Bluray adventure

[Binnatics]

Hey friends,

I recently upgraded my sound system and one of the new parts was a new bluray disc player. It works fine, no problem with that, but it pushed me to buying some blurays. Had to find out about the premium quality promised etc. ^-^

First of all, the quality is brilliant. Wouldn't want anything less anymore (what to do with all these DVD's now ????)
Well, there's a downside to the bluray phenomena. It doesn't seem to win terrain much compared to DVD's. When I visit the local disc-store I see a huge quantity of dvd shelves, and only a few on bluray; and of course, only the easy selling 13 in a dozen movies :-\\
So I figured let's go to a bigger disc store. Same there, although they had more choice and better presentation (more space available) What annoys me is that they have just one single selection method; alphabetical order by name. And of course the top 25 selling movies apart. Where are the good old genre divisions? Comedy, Action, Thriller, Drama etc. I like that. It helps in a great way. I wanted to buy at least one film without bloody action because my parents would come over to babysit and they already commentated my movie collection being violent and bloody ??? Normally I would search in the drama division and that would w@&k out fine. Now I had to dig up some serious storytelling in the enormous quantity of rambo's, impossible missions, steven seagals and other gun-slanging cheap entertainment.
In the end I did find some great movies but it was disappointing to see that movie-watching Holland is more concerned about the crisis than about upgrading to real quality movie systems.

I think it's a matter of time, advertisements do their best to push all sheep over the dam and sure as hell will they all follow finally ;)

Anyway, I found a very interesting movie called [imdb]The Rum Diary[/imdb]
It's a movie that treats about a journalist from New York that goes for whatever reason to Puerto Rico and starts to w@&k for the local newspaper. He gets involved in all kinds of dirty w@&k, but the rum keeps him going. Quite entertaining and it all ends up with a sudden happy end. The journalist is played by Johnny Depp and reminds me at times of another great Johnny Depp movie called [imdb]Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas[/imdb].
This movie is actually less brutal and more romantic though. And it settles down very well in the local environment which reminds me of Cuba; stuck in the fifties.
Definitely worth a try ^-^

[Art Blade]

I'm lucky down the street is a shop that claims to have the world's biggest CD/DVD/BR assortment. Let's say a multi-storey mall all about media. And they do sort BR by genres so I can steer straight to the sci-fi section..  :-D

[PZ]

Same story here and in fact, BR is so common they are already in the bargain bins

[Jim di Griz]

That sounds like the store Binn. They are only stocking a percentage of available titles and probably don't want to go through the logistics of organising into subdivisions because that would make their presentation look smaller.

Maybe ordering online from some of the bigger distributors might be a better option - they certainly carry a good selection. Worth checking on a disc that you already have if all subtitle languages are available though - if so you can buy from wherever, assuming there's no regional coding issue.

Also, Belgium is likely to have a few stores that sell larger quantities cheaper, especially in Antwerp - though again, I'm not sure if you are near enough to make that practical.

[Binnatics]

You're right Jim, about the internet option. But I like to just enter a store and check the stock ::)

Belgium is a bit far for some blurays. I'm just sad that the specialized shops are moving out of town (small town) and are only available on the net or in bigger cities.
But the fact that bluray had gained terrain in the states makes me feel comfortable. We will follow soon enough ;)

[PZ]

Indeed - the blu ray vs HD DVD competition reminded me of the old beta vs VHS battle

[Art Blade]

I'm old enough to remember that.. you forgot video 2000  :-()

[Fiach]

There are a few nice Bluray box sets out that offer a few movies on BR at very cheap prices.

The Batman movies all up to The Dark Knight.

X Men Quadrilogy

Alien six disc box set.

Underworld quadrilogy

Resident Evil 1-3

Mission Impossible 1-3

They are all quite cheap and really good looking movies.

I think as the movies get older, it becomes pointless to get blue ray versions of them as the source material's defects become more apparent with the clarity the bluray gives.

IIRC bluray players will actually upscale DVD's to a higher definition.

[Art Blade]

just by the way, don't touch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I did and consider that BR a beer mat now.

[Fiach]

I saw it in the cinema, I thoought it was pretty good myself, but I like Tom Cruise, so I guess its different strokes for different folks :)

[Binnatics]

I'm not really a Tom Cruise fan. But thanx for the tip Fiach, I might check some boxes out. I'm not really convinced by the 'up-scaling ability' of BD players, I think you still miss the sharpness in the image.

[Fiach]

I never looked into it Binn, I just read about it, I use a PS3 for bluray and a dvd player for dvd's, I never bothered trying it out.

I was disappointed with the Highlander bluray, which is what I based my opinion on, about old movies converted to bluray.

[PZ]

... you forgot video 2000  :-()

???? I am not aware of video 2000

[Art Blade]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_2000

Video 2000 (or V2000; also known as Video Compact Cassette, or VCC) was a consumer videocassette recorder system and analog recording videocassette standard developed by Grundig and Philips to compete with JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax video technologies. Distribution of Video 2000 products began in 1979 and ended in 1988; they were marketed exclusively in Europe, Brazil, and Argentina.

:-()

[PZ]

I always forget about using the wiki, so a bbcode button might be useful.  :-D

[wiki]wiki[/wiki]

[wiki]Far Cry 3[/wiki]

[Art Blade]

 ??? :) :-X

[PZ]

 ^-^