Movies on BluRay: Worth it?

[Mage]

So, I'm planning on switching from DVD to BluRay soon, and was wondering if there's any point in buying the movies on BluRay then.
Some movies, when re-released on BluRay, really only get the dvd-version copied to a BlyRay disc, while others are actually transfered to HD.
Has this been done to the Trek movies, or are they mostly just dvd-quality on a BluRay disc?

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Yes, they're currently the finest way to view (and listen to) the movies on home video. They are significantly superior to the DVD's.

You may want to read this thread... http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=156541

 

[BillJ]

Yes, they're currently the finest way to view (and listen to) the movies on home video. They are significantly superior to the DVD's.

You may want to read this thread... http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=156541

This.

 

[JarodRussell]

I'd wait with the Trek movies on bluray. I sense a new edition coming out with much better quality, when the next Trek movie hits the cinemas.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

I'd wait with the Trek movies on bluray. I sense a new edition coming out with much better quality, when the next Trek movie hits the cinemas.

Yeah, but you can pick up the current crop of Trek BD's for a song at the moment - and Summer 2013 is a long way off!

 

[22 Stars]

Ya that other thread is great. Yes the Blurays are truly HD, so for that they are worth it.

 

[Mage]

Well, thanks for the info guys! I quickly skimmed that other topic (I'll give it a thorough readthrough later) but the reviews seem to be great.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Dude, once you've upgraded to bluray, get the original series. The image quality of the series is beyond description.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Dude, once you've upgraded to bluray, get the original series. The image quality of the series is beyond description.

Yes, yes - get TOS on Blu-ray. A revelation!

 

[Caesar753]

The picture quality of Blu-ray blows DVDs out of the water. I've got most of the movies on Blu-ray and they are amazing visually.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

I have the original six movies on Blu-ray and they look awesome

 

[MacLeod]

Blu-ray makes a huge difference to the picture quality. Though remember most BR players will upscale DVD to 72o, though at the moment I only have one ST film on blu-ray. Star Trek (2009).

 

[Frontier]

You know, until recently I wasn't big on blu-ray despite having a player and a handful of favored films on such. But the more you watch blu-ray, then switch back to DVD? The more you see how downright fuzzy and blurry the DVDs are in comparison.

Now that's not to say I'm going to shell out big bucks to replace my entire few-hundred DVDs with blu-ray...

But I'll be more inclined to spend a few extra in the future for a blu-ray, or to buy my favorite films on such.

Blu-ray is a double-edged sword; superior picture/sound, but higher price.

Also, if you don't have a large TV? It's not as worth-while. Anything over 40 inches and it's worth it for blu-ray. Below and... less so (but not totally).

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

The bluray prints of the movies are balls, IMHO, except for the new one, which was a proper scan of the cinema release. I prefer to have the original color timing, and no weird upscaling artifacts, but if you're not a picky asshole like me, you'll probably enjoy them.

 

[MacLeod]

Whilst BR is superior, it also depends on what you are upgrading from NTSC or PAL. PAL already has more lines than NTSC.

 

[davejames]

Finally wached the FC blu-ray last night, and it looked LIGHTYEARS better than I expected. So much sharper and more detailed than the up-scaled DVD.

 

[The Transformed Man]

I get what you are saying Herkimer about a few of the films. TSFS has some artifacting as does TMP, but Lowry was able to do a full restorations of TWOK, TVH and FC and those look spectacular. I would certainly recommend the BDs over the DVDs any day.

Additionally the TOS and TNG sets are very reasonably priced right now and have some excellent bonus features which I would recommend as well.

Yancy

 

[tighr]

The bluray prints of the movies are balls, IMHO, except for the new one, which was a proper scan of the cinema release. I prefer to have the original color timing, and no weird upscaling artifacts, but if you're not a picky asshole like me, you'll probably enjoy them.

With these Blu-Rays, there are no "upscaling artifacts" as you call them, becuase they are sourced from digital scans of stock film. Film has infinite resolution, the limits of which are only bound by your scanner. That's how they can get these old tv shows and movies to look so good, because the quality was always already there.

Any "artifacts" are going to be defects in the actual film stock which is 20-30 years old at this point. These are what get corrected in a digital restoration, which is basically the same kind of touch-up you can do in photoshop to old pictures you've scanned.

 

[JarodRussell]

To be fair, the noise reduction on the TOS movies looks horrible. What he calls "weird upscaling artifacts" is probably that.

 

[The Transformed Man]

I think what Herkimer is referring to is some artifacting in TSFS. In some cases Lowry uses their own patented noise-reduction process which is designed to quickly eliminate dust artifacts and any additional "noise" that may be affecting a print without removing the grain structure. They use this procedure when working on rush jobs.

Now Paramount had Lowry do full blown restoration of TWOK, FC and TVH, so these were done frame by frame. But the other films simply went through the noise reduction process. Unfortunately that resulted in some issue. Some people complained about DNR and scrubbing of detail, which I really don't think was the case. But what was evident was the noise-reduction process mis-identified grain structure as dirt resulting in weird digital globs. Watch TSFS, particularly some of the bridge scenes in the opening of the film, especially when there is a white background. You will see what almost appears to be grain shifting around the screen like its part of a weird blob hovering around actors heads.

It's certainly not horrible and most people wont even notice. But as someone who has worked in the medium and a complete film nut it stood out to me like a sore thumb.

Yancy