[POLL] Do you own a Blu-Ray player?

[zulueta]

Old Fashioned

I still owned the old fashioned DVD player. If that's what you call it. LOL. For now, I can't afford the Blu-ray player because it is costly.

 

[KnightWRX]

At 100$, I have a hard time believing any Mac users would find a Blu-ray player "costly".

I have 2 Blu-ray players. My PS3 hooked up to the 42 incher 1080p 120 hz set and a LG stand-alone hooked up to an older Sony 32 inch 720p set. The best part of Blu-ray is you don't have to "upgrade" your entire catalog of titles since those players still play DVDs.

 

[senseless]

The quality of older releases on Blu-Ray is not as spectacular as new movies. These films are usually not remastered to take full advantage of the new technology.

 

[QuarterSwede]

The quality of older releases on Blu-Ray is not as spectacular as new movies. These films are usually not remastered to take full advantage of the new technology.

That's why you check the reviews on older movies on BluRay first. The Ten Commandments, for example, is an utterly amazing remaster on BluRay (they scanned it in 6K).

 

[iLucas]

As with several other people here, I use my PS3 to play blu-rays.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

I have a Blu-Ray player (a PS3), but no movies on Blu-Ray.

 

[applefan289]

I have a Blu-ray player, but use Comcast On Demand now.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Yet another PS3 owner here. Sometimes used for watching rented Blu-Rays but nowadays I mainly watch downloaded Blu-Ray rips (we don't have to go through that piracy discussions again, please).

Then don't mention it. Can you realistically not expect a reaction when you say you steal stuff?

 

[flopticalcube]

Got one last black Friday to go along with the new 1080p set. The picture quality is much improved over DVD but, for me, the major advancement was in the transition to digital so the differences are not as big. I had a nice VHS deck but when I went to a DVD the differences were large, particularly when I got the EDTV plasma which was ideal for DVD. On BD, it's more the pixel detail although there is also additional color detail as well. I decided that now was the time as I had the tv, a TrueHD capable amp and DVD/BD combo packs were being priced close to DVD. I still need DVD for the portable players but only for select movies. Oddly enough, I find I'm not using the BD as much as I thought I would; usually only for blockbusters and the like. This has only been made worse with the addition of Netflix but since my Internet is capped, I feel I'll still be using the player for a while.

Tl;dr: it's nice, but not essential to me.

 

[Nishi100]

I have a PS3.

 

[Hellhammer]

Then don't mention it. Can you realistically not expect a reaction when you say you steal stuff?

So far you are the only one who has seriously reacted.

 

[samiwas]

And if YOU ACTUALLY READ MY POST you would see that at NO POINT did I say there was no difference between DVD and Blu-Ray just that it wasn`t like the MASSIVE leap from VHS.

Perhaps it`s YOUR eyes that need checking.

To say the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray is Night and Day is just ridiculous.

Flame on...time will prove me right, as the sales figures already are

It was proven before this post that the difference between blu-ray and DVD is far bigger than the difference between DVD and VHS. I actually read your post, and your claim was false.

I own a blu-ray player, and I can assure you that the difference is massive. If you are watching on a 42" TV or some other small screen...OF COURSE the difference will be barely noticeable, and not worth the upgrade. I watch movies usually on a 100" projection screen. I assure you the difference is VERY noticeable. From the quality of the image to the quality of the sound, it's all much better. Plus, I have found that blu-ray has much better special features. I'm as interested in the special features as I am in the movie, so streaming isn't as big for me.

The reason Blu-Ray hasn't taken off like DVD did (even though it took years for DVD to become a big seller), is that there are many more ways to acquire media nowadays, and because many haven't gotten the larger screen needed to fully appreciate it. Back then, you had VHS and DVD, maybe LaserDisc if you were a real hipster. Now, you have DVD, BD, NetFlix, Hulu, RedBox, iTunes, Pirating...so many more source choices.

Blu-Ray is sort of expensive, which is why it isn't taking off. The general crowd might not care about super high quality, while there are those out there that do. Just as I don't care if my car has 14 speakers and 7 subwoofers and can be heard across the city, some people want that. Some people are fine with Apple earbuds, some will only wear two grapefruits on their head so they can hear ever nuance of their Lady Gaga.

