Thursday 8 September 2011

The Blu ray bandwagon

Blu-ray have been around for a long time now, I remember the first time I ever saw a friend with blu rays and feeling a bit bemused as to why they would spend so much on discs, when they could get the same movies on DVD for half the price. That was back in 2007, when blu ray was a lot more expensive than they are now. For a long time I just thought of them as not worth the money for what you actually got.

Then 3D tv came along in recent times, again I wasnt too sure on if it would be worth the money, afterall when HD tv's and DVD players first came out years ago they were alot more expensive than they are now and we just had to wait a little while until they were more affordable. I was happy for a long time with just watching my DVD's on a nice HD ready LCD tv.

Now the blu ray's and blu ray players have been reduced by alot compared to what they were and theres now alot more effort going in to the discs themselves that I had found it hard to resist. The first time I noticed something about blu ray that made me want them over DVD (and be happy to pay the extra cash) was when I saw the dawn of the dead blu ray. 


I couldnt believe how much effort had gone in. You got different covers to choose from for example that you can swap and change when you feel like it. Lots of special features, aswell as the better quality picture and sound, you also get a poster.

Ever since then I had it going around my head that I really thought it was now the time to cross over from the DVD age into blu ray. Something recently that pushed me further into actually going ahead and purchasing a player and blu ray discs was seeing that nowadays most blu rays also come with a DVD and digital copy known as triple plays, or just a DVD known as double play. There are also more and more steelbook editions, some of which are now hard to get hold of as they were special edition and sold out straight away. Such as the back to the future tin which contained all sorts of cool stuff such as a copy of the sports almanac featured in Back to the future 2.
 So I am jumping onto the blu ray bandwagon! The player I have chosen is the Panasonic BDT210 which I have yet to purchase but shall write a review of it once I do at the end of this month. I have chosen it because although it is £140 on amazon, it is actually alot more expensive in other stores, I have read up on other players and extensivley about this particular player to make sure it was a good buy. It has everything I am looking for, wi-fi ready, connection to youtube etc, 2D to 3D conversion which interested me quite alot and will be great when we finally purchase a 3D tv (going to be saving up for that, the prices arent as pretty for them just yet), HDMI and USB connectivety, fast load up, and generally a great player for a great price. If you want further info on this player here is a link -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004QWY7RU/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

So, seeing as I will be buying a blu ray player in 2 weeks time I thought I should probably get a few blu ray movies to watch on it. So I have picked 6 that I thought I would really enjoy seeing in the much better quality picture and the ones that seemed good quality for the money (steelbook editions, extras). So here they are (reviews will come once they have arrived in the post) :

Scarface steelbook triple play blu ray, already have this on DVD however I am now updating and will be giving the DVD away to family or sell it on ebay.


The wizard of oz: 70th anniversary edition 3 disc combi pack, an old favourite again iv updated from my DVD boxset. I am keeping my 3 disc boxset though as its just too nice to give away or sell for cheap.

Magnolia, this is just the one blu ray disc no other extra discs, however I love this movie so much and its such a beautifully made film that I really did need to watch it on blu ray. Especially the falling frog scenes. Again this is an upgrade from DVD.

The big lebowski 2 disc blu ray + DVD set limited edition digibook for the 10th anniversary of the movie. This is a movie I have wanted for a long time on DVD and almost bought on quite a few occasions, but there were never very good special features and although I loved the movie I always thought "Il get it another time". Im so glad I waited as I now am able to get this instead. It looks so beautiful and I have watched videos on youtube to see what its like in reality, and I have to say it looks like its worth every penny! very excited for this to arrive.
Apocolypse now 3 disc edition - This is another movie I always wanted to add to my DVD collection and just never did, here I am able to add it to my new blu ray collection with extensive special features and in a really lovely set.
And finally a movie that I havent actually seen, Akira, has been on my 'to watch' list for a long time, more so after it appeared in the Empire magazine's top 500 movies issue back in 2008. This new steelbook has been released recently and I saw this as a perfect oppurtunity to not only see this anime for the first time, but in the best possible way too. I have bought the collectors edition steelbook blu ray + DVD.
I will be back to review each blu ray once they have arrived and I have bought my player. 
I will leave you with a famous scarface quote:
"Lesson number one: Don't underestimate the other guy's greed! 
Lesson number two: Don't get high on your own supply."

