# Blu Ray



## Tarl (Feb 4, 2006)

I took the plunge yesterday and bought a Sony BDP-S350 player for what I think is a very good price. I also picked up Hellboy 2, Narnia-Prince Caspian, Kingdom of Heaven-Directors cut and BBC's Planet Earth all on Blu Ray. I hooked the player up to my 46 inch LG LCD via HDMI and my 6.1 yamaha reciever via digital optical cable. I hooked up to the internet and upgaded the player right away. First thing I noticed is that the load times are definately longer than a normal DVD player. They are anywhere from 10 seconds to 1 minute depending on the disc. I tried a regular DVD in it to see the magic conversion to 1080p.......but it looked no diferent than the quality of my $69 DVD player. The sound on everything I played did seem fuller and more defined though, a marginal improvement. The BD movies picture quality seemed to vary not only between the discs but between scenes in the same film. Overall the quality was improved over my DVD player but not by a huge factor. The best by far was Planet Earth.....just amazing ,almost 3D type of pictures. BD live is pretty much bells and whistles as far as I can see. Who wants to use a remote to "chat" online (a painfuly slow process) while watching a movie. A laptop would be much more useful if thats your thing. The extras are plentiful and nicely done and could fill in alot of time , if you have some to waste. I don't feel the difference in the technology from DVD justifies an average of 50% more for the price of a disc either. I guess I am having a bit of buyers remorse today. This is an improvement but i think DVD may have been good enough for a bit longer. For now I'll settle in with a few episodes of Planet Earth......that alone is almost worth the price of admission.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Your report just about sums up the general feeling on Blu Ray technology. I have been reading some reports recently that suggest it may dissapear within a year or so. On some discs the picture is great on others it is so so. general consensus is that the cost of the discs are not worth the added picture quality. So unless the price on them drops to match regular DVD's then I see trouble for Blu Ray.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Wow I'm surprised to read this. I'm now shopping for a big screen and associated hardware I need to move up to HD 1080p.

It would seem like a waste of money for the TV if the source device isn't capable of delivering the added resolution.

Am I missing something?

Please feel free to save me a $hitload of cash and tell me why so many people are going HD if it's not much better than DVD and regular TV.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Milkman said:


> Wow I'm surprised to read this. I'm now shopping for a big screen and associated hardware I need to move up to HD 1080p.
> 
> It would seem like a waste of money for the TV if the source device isn't capable of delivering the added resolution.
> 
> ...


Let me clarify, HD TV is fabulous. There is no comparison to regular TV. So moving up to a 1080p is a good idea. I am speaking only of the Blu Ray technology. They had the big battle with HD DVD and won, but will they survive in the long run? it does up the picture quality but a lot of people are saying they are satidfied with regular DVD for the price difference. Thats where the issue is right now. But in terms of HD TV it's only going to grow and more and more channels will keep getting added. There is a difference in the Blu Ray as well. I purchased some older movies that were released on Blu Ray and they were good. I also have some others, like a ZZ Top concert DVD I got on Blu Ray and it's frigging amazing. Like sitting in the room with them. So there are differences in the them as well.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

I dont see a death of DVD anytime soon. Alot of the older movies that have been put on Blu-Ray have been straight port overs and dont look any better than the DVD. In fact, in some cases, the added resolution makes them look worse. The problem here is that the original prints have degraded over time, so the DVD pressing from 10 years ago is from a better quality source. As for the added features of Blu-Ray, most of the disks still have 5.1, and havent gone to 7.1. When you factor in the prices of the disks, there is only an incentive to download the movies, because we already bought them on DVD, and to pay $40 for a movie that you already bought for $20 on DVD seems insane. For those purposes I got a TVIX player with a 1TB drive, which I see more as the future than anything Sony has come up with...........

http://www.onlybestrated.com/tvix-m7000a-network-multimedia-player-with-hdmisata-smp8635-p-190.html


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Milkman said:


> ...Please feel free to save me a $hitload of cash and tell me why so many people are going HD if it's not much better than DVD and regular TV.


_EDIT: Oops, should have put in the comment I was responding to._

I think it is in part because the Government is shutting off standard television come I believe this April or so.

There is also the Jones down the road, can't let them get ahead of us.

OH and yea, good credit, bad credit, no credit; the shops have been getting everyone a deal... well, maybe that is why Christmas shopping is so bleak as people with bad or no credit are getting no service.

