lukearmy7 asked:
I was just wondering if it’s worth it to buy older blu ray movie classics such as Aliens, (whenever that comes out) terminator 2, Braveheart(whenever it comes out) when none of these movies were even shot in HD. I own the dvd’s of these but just find it hard to believe they can change the picture of something thats already been shot years ago with a dinasaur of a camera.
Tags: Blu Ray Movies, Braveheart, Buy Movies
01 Dec 09 5:29 pm
I’ve heard that the Blu-ray is amazing on all movies it’s on, but I don’t own one, so I’m not a very reputable source. I would just rent some of the older movies on blu-ray. Judge for yourself whether they’re better quality before you decide to buy
05 Dec 09 12:38 am
The short answer: Most of the time yes.
However, it depends on the movie. Each Blu-Ray movie released is given different treatment when transferred from the master (usually 35mm film) to Blu-Ray’s 1920×1080 format. DVDs are also made from the 35mm masters but they are transfered at 720×480. So the resolution is definately going to be better, but also the transfer process has improved over the last six years. A lot of these older DVDs weren’t given the proper transfer attention and the Blu-Ray editions are. An excellent example of this would be the classic b&w film: The Day The Earth Stood Still. It looks amazing on Blu-Ray and is a far superior transfer to the DVD counterpart. How The West was Won is another excellent example. They went through a painstaking process of recapturing the Cineorama perspective which is exclusive to the Blu-Ray.
Have a look at these two reviews for screen shots:
There are exceptions. Some movie studios seem to be quickly putting out Blu-Ray releases and for whatever reason the transfers aren’t very good: Total Recall, The Punisher, Terminator 2… other Lionsgate titles are often criticized.
05 Dec 09 11:34 pm
agree with Jdeats, and would emphasize to you that the 1968, YES THAT WAS 1968 MOVIE of “2001: SPACE ODYSSEY” easily surpasses the picture quality of most movies shot today. It looks stunning and is 40 years old! So it has more to do with the “source” not the year
Also: arguably, the BEST blu-ray picture quality right now is 1993 Baraka, which tells you again that age means little. Unlike the regular rule of 35mm, Baraka was filmed on 70mm in 1993.