(I considered putting this in Miscellaneous, but considering this involves enjoyment of TV and movies in general, I think it fits here.)
If anyone has been paying attention to my comments on the topic of HD and Blu-Ray (and I hope you haven't because I'd like to think people have a life!
), I have been somewhat unimpressed by the formats. Not so much the improvement in picture and sound, but other factors including the fact that past experiments with friends and relatives' HD sets and Blu-Rays have left me rather disappointed in how older movies, shows, and DVDs look on the new sets.
That said, I knew the writing was on the wall. The last few major releases (Watchmen Ultimate Cut, for example) I've had to order via Amazon for DVD because local retailers in my city of a million people were starting to not bring standard DVD in (even, annoyingly, titles only available on DVD). I knew I'd have to convert over eventually, but I wasn't looking forward to it because I have spent thousands of dollars on DVDs over the last 10 years and as a student of film I was not looking forward to seeing, say, Audrey Hepburn's Sabrina rendered grainy and unwatchable by the HD set-up (as it was when I experimented with HDTV/Blu-Ray in the past).
This Christmas I was stunned when my family gave me not only a Blu-Ray player for Christmas, but also a 42-inch plasma set to go along with it. I was thrilled, but also, I admit a little concerned as to whether I'd be able to still watch my older DVDs.
So far, however, I have been very surprised, pleasantly so, at how well both new and old releases look in the set-up I received. And I found out the secrets to how to achieve the best of both worlds, enjoying HD and BR while not having to throw away the 1,300+ DVDs in my collection.
First, DON'T get an LCD or Projection set if you plan to watch a lot of DVDs. I got a plasma. My past experiments involved projection sets and LCDs. Both make older films and definitely TV series look like crap unless they've been remastered or upconverted. So if you paid $200 for that Emma Peel 15-disc megaset from A&E if you watch it on LCD or projection, it's not going to look very good. On plasma the picture quality is on par (and in many cases better) than standard TV, which is what I would expect. I've tested everything from a 1914 Charlie Chaplin short to Kino Video's remastered Metropolis to the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock, as well as TV shows like Saved by the Bell (guilty pleasure, so sue me) and 1960s-era Doctor Who. All look fine. (And, of course, the picture format can be adjusted to 4:3 if desired for pre-widescreen productions).
My only concern about plasmas is that they allegedly have a limited lifespan (then again, so do LCD sets). The days of tube-based TVs lasting 30 years are gone. Even so, my set is apparently guaranteed to run at least 50,000 hours, which translates to about 6 years of 24/7 operation. I like TV, but I won't be watching TV 24/7 for the next 6 years!
Second, and this was a surprise but my brother spent weeks doing research while picking the set for me and found this out - if you plan to watch a lot of older DVDs and movies and TV shows, getting the top-end 1080i resolution is not the best option. The set I got is in fact something like 720 (I forget the exact number). Frankly I see little difference between 720 and 1080 in terms of picture quality on new-release Blu-Rays. But apparently the lower resolution is more friendly on older releases on DVD, as well as broadcast TV.
That brings me to the third observation. So far it has been a bit difficult (hard on the eyes, actually) to watch regular broadcast TV on the new set. Unfortunately here in Canada only a limited number of HD channels are available and you have to pay extra to the cable company to get them. I'm told, however, that if I play with the settings on my set I can improve the picture quality and remove the glare. Since I watch very little actual broadcast TV anymore anyway except for news and things like Mythbusters, it's not a huge deal. I have until V and Doctor Who return in the spring to figure things out.
My initial biggest criticism of Blu-Ray was the fact that many releases are "vanilla" and lack the extras of DVD. (And I'm aware I'm in apparently only the 2% or so of consumers who care about extras - and I don't care, I like them and have often bought DVDs for the extras more than the movie.) This criticism still stands. As I started shopping for Blu-Ray releases over the holidays (taking advantage of Wal-Mart's Boxing Day specials), I picked up a number of what I would call replacement copies for DVD releases I already own. I figure there are about 30-40 movies of recent vintage that I have on DVD that I will gladly upgrade to BR when the opportunity (and budget) allows. Unfortunately, however, in several cases I've found I need to keep the DVD versions after all because the BRs have none of the extras, or they're missing ones. I already know Resident Evil: Apocalypse's HD release is missing the blooper reel that was a highlight of the DVD release (though I'll still get the movie itself on BR). But for example I bought Sin City on BR but it has none of the extras of the DVD, in particular the bonus comic book. So I need to keep both. I bought Golden Compass and while it has most of the extras of the DVD, the version I have on DVD includes a Best Buy bonus disc with extra features and it's not on the BR.
