Master and Commander Blu-ray is kind of a mixed bag for me. If you are to only demo one scene for someone from one film then Chapter for of Master and Commander is the best choice for audio. But as far as video goes, the Blu-ray is quite grainy and soft in appearance and not that much of a step up from the DVD (maybe the differences would be less subtle on a 100" screen). I realize from several reviews of the Blu-ray that it was intended to look this way as shot, so I'm happy that the Blu-ray is faithful to that. I wouldn't want it any differently. But, if you are trying to show someone how great Blu-ray is then this isn't the best title since they may wonder why spend the extra money for Blu-ray when the image isn't that great.
Now, if you have the time to show them two scenes then Master and Commander Chapter 4 would be the first. The second scene would be just any random scene from Pirates of the Caribbean to show them just how good Blu-ray can look.
One thing that I just found out recently is that you may want to have a few titles geared towards parents and parents-in-law. Previously, people have been over and asked to see a couple of scenes to check out my system, and I would get out the Matrix or Lord of the Rings or one of the Bourne films with big explosions and car crashes and crank it up to around 90dB's. Many times it wouldn't go so well for older folks like my parents and such. But, a couple months ago when my in-laws were over my wife just randomly popped in her Elton John 60th Birthday Concert of Blu-ray and they ended up watching about half of it (it is about 3 hours long) rather than just a couple of songs she wanted to show them. They also mentioned bringing over one of their concert DVD's to watch on our system, so I think that they were impressed.
- Nick
