Blu-Ray....or not Blu-Ray...
Tony Fyler 19 comments
Typical. Just typical.
I finally decide to hop onboard the HD bandwagon (just, of course, in time for it to be overtaken by the 3D bandwagon!), I do the research, I spent a modest fortune picking up a fairly impressive Blu-Ray player and a big-ass TV, and then this happens...
Which? - the consumer watchdog in the UK - have done a survey which shows that really, when it comes right down to it, Blu-Rays only offer a genuine improvement over DVDs in about 1 in 3 cases.
Now, to some extent of course, this makes perfect logical sense. Animated or FX-heavy movies would seem, on the face of it, to deliver more opportunities for Blu-Ray to bedazzle than, say, talk-heavy period melodrama, whcih surely must be like taking the first row in the theatre, and getting to count the nose-hairs on the leading man. So how do we explain results that show films like Gandhi and Grease being improved by Blu-Ray, while films like the Matrix Reloaded and Master and Commander showed little difference...?
Having not yet taken delivery of the big-ass TV, at present, the Blu-Ray's sitting in a corner of my living room, licking its lips seductively and promising so much. So here's a quick ask - what are the movies you've seen in both formats that were significantly improved by Blu-Raying? And which...really...weren't?
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1332820/Blu-ray-discs-live-hype.html
Henk V
Friday 26th November 2010 | 06:58 AMdamn, I thought blu ray had been and gone. It always looked something akin to a transitional technology so I never paid much attention to it.
Mikey wrote a great article on press ganging your old gear into doing something useful a while back. Its what I used to practice at work and still do at home.
Our old HP 86's and 85's are still being used to control equipment in other laboratories.
Yep, sometimes I am an old fogey when it comes to technology. Disc drives have always been a bit of a flop (pun intended).
PS Tony a survey garners peoples feeling about product. Whilst its a great way to try and predict sales, its not a great way to gauge performance. I would'nt be making my purchases on what the old biddy down the street feels about her disc drive and certainly not what a brain dead teenager feels about his pc.
Papa
Friday 26th November 2010 | 10:39 AMBlue Ray is without a doubt a far improvement over standard def. I watched 3:10 to Yuma to break my Blue Ray cherry, and it looked better, the audio was great. I have no complaints with my Blue Ray Player, and it was around 150$.
Henk V
Friday 26th November 2010 | 01:44 PM150 bux is pretty good for a newish gen disc drive. My TV hasnt got the res and I dont buy discs anymore.. My kids were buying too much feelgood crap
Gidday gun toter!
Which movies showed improvement? Of the ones I've watched, all of them. That said, having a 55inch Sony Bravia running at 400Hz with motion-flow enabled will make anything look good :-)
Putting my e-penis aside for a moment, the higher resolution alone makes a significant difference. But some titles have a lot of extra love put onto them and it's obvious right from the start. The Pacific is an awesome Bluray production for example, and I thought the picture was significantly better than Band of Brothers. But The Pacific was made during a time of hi-def awareness so they probably used that to their advantage. I'm probably talking BS now, but Bluray is awe no doubt
Henk V
Friday 26th November 2010 | 05:57 PMDoes blue ray make adam sandler look better of kyuss sound better though?
Good to see you come out of your hole Mikey, how is it in Mikey-alia?
TVBIZ(BOB)
Friday 26th November 2010 | 06:25 PMAs Mikey said - there are some movies out now which have been scanned frame by frame and enhanced for BluRay release and they look pretty good.
The time taken to do this shows in the final product.
There are a lot of movies which have just been recorded straight from a Telecine machine to HD Digital Betamax then mass recorded onto Bluray disks.
The quality is still better than Standard Def but you do notice the film noise etc from the original 35 ml prints.
This practice is just a quick and cheap way of gaining money for movies originally released in standard def.
To me a true HD movie is something that has remained in the HD digital domain from start to finish, not a film print that has just been up converted to 1080 HD.
I can tell a product that was originally 625 lines then converted to 1080 - CAN YOU?
Henk V
Friday 26th November 2010 | 06:44 PMNope, I just watch the movies
...in response to this comment by TVBIZ(BOB). "I can tell a product that was originally 625 lines then converted to 1080 - CAN YOU?"
Definitely. That being said, the original 1960's Star Trek is one of the most fabulous Bluray conversions I've seen. It looks incredible. The special features shows how much love went into it, with frame-by-frame manual cleaning (dust and scratch removal etc) and a special algorithm built to handle colour reproduction.
