Contact - The Best Transfer (1 Viewer)

[Carabimero]

I want to buy the movie CONTACT on BD. But Amazon lists several versions and I am wondering if they are all the same transfer or if there is a better transfer. Of course I want the best transfer even if it means more money.

I really wish Amazon reviews were not all lumped together for different versions of the same product. It is so maddening.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This is really more of a Blu-Ray forum question, but the October 2009 release is pretty well-regarded.

 

[Carabimero]

Thanks. I've never been to the BD Forum but will keep it in mind for the future.

 

[TravisR]

Definitely don't base any purchasing decisions off of this but I'm pretty sure that the transfer is the same on any variations of the Blu-ray.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Definitely don't base any purchasing decisions off of this but I'm pretty sure that the transfer is the same on any variations of the Blu-ray.

That's what I've been led to believe as well. I'm happy with my copy.

 

[Carabimero]

Thanks. I had to buy something twice once and didn't want it to happen again.

 

[Carabimero]

I got my copy today. Looking forward to watching it tonight.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

One of my favorites!

Ever read the book? I've almost picked it up a bunch of times but never actually done it.

 

[Carabimero]

I have a friend who read the book and said it was different, that he preferred the movie. If I ever DO read a book by Sagan, it will be THAT one.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I just read "The Martian" and I had the same reaction - different enough, but one of the rare times that I liked the movie better.

 

[Carabimero]

Since I got my first DVD around the turn of the century, I've had the odd habit of recording the date on a post-it inside the dvd case whenever I watch a movie. It's fun to look back and see just how often I watch certain movies. Recently I went back and decided any movie that I had watched 10 times or more since I bought the DVD, I would now buy on BD, since obviously that movie stands the test of time with me. Contact was on the top of the list with 12 views.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That's a cool idea!

Since about 2008 or 2009, I've been keeping a list of the movies I watch each year - the movies I watched, whether I saw them at home or in the theater, whether it was the first time seeing that movie and/or the first time watching a new disc, and whether I watched it more than once that year.
It's fun to look over and see what I was watching five years ago vs. today. I also participated in the HTF challenge for a few years so I've got a pretty decent, though not complete, list of what I've watched when from my collection. Honestly, at this point, I wish I had done something simple and elegant like your post-its

I also have one of those apps that you can use to scan the barcode on your discs, and it will pull up all the information on your phone and save a record of your collection. You can then click on each title and note that you've just watched it, or use it to note that you've loaned a title out to someone. I've tried to backfill all of the watched lists into the app, so it's fairly complete - at the very least, I've gotten it accurate for whether or not I've watched a particular disc at all. Sometimes I sort by that and pick a title off the list of discs I own but have yet to watch if I can't figure out any other way to pick out a movie.

 

[Carabimero]

Here's a partial list of my most-watched movies since 1999. To be fair, some of these movies weren't released then, so the number of views wouldn't be as high.

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES - 15
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK -13
THE GODFATHER - 12
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - 10
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - 8
STAR WARS - 8
E.T. - 6
JAWS - 6
THE WRATH OF KHAN - 5
GETTYSBURG - 4
GODFATHER 2 - 4
BACK TO THE FUTURE - 3

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't have an easy way to get to that calculation, unfortunately my app thing doesn't have a "sort by times watched" button. I can tell you that I saw "Star Trek Into Darkness" 13 times in 2013, but I'm not sure that there's any deeper meaning to be found there.

Of the titles on your list, I've seen all of them except Gettysburg, and all but that and Best Years Of Our Loves (a fantastic movie!), I've seen multiple times since 1999. And I gotta say, I'm heartened that you've watched the first Godfather that much more than the second. I think the first one is hands down the better movie, but no one ever agrees with me.

 

[Carabimero]

When I study the second GODFATHER movie, as a film, technically, it is probably better made than the first, yada yada, yada. Bottom line: which one do I watch over and over? The original.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

When I study the second GODFATHER movie, as a film, technically, it is probably better made than the first, yada yada, yada. Bottom line: which one do I watch over and over? The original.

Well if we ever end up on the same coast, at least I know what we're watching!

 

[CraigF]

I just started keeping track of when I watched a movie less than 2 years ago, but I've always kept track of how many times. I've never seen anything 10 times. Five times would be major to me, and there are only at most a handful I've seen more than that, at home and theatrically. I would be far too embarassed to list them, not after what you guys said/listed, they are junk in comparison, "comfort movies" to be generous.

If I watched a movie in a format 2-3 times, that is a no-brainer format upgrade for me. If I watched it once and it seemed like it deserved a better format, that would be enough to upgrade. I have seen Contact only 4 times, and even though the BD is a somewhat older one, it's a decent enough BD, and I would definitely get it in a better format if they spiffed it up a bit (maybe a higher-rez/cleaner transfer would be enough, for the audio too I mean).

I've lately been thinking that maybe I should quit with variety and stick to (known) quality, it's not like there's any shortage from all over the world. It's not working, because I keep discovering new "quality" films, so am almost afraid to stop. But at least I've decided what I won't be watching anymore.

 

[Carabimero]

Craig, I didn't list movies like the original Karate Kid - 8 times...there is plenty of junk on my list. Please post away, I'd love it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm gonna have to try to come up with at least a partial list. To what Craig was saying, a lot of my most watched movies are like comfort food choices. Last year I watched "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" four times, even though I thought it was somewhere between mediocre and good - but it's an easy, fun watch for me. On the other hand, I thought "Ex Machina" (released around the same time) was a much better movie. If anything, I treat the best movies like fancy dinnerware that only comes out on rare occasions.

 

[Carabimero]

Yes, number of views isn't always the benchmark. Sometimes a better benchmark is "Movies I watch when I am emotionally insecure," for want of a better way to say it.