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Blu-ray Holiday Buyers Guide

By brenden ⋅ December 17, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

The news-media predicted that this holiday season would be make-it-or-break-it time for the Blu-ray format. If the exceptional Black Friday player and record shattering Dark Knight disc sales are any indication, I think the format will be just fine into the coming year. December will see a lot of us picking up our first or second players, tons of accessories to make them work as we desire them and a veritable cornucopia of films and games. With all the noise surrounding the format at the moment, I thought it might be a good idea to compile a list of holiday recommendations based on personal experience, and friend, associate and professional reviews. Just as in the weekly column, a click on most items will shoot you to Amazon to learn more and where a purchase will help to support the site and these columns directly.

HARDWARE

The Best All-Round Blu-ray Player:

What can I say? I love this machine. The Playstation 3 has been the best investment I’ve made in tech in years. I use it on a daily basis - not just as a Blu-ray player but as the hub of all my digital media. The PS3 serves my projector video content from discs and files stored on an external HD as well as streamed live from my Macbook Pro. Audio and photos import flawlessly from iTunes and iPhoto respectively. Oh yeah, and this thing does video games! All in all, with the functionality and the ability to future-proof itself via constant firmware upgrades, I can’t recommend this machine highly enough. It might not be the cheapest way to get Blu-ray into your home. But in my opinion, it’s certainly the best way to experience it. ($399 USD)

The Best Balance of Price and Performance:

Panasonic DMP-BD35 - Priced significantly lower than a PS3 but featuring incredible picture quality and a very comprehensive feature set, this player is a winner no matter how you look at it. ($243 USD)

The Best Price With Reasonable Performance:

Samsung BD-P1500 and Sony BDP-S350 - Coming in at around $200 on sale, you won’t go wrong picking up one of these systems this holiday. Both sport great picture and sound options and enough features to allow you to get the most out of your Blu-rays for the money.

Best Home Theatre In A Box with Built in Blu-ray:

You say you want the full high-def, home theatre experience but don’t have any components yet? Then this “Home Theatre in a Box” from Samsung might be just the right thing to satisfy your inner cinephile. The HTS-BD2ST 7.1 goes all the way on the first date giving you Blu-ray 1080p video on your screen and 1100 watts of audio juice through 7.1 channels of sound. It’ll also upscale your old DVD collection, play MP3s and display your JPG photos. You provide the display and the HTS-BD2ST will bring the rest of the noise to the party. A great investment all round. ($850 USD)

HOME THEATRE ACCESSORIES:

You’ve got a PS3 but HATE using those darned game controllers to flip through a disc menu, right? Well hustle on out and pick up the PS3 Blu-ray Disc Remote Control. It’ll get you right back into feeling that you’re using a dedicated set-top box, like the old VHS players of yesteryear. Honestly though, it makes browsing special features a hell of a lot more pleasant than a game controller will allow. I can never quite remember what the ’square’ symbol button is supposed to do and it gets me into a lot of trouble. ($25)

You know you need them but they cost an arm and a leg. HDMI cables are a standard on all Blu-ray decks and not only pass the high-def video signals but contain the full, uncompressed audio streams to your receiver. Most vendors will have you paying a premium for one of these cables - sometimes upwards of $80 USD. I’m here to tell you that you can get a $10 HDMI cable and notice NO DIFFERENCE in performance. So buy cheap and laugh at your neighbours with the Monster brand cables and the giant hole in their wallets. These cables pass ones and zeros. Data. They either work or they don’t. There’s no in between.

Don’t have HDMI ports on your receiver? No sweat. Sony has got you covered with a nice, low cost PS3 branded Digital Optical Audio Cable. I’ve been using mine for over a year now and am endlessly impressed by what Sony has delivered for such a low price point. This thing is long, fabric-weave covered and unlike other optical cables I’ve had over the years, doesn’t feel fragile. Sounds great! ($24 USD)

FILMS ON BLU-RAY

The Best Films To Show Off Your Blu-ray System:

Do I even need to recommend this purchase? The Dark Knight Blu-ray disc is the system seller of the year. Everyone and their grandmother will be picking up a copy this holiday season. While the 35mm footage appears a bit soft and edge enhanced for my tastes, the IMAX shots will knock your guests out of their seats! Christopher Nolan’s post-modern superhero epic looks like a million bucks when it shifts into high gear and blasts away the widescreen black bars at the top and bottom of your display with the super-sharp, high detailed IMAX shots. Stunning and worth every penny. 

In addition to TDK, you can’t go wrong by picking up any or all of the below pictured films. Iron Man is a visual treat. Casino Royale has a near-perfect transfer (pick up the 2 disc Collectors Edition). All of the Pixar films, including the brilliant Wall-E are transfered digitally from the original files. The Police: Certifiable was filmed in HD over two nights in Buenos Aires last year during the the band’s reunion tour. It looks and sounds incredible. Baraka is this years Planet Earth - it will absolutely blow you away with it’s stunning, lush visuals. 

Great Films That Look and Sound Great:

This is a collection of the best that the format has to offer at the moment. All of these films are winners on their own but feature stunning transfers sure to please in their new Blu-ray disc incarnations.

        
• The Godfather - Newly restored and looking damn-near pristine in a box containing all 3 films with tons of extras.
• Casablanca (Ultimate Collectors Edition) - Sure, this box set ships with a ton of goo-gaas that nobody wants but the quality of this high-def transfer makes putting up with trinkets totally worth it!
• Persepolis - A fantastic animated film adapted from a fantastic graphic novel
• James Bond Box Sets - I popped my copy of Dr. No in the other night and was caught breathless. These films have never looked better! Each box contains 3 films. More to come this spring.
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind - So much film grain! This transfer is so clear you’re going to see the film for maybe the first time as it truly is. All 3 cuts are available on a single disc!
• Criterion Collection releases on Blu-ray - If Santa brings me anything this year, I hope its one of Criterion’s new Blu-rays: The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Third Man, Bottle Rocket and Chungking Express.
• Sleeping Beauty - Gorgeous presentation and more extras than you can shake a stick at. See classic Disney looking better than ever.
• Blade Runner - 5 cuts of the film including Ridley Scott’s Final Cut which damn near looks like it was shot last year. I can’t stop watching this.
• Tekkonkinkreet - Groundbreaking. Beautiful. Incredibly original. I hope I find this in my stocking!
• The Prestige - From the man who brought you The Dark Knight and starring Batman and Wolverine. Great film and a great transfer.

I’m not much of a gamer. I usually leave these kind of recommendations to Karl (and if he wants to chime in here, he’s more than welcome) but these seem to be the exclusive PS3 games on Blu-ray that made an impact this year. Karl’s been hooked on Little Big Planet since it came out, but it was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots that made him invest in the game/media system in the first place. We had the chance to play Resistance 2 a short while ago and it looked fantastic and played well. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm wins my award for game of the year, though. It’s a fighter that makes you feel like you’re controlling the characters in the animated series. This thing actually LOOKS like anime! Great game.

Tags: Best Films, Blu-ray, Guide, HDMI, Home Theatre, Optical Audio, Panasonic, PS3, Samsung, Sony, The Police