What is your "demo" disc?

[ZzEther]

Hi all! First let me just say what a great forum, loads of information here and I've spent hours upon hours just lurking and checking out galleries, it's great! I'm finally putting some decent HT equipment in the living room (no HTIAB this time around!) and I have a question:

When you really want to marvel at your setup, what disc do you pop in to really impress yourself with? Or what do you toss in the player when your friends want to see what your system can do?

My sub and speaker stands show up tomorrow but the rest of it is here already. I'm going to rip out the old and install the new tomorrow afternoon and evening. For some reason I'm really hung up on what I want to be the "maiden disc" after I get it all installed and calibrated. What are your favorites?

p.s. I've searched this a few ways and can't find anything, I apologize if this is a redundant question.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Welcome to Blu-ray.com ZzEther!

Finding a "demo" disc is really a very personal choice, but I'll give you mine.

MOVIES: Baraka
MUSIC: Legends of Jazz

There are tons of others, and I'm sure my fellow members will come across with many a recommendation.

Enjoy your stay and congrats on the new setup!

John

[bhampton]

Cars

[Suntory_Times]

The Incredible Hulk blu ray
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button blu ray
Elizabeth HDDVD (especially the first scene with Elizabeth dancing in the fields, an extremely 3d image)
Ratatouille blu ray
Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale blu ray


I think it's important with demo discs to show more then just action, otherwise people start assuming that action is all that is worthwhile getting on blu (which is so very far from the truth).

[Icedburden]

Picture: Coraline, Black Hawk Down
Audio: Incredible Hulk, Within Temptation: Black Symphony

[Shanester]

Welcome zzEther!

Zulu looks amazing!

The early Bond films: Dr No., Goldfinger & From Russia With Love are demo material also

[BluLobsta]

Welcome ZzEther! Either you're an anesthesiologist or your favorite movie is The Cider House Rules

My fav demo is Serenity, although there are many others. I have Wall*E arriving today so that would be good too...

[Fors*]

Welcome to the site ZzEther! I have to say that I rely on Transformers, because of the PQ obviously, but also especially so because of the AQ with the opening scene and the great bass, the Ironhide Sweep!

[Uniquely]

Depends.... to show off great color reproduction, that's gotta be Meet The Robinsons. For audio I like the first 15 minutes of Resident Evil Resurection or Hellboy II. The Doors is also one of my favs for audio and video.

[VinnAY]

for audio it would be the Top Gun opening scene and credits.

[Buddy Christ]

My votes are now Bugs Life and QOS

[Barbie-Shrimp]

Chinese Odyssey for AQ mostly, but also PQ. Despite the low(ish) rating for PQ.

[Steve]

Welcome to the forum. There are so many great movies to pick from it's hard to know where to start. My personal favorites are:

For AQ and PQ
Transformers-Opening scene and Ironhide flip
The Incredible Hulk-Campus fight scene
Iron Man-Emerging from the cave
Knowing-Plane crash scene

For AQ
Master and Commander-Opening naval battle
U-571-Depth charge scene

For PQ
I, Robot-Pretty much any scene in the movie
The Dark Knight-Any of the Imax scenes
Any Pixar movie

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Shanester

Zulu looks amazing!

The early Bond films: Dr No., Goldfinger & From Russia With Love are demo material also

Agreed. Another old movie in blu-ray format that looks great is 2001. More recently, "Speed Racer" has intense colors. Good animated films are "Monsters vs Aliens", "Kung Fu Panda", and anything Pixar - the last third of "Meet the Robinsons" is good demo material.

Music video (blu-ray) - David Gilmour "Remember that Night" has great audio, but the smoke and lighting obscures some visual detail.

My favorite reference music video for any format is "Eagles - Farewell Tour I, Live from Melbourne", on HD-DVD. It has great sound, visuals, songs, and performances. Unfortunately, it hasn't been released on blu-ray.

Music CD - "Cannonball" from Supertramp - Brother Where You Bound

Analog Music - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) Ultra High Quality Recording (UHQR) of Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon, and MFSL Original Master Recording of Steely Dan - Aja

[ZzEther]

Wow a lot of replies... one of which was "Master and Commander." It just occurred to me that that is showing up today from Netflix. I've never seen it and my system will be done today. As long as it's on someone's "demo" list I think that'll be it.

I like the sound of "opening naval battle." Kind of how I like the phrase "opening battle from Saving Private Ryan."

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Cars

That's the same one for me as well. I find that the BD show everything, picture and sound and you can still see amazing details even with cars going fast on screen, truly a amazing release from Disney & Pixar

Since most animation look's amazing anyway I usualy use Iron Man as well to show what a BD can do for a movie.

For older release I use The Day The Earth Stood Still, people are just amazed how this (almost) 60 years old movie look's

[Travis]

For great PQ and AQ on one disc, these are my picks:

New - I Am Legend
Newish - The Fifth Element
Oldish - Blade Runner
Old - The Searchers
Animated - Sleeping Beauty
Computer Animated - Cars

[Steve]

Originally Posted by ZzEther

Wow a lot of replies... one of which was "Master and Commander." It just occurred to me that that is showing up today from Netflix. I've never seen it and my system will be done today. As long as it's on someone's "demo" list I think that'll be it.

I like the sound of "opening naval battle." Kind of how I like the phrase "opening battle from Saving Private Ryan."

I think you'll enjoy this one. The PQ isn't what alot of people hoped it would be, but the audio track is one of the best there is.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by ZzEther

Wow a lot of replies... one of which was "Master and Commander." It just occurred to me that that is showing up today from Netflix. I've never seen it and my system will be done today. As long as it's on someone's "demo" list I think that'll be it.

I like the sound of "opening naval battle." Kind of how I like the phrase "opening battle from Saving Private Ryan."

Yep, the canon shots in the opening scene to Master and Commander are great AQ!

[MrFattBill]

Although I have only seen it once, this past Saturday, I think Sunshine is going to be tops on my list for both AQ and PQ. I'm excited to watch again, this time with the wife

Bill