CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Tim in Phoenix]

.........with every BluRay disc you purchased? I'm not. I want to hear from the crowd here.


Tim at E-Tech

[km987654]

No not pleased with every purchase. The quality varys by quite a wide margin.

[kal]

Like mentioned above, the quality will vary.

Blu-ray is just a storage method for holding content. Has nothing to do with the quality of the content, how well it's transferred, etc. Sometimes the transfer sucks, sometimes the movie itself sucks.

It's like asking "as you pleased with every book you ever purchased"?

Why do you ask?

Kal

[kal]

Like mentioned above, the quality will vary.

Blu-ray is just a storage method for holding content. Has nothing to do with the quality of the content, how well it's transferred, etc. Sometimes the transfer sucks, sometimes the movie itself sucks.

It's like asking "as you pleased with every book you ever purchased"?

Why do you ask?

Kal

[Tim in Phoenix]

Why?

The BluRay makers help out the promise of superior HD on quality every disc, and Yes I expect them to provide stunning quality, redoing the film transfer if necessary.

[kal]

Blu-ray is simply a storage standard, no different than a floppy disc.

For video the Blu-ray spec defined a maximum resolution of 1080p (1920 × 1080 pixels), then 1440 × 1080 pixels, and now with Ultra HD Blu-ray extending the maximum resolution to 4K (3840 × 2160 pixels).

There's nothing in the standard that says a studio has a remaster or redo content. They could technically even release a movie in 480i on Blu-ray if they wanted, because again, Blu-ray is just a digital optical disc data storage format.

But this quality is (or lack thereof) is nothing new. You can get bad sounding vinyl pressings, bad looking VHS tapes, and so on. Especially bad when a new format is first introduced and studios clamor to get their content on it re-using existing transfers. Some movies have been "redone" 3-4 times.

Like everything else it's always buyer beware. Check out any of the review websites before buying. There are a few I've been reading for almost 30 years now from the days of DVD. Or you can check out our very own 'reference quality' list here: https://www.curtpalme.com/forum_archived/viewtopic.php@t=9237.html
There's an icon at the top right of the forum that takes you right there too:



It's a list of the absolute best looking/sounding discs out there. It has to rate nearly perfect in both audio and video for me to put it on this list. I don't go much into the quality of the content as that's subjective, but I won't list something that's an absolute bomb in terms of story however.

Kal

[kal]

Blu-ray is simply a storage standard, no different than a floppy disc.

For video the Blu-ray spec defined a maximum resolution of 1080p (1920 × 1080 pixels), then 1440 × 1080 pixels, and now with Ultra HD Blu-ray extending the maximum resolution to 4K (3840 × 2160 pixels).

There's nothing in the standard that says a studio has a remaster or redo content. They could technically even release a movie in 480i on Blu-ray if they wanted, because again, Blu-ray is just a digital optical disc data storage format.

But this quality is (or lack thereof) is nothing new. You can get bad sounding vinyl pressings, bad looking VHS tapes, and so on. Especially bad when a new format is first introduced and studios clamor to get their content on it re-using existing transfers. Some movies have been "redone" 3-4 times.

Like everything else it's always buyer beware. Check out any of the review websites before buying. There are a few I've been reading for almost 30 years now from the days of DVD. Or you can check out our very own 'reference quality' list here: https://www.curtpalme.com/forum_archived/viewtopic.php@t=9237.html
There's an icon at the top right of the forum that takes you right there too:



It's a list of the absolute best looking/sounding discs out there. It has to rate nearly perfect in both audio and video for me to put it on this list. I don't go much into the quality of the content as that's subjective, but I won't list something that's an absolute bomb in terms of story however.

Kal

[HaydnG90]

I miss Netflix BR rentals. Try before you buy. You should also look at who is releasing the disc. Some companies like Criterion are always punching above their weight in transfer quality.

[kal]

Criterion is a bit of a special one as they're not a studio who creates original content. They focus on restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". They've been around forever since laserdisc days (1984). Their releases are often something that isn't already available on Blu-ray, or something that is already out there who's quality is sub-par.

In either case they typically completely redo the transfer and then also include a ton of extras/commentaries. Criterion releases are often easily a blind-buy because of the quality but they are more expensive. I do have a bunch of them.

A list of their best sellers: https://www.criterion.com/shop/collection/504-best-sellers

Kal

[kal]

Criterion is a bit of a special one as they're not a studio who creates original content. They focus on restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". They've been around forever since laserdisc days (1984). Their releases are often something that isn't already available on Blu-ray, or something that is already out there who's quality is sub-par.

In either case they typically completely redo the transfer and then also include a ton of extras/commentaries. Criterion releases are often easily a blind-buy because of the quality but they are more expensive. I do have a bunch of them.

A list of their best sellers: https://www.criterion.com/shop/collection/504-best-sellers

Kal

[virusc]

For the most part for major releases I think the main feature of Blu ray's are very good. It would be helpful if you gave us a example of a few titles that you think are not so great. I assume you are talking about video quality and not price or extra features?