Disney in Blu-ray

[Magic1]

This is to start a discussion about Disney movies released in the Blu-ray Disc (BD) format.

- Share what films you own
- Discuss special features
- Give an opinion about which films you think Disney should release next in BD
- and post about all things Blu & Disney


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I'm one of those who use my PS3 to watch blu's on an HDTV. While I liked putting in the standard DVDs with the upscaling, once I tried Disney in blu there was no going back. So far I've got all 3 POTC's, Cars, Ratatouille, Enchanted, Bridge to Terabithia, and both National Treasures.

Kudos:
While Ratatouille has plenty of extras and POTC 3 is loaded with documentary info, Cars stands out in my mind for all-around quality. The BD format is perfect for those high-gloss paint jobs and roaring engines, the menus and documentaries are great, and that blasted game kept me busy for hours (my eyes hurt after not blinking for so long).

Enchanted & National Treasure 2 supply small picture icons to replace the generic BD icon on the PS3 - a nice touch.

Sleeping Beauty is coming! So is Nemo! Hopefully we'll see Mary Poppins in Blu soon too!

The coupon for upgrading from Cars standard DVD was a great idea! I'd like to see more offers like that for those of us who are loyal purchasers and are willing to upgrade our Disney libraries.

Gripes:
I'd really like for Disney to consider bringing a "FastPlay" type option to BDs so we can skip all the front-clutter of previews and disclaimers and go straight to the movie.

The pop-up menus used on most Disney BDs aren't all that spectacular. I think it's a little lazy when the movie switches to a small corner of the screen to favor showing me what is essentially the main menu. Cars & Bridge to Terabithia thankfully buck this trend (!) with creative, custom pop-up menus, while POTC 1 & 2 use a pop-up format that doubles as the main menu.
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So, what do the rest of you have to say about Disney going Blu?

.:Magic1:.

[AraBrokenDreamer]

If I could get it, I would, because I have a nice big screen for it (1050x1680 resolution), and as someone who does Disney film backgrounds for a hobby, i can't tell you how nice it is to have pixel perfect shots for them.

That said, until Blu is more affordable, I couldn't dream of getting an add-on drive for my computer, and until KHIII comes out on the PS3, I won't dream of that option, either. From what I've seen of Blu-Ray DVDs, they are somewhat lackluster in menus, but when I can get pictures like those for a desktop (yay, PowerDVD), I'll happily deal with it. And as long as the French language tracks are on there, I'm fine.

-ara

[lpetiti]

As a person who is adevoted DVD collector and one who does not have the funds to invest in a Blu-Ray player, I kind of don't like the fact that Disney is beggining to put a great deal of their special features on Blu-ray. I mean, I was really excited about getting the special editon of POTC3, and found myself bitterly disappointed when I saw that there were no commentaries, no proper making-of feature (and I'm talking like a 45 minute one, like the last twohad), no real interviews with people other then Sao-Feng, Jack Sparrow, and Captain Teague.

Put extras on DVD's!

[Magic1]

I had a problem with standard Disney DVDs when I would purchase one and then a special release DVD would follow a couple of years later with no notable increase in quality, just a few more special features. So I didn't buy the updated versions because the price-to-featureset was too high to justify re-buying the same movie on the same format.

When DVDs came out, they included features that weren't available on VHS (even though there was room on the tapes) so I guess I'm not surprised that the same happens with BDs. There are some things you can do on a BD that you can't on a DVD like: store more information for better picture, sound, and more extras; have pop-up menus; include more interactive games; and eventually have picture-in-picture commentaries or special, internet features.

Along with a much higher price for Blu-rays, you might expect more features than the DVD. From a business standpoint (and Disney needs to make money on these just like everyone else), DVD margins are much lower than on Blu-ray so making some (to repeat: some) special content available on a special format makes sense.

I agree that prices for the equipment are a bit high (TV, player, cables...) and the prices of the discs aren't much better (like DVDs were in the early days), but over time those prices will drop. My first DVD player was $600 and now you can get them for $30; my first DVDs were around $35 and now I regularly get them for around $10. With some careful shopping, you can hit deals on BD films. Right now, I'm averaging around $17 per title and I know others who have done much better.

A feature I wish BDs had (especially with Disney discs) is the one some HD DVDs had allowing playback in both standard DVD players and HD players. That would've been great if you wanted a disc you could play in the decked-out home theater then snag and pop in the car for the kids.

For now, I'm supporting Disney on this format (as much as my budget allows), thoroughly enjoying what they've put out so far and looking forward to many improvements in features and the library.

.:Magic1:.

[Kileli]

We have just a regular Blu-Ray player we got when we got our HD TV. The olny animated movie was have is Cars; it looks AWESOME on the TV. I don't notice anythng diffrent about the sound they keep advertising. Anyway, we also have Harry Potter 5 in Blu-Ray, and we couldn't find a single diffrence in the picture, so I think we will only buy animated movies in Blu-Ray. Can't wait to see Wall-E in Hi-Def.

[kmb728]

I am also one of those people who use my ps3 to watch disney in blue ray

at the moment i have Ratatouille, Cars, Potc3, Toy Story 2, Incredibles


while in best buy i saw i could buy a dvd of pixar shorts in blu-ray

that might be my next purchase

[Magic1]

I don't think Toy Story 2 or The Incredibles are out in Blu yet...
BUT...
if you watch them on an upscaling DVD player (like the PS3) they do look nice even though they aren't HD.

I'm curious about the Pixar Shorts. It's not on my "buy next" list, but if you get it let me know what you think.

