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I don't get all the hype about Blu-ray

eawmp1 said:
And most people can't hear (or don't care about) the difference between audio from a CD or in compressed format from an iPod. Only true videophiles are passionate about Blu-Ray. DVD, were adopted because there WAS a huge step-up from VHS in terms of quality. And DVD's were smaller than tapes and more durable.

Blu-Ray offers marginal increases in quality most people can't appreciate. This increase does not offset the cost of having to get a new player, nor the convenience of digital media. Blu-Ray will never take root before digital takes it over.
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Well said.

I think there's a big difference, but I'm into details like that. Most people don't give a rat's a$$ about this sort of thing and for them it's not worth the cost of upgrading their DVD collection.

IMO, Blu-Ray discs should be that same cost as DVD discs. What the hell? It's just greed, I think. They're still selling this tech as a luxury instead of the new standard. That is why it will not catch on with everyone before digital takes it over.
 
Lee, I understand your point.

Others have made interesting contributions to the thread.

IMHO, there was a huge difference between VHS and DVD, both in quality and features. With DVD their were more lines, you could easily skip to anywhere in the movie in a short time. So many benefits.

BluRay is better no doubt about that. But is there enough of a difference between DVD and BluRay to justify upgrading? I would venture to say, that for many, it's not.

I remember the vinyl folks saying that CDs would never take hold. And now we have portable formats such as ACC and MP3 that for most people are plenty good. Convenience over sound quality. Convenience is the key.

I see video going the same way. The iTMS, for example, makes it so easy and convenient to decide to rent a movie at any time from any where with Internet access. Which is more important? Convenience or quality of the video. For most, as long as the video is decent, convenience rules.

Another issue to consider is storage space. Would I rather have 1 HD movie or 3 SH movies? Is the quality of the HD worth the increased storage requirements? Again, I would say for many it's not worth it. This is especially true for those who like to carry their movies and TV shows via an iPod, iPhone or iPad.

As with everything, time will tell.
 
miles01110 said:
Depending on how large your TV is the difference is a bit more noticeable, but that entire format war between HD-DVD and BluRay was an exercise in corporate retardation. In 10 years nobody is going to buy a BluRay disc.
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Fixed that for you. Unless bandwidth increases and if people start to rely on computers to get there content, disc media is not going any where soon.

If you have the right size screen and the right hardware to take advantage of the sound and video then you will see a difference. Will ALL the movies be better looking? Nope. That is one of the big grips some of the folks are having. The studio's are putting out sub par discs.
 
I was lucky enough to pick up an ex-demo Sharp Blu-Ray player for only £30 at the weekend. :cool:

I'm suitably impressed with the picture quality from the Band of Brothers box set which are the only Blu-Rays I've currently got.

I'm nearly as impressed by how much improved the picture quality is from DVDs up-scaled to 1080P by the Blu-Ray player.
 
eawmp1 said:
And most people can't hear (or don't care about) the difference between audio from a CD or in compressed format from an iPod. Only true videophiles are passionate about Blu-Ray. DVD, were adopted because there WAS a huge step-up from VHS in terms of quality. And DVD's were smaller than tapes and more durable.

Blu-Ray offers marginal increases in quality most people can't appreciate. This increase does not offset the cost of having to get a new player, nor the convenience of digital media. Blu-Ray will never take root before digital takes it over.
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+1

Its mostly about your love for it!
I can tell DVD and bluray a mile off! And dont even get me started about compressed video... eughh :D
 
The price of admission for enjoying (not just watching) streamed/digital rental movies is quite high, higher than your BR player. You need: fast internet ($), AppleTV/HTPC ($$) and these rentals aren't exactly cheap either. Plus the quality is somewhere between DVD and 720p mkv's.

But that's getting OT. We need to wait for Lee to get back, bigger TV, big sound system is what you really need to enjoy it.

Everyone has a benchmark to which they compare. For me unfortunately it's UP, and everything is at most par with UP. Convenience will always be a factor, but if I'm at home and I can plan what I want to watch, only the highest quality will suffice. But on the road, in a casual environment, iPhone/iPad, laptop, there are diminishing returns there. (that's still OT isn't it?)
 
I can see the difference BIGTIME. With DVD's on a 1080p screen I can sometimes see compression in dark areas (blocks), and overall seems a bit blurry with less contrast and vibrancy as compared to BlueRay. Higher resolution is a double-edged sword, as I sometimes find myself distracted by silly things like noticing you can see every wrinkle, pore, and makeup caked on an actors/actresses face. Just glad I haven't spotted any nose hairs yet. ;)

As for BlueRay vs. DVD's, it is a moot point for me. I believe movies and TV shows will become more-so digitally distributed. You can already purchase HD movies and TV shows on iTunes.
 
jwl said:
http://www.zonadvd.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=804

http://www.zonadvd.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=761

http://www.zonadvd.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=749
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Yeah, I just love the quality of blu-ray. I have a plasma tv and a blu-ray player and some of the shots look almost three dimensional when they're displayed. For some it may be just a minor upgrade which is fine but to me its a very nice upgrade.

I won't replace my whole dvd collection with the BR titles, I do mostly netflix. I can't justify $30-$40 for a movie I'll watch just a few times. I do have a few of my favorites on blu-ray though.

Also the sound quality has so much more "umpf" to it. Someone may have a technical term for that. :)
 
There's a noticeable difference, but it's not big enough to get my lazy butt to the store and spend money - especially when I know that it's merely a stopgap technology until bandwidth makes 1080p downloadable content commonplace.
 
I notice a big difference, and I've only got 720p.

In particular any scene that has fast motion has vastly greater clarity on BR.

