Do you hate the way HD movies look?

[fastbilly1]

Since the original question was answered - stupid modes on tvs enabled by default thats only really good for sports, I thought I would make a side point.

Old movies such as Alien or Blade Runner that were transferred really well are also utterly insane to see in crystal clear BD quality, it's a whole new experience watching some movies that way.

The majority of my blurays were purchased because they were done by a quality restoration company, Lowry Digital and Pacific Title/Mirage specifically. Lowrys work on Dr No is reason enough to buy into bluray, but Pacific Titles amazing restoration of the Wizard of Oz is just stunning and is the original reason I first bought into it. A buddy of mine at the ASC did a good write up of the Oz restore:
http://www.theasc.com/magazine/dec98/wizard/pgs1.htm

And on the Bond blurays there is a bit by Lowry about the restoration:


Either of these companies touch a film, I am far more likely to buy it. But thats not to say they are the only ones who can do the work. Recently I had the option of buying the book version of Lawrence of Arabias dvd for very cheap - aka the best on the market, but Sony did a restoration that was recently shown at film festivals and the bluray is coming out soon - since it was shot on 70mm stock instead of 35mm, they did an 8k transfer instead of the standard 4k and it is jaw droppingly beautiful. If you dont know, 4k is equivalently an 8 megapixel image, 8k is a 33 megapixel image, while 1080p is a 2.1 megapixel image.

I will say that the main reason I bought into bluray is because when projecting from a dvd on to my 8ft screen you could see blurring in some films. But on bluray there is no blurring. It is really like having a movie theater to myself, minus sticky floors, bad smells, and other people making fun of the movies that I am making fun of...

[AppleQueso]

You know, I've never actually thought of following the companies that actually handle the restorations. That's a really great idea!

I do check reviews and whatnot on Blu Rays before I buy them to make sure the transfer is at least decent. Even a mediocre blu ray transfer often tends to look better than its DVD counterpart though (asuming it's a new transfer of course), so I'll usually end up buying anyway, but still.

[fastbilly1]

You know, I've never actually thought of following the companies that actually handle the restorations. That's a really great idea.

I didnt think about it until the buddy who wrote up the Oz restoration told me they were doing another restore, so I started investigating. Granted if it is a modern movie, you dont have to worry about it. But if it is an older film, I check the company and reviews first - its hard to not impulse buy since I use to have about two thousand dvds. You dont want to get something like the French Connection bluray, where the restoration company pulled a Ted Turner and drastically changed the color timing for the film.

[J T]

The whole point me and others in this thread have been trying to make is that "this reason" is completely unrelated to HD as a format. It's a really crappy reason.

I get what you guys are saying, but even when I see HD TVs that don't look like they were shot with a camcorder, I'm not that impressed. I like the soft focus of a CRT as a matter of preference. It's just how I think TV and movies are supposed to look. I don't see the point in spending extra money on an HD TV when it's just going to make my old consoles look bad and give my television a look that doesn't feel right to me.

[AppleQueso]

The whole point me and others in this thread have been trying to make is that "this reason" is completely unrelated to HD as a format. It's a really crappy reason.

I get what you guys are saying, but even when I see HD TVs that don't look like they were shot with a camcorder, I'm not that impressed. I like the soft focus of a CRT as a matter of preference. It's just how I think TV and movies are supposed to look. I don't see the point in spending extra money on an HD TV when it's just going to make my old consoles look bad and give my television a look that doesn't feel right to me.

Movies are supposed to look like they do at a theater, and HD gets a lot closer to that than SD.

[CRTGAMER]

The whole point me and others in this thread have been trying to make is that "this reason" is completely unrelated to HD as a format. It's a really crappy reason.

I get what you guys are saying, but even when I see HD TVs that don't look like they were shot with a camcorder, I'm not that impressed. I like the soft focus of a CRT as a matter of preference. It's just how I think TV and movies are supposed to look. I don't see the point in spending extra money on an HD TV when it's just going to make my old consoles look bad and give my television a look that doesn't feel right to me.

THIS. I think a good compromise is either a Plasma or HD CRT. Not only for the retro consoles, but for many TV channels that have not moved up to HD. The non HD stations look horrendous on the HD LCD and look so much better on a HD CRT or Plasma. Once the industry has made the complete transition, then the flat screen will truley shine.

I have not moved up to BluRay due to the investment needed to upgrade the DVD players in each room as well as the truck for road trips. A shame ALL BluRay movies do not include a DVD. Since my largest TV is only 32" the upgrade really not worth it.

[stickem]

no, sd still looks like shit on a plasma. i don't see how you are coming up with its a lesser form of hd

[noiseredux]

I get what you guys are saying, but when I see color TVs I'm not that impressed. I like the look of black and white as a matter of preference. It's just how I think TV and movies are supposed to look. I don't see the point in spending extra money on a color TV when it's just going to give my television a look that doesn't feel right to me.

[BoringSupreez]

I get what you guys are saying, but when I see color TVs I'm not that impressed. I like the look of black and white as a matter of preference. It's just how I think TV and movies are supposed to look. I don't see the point in spending extra money on a color TV when it's just going to give my television a look that doesn't feel right to me.

The man has a point here. The same could be said for people who still listen to vinyl records instead of CDs.

[fastbilly1]

I get what you guys are saying, but when I see color TVs I'm not that impressed. I like the look of black and white as a matter of preference. It's just how I think TV and movies are supposed to look. I don't see the point in spending extra money on a color TV when it's just going to give my television a look that doesn't feel right to me.

The man has a point here. The same could be said for people who still listen to vinyl records instead of CDs.

Thats a whole different bag of worms. That we should get into in a different topic.