What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

I am finally coming into the 21st century. Within the next two weeks, I'll have a new 46" HDTV, 7.1 receiver, Blu Ray player, and have everything hooked up using HDMI. :banana:

Now, the hard part. What movie(s) should be my first Blu Ray purchases? I need something with great visuals/sound to check out on the new rig. Any suggestions would be welcome! :)

Thoughts so far:

Avatar (meh)
Iron Man
Dark Knight

I thought about the LotR movies, but I want to wait for the extended versions. What are some other good "demo" movies?

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

My initial suggestion would be to watch something that's of middle-tier Blu-ray quality. I made the mistake of watching the IMAX scenes of "The Dark Knight" as my very first Blu-ray experience, and it spoiled the hell out of me.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Why not start with the best movies?

Blade Runner.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Avatar, Dark Knight, Zombieland, any Pixar movie, Star Trek, and Saving Private Ryan are what I use as demos and are my recommendations.

For the tv you have, is it a 60, 120 or 240hz?

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

120hz. Yeah, my son loves Toy Story, so I will probably have to pick those up. The new Star Trek would be awesome too. :)

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

SAW VI will really showcase your new system. It looks fantastic.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Kingdom of Heaven

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

2001 - it can be found for less than $10 and the quality is amazing (not to mention a great film)

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

And as for movies, Blade Runner is one of the best, most complete blu-ray packages available.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Any Pixar film
Avatar
Dark Knight
Transformers 2
Planet Earth
The Matrix

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

If you love movies, you'll never use that 120Hz crap. Completely undoes the cinematography.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Cars is awesome in both sound & vision. My first Blu-ray was Fifth Element which still stands the test of time and is registered in my memory with Blu.

Completely agree. A lot of folks get sucked in by Best Buy-type sales pitches on this silly feature.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

That depends on which "crap" you're talking about. 120Hz interpolation is terrible; 120Hz frame-repeat to maintain proper cadence is wonderful.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

My first Blu was 2001: A Space Odyssey and it did not disappoint :wink wink:.

I do agree with the other posters, get something older (Avatar, Iron Man and The Dark Knight don't count) to set your expectations. Otherwise you might be disappointed later.

Hope that helps.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Yes. "120 Hz" has unfortunately become synonymous with the optional interpolation.

You can't go wrong with any of the suggestions so far, although I'm not in agreement that The Dark Knight is a great transfer. I'll also say that you should get a movie that you like instead of worrying about demo material. Someday, after you've had plenty of titles that make great demos, you'll wonder why you bought it.

If you think you want Gladiator, be careful because there are two versions you may find on the shelves. Long story short, the initial release was from an old master (not that uncommon for BD, sadly) and after much complaining they did a new, better transfer for it. Do a search and you'll find more info about it and how to find the right one. BTW, this also applies to Gangs of New York.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Hmm. I haven't been keeping up on the Hz situation. I guess I better go read up on it. I don't really even know what it refers to.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Based upon what I have in my collection...

In terms of outstanding PQ:

A Bug's Life
Cars
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Minority Report
Monsters Inc.
Ratatouille
Speed Racer (however, this lacks a lossless audio track... thanks Warner!)
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Up
Wall-E

In terms of outstanding AQ:

2 Fast 2 Furious
The Fast and The Furious
The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift
Fast and Furious
Michael Jackson's This Is It
Purple Rain (okay, this is more for the fact that I think Purple Rain has the greatest soundtrack known to man)
Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway

In terms of an overall package, besides what has been mentioned:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Fight Club
The Ultimate Matrix Collection

However, my first title was Serenity. So, about that...

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Kung Fu Panda is the best looking BD on the market, IMO.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

This should be in any collection. Just an amazing movie.The PQ/AQ is amazing and I'm watching on a 32" set. I'm surprised more people aren't recommending it.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

2001: A Space Odyssey

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

I would try to pick one of the crapiest discs, this way you can come on and complain about how crappy Blu-ray is and we all must be crazy

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Dark Knight is what made me switch over and was my first Blu.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

:up:

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Best Buy) Steelbook :D After that, you know what will happen next. ;)

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Agreed.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

No Country for Old Men has the best live action video quality I've ever seen so far on the format. I would go with that.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

same

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Thanks for all the advice. Think I'm going with these for my first Blu-Rays:

- Star Trek (new one)
- Dark Knight
- Toy Story 2 (son's favorite movie)
- Cars (son's second favorite movie :) )
- Serenity
- Firefly Complete Series
- Nightmare Before Christmas (wife's favorite movie)

Should have everything purchased/hooked up Wednesday night. Can't wait to watch my first Blu-Ray!

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

That sounds like an outstanding selection of first titles, and I think you will be blown away by what you see.

But, as others have said, make sure you have 120 Hz frame repeat enabled, but the frame interpolation option turned off. Or, if you can't enable one without the other, just leave it off.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

you cannot go wrong with Pixar.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Hmm. I don't see anything about 120 Hz settings in the manual. Does anyone know Sony Bravia TV's? I see Motionflow settings (provides smoother picture movement and reduces picture blur - high, standard or off) and CineMotion settings (provides improved picture movement and reduces picture blur and graininess for film-based content - standard or off). Is it one of those?

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Troll 2

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Motionflow is the interpolation and most of us recommend that be OFF.
CineMotion should be turned ON.

However, from what I've read, I'm not sure if CineMotion actually does anything if the source is 24hz (make sure the player's set up for that). CineMotion applies reverse 3:2 pulldown, so it looks like it only kicks in when you send it a source with that, such as a DVD. Nonetheless, make sure it's on so it can be used as needed.

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

I have a new Bravia (46") LCD (not sure if this applies to the LED-LCD though)... As Drexl noted, CineMotion is pretty much nothing to concern yourself with (as far as I can tell) if you set your BD player to 24<b>p</b>...

Bravias retain their settings for each individual input... If you're using the BD player as the DVD player then I guess

:shrug:

you should turn on the CineMotion. ¿

I have a DVD player hooked up through component and I use that setting on that input... If you use the HDMI connection and upscale through your BD player then it should probably be on.

To be honest though... upscaled DVD doesn't look much different on my display.

As for the Motionflow... On a BD source at 24p. Not much on or off that I can tell even makes a difference.

:shrug: again.

Backlight, brightness, etc... Is the main thing that I've noticed. The tele, I barely watch, football season will help with that.


2001: A Space Odyssey was the correct answer, btw... ;)

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Rescue Dawn

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

The Last Song

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Thanks for the info. From what I've read online, it sounds like the CineMotion shouldn't make much difference for any media source. For the MotionFlow, off for movies, on for sports and people go back and forth on video games. So I'll just have to play around with it and see how it looks. :) Cables should be here today, can't wait to set everything up!

Re: What should my first Blu Ray movie be?
 

Baraka, of course. In terms of picture quality there is not much better. Sound quality is excellent although it won't give your system a workout like an action movie would.