Carts and Horses and I cannot tell the difference. Is it sour grapes to say a tech that is several years old doesn't rate so lets get ride of it when its the unemployed consumer than can no longer purchase it that is driving sales down? Who can tell?


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Let me clarify, HD TV is fabulous. There is no comparison to regular TV. So moving up to a 1080p is a good idea. I am speaking only of the Blu Ray technology. They had the big battle with HD DVD and won, but will they survive in the long run? it does up the picture quality but a lot of people are saying they are satidfied with regular DVD for the price difference. Thats where the issue is right now. But in terms of HD TV it's only going to grow and more and more channels will keep getting added. There is a difference in the Blu Ray as well. I purchased some older movies that were released on Blu Ray and they were good. I also have some others, like a ZZ Top concert DVD I got on Blu Ray and it's frigging amazing. Like sitting in the room with them. So there are differences in the them as well.



Ok so the HD 1080 TV is worth the upgrade. I'll resume shopping.

It sure LOOKS fabulous in the stores with a Blue Ray plugged into a nice HDTV.

Too bad current TV programming is such total shite. That's why I want Blue Ray. I've got 150 channels now and I still end up watching Seinfeld most of the time.


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## Tarl (Feb 4, 2006)

Milkman said:


> Wow I'm surprised to read this. I'm now shopping for a big screen and associated hardware I need to move up to HD 1080p.
> 
> It would seem like a waste of money for the TV if the source device isn't capable of delivering the added resolution.
> 
> ...


HDTV is wonderful....we have a 42 inch and a 46 inch in the house now and we never watch Standard Definiton anymore. As GuitarsCanada said the issue is with Blu Ray. DVD was 10 steps beyond VHS as far as quality, sound and extras goes. As my original post said Blu Ray is maybe 1 or 2 steps ahead of DVD in those regards. Is it worth it? Will it survive?....I'm not sure. HDTV..... go for it wholeheartedly.....Blu Ray...well I did but I'm not so sure about it. If they can get the price of good players below $150 and the discs priced the same as their DVD counterparts, I think it will flourish.


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

Milkman said:


> Too bad current TV programming is such total shite. That's why I want Blue Ray. I've got 150 channels now and I still end up watching Seinfeld most of the time.


I'm with ya' on that one... I recently ditched ExpressVu. Any TV shows I want to actually watch I've already ripped from DVDs and play from my media center... any new shows (like The Office... pretty much the only show I watch now) can be legally streamed online.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Tarl said:


> I took the plunge yesterday and bought a Sony BDP-S350 player for what I think is a very good price. I also picked up Hellboy 2, Narnia-Prince Caspian, Kingdom of Heaven-Directors cut and BBC's Planet Earth all on Blu Ray. I hooked the player up to my 46 inch LG LCD via HDMI and my 6.1 yamaha reciever via digital optical cable. I hooked up to the internet and upgaded the player right away. First thing I noticed is that the load times are definately longer than a normal DVD player. They are anywhere from 10 seconds to 1 minute depending on the disc. I tried a regular DVD in it to see the magic conversion to 1080p.......but it looked no diferent than the quality of my $69 DVD player. The sound on everything I played did seem fuller and more defined though, a marginal improvement. The BD movies picture quality seemed to vary not only between the discs but between scenes in the same film. Overall the quality was improved over my DVD player but not by a huge factor. The best by far was Planet Earth.....just amazing ,almost 3D type of pictures. BD live is pretty much bells and whistles as far as I can see. Who wants to use a remote to "chat" online (a painfuly slow process) while watching a movie. A laptop would be much more useful if thats your thing. The extras are plentiful and nicely done and could fill in alot of time , if you have some to waste. I don't feel the difference in the technology from DVD justifies an average of 50% more for the price of a disc either. I guess I am having a bit of buyers remorse today. This is an improvement but i think DVD may have been good enough for a bit longer. For now I'll settle in with a few episodes of Planet Earth......that alone is almost worth the price of admission.


Tarl a couple thing:

1) Unless you have a amp capable of HDMI you won't be getting any better audio than standard DVDs. You need HDMI to be able to do LPCM uncompressed sound and HDMI 1.3 to be able to bitstream the TrueHD or DTS-MA tracks.

2) Yes load times suck. This is the reason why most people go with the PS3 as a blu-ray player. It loads just as fast as a regular DVD player.

