The best upscaled DVDs thread

[Daredevil666]

OK, don't take this thread as a provocation.

With thousands of titles not available yet on Blu or in the foresseable future, I'm digging into my collection for titles that looks good upscaled on the PS3.

I have already thrown out most DVDs in my collection because they don't look good at all via hdmi, even upscaled.

I would like people to list here the best titles SD they own, so that we may know what to get on SD or not, while awaiting eventual BR releases. What's looks good so far via hdmi.

Here are some titles that I keep, finding them looking really good upscaled :

Alien Quadrilogy Pal european anamorphic DVDs
Strange Days Pal european anamorphic DVD
True Lies Pal european anamorphic DVD
Legend Pal european anamorphic DVD featuring the european cut (not the same as the double disc US set)

[un4gvn94538]

don really watch sd dvd movies anymore. still busy watching blus. was about to dive into the matrix then the war was over. now i cant wait to watch it on blu. its all about patience.

[u_nick]

I know its not for anyone, but pretty much anything anime looks pretty great upscaled. Some developers, the PS3 people specifically, actually used anime for testing when building their upscaling tech, due to certain features animation has.

[wallendo]

I am not very impressed with the PS3's DVD upscaling. I have a Sony stand-alone DVD changer that does a much better job of upscaling (at least to my taste). The PS3 upscaler at times seems to enhance MPEG-2 artifacts.

[Bobby Henderson]

Originally Posted by dvdvision

I have already thrown out most DVDs in my collection because they don't look good at all via hdmi, even upscaled.

Literally? Threw them out?

I haven't rid myself of any of the DVDs in my movie collection yet, but when I do I plan to sell the things to other people I know, sell them to video stores that take used movies or even just give them away. They cost too much money when bought brand new just to throw in the trash.

Originally Posted by dvdvision

I would like people to list here the best titles SD they own, so that we may know what to get on SD or not, while awaiting eventual BR releases.

I think it might be interesting to know which standard DVDs look more watchable than others when upscaled to artificial 1080p.

For instance, Sony's Superbit version of Air Force One looks decent. Don't know when that one will be arriving on Blu-ray.

However, I'm certainly not going to make any recommendations to any Blu-ray Disc player owner to buy certain movies on regular DVD that aren't yet available on Blu-ray. The act of buying an obsolete product (a movie on DVD) in standard definition would only encourage Hollywood studios to drag their feet on developing the same title for Blu-ray.

But then I'm just echoing my own attitude on the topic: personally, I'm not buying anymore regular DVDs. I'm done with buying them.

If Hollywood movie studios want me to buy one of their movie discs they better be offering it on Blu-ray Disc in native 1080p. Otherwise...no sale.

I still watch various DVDs in my movie collection from time to time. Some look reasonably good upconverted. But even if they look good upconverted, if you have the same title also on Blu-ray the quality differences are pretty signficant. If you have a large 1080p/24 capable TV the differences are very dramatic.

Originally Posted by wallendo

I am not very impressed with the PS3's DVD upscaling.

Do you have the latest firmware installed? Straight out of the box, the PS3 does a terrible job at upscaling DVDs. But with version 2.10 of the firmware installed the upscaling is much better.

[Beta Man]

The Indiana Jones movies up-scaled quite well..... I haven't watched the 3 good Star-Wars' yet.... but I bet they'll be good....... I'll have to see. I appreciate this thread, since I have a lot of standard DVDs and have been mulling over what ones I "think" will look good, not that I use that solely to decide what movie to watch.... but it helps!

[mgonzo2u]

Dumb and Dumber

[Quad]

Didn't really appreciate what THX did for video quality until I went from analog to HD. They upscale quite nicely.

The French Connection (THX)
Planet of the Apes boxed set (THX)
Crank
The Seven Ups
Shogun Assassin/ Lone Wolf and Cub series
Criterion Collection films like "Wages of Fear" and "Sanjuro"
The Departed
Casino
The Mummy Returns
Space: 1999 boxed set
The Great Gatsby
Cromwell

[Mayor Quimby]

People may think I'm crazy for saying this but I think BD's look much clearer and sharper than anything I see in a theatre. I think upconverted dvd's seem to capture the look of being at the theatre pretty well. Of course I'd much rather watch everything on BD. I'm hoping the studios offer us all a trade-in policy to upgrade.

As for specific discs, I think most newer dvd's upconvert very well. The earlier, the worst, it would seem. Even with the Extended versions of LOTR, Fellowship looks noticebly worse than Return. Standouts from my collection include Good Night and Good Luck (had just bought the dvd before the BD was announced), the newly remasterd Bonds, Saving Private Ryan and most Criterion transfers. I also think the player has a LOT to do with this. My S301 does a beautiful job at upconverting to my 42" Plasma.

[Clark Kent]

Typically good transfers of the last five years with clean sources upscale very well. The Toy Story reissues look great upscaled, particularly Toy Story 2. Really bad dvds typically don't upscale well. Some of the older ones from eight to ten years ago look hideous now.

[TheTenth]

Jurassic Park
Charlie's angels
Krull
Labyrinth

[BStecke]

Bad Boys 2 looks very good for SD.

[JJ]

Minority Report looked like garbage to me, but Star Wars (the original 3) looked amazing; as did Indiana Jones. Those are the ones that pop out first.

[Kuraudo]

Originally Posted by Mayor Quimby

People may think I'm crazy for saying this but I think BD's look much clearer and sharper than anything I see in a theatre. I think upconverted dvd's seem to capture the look of being at the theatre pretty well. Of course I'd much rather watch everything on BD. I'm hoping the studios offer us all a trade-in policy to upgrade.

You're not crazy, I feel the same way because the theatres around me pretty much stink. Blu ray is impeccable quality on a great hdtv

[Bobby Henderson]

There's no shortage of commercial movie theaters with merely average to just plain bad projection quality. A Blu-ray movie on a good TV is probably going to deliver a better movie watching experience than those theaters bother to deliver.

But I'll still give some business to those theaters who show "film done right" or have great quality digital projection systems. Those venues can and do outdo what is capable of Blu-ray. It's just too bad those kinds of theaters don't make up the majority of theaters.

[Daredevil666]

I agree about the 3 Indy Jones, forgot those ones. They looks quite good upscaled.

I watched yesterday "Weird Science" by John Hughes, and it sucked. The transfert is really from the early 90's or something.

[tlake6659]

Into the Wild looked really good upscaled.