 

[bobr1952]

Blue ray is THE current reference standard for movies--there is nothing better for the home theater--so if you want to watch movies with true 1080p/24 and lossless audio--Blu Ray is it.

 

[flopticalcube]

It was proven before this post that the difference between blu-ray and DVD is far bigger than the difference between DVD and VHS. I actually read your post, and your claim was false.

actually, nothing was proven. Greater resolution increase is not the whole story, not by a long shot. The transition from analog to digital has a much bigger impact, IMO.

I own a blu-ray player, and I can assure you that the difference is massive. If you are watching on a 42" TV or some other small screen...OF COURSE the difference will be barely noticeable, and not worth the upgrade. I watch movies usually on a 100" projection screen. I assure you the difference is VERY noticeable. From the quality of the image to the quality of the sound, it's all much better.

It's not just screen size and resolution but viewing distance as well. Most people will be judging BD based on standard set sizes in the the 32-60" range. Depending on your viewing distance, this can have either a dramatic impact or no impact whatsoever.

Plus, I have found that blu-ray has much better special features. I'm as interested in the special features as I am in the movie, so streaming isn't as big for me.

Hmmm... BDLive is a big disappointment for me. I'd rather waste the bandwidth on streaming. Some BD disks do have lots of extra special features which a movie buff might enjoy.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I do not have a blu-ray player.

 

[chrmjenkins]

So far you are the only one who has seriously reacted.

Because it's OT. I wasn't reacting to what you said, I was reacting to your expectation that you can say that without a reaction.

 

[mrsir2009]

Yet another PS3 owner here. Sometimes used for watching rented Blu-Rays but nowadays I mainly watch downloaded Blu-Ray rips (we don't have to go through that piracy discussions again, please).

Don't worry, I pirate TV shows then burn them to disks too Fox is too greedy.

Sadly though in September a new piracy law comes into effect here

CDs are still being sold even though you have been able to download them for years

Really... Do music CDs still exist? I've downloaded music ever since, well, forever.

 

[dmr727]

We have one for the living room. It's a small (but noticeable) improvement over HD via cable, and a pretty substantial improvement over DVD. That said, the quality of upscaled DVD isn't that bad, so we're not rushing out to replace our DVD collection. Heck, most of the time content is being streamed from the ATV anyway.

So we have one, but it spends most of its time upscaling DVDs, showing off the entertainment system, or playing a Blu-Ray disc that someone brought over.

 

[Hellhammer]

Really... Do music CDs still exist? I've downloaded music ever since, well, forever.

Definitely. There are still plenty of stores that sell solely CDs. Even though I torrent my videos, I still buy CDs occasionally.

While that is not 2011, it's pretty recent. I'm actually surprised how many physical CDs were sold back then. While the numbers may now be below 20%, it's still a big market, especially when considering how many people don't even pay for their music according to that graph

 

[lostngone]

I am also in the PS3 section...

If it was in the PS3 I would not have one. I have watched exactly 1 Blu-Ray movie on it.

 

[torbjoern]

PS3 here too.

 

[Jazwire]

Yes, DVD looks like crap on anything over 35".

 

[Nermal]

Yes, I have a cheap region-free Blu-ray player. The picture quality isn't as good as my old HD DVD player, but I have no doubts that that's due to the player quality rather than the format itself. It's still leaps and bounds better than DVD.

 

[Brien]

I've had one for a couple of years, and had an HD DVD player before that. Most people I know don't care, even if they can see the difference, but I appreciate the quality upgrade. I have a 52" TV though, I think on smaller sets it's not worth the upgrade.

 

[mrsir2009]

One feature I really miss from good old VHS tapes was the ability to tape anything off regular TV onto a blank tape using your standard VHS cassete player. And you can tape over things as many times as you like Man, I miss tapes. Here in NZ we were using them standard up until a few years ago. I remember when the local Video Ezy were selling all their old VHS tapes for next to nothing when they were replacing them with DVDs. I brought a ton