Blu-Ray Worth It?

I have 2 older dvd players & no 1080i video displays.
Any benefit for me to own one of these? (& does this......"Backwards compatible and Upscaling
All existing Blu-ray Disc players will play your standard DVD collection without a problem. And with built-in 1080p video upscaling, they'll look even better...." sales pitch really work if I buy a 1080i TV?)

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

But it's all relative. Since you don't have a 1080p TV set yet... I would put the $$$s allocated for a Blue Ray player on a better 1080p TV set. Blue Ray DVD players have not bottomed in price but I think we're almost there on HDTV sets.

A good plasma would be my first choice. They've pretty much solved the burn in problem and nothing beats the technology in terms of color accuracy, dynamic range, contrast ratio... With any set calibration is key. Buy the digital video essentials and/or Avia guide to home theatre DVDs and calibrate your set as soon as you get it. With a Plasma set you'd also want a burn in DVD as well.

Check out the AVScience forum:

http://www.avscience.com/

eelhc wrote:Check out the AVScience forum:

http://www.avscience.com/

Nice site..Thanks!

I have a projector downstairs & a 46" rear projection Sony upstairs so I'm not in any hurry. (I love technology though & as soon as I see a real benefit I'll probably take the plunge)

It all depends on the movie and how it was authored on to Blue Ray. I've seen some that were excellent and they had an almost 3d effect to them but most aren't that much better than a standard DVD. Prices are dropping everyday so now is the time to buy. If I was in the market for a player it would be a BR. I own a PS3 and it plays BR too. All HD channels either put out 720P or 1080I. They both look incredible on my Sony SXRD display. BR is 1080P which is marginally better that 720P & 1080I. The newer LCD sets are very nice but pricey. You need to look for color unifomity, sharpness, clarity, how black are the blacks and how white are the whites, contrast ratio (very important) etc. avsforum is the kind of forums for electronics.

Funny....I hardly ever even watch TV but for sporting events, the whole family loves to come over & watch my old Infocus SP4805 projector which was not even HiDef.( It's Enhanced Def but what a great picture it projects on my 9' screen!)

Just always looking for new toys though!

I'd love to get a projector but they are very limiting. I love my 60" SXRD. It still looks as good as any LCD set, imho.

traderfjp wrote:I'd love to get a projector but they are very limiting.

They do look best in a fairly dark room, but there's nothing like them for the large "Movie Theater" experience you get!!
( & black colors are only as black as the room is dark since you can't project the color black)

save your money...without a HD monitor there is nothing to gain.

Personally speaking, I don't like it, no sirI don't. My brother has BR and a 52" HD Plasma. Simply put, Blue Ray hurts my eyes. I started watching Rambo 4 and I could not take it. Eveything is so razor sharp it's doesn't seem natural to me, I mean even in real life there are soft tones and hues that balance out, not BR. But hey, that's just me, I guess I get to stay cheap, I like standard DVD on mine.

Part of that is the LCD display. SXRD technology offeres a more pleasant picture with no eye strain.

SXRD technology offeres a more pleasant picture with no eye strain.

I don't want the missus' to hear about that.

Ed.A wrote:Personally speaking, I don't like it, no sirI don't. My brother has BR and a 52" HD Plasma. Simply put, Blue Ray hurts my eyes. I started watching Rambo 4 and I could not take it. Eveything is so razor sharp it's doesn't seem natural to me, I mean even in real life there are soft tones and hues that balance out, not BR. But hey, that's just me, I guess I get to stay cheap, I like standard DVD on mine.

Is the Plasma set calibrated for the room/lighting it's in or still on that out of the box "torch" setting that's best for the showroom floor?

Inmy opinion.... unless you're screen size is over 50" Blue ray has little benifit. I have a 46" DLP TV and a regular DVD or a high def TV show is so incredibly perfect I can't imagine spending $.05 to "make it better". They hardly advertize the DLP TV's now, they push the higher profit plasma or LCD, but I'll tell you.... we have a high def rear projection Sony in the living room. It has a wonderful picture. No human would complain, but you go into the other room with the DLP & even after 3 years we go "Wow".

Freddy wrote:we have a high def rear projection Sony in the living room. It has a wonderful picture.

This is the TV we have upstairs Freddy http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Sony%2046%2 ... 1994160118

Is this what you have? (It does give a good picture, but loses some brightness when viewed of angle)

Is it worth it? It's getting there. It depends on what you have to spend and your tolerance for seeing the same or better equipment available next year for less. From the sounds of it you have a higher tolerance for that than the average consumer so now it probably a good time to get in.

First, you need to get a HD display. Since you already have a projector installation your best bet is to upgrade the projector to a 1080p model, I'd recommend Sanyo PLV-Z2000 (can be had for $2200 plus $600 in mail in rebates) or the new PLV-Z700 ($1800), check out projectorcentral for more reviews and retailer links. Get an HDMI cable from Blue Jeans Cables.

Besides the improved video quality, BD also has top notch audio quality. To get the the better audio you will need a new audio receiver with HDMI support and depending on the player you select you may need to have the new codecs (MLP, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, DTS-HD Master Audio) supported in the receiver. This receiver upgrade isn't a necessity though. You can use your existing dolby digital and DTS decoding receiver with optical or coaxial digital cabling to get what will be the equivalent of the highest quality DVD audio. If a title doesn't have a native Dolby Digital or low def DTS stream, it will provide a stripped down "core" stream from the Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD streams on the disc.

On the player front I'd recommend the PS3. It plays DVDs and BDs in their many flavors. It is probably the fastest for loading BD-J titles (BD offers HDMV titles which are like DVD in terms of interactivity, and also BD-J titles which use Java for potentially very complex interactivity, including on disc games, program generated menu graphics, the use of BD-Live for downloading up to date content, etc.). Sony supports it with timely player software updates, and as the originator of the format and the gatekeeper of spec qualification testing for everyone else, it generally is first to get new features supported and benefits from seeing what everyone else is doing before it hits market. Plus you get the game console aspect of the unit. The fact it is implemented on a general purpose processor means it is more or less future proof as far as the BD format and its supported codecs go. Only thing it won't be able to handle is physical format changes, like adding new layers to the disc for increased storage capacity. However all players will suffer from that so it is a wash on that score. Regardless of which player you end up with you'll need to get an internet connection via ethernet strung over to where the player will be in order to benefit from the player updates (feature improvements, but also disc key updates, BD+ updates, etc. which are necessary to be able to play new releases) and the BD-Live features of the format.

Sony, Samsung, and LG make some good players. Sharp and Denon are okay. Personally I'd shy away from Panasonic players.

My setup includes an older (non-HDMI) Yamaha audio receiver, Sanyo PLV-Z5 projector and a PS3. I use this as a reference setup for my day job work on PC software BD playback and core software for various hardware player manufacturers.