[GortWillSaveUs]

This may be a little off topic,..but then again, I don't think so.
After all, the whole point of building a HTPC using XBMC is to watch movies, right? (and also TV Shows, Music, Videos,.....)

So what's your top 10 movies that you could watch over and over again,..and also tests out your whole system.
And yes, you can add a TV Show, Cartoon,..(hey, let others have their fun right, different strokes for different folks)

Now, I'm probably going to regret putting down in print this list, only because I love all kinds of movies,...but,...
For me, and at this time,..this is my 10 Ten List (and don't laugh at number 10,..I love that movie,..make me laugh every time I watch it):

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. The Matrix
3. Alien
4. Seven Samurai
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
7. Star Wars
8. The Terminator
9. True Grit
10. Napoleon Dynamite

So,...what's your Top 10 List

One Final Comment:
I refuse to put down Avatar in this list! I hated that movie. (It was presumptive, preachy, tree-hugging-message, hate-technology-because-it's-evil, I-could-go-on,...PLUS Sigourney Weaver smoking BLECH!!!) However,...I suppose if you wanted to test your 3-D setup,...that would probably be the best movie to test with.

[Dougie Fresh]

You can tell I have kids when I write this but I have two movies that I use their intros to test my HTPCs

1. Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure
In the opening scene, there is a long pan across what's supposed to look like stitching work. If anything will test smoothness of video rendering, it's this scene. Then the rest of the opening with test blacks and detail.

2. A Charlie Brown Christmas
Another panning scene, but this time with interlaced video. This will test de-interlacing -- it's a very difficult one to render with the panning -- and if it's not working it will be very obvious with lots of judder and combing around the trees.

[Bladerunner1962]

thats easy...
my most common demo movies in order to test and to show my homecinema sound & picture:

1. Gladiator (start scene battle)
2. The Island (truck, car chase on freeway)
3. House of flying daggers (blind female warrior "on drums")
4. Terminator 2 Judgement day (truck chase)
5. 2012 (start earthquake)

General whole movie:
1. Gladitor
2. Troy
3. Lethal Weapon 1-4
4. Terminator 2 Judgement day
5. Ben Hur
6. No country for old men
7. Apocalypse now
8. Star Trek 1-11
9. Star Wars 1-6
10. Lord of the rings

[KraziJoe]

Star Wars: THe Phantom Menance, the Pod Races...Puts a nice work out on the Bass...

[Bladerunner1962]

absolutly! And a lot of surround effects...

but, in order to demo surround effects and bass
I prefer 2012, Gladiator, House of flying daggers...nearlly unreachable on
7.1 systems

[GortWillSaveUs]

absolutly! And a lot of surround effects...

but, in order to demo surround effects and bass
I prefer 2012, Gladiator, House of flying daggers...nearlly unreachable on
7.1 systems

I can't believe that you didn't put Blade Runner as one of your favorite movies. It's also one of my Top 10 (depending on the day)

---

There's one movie on DVD (and I can't for the life of me remember which it is,...but the intro has this THX-Certified thing where thunder booms and glass shatters, and this rising tempo is played,......I always crank it up since it makes my surround system, sound awesome!!!

I crank the bass up too. My wife always shakes her head and leaves the room. Hahaha

---

3. House of flying daggers (blind female warrior "on drums")

DUDE! Thanks for describing this movie,..I saw it once and loved it for the drums scene,...how they film that, I have no clue.
I must watch that again.

[DDDamian]

Most movies I just can't watch again (although the ones I can show up in the lists above). To me music has much more lasting appeal, and for that reason most of my collection is concert videos.

With AE, bd-rips with DTS-MA/TrueHD soundtracks really show off the audio side. If you're into audio, these make the 7.1 system sing:

1) Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Live at Radio City VQ:10 AQ:11
2) Roy Orbison - A Black & White Night VQ:8 AQ:9
3) Rush - Time Machine VQ:8 AQ:8
4) Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense VQ:8 AQ:8
5) Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall VQ:3 AQ:8 <-DVD, but wow! One man, a guitar and a reel-to-reel is impossibly good.