3) The technology in the base blu-ray players isn't much different for upconversion than your standard upconverting DVD players. You shouldn't expect much here.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Your report just about sums up the general feeling on Blu Ray technology. I have been reading some reports recently that suggest it may dissapear within a year or so. On some discs the picture is great on others it is so so. general consensus is that the cost of the discs are not worth the added picture quality. So unless the price on them drops to match regular DVD's then I see trouble for Blu Ray.


You are right about hit and miss video on certain Blu-Ray transfers. But the problem most have: is they don't have the right audio equipment to hear the difference in audio.

IMO, Blu-Ray is well worth the $6-8 increase in disc price over standard DVDs when it comes to auction movies with great sound tracks. I don't do comedies on Blu-Ray, SD is good enough, but then I also have a HTPC doing ffdshow SD upconversion which when configured right will kick the crap out the budget upconverters/HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players.

Of all these reports of people not seeing a difference, I bet there are quite a few that need to make a trip to the opthamologist. I've actually read quite a few stories on the AVS forums where members recommended their friends go get their eyes checked out and in many cases adjustments to their glasses or aquistion of glasses all of a sudden made the difference apparent. I'm not saying this is the case for everyone but it's shocking how many people think they have great vision and really don't.


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## Apostrophe (') (Dec 30, 2007)

Tarl said:


> As my original post said Blu Ray is maybe 1 or 2 steps ahead of DVD in those regards. Is it worth it? Will it survive?....I'm not sure. HDTV..... go for it wholeheartedly.....Blu Ray...well I did but I'm not so sure about it. If they can get the price of good players below $150 and the discs priced the same as their DVD counterparts, I think it will flourish.


Quality aside, using the medium itself seems like going backwards to me, at least for entertainment purposes, with the advent of all the on-demand digital services that seemed perched to wipe out the "shrink wrap" era. We've already seen a similar thing happening with CDs vs. mp3s.

I can't see scheduled programming lasting either, aside from a handful of live shows. We'll just have access to a huge database of archived material, like we do now with youtube/podcasts.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Milkman said:


> Wow I'm surprised to read this. I'm now shopping for a big screen and associated hardware I need to move up to HD 1080p.
> 
> It would seem like a waste of money for the TV if the source device isn't capable of delivering the added resolution.
> 
> ...


Well, I am dissapointed that there aren't alot of concerts available yet. I have Incubus at Red Rocks and it blows me away! It's like looking thru a window at times. There aren't alot of rentals available yet for Blu Ray. But It is Far Superior than going to the theater IMHO. We enjoy it.

I agree with Jeff, if you can't see a difference you should check your eyes.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

So let's move on to what's really important - how did you like Hellboy II? :smile:


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Starbuck said:


> Well, I am dissapointed that there aren't alot of concerts available yet. I have Incubus at Red Rocks and it blows me away! It's like looking thru a window at times. There aren't alot of rentals available yet for Blu Ray. But It is Far Superior than going to the theater IMHO. We enjoy it.
> 
> I agree with Jeff, if you can't see a difference you should check your eyes.


I haven't watched my Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds Blu-Ray yet but from what I hear the 24bit/96Khz surround track is friggen' awesome. Of course again HDMI capable amp is required to hear it in all it's glory.

It seems only the concert blu-rays have been hitting the 96Khz sampling, all movies I've seen to date are only 48Khz.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> I haven't watched my Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds Blu-Ray yet but from what I hear the 24bit/96Khz surround track is friggen' awesome. Of course again HDMI capable amp is required to hear it in all it's glory.
> 
> It seems only the concert blu-rays have been hitting the 96Khz sampling, all movies I've seen to date are only 48Khz.


That is the next purchase, a new Amp and surround system.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

You can see the differences if you watch one layered over the other, or play the BluRay and then immediately the DVD. Most people who cant see the difference are most likely people who dont have access to both copies, so they are comparing apples to oranges. But then again, its for newer movies. I would hate to see a Blu-Ray version of the Honeymooners ported directly from film stock. When the DVDs were made, they were done many years after the VHS, and because of degradation of the source, they looked much worse.........


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

How "clear" does the picture have to be before you can enjoy a movie?

I hope blu ray dies a quick but painful death.

I REALLY hope people stop buying electronics stuff just because it has "improved" specs. These new formats are simply an industry attempt to make you buy the same movies over and over again.

