My discussion question is this: does hi-def discs (HD-DVD or BluRay) really improve the quality of an animated film to the point that you must absolutely double dip and buy the newer copy?
My opinion (and please, its an opinion not proven fact) is that for all the newer computer animated shows like Cars or Ratatouille would likely benefit from a higher bitrate and depth that can be offered through Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology because of the style of the films to offer impressive 3-D capability to the point of realism. So I say visually, yes, there might be some headroom for improvement; audibly, you can't get any better than cd 44khz sampling--really--so that's already reached a maximum no matter the upgrade or not.
The 2-D animated film, I feel will actually see no benefit in these hi-def formats, especially the older ones. Think about it. Even with the restoration of Snow White for DVD release, its still not perfect, and its largely because of the age and original source of the film, and there comes a point where you just can't do much else. Hi-def would only make these defects more noticable, and theoretically, it would seem as if this is actually of lesser quality than a DVD release. Imagine trying to watch those that have not gotten a remaster or might get a really bad one...hi-def formats will not help those films in any way other than showing how poor of a print the film was taken from.
So what are the thoughts and opinions of others? And I'll end my post on the note that currently I have not seen the hi-def stuff in action, nor could afford such a device that could potentially provide so little in the end.
