The Wonders of Blu-Ray

My first choice for comparing DVD to Blu-Ray on my new toy was the James Bond film From Russia With Love. The reason I had chosen this particular film was because the DVD copy I have of this one looks like a digital scan of an old film print without any cleanup work at all. It even has film imperfections preserved in glorious digital detail. 

I selected a scene that I thought would show off the potential of the high definition versus the "how bad can it be?" of the DVD copy. So I watched the helicopter scene near the end of the film where Bond avoids a helicopter trying to take him out. Naturally, he wins in the end, and the helicopter comes down in a glorious crash and explosion. 

After I watched the DVD, I put on the Blu-Ray version that I'd gotten from Blockbuster. Holy cow! The difference was absolutely unbelievable. I had wondered if they'd done any cleanup or found a cleaner copy for the HD transfer, but the clarity is beyond description. The colors were brighter all around, and they managed to increase the definition to where everything was clear right down to being able to make out the texture of the seat belt in the helicopter.

We subsequently watched Twister and had the chance to compare it to an SD version from shots within the documentaries on the disc, and it was so much sharper than we'd seen before. 

So there is a difference so far. I still want to make a comparison between a modern DVD and the Blu-Ray version that would have been released on the same day, instead of there being years between the releases. Hence, my next target for a direct comparison is Casino Royale, though I do want to compare The Polar Express as well. The up-convert of the standard to HD of that movie was actually really incredible.

I guess I'll see how they go when I get ahold of them.