Poor Quality Blu-ray discs

[colnscott]

Has anyone bought a Blu-Ray disc only to find the quality of the picture is not much better than the DVD release ?

For example, "Stargate", "Independance Day"
.
It seems to me that some companies are using DVD source material / transfers rather than pay for a new transfer - This seems to undermine the whole point of the Hi-Def movie experience.
Compare this to a company like "The Criterion Collection" where you know that you will get stunning picture reproduction EVERY time.

Should we be on the look out for poor quality discs and make sure the distribution companies get to hear about this.

I use both Region 1 & 2 discs on my system. When I get what I consider to be a dud I check it against another region release - if both are equally dud quality I send them back.

What's your experience

[bandit29]

Gladiator. There's been a few discussions about it lol

[benricci]

[Mahatma]

Several disc comes to mind,and I think that in my collection a third is excellent quality maybe a third more maybe more is satisfactory,and the rest is dissapointing.Bought 'March of the penguins' on BD,and to me that was a huge dissapointment.Not much better than DVD.Was expecting brilliant PQ,but alas no

Worst example is 'Escape from new york'.Couldn't believe the badness of it. Especially when comparing it to another Carpenter film 'The thing' which shines in BD.

Also 'Eyes wide shut' dissapointed me.Saw it in cinemas,and the BD version was not even close.Bit better than DVD,but not much really IMHO.

One question: Does the criterion line also do BD?

[kpkelley]

I don't think Independence Day looked bad

The only ones that come immediately to mind are:

Patton
The Longest Day
Gangs of New York
Finding Neverland

[banned user105]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

Also 'Eyes wide shut' dissapointed me.Saw it in cinemas,and the BD version was not even close.Bit better than DVD,but not much really IMHO.

Eyes Wide Shut is a terrific Blu-Ray transfer. It's very dark heavy on grain but the movie is supposed to look that way.

Gladiator, Gangs of NY, Total Recall, Robocop, Patton, Mission: Impossible...all crap.

Originally Posted by Mahatma

One question: Does the criterion line also do BD?

Yep. They've all been wonderful.

[dg5150]

40 year old Virgin. A couple of bad cuts makes it look like the transfer "jumped around".

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

One question: Does the criterion line also do BD?

Originally Posted by doctorthodt

Yep. They've all been wonderful.

Except for the OAR issue with The Last Emperor.

[banned user105]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

Except for the OAR issue with The Last Emperor.

True, but even knowing about it before I watched, it didn't bother me or take away from my viewing experience. It's a minor issue imo.

[AintNoSin]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

Except for the OAR issue with The Last Emperor.

But that's not a Criterion issue. That's the cinematographer being a d**k.

[aguycould]

Speaking of quality, when will Bluray.com post a review of Gladiator? I'm dying to hear their take on it.

[Wdm81]

I thought stargate looked pretty good...although that might have been because my expectations were so low after hearing people ***** about it, But i'd give the PQ a 8/10

The worst PQ i have seen would go to The Itallian job.. i really hope someone got fired for that one

[benricci]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

Except for the OAR issue with The Last Emperor.

That's the director of photography's call, not Criterion. I see this as a non-issue. If Storaro wants it in 2.00:1, then let it be. After all, he's the one who photographed it.

[Jimbo976]

Evil Dead II looks pretty bad IMO.

[V.I.N.CENT]

Anyone here own Young Guns on BD?

I've heard the PQ isn't much better that the SDVD, so I've passed up a few opportunities to buy it at what could be a great price ($13.99)

[1blufan]

I would have to say " 88 Minutes ", they knew it was a turd of a movie so why care about the transfer I guess. Horrible and if you haven't seen it you've been warned.

[banned user105]

Originally Posted by V.I.N.CENT

Anyone here own Young Guns on BD?

I've heard the PQ isn't much better that the SDVD, so I've passed up a few opportunities to buy it at what could be a great price ($13.99)

Young Guns sells for 9.99 most places and it's still not worth that price. In my experience most of the $10 titles are that cheap because they're either terrible movies, terrible transfers, or both.

[owa]

For the most part no. I think pretty much all the ones that I have or have seen have been better than the DVD. I'm guessing I'd say The Beast isn't much better than the DVD though but I don't have it on DVD to compare. It ended up not being widescreen and also looked pretty much like a recording off cable that had been burned to blu-ray. At the moment, it's the only one I can think of that I wasn't too thrilled with.

[OtisBDriftwood]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

Evil Dead II looks pretty bad IMO.

It doesn't look great, but considering the source, it's a good step up from the DVD.

[TTC1984]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Carrie or The Graduate yet. Neither one is much of an upgrade over its SD counterpart. Not to mention neither version has any bonus material (though the Graduate comes with an SD disc that has the old bonuses.)