Blu-Ray Worth It?

Adamiscold wrote:

Devil505 wrote: Edit: Also, do any any cable companies put out a 1080i video signal? (any benefit for having a 1080i display for watching cable?)

Most of the Blu-ray disc's offer a better picture then what you can get from the cable companies hd channels. That is all due to compression and how it's encoded, Direct TV's HD channels are mostly in Mpeg4 which is better then the cable companies Mpeg2 but not as good as some blu-rays Vc-1 (sp?)

You can't get a 1080i picture or even a dvd's 480p picture without having a tv that has the ability to display those resolutions. Analog tv set's can not do it, they only display 480i.

I notice a big difference in picture quality between broadcast (over the air) TV and Direct TV. The Tonight Show background really pops over the air while not so much on Direct TV, and you are saying cable is worse? Guess I won't go there, better to go get a better antenna

Richard S. wrote:BR is just another in-between format that will die IMO. Small Flash media or direct downloads via the internet will be next.

I already have an "S" cable connection from my computer to my old CRT TV in the fam/Rm to watch CSPAN rebroadcasts, etc from online without having to sit at the computer for hours. Do you really think there will be enough bandwidth to get Blu-Ray quality video sent via the net?

Devil505 wrote:Do you really think there will be enough bandwidth to get Blu-Ray quality video sent via the net?

Certainly, http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/20-of-Comcast- ... 2008-89821

The issue is the large ISP's/cable companies leveraging their control of the bandwidth. For example Comcast a few other ISP's recently unrolled bandwidth caps. Comcast has a 250GB limit which is more than enough for average use. 3 people could watch youtube 24/7 for month. However if it was the typical bitrates used for BR that number is less than day... I think it was around 8 hours but I have to go get my calculator out and don't fell like it.

Comcast is already doing it with their VOIP service. If you're using a third part VOIP service over the internet that counts against your bandwidth cap. It does not if you're using the Comcast service. Now they could attempt to do the same thing with video and already are to some degree with on demand video...

It's all about price. BR won the format wars unlike Betamax. Many users can buy an upconverting DVD player for around 70.00 while BR player still cost around 300.00. Once prices come down their will be more players sold. There is always a rush of new technology sold when the latest and greatest comes out and then the enthusiasm cools. I have Netflix and most of the movies they have are available in BR format so that says something. If you have a large screen TV, 50" or above, you'll see a difference with BR. That said, I've seen excellent DVD authoring that rivals bad BR. But when BR is done right on the right screen it's amazing. Some people will never appreciate it and will always be happy with DVD. I'm very critical so I love BR. All formats will die eventually when the next new technology comes out. The problem is that DVD is pretty good so it's not like B&W and then going to a color set.

As a side not I currently have 2 killer systems in my house:

1 pair Klipschorns
1 Pair Cornwalls
1 Pair Heresys
I pair FOrtes
2 5 channel SHerbourn amps
2 Premaps
2 subwoofers with B&K amps
1 BR player
2 SACD/DVD-A players

Audio is a passion of mine.

I also built and designed the sub.

Nice setup trader!

I have a front projection home theater set up in the family room, with a large screed covering an 8' wall unit. When I raise the screen, I have my old Sony 32"CRT for watching news, etc....Anything I don't need to see in HiDef

(sound system is a few Cambridge Soundworks Newtons with a center channel spkr & surrounds & a Sony 12" subwoofer.)

2 projectors (a cheap 3m & an Infocus4805

( I had no room to put the cable box so I built it into the suspended ceiling behind a glass window...just visible in pics 1 & 2)
The TLC is in the other corner of this room & warms my whole house from there!

Upstairs I have a Sony 46" rear projection TV & a nice sound system with Snell "E" spkrs.

(set up ll the stuff myself)
Built the wall unit into what used to be a double door closet in a bedroom we now use as a den since all the kids are grown up & out!!

Complete series of family room:

(Notice small fan mounted on ceiling (blowing towards stairs) in first pic)

Richard S. wrote:

coalmeister wrote: Richard, Would you expound on this, are we moving soon to an even better technology than BR?

In any event in ten years all your movies will probably be on demand and the days of owning a physical storage medium will probably be gone.

