Editors' note: Updated on November 23, 2009.
A few years ago, we used to do a feature highlighting some of the top DVDs that made your home theater really look and sound like one. Well, with Blu-ray in full swing, we thought it high time to come up with a similar roundup of our favorite Blu-ray Discs that will help show off your home theater in all its glory.
While my face is at the top of the column, the list was compiled with input from editors John Falcone, Matthew Moskovciak, and David Katzmaier, who look at a lot of content in their day-to-day testing of products. We also keep an eye on AVS Forum's Blu-ray picture- and audio-quality threads and have always appreciated the site's "tier" rating system.
This list is not set in stone, and we'll be adding and removing discs as new ones come out. As always, feel free to make comments and suggest your own personal favorites. They may get added to the list in the future.
Also: If you're someone who likes demoing your system and skipping around between scenes, you'll want a fast Blu-ray player. Right now, the fastest players we've tested are the LG BD390, Sony PlayStation 3, and the Samsung BD-P3600. Though not quite as fast as its step-up sibling, the Samsung BDP-1600 is among the fastest sub-$300 players we've tested. (See CNET's full list of best Blu-ray players.)
Click any of the images below to start the slideshow.
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Critics of Blu-ray often talk about how expensive the discs are, but in recent weeks, a growing number of Blu-ray movies have become more affordable, with several dipping below the $15 price point and some even slipping in at $9.99 on Amazon.
Cheap is popular these days and, not surprisingly, a lot of these bargain-price titles end up on the bestsellers list on Amazon. But when it comes to owning discs, most people have become pretty discerning, and don't just buy anything because it's cheap. With that in mind, we've culled down the list of bargain titles and selected 15 we think are worth owning.
As always, it's important to mention that taste is subjective, and if you don't like our picks, call us out and make your own suggestions in the comments section. If you're persuasive enough, we'll edit the list and swap in new titles. And as new budget Blu-rays come out, we'll also update the list. (Note: The discs on the list all were priced at less than $15 on Amazon at the time of this writing. Naturally, those prices are subject to change.)
For reference, here are the discs we considered but ultimately didn't include this round: "Bullitt," "Unforgiven," "Beetlejuice," "V for Vendetta," "Swordfish," "A Clockwork Orange," "I am Legend," "Fugitive," "The Road Warrior," "The Dirty Dozen," "Enter the Dragon," "Risky Business," "Dirty Dancing," "The New World," "Top Gun," and "Being There."
Click on any image to view the movies we did pick.
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One of the reasons people like to give for not buying a Blu-ray player is that there just aren't that many Blu-ray discs out there and that a lot of great movies haven't come out on Blu-ray. That's not totally true. There are a lot of movies out on Blu-ray--over 2,000, in fact--and more are being released every month, including "Gladiator" and "Braveheart" in September and the "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" in November.
That said, plenty of movies have yet to be given the Blu-ray treatment. A good portion of those movies are bad or inconsequential, and you probably don't care whether they make it to Blu-ray or not (or they're fine on DVD). But we're concerned about the good stuff that's not available, which is why I've put together this list of key movies that aren't out yet on Blu-ray.
To be sure, some of you may take issue with my picks. And I probably missed a few that should have made the list. But like I do with my Top 25 must-have Blu-rays list, feel free to express your opinions and if you have a legitimate case, I will gladly update the list with new picks.
Click on any image to start the slideshow see the picks. The movies are listed in alphabetical order, and we didn't include any TV shows. (Note: there's a link on the last slide that will return you to this article to post or read comments).
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Laptop Hunter Sheila finds fault with the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
(Credit: Microsoft)As we all know, Microsoft has been running its Laptop Hunters series of ads knocking Apple for the high price of its laptops and the features you get for the money. Our laptop editor, Dan Ackerman, regularly gives high marks to Apple's wares, and the company's 13-inch MacBook sits at the top of our Best 5 laptops list. In short, we're pretty happy with what Apple has to offer. But as good as its laptops are, Windows-based PCs do have a few leading-edge features not found in MacBooks.
Here's the list we came up with:
- Blu-ray: Whether you think it's a worthwhile feature or not, no Macs currently offer a Blu-ray drive. Last year, Steve Jobs referred to Blu-ray and its licensing process as a "bag of hurt," but recent rumors suggest that Apple may make a Blu-ray announcement at its World Wide Developers Conference next month. We'll have to wait and see whether it applies to notebooks.
- Memory card slots: In our book, being able to toss a memory card from your digital camera or camcorder into your notebook is a big convenience. We're seeing this on more Windows machines and it should be a standard feature across all laptops.
- HDMI out: Apple has gone with a Mini DisplayPort, which doesn't carry sound, instead of standard HDMI. (A Mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter is available for about $20, but that's just another thing you have to carry around). Premium notebooks should feature an HDMI port so you can easily connect to an HDTV sans adapter.
