A few years ago we used to highlight some of the top DVDs that made your home cinema really look and sound like one. With Blu-ray in full swing, we thought it's high time to come up with a similar round-up of our favourite Blu-ray discs that will help show off your home theatre in all its glory.
The list was compiled with input from our editors, who look at a lot of content in their day-to-day testing of products. We've also been keeping an eye on AVS Forum's Blu-ray picture and audio quality threads and have always appreciated the site's "tier" rating system.
This list is not set in stone, and we'll be adding and removing discs as new ones come out. As always, feel free to make comments below and suggest your own personal favourites. They may get added to the list in the future.
Also: if you're someone who likes demoing your system and skipping around between scenes, you'll want a fast Blu-ray player. Right now, the fastest players we've tested are the Sony PlayStation 3 and the LG BD370.
We've also included links to each movie's page on IMDB if you want to find out more about a particular title. Please be aware that some of the following titles may not be available in Australia yet.
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2001: A Space Odyssey
While it was shot 30 years before HD was even invented, this is a beautiful disc to look at — thanks in part to a near-flawless transfer. The story is a bit bonkers, though.(Credit: Warner Bros.)
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Baraka
Baraka was shot in super high resolution and the transfer to Blu-ray is considered magnificent — a true reference-quality video.(Credit: Beyond Home Entertainment)
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Blade Runner
Blade Runner may not have the ultimate audio or video quality, but this newly remastered version is splendid compared with the poor original DVD. Better yet, this collection comes with every version of the movie ever released.(Credit: Warner Bros.)
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Casino Royale
We were considering the newer Quantum of Solace for our Bond pick — but Casino Royale is a much better movie.(Credit: Sony Pictures)
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The Dark Knight
Want some dark material to see how black the blacks are on your TV? Last year's mega-hit The Dark Knight is just the ticket. The sound's pretty impressive, too. Just don't be freaked out by the fact that the aspect ratio switches from letterbox (2.35:1) to full widescreen (1.85:1) to maintain the full resolution of the IMAX action scenes.(Credit: Warner Bros.)
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How the West was Won
The studios are bringing out more and more classics on Blu-ray and some of them look fantastic. We're highlighting the epic How the West was Won as our current pick in the oldie-but-goodie category. This US version has been meticulously restored, providing the best home video presentation of the movie seen to date. Even better, the package includes a separate "smilebox" version that approximates the original three-projector Cinerama version that originally debuted in theatres.(Credit: Warner Bros.)
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Iron Man
Iron Man gets higher marks for its sound than its picture quality, but it's an entertaining flick that's finding a spot in many a Blu-ray library.(Credit: Paramount)
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Die Hard 4.0
Bruce Willis is getting old — and high-definition doesn't help him — but luckily Live Free or Die Hard is more about the audio (it's reference quality).(Credit: Fox)
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Mad Men
We wanted to include a TV show and the retro-rrific Mad Men gets the call. Though you'll have to wait till June 09 to get it locally, Season One, and soon Season Two, are available from overseas.(Credit: Sony Pictures)
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No Country for Old Men
Flip a coin. Heads you get this, tails you get it, too.(Credit: Paramount)
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Critics loved the sound and video on all the Pirates movies, but this is the only one that has any replay value.(Credit: Walt Disney Studios)
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The Police: Certifiable
The Police: Certifiable is our current entry as a concert Blu-ray pick. It's a little hard to find — and not cheap — but if you're a Police fan, this Buenos Aires concert is nirvana.(Credit: Universal Music)
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Ratatouille
Just about any Pixar film looks great on Blu-ray, but Ratatouille truly offers reference-quality video.(Credit: Walt Disney Studios)
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Rescue Dawn
Didn't get enough of Christian Bale in The Dark Knight? He's actually much better in Rescue Dawn. Werner Herzog's POW drama is an intense — and great-looking — film.(Credit: Roadshow)
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Ronin
The Italian Job has some tight car chase scenes and it's a damn good test disc. But Ronin is a better movie — and has the better car chase — so it makes the list.(Credit: Fox)
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Sunshine
One of our audio reviewers, Steve Guttenberg, loves to use this disc in his surround-sound tests of speakers and A/V receivers. The film also has a lot of dark material to test your blacks on your HDTV. We just wish the second half of the movie was as gripping as the superior first half.(Credit: Fox)
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Transformers
We don't love the movie, but the picture and sound are top-notch.(Credit: Paramount)
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Tropic Thunder
We should have picked a couple more comedies, but we didn't. Tropic Thunder is it for this round.(Credit: Paramount)
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Wall-E
Horton Hears a Who, Happy Feet, and Kung Fu Panda look and sound great, but we went with Wall-E for our second animation pick.(Credit: Walt Disney Studios)
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Youth Without Youth
We could have put the Godfather I and II on the list, but Coppola gets a little love for his Youth Without Youth, which wasn't a hit — but got some attention from home-theatre buffs who like the movie and dig the reference quality video. Not yet available in Australia, but freely available overseas.Got a must-have Blu-ray that didn't make this list? Add your comments below.
(Credit: Roadshow)
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