My 1080p projector will be arriving tomorrow and I want to pick up a couple BD movies to see what it can do. What movies are considered "reference" for picture and for audio? From my search I see a lot of thumbs up for 3:10 to Yuma, Pirates of the Carib.: Dead Man's Chest, & Blade Runner (Collector's Ed). Anything else that will really show off what BD at it's best?

Also I haven't come across a lot movies with 7.1 audio tracks. What's up with that?

May I suggest a little something from last year called '300'?



More here: [www.blu-ray.com]
Can't really lose with Pixar, either - Cars, etc.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2008 05:40PM by miK..

I can't agree with Pixar --- there's no human-experience reference to a cartoon image and so they tend to look good on any TV.

Pick up a home theater magazine. They usually review discs and comment on the picture quality. Just like with DVDs, it's the transfer that's key here.

Ranked roughly in descending order of picture quality:

[www.avsforum.com]

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It is what it is.

AVS is always a good starting point, but isn't always spot on, a lot depends on your preference and hardware.

Ratatouille is the best I have come across, it is lush in every respect. Besides animated features which are all generally very good, for full immersion Apocalypto is wonderful, disturbing and graphic, it was a little bit too good and disturbing that the mrs couldn't bear to watch it twice. Sunshine is another that blew me away, besides the gorgeous cinematography the sound design almost gave the impression someone was searching for the brown note. 2001 also has a wonderful transfer and shakes the walls when cranked up, talking of which, Black Hawk Down is without a doubt the loudest and is guaranteed to piss off the neighbors. Finally, I think Pan's Labyrinth deserves a mention, in my mind it is movies like this that Blu-ray really shows it's worth.

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I would put in a plug for the die hard movie. Very intense sound effects and will test your audio system as well as the video. Plus, it is a fun movie to watch.