Blu-ray's a bag of hurt...

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: BigToque
Is Blu-Ray better than DVD? Absolutely.
Do most people see the advantage? Probably not.

I've got a nice 1080p tv and a decent stereo, so I can see a benefit in quality.

Most people though really don't have the kind of hardware where they see any real significant increase in quality (or at least not the quality you might expect from a $200+ investment plus more expensive movies/rentals). When you are sitting 6+ feet from a 26-32" tv, using just the built-in speakers, you certainly don't notice a huge difference over DVD.

That's my point - I really don't see this catching on, to the point of supporting a totally new format...Especially during an economic downturn...Will blu-ray matter in a few years? Will it stay around long enough to live along side downloadable hd-video on demand?

If downloadable content can ever match the quality of HD media, possible. But that is certainly not the case now and I don't seeing it being the case anytime soon; at least comparable to the time frame that DVD has dominated.

as it currently stands, BD >>>>>>>>>Broadcast HD > upscaled content >>>> Download content.

Consider that most of what is broadcast on the "HD" networks is actually upscaled content, and that which is truly HD source is highly compressed compared to what is capable on HD media. Further, I am unaware of any broadcast or download format that allows the uncompressed, HD audio tracks that you find with most BD content. While broadcast dolby digital and dolby digital + is fine for some, it's yet another realm (audio) where broadcast and download is absolutely destroyed by media capability.

And if you can't find new releases at or around similar prices to DVD content, then you're doing it wrong. (just saying). It's another one of those arguments against HD media adoption that really doesn't fly anymore.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Yeah, I could bearly tell the difference between my Samsung upconvert DVD player and Blueray pic quality.

The Blueray menus were a lot fancier, but I could care less about that. The wow factor that we had from VHS to DVD is not there. Also, I'm pretty sure you need a 1080P TV to take advantage of the better picture.

nah. the difference b/w DVD and BD on my 720p is night and day.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: zinfamous
as it currently stands, BD >>>>>>>>>Broadcast HD > upscaled content >>>> Download content.

I donno... I've seen some stuff off an OTA HD broadcast on my TV that looked really, really good. I'm certainly no expert, but I'd put it closer to Blu-Ray than you did in those cases.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I think Blueray is going to be a bump in the road and be bypassed by streaming.

I think that's fairly unlikely.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: swbsam
My wife only pretended to get it, to be a good sport. She's actually awesome, but her obvious acting was proof that it wasn't the wow we expected...

But I'm getting some netflixes tomorrow (ironman and jesse james), let's see them wow us!

:thumbsup:

those are excellent transfers. Jesse James looks spectacular, imo, but that's because I'm a film buff, and understand that a grainy image is far more preferred to the waxy, processed, and detail-absent look you get from transfers like The Dark Knight. (which I still think is pretty good--on smaller sets).

I'm just saying that you might notice the grainy look and think WTFISTHISCRAP??? Just remember that it is what film is supposed to look like, and it is where all the image detail comes from. Eh, there are different qualities and grain structures, but no need to get into that....

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: swbsam
I've held out on bothering with blu-ray for a while since HD-Streaming/downloading and directv where filling the need pretty well.

On Saturday I found a sony blu-ray player, open box (bd-s500) on sale for $149 and it was too good of deal to pass up, so I grabbed that and a cheapie blu-ray (T2) to give it all a whirl.

Out of the box the picture quality on a set typical of what most consumers will have, a 720p LCD, was just marginally better than upscaled dvd. Sound was fuller on my 5.1 system, but how many average Joes have surround sound setups?

Anyways, I figured out why the unit was returned - probably multiple times. Out of the box, the disk I picked up suffered from massive lip-sync issues. Also, load time was excessive and the experience not entirely seamless.

A firmware update fixed everything, but overall the experience embarrassing. I really can't see a lot of people caring, beyond the marketing hype.

I understand blu-ray is "better" than dvd, but I don't believe enough so to make for a sustainable format.

Take a look at Die Hard 4, Ratatoullie, Kung-Fu Panda and others, then comment again.

Added to my netflix queue, looking forward to eating my words

P.S. I do have a 1080p set in the house, but I prefer my 720p set - should I swap sets and put the bluray on the 1080p (which currently just has a upscaling dvd player)

 

[Krazy4Real]

blu-ray looks beautiful. Much better than regular dvd. I use a PS3 though to play movies, so i don't have any experience with long load times from standalone players. Blu-ray movies start just as fast as regular dvds for me.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: zinfamous
as it currently stands, BD >>>>>>>>>Broadcast HD > upscaled content >>>> Download content.

