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Topic: Blu- Disc not catching on?
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Christopher Way
Film Handler
Posts: 51
From: Bournemouth, England
Registered: Oct 2008
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posted November 07, 2008 04:43 AM
Dare I come in here, . Personally, having read up on Blue Ray when it was brought onto the market, I felt it really had not advantages to anyone except the retailer. The name Blue Ray is only taken from the fact that the player has a blue ray (violet coloured) strobe, rather than the normal red. The discs are the same, but by using a costly BD Disc, and a costly BD Player up to an HD TV is really no different than using a normal DVD Player, through an HDMI Lead into your television. The latter is what brings it in to play I believe. I have a Toshibi LCD 1920 x 1080 which again, in my opinion gives the same result as one would get with BD.
In theory, the BD can store more data information than a normal DVD, upto 6 times the capacity. This obviously allows more data to enhance the production viewing of the BD, but one has to have the associated equipment withit. Myself and friends have viewed a BD Disc through a large projector on to a drop down screen 8 x 4. Again, we saw no difference in playing the same disc but a normal DVD.
This is probably what is holding up sales of the BD Disc and the equipment. One goes to the Electrical Retailers, such as Comet, and you are told that normal HD Equipment with HDMI, and the sales of normal DVDs are up on BD Discs and equipment.
The snag arises when such studios as Warner Brothers, as of March this year will only release films on BD. This in my mind could have the problem of forcing people to change, when they have perfectly good equipment.
A bit like Sky and Virgin telling people they need there systems for the change over to digital, when it can be put through a normal aerial upgraded, or at the most a digital box.
Regards, Chris
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 07, 2008 10:14 AM
and then, there is a 1080p regular DVD players. The day after Thanksgiving, Radio Shack (locally) is selling the up-converting to 1080p regular DVD players for 29.00 dollars! I've seen these players hooked up to a Hi Def TV (with regular DVD and up-converting DVD player side by side, and there is a nice difference, which leads me to honestly say, what's the point at getting the Blur-ray anytime soon?
That, and there really has to be enough films out there to actually buy on Blu-Ray for me. I rarely see films that I would shell out the bucks for these days. Indiana Jones 4 was the first one (new films, not classics), that I have bought in almost a year!
Perhaps, sooner or later, everything will shift to Blu-Ray, but until then, I see no need to.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Rob Young.
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1633
From: Cheshire, U.K.
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted November 07, 2008 11:50 AM
I have been using an Optoma 1080p capable projector for the last six months or so. I was going to use it with my old Sony DVD player until I invested in Blu-ray, but with HD-DVD being sold off so cheaply, as an interim I bought a cheap HD-DVD player.
The idea was to see what HD material looked like (buying up a few cheap HD-DVDs) and to use the player as an upscaler for my standard discs.
Firstly, I have found the difference between standard DVD and HD-DVD dramatic on a large screen.
Of course, HDMI is required to carry the HD information, but it is the quality difference on the discs that makes the difference.
I have found up-scaling a mixed bag; most standard DVDs do look sharper BUT, as has been mentioned, many suffer from the introduction of additional artifacts, the most annoying being the appearence of frequent "jaggies" on vertical lines.
Recently a well known publication in the UK ran a test on a range of standard DVD up-scaling players. Their conclusion was that whilst all did the job, only a £400 pioneer really passed all the criteria for doing the job properly. In other words, the player may up-scale on paper, but the results can vary wildly.
My experience of my Toshiba HD-DVD player backs this up. It does up-scale, but often not well, improving certain aspects of the image whilst playing havoc with others. Add to that the fact that it fails to get real detail out of dark areas of the picture (my six year old Sony which only outputs a bog standard 576i signal has much better detail in dark scenes and despite looking softer, has a much smoother, more pleasing image from most standard DVDs).
So, for me, the next step is a DECENT Blu-ray player which not only plays Blu-ray discs well, but also up-scales DVDs...and does a PROPER job of it!
And therein is a bit of a problem - after a lot of research, non of the current models really seem to do this and I'm waiting for the next range of players (there is a promising pioneer due out any day).
Annoying really as having seen what HD content looks like, I really want to get on with Blu-ray, but if I'm going to invest, it really has to be the right player.
To me, HD content is the closest video format ever to compare with watching, say, really good 16mm film at home (I think claiming it looks like 35mm is pushing it ) and it would be a massive shame if Blu-ray fails due to poor marketing. [ November 07, 2008, 07:44 PM: Message edited by: Rob Young. ]
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Christopher P Quinn
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 210
From: Bedfordshire
Registered: Sep 2008
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posted November 08, 2008 01:58 AM
Charles & Rob, First of all, i don't seem to have vertical fit on my unit, only 4:3 pan & scan 4:3 letterbox & 16:9, so this could be the problem. I have though heard of aspect problems before and thought this was a problem with HDMI connection. I will have to investigate more. Funny thing is the projector will not change aspect at all in HDMI, but in component it will and the 4:3 looks fine. Rob, Please could you tell me the pioneer player you are looking at, I was looking at the Panasonic DMP-BD35. But, after reading your post i am now thinking harder about the player i need to get. I was even thinking PS3. I think now it is best to buy as best as i can, rather than be disappointed later on.
Cheers, Chris.
-------------------- Chris Quinn Rides again.
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