Blu-Ray Best Of The Best - for discussing releases only

[Lyris]

I hate to generalise, but I get the feeling that so much British TV is so hopelessly amateur*, it makes me angry. There seems to be a never ending line of people working in TV who think that taking a video camera, waving it around without any sort of stabilisation or tripod, and doing that horrible fake jaggy "film look" in post, will give them a filmic appearance.

Nevermind high quality lighting, camerawork, and a shallow depth of field, let's just delete every second field and our biting drama series about life in a council estate will be a mega-production

*If it's British, it's OK to be amateur, my mistake, it's "raw and gritty"

[Matt]

Raw and gritty shouldn't mean shot on SVHS

Over the last year, I've been indoctrinating the missus in the joys of US television - Galactica, Carnival, The Office, 24, the list goes on. She can't watch UK shows now, they looks so cheap and amateurish. It's not just production I'm afraid, it's acting, writing, etc. That's not to say there isn't some **** on US TV, there's plenty of it (some frighteningly popular like that POS Heroes), but even if it's crap, it looks great! Even their sitcoms are shot on film.

Maybe once digital cameras have improved a bit and really does get that "film" look (I'm sorry, digital can look great, but then there's a quick pan or a night shot and it goes all "camcorder"), that will be a good step forward. Then they'll need to light a scene right....

[Lyris]

Yes, the Americans seem to get presentation right. Even cheap shlock like Judge Judy has better camerawork than some Brit attempts at serious TV!

Digital video can look fantastic. I completely refuse the notion that you need megabucks to make something look great, you just need an eye for detail and some talent. You can't really appreciate it from YouTube, but this short film which I found last night was shot with a Canon HV20 (consumer HDV video camera you can get for $500 now) with a 35mm lens and adapter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Z8gW8NBks&fmt=18

I actually have the HV30 (the successor) and am going to pick up the required stuff to use a 35mm lens on it so the next short film I make can benefit...

[Matt]

Sure that film would like great at native res.

Didn't realise you made short films. Drop me a pm sometime

[dvdmike]

I thought The League Of Gentlemen did the fake film look best and am suprised no one copied it.
On the UK TV note did anyone buy Torchwood series 1 on BRD ?

[Rossco]

Just watched my Cloverfield BD, awesome! Looks totally mint! Some great CGI going on in that film that you can only really appreciate in HD.

Also watched some of the extras, not sure if they are all on the DVD version too but the visual effects one is great to watch as it's hopefully what I'll be doing when I finish uni and there really is an impressive amount of work put into this films effects!

[RLench]

I watched it tonight as well (for the first time too) - very impressive. I'm sure I read it had really bad CG but I just didn't see it. The monster looked really good, IMO. Image quality was excellent and the audio is floor-shakingly, ear-poundingly, awesome

[Dazzyman]

What the chuff has happened with british telly recently. Ive been catching up with Holby City & The bill (had seriously 6months to go thru) and all of a sudden they all changed to crappy quality and handycam jobs. Its so bad I cant watch em so deleted em off Sky+ and noticed Saturday night they done the same with Casualty (which I dont watch). I do a better job with my footage and I cant even stand without wobbling as I BOUGHT A TRIPOD

Must admit I hardly watch much UK telly Im always watching USA stuff. I got into The Shield in Jan by accident and finished season 6 other week so started on Rome (I know thats part BBC funding) then going onto either Alias or The Wire for first time.

Back on topic I been away from HD buying as been skint for 6months for em now my computers paid off after 18months so Ive ordered 29 BR films

[Daragon]

Has anyone ever ordered from tower.com before? Looking to source a copy of the Batman Begins blu-ray gift set.

Was about to buy it this evening off playusa but they've gone and upped the price to £30 from £18! Tower seem to have it for about £18 but I've never used them before - how long on average do they take to ship to the UK? I know there are estimates given on the site, but they're rarely accurate in general. Also, how do they package items? Is it just a case of a suitable sized jiffy bag and you end up taking your chances with whether or not your package will turn up crushed or not?

[Number45]

Yeah I used them for Cloverfield a couple of weeks ago. Shipped the day I ordered and arrived in less than a week (4/5 days I think).

[Bydo]

Anybody got Zodiac on Blu-ray? I didn't think it was out until September, but Movietyme has it up to buy now:

http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=40781

I think it's probably a mistake

[JP]

Not got it yet due to the silly price but it has been up for a month or so.

[Strider]

Just had The Machinest, Doomsday, Dark City and The Ruins delivered, but I'm off to Retro Fusion this weekend, so won't have a chance to watch them. Dark City has loads of extras however with a new Director's Cut as well.

I hope it has a great transfer as it's one hell of a dark film...

[JP]

Anybody got the new (Old) Batman yet? I quite fancy some camp crusader action right now but have no idea how well it's turned out in HD yet.

Are there any technical differences between There Will be Blood in the UK & US?

[Dazzyman]

Well 11 of my BR films have arrived already so tonight can see There will be blood on BR happening. Checking stats didnt realise Shootemup had 7.1 Very suprised to get 21,Twister and Scorpion King already (just need Mummy 1 and 2 to arrive to watch the 3).