An Addition to the Catalog Reviews

[ckybd]

It's obvious that new releases aside, most fans buying up catalog titles on Blu-Ray already own the standard DVD of the same title, which often the Blu-Ray itself is an exact replica (same box-art, same extras, etc) only difference being the upgraded picture and audio.

To some this is enough. To most, they need assurances that it's worth the extra $$$ to purchase the Blu-Ray version for $20-$30, instead of keeping their already owned or just purchased DVD version from the $5.00 bin.

It is my suggestion that IF a catalog title is already available on DVD and is just released on Blu-Ray for the first time, that a quick compare be made to the standard DVD (nothing major, a few key scenes compared would be enough I'm sure), just enough to be able to post how substantial the picture and audio upgrades are. The findings of this comparison should then be rated from one to five stars. One being the lowest obviously (stating that the upgrade is not worth the purchase), five being the highest (stating that the upgrade is superb and highly worth the money to upgrade).

A side note could also be made in the review itself. For example, if the upgrade quality is mediocre (2 stars), maybe a brief explanation that while the upgrade is not substantial enough to warrant a $30 upgrade, but may well be worth considering in the future if you can find it for around $15 to $20

[ben1080p]

agreed 100%. Were need in this!

[PIHB]

i would say if the SDVD is available then it would be no harm, but that would take more time and money, and its pretty much guaranteed that the blu ray will surpass dvd even if its by just a little bit

[dmarvin]

Problem is, they would have to have the SD-DVD in hand at the time of the review and those are NOT included as free review copies when the Blu-ray review copies are provided. This means the reviewer would have to rent or buy the SD-DVD. I don't think it's fair to ask that of them (it would also mean reviews would take longer to get to us due to the added time spent). There are sites like DVD Beaver that already exist solely for this type of review. If you know where to look, you can find screen cap comparisons for a lot of titles. AQ and PQ scores do the trick for me -- I sold most of my SD-DVD's already.

[ben1080p]

So do the reviewers get to keep the discs?

[Blu-News.com]

Originally Posted by ben1080p

So do the reviewers get to keep the discs?

In almost ALL occasions, yes.

[Arkadin]

imo this is something that would certainly be great to have, but as a forum members deal. the reviewers simply don't have all the sd discs, and I'm afraid would have little interest in dealing with this. I own so many of the sd versions--just like many others--and have thought about starting a screencap thread showing comparison pics. That would even be better to have even though screen caps have to be taken with a grain of salt also. One idea would be to incorporate this sd comparison feature into the Blu-Ray tier thread as links.
Also, people will have to be vigilant about including the EXACT sd version info since we all know there are MANY sd versions available of many of these titles.