Read part two for the second half of the top ten titles.
Ahh, remember the old days when no one wanted to switch to DVD from the trusty VHS format? People were dead set against it and it looked grim for a little while—players were expensive, the movies more so. Then a little console that could, the PlayStation 2, burst onto the scene and became an affordable DVD player for the masses on top of being a very capable video game console.
The PlayStation 2 was a factor in the rise of DVD as a valid successor to VHS for movies in our households; by March, 2002 there were nearly 30 million PS2s in peoples' homes and many of them were used as DVD players. Fast forward to a couple of years ago and the announcement that two competing high definition formats where vying to replace DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD. Both camps had their major supporters, but the big trump card was to be the PlayStation 3 and its integrated Blu-ray player. Sony had done it before and they were banking on doing it again. Sony was so serious about introducing Blu-ray to the world they were taking a nearly 400 dollar per console loss just to integrate the player and all the features they wanted the PS3 to deliver.
Things did not go as planned by Sony in the end. They had a launch that left much to be desired; Microsoft and their Xbox 360 had a year's head start and the runaway hit console, the Nintendo Wii, outsold everyone. The end result was that after a year only about 8 million PS3s were sold compared to 19+ million PS2s in its first full year and that means a lot less penetration into the home for its high definition video format.
During the past year there were many announcements that swayed people one way or another from porn studios siding with HD DVD to Blockbuster only renting out DVDs and Blu-rays, but midway through the year an announcement seemed to spell doom for the Blu-ray format. Paramount/Universal studios declared a limited term (18 months) HD DVD-only deal with one caveat: any Steven Spielberg movies could be distributed however Spielberg chose to distribute them. All of a sudden the tide was turned and HD DVD started regaining momentum and the format war was once again in full swing.
Months later at this year's CES, a huge format-related announcement was made. Warner Brothers and its companies (HBO, New Line, and BBC) were going Blu-ray exclusively. This was a tide-turning blow to the HD DVD camp, causing them to cancel their press conference and the world to start announcing that the war was over and Blu-ray had won. We have seen since then many publications (both mainstream and casual) announcing that Blu-ray is the winner of the format war. Toshiba is standing firm with their single exclusive studio and seems content to drag out the final months, but it is looking all but certain that Blu-ray is the format that will be the successor to DVD.
![Underworld (Unrated) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vaUtgGLnL._SL120_.jpg)
![The Fifth Element (Remastered) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517PoG17%2BuL._SL120_.jpg)
![Sunshine [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51r0GZfxl5L._SL120_.jpg)
![Troy - The Director's Cut [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5129dbIr8IL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - bananar
Hay, great little write up, very knowledgable. Good eye too... I also noticed how nice the film grain looks in Fifth Element (only movie I have in this list). In some transfers film-grain is ruined by bit-starving, but it's nice and defined here with the AVC encode averaging in the high twenties.
Looking forward to the next part, and Ratatouille better be in there. ;) The "Lifted" short film on that disc has the cleanest, sharpest image I've seen on my tv.
2 - Rack 'em
This is the worst list of movies i've ever seen! The only movies good on this list are Spider-man and Pirates of the Caribbean and you said Spider-man 3 was the worst of the trilogy!? It may not be the best but not the worst! I don't care how good all those other movies look or sound, if they suck who wants to watch them? You need to go buy some new movies, seriously! If you think those sorry movies are good you need to get Iron Man. It looks better than any of those movies and its not agonizing the movies on your list. You'll probably piss your self! Lol!
3 - Michael Prince
I agree about Iron Man, I now own it, but this list was created before Iron Man even came out in the theatres. As to the movies picked for this list I mentioned in the first part of the article that I was picking movies that show off the wow factor the Blu-ray format can deliver.
Immersive audio, drop dead visuals, tons of extras are what I was looking at as well as a great movie. Oh and if you are saying Blade Runner, 2001 and Close Encounters are not good movies, then you have probably never watched them.
4 - Chris Gibbs
The Polar Express is a must own for any Blue Ray owner. I bought it this past weekend and it has one of the best pitures I've ever seen. Ever detail is given and the movie is not itself is not bad either.
5 - Clark
The Dark Knight (Batman II) must surely top all Blu-ray discs. It's actually cheating a bit. Not only are you getting Blu-ray, but the image owes a huge part of it's purity to the movie's acquisition on IMAX film, rather than 35mm. The IMAX-filmed sequences are unbelievably beautiful. While that is this BD's strength, it is also the weakness of this movie. It is extremely annoying to watch a movie as it switches aspect ratios from scene to scene. Letterboxed 2.35:1 in one shot and 16:9 widescreen in the next. Rather than shooting anamorphic or super-35, the non-IMAX scenes should have been shot in regular 35mm to at least keep a constant aspect ratio throughout the film.
Anyway, check out the IMAX scenes!! You'll rarely see anything so beautiful (unless they make more IMAX cameras and filmmakers start shooting every film with it).
6 - bingo prime
Hey man. Props for including Sunshine, a fantastic and underrated film.
I would include Apocalypto on this list. Shot on HD video, the picture quality is absolutely amazing.