Ten years is an eternity in video technology. After using Blu-Ray, I could never go back to plain old DVD, even if new tech was only a couple years out. Net Flix has something like 500+ titles to choose from on BR right now, and adding them faster than I could watch them, for $9.99 a month

Richard S. wrote:I'm mixing up my acronyms, BD is the protection on BR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BD%2B

I think you meant BD+ is a protection scheme on BD. There is also AACS and content protection flags which control use of old fashioned Macrovision protection of analog video channels, also HDCP protection of hardware video connections (or use of protected overlays in software/PC players), and the venerable CPRM... I think... might be called something else on BD/BDAV, used to manage digital copies of discs and content.

Where have you seen BluRay Disc referred to as BR? That's a new one to me, always have heard and seen it referred to as BD.

BD is right. Anyway: Nice setup Devil. Is that a Sony SXRD set I see? I almost went with the a new JVC 70" RPTV that was on 12" deep, at the time of my purchase, but it had scant reviews and was very hard to find so I opted for the Sony instead. In any event we enjoy our sound & video systems and what would life me like with out toys.

traderfjp wrote: The problem is that DVD is pretty good so it's not like B&W and then going to a color set. .

Good point, HD televisions haven't penetrated the market greatly yet either so for many people a upgrade to Blu Ray is going to require a significant investment in new a TV.

pvolcko wrote: Where have you seen BluRay Disc referred to as BR? That's a new one to me, always have heard and seen it referred to as BD.

Somewhere in my nearly 8000 posts at Videohelp.com.

I'm currently at #17 but my posting there has been curtailed quite a bit over the last few years. I only need a few more thousand and I move into the 1% bracket.

Most of my knowledge resides in the DVD relm particularly analog(VHS) to digital conversions and restoration. HD is not something I've done a lot of work on.

traderfjp wrote:Nice setup Devil. Is that a Sony SXRD set I see?

Thanks trader. No, it's a Sony KDF-46E2000. I gutted out our wall unit which we liked so I had to find something that would fit inside it. This fit like a glove & the price was right. It's assembled in Mexico so I was leary, but it's been fine.

I believe you have an LCD projection set. I had one similar. They aren't bad but their is a huge difference between the SXRD. The contrast ratio is much better and there is no screen noise. On the SXRD you can't see the pixels.

coalmeister wrote:
I notice a big difference in picture quality between broadcast (over the air) TV and Direct TV. The Tonight Show background really pops over the air while not so much on Direct TV, and you are saying cable is worse? Guess I won't go there, better to go get a better antenna

OTA is the best because it has the least amount of compression done to it. Then there is Direct TV and cable falls into last place, Fios is suppose to be some where in between Direct TV and cable. But Fios has been updating equipment to offer more hd channels, they claim to send the same rate of video that they receive from the tv companies without adding any more compression to it. But the channel increases have seemed to out weigh their scheduled equipment updates, meaning the channels are growing at a faster rate then what they had the ability to do without compressing them.

The biggest problem with OTA is living within the range of what ever channel it is you are looking to receive. I for one want to add an antenna to my setup at some point to see what it is I can get but we are a ways way from the stations broadcasting. http://www.antennasdirect.com seems to have one that I may go with that reaches a long distance.

Richard S. wrote:

Devil505 wrote:Do you really think there will be enough bandwidth to get Blu-Ray quality video sent via the net?

Certainly, http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/20-of-Comcast- ... 2008-89821

The issue is the large ISP's/cable companies leveraging their control of the bandwidth. For example Comcast a few other ISP's recently unrolled bandwidth caps. Comcast has a 250GB limit which is more than enough for average use. 3 people could watch youtube 24/7 for month. However if it was the typical bitrates used for BR that number is less than day... I think it was around 8 hours but I have to go get my calculator out and don't fell like it.

Online streaming is going to take awhile before it can catch up with the quality of BR. The one biggest problem with streaming is the video quality is just not up to par and has been the biggest complaint about online streaming. The other is the audio even right now on tomorrow's release netflix streaming on the xbox360 the audio is only in sd (so far) http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/18/xbox-experienc ... etflix-hd/. Sony is streaming on their PS3 but even their streaming is left with the same complaints. As Richard said it's the limited bandwidth that is the bottle neck of online streaming and companies like Comcast are not going to let go of it without a fight becuase once they do they lose.

I watched an HD movie on Comcast's on Demand once it was The Fifth Element and the quality of the movie totally sucked. This is one movie that has been release on dvd a million times and even the worst copy you could find on dvd looked a hundred times better then what they were selling as high definition.