Can anyone give me their take on how older movies look on Blu-Ray?

Is there really much of a difference compared to an upscaled DVD? Will it look worse by showing up the original flaws, or is that mostly just down to how well it's cleaned up before release?

Finally , any suggestions for BR films if I eventually decide to buy some (other than the first two Terminators and recent Batman films )?

I would say take a look at AVForums and High-Def Digest.

I use them both to check out the blu ray reviews to see what the picture quality is like and generally won't buy anything that looks the same as DVD.

Personally, i found Transformers to look very good (i think in some places better than the DVD) and Ironman is supposed to be a good "reference disk" as well. I'd also recommend the "Planet Earth" boxset (i.e. the Attenborough Series) because it looks absolutely stunning to see landscapes in HD.

Hmm, Iron Man and Transformer are hardly older film! The youth today!

How about Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep?

Ghostbusters didn't come out too badly, but not much better than DVD, however the sound was much better. Other than that, the only other oldie I have on blu-ray is T2.

Its worth remembering that these old movies are recut from the original master, so by default it already has more than enough resolution for a 1080p transfer. What makes the difference is how well it has been stored and whether age has introduced excessive noise. They're pretty good at cleaning it up now though.

Allegedly "Unforgiven" looks great on blu-ray, so I may pick that up at some point. The DVD looks dreadful if I'm honest!

Thanks for all the replies so far chaps, and I'll look into those links later vdbswong

Transformers is definitely one I'd consider, though I wouldn't even take the sequel for free on principle

Oops, I stated drinking with my flatmate last night and i wasn't exactly in the best state so didn't even read the question properly lol.

As for older films, depends how old really? I just bought Independence Day on BR as well although haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Should be getting T2 at some point and probably the Star Trek movies boxset when i can afford it lol. Maybe some others after i remember them as well.

I'm considering getting Highlander, (the original, not any of the dire sequels) but due to the current economic climate that'll have to wait...

Yeah, see that's another one... I already have The Immortal Edition on DVD

EDIT: In terms of older films, I was thinking the likes of Predator, Aliens etc

I did some poking around because i was interested and it looks like the older film series, Alien, Back to the Future and Indiana Jones blu rays won't be out till 2010 .

Titanic for Blu-ray.

It's tragic isn't it? I hope they're doing their best to make them look as good as possible without actually making it a bad experience overall, if that makes sense... I spose the benefit of waiting could be that BRs will be cheaper in general by then.

My mate was saying the other day that he's had his PS3 for nearly a year and still hasn't even rented a BR movie. Just made me wonder again if Joe Average will ever give a stuff

Yeah, i mean i hope the blu-ray releases are actually something decent. I've heard that a few of the blu-ray's don't even contain all the special features/extras compared to some edition of the DVD (be it Collector's, Ultimate etc.).

Also whilst looking up the aforementioned boxsets i *heard* (not sure) that the LOTR trilogy on blu-ray won't even be the extended edition which, if true, make it seem absolutely pointless to have (imo) seeing as the blu-ray needs to be better than DVD not just in picture, but in feature set as well (imo) if it is to ultimately replace DVD.

As for other series, i remember hearing announcements of the Star Wars trilogies being released on BR but there's still not been a release date afaik .

^ That's pretty much what I've read as well - spose it's the same as those nonsense flipper DVDs you saw in the early days, where they're still figuring out how to fit stuff onto the discs. Mind you, I suspect a lot of it is just 'Get the disc out there. We can get them to buy another edition later!'

We had to wait over a decade for Back to the Future, Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies to come to DVD and you think they are going to be early releases for BD?

Maybe the paperwork's done now