i am interested in collecting some old movies in blu-ray format,
but is there really going to be a noticeable difference with older films that werent shot using high-def equipment?

yes old movies can look excellent at 1080p but you have to know the limitation of film as well. it isn't as sharp as high def digital video cameras. this is also a reason why not a lot of movies arn't transfering over to digital because it will capture every imperfection on an actors face/skin.

with film that is usually blurred out by just the film being the film it is. also you still have tons of grain and noise produced by the film that can only be cleaned up so much.

i got blu-ray version of the third man and the picture quality looks great. all of the lines and original artifacts that still appear on the standard dvd vanish on the blu-ray version. but i dont think most of people bought expensive hd set for classic films. they would rather spent their money for new movies in hidef, so the market for classic movies would be very very segmented to serious filmgoers only.

well not me. i'm mainly into blu-ray for the catalog titles. so i just bought the third man yesterday and it looks awesome very clear and yes less grainier than dvd version, here's some screenshots:




now i'm looking forward to citizen kane, original king kong, and even intolerance--although i don't know if that's ever likely to happen.

^ those pictures are clear especially compared to the original which i've seen