Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[Elandyll]

I don't think that insulting people who've been having exceedingly high expectations and were disappointed by in store setups is the solution to the problem. Just sayin'

If you take your average LCD, with something like a motion flow, 120Hz (let's not even talk about the 240hz sets, downright horrible with a movie), or a contrast and luminosity pushed to the gills in your average store, the colors will pop up sure, but the image will actually not look that good in and off itself.

Your average big box salesperson applies to a LCD TV in HD the same rules he's been taught for the good ol' SD TV sets:
Push contrast and brightness on the high margins, lower it on the low margins.
The high margin set has extra options like "super Motion Flow", "240Hz", etc...? Activate all, it's got to be better, it's more expensive!

The thing is, on good HDTVs, you can absolutely have a cinema experience in Blu-Ray (check out Wal-E, The Dark Knight, Star Trek or Iron Man per example).
I know that on average with my Samsung Slim LED (retro), I even have a -better- experience than in most theaters thanks to impeccable positioning, absence of film problems (scratches and such), excellent colorimetry, no framing problems, no out of focus projection, etc. Sound is also better in most cases (and without annoyances, when the baby is asleep that is).

The only thing that still makes me go to the theater is
1) the experience of going out,
2) the sheer size of the screen (specially IMAX).

Oh and when I can't wait for the video release, obviously

[Kartoon]

So you watched 30 minutes, off one movie, on store displays, and you're able to make a better judgement then someone who actually owns one?

Intriguing logic.

[brps3]

I wonder if the person knows that NONE of the tv's in the store's are adjusted properly. They just hook them up and turn them on. And what brand of tv was it on?

I've seen movies playing on Vizio's and they look like crap.

But the same movie looks great on a Samsung.

[Agent Bond]

It also depends on what kind of TV you're using. I was watching Pearl Harbor at Best Buy on a Samsung TV and I had to look at my hand and the back of it to compare to what I was watching on the screen. It was like watching the movie through a camcorder. It looked THAT real and thats when I realized Blu-Ray wasn't just another marketing ploy. After that, I believed the hype.

You HAVE to buy the movies on Blu-Ray though. Using your DVDs to get upscaled may be an improvement to what you were watching, but you don't get the full effect.

[Canada]

Originally Posted by ls35a

I've spent maybe 45 minutes watching blu-ray movies at various store setups.

Yes, the detail can be impressive.

But blu-ray looks like some hi-def video, not film. It looks .... not that good.

This is where everyone says, 'well, they had the tv tweaked with all the colors turned up'. No, not really.

I find it hard to get excited about this technology. I watched about 30 minutes of 'The Dark Knight' the other day and the experience was not like watching a movie at all. Hi-def video, not film.

I think we're being sold a bill of goods here. Or rather a Japanese professional video format that got tweaked for use in home systems by a company that wanted a proprietary format.

So Blu ray doesn't look like film, so what, it isn't, I think with films they are usually about a 4 K projection. Blu ray is the best format for home viewing if you don't like it go back to DVD.

Oh yeah try watching more than a 45 minute segment of one film.

[TheSweetieMan]

I know this may go unanswered, but for those seeking the 'life-like' and 'soap-opera' feel when it comes to bluray (specifically, District 9), which TV should I go with? I was leaning towards plasma due to the 600hz, but I keep hearing that's just a marketing scam and nothing more.

[BLUCanadian]

Originally Posted by TheSweetieMan

I know this may go unanswered, but for those seeking the 'life-like' and 'soap-opera' feel when it comes to bluray (specifically, District 9), which TV should I go with? I was leaning towards plasma due to the 600hz, but I keep hearing that's just a marketing scam and nothing more.

Plasmas wont give you this effect... youll have to go with an LCD TV with some type of Motion Enhancement technology.

[ShellOilJunior]

The OP isn't entirely incorrect. There are TERRIBLE blu-ray transfers out there like PATTON that don't look like film.

However, the Blu-ray format enables films like:

Last Year at Marienbad
Seventh Seal
Wages of Fear
Casablanca
Gone with the Wind
400 Blows

ETC

... to look spectacular with the cinematic qualities intact.

[Dr Praetorious]

I really could use whatever the OP was on so I could watch a blu ray at a store at home or on a alien spaceship and make it look like a video instead of a HD experience. Why would Michael Bay or Steven Speilberg say that a good home theater experience is better then going to a movie theater, guess they hung out at he wrong stores.