TG


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

traynor_garnet said:


> 1.How "clear" does the picture have to be before you can enjoy a movie?
> 
> 2.I hope blu ray dies a quick but painful death.
> 
> ...


1. Much, much more clearer than now. Halodeck clear would be a good improvement.
2. Its already obsolete technology, so it really should.
3. There are people moving away from these technologies into better ones. Sony seems to have been successful in blocking their distribution in the big box stores. They are really fighting the inevitable though. They cant stop the progress of better technology...............


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Accept2 said:


> 1. Much, much more clearer than now. Halodeck clear would be a good improvement.


Wow, I really cannot fathom that someone can't enjoy a movie on current technology. To me it's a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.

TG


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

traynor_garnet said:


> Wow, I really cannot fathom that someone can't enjoy a movie on current technology. To me it's a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
> 
> TG


Or maybe, some of us would like the redundantcy of the movie industry to change and evolve into something better..........


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

traynor_garnet said:


> Wow, I really cannot fathom that someone can't enjoy a movie on current technology. To me it's a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
> 
> TG


It's not that we can't enjoy it. I have the DVD of Iron Man and I borrowed the Blu Ray off a friend. There was a difference. I brought my daughter to the movies last week to see Madagascar 2. $40 later (after pop corn and treats) The prices are outrageous! Meanwhile I could have waited and purchased the Blu Ray on sale for $20 AND it really does look and sound better! It's not something that can be described. I'm not into going to the theater and blowing that much to see a movie. I'd rather rent and enjoy the experience at home. That is the difference. We don't go out much so we may as well enjoy what we like to do to the best of our ability.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

traynor_garnet said:


> Wow, I really cannot fathom that someone can't enjoy a movie on current technology. To me it's a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
> 
> TG


They can but until you've actually watched a movie like Black Hawk Down on Blu-Ray on a properly calibrated television with a properly calibrated surround system, you don't know what you are missing.

I demo it to friends all the time. On more than one occasion they've broken into a sweat just watching. "That was intense!" is all you hear from them afterwards.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Starbuck said:


> It's not that we can't enjoy it. I have the DVD of Iron Man and I borrowed the Blu Ray off a friend. There was a difference. I brought my daughter to the movies last week to see Madagascar 2. $40 later (after pop corn and treats) The prices are outrageous! Meanwhile I could have waited and purchased the Blu Ray on sale for $20 AND it really does look and sound better! It's not something that can be described. I'm not into going to the theater and blowing that much to see a movie. I'd rather rent and enjoy the experience at home. That is the difference. We don't go out much so we may as well enjoy what we like to do to the best of our ability.


Same thing happened to me with 3:10 to Yuma. Theaters suck!


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## lbrown1 (Mar 22, 2007)

I'm in the process of building a home theatre in my basement....I've been piecing it all together as budget allows

it's all finished with sound insulation in the walls and ceiling - not sound proof - but dampened for sure

gear.......

Pioneer Elite Receiver / amp - 7.1 ready
Nuance towers for the fronts (got 'em free from a friend)
Nuance centre (again - free from a friend)
Paradigm Mini Monitors for the surround
some old Bose speakers for the rear
Paradigm powered Sub

I'm just about to snag a projector and screen....but then I realize that frikkin expensive Marantz 5 disc DVD player I bought 3 years ago doesn't have an HD output...so I gotta get a new one....I was mulling over Blue Ray or not...after reading this thread - I'm still up in the air....maybe the prices will come down further if I wait for a bit so it won't matter so much if it dies. I do remember having the same sort of dilemma when switching from VHS to DVD....when to do it - but I felt confident when blockbuster started stocking DVD's (it wasn't all that long ago they that didn't yet) ...I see they've started a small Blue Ray wall....maybe I'll wait for it to get bigger  and suffer with component video output till then

on an unrelated note - I'm pissed with L&M - my Line 6 Variax has been on order for a month now - it's still a no show....all I get are shoulder shrugs from those L&M employees


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> They can but until you've actually watched a movie like Black Hawk Down on Blu-Ray on a properly calibrated television with a properly calibrated surround system, you don't know what you are missing.
> 
> I demo it to friends all the time. On more than one occasion they've broken into a sweat just watching. "That was intense!" is all you hear from them afterwards.


