But do you really think that bluray will enhance anything on say, a movie from the
80s or 90s? The first time a blueray blew me away was saving private ryan, but I would not expect the experience to change much for most movies.
NHB, if the master negative has been properly maintained (or remastered), then Blu-Ray will show the benefits of an enhanced image quality on a movie
from the 1930's. You're confusing the mode of consumption with the source of the image.
Hollywood didn't start shooting digital movies until the new Star Wars. Prior to that (and for a good while after), everything was film. The image quality of well-produced film far surpasses the 1080p standard. Digital hasn't yet
improved the quality of film; it's improved the quality of the image in
home video:
Blu-Ray > DVD > VHS
The master negative 35mm print of
Gone with the Wind in 1939 was every bit as high resolution as the 1080p you see today; considerably higher, in fact, I believe, but I'll have to double-check that with my father. Maybe Seven Samurai can confirm. The problem was the generational loss of quality via copying. The advantage of digital is improved home video quality; a lowering cost of production; the fidelity, ease and cost of reproduction (of the original image); the ease with which you can edit and manipulate the image; and the immortality of the original image in its pristine state (i.e. you don't have to worry about the negative degrading).
Also, in the future, the source quality of digital will surpass 35mm and even 80mm film. It's potential for improvement in the realm of reproducing the precise capture of light is unmatched by anything analog/celluloid.
*Edit* Yeah, I just asked my father about an old 35mm negative print compared to a 1080p digital source video, and he texted me: "The 35mm will be a much, much, much higher resolution."