Ninja Assassin is so dark you can't see anything, much less a difference between the two formats. This is only a theory, there's no way I could sit through that twice to compare properly. :p

For me though, the clincher is the sound. Even on an old 5.1 system like mine the difference in sound between BR and regular DVD is unmistakable.
 
sushi said:
BluRay is better no doubt about that. But is there enough of a difference between DVD and BluRay to justify upgrading? I would venture to say, that for many, it's not.
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Indeed.

There is a world of difference between DVD quality and BR quality. Those who claim their is no difference either needs their eyes check or are lying. That's like saying that an iMac is just as good as a Mac Pro.:rolleyes:
The difference is not enough for me to justify the upgrade cost. But every time I walk by the 50 incher playing a Blu-Ray movie at Fry's, I can't help marveling at the quality.
 
Mousse said:
Those who claim their is no difference either needs their eyes check or are lying.
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Has ANYONE said this?

Mousse said:
The difference is not enough for me to justify the upgrade cost. But every time I walk by the 50 incher playing a Blu-Ray movie at Fry's, I can't help marveling at the quality.
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+1...the cost to upgrade isn't worth it to me, especially when I have OTA network HD and AppleTV HD at my fingertips. Sure the quality is nice, but it's not the end-all, be-all for me...the extras that BR promises over what I know have don't have me racing to the store just yet. :rolleyes:
 
sammich said:
The price of admission for enjoying (not just watching) streamed/digital rental movies is quite high, higher than your BR player. You need: fast internet ($), AppleTV/HTPC ($$) and these rentals aren't exactly cheap either. Plus the quality is somewhere between DVD and 720p mkv's.

But that's getting OT. We need to wait for Lee to get back, bigger TV, big sound system is what you really need to enjoy it.

Everyone has a benchmark to which they compare. For me unfortunately it's UP, and everything is at most par with UP. Convenience will always be a factor, but if I'm at home and I can plan what I want to watch, only the highest quality will suffice. But on the road, in a casual environment, iPhone/iPad, laptop, there are diminishing returns there. (that's still OT isn't it?)
Click to expand...

I have a Sony surround sound system, which is pretty good. As for getting a bigger TV, not likely to happen in the city. Anything bigger than what I have is just not going to work in my apartment, and I have a pretty big apartment. I just don't need a TV taking it over.

But like sushi said, I think convenience is going to win eventually. I don't see Blu-ray being nearly as big as DVD was when it came out. It's just not enough of a difference for most people.

Mousse said:
Indeed.

There is a world of difference between DVD quality and BR quality. Those who claim their is no difference either needs their eyes check or are lying. That's like saying that an iMac is just as good as a Mac Pro.:rolleyes:
The difference is not enough for me to justify the upgrade cost. But every time I walk by the 50 incher playing a Blu-Ray movie at Fry's, I can't help marveling at the quality.
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I never said there was no difference. No one here did. It's just not enough of a difference for me to care about it all that much.
 
leekohler said:
I never said there was no difference. No one here did. It's just not enough of a difference for me to care about it all that much.
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And this brings me back to my point. The studio's are not pushing the content up they are just pushing it out. If you look at the Pixar discs, they are outstanding. But then you come back to say a movie like "Dreamscape" and it is really no better then the DVD version.

Pirates is good
Lord of the Rings series is good, however it is being noted that disc one is a little soft compared to the other two.
Pixar movies are some of the best.
Avatar, I haven't heard to much about yet.
Gone with the wind
Wizard of Oz
 
leekohler said:
I will. I liked Up a lot, so I'll probably watch that.
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The Up Blu-ray set includes a DVD disc as well. What I did was pop that into my Xbox 360 and A/B'ed a scene at a time between the DVD and the Blu-ray. Visually and aurally, the Blu-ray disc is, I would say, 35% superior to the DVD. It's a somewhat marginal improvement, but it is an improvement.

Watch an HD television channel for a few minutes. Then turn on The Dark Knight. The audio is markedly clearer and the picture looks noticeably more defined.

Just my $0.02
 
leekohler said:
I never said there was no difference. No one here did. It's just not enough of a difference for me to care about it all that much.
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I wonder if age has something to do with this too. When I was in college, I'd happily spend all my money on a BR player, discs, a kick ass sound system - then head to Home Depot and purchase some plywood and cinder blocks to fashion a ghetto TV stand for it all.

These days I can't be bothered to purchase a BR player or rear speakers, but will happily walk out of a Pottery Barn with an overpriced TV stand that I figure goes well with my couch. :)
 
leekohler said:
30", which is a decent sized TV. We were watching Ninja Assassin, which I expected to look much better than some of the older ones we watched. Honestly? Not that big of a difference.

But maybe because it's not 40" or larger is why.
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That could have to do with some of it. I have a 52" TV and I can tell a big difference between DVD and Blu-ray. It also depends on how close you are to the TV too. If you are 15 feet away, it's hard to notice any pixelation. If you are 5 feet away, it's easy to see it.
 
dmr727 said:
I wonder if age has something to do with this too. When I was in college, I'd happily spend all my money on a BR player, discs, a kick ass sound system - then head to Home Depot and purchase some plywood and cinder blocks to fashion a ghetto TV stand for it all.

These days I can't be bothered to purchase a BR player or rear speakers, but will happily walk out of a Pottery Barn with an overpriced TV stand that I figure goes well with my couch. :)
Click to expand...

Could be. But I'm pretty geeky about this stuff. I guess I'm just disappointed after all the hype. I expected too much.
 
I dont know what you guys are seeing when you look at blu ray, but the difference is monumental vs a DVD, on my 54" 1080p 120hz samusung, pop in the Blu Ray then pop in the DVD and everyone in the world will see the large difference, and the cost isnt that much at all, your on a mac site complaining about cost? that makes no sense, cant justify the cost, i mean SERIOUSLY!
 
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