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goraman
01-12-2012, 21:47
I used to think so but after comparing movies on the new Blu-ray player Blu-rays even sound better than my best DVD's.
Not only is the picture more detailed but colors are far more vivid too.
I was slow to make the move from VHS to DVD and just made the move to Blu-ray. Not bad at all maybe one day I'll get a cell phone.

DSJR
01-12-2012, 21:54
Don't these players "improve" standard DVD's as well with up-sampling or some such?

UV101
01-12-2012, 21:56
Not really sure what you mean? I assume you questioning the difference is in relation to audio and not the visual element.

Overall if you are asking the question, it's an easy answer, yes unless you are blind!!!!

Stratmangler
01-12-2012, 22:00
Don't these players "improve" standard DVD's as well with up-sampling or some such?

They upsample for sure, but that's to change the DVD output to one native to the screen.

If you've never seen a Blu-ray movie played on a decent Blu-ray player then you've never seen what your HDTV is capable of.

goraman
01-12-2012, 22:03
Don't these players "improve" standard DVD's as well with up-sampling or some such?

Possibly but the difference between a Blu-ray in these players and even my best DVD's is pretty noticeable.

goraman
01-12-2012, 22:09
Not really sure what you mean? I assume you questioning the difference is in relation to audio and not the visual element.

Overall if you are asking the question, it's an easy answer, yes unless you are blind!!!!

Well,I was pretty happy with the DVD player and only saw Blu-ray played on other TV's so I never could do a A/B comparison before.
not being much of a T.V. watcher or a video guy I didn't pay much mind.

I got the Blu-ray player way below cost at $38.00. $179.99 Reg. price so getting it was a nobrainer.
The HDMI cable was a deal too.
Black Friday while supply's last sort of thing,at Walmart the line went on for ever but was worth it.

UV101
01-12-2012, 23:48
I've been using my ps3 as my Blu-ray for several years. Not sure why id ever look at a DVD again.

Am I missing the point? Is Blu-ray not HD vs DVD at std definition???

Eagle owl
02-12-2012, 08:09
Blu-ray at it's best offers superb picture quality, however, many Blu-ray films don't reach the standard you expect and some are not much better than DVD. If you have just bought a Blu-ray player I recommend Avatar as your first purchase as the picture quality is outstanding.

sq225917
02-12-2012, 08:53
I'm when people think the difference wouldn't be so pronounced, Blu-ray at native 1080p has 4 times the pixel data of standard def. Think of video as mp3, dvd as 16/44.1 and Blu-ray is then 24/176.2

The Heath Ledger Batman flick is also superb on Blu-ray

UV101
02-12-2012, 09:23
You can add any of the Pixar films to that as well ;)

One of the issues for anyone with a HD tv is the dreadful performance when used with a std def source. Its caused when averages are used to fill pixels in. The recording in a dvd only contain 640 lines and the screen 1080. Somehow the info needs to be spread to average across the additional lines. This is what causes such fuzzy pictures on what are capable of producing razor sharp images. If you want to watch DVD, you are much better with a screen whos native resolution matches std def which mormally means good old crt. We've gone from a era where people wouldn't be happy with poor broadcast reception (snow/grain/ghosting) to an era where crappy huge pixelation where there is an intense amount of changing info (broadcast bandwidth limits) or poor pictures cause by the interpolation type issue described previously.

The answer is simple. The source output resolution needs to match the display resolution and be transmitting at a high enough bitrate to accurately produce a quality picture (and audio of course!)

Step in Blu-ray. Even old films remastered will appear better because they "may" have been remastered from the analogue HD originals. Now the resolution matches and the picture is better. Obviously with the case of films like the Disney remasters, significant work goes into touching up the original work as well ;)

Definately worth it if you have an HD TV in my opinion!

Canetoad
02-12-2012, 10:29
The cheap Sony BD-360 I was using was fine with Blu-ray but was dire when playing standard DVDs! I replaced it with a Panasonic BD80 and it actually does a very good job upsampling non-HD pictures.

It depends on the machine as well.

UV101
02-12-2012, 10:47
The cheap Sony BD-360 I was using was fine with Blu-ray but was dire when playing standard DVDs! I replaced it with a Panasonic BD80 and it actually does a very good job upsampling non-HD pictures.