[Bladerunner1962]

@GortWillSaveUs


YOU RIGHT...Blade Runner I forgot in my listings, even this is one of my most favourite movies!
And yes: Top 10 are mostly Top 20 or 30...depends on day and genre you would like to see.

The THX intro from Terminator 2 perhaps you mean...it's incredible

House of flying daggers: I only love the drum-scene...the in movie in whole...more or less

Do you know "DRUMLINE"...the drum battle scene in the bowl?

[Bladerunner1962]

@DDDamian

I love concerts too and have a lot of it!
unfortunately there a only few good concerts until now on blu ray

even I'm not a real George Michael fan...the concert in London is on blu ray great

Also Sting live in Berlin is great and Quincy Jones Montreux

Rush: I love the double dvd Neil Peart: Anatomy Of A Drum Solo
I'm in general a drum solo fan

[DDDamian]

@Bladerunner - agreed on the Neil Peart - other drummers call him "The Professor" lol.

Got Sting in Berlin, and yep, good one. In the same vein try Peter Gabriel - New Blood. Same idea - orchestral back-up.

Get the significant other Pink - Live in Australia (Funhouse Tour). But far and away that Dave Matthews is the epitome - you won't believe there's just two guitars making that amazing sound - can't recommend highly enough.

[Bladerunner1962]

@DDDamaian

From the Dave Matthews concert I have a small demo (1 title)...you right...
the sound is absolutly perfect.
Perhaps I should buy the whole blu ray.

Peter Gabriel..I have to check it again on blu ray; saw a litte from DVD.

Back to drum solos: you have to see SLIPKNOT..there is a double DVD.
This is not really my prefered genre...but the drumsolo...great!

[Dougie Fresh]

What, no props for Tinkerbell or Charlie Brown?

I thought we were testing, not showing off .

This thread should be titled "Top 10 Movies to Show Off Your System"

[GortWillSaveUs]

What, no props for Tinkerbell or Charlie Brown?

I thought we were testing, not showing off .

This thread should be titled "Top 10 Movies to Show Off Your System"

Actually I liked your descriptions regarding these two movies.
I was impressed that you had found ways to measure your system using these two movies. Awesome.
I think that some of the animation movies can show off your system better than than some regular movies.
I hear Toy Story 3 is unbelievable on Blu-Ray.

[Dougie Fresh]

Actually I liked your descriptions regarding these two movies.
I was impressed that you had found ways to measure your system using these two movies. Awesome.
I think that some of the animation movies can show off your system better than than some regular movies.
I hear Toy Story 3 is unbelievable on Blu-Ray.

My reason for getting into HTPC back in 2007 was that I was tired of cleaning little fingerprints off CDs and DVDs .

That opening scene to A Charlie Brown Christmas and I fought tooth-and-nail to get it right. Most of the kids' stuff then was interlaced, having been taken off video onto DVD by the publishers. The laptop I was trying to use for an HTPC could not handle it so I ended up building my first dedicated HTPC with a 780G and AMD 5050e.

The opening scene to Toy Story 3 is one I forgot about. It gave me a headache for a long time and exposed a problem with my AVR (I am guesing). I got it straightened by being sure to rip the DTS-MA 5.1 not 7.1 track into my MKVs. If I used the 7.1 I would get pops, dropouts and stuttering. The explosion on the bridge will rattle the windows. It's a great scene for showing off and testing HD audio for sure.

[poofyhairguy]

I use a custom Blu Ray rip of Friday Night Lights I have to test the audio.

I use a pure Blu Ray rip of Avatar to test it decoding a tough h264 file.

I use a pure Blu Ray rip of 3:10 to Yuma to test VC1 decoding.

I use a pure Blu Ray rip of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl to test MPEG2 decoding.

Then I run through a suite of samples I have put together that test weird/bad scene encodes- high reference frames, crazy variable bitrates, interlacing, etc.