I'll come straight out of the gate with it - I'm a harsh critic of Blu-ray in general. In words credited to P.T. Barnum, "there's a sucker born every minute," and getting people to repurchase what they already own is the perfect example of that. If it walks like a DVD and talks like a DVD, it must be a DVD, right? My brothers would go off about specs right here, but what they can't argue is the start-up cost. I don't currently own a hi-def TV and I've never played a Playstation, nor do I want to do either anytime soon. Maybe my real gripe is with the government-sanctioned conversion to digital TV, as I've yet to see an aspect ratio that doesn't look off to me, but I digress. Going back to Blu-ray, let's say you already own the DVD version of your favorite movie and then they come along with a BD version that's not remastered and has no new bonus features. Who really subsidizes that, and why? When VHS came along, it was a complete lifestyle change, being able to start and stop a movie when and where you wanted (unless you already had a projector and a large collection of filmstrips). Laserdiscs introduced bonus features a long time ago, but the lifestyle change with DVD had to do with storage space. Videotapes led the way by taking up less space than filmstrips and DVDs followed that by taking up less space than VHS and laserdiscs. If the best lifestyle change that Blu-ray can offer is online communal viewings, then I can patiently wait for the next technological advancement. In the meantime, I'll just invite people over or go to theater together and listen to them talk about the occasional bonus features that I'm missing out on. In fact, here are some BD horror titles, either unavailable in the US as of April 2010, or that Horrorhound's "Ultimate Blu-ray Buyer's Guide" gave at least four out of five "paws" for picture/sound and bonus features (none of them are going to make me drop a few hundred dollars on a player, but in conjunction with my last post, I might buy some if I had a few MILLION dollars):
1. An American Werewolf in London (Full Moon Edition)2. City of the Living Dead
3. The Company of Wolves (Non-USA Format, PAL, Reg.2 Import - UK)
4. Dawn of the Dead (Unrated Director's Cut)
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still (3-Disc Special Edition)
6. The Descent
7. The Fly (Cronenberg)
8. Friday the 13th (Uncut)
9. Halloween (2-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition)
10. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
11. The Host
12. Hostel
13. John Carpenter's The Thing (Non-USA Format, PAL, Reg.2 Import - UK)
14. John Carpenter's Vampires (Non-USA Format, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Germany)
15. Let the Right One In (Non-USA Format, PAL, Reg.2 Import - UK)
16. The Mist (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
17. My Bloody Valentine 3D18. Night of the Creeps (Director's Cut)
19. The Nightmare Before Christmas (Collector's Edition)
20. The Omen Collection
21. One Missed Call (Non-USA Format, PAL, Reg.2 Import - UK)
22. Pan's Labyrinth
23. Phantom of the Paradise (Non-USA Format, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France)
24. [REC] (Non-USA Format, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain)
25. Repo! The Genetic Opera
26. Resident Evil
27. Shaun of the Dead
28. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
29. Trick 'r Treat
30. Zombieland
2 comments:
The ownership of videos is already a terrible deal. A recently released DVD is usually in the range of $20. Owning a BluRay can cost up to $30! Nevertheless, I own a PS3 simply because I wanted a multi-functioning BluRay Player. Why would I do this if I think movies are unnecessarily expensive?
BluRay, just like DVD in its inception, will not hold any appeal to the technologically unsavvy. People over the age of 70(sorry straw-people), out of contact with anything newer than a fax machine, will wonder why plugging a brand new BluRay player into their VHS-era television set offers them no improvement. But here's why: If you don't upgrade each and every component of your entertainment experience to the level of BluRay, then you aren't experiencing BluRay. You need 4, preferably 5, gadgets to enjoy a BluRay. 1) A BluRay DVD (try something filmed with HD capacity in mind, like Earth, Dark Knight, Star Trek,...) 2) A BluRay Player -- and here it should be noted not all BluRay players are equal...but most any should suffice. 3) A 1080p HD television with rich blacks and vibrant colors. Simply put, if your TV isn't at least ~$450+ new, it probably isn't up to the challenge. 4) an HDMI connection cable. Why spend money on all these fancy components if you aren't willing to spend $3 on Amazon to rid your system of an obvious weak link. Best Buy and other businesses ordained by Satan will try to sell you $100+ HDMI cables. In buying one such cable, you pay the tithes of Mephistopheles. The internet, like BluRay, is a wonderful thing. Go there, buy, save money, conquer. Optional 5) A digitally connected audio system. There are innumerable solutions for good sound, but THX certification is useful for those who just want to buy something without going into too much research. Frankly, I'm lacking good audio -- but hope to fix that in the coming months.
Part II:
If you have all these things, BluRay will change your video experience. Nevertheless, I own a whopping 2 BluRays. Why? Because I thing video ownership is a ripoff, and I'd rather watch new films than rewatch films I remember loving. In fact, both BluRays I own were gifts given to me. I have never of my own volition purchased a BluRay. So how do I enjoy BluRays? For an extra $3/month you can upgrade your Netflix account to provide you with BluRays instead of DVDs. This is the cheapest solution in the world for enjoying BluRays. Furthermore, much of Netflix's streaming library is now 720HD feed -- this isn't as nice as BluRay, but the difference from DVD is still astonishing with a proper TV. Also, with an antenna you can enjoy the HD content of free television. AS for your gripe with aspect ratios: buy a widescreen TV, manually adjust your TV to have the proper aspect ratio and you won't have a single problem -- I guarantee it. Aspect ratio failure is a 100% user generated issue.
Finally, while I enjoy BluRay, I can also say that there are movies whose enjoyment are inseparable from BluRay. Early in BluRay's career, I have already seen two films I wouldn't have enjoyed half as much without BluRay. 1) Speed Racer, 2) Disney's Earth.
Oh oh oh, lastly, Blu Ray players are all reverse compatible. Every single BluRay player made is made to play your entire DVD collection. They aren't asking you to go back and buy films that really won't benefit much by translation from DVD to BluRay. If you know the DVD is just about as good as a film is going to get, don't spend any more money! Moreover, consider Star Wars, the perfect model to piss me off. Lucas has announced they will be releasing a 6 film boxset on BluRay -- finally! Unfortunately, movies 4,5,6 will be in the form of their 1998 digitally re"mastered" release. Why? Because they will actually look much better on BluRay than they did on DVD because they were filmed with HD in mind. The 70's and 80's films were not :( Will I be buying this boxset? No. The 1998 releases were just the beginning of Lucas' modern ability to ruin movies with excessive and unrefined special effects. So, if you have the VHS (or Laser Discs!!!!) of Star Wars, why downgrade? BluRay can't cure American habits of poor consumption, but it can fix your as yet unrealized need to enjoy the highest quality HD content.
In the words of Repo Men, "You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your family."
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