Will blu-ray play on an HD monitor?

[Starfleet Engineer]

I recently bought a new computer and a 22 inch HD monitor. I've noticed that Empire Strikes Back doesn't look as good on it as on my TV. I looked on the ESB case and it says it was done in 16:9. Can most HD monitors be adjusted to make non-HD DVDs look good? Also, will blu-ray DVDs run on an HD monitor?

[FordSVT]

Are they actually marketing computer monitors as "HD" now?

I'm not exactly sure about what you're asking.... the 16:9 ratio has nothing to do with whether or not it's in HD resolution or not. Computer monitors have been able to display at higher resolutions than 1080p for 20 years. If you have a Blu ray player in your computer it will certainly display Blu ray movies, otherwise why would they put it in your computer?

As to the picture quality, two things: you can't expect a 22" monitor that probably cost the manufacturer $60 to make to look as good as your Samsung 40" LCD HDTV or whatever you're comparing it to. Also, your computer no doubt allows you the capability (probably through the display settings of your video card since it's a new computer) to adjust the contrast, colour, brightness, etc. of your monitor. Right out of the box with the factory setting it's going to look really pale and a bit washed out because that's how people like it when they browse the Internet or use various applications, because otherwise the whites on the screen will burn your eyes out.

[clint g]

Are they actually marketing computer monitors as "HD" now?

Indeed they are. It confused me the first time I saw it as well.

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, video cards and sound cards now come marked as "HD," too. Because 1920x1080 is so high-res nowadays!! Not sure what qualifies as "HD" audio, though. 96KHz?

[FordSVT]

I have a 16 year old "HD monitor" in my basement then, I should try to sell it to a stupid neighbour as a home entertainment solution.

[Arrqh]

It's not completely just marketing... I'd expect any monitor or video card labeled "HD" to also support HDCP over DVI, which older hardware doesn't. And you'd need that to play Bluray content.

[Starfleet Engineer]

OK, I don't know the terminology or technology of monitors, so I'm probably using the wrong words and asking the wrong question. Let me try again.

On YouTube, you get the option of clicking on 360p, 480p, and 720p and sometimes 1080, I believe. I'm assuming you choose one of these settings depending on what your monitor can handle and/or because of what setting the video was recorded in. Again, I don't know. What I'm wondering is if these YouTube options are available on most monitors. I quickly went through the buttons on my new monitor and didn't see it, but I didn't go through all the menus. So, when I played a DVD of Empire Strikes Back (which picture is high quality on my non-HD TV) and it looked like I was watching an old VHS tape of it on the monitor, I was wondering if monitors allow you to adjust down to 480p or something to make it look better. Am I full of crap or is that something you can do with monitors?

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Arrqh wrote:

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It's not completely just marketing... I'd expect any monitor or video card labeled "HD" to also support HDCP over DVI, which older hardware doesn't. And you'd need that to play Bluray content.

Can you get around that restriction with AnyDVD HD?

http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html

[RoJoHen]

Starfleet Engineer wrote:

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On YouTube, you get the option of clicking on 360p, 480p, and 720p and sometimes 1080, I believe. I'm assuming you choose one of these settings depending on what your monitor can handle and/or because of what setting the video was recorded in.

In the case of YouTube, I think those options are more to do with what your internet connection can handle, not your monitor. The higher resolution, the better the picture, the more bandwidth is needed to watch them.

[clint g]

RoJoHen wrote:

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In the case of YouTube, I think those options are more to do with what your internet connection can handle, not your monitor. The higher resolution, the better the picture, the more bandwidth is needed to watch them.

Yeppers. Let's say you play a video thats 1080p but your monitors resolution isnt set that high. All that will happen is the clip will be adjusted to fit your screen. It'll still look nice

[Hermiod]

RoJoHen wrote:

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In the case of YouTube, I think those options are more to do with what your internet connection can handle, not your monitor. The higher resolution, the better the picture, the more bandwidth is needed to watch them.

That depends on the original video more than anything else. They won't offer you the 1080p option if you uploaded a video from a cheap mobile phone.

[farmkid]

Starfleet Engineer wrote:

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OK, I don't know the terminology or technology of monitors, so I'm probably using the wrong words and asking the wrong question. Let me try again.

On YouTube, you get the option of clicking on 360p, 480p, and 720p and sometimes 1080, I believe. I'm assuming you choose one of these settings depending on what your monitor can handle and/or because of what setting the video was recorded in. Again, I don't know. What I'm wondering is if these YouTube options are available on most monitors. I quickly went through the buttons on my new monitor and didn't see it, but I didn't go through all the menus. So, when I played a DVD of Empire Strikes Back (which picture is high quality on my non-HD TV) and it looked like I was watching an old VHS tape of it on the monitor, I was wondering if monitors allow you to adjust down to 480p or something to make it look better. Am I full of crap or is that something you can do with monitors?

If it looks like it's being displayed at low resolution, (VHS-like, as you describe), it may well be an HDCP problem, as someone else mentioned above. HDCP is the encryption scheme used for HD content. I haven't payed attention to this for a while, but I remember a big deal being made of it back when the first HDCP-compliant video cards and monitors were being sold. In order to display HDCP-protected content, everything in the chain, from the Blu-Ray drive to the monitor must support HCDP. So, if your video card or monitor is older and doesn't support it, or if you're using a VGA cable instead of a DVI cable, the video will be down-sampled to 480p.

Have you tried any other Blu-Ray movies? If not, I suggest you try that. If they also look bad, you may need to upgrade your video card or monitor, or see if there is a workaround.

[Jim Steele]

Pretty sick of the snooty "we've had HD for years!" attitude of a certain group of nerds. Yes, fine, wonderful - but tell me, where did you get your 1080p content in the 90s? Anyone? No? Aye.

[Hermiod]

Jim Steele wrote:

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Pretty sick of the snooty "we've had HD for years!" attitude of a certain group of nerds. Yes, fine, wonderful - but tell me, where did you get your 1080p content in the 90s? Anyone? No? Aye.

I've noticed this in a few threads today. What's with the sudden wave of people calling other TrekBBSers 'nerds' ?

No offence Jim, but a phrase about pots and kettles springs to mind. Most of us here are nerds, myself included. I thought the point of this board was to get away from labels like that.

[Lindley]

http://www.xkcd.com/732/