Blu-ray's Grey Zone

[Maggot]

I started a thread a few weeks back asking the question of what constitutes your standard DVD PQ, using this site's rating system for Blu-ray. What I got back left me the impression that DVD would score a "0". As I grow my Blu-ray collection and read reviews, one thing stands out: There are a lot of transfers out there that sit in the 3.0 to 3.5 realm. I call this the Blu-ray's grey zone. 3.0 being the absolute "tollerable limit" for most with a 4.0 really being what the bare minimum should be. From my personal viewing experience, this rings true. At the same time, this worries me and I have stated that concern before. My concern, which I believe on some level is shared with most on this site, is that studios are putting far too many sub-standard transfers out there. This has lead to reply's stating that studios just can't pour money into each film's transfer. It was one thing with sub-standard DVD transfers as that format and the much smaller TV's they were watched on didn't expose issues the way we see them now. Unfortunately, there in lies the problem. The studios are pushing this HD format, yet are not truely understanding the double edge sword they have created. You have just about everybody and their mother now buying widescreen LCD's and plasma's along with Blu-ray players......both technologies that can clearly and frightingly expose a bad transfer, yet here we have so many movies that sit in this grey zone. Not a very good way to sell product. Word of mouth gets around very easily with the internet. Wasting money on issuing bad transfers and very few buying them as the word gets out about PQ, is a bad way to sell a format. The money wasted could have been used to make a better transfer in the first place. Sure, we can all say "double dip" here, but I hear more and more people every day saying they'll buy a Blu-ray player and just upconvert their existing DVD collection as there are too many titles out there that simply do not look much better than their DVD counterparts. That my friends, is a HUGE problem and the studios lack of understanding that each and every title that comes to Blu-ray needs, sorely needs, a good transfer is a major issue. This is why I think they have created a double edge sword here: They are either financially unwilling or unable to create transfers that do the format justice in EVERY instance. This is not standard def DVD here, people.....we are talking HD, where every little nuance and shred of an image can and is scrutinized with this technology's capabilities. It has to be done right the first time and every time!