- Biometric security: This is better known as fingerprint recognition. The ThinkPad I'm typing this on has built-in biometric security. No Macs offer this feature.
- WWAN mobile broadband support: A handful but growing number of Windows machines offer built-in connectivity to cellular data networks (naturally, there's a fee involved for service). AT&T and Verizon are offering discounted Netbooks with built-in high-speed data connectivity as those companies try to apply the cell phone model to laptops.
- More USB ports: This one is definitely at the bottom of the list, but it's worth mentioning that many Windows notebooks now come with three USB ports. The MacBook and MacBook Pro only have two, and the Macbook Air only has one. This can become an issue if you opt to use one of the USB ports for a cellular data accessory (no new Macs have a PC card slot, though MacBook Pros do offer the newer and arguably superior ExpressCard slot).
Is success in the cards? The Dark Knight Blu-ray sold 600,000 copies on launch day.
(Credit: Warner Bros.)I've been seeing a lot of articles lately about Blu-ray's fuzzy future, how it's doomed, and how its success will be short-lived even if it does take off. Well, that may well end up being the case, but I gotta say, from where I'm sitting, there's a far greater probability that Blu-ray will do just fine--for a long time. And I'm not saying that because I'm a fanboy or a shill for Sony. I'm saying it because a lot of simple market factors point toward it doing just fine. Here are nine reasons why I'm right.
1. Digital downloads will not eliminate the need for discs anytime soon.
Let's address this first since this is the biggest factor that people cite when trumpeting Blu-ray's defeat. If you haven't noticed, here at CNET we spend a good amount of time covering new streaming video platforms and services and really enjoy testing these new products. Everything from Hulu to Netflix streaming video to Slingbox to Apple TV to Vudu all show promise. That said, all these products have some limiting factors, including lack of content selection, pricing hurdles, and most particularly, bandwidth issues, which affect video and audio quality.
... Read MoreWe've been keeping an eye on prices for Blu-ray players and it appears that a handful of budget-brand models are starting to crack the $150 barrier. The other day Woot.com had the Memorex MVBD2510 player at $139.99 for a one-day sale and now TheNerds.net is selling it for $146.99 (shipping included) and Buy.com has it at $149.99. That's on top of both the Samsung BD-P1500 and the Sony BDP-S300 slipping in and out of sub-$200 territory at Amazon and other outlets.
The Wall-E Blu-ray costs $10 more than the DVD: Is that too big a premium in a tight economy?
(Credit: Amazon)While $150 isn't bad, I think we're going to see $99 fairly soon, with a couple of stops at $129.99. As we found out with HD-DVD players, $99 really is a magic price point, though it is worth pointing out that these budget Blu-ray players are only profile 1.1, while the $99 HD DVD players were fully up to spec and allowed for firmware upgrades via Ethernet (the cheap Blu-ray players can't be updated and sometimes simply can't play certain movies). Profile 1.1 players aren't BD-Live enabled, which means you won't be able to access certain interactive features--for better or worse.
BD-Live issues aside, I'm betting we'll see $99 for a Blu-ray player inside of four months, if not sooner, the way the economy is going. We can debate exactly when it will happen (feel free to comment), but in the near future the initiation fee for entering Club Blu-ray will be relatively negligible--or at least not a serious stumbling block.
That said, the bigger problem is prices for Blu-ray movies compared to DVDs. For example, if you take a look at Wall-E, which currently sits atop Amazon's Blu-ray bestseller list, it costs $24.95 versus $14.99 for the DVD. Granted, the Blu-ray version comes with three discs (there's a two-disc version for 50 cents less, but why bother?) and the DVD is only a single disc. The fact is the majority of blue-chip Blu-ray titles cost around $25, with some, like Iron Man, coming in at $20. (It's also worth noting that you don't get the free shipping on Amazon on anything less than $25, which makes you understand the price has been set where it is for a reason).
I realize that manufacturers, retail outlets, and studios want to preserve margins as long as they can and they've made an effort to present Blu-ray as a premium format that deserves to be marked up. But asking people to pay 50-75 percent extra when everybody's cutting back already is going to crimp sales of both Discs and players.
The smart people are opting to rent rather than buy (Netflix charges an extra buck for Blu-ray rentals, but it's still a good deal, especially when you consider you get its free movie streaming service thrown in). That said, I know folks who say they'll only consider switching to Blu-ray when players are $99 and the price gap between DVD and Blu-ray movies is minimal. Of course, others will never switch, preferring instead to download zero-cost illegal pirated flicks or stream legal free content from Hulu, Netflix, and others.
What do you guys think? At what point is Blu-ray really going to take off (if ever)? Is one of these stripped-down, cheap players worth buying? And are Discs too expensive?
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