How do you watch your noir?
At first, it was all VHS. Then I switched to all DVD -- transferring copies of VHS to DVD.
Over the years trades, grey-market torrent downloads, burned DVDs and my bought DVDs have all been transferred to files on my computer. I then watch them on my TV using Plex media server.
I know this is very high tech but it organizes all the movies by year, theme and so on.
How does everyone else watch their noir? Is it mostly DVD?
If it's available on DVD, I watch it that way, although I've been using Netflix recently to watch a lot of noirs that aren't commercially available. I'll use grey market torrents to download noirs that I can't find any other way (which is still unfortunately too often), and then I stream them via Vuze media player through my PS3 to my TV, which is actually a lot easier than it sounds. Archive.org is also good for some public domain noirs.
Last edited by Nighthawk; 02-22-2012 at 04:19 PM.
Based on the title I was about to say, "Sunday mornings with a cup of coffee."
Mostly DVDs now, but mainly however I can get it. Hard-to-find stuff will come from trade or torrent. Archive.com was good for a couple I hadn't seen... haven't checked in a while to see if there was anything new.
I don't see DVD drying up the way I expected after blu-ray came out, so that's good. VHS to DVD was a bummer... I still have bootleg VHS music videos I will probably never watch again.
ETA: Nighthawk brings up a good point about Netflix. Overall their streaming classic movie selection ain't the greatest, but they do have a great selection of rare noir and "grey" noir. I've enjoyed many I probably wouldn't have bothered to mail order through Netflix.
Last edited by Nauga; 02-22-2012 at 04:20 PM.
I was just having this conversation with my wife last night. I was saying that I don't think DVD will be going away any time soon, for several reasons:Originally Posted by Nauga
1. DVDs are backwards compatible with blu-ray players, whereas DVD was an entirely different physical format from VHS.
2. DVD represented a giant leap forward in terms of picture quality and supplemental features, whereas blu-rays don't represent that same leap forward. This is a debatable point, but it's my take on the matter. I actually think that a lot of blu-ray transfers of more recent movies and TV shows look worse than a DVD played at 480p, because there's simply too much detail in the picture, and the picture stops having that "film-like" quality and ends up looking like it was shot with a home movie camera. I do think that older movies that were actually shot on film look better on blu-ray, but with the quality of a regular DVD release already being so high, I (and many other consumers, apparently) don''t feel the need to get the blu-ray.
3. DVD-r is still, by far, the most popular recordable disc format available. Recordable blu-rays do exist, but they seem to be bought primarily by niche market professionals who are recording and producing their own high-definition materials.
4. Blu-ray drives have yet to permeate the laptop market. There just doesn't seem to be the demand for them, so DVD players will remain the standard in laptops for the foreseeable future.
Like you, I see this as a good thing. I think that the jump from VHS to DVD was one of the best things to ever happen to the home entertainment market, but the jump from blu-ray to DVD just doesn't seem as necessary. The continuing strong sales of DVDs seem to bear out the idea that the consumer marketplace just doesn't want to upgrade their entire library yet again.
Double post. Sorry.
I think DVDs are going away though. I feel they're going the way of CD music. Pretty soon it'll all be on the cloud -- either through private collections or Netflex and similar streaming. I like Blue Ray but more for content (extras) like Kiss Me Deadly recently released. Having it all on one disc is great. But IF DVDs go away so will all those extras and commentaries. I think a good next step would be home-made commentary tracks (like the guys from Riff Trax do) but it's a bear to sync them up to your movies... I would certainly pay for custom-made commentary tracks for classic noirs (like the ones being released as bare-boned DVD-r at Warner Archive).
And I watch noir Sunday mornings with coffee too...
Friday nights with a glass a scotch. I love my physical media. DVDs or Blu Ray.
Definitely at Night usually on DVD, or Netflix, or Netflix streaming. But I do have a Noir & Western loving buddy in Rome who can send me R2 DVDr's of hard to find Noirs and Westerns.
anytime i have time to relax when i come home at night from work and the wife and kids are asleep, i can put in a dvd and watch one, maybe 2 while eating a few sandwitches. the best time is in the summer at night after midnight with a window cracked with a nice thunder or rain storm (also ideal conditions for a b&w 50's b-horror)
Working at a video store (weird I know, right?), I get all my Noir on DVD. We also have a bunch of VHS of Noir not available on DVD so sometimes I dust up the old VHS player to watch 'em.
