Top Blu-rays

brittle wrote: »

I recently bought a PS3 and want to get all the best looking blu-rays. I've noticed a lot of them don't look much better than the original dvd's, lousy transfers I guess.

Many people don't factor in that the PS3 is upscaling your old DVD's to HD. I bought a launch PS3 and it didn't upscale. Every SD DVD looked HORRIBLE on my 46" TV. Luckily, upscaling was a feature that got added through firmware updates a few months later.

Although there are a lot of poor transfers, if you saw what's actually coming off that disc, you might have a different opinion of SD vs HD.

bevans wrote: »

I can't believe "Black Hawk Down" hasn't been mentioned. This BR has the best picture i've seen. I havent bought all the pieces of my home theater yet but I hear(AVS forum) the audio is pretty hard to beat too.

Yes, this is in fact a great Blu-ray with awesome Audio and Video quality.

mantis wrote: »

Crank is a exciting Blu ray and fun to watch. My man is nuts in this movie. I loved it.

Crank 2 coming soon!!! It was previewed on Transporter 3 blu-ray disc.

I also love Hitman.

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

The people over on AVS don't agree with you, it's rated a bronze over there.

Don't really care....guess their Tv's can't handle blacks.....

All this talk of blurays looking better...what a bunch of baloney!

I demand to see scientific studies and measurements!!

Where are the double "blind" tests of bluray vs dvd?

2001 A Space Odyssey (just picked up at BJs for 13.00)
and
No Country for Old Men.

I just finished reconfiguring my HT room and will be firing up both of these pics this weekend...

While not for everyone because of the price ($30-$40 each) and storyline material, Red Cliff and Red Cliff 2 should definitely be at the top of this list for picture and audio quality. I finally got around to watching these imports from China and was quite surprised with their top production values that meet or surpass anything that hollywood has put out so far.

The story may be hit or miss with western audiences because it is based on hero characters from Chinese history (think Troy). But the special effects and battle scenes are much closer to the opening scene from Gladiator but larger, on the scale of Lord of the Rings. Extras and building material is cheaper in China so they also had a lot more live action shots to mix with the digital effects.

There are cavalry charges, fire catapults, massed archers, granades and bombs, a castle siege, and an epic naval battle with fire ships. All these battle scenes are elevated to the highest reference quality by not one but three lossless 7.1 (finally got to engage all my speakers with discreet material) audio tracks to choose from (uncompressed PCM, DTS-HD MA, TrueHD). A clear embarassment of audio riches. Arrows zip and thwack around the room, explosions and even the percussion heavy score strain a subwoofer's extension, and the naval battle is a full surround raging inferno from hell burning down your home theater by its end.

There are also some beautifully framed shots of Chinese countryside, detailed interior shots, and well designed wardrobe. If you want to see all the character development, be sure to see both parts in sequence. But the epic battle scene is in the second part. So you have a choice if you just aren't that interested in Chinese history.

There are two suggested cheaper sources in this thread:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80185&highlight=red+cliff

with DDD being cheaper but yesasia (linked in the blu-ray.com review) being paypal friendly (a consideration when buying from a foreign source). I realize that the price may be a deal breaker for many, but these two blu-rays really deserve mention in a 'top blu-ray' thread, especially as go-to demo disks.

I have read a lot on this, and have a few discs that I think are great - most have been mentioned:

My favorite disc is Kill Bill Volume 1: I think the audio is OUTSTANDING on this disc - especially the scene with the crazy 88's...man that's hot stuff.

Band of Brothers - Also previously mentioned...fantastic in both audio, and video.

Hulk - I have NOT seen, but have read reviews on numerous websites, and all have said that it's a must have for video quality.

Cars - I have this disc and think it's outstanding on the video quality - most of the digitally made movies I have seen are fantastic.

One not mentioned - probably because it's a crap movie - Max Payne - This movie kicks my subwoofer's butt...it's got the most low bass use of any movie I've seen, and sometimes use it to show off the lows of the system.

Transporter-3 and Knowing are Very Very Good on Blu-Ray:D

I thought dark city on br was fanastic... I own a copy and have seen it few times. i can not complain, it was better than dvd IMO.

invincible with mark wahlberg has good pq


I watched u-571 yesterday first thing after hooking up amp. My speakers was banging hard at 70 to 80 db.. no distortion, i asked wife to listen if there disortion.. nope... good bass coming out of rt800i.

Erik Tracy wrote: »

All this talk of blurays looking better...what a bunch of baloney!

I demand to see scientific studies and measurements!!

Where are the double "blind" tests of bluray vs dvd?

I hope your joking or my money wasted on 324 blu ray movies

BlueFox wrote: »

That is sitting in my Amazon shopping cart, along with The Fifth Element. Man, I hate rebuying DVDs on BR, but some movies are worth it.

Multi-Pass!:D

So far, the most visually impressive movie I've seen on BD is The International. Absolutely stunning picture quality.

Master and Commander