Blu-Ray just not "catching on"

[Good Will Riker]

This is my opinion:

Blu-ray is what DVD "should have been."

I went to a Virgin store tonight, and they had Blu-ray discs on sale from $19.99-$24.99 to an average disc costing $39.99. Seriously, if a decent Blu-ray disc player came down in price to $150, and since I already have an HDTV in my home, I am seriously considering upgrading to Blu-ray.

Films like the upcoming Watchmen and Star Trek XI is my impetus for upgrading to Blu-ray.

However, I am still hanging onto my DVD player for my library of DVD titles, because there are still a lot of DVD titles that simply look "unflattering" when they are upscaled to a Blu-ray player hooked up to an HDTV.

 

[jeff lebowski]

This is my opinion:

Blu-ray is what DVD "should have been."

I went to a Virgin store tonight, and they had Blu-ray discs on sale from $19.99-$24.99 to an average disc costing $39.99. Seriously, if a decent Blu-ray disc player came down in price to $150, and since I already have an HDTV in my home, I am seriously considering upgrading to Blu-ray.

Films like the upcoming Watchmen and Star Trek XI is my impetus for upgrading to Blu-ray.

However, I am still hanging onto my DVD player for my library of DVD titles, because there are still a lot of DVD titles that simply look "unflattering" when they are upscaled to a Blu-ray player hooked up to an HDTV.

You can buy DVD's and Blu-Rays cheaper on the net. Amazon is usually a good place to start.

I'm suprised most people haven't caught on on how much cheaper things are on the net.

 

[RoJoHen]

^I just enjoy going to stores, and I don't like waiting for things to get shipped to me. I'm an impulsive shopper, so when I want to buy something, I want to own it then and there.

 

[Good Will Riker]

This is my opinion:

Blu-ray is what DVD "should have been."

I went to a Virgin store tonight, and they had Blu-ray discs on sale from $19.99-$24.99 to an average disc costing $39.99. Seriously, if a decent Blu-ray disc player came down in price to $150, and since I already have an HDTV in my home, I am seriously considering upgrading to Blu-ray.

Films like the upcoming Watchmen and Star Trek XI is my impetus for upgrading to Blu-ray.

However, I am still hanging onto my DVD player for my library of DVD titles, because there are still a lot of DVD titles that simply look "unflattering" when they are upscaled to a Blu-ray player hooked up to an HDTV.

You can buy DVD's and Blu-Rays cheaper on the net. Amazon is usually a good place to start.

I'm suprised most people haven't caught on on how much cheaper things are on the net.

As my credit card bills are high enough as it is, it would be best for me to find those great in-store deals (Which ACE mentioned upthread) on Blu-ray discs such as Fry's and pay cash for those purchases directly.

 

[Harvey]

Unless there is a mass shift to ultra high rez material (how many people other than Peter Jackson use Red One cameras on a regular basis?) then I doubt we'd see any commercial products for a while.

In TV, you're absolutely right, nobody is shooting past regular 1080p HD video.

But in the cinema, most of which is still shot on film, you're looking at resolutions that are going to remain far and beyond the capabilities of Blu-Ray. I mean, damn, The Dark Knight had whole sequences in IMAX. The amount of detail that format has over HD is astounding.

Not that it will matter on a tiny TV screen. You're going to reach a certain point for most people where higher resolution doesn't matter any more.

 

[firehawk12]

Like I mentioned above, there's already an 8k transfer of a film out there now. I guess at the home theatre level, it probably doesn't matter though.

 

[hamudm]

Walking into this conversation late in the game, maybe my thoughts have already been covered. But I got to say, I just don't see the big deal for Blu-Ray. After all, a standard DVD already has superior picture, better than VHS, television and even the movie theatre itself. This is esentially perfection in an entertainment medium. Are people really obsessed with some form of uber perfection that they would want to make improvements on top of that.

http://www.mkpe.com/digital_cinema/faqs.php#available

Standard Resolution Aspect Ratio Pixels
Academy 4K 3656 × 2664 1.37:1 9,739,584

Digital cinema 4K 4096 × 1714 2.39:1 7,020,544
3996 × 2160 1.85:1 8,631,360

Academy 2K 1828 × 1332 1.37:1 2,434,896

Digital Cinema 2K 2048 × 858 2.39:1 1,757,184
1998 × 1080 1.85:1 2,157,840

Standard DVD (NTSC) -- 720 X 480

If you managed to get your hands on a 3656 X 2664 SD DVD player, then f'n-A!