Since I live near San Francisco I'll try to catch one of the Film Noir festivals at the Castro Theater (Noir City, etc.) or a screening of a Noir at an art house theater.
Mostly DVD-including lots of homemade DVDs from TCM. Also Netflix streaming and a few from Archive.org and such. Occasionally will re-watch a noir I already own on TV from my DVR. Haven't got any via trade yet. Have a handful of noir blu-rays.
Usually watch at night, but we have a nice area with low light and can really watch a noir almost any time we feel like it. Beverages consumed include hot tea, water, and coke. Sometime with a little nibble of Ghirardelli dark chocolate.
Late at night, alone, with a glass of Porto, always on dvd or bluray format and sometimes with a very good headphone on my ears... Magic !
I had a very similar conversation with my wife to the one it sounds like you had, Nighthawk. She was depressed when Blu-ray came out because she thought all our DVDs were now obsolete, but I told her that it wasn't such a big leap forward. For example, when I bought Kiss Me Deadly on Blu-ray from Criterion, I also bought The Killing on DVD (they were sold out of the Blu-ray), and honestly they looked nearly the same in terms of quality. The Blu-ray is obviously a little more clear and richer, but it's nothing like the leap from VHS to DVD. I saw a lot of wonderful films on VHS, but the "nostalgia" movement for VHS tapes, especially among horror-heads, doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It's not like vinyl, which really does sound better.
The best way to see noir, though, is still a good print on the big screen. That's how Double Indemnity first really "came alive" for me (after being underwhelmed by it on VHS), for instance.
So essentially, if I'm able to see a film on the big screen, that's ideal. If not, Blu-ray or DVD. If not that, then on my computer (I have a stand-up desk in my office, so I sit on a bar chair if I'm not working and just watching something). If not that, then on VHS. (Which is my last choice now, but still not bad ... it's how I finally saw Riffraff.
Since recently retiring, I've been starting off each morning with a noir movie on Netflix. It's cool to find titles I can't anywhere else. I try to watch or re-watch a classic noir on DVD in the evening and then check out some or most of the commentary following the movie.
Either in a theater on a big screen or (more commonly nowadays) on DVD. I'm not Blu capable yet and no streaming or downloads either at this point. I have watched a few things on the computer via Youtube - Purple Noon and The Murderers are Among Us most recently - but I always hate having done so afterwards; it's a terrible way to watch a film.
Blu-Ray, DVD, or Netflix. In a dimly lit (candle light) room as this is the viewer lighting for which my TV and Blu-Ray are calibrated. It's as close as I can get to theater ambience.
As Adam has pointed out, a good print on the big screen is the best.
Probably, but not in the too near future. 4K video is on the horizon and Ultra High Definition (7,680 × 4,320 pixels, 16 times more pixels, 4 times the resolution of 1080p), will be available soon after that. However, the cost will be prohibitive and require an advanced player.I think DVDs are going away though.
I like Blu-Ray, but it is not always much of an improvement. The greater benefit seems to be for the newer productions, or the enhancement of something out of the 1950's "Technicolor" era.
As for noir, some look better with the Blu-Ray treatment and some do not. To me, black-and-white films are at a disadvantage with this process. Although, I do think that Casablanca looks great in Blu-Ray. I hope for the same with Scarlet Street which I will be ordering soon.
When all is said and done... HD download services may be the last man standing.
True. I stumbled upon The Killing this weekend on the random MGMHD channel and I watched it through to the end because of how fantastic it looked. Some make the transition better than others, that's for sure. I think the last time I watched The Killing was on my DVD copy, and I don't think it was the HD version... I would like to see if blu-ray could improve upon it. Criterion has the blu-ray version of it; I'll have to pick it up soon.
I have the Criterion blu-ray of "The Killing", and yes it does look very good. The better picture quality is very noticeable on a larger quality screen, although the regular dvd upconverted looks quite nice on smaller screens. The blu-ray aspect ratio is 1.66:1 while the dvd is 1.33:1 open matte. One of the extras on the blu-ray is Stanley Kubrick's 1955 film "Killer's Kiss" in 1080p.
The Criterion DVD release is also 1.66.1 and includes Killer's Kiss. The MGM DVD is open matte 1.33.1.
Thanks for the clarification Nighthawk. I have the old MGM dvd and completely forgot that Criterion issued this movie in both formats, as I always buy the blu-ray version if available.
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