Never buy fake

To my colleague, AT, the entire family says thanks to your effort in doing this. We had a great time watching the movie, especially for Jamie who enjoyed it the most amongst us.

That said, never buy fake.

It's only recently that I have taken an interest on blu-ray disc and the quality of the picture and sound. The ads are true - if you are not watching blu-ray, your wonderful wide screen full HD TV is..just a TV. And I just learnt that most blu-rays deliver reference quality sound. Pair with proper speakers, cables and amp, I am literally able to hear glass shatter, one piece at a time. I think what little blu-ray discs that I have does deliver this level of audio and I will now be listening with more appreciation.

All of this is lost when you buy fake. I had doubted whether blu-ray discs could be faked and I now know it can. We all just finished watching a movie on a disc that was bought from a foreign Asian country and I initially marveled at how little it costs. When inserted into the machine, the reassuring symbols came on and we sat down for a nice time. There were also the appropriate marks on the cover that shouted out "reference quality audio". I actually fiddled around with our setup when the sound was just so-so. I could not hear the individual clang of the swords in the movie. And neither could we see every weave on the clothes, or would the face test pass muster. During a break, I popped in a disc that I knew to be genuine and the difference was as apparent as day. This fake was just as good as any other DVD. The show was so-so but the quality of the disc was enough for the entire family to be thrilled, but not enthralled (at least if and when we chose to be on the watch out for blu-ray quality).

So, never buy fake. The old adage that you get what you pay for rings true. I'm just glad we (in the family) do not have a culture of going for the least expensive; the emphasis has always been on getting the best bang for our dollar. And good thing fake running shoes are not prevalent over here - what with the amount of shoes that we buy.