Search - HD Moods Beaches [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

Imperfect composition, but still relaxing & worthwile

Erin | France | 12/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Whomever shot this didn't comprehend the importance of composition in a relaxation dvd. Tho the quality of this blueray is perfectly acceptable and good, a lot of the shots are shot facing left so you are watching the water *go* away from you, and as humans our minds and eyes naturally gravitate to the source of the water and want to gaze that way, and so when you look right to see where it's orginating from you can't see, and i find it's as effective as a brick wall to me, mentally. But this is just the first three shots.

The second composition problem for the next 5 or six shots is you are often getting an angle that is akin to laying on your stomach looking up: you get more ground/earth in the shot than sky or sea, which makes it feel like you have a ceiling pressing down on your head. It feels a little clostrophobic at times.

That said, this dvd is worth buying if you like beaches. Are they the most relaxing beautiful beaches in all the world? No. They aren't amazing green/blue water tropical beaches, either. They are more rustic, muted-colored beaches, more new england, than Virgin Islands. Are the uninhabited for the duration of the filming? No. People walk thru about three shots in total. It's not horribly invasive but it IS invasive if you are relaxing. You start anticipating when they will arrive when you've seen it more than once.

That said, there are more good shots in this bluray than bad! And that makes it worth while. And even the 'bad' aren't truly bad at all. They just aren't perfect, they irk, but they don't really destroy, and I could most certainly get used to them, and even enjoy them, eventually.

There are five or so shots of beaches in a row that are filmed facing head-on with just the ocean, the sand, and sky which are really nice, and give a width and depth and peace that is good. There is very nice shot of a sunset on the beach and it's great fun after work to watch this particular scene of the orange fireball sliding into the water and totally out of the sky... I really enjoyed that. Another nice straight-on beach/sand shot of birds bobbing in the water.

All and all if you like beaches for relaxing, the price of this dvd is great, and you can watch it start to finish without it jarring you. I am not sorry I bought it at all-- and I can't say that for all the other 'beach' scene dvds I own and paid 3x more for.

It certainly has great long, relaxing and worthwhile moments, even with the skewed composition. It has good replay relaxation/ambiance value."

Mediocre at best

A. Ramirez | Burlingame, CA USA | 04/23/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The cover of this dvd makes it look like it's filled with tropical beaches. Perhaps they are, but they don't look that way when you're playing the movie.

I had envisioned a screensaver that would be like the one that comes on my Comcast HD On-Demand. There are two fantastic beach screensavers there, and when I put either of them on (I have a 52" Samsung LCD), it's like taking a miniature vacation. This dvd did not take me away on vacation. The quality isn't up to Blu-ray standard either."