Why do some of my Blu-Rays look really grainy?

Question

I'm using Samsung BD-P1400 on 32 inch Samsung 1080i LCD TV and some BD I have watched recently are really grainy.

I watched "Shutter" yesterday and the grain in it was awful, and I noticed a lot of grain in the movie "Jumper" as well, as well as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"

Is this my set, or just these films? I watched "Vantage Point" last week, and "I, Robot" and I don't recall them having any grain. So what is going on?

Answer 1

People have often complained about this - it's norma.

If a movie comes from FILM stock - it has grain. It had grain in the movie theater and the high def transfer accurately reproduces this.

More recent films shot directly to digital ("Cars", "Transformers", etc) do not show this on disk.

Answer 2

I am not an expert and I can only offer my opinion.  But common sense dictates the producer of a blu-ray disc is much like a producer and must meet their scrutinous eye before allowed to be released.  I do not believe the blu-ray is bad or your tv.  What it sounds like is that your actual player has limited technology for upconversion. (You said jumper which is a new movie had the same problem which throws a cog in the theory).  My only advice is to borrow someone elses player(if Possible) and try it on your system.  Well good luck

Answer 3

Sometimes the grain effect is an artistic decision made by the director or creators of the film. You'll come across it on new and old movies, as well as video games.

An example of this would be Mass Effect, which is a 720p game, but used the grain effect to give it a cinematic quality.

Don't worry, your TV is fine.

Answer 4

sometimes non HD films that are made into HD for BD have crappy transfers. its nothing wrong with your set. (i dont think) Its just some movies are going to look better then others. for a really good BD experience pick a nice new BD like i am legend. that has one of the best audio and video transfers on BD today. im afraid until they get better at transferring them you might have to deal with a grainy flick or two for a while.