Is it worth it to buy a Blu-Ray player considering....

[Windows 7 User]

....My HDTV which is Vizio that I bought in 2006 only supports up to 1080i?

Is there a conversion to 1080p?

If yes, which brand should I buy for the best bargain?

Stand alone Bly Ray for my HDTV.

 

[bobkn]

This has something to do with Windows 7?

I use a standalone BluRay player with an old (2 1/2 years) Sharp 32". Its native resolution is 720p, although it also accepts 1080i.

The BluRay player is set to output 720p. Looks good, better than an upscaled DVD. I haven't noticed any artifacts from the conversion. I also haven't done a side-by side comparison with a 1080p set.

What player to buy? Beats me. Mine is a Sony BDP-BX1 (supposedly a BDP-S350, as sold by Costco). It has had several firmware updates since I bought it 18 months ago, and it has played every disk I've tried with it. About the only feature that I miss is WiFi, to connect to my wireless network. (I've got an Ethernet Wireless G adapter to add that, but I haven't tried it yet.)

 

[pparks1]

Absolutely worth it. My HDTV is only 720p and I bought it just that way because I'm a believer in the science which says that with televisions and movie watching, the human eye is incable is seeing the difference between 1080p and 720p when it's properly calibrated and coming from an identical 1080p source.

My recommendation. Panasonic Plasma. No if, and's or buts.

 

[Windows 7 User]

It does not and it was posted in the off-topic forum and was moved here.

Progresive Scan is 720p which I have now.

This has something to do with Windows 7?

I use a standalone BluRay player with an old (2 1/2 years) Sharp 32". Its native resolution is 720p, although it also accepts 1080i.

The BluRay player is set to output 720p. Looks good, better than an upscaled DVD. I haven't noticed any artifacts from the conversion. I also haven't done a side-by side comparison with a 1080p set.

What player to buy? Beats me. Mine is a Sony BDP-BX1 (supposedly a BDP-S350, as sold by Costco). It has had several firmware updates since I bought it 18 months ago, and it has played every disk I've tried with it. About the only feature that I miss is WiFi, to connect to my wireless network. (I've got an Ethernet Wireless G adapter to add that, but I haven't tried it yet.)

 

[Windows 7 User]

Absolutely worth it. My HDTV is only 720p and I bought it just that way because I'm a believer in the science which says that with televisions and movie watching, the human eye is incable is seeing the difference between 1080p and 720p when it's properly calibrated and coming from an identical 1080p source.

My recommendation. Panasonic Plasma. No if, and's or buts.

I thought the main reason people bought Blu-Ray was to display it in 1080p format?

Aren't most Blu-Ray movies in 1080p format? You mean I can still those movies in 720p also?

 

[mitchell65]

Absolutely worth it. My HDTV is only 720p and I bought it just that way because I'm a believer in the science which says that with televisions and movie watching, the human eye is incable is seeing the difference between 1080p and 720p when it's properly calibrated and coming from an identical 1080p source.

My recommendation. Panasonic Plasma. No if, and's or buts.

I thought the subject here was "What Blu-Ray player to buy" not what HD TV. I use a Philips BR player BTW. Found it excellent so far and good value for money, was under 100 pounds sterling!

 

[pparks1]

I thought the main reason people bought Blu-Ray was to display it in 1080p format?

BluRay movies are high definition and are captured at 1080p. This means that the source material, has a ton of detail and can provide a pristine image.

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Aren't most Blu-Ray movies in 1080p format? You mean I can still those movies in 720p also?

Absolutely, you can play these back in 720p. The TV's have scalers in them which can take the 1080p image (pristine) and scale them back to display at 720p (still pristine). The key is that the material is in the source image...therefore are just displaying that source over fewer lines at playback.

On a properly calibated display, from a reasonable viewing area..I personally can tell no difference whatsoever between a 1080p and 720p display. Googling will most likely result in this being the same for most people. Some will maintain they see a major difference...but cannot tell you if the sets were properly calibated or if they knew what to even look for.

 

[Windows 7 User]

I can see a Bluray movie that is in 1080p on my 1080i HDTV as 1080i or 1080p?

Which resolutions have the big differences that you can tell? I know there is a huge between 480p and 1080i.

I thought the main reason people bought Blu-Ray was to display it in 1080p format?

BluRay movies are high definition and are captured at 1080p. This means that the source material, has a ton of detail and can provide a pristine image.

Aren't most Blu-Ray movies in 1080p format? You mean I can still those movies in 720p also?

Absolutely, you can play these back in 720p. The TV's have scalers in them which can take the 1080p image (pristine) and scale them back to display at 720p (still pristine). The key is that the material is in the source image...therefore are just displaying that source over fewer lines at playback.

On a properly calibated display, from a reasonable viewing area..I personally can tell no difference whatsoever between a 1080p and 720p display. Googling will most likely result in this being the same for most people. Some will maintain they see a major difference...but cannot tell you if the sets were properly calibated or if they knew what to even look for.

 

[pparks1]

Which resolutions have the big differences that you can tell? I know there is a huge between 480p and 1080i.

Again, the difference here is in the source. A standard DVD has 480 lines of resolution baked into the recorded bits. Therefore, when you play this back on a TV with 1080p resolutions (1920x1080), it has to take the 480 lines and then double them (480x2= 960) and then has to come up with 120 more lines. However, if you watch a broadcast that is recorded at 1080i...it has 1080 lines of recorded information so when you play back at 1080 or 720 on the display...it either stays the same or is reduced slightly. But since you aren't making up something that isn't there, but rather cutting some of the lines out...the picture does not noticeably get worse.

