7 HD DVD Movies Worth Keeping
1) Children of Men (from the opening scene on, this film will have you glued to your seat, and the HD visuals only help to immerse you in the dystopian future.)
2) Casablanca (one of the best catalog titles available. Not heavy on the “Wow” factor, but it’s incredible to see how this film bests many of the High Def titles released today.)
3) Zodiac: Director’s Cut (one of 2007’s best films, and one that was shot entirely in HD. Excellent set of special features.)
4) Transformers (Great “Wow” Factor, Incredible Auditory Experience)
5) Hot Fuzz (Same as above)
6) The Bourne Trilogy (Enough said)
7) Eastern Promises (stirring and disturbing. Cronenberg continues to deliver and so does this disc.)
If you already own these titles on HD DVD, we see little reason to pick up the Blu-ray versions if and when they come out (Hey Warner, where are the classics on Blu-ray?)
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Their are way more then that, pretty much anything by Universal is a keeper just because of how dedicated they were 98% of the time.
The Thing, Shaun of the dead, Planet Earth, Willy Wonka and the Choclate factory, Star Trek, should be on the list in my opinion.
Yeah, this list does represent the best available on HD-DVD. If Universal wants to impress the bluray crowd. The above films need to be VERY high on the list.
In fact, I think they could get away with merely porting over the Bourne films and Hot Fuzz.
Yup, I have to agree. If you’ve got the discs and a player there really isn’t much reason to get rid of them and even less reason to replace them with Blu versions.
I REALLY REALLY hope Universal can pull off 100% ports (U-Control, menus and the like)of their HD DVD catalog to Blu-Ray. Well 110% because I’d like to see them up the ante with lossless audio. Anyone that’s struggled with a poorly executed BD interface will be in for a pleasant surprise.
It’s not even funny how biased this site is towards HDDVD. At least other sites try to be objective after the “format war” is over, but man, this site is with it’s pathetic name is still licking its wounds.
Eastern Promises and Bourne 3 are the only titles in the list with lossless audio. We have seen today that the Mummy movies will be DTS Master Audio - if the soundtracks are great on these titles, they all (except Casablanca) would benefit from a BD release with lossless audio.
@web - it sounds like U-control is also making it on the Mummy discs.
“if and when”?? No you guys aren’t melodramatic…
I agree with your point though, if you’ve got a working HDVD player and these discs, no point in unloading them and getting the BD of the same. Stellar discs all.
I’ve never seen such level headed comments between users, wasn’t expecting it at a site called “format war central.” Even though the war is over, debates still get pretty heated. It’s refreshing considering I just stumbled upon this site.
Anyways, I just wanted to add that these are all excellent movies and definite keepers. Seeing as I own them all on HD DVD as well as a player, the only way I’d double dip is if the Blu-Ray counterpart is noticibly better to warrent to extra cost. I am curious why the list was 7… most the times lists are divisible by 5 (10, 20, etc). Lastly and in my opinion, I would’ve added The Matrix (or trilogy even) since I’m not sure if WB has announced a release date for the Blu-Ray version. Of course, many Universal titles as someone mentioned above. As for Paramount, I’d say Star Trek: Season 1 - seeing as the remastered season 2 is DVD-only, this could be telling that it may be a while (season 3?) before we get Blu-Ray versions. Great list and great comments though! Thank you to both the site and its users, I’ll be sure to come back.
Mi,
Why hasn’t Warner released Casablanca on Blu-ray yet?
I would have to say Planet Earth is one that should be on that list, esp since it was running <$50 near the end (still is I believe), so why replace it with a higher priced Blu version now? Also; pretty much any HD DVD owned is not worth replacing with a Blu version unless you have disposable income, because truthfully the prices are not worth double double-dipping, just to keep up with a format. I would say it safe to assess the titles leaving HD & making the rounds will only sell to those who either didn’t buy a HD player, or just passed on buying movies until the war was over.
Tyler: It is
I want a release date ;)
It was out for a really long time, unless their is a re release.
Casablanca was only released on HD DVD.
No clue. I think some of them they were waiting for profile 2.0 weren’t they?
Children of Men has been out on Blu-Ray in Scandinavia since Nov 2007. I agreen it’s on of last years best films. Don’t have the Blu-Ray version though because local versions of HD films are about 50$ in Denmark.
WTF?!?!
Batman Begins didn’t make the list??!!
What a shame.
I have no idea how I’ve managed to have not seen Hot Fuzz yet. I gotta just make it show up here and convince the wife we have to see it :P