big e

Are these movies worth the upgrade to blu-ray:

The Omen (1976)
The Final Countdown
The Boondock Saints
JFK
The Graduate
Poltergeist
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

I already own The Omen, Final Countdown, Boondock Saints, JFK, and The Graduate on SD DVD and was just wondering if it's worth my money to upgrade these. I looked at the reviews here on DVDTalk (and a few on blu-ray.com and HiDef Digest) and what I gathered from them was that the video transfers were decent, but not great.

Rammsteinfan

I updated my copy of Poltergeist and found it worth the upgrade if you can get the BD on sale. Picked it up for $16.99 at the Borders clearance sale. Picture looked much better to me and the sound was louder than the DVD. The bonus digibook doesnt hurt as well for an added bonus.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...leich=the_omen
http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...oondock_saints

I found comparison shots here if that helps.

Matthew Chmiel

Do you own the original Graduate release or the SE that just came out a year or two ago?

If you own the original, non-anamorphic release; upgrade to the Blu-ray. Despite it being an MPEG-2 transfer originally encoded three years ago, it's a far superior transfer.

I own The Boondock Saints on both DVD and Blu. Best Buy had it for $12.99 a few weeks ago and it was well worth the price. It was given the room to breathe on a dual-layer Blu-ray whereas the DVD for the Unrated cut was single-layer.

Hammer99

I would definitely rent JFK before buying.

JayDerek

Poltergeist looks amazing - definitely worth an upgrade

big e

Thanks for the links Mister Peepers. Unfortunately, they didn't help much. I sit about 30 inches away from my monitor (a 20 inch) and at that distance I noticed a difference in the comparison, but when I was about 6 ft away, both images looked pretty much the same.

I own the SE that came out about 2 years ago. I'm really leaning towards not getting this since most of the reviews I've read haven't been stellar in the video dept.

mzupeman2

Another vote for 'yes' to Poltergeist.

islandclaws

Absolutely on Poltergeist. I've also heard good things about The Omen. I still need to order that UK set.

Drav3n

i would definitely recommend boondock saints. the PQ looks really good. and its still $12.99 @ best buy. its worth the price, imo.

HighSpeedOnIce

I've got The Final Countdown and thought it was quite a nice improvement over the DVD.

big e

Ok, so far it looks like thumbs-up on Poltergeist, Boondock Saints, The Final Countdown, and The Omen and thumbs-down on JFK. I think I will drop JFK and The Graduate from my want-list since the reviews I’ve read haven’t been stellar with the PQ.

GenPion

The Ome doesn't seem that impressive to me on Blu-ray, but I guess it's up to you. I personally would suggest a pass on it but that's just one opinion. I'm sure it's still better than the DVD was (which I never owned).

Poltergeist on Blu-ray is a must own release as I'm sure you have now gathered from it's positive response. I essentially got mine for $13 from a Columbia House B1G1. The Digibook is awesome as well. It's worth it!

Paul_SD

I don't understand how anyone can answer the OPs question so definitively when no one here has a clue to the equipment he has or the conditions (distance to screen , etc) he's watching them under.


These are all better than the DVD versions. The closer to the screen you sit, the bigger the screen, the better quality the display, whether it is calibrated-
these will all influence your 'mileage'.

Butch Cassidy, which I just watched the other night, seems to be a very faithful replication of the film (very little DNR for example). That makes it a big thumbs up to me. OTOH, even with a large screen set-up and a fairly close viewing distance, it's not likely going to knock anyones socks off who is expecting high def eye candy. The film is generally softer and grainier than much of whats on the shelves in the Bd section now. Depending on you gear and viewing conditions, you may not notice much of an improvement at all- but it is there.

The Final Countdown has a palette that is predominantly grey and khaki- not really eye popping in the color department. Also, the close quarters aboard ship filming creates problems with the focus in many shots. For me it was an appreciated upgrade, but I have a very large screen and sit fairly close- and it's a favorite movie.

JFK looked great to me when I saw it a few months back. I didn't notice any deficiencies whatsoever with it.

GenPion

^^

True, Calibration and equipment is good info to know. The smaller your set the less difference you will see. If it isn't properly set up you won't see as much difference either. If you don't have a surround sound setup that can output lossless audio that's important to know as well.

cgray

^^ one can't recommend a particular blu-ray without knowing every level of details of someone's home system?? The format isn't that finicky. OP seems to have the equipment necessary to run blu-ray, and seems to have decided that some movies are worth the upgrade. Based on that, I think people saying "yay" or "nay" on the particular movies is all he was looking for.

I agree that JFK probably isn't worth the cash.

Daytripper

Another yes vote for "Poltergeist". Very surprised how great it looked.

big e

For those who need to know, my BD player is a PS3, my TV is a 26in 720p Sanyo, and I sit about 8ft away from it.

cgray, you're right, pretty much all I'm looking for is a "yay" or "nay" on the titles I listed. Probably what I should ask is, are the titles I listed worth the money to upgrade?

GenPion

Do you have a High Definition surround sound setup?

Mu guess is that Poltergeist is easily the best upgrade for your setup. The rest is YMMV.

Paul_SD

In that case I would definitely recommend against Butch Cassidy, Omen, Final Countdown. Haven't seen Boondock Saints, and I only own the HD DVD to Graduate which I can't compare to the dvd.
Whether to upgrade Poltergeist would probably depend on which dvd edition you have- if it's the old MGM/Warner one, might as well upgrade. If it's the new one, I wouldn't bother in your circumstance. I'd save the money to put towards something else you don't have yet.
I don't understand why people are down on the JFK disc. Stone uses a variety of film sources for it, IIRC, including super8. The disc reproduces all of them very well and the 'normal' sequences look stellar. I don't know the differences are between the DVD versions of this, although I seem to remember the Bd drops one or two features that the newest 2 disc DVD set had.

Someone's mileage is absolutely dependent on the circumstances they are viewing under especially, but not limited to, the gear used. I even left off one of the most significant variables- the quality of your vision.
I would expect anyone here who has watched a wide variety of Bd content, would understand how much an appreciable upgrade varies from title to title. Sitting 4 screen widths away from a 720p display, I would expect the majority of Bds watched to be a negliable upgrade over a well upscaled DVD.

TheKobra

I was wondering about this movie.

DVD Polizei

Hmmm. For me, The Graduate looked great on HD DVD. It was an import at the time, but I'm sure it's the same video transfer. I'd say it's certainly worth the upgrade from DVD.

GenPion

From what I've heard the HD DVD import for the Graduate had a better transfer than the U.S. Blu-ray.

lizard

While that's true for perceiving the resolution, another advantage of Blu-ray Disc that is often overlooked is the increased color depth over DVD. Colors on BD should be more intense, leaving DVDs looking "washed out" by comparison. The improvement in color ought to be apparent even when viewing from a distance too far away to appreciate the improvement in resolution offered by BD, as is the case for the OP. Whether that is enough to upgrade a particular title would depend on how much one cares about such things.

I have a friend who sits too far from his 720p plasma screen for the increase in resolution on BD to be worthwhile. And he uses a (very high-end) stereo system for sound, so no surround. But I showed him the difference in color between DVD and BD and it was so obvious to him that he will be buying a BD player in the near future. Like most people, he was unaware of the improvement in color that the BD format offers.

big e

I've got a few more Blu-rays that I would like upgrade opinions on:

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid (I do not own the SD DVD)
The Fly (I own the 2-disk SE SD DVD)
An American Werewolf in London (I own the HD-DVD/DVD combo)
Army of Darkness(I own the HD-DVD/DVD combo)

As with my previous list all I'm asking is, are these titles worth the money to upgrade?