[MwhwF6bp]

Just upgraded my TV, so looking for some blu-rays to test out on it. I love sci-fi and action and cartoon films, so any suggestions?

[Dstyeglm]

Avatar is pretty good I guess

[23tommy]

Alien Anthology
The Dark Knight
Blade Runner (get the US version, it's region free. Edit: This comes with DVDs which are region 1 locked, so you'll need a player that is multi-region for DVDs to play them, but the BDs are region free)
Jason and the Argonauts (this you need to get from the US, but again it's region free)

I've recently purchased Metropolis, which has just come out on BD, and is worth getting if you don't mind watching really old, b&w, silent films. It was hugely influential to a lot of modern sci-fi films and the new release has extra footage which was only rediscovered a few years ago (bear in mind though that this footage has a smaller frame than the rest of the movie, and is in very poor condition).

[Nothatspecial]

The easiest thing is look up movies you like then their Bluray reviews. DVDbeaver usually has quite a few full resolution screenshots in their short reviews.

I find it pointless to buy "demo" discs if I don't like the movies in the first place.

[23tommy]

The easiest thing is look up movies you like then their Bluray reviews. DVDbeaver usually has quite a few full resolution screenshots in their short reviews.

I find it pointless to buy "demo" discs if I don't like the movies in the first place.

Good idea. http://www.avforums.com/movies/

[MwhwF6bp]

Avatar is pretty good I guess

Already got, looks fantastic!

Alien Anthology
The Dark Knight
Blade Runner (get the US version, it's region free. Edit: This comes with DVDs which are region 1 locked, so you'll need a player that is multi-region for DVDs to play them, but the BDs are region free)
Jason and the Argonauts (this you need to get from the US, but again it's region free)

I've recently purchased Metropolis, which has just come out on BD, and is worth getting if you don't mind watching really old, b&w, silent films. It was hugely influential to a lot of modern sci-fi films and the new release has extra footage which was only rediscovered a few years ago (bear in mind though that this footage has a smaller frame than the rest of the movie, and is in very poor condition).

Might have to get blade runner, I have Dark Knight so will check it out!

The easiest thing is look up movies you like then their Bluray reviews. DVDbeaver usually has quite a few full resolution screenshots in their short reviews.

I find it pointless to buy "demo" discs if I don't like the movies in the first place.

Ok cheers, also for some reason my TV is displaying all movies without the letterbox. Using a PS3 slim and a Sony KDL 40HX803?

[Gskdmidd]

Ok cheers, also for some reason my TV is displaying all movies without the letterbox. Using a PS3 slim and a Sony KDL 40HX803?

I don't understand your point here.....you're expecting a letterbox view or it starts letterboxed then expands?!

[MwhwF6bp]

I don't understand your point here.....you're expecting a letterbox view or it starts letterboxed then expands?!

I am expecting a letterbox view, for example Avatar is full screen?

[Nothatspecial]

I am expecting a letterbox view, for example Avatar is full screen?

Check the aspect ratio of your TV and against the aspect ratio of the movie.

If they match, you should not see any letterboxing. If they don't, you will unless you use zoom or some weird resizing or cropping.

[LoisCampon]

www.blu-ray.com has good reviews regarding the audio and video quality as well as full resolution screenshots.

Some of the best looking movies I have are:
Baraka (best looking one out there)
Curious Case of Benjamin Button
All my Pixar films
Blade Runner
Inception

I have over 150 BDs and every single one is a significant boost over the DVD, even older ones. Studios have their transfers down and now that they moved away from MPEG2 years ago, they all have IQ gains.

(The Dark Knight looks nice but they use a lot of edge enhancement to compensate the 35mm scenes to the 70mm ones.)

[Nothatspecial]

www.blu-ray.com has good reviews regarding the audio and video quality as well as full resolution screenshots.

Some of the best looking movies I have are:
Baraka (best looking one out there)
Curious Case of Benjamin Button
All my Pixar films
Blade Runner
Inception

I have over 150 BDs and every single one is a significant boost over the DVD, even older ones. Studios have their transfers down and now that they moved away from MPEG2 years ago, they all have IQ gains.

(The Dark Knight looks nice but they use a lot of edge enhancement to compensate the 35mm scenes to the 70mm ones.)

Yeah what a big difference. And this is only on Bluray...I didn't get to see it on IMAX where the full resolution would really get used. For shame

edit: also agreed that every bluray I have is in general much improved over the DVD version. The resolution advantage is too big to surmount. I still remember in the infancy of HD discs when some near-sighted fools on some movies sites would argue that the HD-DVD/Bluray only looked marginally better than DVDs (though back in those days there *were* some very poor transfers but there were very good ones that showed the potential...anyways like I said nearsighted fools).

[RooxiaNof]

------- + LG BD burner + windata BD blanks at $1 each + dvdfab = AMAZING!!! [thumbup]
^^^^^^ Just for making backup archival copies for my own use. [shocked]

Oh and if you search AVS forum they have a running bluray quality thread which list's the quality of each movie from "reference" down to poor.

[Nemerov]

Pan's Labyrinth, Planet Earth, and Life are what I usually take out to show people the quality of the image.

[georgshult]

Yeah deffinately Planet Earth [yes] hours and hours of droolingly good pictures.

Also I like Crank and Crank High Voltage; very sharp picture which really adds something to the experience. Iron man 1 and 2 are also terrific on Bluray.

And agree with any pixar movie personal favorites: Ratatouille, Toy Story 3 and Cars (a nice movie to show off your subwoofer with).

Other movies you can't go wrong with: Master and commander (sound is amazing!), Gladiator (be sure to get the remastered one, the other release sucks donkeyballs), Inception, Goodfellas (amazing re-release), pan's labyrinth and the departed.
Pirates of the Caribbean 1 2 and 3 are also very very good. But you've probably seen them a couple of times already.

As for series: Spartacus will probably look amazing, Lost and Mad Men.

[Adamdjeffe]

Beauty and the Beast has the sharpest, most eye poppingly awesome transfer I've seen recently.

If you're into that sort of thing of course.

[G778G9P0]

I am expecting a letterbox view, for example Avatar is full screen?

That's normal, Avatar is full screen like the IMax scenes in The Dark Knight. You should find most movies give you the normal letter box however.

It's already been mentioned but I'm going to reiterate Blade Runner, amazing flick with a stunning picture.

[leacturavar]

Any Fincher movie looks amazing(Se7en, Fight Club, Benjamin Button, Zodiac).

Any Pixar looks amazing.

Avatar and Baraka are probably the 2 most jaw-dropping blu-rays available.

Planet Earth looks great and Life looks even better.


Other than that, there's so many damn titles available nowadays that you'll just have to pick films you like and you'll be impressed.

[DumErrory]

Fair word of warning, there are some dodgy bluray releases out there.
For example: to ruin your childhood memories, watch The Never Ending Story on bluray.

Shoddy conversion, and its really showing its age.

As for movies you must have in my humble opinion:

• Sin City
• Pulp Fiction (if only for the soundtracks)
• Sleeping Beauty (original movie track, not the re-released movie one. And one of the best uses of movie-in-movie making off)
• Wall-E (same as Sleeping Beauty)
• Princess and the Frog (Disney doing what they do best, normal animation)

The rest that get mentioned is very nice too.
Again a big plus for Bladerunner! [thumbup]

[Friend_Joe]

The Back to the Future trilogy looks awesome on BluRay, they have done a great job putting these movies to 1080p. Got it for christmas, and was very satisfied with the picture and sound.

Other than that, as already said, any Pixar movie.

[BEKREUNSEPBERw]

• Batman : the dark knight