Rip off on Blu-ray ?

[admin_exported]

I have become, but am probably not the first, the victim of IMBIOB (I Must Buy It On Blu-ray) syndrome.

I have just purchased 'ABBA - The Movie' on Blu-ray. Now before a chorus of 'serves you right you sad old git' rings out, I should point out in my defence that it was under £15 from Amazon and so I thought it a fairly cheap way to add to my tiny Blu-ray library plus experience pop concert 5:1 surround for the first time.

Big mistake. Apart from the picture quality being no better than what a standard def. would look like through a good dvd player,(the movie is 1080i HD widescreen 16:9 and special features 480i standard def 4:3 .....WOW !), the much anticipated surround sound never happened. The audio track is LPCM 5:1 Surround Sound which my PS3 does recognise but me and my Sony Dav-is10 do not. Where was Dolby when all of this was going on?.

Far be it for me to become a cynic, but is it possible that manufacturers could start jumping on the bandwaggon and start issuing all their back catalogues on Blu-ray for premium prices but without any quality gain? The 'Harold Lloyd Definitive Collection' perhaps?

Ironically, my Legends Of Jazz Showcase Blu-ray does not play at all. Any suggestions?

I wonder if the same thing is happening in the HD DVD camp. Be very warned. The self same ABBA movie on HD DVD is £48 (Amazon)!!

 

[Clare Newsome]

Sadly, I'm sure there's all sorts of sh**e coming our way on both formats - we've been discussing at work at the difference between the quality previews we were shown before the HD formats came out (Laurence of Arabia etc) and the reality (every Nicolas Cage film, it seems) so far.

However, we are starting to see some fabulous HD discs - which we flag up in our Sound Advice TV and home cinema pages every issue. The new Harry Potter looks/sounds amazing, for example, while Master and Commander is simply stupendous. And Casino Royale is a treat (not just because of my Daniel Craig fixation).

I'm certainly not planning to give up buying DVDs for a good while yet, however!

PS I suspect your Legend of Jazz Showcase Blu-ray is a US Blu-ray disc, not a UK one, so your region-coded PS3 isn't playing ball.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I quite forgot about Master and Commander. The film looks great even in boring old SD !

From earlier posts, although Hi-def dvds are theoretically region A,B or C, that region coding has as yet to be introduced. In fact Amazon have Legends of Jazz specified under region as 'All Regions'. All my other Blu-ray discs play without problems on my PS3.

P.S. Daniel Craig was so miscast. The role was crying out for Ricky Gervais.

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="david1997"]
crying out for Ricky Gervais.

[/quote]

Y'see, I would have said Lee Evans...

 

[Anonymous]

...or Alan Carr ?

Legends of Jazz mystery solved, thanks to an earlier posting and www.dvdworldusa.com who helpfully provide a list of what Blu-ray discs play where. I've just got to do a swapsy with the publisher.

Thanks anyway

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="david1997"]...or Alan Carr ?[/quote]

Spooky - almost typed Alan Carr, having heard him on Radio 2 yesterday morning in the car, but thought 'No, too silly...'