I donno... I've seen some stuff off an OTA HD broadcast on my TV that looked really, really good. I'm certainly no expert, but I'd put it closer to Blu-Ray than you did in those cases.

OTA HD does not even come close to a good bd xfer.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: zinfamous
as it currently stands, BD >>>>>>>>>Broadcast HD > upscaled content >>>> Download content.

I donno... I've seen some stuff off an OTA HD broadcast on my TV that looked really, really good. I'm certainly no expert, but I'd put it closer to Blu-Ray than you did in those cases.

Some of the HDNet stuff is pretty fantastic. I have to say though, watching Lost season 4 on Broadcast HD was nice, but then watching it on Blu-ray was it was much, much better. There was a very noticeable difference between the two at least in my viewing experience.

KT

 

[cHeeZeFacTory]

yea, like what everyone is saying, T2 is a horrible pick to audition blu ray in. I would try something like spiderman 3, wall-e, kung fu panda or other newer movies. I watched a few blu ray movies with the ps3 on a 42" 1080p sharp, and the quality is noticeably better the dvd.

 

[taltamir]

funny thing, all the complains i have seen about bluray so far are there due to the copy protection... 2 minute wait for menus? pathetic.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I think Blueray is going to be a bump in the road and be bypassed by streaming.

I think that's fairly unlikely.

TV's are already coming with built in ports for streaming.

It makes sense- no extra boxes to hook up and buy, your Internet connection is used by other things already, and in the long run it ends up being less expensive.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: taltamir
funny thing, all the complains i have seen about bluray so far are there due to the copy protection... 2 minute wait for menus? pathetic.

you wouldn't steal your grandma's purse would you?! DON'T DOWNLOAD MOVIES!!!

 

[Jeeebus]

I find Speed Racer or Cars to be excellent Blu Ray demo material. Either of them look amazing on the 60" Pio plasma.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I think Blueray is going to be a bump in the road and be bypassed by streaming.

I think that's fairly unlikely.

TV's are already coming with built in ports for streaming.

It makes sense- no extra boxes to hook up and buy, your Internet connection is used by other things already, and in the long run it ends up being less expensive.

People who want high quality are still going to want to buy the physical media. Or people without access to sufficiently fast broadband, or no access to broadband at all. Or even people who don't want to pay for sufficiently fast broadband.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: zinfamous
as it currently stands, BD >>>>>>>>>Broadcast HD > upscaled content >>>> Download content.

I donno... I've seen some stuff off an OTA HD broadcast on my TV that looked really, really good. I'm certainly no expert, but I'd put it closer to Blu-Ray than you did in those cases.

OTA HD generally is markedly better than what you get on cable/satellite broadcasts. I've used OTA and cable and comparing the major network offerings, OTA is certainly better. Again, you're still limited with broadcast compared to what you can do with BD.

but that caveat remains: it all depends on what the studios choose to do with what BD media offers. Several releases have been quite shameful, others blow anything else out of the water.

 

[PhaZe]

I think it's best if you are introduced to bluray on a display device that supports 1080p (non pc monitor).

My parents needed a new tv BADLY ( 10 year old crt anyone), so I convinced them to get the Panasonic Viera 46" Plasma.

I bought them the Panasonic DMP-BD35K 1080p Blu-ray Player for Christmas, along with Wall-E and Dark Knight.

The 55 year olds were impressed with the clarity.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: swbsam
I've held out on bothering with blu-ray for a while since HD-Streaming/downloading and directv where filling the need pretty well.

On Saturday I found a sony blu-ray player, open box (bd-s500) on sale for $149 and it was too good of deal to pass up, so I grabbed that and a cheapie blu-ray (T2) to give it all a whirl.

Out of the box the picture quality on a set typical of what most consumers will have, a 720p LCD, was just marginally better than upscaled dvd. Sound was fuller on my 5.1 system, but how many average Joes have surround sound setups?

Anyways, I figured out why the unit was returned - probably multiple times. Out of the box, the disk I picked up suffered from massive lip-sync issues. Also, load time was excessive and the experience not entirely seamless.

A firmware update fixed everything, but overall the experience embarrassing. I really can't see a lot of people caring, beyond the marketing hype.

I understand blu-ray is "better" than dvd, but I don't believe enough so to make for a sustainable format.

Take a look at Die Hard 4, Ratatoullie, Kung-Fu Panda and others, then comment again.

