What's Steve Watching
11 July 2012 06:32 PM
Now that The Dick Van Dyke Show has been announced for blu-ray release later this year, I am getting caught up on the five season collection on DVD, which I picked up from Amazon for a song. I can’t see myself upgrading the DVD’s for the blu-rays since I don’t see myself watching these many times. Plus, even though I liked The Twilight Zone blu-rays compared to my old non-season-set DVD collection, I just don’t see a huge improvement coming for Dick Van Dyke in high definition.
I tried giving the DVD’s a spin on my old Toshiba HD-D2 HD-DVD player, but the player locked up on me once and would not even spin one of the discs. So I used my trusty fat original PS3 and it played back fine upscaled to 1080p.
I watched The Artist by myself and with friends…it ran several people off who either weren’t feeling well, or weren’t into mostly silent films. I still think Hugo was a better movie, and should have won the Oscar for Best Picture. (Hugo, by the way, is stunning in blu-ray 3D.)
Next up, the freshly released Outland, or High Noon in space with Sean Connery as the sheriff. Early reviews of this blu-ray are positive, which is a relief considering the abomination that was the original DVD (which was sourced from a poor laserdisc master). The last time I saw Outland look good was in the movie theater during its original run.
I also have Chariots of Fire, another blu-ray of the same vintage, and Altered States, which I liked a lot on HBO as a teenager. We’ll see how well it holds up.
Oh, and I saw Disney / Pixar’s Brave theatrically in an auditorium featuring the new Dolby Atmos sound system (with speakers arrayed along the walls and ceiling). Much ado about nothing--I could hardly tell that there were special sound effects in the movie. And I paid $14.75 for the privilege of seeing it. For a few dollars more, I could have just bought the blu-ray when it is released. And for a few dollars beyond that, I can get it in 3D.
I tried giving the DVD’s a spin on my old Toshiba HD-D2 HD-DVD player, but the player locked up on me once and would not even spin one of the discs. So I used my trusty fat original PS3 and it played back fine upscaled to 1080p.
I watched The Artist by myself and with friends…it ran several people off who either weren’t feeling well, or weren’t into mostly silent films. I still think Hugo was a better movie, and should have won the Oscar for Best Picture. (Hugo, by the way, is stunning in blu-ray 3D.)
Next up, the freshly released Outland, or High Noon in space with Sean Connery as the sheriff. Early reviews of this blu-ray are positive, which is a relief considering the abomination that was the original DVD (which was sourced from a poor laserdisc master). The last time I saw Outland look good was in the movie theater during its original run.
I also have Chariots of Fire, another blu-ray of the same vintage, and Altered States, which I liked a lot on HBO as a teenager. We’ll see how well it holds up.
Oh, and I saw Disney / Pixar’s Brave theatrically in an auditorium featuring the new Dolby Atmos sound system (with speakers arrayed along the walls and ceiling). Much ado about nothing--I could hardly tell that there were special sound effects in the movie. And I paid $14.75 for the privilege of seeing it. For a few dollars more, I could have just bought the blu-ray when it is released. And for a few dollars beyond that, I can get it in 3D.