Hi-Def Upgraditis

[Morbii]

and hi-def is essentially offering "only" improved picture quality

The sound quality can actually be quite dramatic as well (probably moreso than the visuals at times - there's now DD+, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD/Master Audio, and Uncompressed PCM).

[planetjake]

Simply put, the day that Criterion reissues by Brakhage in Blu-Ray is the day that I will upgrade.

Other than that, I think I'll have to decide on a film by film basis. Obviously, I don't need to own a Blu-Ray copy of every Monty Python episode, but I'd cough up the dough for something like Kenneth Anger Vol. 1 & 2...

[planetjake]

Simply put, the day that Criterion reissues by Brakhage in Blu-Ray is the day that I will upgrade.

Funny I was thinking just that while watching the climax of 2001 on HD. The encode does such a good job with the "Trip" fx and kaleidoscopic shots I was thinking of Brakhage and Hollis Frampton. The medium would seem to have enough bandwidth to handle virtually frame by frame detail in many instances.
Vis a vis the Angers, although everything except Rabbit's Moon was shot on 16mm the differences might not be so immediately striking but it would certainly enable natural film grain to coexist with fine detail and color saturation without bleeding, etc. (Although the new Fantomas do a wonderful job with these prints, for DVD.)

Agreed on Fantomas...

Additionally,
I was lucky enough to be within stalking distance of Michael Snow when he presented some films in Chicago this last year. He was explaining to a group of students why his work wasn't on DVD: "Inadequate resolution..."
I wonder if HD will cause him and other film artists like him to come around... Can you image La Region Centrale in HD?!?!?!

[miless]

my biggest peeve might be those shitty cases. I hate how they look (they look like those disposable tupper-ware containers, to me). I know it's all about the image quality of the films, but give me a digipak.

[Luke M]

I wanted to comment on the opinion that something is lost when watching a film in High Definition. I don't feel that way at all. High Definition just brings you closer to what you are supposed to be seeing. If you are to complain about the lack of grain or lack of film like quality a motion picture has then your complaint is directed at the restoration job not the HD presentation of it. I always felt that it's not so much that High Definition is that much better than DVDs it's that I feel that this is how the film is supposed to look.

[MichaelB]

Obviously, I don't need to own a Blu-Ray copy of every Monty Python episode,

Just as well, as it would doubtless look hideous - given that the source would unavoidably have to be 1970s analogue PAL videotape!

Which is another important point: high-definition formats will generally offer no advantages to presenting pre-2000s television, unless you can get hold of original film materials.

(For instance, the BFI's DVD of Ken Russell's Elgar was sourced from the original 35mm negative, which is why it looks several orders of magnitude better than the original 405-line TV broadcast)

[miless]

Which is another important point: high-definition formats will generally offer no advantages to presenting pre-2000s television, unless you can get hold of original film materials.

Why David Lynch is a godsend with his insistence on new transfers of Twin Peaks. I really wished more TV took his lead.

[jt]

I think the biggest issue for me is that the impending switch to a new format is making me seriously look at my viewing habits. I have a relatively small collection compared to most of the guys here (approaching 1000) but I still find it hard to watch them all. At last count I have well over 100 films I've not watched yet, mainly through buying multiple films in sales or box-sets.
For those of you with many thousands of films, when do you watch them? I simply don't have the time to see more than 5 or 6 films a week and am unlikely to in the future unless I give up reading, listening to music, socialising and sports. So even if I had the opportunity to upgrade my entire collection for a couple of dollars each, I'd probably only bother for a handful of films that visually blow me away (Last Year at Marienbad comes to mind).
The other main thing is cost. I'm getting married this year and was hoping to stick a nice 42" HD screen on the gift list until I was told by my better half that we have to have new plates and that the full set (that will feed more people than we can fit round our table) will cost over $2500.
Seriously. Fucking plates.
Anywho, my final plan is to slow down my buying to almost nothing for a year, catch up with all the films I have bought but not watched yet and save up for a nice HD TV and (region-free) Blu-Ray. At which point, I'll probably get all new films on the new format but am unlikely to double dip on more than 5% of my current collection.

[jt]

Heh, cheers for the advice. I made sure she was aware of my 'buying lots of things' syndrome. She's very happy about the books as we have similar taste in literature, so she just has a free library. As for music and film, she's probably only interested in about 20% of my stuff but she only wants to watch/ listen about 20% as much as I do, so she skips the Japanese/ silents and watches the noir/ moderns.
She saw my face when I realised our entire gift list would be made up of household stuff I didn't realise we needed so she's agreed the inevitable Blu-Ray and HDTV upgrade will come out of our joint savings, so we're finding a happy medium...

I think Ive now replaced it for masturbation. "Honey Ive got a headache tonight."

I think it's very important that you find time for sex, films and masturbation. Very often any two of them simultaneously...

[jt]

Of course, I was forgetting reach-arounds. Then again, that probably prevents you from concentrating fully on the film in question...

[MichaelB]

We solved the potential marital rift problem beautifully by building a heavily sound-insulated viewing facility at the bottom of the garden, so I can watch what I like at whatever volume I like without the slightest risk of disturbing wife, offspring or even neighbours (you really can't hear a thing unless you're within six feet, and even then it's so muffled that it wouldn't disturb anyone).

She was equally delighted with the arrangement, as it was actually the cheapest of the three options we considered. Basically, when our second child came along, I had to give up my home office for a bedroom - but I still needed the space. So we considered a loft conversion (astronomically expensive) and a conservatory (not quite the right environment) before my father-in-law pointed out that an entirely separate garden office would solve pretty much every problem.

