Topic: Well well.. Look who just went Blu

[hal9g]

What this basically means is that to get the most out of Blu ray you don't just need a Blu ray player and disc. You also need a good hi def TV with a new sound system. Which can easily rank up in the thousands of dollars.

The reader itself is but a mere fraction of that total cost.

Tens of thousands if that's what you want to spend!

OTOH, a very decent HDTV and surround system can easily be had for well under $1000.00.

As with all things in life, it's all about priorities!

[Jimmy]

But with a lesser quality HD TV set you won't be able to get all the supposed greatness of the BR technology

[hal9g]

But with a lesser quality HD TV set you won't be able to get all the supposed greatness of the BR technology

But with a lesser quality HD TV set you won't be able to get all the supposed greatness of the DVD technology

[Jimmy]

Not my style, but your comment is kind of pointless...

Since when an HD TV is needed to get the complete quality of a regular dvd? Never of course...

[hal9g]

Not my style, but your comment is kind of pointless...

Since when an HD TV is needed to get the complete quality of a regular dvd? Never of course...

Sorry, but many CRT TVs had insufficient lines of resolution to fully utilize the DVD format.  The initial digital TVs manufactured were 480P.  DVD is a 720P format which means that these TVs could not fully take advantage of the DVD format.

Also, until the introduction of DVD, the best audio available was "surround" sound, or otherwise known as Dolby Digital 3.0.  DVDs introduced 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 surround sound which meant, for people to actually take advantage of the new format, they had to go out and buy an upgraded sound system.

So, yes many people had to upgrade their TVs/audio systems in order to get the full advantages of the DVD format.

That is the nature of technology.  Again, it is about priorities.  If the latest technological advances are of no value to you, then don't buy them.  But please don't pretend that they are a passing fad and destined for quick extinction.  Millions of people around the world are currently enjoying Blu ray quality and have no regrets about investing in it (any more than they regretted investing in DVD).

[RossRoy]

Sorry, but many CRT TVs had insufficient lines of resolution to fully utilize the DVD format.  The initial digital TVs manufactured were 480P.  DVD is a 720P format which means that these TVs could not fully take advantage of the DVD format.

Are you sure about that? 720P last I checked was considered "HD".. For R1 NTSC, DVD-Video, lat I checked, were encoded at 720x480.. which means 480P (480 lines of resolution)

Unless I'm mistaken..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Video#Frame_size_and_frame_rate

[hal9g]

Sorry, but many CRT TVs had insufficient lines of resolution to fully utilize the DVD format.  The initial digital TVs manufactured were 480P.  DVD is a 720P format which means that these TVs could not fully take advantage of the DVD format.

Are you sure about that? 720P last I checked was considered "HD".. For R1 NTSC, DVD-Video, lat I checked, were encoded at 720x480.. which means 480P (480 lines of resolution)

Unless I'm mistaken..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Video#Frame_size_and_frame_rate

Yes, you are correct...my error.

Still my point is that almost everyone had to upgrade to take full advantage of the DVD format, in one way or another.,

[Jimmy]

and it's the same with the sound, you just need to get a less than 50$ sound system to be able to use those sound format.

I don't have any more time to waste on this stupid discussion... Sound too much like a clueless discussion like we see everyday on the DVDP forum.

[Najemikon]

Well, I'm late to this party, but as you know I've been a strong defender of Blu since upgrading. Building on comments so far, here is my perception on the UK, starting with costs to me.

I upgraded almost 2 years ago. The flat screen 42" TV cost me £500. It was very good offer at the time. Now the TVs are just breaking the £400.

I should have done it before, because the TV makes a huge difference to DVD with at least progressive scan. My player wasn't brilliant though...

I bought a mid-range Blu-Ray player for £200. You can now get the equivalent for around £100 and there are perfectly good budget players floating around for about £70.

To take proper advantage of HD, I also got a dedicated up-scaling DVD player for £50. It realises the full potential of DVD and is awesome.