 

[hamudm]

I'm sure it's "good enough" for you which is fine... I mean to each his/her own. But trying to convince (I'm not accusing you, but just some people in general) that blu-ray is not a significant upgrade from DVD worth investing in, seems kinda ignorant to me.

Well you do know that if HD-DVD had won he'd be all over this board supporting it, right?

Also, have you read the posts by some people on this board who like to stretch out their 4:3 pictures to fill their widescreen HDTVs? It's sort of the same mindset there.

lol. I remember I used to sell TV's, DVD players, etc... Anyway, one day I sell a guy a brand new 40+" LCD tv (pretty bitchin' at that time) and a DVD player... he went and bought a "Fullscreen" DVD with it. When I told him that it would look distorted, he gave me the finger and walked off.

 

[RoJoHen]

He bought a 40" TV and still bought a Full Screen DVD? That's pretty dumb.

 

[PKerr]

I'm sure it's "good enough" for you which is fine... I mean to each his/her own. But trying to convince (I'm not accusing you, but just some people in general) that blu-ray is not a significant upgrade from DVD worth investing in, seems kinda ignorant to me.

Well you do know that if HD-DVD had won he'd be all over this board supporting it, right?

Also, have you read the posts by some people on this board who like to stretch out their 4:3 pictures to fill their widescreen HDTVs? It's sort of the same mindset there.

No I wouldn't and I happen to have an HD-DVD player so there.

 

[Borg451]

few things..

they have shit packaging. its fucking blue! and the wrong size

they are caleld 'blu-ray' like Blu-tac

you have to pay for them, which is long! you can DL films of the same quality..

 

[hamudm]

few things..

they have shit packaging. its fucking blue! and the wrong size

they are caleld 'blu-ray' like Blu-tac

you have to pay for them, which is long! you can DL films of the same quality..

The packaging is just as sturdy as DVD, AND is smaller, thus taking up less shelf space.

As for downloading HD content --

a) it's illegal (most of the time)
b) with most bandwidth speed limitations and download caps, it's prohibitively slow and expensive to download an HD movie. Guaranteed, it will remain this way for the next, AT LEAST, 6-10 years.
c) DVD isn't a much better name than "blu-ray"

 

[Haggis and tatties]

^^^HD movies are at this time very down loadable, 720p movies come in at between 4/5 gig and are indistinguishable from a actual HD movies playing off a HD-DVD disc....my bro has the HD-DVD drive and most of the HD-DVD released, and has ripped them all to a format that he can stick on his PS3 and watch in all their glorious high definition, and I'm sure the irony of him watching his HD-DVD on his PS3 wont be lost on people, i sure had a chuckle about it, plus add to that the HD moves he has also downloaded on his 20gig during uncapped times, most of which are again between 4/5 gig and once again indistinguable from having the actual HD-DVD in the drive.

I was very very skeptical that you could ever watch a HD movie this way until he brought the whole lot up on his dual layered DVDs and copied them over onto my PS3, i was gobsmacked at the quality, truly gobsmacked.

 

[hamudm]

^^^HD movies are at this time very down loadable, 720p movies come in at between 4/5 gig and are indistinguishable from a actual HD movies playing off a HD-DVD disc....my bro has the HD-DVD drive and most of the HD-DVD released, and has ripped them all to a format that he can stick on his PS3 and watch in all their glorious high definition, and I'm sure the irony of him watching his HD-DVD on his PS3 wont be lost on people, i sure had a chuckle about it, plus add to that the HD moves he has also downloaded on his 20gig during uncapped times, most of which are again between 4/5 gig and once again indistinguable from having the actual HD-DVD in the drive.

