Anyone else underwhelmed by BluRay?

[darien87]

Well, I told myself I would wait until Sony dropped their price on the PS 3, but I ended up buying one yesterday. I bought a couple of games and 3 BluRay discs. I bought Ultraviolet and House of flying daggers, because I already had the DVD's and wanted to compare.

The BluRay discs do look better, but it's not as much of a difference as I had thought it would be. It's certainly not the night and day difference between standard def and high def television.

I can't help feeling a little bummed out. Is it just me?

 

[gs274]

I feel the same way...unless you compare anything animated. It's my understanding that the movies will just look like really nicely upconverted standard dvd's until the movies are actually SHOT in an HD format.

 

[darien87]

I feel the same way...unless you compare anything animated. It's my understanding that the movies will just look like really nicely upconverted standard dvd's until the movies are actually SHOT in an HD format.

Glad it's not just me. A guy at Magnolia said that stand-alone BluRay players will look better than the PS 3, but I'm not sure if that was just him trying to sell me another player.

 

[mike c]

I was watching a demo of King Kong on a Toshiba HD player in a store.

I didn't even know they were using HD, I just said to myself, this DVD is extra ordinarily clear ... but nothing spectacular. (I was standing about 2 feet away)

If ever I jump to HD, it will be because of the SQ rather than PQ.

 

[Hi Ho]

It's my understanding that the movies will just look like really nicely upconverted standard dvd's until the movies are actually SHOT in an HD format.

Movies ARE shot in an HD format! 35mm film is well beyond ANY HD format we have available today. Any movie shot on film can be scanned in HD and look every bit as good as a new movie. Digitally shot films are also captured at resolutions much higher than 1080p.

The problem is not how movies are filmed, it's the mastering of the final Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc. In this aspect, I believe that HD-DVD has the upper hand. Virtually every HD-DVD I have seen has looked nothing short of amazing. Blu-Ray is hit or miss. Some look great, some actually look worse than the DVD version.

In store displays are even more hit-or miss. I saw the Toshiba HD-DVD display at Best Buy right after they put it out and it didn't look all that amazing playing King-Kong on a Westinghouse 1080p display. I went into the settings and saw that the player was set to output 480p! After changing it to 1080i, the picture was beyond even the best upconverted DVD I have seen.

 

[mtrycrafts]

but I'm not sure if that was just him trying to sell me another player.

Just a sales pitch

 

[Haoleb]

a few days ago i saw a setup with a 1080 sony LCD hooked up to a ps3, Playing ice age I have to admit that it was the best picture I have seen to date. I was impressed.

I think it would be worth it to upgrade to such technologies if ALL movies looked as good as that did. I have a nice picture on my 720p Plasma but it really wasnt as good as the blu-ray and 1080 setup.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Having a 110" screen certainly helps.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Having a 110" screen certainly helps.

And even more so as you go up in size
I am impressed but need to wait for price improvement to make the two formats worth while. No easy to resist

 

[j_garcia]

It depends on the movie entirely... I was underhwelmed by HOFD, Fifth Element and Sleepy Hollow, but when you see some of the other titles like The Prestige, Kingdom of Heaven and Nine Inch Nails Beside You in Time...you will quickly see the benefits. I spent some time comparing the first movies to the SD versions on my 2900 and I have to say it does take a little bit of looking, but there is a definite difference, but is it really worth it in those cases? Not really. I'm totally sold on Blu Ray though. You also have to recalibrate for the PS3, and the PS3 does have some limitations like not being able to pass blacker than black. Overall I find it to be a very good player. Make sure you have the latest firmware too - 1.54 as of this week.

 

[ChrisARN]

Check out Crank, The Prestige, The Departed, Stranger Than Fiction, and Open Season (or anything else animated).

 

[Livin]

Blew-ray is from Sony... so that means it is overpriced by at least 2x and you get 50% hype and 50% the same quality technology others can give you.

HD-DVD is just as good (no not better) and must less $.

but... if it make you feel any better by you purchase of Blew-ray or PS3 (do you really know what PS stands for - they just left out the 'o'?) you have funded more Sony R&D and Marketing so they can sell you the next PoS they will be coming out with.

seriously... don't waste your money, wise up like most others are... this is why Sony is hurting as a company right now... people finally see through the BSers that Sony really is.


< flame on - I will not read it anyway >

 

[darien87]

I'm totally sold on Blu Ray though. You also have to recalibrate for the PS3, and the PS3 does have some limitations like not being able to pass blacker than black. Overall I find it to be a very good player. Make sure you have the latest firmware too - 1.54 as of this week.

Thanks J, I'll have to check that out. I'm not sure what firmware I have. I haven't even hooked my PS 3 to the internet. I guess I'll have to bring my DSL modem downstairs and check it out.

 

[jonnythan]

I dunno about Blu-Ray, but the movies I watch in HD via cable are *way* beyond the movies I watch on DVD from my Oppo.

 

[Seth=L]

Eh-hem. I would like to add a few words about the HD Formats. The first Blu-Ray releases, such as Fifth Element, used single layer discs with the ancient MPEG-2 codecs (used to compress data to DVD for those that don't know). HD-DVD however started using the more efficient MPEG-4 and/or VC-1 codecs for their initial releases. Blu-Ray now uses VC-1 and/or MPEG-4 codecs to more efficiently compress data to their media, and they also are using dual-layer 50 gigabyte discs.

Yes Blu-Ray is still more expensive, but they have beaten the stereotype and actually have a decent marketing campaign, and a butt-load of support from those who ultimately decide which format will be the winner, the studios.

Blu-Ray has exclusive studio support from Disney and all it's subsideriaries and FOX. HD-DVD has exclusive support from Universal I believe, but it would appear all that does is keep HD-DVD in the game. If Universal starts putting stuff out on Blu-Ray it could spell the end of the format.

The Playstation 3 is almost as cheap as the HD-DVD players and I read a stat that around 1.8 million PS3 units have been purchased in the U.S. and 80% of those that purchased PS3s also purchased Blu-Ray movies, and why wouldn't you if you have an HDTV.

One last thing for this post, I noticed that the opening poster has a 48" Mitsubishi Projection TV. Now I am not saying that your TV is bad, but if it is a CRT projection it will not do Blu-Ray full justice. It should still look better than DVD, but not in leaps and bounds I would trust.

 

[Hi Ho]

Now I am not saying that your TV is bad, but if it is a CRT projection it will not do Blu-Ray full justice. It should still look better than DVD, but not in leaps and bounds I would trust

Why wouldn't a CRT TV do it justice? It's still the best overal display technology available and most CRT RPTV's are capable of 1080i. That will most certainly do an HD format justice.

 

[Seth=L]

Why wouldn't a CRT TV do it justice? It's still the best overal display technology available and most CRT RPTV's are capable of 1080i. That will most certainly do an HD format justice.

CRT projection does not look as good as DLP, LCD projection. IMHO.

 

[obscbyclouds]

CRT projection does not look as good as DLP, LCD projection. IMHO.

Hey! Some of us like our blacks to be black, not muddy grey. There's no reason a well calibrated CRT won't look terrific using blue ray or HD-DVD at 1080i. Like some other posters are saying, the encription technique is mostly the culprit in underwhelming Blue-Ray and HD-DVD performance.

 

[jonnythan]

CRT projection does not look as good as DLP, LCD projection. IMHO.

Wow, I totally disagree.

 

[GlocksRock]

Wow, I totally disagree.

Me too. My roommates old Mitsubishi 1080i rear projection CRT tv looked better than my Samsung 720p DLP tv.