Not all releases are this way, of course. Recent releases have the same extras and usually more stuff than the DVD, so I had no qualms at all about replacing my Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy with the fantastic BR versions, and at least in my neck of the woods last week's release of Jennifer's Body marked a milestone as being the first release that I've seen in which the DVD was vanilla and the BR had all the extra features. And the upcoming Doctor Who 2009 Specials box set is supposed to have the same stuff in both DVD and BR.
So I guess the moral of the story for anyone still considering moving to BR and HDTV and who, like me, sees the writing on the wall is:
- Do your research. Not all HDTV formats are created equal and you may find a plasma is more suited to the type of stuff you want to watch than an LCD or a projection.
- Likewise, don't assume 1080i is the be all and end all. If all you plan to ever do is watch the latest releases (and there's plenty of examples of people here indicating that if it's not brand new they aren't interested), or sports HD broadcasts, or those nature documentaries you always see playing in the stores, then of course go to the top. But if you enjoy older film and have an investment in DVD, going down a notch is not a bad thing and you probably won't even notice the difference. (For all I know, there might be a 1080 set that allows on-the-fly switching of resolution down to 720 or whatever, so if you can find one of those, good on ya.)
- Don't make the mistake people made when CD came along and assume everything ported from DVD to BR will be automatically better. When CD came out, often vinyl albums would be released with songs removed due to space limitations, or not released at all (people had to wait years for the Beatles to come out on CD). Likely you'll be able to replace a number of your DVDs with BR right away, all extras included, but leave a little room on the shelf for archiving of you don't want to give up that Sin City special edition with the comic book and actually-very-useful 10-Minute Cooking School bonus feature on how to make breakfast tacos.
Alex
If anyone has been paying attention to my comments on the topic of HD and Blu-Ray (and I hope you haven't because I'd like to think people have a life!
), I have been somewhat unimpressed by the formats. Not so much the improvement in picture and sound, but other factors including the fact that past experiments with friends and relatives' HD sets and Blu-Rays have left me rather disappointed in how older movies, shows, and DVDs look on the new sets. That said, I knew the writing was on the wall. The last few major releases (Watchmen Ultimate Cut, for example) I've had to order via Amazon for DVD because local retailers in my city of a million people were starting to not bring standard DVD in (even, annoyingly, titles only available on DVD). I knew I'd have to convert over eventually, but I wasn't looking forward to it because I have spent thousands of dollars on DVDs over the last 10 years and as a student of film I was not looking forward to seeing, say, Audrey Hepburn's Sabrina rendered grainy and unwatchable by the HD set-up (as it was when I experimented with HDTV/Blu-Ray in the past).
This Christmas I was stunned when my family gave me not only a Blu-Ray player for Christmas, but also a 42-inch plasma set to go along with it. I was thrilled, but also, I admit a little concerned as to whether I'd be able to still watch my older DVDs.
So far, however, I have been very surprised, pleasantly so, at how well both new and old releases look in the set-up I received. And I found out the secrets to how to achieve the best of both worlds, enjoying HD and BR while not having to throw away the 1,300+ DVDs in my collection.
First, DON'T get an LCD or Projection set if you plan to watch a lot of DVDs. I got a plasma. My past experiments involved projection sets and LCDs. Both make older films and definitely TV series look like crap unless they've been remastered or upconverted. So if you paid $200 for that Emma Peel 15-disc megaset from A&E if you watch it on LCD or projection, it's not going to look very good. On plasma the picture quality is on par (and in many cases better) than standard TV, which is what I would expect. I've tested everything from a 1914 Charlie Chaplin short to Kino Video's remastered Metropolis to the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock, as well as TV shows like Saved by the Bell (guilty pleasure, so sue me) and 1960s-era Doctor Who. All look fine. (And, of course, the picture format can be adjusted to 4:3 if desired for pre-widescreen productions).