I was very very skeptical that you could ever watch a HD movie this way until he brought the whole lot up on his dual layered DVDs and copied them over onto my PS3, i was gobsmacked at the quality, truly gobsmacked.

Of course us geeks can do it. I mean I could go download a movie right now if I wanted to. But firstly, I don't know of any legal sources where I can download and then "rip" to disc an HD movie... correct me if I'm wrong please. Is this viable for mass market? Nope. Your average person doesn't want to be mucking around with ripping and cables (I love HDMI! ).

Secondly, 720p is noticeably of lower quality than 1080p resolution. Don't tell me you can't tell the difference. Also you aren't getting HD sound out of these sources most likely. No thanks, I'm sticking to my blu-rays and hd-dvds. Heck, I just bought a second hd-dvd player the other day for $50 bucks and I've bought half of my hd-dvd's for $5 NEW. A good chunk of the rest in the $10 region (I have around 100 hd-dvds). So I'm not complaining

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I cant complain, I'm sitting here with a PS3 full of HD ripped HD-DVD movies that look absolutely jaw dropping in their quality.......not bad for nothing......OK i bought my Bro a 500gig HD for his PS3 but that's not bad for the collection of rips from his now defunct HD-DVD collection.

As for quality i have one BR box set, the Spider-man trilogy, and yes the detail is better than 720p, but its not so much better that i would want to rush out and spend big bucks on 1080p movies.

But hey I'm still sitting here with a Video/DVD hybrid collection......only when i can by BR movies for under £10 will i consider replacing all my video and DVD movies.

My only exception to that rule is the Original Star trek series on Br.....i want that on release and will pay whatever to have it.

 

[Hicks]

I made the jump to BD a couple months ago when I got a 42" Plasma, and I don't regret it at all. I'm very happy with BD.

 

[TheBrew]

The visual quality upgrade just isn't quite there for me to want to upgrade. From the viewing distance I have, DVDs look great on my 42" LCD. When I am three feet or closer, they look bad, but my couch is a good 6-8 feet away. I have watched high-def movies on the TV and they do look great, but not great enough to really want to go and upgrade.

 

[hamudm]

I cant complain, I'm sitting here with a PS3 full of HD ripped HD-DVD movies that look absolutely jaw dropping in their quality.......not bad for nothing......OK i bought my Bro a 500gig HD for his PS3 but that's not bad for the collection of rips from his now defunct HD-DVD collection.

I never understood when people said this. Your hd-dvd discs are still fine. I just bought a second player for 50 bucks just in case something happens to my first one. I can continue to enjoy HD playback at now firesale prices

As for quality i have one BR box set, the Spider-man trilogy, and yes the detail is better than 720p, but its not so much better that i would want to rush out and spend big bucks on 1080p movies.

But hey I'm still sitting here with a Video/DVD hybrid collection......only when i can by BR movies for under £10 will i consider replacing all my video and DVD movies.

My only exception to that rule is the Original Star trek series on Br.....i want that on release and will pay whatever to have it.

Whatever works for you I have the HD-DVD release of TOS season 1 and it is REMARKABLE. Here's hoping that subsequent seasons are released on blu-ray I know it's next to impossible since they recorded the VFX on video, but TNG/DS9 would be my wet dream to have in HD

 

[bigdaddy]

Why would I spend $250 (at the very least) for a player, and $30 for movies when I can buy a $20 DVD player and the same movie for $5-$15?

I bought a $35 DVD player in May 2004, it's still going strong.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I haven't switched to Blu-Ray because I still haven't bought an HDTV. It's one of those things I want to do "someday," but I refuse to go into debt for it, and after working so hard to build up my savings, I'm having a hard time with the idea of walking in and slapping down a couple of grand for one. Then I think of re-buying movies in my collection, paying more for HD programming, and being annoyed with channels that don't come in HD, and I'm not sure it's worth it.

So while I can finally get one, I kind of don't want to. It looks great in the stores, but when I'm watching a DVD at home on my regular flat-screen TV, I'm not exactly thinking, "This looks like crap!" Some part of me still marvels that it's so much sharper than VHS.