It depends on the machine as well.

Absolutely! Better players use more sophisticated methods to reproduce an up scaled image. Most TV's do a dreadful job of this. My personal pet hate is std def output from a sky HD box which looks awful on my TV.

Reid Malenfant
03-12-2012, 22:54
You can add any of the Pixar films to that as well ;)

One of the issues for anyone with a HD tv is the dreadful performance when used with a std def source. Its caused when averages are used to fill pixels in. The recording in a dvd only contain 640 lines and the screen 1080.
Nearly, but not quite... I think you are thinking of the TV broadcasts in the UK that are or used to be 650 lines ;)

Well you are forgetting that a good few of those lines are/were for teletext!

A UK DVD has 576 lines, VHS was about 250 & SVHS was around 400 lines, all at 25 frames per second interlaced.

The US versions were/are different, the standard DVDs run 480 lines, but at a higher frame rate than in the UK, 30 frames per second interlaced. No idea what the VHS equivalent is...

Other than that I can't argue with you :)

UV101
03-12-2012, 23:00
For some reason, I'd got 640x480 in my and quoted the 640 based on VGA resolution and not TV.

Bit crap considering I did my apprenticeship mostly on video and TV servicing!!!

I think all the 405 was gone before I started ;)

Reid Malenfant
03-12-2012, 23:06
I doubt you'd be surprised at the things I forget, it's a fact of life when you get a little older :(

If only I could remember what I had forgotten I'd be laughing right now :lol:

Yeah, the VGA thing etc I can understand, damn confusing :scratch: 800 x 600 I reckon (or is that SVGA?). Just don't ask me about the rest of it ffs :eyebrows:

You are right... 800 x 600 = SVGA now I come to think about it... But as stated earlier, don't ask me about resolutions above this lol.

pwood
22-12-2012, 10:26
its the DTS MA sound that really puts DVD in its place. Its for this reason i subscibe to lovefilm rather just have Sky movies.

Mind some fims are grainy due the director liking the look. Minority Report is the best example of this. The sound though on blueray is neighbour baiting:D

roob
05-01-2013, 18:46
As mentioned earlier there are some pretty poor blu-ray transfers about, its worth doing a bit of research before you part with your cash.
One example is Blade Runner, you need to get the Final Cut version for best quality
and Gladiator you need the latest Sapphire release (both are surperb)
Having just purchased a new tv and player I have been on a mini blu-ray spending spree, there are plenty of bargains about if you trawl the net.

Spectral Morn
05-01-2013, 19:53
As mentioned earlier there are some pretty poor blu-ray transfers about, its worth doing a bit of research before you part with your cash.
One example is Blade Runner, you need to get the Final Cut version for best quality
and Gladiator you need the latest Sapphire release (both are surperb)
Having just purchased a new tv and player I have been on a mini blu-ray spending spree, there are plenty of bargains about if you trawl the net.

I thought the recent BBC HD showing of Blade Runner was pretty poor loads of image artifacting and some motion drag effects. It wasn't a great advert for going HD more fully i.e the subscription channels.

Best HD I have seen so far was BBC HDs James Bond Music concert - stunning.

I asked on another thread re video scaling SD to a flat panel - worth doing or a case of putting lip-stick on a pig?


Regards Neil

roob
05-01-2013, 20:07
BBC1 HD Africa was pretty good.
I watched Blade Runner when it was on then my Final Cut Blu-ray came two days later, no contest Final Cut is the mutts nutts:)
The end result will depend on how good your panel is though and blu-ray is another step up on HD broadcasts imho.

Rare Bird
05-01-2013, 22:20
tbh: I ordered a BR player for my mate, the reviews claimed brilliant picture Quality, to be honest my Sony standard DVD player walks all over it .

roob
06-01-2013, 00:56
tbh: I ordered a BR player for my mate, the reviews claimed brilliant picture Quality, to be honest my Sony standard DVD player walks all over it .
Something wrong somewhere dude;)

Rare Bird
06-01-2013, 00:57
Since you do not know my DVD machine how you come to that asumpioon? besides i think it is don't mean it is! they aint no best at the end of the day!!

