in the other various formats available.

If I'm going to buy video or audio, I want to get the best available format at that time.  It's why I have over 200 hi-def film discs (I still have my HD DVDs) and 300 or so SACD/DVD-A discs.  With some films, I have "upgraded" from DVD when A) the price was reasonable and B) I felt it would be a worthwhile benefit (the DVDs have made a number of people happy as gifts, so that's been a bonus).

Also, if I'm going to buy video or audio, I want a physical copy.  I own some downloaded music.  I have, rarely, downloaded something to watch on iTunes (to catch up on an episode of a show I missed).  I even own a few e-books (I use Kindle for Mac--they are all public domain titles I got for free plus one title that, for one reason or another, became unavailable in any other format).  I will probably get more e-versions of video and audio and books (and, at some point, that will probably be the only way to get some releases).  But, at this time, there are no e-versions of films that equal what Blu-ray offers in terms of quality--that is "why Blu-ray".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben 

 

But for the record: DVD is still a perfectly viable medium, and a well-produced DVD can be a joy to watch.

You're back in my good books. And "for the record" I love Blu-ray, it's just that at the moment only a small percentage of my movie collection is on Blu-ray. So I still tend to watch a lot of DVD and occasionally lesser formats, no snob I.

My goal as a home theater enthusiast is to recreate the cinematic experience (the good aspects of it, not the crying babies, etc. ) as faithfully as possible.  Blu-ray is the best means to that end currently available.

- Walter.

I'll just echo many other folks' comments and say that I want the best quality available and I want a physical product.

I echo many of the above comments regarding quality of presentation and physical ownership. As an occasional purchaser of download, streaming content when the desire and impulse hits me, quality has been notoriously poor. Not only the standard list of compromises inherent to all streaming...but the consistency is a real problem, depending upon bandwidth and traffic loads. Very often the "HD" quality of the stream gets bumped down to SD during the course of a film. There are too many variables in the data chain, for the result to remain consistently high quality. We are many years away from such a thing.  

...and they're durable, too.

As others have said, having the physical media in-hand is very important and Blu-Ray is the next generation of physical media, with improved pic and sound quality. I don't really see any appeal or advantage of digital downloads. Who wants to watch a film on a computer monitor or 3-inch handheld device?  I have several "digital copy" versions of films, but have yet to use them for anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finn 

great input all. Keep it going but take it up a notch - outside of having the best picture and sound quality -- what else? 

What else? Finn, with all due respect, you haven't been paying attention. The posters here have made it clear they don't especially want anything else. They don't want streaming, downloading, branching, picture-in-picture or any of the other childish gimmickry that companies like Sony incorrectly assume is going to persuade people to go Blu.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robin9 

Quote:

What else? Finn, with all due respect, you haven't been paying attention. The posters here have made it clear they don't especially want anything else. They don't want streaming, downloading, branching, picture-in-picture or any of the other childish gimmickry that companies like Sony incorrectly assume is going to persuade people to go Blu.

Exactly. Most of the HTF members are film lovers, so it is all about the movie. Personally, I do not buy a BD for any interactive content -- I am interested in buying a movie, not a video game. Well-done making-of documentaries or those profiling an artist provide some interest, as long as it's not the all-too-common fluff promotional piece.

Also, please do not follow the path of Warner Brothers with their ultra-expensive, exclusive uber-collections that include a bunch of collectible trinkets. We do not care if you offer such a package, but also offer a trimmed down version without all the trinkets at the same time for those of us that are not interested in paying for all the collectible items. I initially feared that Fox was going down that road with The Sound of Music, but it appears there will be a regular release on the same date as the collector's edition. The only thing this marketing ploy accomplishes is upsetting many of your customers, as we will wait for the eventual slimmed-down release anyway.
 

My first big screen was a 55" analog. VHS looked okay, but LDs blew that picture away. Upscaled to a Mit 65711 RPTV (ISFed by 3 of the best in the country) and the LDs (a collection of over 700 w/ only 2 left) took a dump and DVDs looked super (of course depending on authoring.) BDs just blows everything out of the water...but

Well, I just built my HT with complete light control and it has an Epson UB9500 projecting onto a 110" JKP Affinity Cinema Contour Dalite screen and I can tell you the DVDs that I own look great upconverted, but of course BDs look better.

If BD was not around, I'd be perfectly content to just view DVDs, they look that good on my PJ! I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1400 DVDs, 50 BDs and 35 HDDVDs. I only double dip to buy a BD if I don't have it on DVD or it's clearly an upgrade in picture quality, and a lot aren't.

All my DVDs are watched on my Tosh HDA1 and the picture upscaling is second to none.

I am gradually buying more BDs, case in point. All the Roger Cormans Cult Classics that just came out, I bought in BD. I just replaced some of my favorites that I have on HDDVD to BD, in case my HDA1 takes a dump. 

I don't use streaming or any other medium like that. I like collecting something physical and in my life that happens to be DVDs/BDs, and original old movie posters along with their press books.