[Ray O. Blu]

Ironically, my experience is the opposite as the OPs. Now that I have my HT completely HD, I find no reason to venture to the theater at all. The image is blurry and the sound is way too inconsistent for my money. (Although, Paranormal Activity was a treat to experience with an audience.)

[BluBonnet]

Hey, if the OP doesn't like the technology - he doesn't HAVE to buy one.

The rest of us can enjoy something that's way better than SD DVDs.

[bferr1]

Originally Posted by ls35a

I've spent maybe 45 minutes watching blu-ray movies at various store setups.

Yes, the detail can be impressive.

But blu-ray looks like some hi-def video, not film. It looks .... not that good.

This is where everyone says, 'well, they had the tv tweaked with all the colors turned up'. No, not really.

I find it hard to get excited about this technology. I watched about 30 minutes of 'The Dark Knight' the other day and the experience was not like watching a movie at all. Hi-def video, not film.

I think we're being sold a bill of goods here. Or rather a Japanese professional video format that got tweaked for use in home systems by a company that wanted a proprietary format.

I think the only way you can have a true film-like look is to have a 35mm projector running movies on 35mm film. Since most of us can't afford that, Blu-ray is the closest approximation we have at this time. Yes, it may not be as good as actual film, but it's the best looking, highest quality home format thus far. That doesn't mean it can't one day be surpassed, but we might be getting into the realm of diminishing returns with a higher resolution format.

[bhampton]

Yeah,

Film looks like Film but for most people it's a bit impractical. It's hard to get and hard to maintain.

I suppose you could just see your movies at theaters but then they have to be playing what you want to see and that can be a problem.

My local theater is really bad. I had a free ticket (MovieCash) that I gave away because I won't go there even if it's free. It's just the worst theater I've ever been too but that's beside the point.

=Brian

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by ls35a

I can be interested in hi-def video, and have a good home theater, but not have taken the blu-ray leap yet. And have serious reservations about doing so.

Hey,... Whatever, Blu Ray players can be had for under $100 and they play DVDs and CDs and all that too. Think it's taking a "leap" and you have "serious reservations" about it? I guess you're welcome to them.

Stick with whatever you like better. I personally think Blu Ray provides the best experience for watching movies at home.

-Brian

[Q?]

A few examples of movies on blu-ray that looks like film which I have:
Blade Runner
Casino
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
and more...
Just go with Plasmas, they are the best HDTV's in my opinion, the 120 hz some lcd's have look awful to me, looks fake.

It depends on what kind of cameras have been used for a movie, if it's film and if it's "correctly"* transfered to blu-ray, it look like film.
If a movie has been recorded with a digital camera and it's "correctly"* transfered and your TV correctly calibrated, it'll look like it's recorded with a digital camera.
*(with no use of Digital Noise Reduction & Edge Enhancement or other).
Blu-ray does in fact reflect what the movies are.
Trust me and the rest of us here with blu-rays and HDTV's.

[Dotpattern]

Not sure why there are so many unhelpful replies that only serve to drag out this discussion. 3 or 4 people have already mentioned what the problem is.

The problem is not with Blu-ray, the problem is with the Motion Flow setting on the tv that the OP was viewing that does indeed make movies look like video.

Fortunately, Motion Flow, or TrueMotion, can be turned off in the tv's menu. That's all there is to it.

[Kryptonic]

Buy plasma. Problem solved.

[supergogo]

Depends on Setup. Period

[supergogo]

some times i like Digital video camera look. like i'm backstage filming a scene, sometimes i want movie theater film look. Some times both. Still missing my 65" Dlp Hitachi 1080 HD Ready (720p). Man regular DVD and HD looked great on this set. My new 82" Mitsubishi Dlp Hd looks great, regualar DVD below my eyes.

[kefrank]

Originally Posted by ls35a

But blu-ray looks like some hi-def video, not film. It looks .... not that good.

That "video" look has nothing to do with Blu-ray. That look comes from the motion interpolation feature of the display televisions at the store. I agree with you that it looks awful and nothing like film, but that's not what Blu-ray looks like. Blu-ray discs look extremely film-like on my 1080p projector with NO motion interpolation.