# Suggestions for high quality blu ray discs



## Pfjim (Jun 8, 2011)

Would anyone suggest one or two of your favorite blu ray discs that you have used to set up and calibrate your HTS? I am interested in both excellent quality soundtrack and video. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. I am grateful.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The ones that come to mind are:
Transformers DOTM
The Avengers
Super 8
Prometheus


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## 86eldel68-deactivated (Nov 30, 2010)

In no particular order:
- The Incredible Hulk
- The Police: Certifiable
- The Dark Knight
- Tron: Legacy
- Iron Man


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

A few others to consider:


Act of valor

Pretty much any of the Pixar movies... The Incredibles is one that comes to mind


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## Pfjim (Jun 8, 2011)

Thanks for your suggestions and help.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Hmm,
Avatar
Blade Runner
The Dark Knight
Planet Earth
North by Northwest
The Incredibles
and hopefully The Lord of the Rings: Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition)


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## smurphy522 (Sep 21, 2010)

Aeon Flux
Master and Commander


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

If you're looking for some really slick looking video... check out the The Criterion Collection's release of The Game.:T

Beautiful film to watch (audio is pretty good too!)


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## bluemax_1 (Feb 14, 2011)

Pfjim said:


> Would anyone suggest one or two of your favorite blu ray discs that you have used to *set up and calibrate your HTS*? I am interested in both excellent quality soundtrack and video. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. I am grateful.


- Spears And Munsil High Definition Benchmark
- Digital Video Essentials HD Basics
- Disney's WOW World Of Wonder

If you want to use a disc to calibrate your HTS, use a calibration disc. Obviously, the best way to calibrate the system would be to either get proper video calibration equipment (Calman, Chromapure etc. plus a good meter like the new i1 Display Pro) and audio measurement/calibration equipment like REW or an automated Room EQ like Audyssey MultEQ XT32 and familiarize yourself with how to use them properly. Or you could hire a professional calibrator who has all the necessary equipment AND the know-how to fully calibrate your setup.

In lieu of those though, use a calibration disc as that will get you a better general ballpark than using a bunch of movies.

Let me give you some examples of why using movies to calibrate a setup is not ideal:
Take the Matrix Trilogy movies for instance. Nice black levels and great visuals, but the director intentionally used different hues for different reasons. When the characters were in the Matrix, everything had a greenish cast/hue to depict that they were in the Matrix (a holdover from the old days when computers had the monochrome green screen), and when they were in the real world, the director used a bluish cast/hue to emphasize that the world was a cold desolate place. If someone tried calibrating their video by eye using something like this, how do you know what is right?

A LOT of movies use color timing to create a mood. Sometimes they even change the color timing in re-issues of movies. The Matrix Trilogy is a perfect example. The original Matrix movie had slightly different color timing. In later releases, they altered the color timing of the first Matrix movie to closer match the 2nd and 3rd which emphasized the green and blue hues more.

The Lord Of The Rings releases also received altered color timing in the Extended Edition releases.

Some movies use a yellowish, warm cast to emphasize heat/desert/isolation etc. Some use a bluish cast to emphasize cold etc. Many newer movies have a greenish cast for whatever reason.

Likewise, you can't use subjective judgement on how an audio soundtrack sounds to properly *calibrate* an audio system, anymore than you could use your arbitrary judgement on what feels appropriate to calibrate a weight scale.

A proper calibration ensures that when a specific signal is encoded on a disc, read off it and then played back in your system, the resultant playback is as close to the original content as possible.

When you watch a movie and see the image and hear the sounds
- Should you be able to see wrinkles and folds in that black cloak? Or is it supposed to look like a formless black mass?
- Is the actor's face supposed to look like that? Is it supposed to be paler? Darker?
- Why does everything look a little green? Was that the director's intent? Maybe it's not supposed to be that green? Maybe it's actually supposed to be greener?
- Is that red shirt really that exact color? Maybe it's supposed to be more of a crimson red? Maybe it's more of an orangish red?
- Is the 60Hz droning of the airplane engine supposed to be that loud in that shot inside the cabin? Is it supposed to drown out their voices like that? maybe it's supposed to be softer? Maybe it's supposed to be louder?
- Why does her voice sound so sibilant? Is it just the way her voice is? Or maybe there's an unintentional peak/boost in the 5kHz region?

With a properly calibrated setup, you know that you'll be seeing and hearing what was recorded as it was intended. With an uncalibrated setup you never know. Calibrating it with a bunch of movies will result in never knowing if the next movie should look and sound the way it does.


Now having said that, AFTER a decent calibration (either by a professional, or with proper measurement and calibration equipment, or failing which, as I said, your lowest cost option to get you in the ballpark is a calibration disc for video at least), here are some movies that you can enjoy in your setup

- Tron:Legacy (not the greatest acting or award-winning storyline, but incredible visuals and soundtrack)
- Avengers (Great visuals. Great soundtrack even though it's filtered below 30Hz. Entertaining)
- Across The Universe (if you're a Beatles fan, give this one a spin. Available very cheap these days)
- The Art Of Flight (Snowsports documentary with amazing/stunning no CGI visuals and great audio too)


Max


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## leona.mccauley (Oct 17, 2012)

Avatar & Blade Runner are something that I would love to watch.


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## JBrax (Oct 13, 2011)

27dnast said:


> If you're looking for some really slick looking video... check out the The Criterion Collection's release of The Game.:T
> 
> Beautiful film to watch (audio is pretty good too!)


Awesome movie as well.


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## Pfjim (Jun 8, 2011)

To all who have given great suggestions and help, many thanks! As a newbie, I have learned more from all of you than from many other places online. Should have started here first!


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

One more...

Hanna


Great looking film... tons of shadow detail... dark scenes and light scenes... beautiful movie. And if you are looking to give your system a LFE workout... lookout... the pulsating and throbbing Chemical Brothers soundtrack will melt your house:hsd:.

great film, too


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## JBrax (Oct 13, 2011)

I always seem to forget about this one but The Art of Flight is outstanding for demo material. Stunning images and absolutely rocking soundtrack.


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## rshetts (Feb 14, 2011)

Avatar and The Dark Knight are two of my go to blu rays if I want to WOW someone. If you want truly impressive, try Planet Earth. The blu ray version of the BBC series is visually stunning and the sound track is brilliant. I cant recommend calibrating your system off a movie but once calibrated, these are great ways to show off your set up.


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## Pfjim (Jun 8, 2011)

Thanks to all. I did take the advice from Bluemax_1 and get the Spears and Munsil blu ray. My future son in law is a Georgia Tech grad and one of his brilliant frineds who has a knack and skills helped me perform all the functions. TV is brilliant and I have gotten several of the discs several of you have suggested and you are all right! Thanks so very much for all your help. I am thankful to each of you!


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## bluemax_1 (Feb 14, 2011)

Glad that helped. It's always great to start with a known reference. From there you can then enjoy everything else. I recall attempting to 'eyeball' calibrate my first HD projectors nearly a decade ago by using movies that I felt looked great. As you can imagine, it didn't work out too well. When I finally gave in and acquired calibration equipment, I found out how laughable my initial attempts were.

Since then I've used calibration discs with and without measurement equipment and found that I can eyeball calibrate a display at least fairly decently with just the calibration disc. Of course, fine tuning it with proper equipment is best, but the calibration discs got me much closer than trying to use movies.


Max


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