All the talk about 3-D television sets obscures an obvious truth – the best way to watch movies at home right now is via Blu-ray technology.
WWTW was a Blu-ray skeptic for quite some time. But I realized being a movie blogger meant I had to make the Blu investment. Still, I didn’t think the format was worth all the fuss. Are Blu-ray discs so much superior to their DVD cousins?
Not really.
Now, I’m having a change of heart, and I can blame “The Sound of Music” as one reason why.
The beloved musical came out on Blu-ray this month, and the visuals and colors are so rich it feels like the film was shot, edited and transferred to home video last week. It’s simply gorgeous.
Then, I popped “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” into my Blu-ray player and was similarly stunned. It looks far better than the version I watched on TV all those years ago.
Blu-ray’s secret weapon is restoring old movie prints to their original glory. Sure, the Blu-ray version of “Get Him to the Greek” won’t look remarkably different from its DVD counterpart. But the format allows for old films to be reborn before our eyes.
I still have issues with the price of new Blu-ray disks and the load time on my Insignia model. But while movie goers wait for the latest 3-D revolution to burn itself out they should go Blu until the next technological leap occurs.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I made the jump to Blu-Ray about two months ago and I have to admit that I was literally gobsmacked by the difference in video quality (and audio quality, too, but that won’t be as apparently until I upgrade my receiver to one which decodes DTS-HD). The other thing that’s really impressed me is all the little extras provided by the format itself: when you pause it shows you how far you are in the movie, if you plug in a USB drive the discs connect the player to the internet and download new content, the discs can hold a LOT more content than a DVD, etc.
The load times with my reasonably priced LG (BD270) player are barely noticeable (and it does the Netflix really slick, too). So yeah, this is definitely THE way to watch movies now. No doubt.
I think the consumer industry did a lousy job promoting Blu-ray and shot themselves in the foot by slugging it out with HD DVD.
Perhaps, but I predict that after a few years, and perhaps more improvements to bandwidth, all discs will no longer exist in favor of on demand streaming of HD video through the internet to our televisions without interuption or interfearence.
I like Blu-ray, but I am not diving full force into it unless this won’t happen, and I do believe that it will, so why waste money on purchasing discs when in a year or so they will no longer be the norm?
The difference in picture/sound quality on Blu-ray vs. DVD is almost night and day most of the time.
Other points:
- The argument about price is almost moot at this point … yes, they started out kinda high, but they’re really not any longer. Now you can get loads of stuff for $14.99 or less within weeks of release.
- I use a PS3 and I’ve never noticed any sort of significant load time.
- I still say that having some sort of physical media in my hand will ALWAYS be better than a digital only method, even if only for “back-up” purposes. Hard drives crash all the time … ask anyone who’s lost an entire MP3 collection and didn’t have a back-up.