And my wife loathes dinner parties, so we keep them to an absolute bare minimum.

For those of you with many thousands of films, when do you watch them? I simply don't have the time to see more than 5 or 6 films a week and am unlikely to in the future unless I give up reading, listening to music, socialising and sports.

I watch an average of about three a day, though only one will be given the luxury 43" screen surround-sound treatment - the other two get watched on my MacBook during a long daily commute. But I do have the advantage of a job that requires me to watch loads of films!

[jt]

Awesome, I take it you have a little beer fridge in there..?

Unfortunately, no property in Zurich under about £2million has a garden so I'm a while off that option myself...

[jt]

the other two get watched on my MacBook during a long daily commute. But I do have the advantage of a job that requires me to watch loads of films!

Well when I'm not cycling, my commute is the only time I get to read uninterrupted. The part about the job though, that's just meant to make us all jealous isn't it?
The bfi opening an office in Zurich any time soon..?

[Kinsayder]

a heavily sound-insulated viewing facility at the bottom of the garden

Does it look like this?

[HerrSchreck]

Good one. I almost fell off my chair.

MB needs to occasionally change the channel from My Quay/bfi, etc.

A friendly ribbing (made before).

[MichaelB]

Good one. I almost fell off my chair.

MB needs to occasionally change the channel from My Quay/bfi, etc.

A friendly ribbing (made before).

Well, here's an equally friendly ribbing in return (not made before):

Total number of my posts mentioning the Quays, the BFI or both: 84
Total number of HerrSchreck's posts mentioning a certain New York distributor whose four-letter name begins with K: 121

So shall we see if we can each go a month without bringing them up?

[colinr0380]

(For instance, the BFI's DVD of Ken Russell's Elgar was sourced from the original 35mm negative, which is why it looks several orders of magnitude better than the original 405-line TV broadcast)

That seems a minor miracle considering the BBC policy until recently of not storing their material (wasn't there controversy amongst Doctor Who fans, of which I'm not one, about the BBC wiping tapes and they then had to appeal for any collectors who had taped episodes?) Did they hold the negative or was it found somewhere else?

(Don't worry though you can relax safely knowing that when I was at the BBC in Manchester back in 2000 they had a complete set of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air tapes in their lock-up....for some reason! Also a couple of guys there were working on Adam Adamant - I never asked but wonder if I was seeing early work for the DVD that came out later on?)

As for sheds - my parents would probably approve but unfortunately my father is a model train buff so the shed option is already taken! (He has actually just moved up a size gauge so the tracks now run around the garden too. So my family has managed to encompass two nerdy interests!)

Let's just say my room is quite difficult to get into at the moment (but then I like being surrounded by films!) and I have now taken my lesson from history and annexed the spare bedroom to my expanding empire - this contains my (literal) wall of videos and the computer. So things are quite cosy at the moment!

I may have to reinforce the floor at some point though.

Quay Brothers - never heard of them. And Kino, pah!

[HerrSchreck]

Good one. I almost fell off my chair.

MB needs to occasionally change the channel from My Quay/bfi, etc.

A friendly ribbing (made before).

Well, here's an equally friendly ribbing in return (not made before):

Total number of my posts mentioning the Quays, the BFI or both: 84
Total number of HerrSchreck's posts mentioning a certain New York distributor whose four-letter name begins with K: 121

So shall we see if we can each go a month without bringing them up?

Absoluto-tely nottarino. I'm not posting about HerrSchreck, I'm posting about a huge variety of films. SHould the folks on the board stop posting about CC too? Everybody posts about what they love around here. I'm just pruning your cojones a nudge because since day one you manage to tie every topic back to you. The funniest one was a couple days ago:

I think the things that will be most likely to push me into Hi-Def are external factors like:

1) The BFI releasing stuff on Blu-Ray (and specifically reissuing my Quay Brothers disc - not at all implausible as it was mastered on HD to begin with.

[MichaelB]

Absoluto-tely nottarino. I'm not posting about HerrSchreck, I'm posting about a huge variety of films. SHould the folks on the board stop posting about CC too? Everybody posts about what they love around here. I'm just pruning your cojones a nudge because since day one you manage to tie every topic back to you. The funniest one was a couple days ago:

In a thread that began with an explicit call for personal responses? Perish the thought!

But I do apologise unreservedly for my appallingly narrow range. It's been particularly poor in the last 24 hours, as I've ignored three whole continents and anything made before 1908.

[tryavna]

To be honest, I think most of the most frequent posters of this forum engage in oblique autobiography: Schreck, MichaelB, Michael Kerpan, David Hare, etc. I find it quite interesting and charming. In a weird sort of way, I bet some of us regulars know you fellows a little better than folks you spend actual "face-time" with.

[HerrSchreck]

Absoluto-tely nottarino. I'm not posting about HerrSchreck, I'm posting about a huge variety of films. SHould the folks on the board stop posting about CC too? Everybody posts about what they love around here. I'm just pruning your cojones a nudge because since day one you manage to tie every topic back to you. The funniest one was a couple days ago:

In a thread that began with an explicit call for personal responses? Perish the thought!

But I do apologise unreservedly for my appallingly narrow range. It's been particularly poor in the last 24 hours, as I've ignored three whole continents and anything made before 1908.

Hey man, you post whatever you feel like posting and ignore me in my morning Needling Mode. I was just klunkily hazing you a bit more to the point along the lines of kinsayders dig, and jt's comments.

If you didn't know what the hell you were talking about, or were bragging about your job at dvdverdict with the same frequency (& shiny bald pate) you'da probably been laughed out the universe a long time ago.

So let this lite tizzy between us be a brief one, and onward and forward!