So you think the DVD is better than the BD because it has "some historical scenes"?

I had a $5 WalMart GC that I was saving for this, and the first Wall I go to...had not one copy of the Blu-Ray. Biggest fucking release of the year and they have none. Zip. Ridiculous. Plus, they were charging $20 for the DVD.

I went to the next-closes store, about 5 minutes up the street, and they had it, $20, with the DVD going for $16.

We watched this last night and I was quite impressed. Heck of a disc to show off why to get into BD.

True. I saw a woman puzzling over the releases at Wal Mart and I explained them to her. She walked away with the DVD even though the BD + DVD was only $4 more ($20 vs $16).

Well, $4 is still $4. It's probably true that most of these people who are buying the DVD release don't have any immediate plans to purchase a BD player, so why pay for something that technically has no value to them.

The same can be said for every Blu-ray capable customer (like all of us) who bought the same combo pack and paid for a DVD with no value.

I'll still use the DVD, and of course the idea of it being useless doesn't apply to everyone, but it still counts.

Yeah, but DVD buyers had a choice. Either the DVD release, or the BD + DVD release. BD buyers had no choice.

I wish there was just the one release. I mean that would have been a bold move, but understandable for this particular film by having the combo pack available only.

Plus we didn't pay for the DVD.

DVDtalk review

I would vote Avatar since PQ is usually pretty damn good for computer animated BR's. I'm more impressed with a good live-action movie's PQ.

While the PQ for the Toy Story movies is impressive, IMO A Bug's Life if much better. The detail and colors just explode off the screen. I use that one when showing off BR.

WTF does that actually mean?

I think I'll have to throw in the DVD to understand what the differential "historical scenes" are all about. ...here's hoping for clarity.

Glad I wasn't the only one baffled by that gibberish.

My neighbors picked this up and I had to go over and reset the audio because someone hit the wrong button. They have a simple Samsung 37" 720P @ 60hZ and I was shocked on the detail the Blu-Ray Disc was showing on their set. I've let them borrow several BD before but AVATAR just head & sholders above what I've seen.

Not sure if it's been posted yet (and not that anyone needs to really read anymore reviews on this to know how good the A/V quality is), but the DVDBeaver review of this is up.

The Avatar BD is a nightmare for most consumers due to the extra copyright restrictions, which for most people are unplayable.

Is that really the case? Pioneer just finally released FW updates Thursday afternoon (for this continued format problem) on my BDP51. Used a rapidshare link for the update though. Obtained this via an AVS forum post since Pioneer's link was linked up to an extremely slow server (not to mention that possibility of high traffic for those aware of FW neccesity). Would have taken an hour and half to get the full 93MB update file. Ridiculous. Worked though ..as did Avatar.

But that was just Pioneer. And their Blu players are notorious for back end updates (DTS-HD anyone?). Were most all manufacturers really hit with this?

If that's really the case I do feel bad for the general population on this one. Just as the high sales of Avatar could be driving sales of Blu players (increasing support for the format), the ridiculousness of these constant FW upgrades can't possibly be helping the format.

Sorry to go off topic a bit.

As far the presentation of Avatar goes - absolutely stunning as expected!! It definitely represents what this format is all about. ...and the expense of it all.

He mistakenly thinks the 3D version is supposed to be 2.35.

How so? My experience with disc has been absolutely no different than most other blu-ray discs [PS3-fatty]. I didn't even have any unusual loading times that people have been mentioning - it loaded right away for me.

Yeah, I don't think Toy Story makes for the best demo material among Pixar titles. It's not that there's anything wrong with it. It's just that as time as gone on, they have made great strides in modeling, texturing, lighting, and animation. TS looks kind of primitive in comparison to Ratatouille, Cars, and Up, as CG animation goes. Details like Sully's fur in Monsters Inc. weren't feasible at the time of Toy Story.

^ Toy Story 2 though has one of the best (6.1) soundmixes to grace a bluray. (IMO)

Avatar played fine on my fairly old Samsung BD-P1500

I don't believe it's about loading times (although my copy was slower than normal) ..rather, it's about loading, period. At least some, if not all, Pioneer BD players won't play the disc. It freezes.

Yeah, it has to do with the advanced copy protection used on this disc.

Oppo and PS3 both fine.

I'm glad this asks you if you want to resume when you re-load the disc.

I LOVE that feature. ALL BDs should have it. I'm soooo glad some BDs do. Criterion needs it for sure as does a lot of the newer Warner films too.