Blueray Bond
jp_beattie
Posts: 7MI6 Agent
I was hoping to upgrade to HD and blueray this christmas, and top of my list would be some of the Connery Bonds. Has anyone got these and are they worth getting? I've already got the entire library on first VHS then DVD!
Comments
My brother and I have all the Bond movies currently released on BluRay (Dr. No, FRWL, TB, LALD, FYEO, DAD, CR).
If you have a good hi-def TV, the bump in visual clarity, color depth and detail is astounding. As we watched the films, time and again my brother said it was like watching them for the first time (and we've owned them on every format imaginable - VHS, video disc, laser disc, DVD). You do get to see a lot more details (the chess match from FRWL comes to mind in this regard) and certain scenes that were dicey in prior versions (like the dawn raid on Kristatos' opium plant in FYEO) have been corrected. On the other hand, any shortcomings like poor optical work or even Connery's forearm tattoo showing thru the makeup are also highlighted. Closeups look fantastic and if you have a surround sound system, the films now offer a 5.1 surround sound track (TB's sound effects are really punchy).
In terms of extras, it's pretty much what was previously made available in the Ultimate Editions, so if you're looking for more exclusive material there isn't much to be had there.
If you do decide to go Blu, I'd suggest investing in one of Sony's players, either a PS3 or one of their dedicated models (the BDP-S350 is a good, affordable player). There have been lots of reports of the movies not working on certain BluRay players; most of those problems can be traced back to out of date firmware but for what its worth we've played all the films on both of the above models and they uniformly look and play great.
Hope that helps.