Added to my netflix queue, looking forward to eating my words

P.S. I do have a 1080p set in the house, but I prefer my 720p set - should I swap sets and put the bluray on the 1080p (which currently just has a upscaling dvd player)

I would say "by all means." but again, depends on the make, size, type of each set.

For example, is this 720p set a 50" Pioneer KURO? no need to watch on anything else at that size, regardless of price, maker, type, because those are generally the best HD sets in that class, all else considered (sure, the 1080p version is at least as good, just depends on your willingness to pay 1k more?...)

I'd say the viewing distance to size to resolution of set definitely holds true.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I think Blueray is going to be a bump in the road and be bypassed by streaming.

I think that's fairly unlikely.

TV's are already coming with built in ports for streaming.

It makes sense- no extra boxes to hook up and buy, your Internet connection is used by other things already, and in the long run it ends up being less expensive.

but the quality is piss poor compared to BD.

No thanks.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: zinfamous
as it currently stands, BD >>>>>>>>>Broadcast HD > upscaled content >>>> Download content.

I donno... I've seen some stuff off an OTA HD broadcast on my TV that looked really, really good. I'm certainly no expert, but I'd put it closer to Blu-Ray than you did in those cases.

Some of the HDNet stuff is pretty fantastic. I have to say though, watching Lost season 4 on Broadcast HD was nice, but then watching it on Blu-ray was it was much, much better. There was a very noticeable difference between the two at least in my viewing experience.

KT

Mad Men is apparently one of the better BDs out there, and I can say that the quality on AMC HD broadcast was pretty poor. I'd be interested to compare the difference, as it must be stunning.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: QueBert
I set up a Home Theater for a friend, we put the Matrix BlueRay in and it literily took about 2 minutes for the disc to actually get to the main menu. Is this typical for most BD movies?

I don't have that problem, then again, I have a PS3 which has significantly more processing power than a normal Blu Ray player.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
T2 is a pretty crappy transfer. I own it and it's definitely better than the upscaled DVD (wtaching in 1080P), but it still lacks. Watching something like Kill Bill would be much better. If you are unaware, I actually find this list: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316 to be pretty damn good. All of the Tier 0 movies I have seen from that list have looked stunning. Be warned though, many of the guys that participate in that thread see things I can't see on my 46" screen.

It is unfortunate when people are introduced to the format with a subpar title like this and hopefully the studios will be more careful with their releases in the future. That does seem to be the case so far, going by a lot of the newer releases, though there are still a few that come out looking sub-standard.

As for the loading time, I've never encountered that problem with my PS3. My movies are usually up and running within around 30 seconds maximum.

KT

How the hell can Planet Earth be in the third level? That series is the reason many people converted to HD.

 

[Wag]

T2 is one of the earliest Blu-Ray releases, over 2yrs old now. For good PQ/AQ I highly recommend movies like Transformers, Kung-Fu Panda, etc.

Also, the PS3 is, and has always been acknololdged to be one of the best and most reliable Blu-Ray players available. Sony always makes sure there are firmware updates available for it as soon as a problem pops up.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: chuckywang

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
T2 is a pretty crappy transfer. I own it and it's definitely better than the upscaled DVD (wtaching in 1080P), but it still lacks. Watching something like Kill Bill would be much better. If you are unaware, I actually find this list: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316 to be pretty damn good. All of the Tier 0 movies I have seen from that list have looked stunning. Be warned though, many of the guys that participate in that thread see things I can't see on my 46" screen.

It is unfortunate when people are introduced to the format with a subpar title like this and hopefully the studios will be more careful with their releases in the future. That does seem to be the case so far, going by a lot of the newer releases, though there are still a few that come out looking sub-standard.

As for the loading time, I've never encountered that problem with my PS3. My movies are usually up and running within around 30 seconds maximum.

KT

How the hell can Planet Earth be in the third level? That series is the reason many people converted to HD.

Because the PQ is not consistent. At times it is stunning, and other times it is mediocre. But that's to be expected given the harsh conditions in which some of the scenes were filmed.

It's not on tier 3 because it sucks, but because the images are not consistently stunning.

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: QueBert
I set up a Home Theater for a friend, we put the Matrix BlueRay in and it literily took about 2 minutes for the disc to actually get to the main menu. Is this typical for most BD movies?

apparently it's pretty typical for standalone bluray players at the moment. I even heard of the high end pioneer elite bd player taking a long time to load movies as well. luckily the PS3 is very snappy when it comes to BD playback