So, in my case.....all things being equal. On a properly calibrated 720p display and a properly calibrated 1080p display...if you were to take a 480P DVD and play it back...it should look the same. It's possible with crappy electronics in the display that the scalers would do a poor job going to 1080p...but if the make and model used the same components with different outputs it would be the same. Same thing if you took a 1080p BluRay and played it on both. They should look the same. Even the one at 720p is going to look great....because the bits are actually in the source and just being reduced at the display. However, if you compare the DVD on 1 to the BR on the other...the BR will always look better because the source has more bits.

With modern TV's, they are fixed pixel displays. Meaning a 1920x1080 TV is always showing 1980 lines by 1080 lines at all times. In fact, they are just tiny dots. Unlike old CRT TV's, they don't show what is being given to them, they turn whatever they get into 1920x1080. So, when you take something that is 480 and bump it to 1080, quality goes down (like copying a cassette tape from a cassette tape), but when you take something that is great at 1080 and play it back at 720p, it still looks great.

Hope that makes sense...I'm trying to keep this at easy to understand levels....but sometimes what I think in my head doesn't translate to words well.

 

[Windows 7 User]

Which resolutions have the big differences that you can tell? I know there is a huge between 480p and 1080i.

Again, the difference here is in the source. A standard DVD has 480 lines of resolution baked into the recorded bits. Therefore, when you play this back on a TV with 1080p resolutions (1920x1080), it has to take the 480 lines and then double them (480x2= 960) and then has to come up with 120 more lines. However, if you watch a broadcast that is recorded at 1080i...it has 1080 lines of recorded information so when you play back at 1080 or 720 on the display...it either stays the same or is reduced slightly. But since you aren't making up something that isn't there, but rather cutting some of the lines out...the picture does not noticeably get worse.

So, in my case.....all things being equal. On a properly calibrated 720p display and a properly calibrated 1080p display...if you were to take a 480P DVD and play it back...it should look the same. It's possible with crappy electronics in the display that the scalers would do a poor job going to 1080p...but if the make and model used the same components with different outputs it would be the same. Same thing if you took a 1080p BluRay and played it on both. They should look the same. Even the one at 720p is going to look great....because the bits are actually in the source and just being reduced at the display. However, if you compare the DVD on 1 to the BR on the other...the BR will always look better because the source has more bits.

With modern TV's, they are fixed pixel displays. Meaning a 1920x1080 TV is always showing 1980 lines by 1080 lines at all times. In fact, they are just tiny dots. Unlike old CRT TV's, they don't show what is being given to them, they turn whatever they get into 1920x1080. So, when you take something that is 480 and bump it to 1080, quality goes down (like copying a cassette tape from a cassette tape), but when you take something that is great at 1080 and play it back at 720p, it still looks great.

Hope that makes sense...I'm trying to keep this at easy to understand levels....but sometimes what I think in my head doesn't translate to words well.

Since my HDTV is 1080i and 720p. Will the picture look better on a Blu-Ray movie that is 1080p then compare to a regular DVD Dual Layer movie?

 

[pparks1]

Since my HDTV is 1080i and 720p. Will the picture look better on a Blu-Ray movie that is 1080p then compare to a regular DVD Dual Layer movie?

Yes, absolutely without question. DVD's are 480 lines of resolution in the source, while blurays are 1080p at the source. With far more content, it's a clearer, sharper and crisper image. It's the difference between DVD and High Definition TV.

 

[Windows 7 User]

My progressive scan DVD's will upconvert resulting in better picture and sound also?

After doing some research, I have decided to get 3-D Blu Ray player since 3-D TV's prices have gone down already. Also, I want a system where I can access my PC from the Blu-Ray so I can use Youtube and media player.

I have Comcast high speed internet at home with no router.

 

[chrisjw37]

The take up of blu-ray is very disappointing according to Which!
Availability of titles is poor and rentals are below par (Source: Blockbuster)

Personally I'm not going to bother, its another Betamax scenario

 

[pparks1]

Personally I'm not going to bother, its another Betamax scenario

Well, we will agree to disagree then. While the take-up is a bit slow.....it's far faster than DVD originally was when it came out. Trust me, I had a stand-alone DVD player in 1998 and was struggling to find any stores which rented back then. In fact, I have a letter from Blockbuster that I wrote suggesting they start stocking DVD's and I have their return letter that said it wasn't a viable media and that it didn't make sense to carry them...but they would continue to watch the trend and might consider it at a later time.

The betamax version of high definition DVD's already sailed...it was called HD-DVD and it's now gone. BluRay is here to stay for a good long while.

Almost everything I rent from NetFlix is now on bluray.

 

[Windows 7 User]

How much space does the 1080p movie take up to?

Does it use all of 50gb or 25gb?

 

[Wishmaster]

Depending on the Bluray itself, the Title, and codec used in the HD conversion
etc the RAW file size can be anywhere from 18GB --> 45GB in Size.

Just like DVD, Blurays image quality & size will vary from title to title.


Is it worth it & look better?
I say absolutely. Theres no comparison. But I suppose alot depends on the HDTV itself as well.

 

[Thorsen]

The take up of blu-ray is very disappointing according to Which!
Availability of titles is poor and rentals are below par (Source: Blockbuster)

Personally I'm not going to bother, its another Betamax scenario

Local Blockbuster stores right now are clearing out racks to add more blu-ray displays.....
Blu-Ray will take over, but DVD's will still be a contender for a while. When my DVD player dies, I will get a blu-ray player....

DVD players will be phased out within 2-3 years.

thats my prediction.

 

[Windows 7 User]

What about the movies from Netflix and Blockbuster? Are they close to 50GB with full features?