Since getting a Blu-Ray player earlier this year as an anniversary gift, I've been trying to decide which of the movies in my existing DVD collection are worth the upgrade to Blu-Ray, which of them aren't, and how much I'm willing to spend on the ones that are. Yeah, I know, really important stuff to worry about, right? All that trivial stuff about the economy, wars being fought overseas or upcoming elections...Meh.
So as I attempt to tackle these pressing issues to mankind, it seems the movies I want to upgrade the most fall into two categories -- recent big-budget epics and all-time favorite classics. Specifically, I'm focusing on recent films like The Dark Knight, which was beautifully crafted and made to be seen in a sharper resolution than standard DVD, or classics like Superman (1978), which was made long before the digital age but ranks among my personal favorites.
Once I've decided about whether I want to upgrade the film, the question then becomes What price am I willing to pay to upgrade a movie I already own? For the sake of keeping myself in check budgetwise, I've imposed a $10 limit on buying Blu-Rays that are already available for purchase. This means I check the ads for Best Buy and Target on a weekly basis looking for sales or cuts in regular prices until I find one of the movies I want at that $10 price or below. Sometimes, though, a movie arrives on Blu-Ray for the first time, possibly remastered for an even better picture, but it may be quite some time before it goes down to the $10 level. If it's something I really want to upgrade, I'll scout around for the cheapest available price or hold off in the hopes that someone will get it for me for my birthday or Christmas.
So these are my methods of madness. If anyone else finds themselves in similar situations and has their own criteria for upgrading, I'd love to know how you handle this sort of thing.