hmmmm, you know, the whole "whether or not you'll even notice the difference" question is an interesting one. Honestly, once I found out how NTSC actually works I suddenly had a huge reason to stop buying standard dvd's now that there are hi-def formats. Of course, this didn't stop me from picking up stuff I hadn't seen before just as long as it was a pretty low bargain bin price, by which I mean it costs just about as much to buy it brand new as it would to rent it. There was even a crazy sale back in September where I picked up The Doors (remastered!), Bound, Pi and Glengarry Glen Ross for just 3 dollars a pop. Even with just one hi-def format sticking around, it's good for standard dvd prices.

The resolution isn't really what does it for me, and after all you really do need a 1080p tv to see the difference. How do I know? Well, I'll get to that in a moment.

I remember watching the blu-ray of Pirates 2 and the only difference it made was that I could sit a ways from the 50" 1080i DLP and not have to squint. Then, over thanksgiving, I saw some blu-ray movies on a huge 1080p projector and let me just say it was akin to 2k digital cinema as far as I'm concerned.

Which brings me back to the question of how good standard dvd's look. I don't even have an hdtv, but the computer has pretty good specs and the 1024x768 monitor is hooked up via DVI which means not only can it display anamorphic discs at their full resolution, it can make them look pretty damn good too. I read a thread recently (not on this website) where a guy was saying he can't stand watching standard dvd's now that he has an hdtv. Unless this guy is some kind of super, uber videophile, I'm really questioning what his hardware specs are. Standard dvd's look amazing on my friend's 60" sony lcd (being played on a bose dvd player with 5.1 in case you were wondering). Heck, even on my other friend's zenith lcd over coaxial they look frickin' amazing!

To be totally honest, I miss not knowing about how 24p sources have to be slowed down to 23.976 in order to be telecined to ntsc. A large part of me has simply gotten used to everything that's available on dvd and how good it can look and sound, not to mention the fact that while not every single person has a dvd player, a whole helluva lot less have hi-def optical disc players. Even if the new formats produce an experience that's closer to watching an actual print, when I look at the screencaps on dvdbeaver it just seems "off" to me, like I'm looking at a really hi rez digital file. I dunno, maybe it's just not a good representation of how the blu-ray/hddvd actually looks under optimal conditions and/or they're just not capturing still frames in the best possible way. Their reviews for the new blade runner set kinda illustrates what I'm trying to say. The screencaps from the hi-def have really blown out contrast while the ones from the standard dvd pretty much perfectly resemble what I remember seeing in the theater. Again, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to hardware limitations.