As to sound, I recently chose to upgrade to an fairly expensive (though still mid-range) receiver and I was lucky to get an awesome sub second hand for an absolute pittance. But, it's important to note that a budget set at under £100 is perfectly good enough to blow your socks off.

So, I proved even two years ago, the cost of a Blu-Ray capable system, with up-scaled DVD could be kept well under £1000. That's even more true now and with consoles utilising HD too, a very good value for money budget.

Now, what about HD in general:

HD is coming in to the UK big time. All the major channels are available and you can even get them free with a Freesat box. Sports are being broadcast in HD; this is a winning format.

Blu is moving slowly, but probably at the same rate that DVD is dying. With on-demand HD channels and downloading illegally at an all-time high, it's bound to be tough. That said, it's definitely proving its worth, with multiple "triple format" releases and steadily declining prices. I'm buying some for under £6 now.

People want HD, Jimmy. They want the TVs, they want the discs. Along with Blu-Ray drives becoming a data standard in new PCs/laptops, it's definitely  a successful format. Oh, I'm sure you can find another article damning it, but I could match you with one praising it!

As to content: I've already explained my stance. It's no different to DVD. In fact, I've checked a lot of my oldest titles and they're terrible quality now. The quality of each individual release is dependant on the whim of the distributor. As I said, demand for HD is proven. Blu-Ray has a good future and hopefully, DVD will continue as a budget format in that future. Not everything warrants Blu.

[Jimmy]

People want HD, Jimmy.

I wasn't supposed to participate anymore in this waste of time, but since you name me...

People didn't want HD, the industry make them believe they want it and it's quite a distinction...
The regular dvd do the job perfectly to show a film as it is supposed to be seen. Sorry the BR doesn't represent the way a movie is supposed to be, most of them use too much cleaning (wich remove the vibe of a film) and the soundtrack created for them are just ridiculous (just like a DD 5.1 soundtrack is for a movie made in the seventies for a dvd).

Like I said the studio loose money with their BR and the format only exist to push the sales of the HD TV set and a new format will appear also for the big failure that is the 3D TV set...

To be honest, I don't think most of us represent the regular joe costumer so the fact that Jon, Hal or me spent 2000$ or more to make the switch isn't really relevant...

[hal9g]

I don't have any more time to waste on this stupid discussion... Sound too much like a clueless discussion like we see everyday on the DVDP forum.

So, if someone doesn't agree with you and debates their view, it becomes "a clueless discussion like we see everyday on the DVDP forum"?

That's unfortunate. 

As usual, Jon has expressed my sentiments much more eloquently than I have been able to.

[Jimmy]

No it is when someone find nothing brighter to do than change a word in one of my sentences to reply at it.... But, yeah we see some of this DVDP kind of discussion since some time here and it isn't how this forum was...

[hal9g]

To be honest, I don't think most of us represent the regular joe costumer so the fact that Jon, Hal or me spent 2000$ or more to make the switch isn't really relevant...

If you mean I'm not "joe-six-packer", then you are correct.  Thank you very much.

It's nice to know that the industry is not only interested in satisfying the lowest common denominator.

I for one was clamoring for HD (1080p) as far back as 2002.  It was considered the holy grail back then.  And so were a whole lot of other people. Just check out the AVS Forum for that time period.

To imply that any company would create a product that people don't want, spend the time and money to do the R&D, the marketing, the sales, etc. all the while knowing that no one will buy it.....that would be crazy.

OTOH, they did that with Obamacare, didn't they?

[Kathy]

Please don't let personal differences in opinion make anyone else feel their viewpoint has less validity.

I may not want to embrace this new technology yet but that might change in the future. Since I don't understand the technical aspects that is often discussed I appreciate hearing from those who do.

I know that someone in Buffalo has a couple of hundred HD DVDs for sale for a buck a piece - who knows maybe blu will come down too!

[Jimmy]

OTOH, they did that with Obamacare, didn't they?

Please keep your american political discussion out of here. This is not a political forum and since I ain't american I couldn't care less about your insane system...