Format for older movies.

[blueleo65]

Hello,

Off and on, I enjoy watching older movies from the the silent area up until the late 40's. I have always wondered, considering the age of some of these films, if it makes any difference if they are on DVD or Blu-Ray. And to be sure, I'm NOT thinking about "Gone With the Wind", but more like Black and White films, like say "Grand Hotel" with Greta Garbo. Would DVD technology be sufficient for these types of films?

Thanks.

Mike

[jagabo]

Anything shot of film potentially has more resolution than DVD, even more than Blu-ray. You would have to decide between DVD and Blu-ray on a case by case basis.

Grand Hotel was shot on 35mm film. So a Blu-ray release could have better image quality than a DVD release.

[blueleo65]

Thanks Jagabo,

I wasn't aware that Film has more resolution that DVD and Blu-ray. I wonder why you don't see more classics released on Blu-ray then. Learned something new.
thanks.

[jman98]

Thanks Jagabo,

I wasn't aware that Film has more resolution that DVD and Blu-ray. I wonder why you don't see more classics released on Blu-ray then. Learned something new.
thanks.

Studios have to feel that sales would be enough to justify the cost. Plus a lot of these old movies have defects and you get into the question of "Is it worth what it costs to clean it up? Because if we don't clean it up and we put out a damaged print, the negative publicity would be very bad". It's getting a little better as John Wayne's "The Big Trail", a 1930 widescreen film, was recently released on BluRay. Universal is releasing an expensive box set of their most famous monster movies in time for Halloween. Of all the Hollywood movies he made, Elvis has exactly TWO that have been released on BluRay so far. So that illustrates that some studios don't believe the market yet justifies the cost of putting films out in BluRay for some older material. If you wait eventually "Grand Hotel" will come out somewhere in BluRay. It was an Academy Award winner if I remember correctly. If so, eventually it will come out.

[AlanHK]

The quality of most older films isn't limited by the disc. A lot of DVDs of "classics" show scratches and other defects. Having it on Bluray wouldn't give you a better image, though I suppose that a film wouldn't be released on Bluray if it hadn't been restored enough to make it worthwhile.

But there are many beautifully restored films on DVD. Criterion for example has superb releases, on DVD as well as and recently Bluray. Get any of those in either format and you'll be amazed.