Tony Fyler
Saturday 27th November 2010 | 05:07 AMHenk - notsomuch a survey - they're a big, independent testing organisation that publishes comparison reviews. They're pretty much a by-word for independent testing, so their word is generally well-regarded.
Interesting responses folks thanks. Oh and Mikey - nice to see your 50 inch e-penis(!)
Henk V
Saturday 27th November 2010 | 09:35 AMyou should see him on the keyboard
If you have a DVD player that upscales, I'm sure you'll be more than happy. We watched a couple of things on Blu-Ray and while they looked great, we weren't blown away. I was actually upset because they're in an even wider screen ratio, so you get letterbox! Though with prices dropping to almost the same as a DVD player, it's not as big a deal now as it was 3 years ago
...in response to this comment by Tony Fyler. That's 55" , thank you! :-)
Henk V
Monday 29th November 2010 | 03:52 PMthats a marvellous yard!
SacDuck
Tuesday 30th November 2010 | 08:17 AMAaarg 58" Sam LED here!
Added a BluRay DVD to my MS Media Center PC w/ATI All-in-Wonder HD. Besides an incredible display I can manipulate the view box.
Also have an upconverter on 52" store brand LCD.
I've watched 2001 a space ahdyssey, clockwork and OE day the earth stood..
They both look great.
I'd have to say the best way to get the most of any system is a good bong hit before the show.
Henk V
Tuesday 30th November 2010 | 08:43 AMSac, I hope your missus doesnt catch you talking about you pre entertainment sex life in such a manner. Especially as pre-entertainment.
One only wonders what he does before kids shows like "funniest videos" starts on saturday evenings.
SacDuck
Wednesday 1st December 2010 | 12:38 AMHoly Moly Henk!
My A/V entertainment and sex never cross each other's path!
I'm strictly meat to meat.
Plus two of my darlings are just for riding (the Duck is for Ducati) and proficient at many positions.
Another BR last night with my stir fry girl, just after a delicious plate of squid and mushroom in black bean sauce over rice.
"The Blue Planet" at 58" x 6ft (1.82 m) I was needing some Scuba gear.
Henk V
Wednesday 1st December 2010 | 07:38 AMsquid, so many dishes, so little time...
Funny how some folk wont eat the stuff. With the current over run of humbolts on the US pacific coast it should be each americans patriotic duty to eat a kilo of humbolt a day.
I have a large tele too, Had such a beastie for over a decade. Found that since the kids turn into bedroom dvd watchers the best entertainment I get is running my computers into it.
Friendo is right. Program TV is pretty awful when you can get new lectures and demos, downloads and cartoons from the net. After 6 years its finally getting worthwhile (ADSL bill wise) to do it here constantly.
Gong
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 01:44 PMey don't forget about hi-fi and THX
and blu-ray is not just about the HD pictures. the sound is improved too. Dolby HD
Friendo
Friday 26th November 2010 | 01:04 AMInteresting Tony...indeed.
We get a lot of this in todays world. Spools to 8 Track, 8 Track to Cassette, Cassette to CD, CD to MP3... Then we got Analogue to Digital on just about everything from clocks, watches, household appliances, and everything. Not to mention from Film to Digital images. Its almost endless.
Theres one of these transitions that I recall quite clearly, and likely made the biggest impression of all of them in my life: Monaural-Stereo
I remember exactly when and where I was when I heard my first Stereo recording...And what a difference it was. There was no wondering if I could truly hear a difference. It was like having a piano land on me. I could close my eyes and visualize exactly where the individual instruments were coming from. Oh god, Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass were so cool.
Stereo to Surround sound was not even close-I could hear it, but the impact just wasn't the same.
We have seen this same electro-digital phenomenon occur at many levels on many fields of play in the past few decades, and it would seem that someone is always ready to capitalize on on the next digital innovation. (and who could blame them, and truth be told, it's great for us all...I love digital innovations.)
The sad thing is here, that I am not so sure some of this great improvement isn't wasted on my ears, eyes, and mind.
My hearing is not getting any better. My eyesight is not what it used to be. And the learning curve for many of these digital innovations is just too steep for me. At 50 feet, I cant tell the difference between a skinny blonde and a buxom brunette. What good is Blue Ray gonna' do me.
Though I may not get much value in some of these improvements, ceertainly my stature in life is elevated just in the fact that I have them. Like my Android phone...I've got one, and nobody knows I don't know how to use it. It sure looks cool though.
f~