Hey guys, I am having my first HDTV delivered today (the Panasonic TH-58PZ800U) and will shortly be purchasing a Blu-ray player to go with it. I was just wondering if anyone has a suggestion or opinion as to what blu-ray title best shows off what Blu-ray can do in terms of video and audio quality. I was planning to have people over to show off the new set and wanted to get something in advance that would look impressive.

the Transformers should do the trick.

You're in for it now! You've asked the wrong guy... because, by my definition, the "best" a Blu-ray player can do is well-represent the best movies. That's right- image quality and sound quality are easily trumped by... movie quality!

However, you're in luck because the disc with the best movie quality also has superb image quality and sound quality.




In other words, Blade Runner.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Wall-E will be remarkably impressive. Cars and Ratatouille are.

*Gasp* How brave!

I'm a visionary.

Transformers, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-man 3 are a few that will be nice audio/video demos.

Superman Returns (PCM Version) is one of the best audio soundtracks you're going to hear. The video looks great, as it matches the theatrical experience, but it's not the kind of visual film that's going to wow any fence sitters.

To show that old movies can look great, I always have Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, and 2001 handy.

Jersey - since i know you dont really have an audio set-up yet I would lean towards a video demo and would say Ratatouille.

Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2 are great as well.

The Incredible Hulk, Rambo (4), Live Free or Die Hard, Pan's Labyrinth, Kung Fu Panda.

Any Pixar movie is fantastic (Cars, Ratatouille, and looks like Wall-E too).

Any of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I haven't heard it, but Widescreen Review gave rave reviews to the 7.1 mix of 'The Orphanage' - and they're pretty hard to please.

Try Crank. It may not be the greatest movie, but it sure will wow you.

If you are into animation, check out KUNG FU PANDA which has the most awesome flawless transfer ever.

The CGI is just amazing on this title!

Agreed. Kung Fu Panda has a great color palette and an awesome surround sound track. The confetti sequences are a good test of the video processing capability.

As far as US-produced titles are concerned I think that Apocalypto is amongst the best when it comes to a feature film presentation. Great audio and video quality.

Incredibly well done film as well!

Pro-B

Wait till December 30th and pick-up Serenity.

It was one hell of a demo title on HD-DVD and I'm expecting perfection on Blu-ray.

I'm still 5.1/DTS only so I can't vouch for the fancy audio, but the Fifth Element is beautiful.

I would go with Baraka. Absolutely stunning.

Pffft. I'm betting The Dark Knight on 12/9 will kick Serenity's ass.

Oh Yeah? Well my disc can beat up your disc!!

Lots of great suggestions... but if you want to pick just one-and-only-one title, I would choose one that is framed at 16x9, as some people may be turned off by the top & bottom black bars. So I would agree with Apocalypto.

I would say a lot depends on who your audience will be. Some titles listed above would not be good choices if you had families with kids. If you have mostly older adults, the animation ones might not be the best choice. I would agree with the above suggestion by Hammer99 that if possible a movie that has an aspect ratio like 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 that fills up most of your screen helps make a better impression. If your audience is mostly college-aged, as long as you have free beer you should be good.

Very good point!

Myself, I like to demo 4 different types of BDs to visitors (titles change depending on the crowd):
1 scope animated
1 16x9 animated
1 scope non-animated
1 16x9 non-animated

I'll second the Baraka recommendation