Thanks for the Tip! I remember when surround first came out, a friend had a projector and the whole deal and the first movie we watched was Top Gun. :smile: It was GREAT at that time. I'll have to remember to get a copy of Blackhawk.


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

Don't hope for a change in technology too soon.

I'm one of those guys that bought an HD player last Christmas. Great. I hadn't even read the manual before they discontinued that technology.

Hey, it does do one hell of a nice upconvert to 1080p though. So it's not all bad. I can just rent normal DVDs and not sweat it.


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

What a timely thread.

I have a question for anyone who cares to answer.

We're planning on getting a 1080p 50" plasma. Most likely the Panasonic at Costco.

Our TV source is Starchoice, currently not HD.

Q: How good/bad will the picture be viewing from a non-HD receiver?

IE: our current TV is a 27" Sony Trinitron (CRT) and through the satellite feed or watching DVD's it looks pretty good to me. I'm worried that if I buy the 1080p and hook it up, the picture will be worse than on our 27" Trinitron.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

djem said:


> What a timely thread.
> 
> I have a question for anyone who cares to answer.
> 
> ...


Honestly, We were quite dissapointed with the quality of some channels compared to CRT. however our fav channels (we have starchoice as well) are the discovery channels and they look really great. That said, we are going to purchase the HD Receiver in the near future and expect a BIG difference. We have the 50 inch panasonic Viera. DVD's look fine.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

djem said:


> What a timely thread.
> 
> I have a question for anyone who cares to answer.
> 
> ...


You can sugar coat it but what's the point. You are taking a 480i signal, stretching it and then magnifying the result with a big 50" screen. It will look pretty bad in comparison to your 27".


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

Starbuck said:


> Honestly, We were quite dissapointed with the quality of some channels compared to CRT. however our fav channels (we have starchoice as well) are the discovery channels and they look really great. That said, we are going to purchase the HD Receiver in the near future and expect a BIG difference. We have the 50 inch panasonic Viera. DVD's look fine.



Thanks. I hate to say it, but what a scam. So you dish out the dough to get a brand new, pricy, big screen and non-HD programming is sub-par to CRT. Now, you have to dish out more dough for a new receiver and extra cost per month for the HD programming.

FYI - Best Buy has the Motorola HD (non-PVR) receiver for $100 now.

Thanks for your honest comments Starbuck. I suspected that. I assume you're watching DVD, not Blue Ray?

dj


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

djem said:


> Thanks. I hate to say it, but what a scam. So you dish out the dough to get a brand new, pricy, big screen and non-HD programming is sub-par to CRT. Now, you have to dish out more dough for a new receiver and extra cost per month for the HD programming.
> 
> FYI - Best Buy has the Motorola HD (non-PVR) receiver for $100 now.
> 
> ...


We watch both and I cannot tell you how great it is to watch a really good Blu Ray Movie. Thanks for the heads up on the receiver, I can use that with Starchoice? And yeah it was dissapointing, but I got over it! Soon as I watched the Incubus at Red Rocks! It was fantastic! Like looking thru a window at times....


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

Starbuck said:


> We watch both and I cannot tell you how great it is to watch a really good Blu Ray Movie. Thanks for the heads up on the receiver, I can use that with Starchoice? And yeah it was dissapointing, but I got over it! Soon as I watched the Incubus at Red Rocks! It was fantastic! Like looking thru a window at times....



Yes, it's the Starchoice HD package as advertised in the latest flyer. Good for both new and current subscribers. It's $199 less $100 discount and another $50 PPV credit. Basically, you pay $100 and get $50 PPV credit. Think it's good till Dec. 31.

FYI - my IT guy here at work is also on Starchoice and he said to stay away from their current HD PVR receiver as it's old technology and WAY overpriced. Think it something like $699.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

First time i see negative comments on bluray realy. i'm on my second one, and the upscale convertion on them for DVDs is just insane. not to mention watching a Bluray disk, everything looks better, i mean the image is 4 times bigger after all.

As some said, they wont stop making DVDs anytime soon, but ressources are going into HD that's for sure. they kept the VHS Tapes for what, 8 years after DVD came on board?....and bluray is on a steady rise right now even with crappy economie.

For those experiencing slow load and wacky menu glitches, you need to update your firmware, there's been like 4 updates in the last 3 months i think.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> They can but until you've actually watched a movie like Black Hawk Down on Blu-Ray on a properly calibrated television with a properly calibrated surround system, you don't know what you are missing.
> 
> I demo it to friends all the time. On more than one occasion they've broken into a sweat just watching. "That was intense!" is all you hear from them afterwards.


