I think i go to less movies, just the really big ones I want to see on a really big screen.  I think this summer i've got to Indiana Jones and the Dark Knight.  But when theatre tickets are 11 bux, and there's two of you.  Thats 22 bux, if you want munchies thats pretty much got you over the price of a bluray...

but my tv is only 42 inches so there are several movies a year I want to see on a bigger screen.

Since I'm hearing from everywhere that this movie blows, I don't think it will really help BR.

But for good movies, well if I had one of those 100"+ plasmas, maybe it would be "better". It depends how you define "better". Otherwise I'll take the BIG screen for movies that deserve a big screen. Also, for certain movies, there's the audience factor of sharing the experience with 100's of other geeks and you will never get that at home.

I remember back in 1999 when I started watching DVD's on my 32-inch RCA CRT TV, with my new 5.1 surround-sound system, I thought that the DVDs were superior to going to the movies. That was before there were any stadium-seating theaters around here, and before digital movie projectors and digital sound with giant subwoofers at the theaters.

I got over it.

I'm with ivid. I hear this movie sucks. It scores 5.5 out of 10 (with almost 8,000 votes) on IMDB. Not so hot and not something Blu-ray should be advertising. At any rate, if newer Blu-ray movies come out that look better at home than the theatre, that's just one more kick in the nutsack for the theatres. The last time I was in a theatre was last month to see Hellboy 2 with a buddy of mine. I paid because I got a gift card for Christmas. Two tickets, a large popcorn, and nachos platter came to $28. Yeah, just a bit of a rip-off. We smuggled in a couple of bottles of pop we bought next door at Wal-Mart for $1.50 each. Why did we do this? Because the same bottles of pop were being sold at the theatre for $4 each (with tax). I'm not a poor guy, but just out of principle I refuse to pay that kind of cash for a 600ml bottle of pop. The theatres are dead to me.

$28 for a movie????  LOL....for $28 I can get ~10-11 BluRay's/HD-DVD's...Which do you think I'm gonna choose?  I'm perfectly happy with my 46" 1080p display and 5.1 HD audio

There's no doubt that the movie theaters can be expensive, the point is, why pay the big bucks if you are getting an inferior experience compared to watching the Blu-ray version at home?

Of course, not everyone has a good home theater set up, but superior Blu-ray versions could help drive demand for home theaters and Blu-ray. It also gives theater goers who enjoyed a movie at the theater a reason to rent or buy the Blu-ray if they want to experience an even better version of the film. The Dark Knight for example, will it be better on Blu-ray?

the governments have done a good job of getting you lot locked up in your nice little homes with ya wanna b yheatres and at a price of no social life this way you can control the masses and rake in the tax $ at the same time SHAME on you.

get out and get a life socialise as much as possible it stops governments shafting you big time !

@ idiot

Are you high? That's not even a decent conspiracy theory.

@ferd

Are you as old as you look? 

LOL j/k

@SciFer

I was at work and looking for a small enough graphic to use for an avatar, all I could find was this little picture of Karl Marx.  I work with a guy who looks just like the picture.  So I started using it.  Now that I have announced that it's Karl Marx, I hope people don't start thinking I'm a Democrat and one of B. Hussein Obama's "sheeple".  I'll stick with it until I can find something better.

I've been to plenty of theaters that had the rear speakers off or the volume was too loud or too soft.

At home, I control the environment and I select the equipment.  ...And I don't let in the people who are going to talk through the whole film.

I never said there weren't advantages to a home theater.  Some of the advantages vary depending upon the location, time of viewing and demographics of the attendance at the "real" theater to which your home is being compared.

However, if you try to make your home theater truly equivalent to *only* the actual movie-viewing experience at a quality theater with stadium seating, digital projection and top-of-the-line sound system, you will be spending an assload of money.  Make that a double-assload.

I spend $11-$13 (depending on matinee or not) for two people to go to my local theater, which matches the above description.  The food is expensive. I avoid it.

Working as a manager at a movie chain with digital projectors, I can tell you that when a Blu Ray drive is hooked up via HDMI it looks almost as good.  The file size for the Mummy is over 150gb just for the movie.  So I doubt if it will look or sound any better than it would on a current Dolby Digital Cinema.

On another note, hooimg up a PS3 or an Xbox 360 and using it toplay games in phenominal.  Imagine playing Metal Gear Solid 4 or Halo 3 on a screen that big.  It's beyond belief.

Blu-ray is nowhere near the quality of 35mm film. What is this idiot smoking ? Sounds like some propaganda that Sony et al would push.

for $28/movie you can keep your 'socal life'

I think it's impossible to skip a good movie in theater and wait for the blu-ray. Who wants to wait 3-4 months? I think most of people even watch a boxoffice movies twice or more.