25 comments:

  1. Thanks for following my blog. Looks like your's is really new and good luck. Once you get your Follwers button going I will follow it check out your updates. best of luck here>

    Bill

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  2. The Akira Bluray is amazing. Well, the film is amazing, but the Bluray particularly is really good.

    Thanks for the follow by the way! Looking forward to seeing what you put up here in the future.

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  3. Thanks guys I hope to keep this going regularly and will post as much as I can :)

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  4. I bought in Scarface blu-ray too. In Canada it's a two-disc set with the second disc being a DVD for the 1932 Howard Hawks film. A very nice purchase.

    I haven't bought Apocalypse Now as of yet. It came out a year ago and it's still ridiculously expensive. But I hear it's a wonderful set.

    Thanks for following Between the Seats! I appreciate it!

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  5. Ahh that would of been nice to have had the 1932 Scarface in the set I have ordered. I will be reviewing Apocalypse now once it has arrived!

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  6. I wonder if they'll ever become standard. I haven't got a Blu-ray player yet, but the picture is impressive.

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  7. I think a few years ago I would of said no way, DVD will be here forever. But now I just think the prices and the sets are so much better, and the sales of the 3D tv's are going up I really think the change over is starting to happen now. It would be sad for DVD to go altogether though like VHS, which is something else that I like about blu ray players, the fact you can watch your DVD's on them too is really good!

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  8. I made the move to blu-ray in January of this year, and have enjoyed the upgrade thus far. I recently picked up the BFI's package of DEEP END (which is superb) and Optimum's DON'T LOOK NOW. The APOCALYPSE NOW set is a no brainer...simply for the documentary HEARTS OF DARKNESS, which is superior to the film itself. I'm just waiting for it drop a little in price. Thanks for following TCH and good luck with your blog!

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  9. I still think DVD will stick around for a while. Not everyone has enough funds to overhaul their home entertainment system for high definition picture and sound. Plus there needs to be an alternative for times when someone else in the house calls dibs on the living room.

    Akira has been on my "to watch" list for a while too. Looking forward to the review.

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  10. Shaun - I really want to get Dont look now on blu ray too! And thanks for following me too =]

    Ian - I agree it is expensive I can only afford it now a bit at a time from saving up, hopefully it will become more affordable as time goes on.

    I shall review Akira soon, I will be getting my player in a week or so, so expect a load of updates then =]

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  11. Hi Nicole.
    I love your movie Blog sweet lady.
    Thanks so much for your comments on my post.
    Im your newest follower on your blog now.
    I HOPE YOU have a great week with your movies.
    Diane

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  12. I love my DVDs and I love technology but don't have the heart to start again...and I'd need to start again I'm a bit OCD about my DVDs.

    Want!

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  13. Diane - thanks so much, hope you will enjoy reading my blog.

    John - Yeah I know, I felt like that. I am a bit OCD with mine, I have a feeling I am going to be now with blu-ray too! I already have a list of the next ones I will be getting!

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  14. Congratulations on your new blog Nicole...I can tell it's going to be a fun one! No blu-ray here, just watch the old fashioned stuff.
    So glad you visited 24C...
    xo Jessica

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  15. Hey Jess, thanks I hope you will enjoy reading my little movie blog =]
    I really like yours too!

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  16. The Scarface blu-ray looks great!

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  17. Hi Ty, yeah it is a really nice set, alot of effort has gone into it. I will get some photos of it up when I write the blu ray review in the next few weeks =]

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  18. I was determined not to succumb to Blu-Ray but, as you noted in this great post, some of the packages are lovely! I myself gave in to a Kick-Ass steelbook and the Grindhouse collection. I suspect my collection will be building rather rapidly...

    Great blog, consider me a regular visitor :D

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  19. Ah thanks for the compliments on my post, in regards to the collection building if you are anything like me then it most definately will grow, really quickly! I already have my eye on about 10 others I want to get soon! =]

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  20. The Apocalypse Now Collection is unbelievable. I just bought last month and watching it on blu-ray in 5.1 surround was one of the most satisfying movie experiences I've ever had!

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  21. I really cannot wait to watch it, as well as all the other blu rays I have bought, getting my player on the weekend =] I am very excited!

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  22. Ah, that's pretty much how it went with me too. I now have blu-ray too and i must say, the quality is superb. Great post and can't wait to read your reviews! :)

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  23. Hey johhny madrid =] thanks for reading my blog, I am going to write up some this week

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  24. I'm yet to jump onto the bluray bandwagon, but I'm guessing it won't be long now!

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