Zoidburg
06-01-2013, 10:22
I've had a blu ray player for about 3 years now, at the time I bought what I thought was a v good player (panasonic BD80) based on the reviews at the time. I always thought the picture was pretty good and it was certainly better than standard TV broadcasts and standard DVDs though not what I would call "night and Day" better. I had only ever used it with my then 42 inch philips LCD tv (a cheap TV even back when I bought it approx 6 years ago).

Last week I decided it was time to buy a new bigger TV and so bought a 50 inch Samsung LED set which was on offer in costco for just under a grand. I was expecting a good increase in performance over the old TV but this thing is simply stunning. Fed with bluray its astonishing. Its almost like I am having to recalibrate my eyes the level of detail is so good! Flicking through my HD sources channels from my virgin box are great but blurays just seem to pip them though not by much. Standard def TV signals are noticably softer and have a grain about them.

So I think its as much about the quality of the TV screen as it is the Bluray player.

roob
06-01-2013, 11:56
Ben
Is it an 8000 series? if so I have some calibrated settings for it, the out of the box settings are pretty poor.
Agree with your comments on panel quality.

Zoidburg
06-01-2013, 12:37
Ben
Is it an 8000 series? if so I have some calibrated settings for it, the out of the box settings are pretty poor.
Agree with your comments on panel quality.

Hi Andrew,

Its a UE50 ES6710 I think, would your settings be transferable? If so id be v interested in them.

I think your quite right about the "out of the box" settings mate, its far too bright straight out the box. So i've followed a few general set up guides that I found on AVforums dot co uk as well as a review I found about its smaller 40 inch brother (which also noted some general improved settings) and to me its looking much better.

cheers

Ben

roob
06-01-2013, 12:50
It's a different panel so probably not. I did find this basic setting for yours though on a review site.

After trying and testing the various options in the internal menu, for watching films, we found the best bet was "Movie" mode. Next, set the colour temperature to "Warm 1". Anyone looking for smooth-flowing images should also set Motion Plus to "Clear". This will keep fast-action flowing smoothly with no adverse effect on the overall picture.
For low-resolution sources (DVD, SD TV, etc.), you're better off leaving upscaling to a latest-generation console (PS3, XBOX 360, etc.). If you don't have a console, try upping the sharpness setting to artificially increase image definition.

Zoidburg
06-01-2013, 15:51
[QUOTE=roob;399031]It's a different panel so probably not. I did find this basic setting for yours though on a review

Yep that's the info I used. Cheers mate.

BoD
06-01-2013, 18:44
tbh: I ordered a BR player for my mate, the reviews claimed brilliant picture Quality, to be honest my Sony standard DVD player walks all over it .

Definitely doing something wrong. If the BR disc looks worse than a DVD disc then either the BR player needs throwing in the bin &\or is setup completely wrong or the display device needs throwing in the bin &\or is setup completely wrong.

Rare Bird
06-01-2013, 21:09
Or don't you think it maybe that my standard DVD player is just better anyway :)

Macca
06-01-2013, 22:38
I was an early adopter of DVD as it was so much better than even good VHS. This was back when the very cheapest player was a Toshiba at £160 and discs were £17.99

However I don't think Blu-Ray, although I agree it does have better definition than DVD - is the same leap forward, not by a mile. Watched Training Day on a friend's very fancy set up with 60 inch Pioneer plasma - I did not realise it waqs a BD until he told me afterwards, although you could see the individual pores on Denzil Washington's face in the extreme close ups. Did this add to the film for me? No.

clap
07-01-2013, 00:06
I expected to be underwhelmed by bluray. I was in fact very impressed. More so by the sound than the admittedly very good picture. I use a very good Onkyo av amp and pana plasma which prob helped show bluray at its best. A ps3 was playing the bluray rather than a highend player. I will always try and source a bluray disc rather than a dvd despite DVDs being upscsled brilliantly on my system.

BoD
13-01-2013, 10:40
Depends on size and quality of display and device. 32" Full HD - improvements can be seen but may not appear huge. 42" Full HD - definite improvements. 72" - Night and day.