LOL....I go to like 1 movie/year.  I watch/have so many movies that I ALWAYS have something to watch

Yeah, I'm with BluBalls. I think most of us have a formidable DVD library and we definitely don't need to go to a theatre to watch a movie. And there's always the video store for the latest releases. I don't even spend much on DVDs now. In the beginning I could go and easily spend $200 over the weekend. Now I have about 650 DVDs, so I have lots of variety. If I need something I don't have then I just fire up my bittorrent program.

Watching a movie with the family: $0.25 to burn the DVD.

Popcorn and pop from the store: $4.10

Keeping your hard-earned cash from the movie studios: Priceless.

BitRate, you would be correct if the 35mm film was being projected on a small 100" screen.

35mm is roughly equivalent to 4000 x 3000 pixel resoultion. The film editing, special effects and animation softwares that are used to composite effects and animations etc.. into a movie renders at that resolution, roughly, or the 16x9 equivalent.

But you're forgetting the math. 1920x1080 will look sharper on a 50" HDTV than 35mm will look when projected onto to 50 foot screen in a cinema.

But this sounds more like they didn't finish the movie in time for theatrical release. Why wait to add those enhancements, unless this was a Sony movie and they insisted on enhancing the BR version...

DukeNukem says: If I need something I don't have then I just fire up my bittorrent program.

Oh wow, I enjoy reading your article and comments but now I know you are a pirate.... and no wonder you guys bash sony and blu-ray...

bronze does have a point.  I used to be one, still have a huge collection.  Fact is life has changed the routine.  Time is very limited.  I have 2 1/2 yr old son which most of free time goes to.  With this current economy we all have to work extra long hours just to try to get by.  I don't have the luxury of time to do the things I used to.  Infact, I don't even have the time to watch much TV or movies.  But when I do I like to enjoy a newer movie in HD to make it all worth the while.  So now I rent or buy.  I think most of us, who used to "backup" our movies, our now finding ourselves in different place in life.  But I have to say my motivation in the early days (like when IFOedit was popular) was more for the challenge and bragging rights.  Now is the era of HD copy protection and can fairly be defeated now.  The challenge is not as intriguing the 2nd time around.  Still though, I may do few for the fun of it and to be able to say I did it.  But currently I'm OK with NetFlixing and buying the few you can't be without.  I'm sure if I had a lot of free time then it might be different.  Just my take on this.

@ SciFer

You and I are in the same boat. I have no time to watch movies, whether I buy or download them. My son is 1yr 7mo old and my time is spent with him, my wife, working on the house, and my job. Seems like there's no time left for movies. Now that the economy is just about to go into freefall mode, I seriously doubt people are going to sign up for Blu-ray. I wanted HD DVD to win and would have gladly bought HD DVD discs instead of downloading. Now that Blu-ray has won, I will not be buying any Blu-ray products... ever.

It's okay if people don't or won't get into blu-ray now because of the price. If price goes down, they will come in.

It's okay if poeple don't want blu-ray because they don't feel the quality difference will benefit them on their (HD)TV or average sound system. Until they can afford to upgrade to large TV and good soundsytem, they can enjoy upconverted DVD and HD channels.

But I don't think it's fair if you wont be buying blu-ray, ever, due to HD DVD pulled back their products (or lost the war some say).

I love movies (who don't?) and own many HD DVD movies and a player but as enthusiast and hobbyist as SciFer said, I gave my fair condolence to HD DVD and went forward bought blu-ray we love movies, my teenage boys love them, wife too.

I don't have much time to copy movies now especially blu-ray you need hours and hours to tweak them so what I do is buying cheap blu-ray movies off ebay (you can get them starting from $1 plus shipping!) and/or go to forums that except blu-ray exchange (hidefdigest) and just enjoy them and forget the dead format.

I have hundreds of DVDs and to be honest, I'm not watching them anymore, not because of the SD quality, because I've watched them before. The only reason I still keep them because my teen boy is starting to watch the PG13 movies.

LOL @ all you guys....I'm married sure but no kids...no mortage..no car payments....and plenty of time to pillage the digital world for my warez It takes me like 1-2 hrs tops to go from BluRay/HD-DVD/DVD -> uncompressed full qaulity viewing and plenty of w33d to sm0k3 so yeah...life's good...for me at tleast

I'm with BlueBalls LOL... some good homegrown, 70" HDTV, Bose surround, Oppo player, theater seating, acoustic paneling, and a huge movie collection beats the overpriced theater experience (IMHO)! Use the $28 to buy munchies and invite your friends over... it doesn't get any better than that!

Lol.  The first 2 Mummys were good, don't bother seeing the third.  No way ANYTHING on bluray is gonna help that mess!  And stay home with your 46-100" TVs, I'll take the big screen for a GREAT (not mummy 3, I shoulda believed the reviews) action/special effects movie any day.

Yod * Master, how many $28 movies can you see for the price of your home theater system.  just curious...c'mon spill it!!!!