I guess this is just different strokes for different folks. I was prefectly happy watching movies on my VCR and only bought a DVD because it was getting hard to rent VHS.

I don't watch movies with a lot of colourful explosions so maybe the new resolution is just lost on me.

TG


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## Doctor Blind (Oct 17, 2008)

Blu-Ray players are slower than DVD players because these players are actual computers. Processing the bits of data on the bluray disc takes a fair bit of coputing power. This can be seen with computers playing blu-ray, (besides the blu-ray drive), you'll need a fairly new graphics card to push the pixels.

Your slower loading times is also partly due to the player itself, being the economical player it skimps of processing power for a good picture at a good price.

Sony even used dvd's to show off the HD video for their first blu-ray laptops.
http://www.gearlog.com/2006/05/16/index.php

we should just skip the physical media and jump to HD downloadable content! 


anyway, +1 for getting planet earth, you should difinatly check out the The life in the Undergrowth narrated by Sir David Attenborough


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

Wouldnt be the first time. Sony actually used HVD instead of Blu-Ray when they demo high end stuff like the 4K units, which are miles ahead of Blu-Ray........


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Accept2 said:


> Wouldnt be the first time. Sony actually used HVD instead of Blu-Ray when they demo high end stuff like the 4K units, which are miles ahead of Blu-Ray........


4K unites?


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

4K are units made by Sony in 2004 to try and compte with triple chip DLP. They couldnt match the triple chip DLP 2K units. K as is 2000 or 4000 lines of resolution. With HVD and triple chip DLP getting cheaper every day, there are many people who are thinking Sony won the HD battle against HD-DVD, but they are about to get slaughtered in the real war, which is ultra HD. Once you see these units you really do think that Blu-Ray is nothing special............


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Accept2 said:


> 4K are units made by Sony in 2004 to try and compte with triple chip DLP. They couldnt match the triple chip DLP 2K units. K as is 2000 or 4000 lines of resolution. With HVD and triple chip DLP getting cheaper every day, there are many people who are thinking Sony won the HD battle against HD-DVD, but they are about to get slaughtered in the real war, which is ultra HD. Once you see these units you really do think that Blu-Ray is nothing special............


that's not gonna happen for...oh...10 to 15 years. AT BEST. for many reason..Buying a 4k TV would be useless...only about 50% of films are still shot and scanned at 4k. and those are the major blockbusters. you get around 25% of films that are now shot with high end HD Camera. and the rest is a mix of different source. Most TV Shows are shot on HD now, a few remaining Dinosaurs still shot in 16mm and 35mm but that,s gonna end withing a few years alone.

So Bluray is safe for a LONG time, and the war you speak off is well over i'm afraid. the Studios Rule the industrie now..no one else.


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## Tarl (Feb 4, 2006)

Don't get my original post wrong folks.....I do see and hear an improvement with Blu Ray over DVD. I know a new HDMI equipped reciever will make more of a difference also. My point is that on some discs the upgrade seems negligable. We watched Wall-E the other night and it was amazing. (BTW....I liked Hellboy I alot better than II...it just tried to be too cutesy.) I,ve adopted Blu Ray now and will not go back.....however I do feel that for most people DVD will be good enough for years to come. The Blu Ray price point, compared to the improvement in technology and quality is turning alot of folks off and even had me questioning my purchase. For those here that are Blu Ray veterns perhaps a list of demo discs or must haves is in order. I plan on picking up The Dark Knight and I love Blackhawk Down but already own the Superbit DVD. One thing I will not do with Blu Ray is replace my library of DVDs as I did with the transition from VHS.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Tarl said:


> Don't get my original post wrong folks.....I do see and hear an improvement with Blu Ray over DVD. I know a new HDMI equipped reciever will make more of a difference also. My point is that on some discs the upgrade seems negligable. We watched Wall-E the other night and it was amazing. (BTW....I liked Hellboy I alot better than II...it just tried to be too cutesy.) I,ve adopted Blu Ray now and will not go back.....however I do feel that for most people DVD will be good enough for years to come. The Blu Ray price point, compared to the improvement in technology and quality is turning alot of folks off and even had me questioning my purchase. For those here that are Blu Ray veterns perhaps a list of demo discs or must haves is in order. I plan on picking up The Dark Knight and I love Blackhawk Down but already own the Superbit DVD. One thing I will not do with Blu Ray is replace my library of DVDs as I did with the transition from VHS.



any blueray disk of a movie made in say the last 5 years will look 10 time better then it's DVD counterpart. I own about 20 or so. For exemple, the Pirate of the Carabeane ones are insane quality. The remastered Blade Runner as well. Iron Man, Incredible Hulk to name a few are also dead Mint quality.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

al3d said:


> that's not gonna happen for...oh...10 to 15 years.


