Selfish Mom

Win “Snow White” for Blu-Ray!

Oct 21, 2009 Disney Review, Product Giveaway

My First Blu-ray Movie

I bought a Blu-ray player a couple months ago.  I didn’t have any Blu-ray discs and didn’t run out to buy any, but I was loving the machine anyway.  It’s not like when we switched from VHS to DVD and had to either keep two machines around or replace all of our tapes.  Not only do Blu-ray players play regular DVDs, they make them look crisper and better!

Then along came Disney.  As if they knew that we had just purchased a Blu-ray player, Disney offered me a review copy of the Diamond Edition of “Snow White” on Blu-ray disc.  It’s still our one-and-only blue-ray disc, but my daughter has watched it four or five times in the couple of weeks we’ve had it.  It even comes with a regular DVD of “Snow White”, to use in your car or on another TV or computer.

I put the disc in and the first thing I noticed about it was the sound.  We have an HD DVR, so I’ve heard shows with good sound on that same TV, but the sound coming from this disc when the previews started was something else entirely.  And that was just on the speakers from our Bravia – we don’t even have surround sound speakers.  The next little surprise was a viewing option called “Disney View.”  Instead of stretching the picture or having those annoying black bars on the sides, “Disney View” lets you see “Snow White” in its original aspect ratio, with original artwork on the sides (columns, pulled-back theater curtains, etc.).  It’s a beautiful way to watch the movie.  At first I thought it might be distracting, but it turns out that it’s the jarring black bars that are annoying.  The “Disney View” artwork frames the movie in a very natural way.

I’m not sure that a hand-drawn cartoon that’s over 70-years-old is the best vehicle to tout the benefits of Blu-ray.  Don’t get me wrong, the movie has been completely cleaned up and sparkles for its Blu-ray debut.  It looks absolutely gorgeous, especially the colors, which were much more earthy than later, more pastel Disney movies.  But sometime soon I’m going to buy something with lots of explosions and special effects so that I can see what the Blu-ray player can really do (I’m thinking I Am Legend). One huge benefit of Blu-ray though is that the discs themselves are reportedly more scratch-resistant than regular DVDs.  That doesn’t mean that I’m going to let the kids touch it, but at least when I drop it (which will happen eventually) it will hopefully hold up better.

The cons?  It can take a minute or two for the Blu-ray disc to load (but I suspect that isn’t specific to this disc – they load and are read in a different way than regular DVDs).  In a world where I’ve gotten used to having everything in an instant, that took a little getting used to.  And they’re more expensive.  My two-minute, completely unscientific survey of Amazon movies shows that the Blu-ray titles tend to be between about 30% and 60% more expensive than the regular DVDs.  But for that extra money you will likely get better picture, better sound, better wear, and more extras.

Win Snow White for yourself

And now the really fun part: I get to give away the Diamond 2-disc edition of “Snow White”, along with a Seven Dwarf Plush Set!

To enter, all you have to do is leave a message on this post telling me what your favorite Disney movie is, or which one you would like most to see on Blu-ray.

You can also get one extra entry by tweeting about this contest.  Just make sure to link back to this page, and don’t forget to leave a separate comment linking to your tweet!  Or, you can just copy and tweet this:

Win the Diamond Edition of “Snow White” on Blu-ray & a Seven Dwarfs Plush Toy set over @SelfishMom! http://bit.ly/3gq519

So, that’s a maximum of two entries per household, please.  The comments will close at noon-ish on Wednesday, October 28th and random.org will draw a winner.  For complete rules, please see my Giveaway Rules page.  Good luck!

Originally posted on Selfish Mom.  All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted.  Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.

Tags: Blu-ray, Disney View, Snow White Diamond Edition, Sony Bravia