.:Magic1:.

p.s. - I've been checking out Disney Channel in HD. Looks like mostly the cartoons (Emperor's New School, Kim Possible, Lilo...) are in HD and the tween shows aren't.

[kmb728]

Originally Posted by Magic1

I don't think Toy Story 2 or The Incredibles are out in Blu yet...
BUT...
if you watch them on an upscaling DVD player (like the PS3) they do look nice even though they aren't HD.

I'm curious about the Pixar Shorts. It's not on my "buy next" list, but if you get it let me know what you think.

.:Magic1:.

p.s. - I've been checking out Disney Channel in HD. Looks like mostly the cartoons (Emperor's New School, Kim Possible, Lilo...) are in HD and the tween shows aren't.

oh wow your right im sry!

i mix them up with the hd dvds..... (there basically the same)


but about the shorts.... i didnt buy them cuz its like 45 bucks and its not even a full lenght movie


my most recent movie disney video purchase was on i tunes... i got all the season of disney espisodes from the travel channel for 15 bucks!

[Magic1]

I agree about the Pixar Shorts pricing. It's a bit much for something that will also be included (in parts) on upcoming transfers to BD. I guess if you're a real Pixar freak or need them now...

In general, I find Amazon has the best prices (it helps to have free 2-day shipping with Amazon Prime). I've heard of others getting good deals through Best Buy but, with coupons and rewards, it's more complicated to get the deals than Amazon and it just hasn't worked out for me yet. Fry's has been horrendous for pricing blu's but I think they are starting to catch on and will have decent release-day prices soon. I haven't tried Walmart for blu's yet. Costco and Target have been so-so. I'm waiting for someone to have another BOGO sale to stock up on some more.

I'd pay a lot for some official ride-thru's of DL attractions on blu. I have some free, fan-created ones in HD but there's something to be said for the occasional use of steadycams or camera mounts.

Upcoming animated Disney BDs:
- Sleeping Beauty
- Tinker Bell
- WALL-E
- Finding Nemo
- Pinocchio

.:Magic1:.

(another fan waiting for KHIII on the PS3)

[Magic1]

Got the BD "Over California" and there is a quick fly-over of Disneyland featuring a shot that includes pre-Nemo subs and a running Peoplemover. (Yes, that means it was originally filmed in the early 90's.)

.:Magic1:.

[lpetiti]

Although, as much as it pains me to admit it, the picture quality on Blu-Ray is amazing. I fell in love with Hi-def picture when I saw Ratatouille with like ten different colors in Remy's fur alone.

[ryguy222]

Just a quick question, is spending 500-700 dollars for a blue ray player, plus the extra 10 dollars for a blu ray disk really worth it? I can get an upscalling DVD player much cheaper, and compared to my last rear projection (non-hd) TV regular DVD's look excellent on the TV. Just wondering if its worth all the extra money.

[Magic1]

As to content, I can see a clear difference between upscaled DVDs and Blu-ray, but if you are happy with the upscaled version and are concerned about the cost, then you might wait. DVDs were just as expensive when they came out and look where they are now. As a larger library of films are released on any format, prices go down. Right now, there are only several hundred BDs to pick from where as with DVDs you have thousands upon thousands.

It could be argued that your experience with HD content (BD or broadcast) may vary based on your equipment. If you are watching a BD on a standard def TV (SD) then you are guaranteed to have a more difficult time noticing the differences.

I'm watching using the PS3 to a large screen HDTV via an HDMI cable. For me the HDTV was a purchase to replace my near dead SD TV and thanks to Costco it wasn't too expensive. While my TV can accept a monitor cable from PC/Macs (lots of possiblities with a monitor as big as the TV!), I got the PS3 because I wanted a media hub of sorts that was easy for others to use: to play games, watch Blu-rays, show pictures, video conference, and play media files (including some beautiful full HD videos of Disneyland). Since, I bought the PS3 for multiple purposes, the cost didn't seem so bad.

Even though it's relatively new technology, it is still possible to get deals on all things Blu, you just have to be a more careful -and sometimes patient- shopper. You can get a PS3 for $399, and BD's for $20 or less on sale.

.:Magic1:.

[ryguy222]

kk, well I was just curious if it is really all worth it to get one. I'm more interested in getting an xbox 360 before i get a PS3, just because I'd like to continue Guitar Hero ( I have it on PC now, and the next won't have it !) As well as Halo 3, plus I'm one of those nerds who has huge lan parties with 16 xbox consoles all connected together. Oh so fun :)
Anyways, My PC has component out, and so my computer acts as my Media Hub. Guitar hero 3, DVD's recorded TV's its nice.
Now if only Macs had a piece of software simmilar to Media Center on PC

But i'll probably wait a bit, because right when blu-ray came out, the players were something like 1,000 dollars around the circuit city, and best buy. And now I think the cheapest is 500. Yes PS3 is cheapest, but if anything goes down, it'll be the blu-ray player, not the ps3 most likely in the future.

[Magic1]

Sounds fun! No net lag that way.

I totally get your concerns about cost. It is expensive to get in right now. And I'm not advocating dropping your Xbox and going Sony, just that it seems to be the value play of the moment for Blu. (Guitar Hero is available on PS3, Halo is not).

One of the issues pushing me toward the PS3 as a player was that the upgrades to the format were handled more smoothly than other players handled them. I imagine that if the Xbox 360 gets its rumored Blu-ray addon it will handle the updates just as well as the PS3.

My HDTV can accept a monitor cable directly from a PC or Mac so I can jack right in and get pixel-to-pixel resolutions to 1920x1080. The Mac works great as a media player. Actually, I don't find much use for Macs other than multimedia and goofing off on the net, but the PS3 can do media and surf the net too.

.:Magic1:.