Monday, March 21, 2011

A Whole Lot of Blu-Ray Disc Reviews

Some time ago I bought a handful of Blu-Ray Discs on Boxing Day. Oh God, at five dollars a piece I had way to many in my hands and had to put some down.

I guess I didn't do a review at the time because most of the titles are just the movies with no special features, which explains the cheap price.

The five dollar titles are: Trainspotting, 21 Grams, Cold Mountain, The Negotiator, The English Patient, the aforementioned had no bonus features, The Negotiator, with some bonus features, and I also picked up Batman Begins at $10 and The Hurt Locker at $20.

Let me tell you, Batman Begins is hands down won of the best looking and best sounding Blu-Ray Discs I have ever purchased or rented. The Hurt Locker is pretty darn good as well and so it should be only being released a couple years ago, and Batman Begins was originally released in 2005 at the end of DVD's solo reign.

The Negotiator is a great Blu-Ray as well. The other Blu-Rays mentioned are all pre hi-definition by a few to several years or so with the exception of 21 Grams. I found that the sound varied on all of them from good to great, but not excellent. The picture looks great in some scenes, the color good in some scenes, but washed out in others. Grain and dust seem to be a problem in many of these Blu-Rays which leads me to the rant I will end with on this blog entry.

When DVD was first released in the late 90's, many people complained that the picture and sound were not any better then the VHS copy they already owned. This is the same issue we have with Blu-Rays, early adopters basically got a high-def version of the DVD they already owned, and in some cases without a hi-definition transfer that addressed any of the aforementioned issues with the original source materials, which are even more glaring in hi-def.

I don't know about you, but I refuse to pay upwards of $30 for a Blu-Ray that hasn't been remastered in hi-definition, for the amount of money you pay, you should be getting pristine picture and the best quality sound possible. Listen up Hollywood!

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