My only concern about plasmas is that they allegedly have a limited lifespan (then again, so do LCD sets). The days of tube-based TVs lasting 30 years are gone. Even so, my set is apparently guaranteed to run at least 50,000 hours, which translates to about 6 years of 24/7 operation. I like TV, but I won't be watching TV 24/7 for the next 6 years!
Second, and this was a surprise but my brother spent weeks doing research while picking the set for me and found this out - if you plan to watch a lot of older DVDs and movies and TV shows, getting the top-end 1080i resolution is not the best option. The set I got is in fact something like 720 (I forget the exact number). Frankly I see little difference between 720 and 1080 in terms of picture quality on new-release Blu-Rays. But apparently the lower resolution is more friendly on older releases on DVD, as well as broadcast TV.
That brings me to the third observation. So far it has been a bit difficult (hard on the eyes, actually) to watch regular broadcast TV on the new set. Unfortunately here in Canada only a limited number of HD channels are available and you have to pay extra to the cable company to get them. I'm told, however, that if I play with the settings on my set I can improve the picture quality and remove the glare. Since I watch very little actual broadcast TV anymore anyway except for news and things like Mythbusters, it's not a huge deal. I have until V and Doctor Who return in the spring to figure things out.
My initial biggest criticism of Blu-Ray was the fact that many releases are "vanilla" and lack the extras of DVD. (And I'm aware I'm in apparently only the 2% or so of consumers who care about extras - and I don't care, I like them and have often bought DVDs for the extras more than the movie.) This criticism still stands. As I started shopping for Blu-Ray releases over the holidays (taking advantage of Wal-Mart's Boxing Day specials), I picked up a number of what I would call replacement copies for DVD releases I already own. I figure there are about 30-40 movies of recent vintage that I have on DVD that I will gladly upgrade to BR when the opportunity (and budget) allows. Unfortunately, however, in several cases I've found I need to keep the DVD versions after all because the BRs have none of the extras, or they're missing ones. I already know Resident Evil: Apocalypse's HD release is missing the blooper reel that was a highlight of the DVD release (though I'll still get the movie itself on BR). But for example I bought Sin City on BR but it has none of the extras of the DVD, in particular the bonus comic book. So I need to keep both. I bought Golden Compass and while it has most of the extras of the DVD, the version I have on DVD includes a Best Buy bonus disc with extra features and it's not on the BR.
Not all releases are this way, of course. Recent releases have the same extras and usually more stuff than the DVD, so I had no qualms at all about replacing my Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy with the fantastic BR versions, and at least in my neck of the woods last week's release of Jennifer's Body marked a milestone as being the first release that I've seen in which the DVD was vanilla and the BR had all the extra features. And the upcoming Doctor Who 2009 Specials box set is supposed to have the same stuff in both DVD and BR.
So I guess the moral of the story for anyone still considering moving to BR and HDTV and who, like me, sees the writing on the wall is:
- Do your research. Not all HDTV formats are created equal and you may find a plasma is more suited to the type of stuff you want to watch than an LCD or a projection.
- Likewise, don't assume 1080i is the be all and end all. If all you plan to ever do is watch the latest releases (and there's plenty of examples of people here indicating that if it's not brand new they aren't interested), or sports HD broadcasts, or those nature documentaries you always see playing in the stores, then of course go to the top. But if you enjoy older film and have an investment in DVD, going down a notch is not a bad thing and you probably won't even notice the difference. (For all I know, there might be a 1080 set that allows on-the-fly switching of resolution down to 720 or whatever, so if you can find one of those, good on ya.)
- Don't make the mistake people made when CD came along and assume everything ported from DVD to BR will be automatically better. When CD came out, often vinyl albums would be released with songs removed due to space limitations, or not released at all (people had to wait years for the Beatles to come out on CD). Likely you'll be able to replace a number of your DVDs with BR right away, all extras included, but leave a little room on the shelf for archiving of you don't want to give up that Sin City special edition with the comic book and actually-very-useful 10-Minute Cooking School bonus feature on how to make breakfast tacos.
Alex