See my signature.............


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## Doctor Blind (Oct 17, 2008)

slightly related to the 4k discussion:

http://blog.audiovideointeriors.com/208great/

6 million doller home theatre set-up, featuring one 4k protector.

lofulofulofulofu


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

*Help!*

K, so DH asked for a new receiver for Xmas. He wants a 5.1 preferrably 7.1 Set up for HDMI. K so these things are mondo expensive and WAY out of my bedget, but then I found this one. Sony 7.1 Channel Receiver (STRDG720)
and it's only $249 ($100 off ) I did some research and it gets really great reviews, but most of the reviewers have them hooked up with their PS3's. Will this thing work well with my Samsung Blu Ray player? I asked the chumps at Best buy, but they don't seem to know much. Alot of this crazy stuff is way beyond me. HELP!


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Tarl said:


> Don't get my original post wrong folks.....I do see and hear an improvement with Blu Ray over DVD. I know a new HDMI equipped reciever will make more of a difference also. My point is that on some discs the upgrade seems negligable. We watched Wall-E the other night and it was amazing. (BTW....I liked Hellboy I alot better than II...it just tried to be too cutesy.) I,ve adopted Blu Ray now and will not go back.....however I do feel that for most people DVD will be good enough for years to come. The Blu Ray price point, compared to the improvement in technology and quality is turning alot of folks off and even had me questioning my purchase. For those here that are Blu Ray veterns perhaps a list of demo discs or must haves is in order. I plan on picking up The Dark Knight and I love Blackhawk Down but already own the Superbit DVD. One thing I will not do with Blu Ray is replace my library of DVDs as I did with the transition from VHS.


I hear you, I have the DVD set of Planet Earth and now I have BLU RAY envy....


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Starbuck said:


> K, so DH asked for a new receiver for Xmas. He wants a 5.1 preferrably 7.1 Set up for HDMI. K so these things are mondo expensive and WAY out of my bedget, but then I found this one. Sony 7.1 Channel Receiver (STRDG720)
> and it's only $249 ($100 off ) I did some research and it gets really great reviews, but most of the reviewers have them hooked up with their PS3's. Will this thing work well with my Samsung Blu Ray player? I asked the chumps at Best buy, but they don't seem to know much. Alot of this crazy stuff is way beyond me. HELP!


I don't think it decodes TrueHD or DTS MA. So the question becomes: does your Samsung Blu Ray player have the ability to convert those HD audio codecs to LPCM before it sends it to this particular amp? Which Samsung Blu-Ray player do you have?


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> I don't think it decodes TrueHD or DTS MA. So the question becomes does you Samsung Blu Ray player have the ability to convert those HD audio codecs to LPCM before it sends it to this particular amp? Which Samsung Blu-Ray player do you have?


Well this is what I'm finding out. Right now it does not. _supposedly_ there will be a patch for it in the future, in the setup mode our BDP 1500 asks if you want Bitstream or PCM. This is like Greek to me! Thanks for the help!

next Question is How much can I expect to spend?


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Starbuck said:


> Well this is what I'm finding out. Right now it does not. _supposedly_ there will be a patch for it in the future, in the setup mode our BDP 1500 asks if you want Bitstream or PCM. This is like Greek to me! Thanks for the help!
> 
> next Question is How much can I expect to spend?


It looks like your player will bit stream everything so you want an amp that can decode everything. Doing a quick search on Future Shop's site tells me they start at $500.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10099878&catid=


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> It looks like your player will bit stream everything so you want an amp that can decode everything. Doing a quick search on Future Shop's site tells me they start at $500.


Excellent thanks for the info Jeff, at least now I know where to start.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Actually the model up from sony is $399 and seems to be able to do the decoding as well.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10107372&catid=


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