Blu Ray discs with crappy transfers...

[Ultimate Lurker]

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/

They give great reviews on quality of transfer, sound, etc.

Fifth Element had all kinds of issues in its first HD release.

[Fygar]

I thought Silence of the Lambs was pretty weak.

[snuffy]

As sad as it is to say, Chuck Season 1 Blu-ray, was an absolute disaster.
The Buy More scenes in particular look like shit.

Really sad for such an awesome show...

[BenC (formerly Ape-X)]

Sorry Cth, maybe it was Doug's comments about 28 Days Later. I was watching Goodfellas the other day and thought the transfer was pretty good but seeing how I'm still new to blu ray, it reminded me of a few comments about crap quality.

[ERNIE_E]

The purpose of high definition is to preserve the director's intended look of the film. If there is intended grainy looks, then you will see it in high definition.

Now there's a difference between that and just plain laziness of cleaning up an image as well.

For example, take 300 for example. A gritty and grainy film. High definition isn't going to give you another wordly experience visually, but it is taken on another level on an audio level.

Lots of films have an upgraded look, but if it was meant to be grainy, and the director wants it to look that way, then it's likely always going to be that way until he changes their mind. This is not an excuse for those films that just go the easy way out and transfer the Standard Def DVD transfer to high def.

It's easier to see what's intended and what's not on newer films, but catalog films, like say Do The Right Thing get noticeably improved, but others like Ong Bak 1, do not. And you just have to buy things to see if it's been improved or not. Usually if there's a re-release, or anniversary release, there's a good chance there's improvement, but no guarantee.

It all depends on what the studio is willing to spend to master a catalog film for high def.

[BenC (formerly Ape-X)]

I see what you're saying Ernie. And I'm all for seeing the movie the way the director shot it and envisioned it. But I also don't wanna play 30 bucks for a blu-ray if the picture quality is nearly the same as the dvd.

I also tend to believe that the cheaper the disc (usually) the crappier the transfer. I have an cheap-o $7 version The Godfather (dvd) that is just ass-tastic. Grainy as hell. And I don't know if it's the fact that I am becoming more accustomed to HD but I tried to watch my (first release) dvd of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and it was fugly!

SIDE NOTE: You ever try watching something on an uncalibrated 1080 HDTV? A friend of ours bought a 48" hdtv and had us over to watch The Sound of Music. She was so proud of her new, huge, tv...but the movie looked TERRIBLE! It was that weird, overly-sharp, smoothed out image that made everything look like a filmed stage-play from the 70's. I don't know, that's the only real way I can think to describe it. It's just 'off'. The wife and I tried to watch a (later version) of The Fifth Element (blu ray) on the new tv right out of the box, hoping that the 'movie mode' preset would be good enough. We were wrong. It made the digital effects look awful. I knew the movie was 10 years old but didn't think it would look *that* dated. Yeesh!

[GabeJa]

French Connection was pretty weak

[CapnChaos]

I've heard the Evil Dead II transfer is nothing more than the exact same transfer that was on the DVD. Which isn't necessarily a problem unless you think you're upgrading and you might as well hold onto your old copy.

[Blastbeat Science]

I haven't had mine calibrated yet (well besides using Digital Video Essential; that only goes so far), but usually the problem people have is setting their HDTV on Vivid mode or some other mode that makes it really bright and washed out.

[justjeffery]

A Knights Tale comes to mind, as does Spaceballs. Those are the only two that Ive purchased that come to mind...

On the other side of the same coin.. I cant watch Mirrormask because its TOO perfect. The blurred edges stand out so much against the crispness of the picture that my eyes have a hard time focusing. Its actually painfull to watch.