Curse

Braxton619 · Jun 20, 2010, 07:16 PM // 19:16

Hi guys, i am going to buy a blu-ray player to put in my room. I am on a budget and trying to look for a good quality blu-ray player. Which brand do you recommend? Also whats a nice model? I'm trying to spend less than $200. It does not need to be internet connected or anything. Just play blu-ray discs. Thanks!

Quaker · Jun 21, 2010, 03:16 PM // 15:16

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Blu-Ray - blu-ray has more to do with DRM and anti-copy policies than with any serious picture quality boost, and all the hyped stuff like BD-live will probably end up like "multi-view" on DVDs - rarely actually used.
But, rants aside, a simple Google search resulted in - http://reviews.cnet.com/best-blu-ray-players/
There are many models on there that are <$200 (assuming you mean US$, since you didn't say otherwise)

Masta Panda · Jun 21, 2010, 06:36 PM // 18:36

I say spend the little bit extra and just get a PS3. Ya get a Blu-ray and a gaming console in one nice little package.

Lord Sojar · Jun 22, 2010, 05:44 AM // 05:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Blu-Ray - blu-ray has more to do with DRM and anti-copy policies than with any serious picture quality boost, and all the hyped stuff like BD-live will probably end up like "multi-view" on DVDs - rarely actually used.
But, rants aside, a simple Google search resulted in - http://reviews.cnet.com/best-blu-ray-players/
There are many models on there that are <$200 (assuming you mean US$, since you didn't say otherwise)

Compared to what? DVD? LOL

BluRay is worlds better than DVD. We are talking about pure 1080p picture with Dolby DTS Master Audio or umcompressed audio versus... 480p with Dolby Digital 5.1 under high compression? The difference is very very obvious. If you have a good TV, not having BluRay is a crime. DVD can't hold a flame to the quality of BluRay.

Here is a Blu Ray restored version of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Here is a more modern film. This is Ice Age 2. The top is 1080p "Upscaled" DVD, the bottom is Blu Ray.

http://img216.imageshack.us/i/iceage2compku8.jpg/

Quaker · Jun 22, 2010, 04:51 PM // 16:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Sojar

Compared to what? DVD?

Compared to something that is more concerned about actual picture quality and ease of use, with features that actually work. Unfortunately, such a device doesn't exist yet, and probably never will.

And, in actual usage tests, such as showing a good quality DVD (such as the T2 eXtreme) on a good quality DVD player (not "upscaled" on a Blu-Ray player), versus T2 on Blu-Ray - on an average 46"-50" LCD TV at a normal viewing distance, the differences become much less noticeable.
Btw, in reviews, most Blu-Ray players do a poor job of playing a DVD, especially if the DVD is "upscaled" - poor design, or good marketing?

At any rate, no, I don't have a Blu-Ray player yet. But that's mostly because I don't buy/rent movies very often anymore - I either watch them in the theatre or wait for them to come out on HD movie channels. And I still can't find a multi-disc (5 disc) Blu-Ray player. (But that reminds me, I still haven't gotten a BD drive for my HTPC.)

Lord Sojar · Jun 23, 2010, 05:59 AM // 05:59

All I know is, I've played DVDs on a very nice DVD player on my TV, and they look like crap.

BluRay's look spectacular. The eyes don't lie.

End · Jun 23, 2010, 06:15 AM // 06:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Sojar

The eyes don't lie.

*random comment about borg eyes*

anyways I gotta say...I'm with quaker on this...While I personally don't have one...my uncle does...and ya know what...on his tv (things fricken huge but I don't know the actually details sorry) I hardly noticed a difference compared to watching a dvd :\

I would assume though you would have a diminishing noticablity (woot for making up words) of difference the larger the screen...or am I getting that backwards xD

Lord Sojar · Jun 23, 2010, 07:51 AM // 07:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by End

*random comment about borg eyes*

anyways I gotta say...I'm with quaker on this...While I personally don't have one...my uncle does...and ya know what...on his tv (things fricken huge but I don't know the actually details sorry) I hardly noticed a difference compared to watching a dvd :\

I would assume though you would have a diminishing noticablity (woot for making up words) of difference the larger the screen...or am I getting that backwards xD

The better the TV quality and picture, the worse and worse DVD looks. I refuse to watch DVD at this point, it's too hard on the eyes.

I've got a Samsung 6000 series LED TV though, so perhaps with higher contrast and sharpness comes worse looking DVD material. But, the difference in audio between DVD and Blu Ray is extremely noticeable, assuming you have mid to upper range audio equipment of course.

tijo · Jun 23, 2010, 03:08 PM // 15:08

The difference is noticeable, to me at least on pretty much any HDTV. It's not that big a jump in picture quality compared to previous ones but there's still a difference. You'll notice it especially on 1080p HDTVs.

EDIT: As far as the PS3 comment goes, if you don't play console games, there's no reason to get one. For 200$, you can get a good blu-ray player these days.

Quaker · Jun 23, 2010, 04:14 PM // 16:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by End

I would assume though you would have a diminishing noticablity (woot for making up words) of difference the larger the screen...or am I getting that backwards xD

All things being equal, (same rez, etc.) any differences should be more noticeable on a larger screen.

I'd just like to add that the "noticeability" of any difference would depend upon various factors. For example, if you are comparing a DVD played on a cheap machine connected to the TV with composite video, to a Blu-Ray played on a new machine connected by HDMI or component video, there would be a noticeable difference.
There are a lot of variables to consider when comparing Blu-Ray to DVD such as:
- the quality of the players - or how well the BD player plays DVDs
- the quality of the discs
- the type and quality of the connections.

Here's an interesting link - http://kbweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/dvd-vs-blu-ray.html

Unrelated topic - I have Firefox set to "ask me every time" about cookies. It's just rediculous how many cookies there are from imageshack just to view one stupid image.

End · Jun 23, 2010, 08:07 PM // 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

All things being equal, (same rez, etc.) any differences should be more noticeable on a larger screen.

Oops backwards xD

Leonora Windleaf · Jun 26, 2010, 02:41 AM // 02:41

I'm all for BluRay. I have a disk drive that can read BluRay discs, and have a full HD PC Monitor. To me, the difference is amazing... not only because of the higher resolution. Having seen the original Star Wars movies in 1080p (well... sort of, ripped from a HD TV channel, so not exactly Full HD Quality, but miles better than the DVD), I was amazed at seeing all those details. It was like watching the movies for the first time, all over again. Star Trek on BluRay blew my mind, too.

malevolence · Jun 27, 2010, 01:16 PM // 13:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

Compared to something that is more concerned about actual picture quality and ease of use, with features that actually work. Unfortunately, such a device doesn't exist yet, and probably never will.

And, in actual usage tests, such as showing a good quality DVD (such as the T2 eXtreme) on a good quality DVD player (not "upscaled" on a Blu-Ray player), versus T2 on Blu-Ray - on an average 46"-50" LCD TV at a normal viewing distance, the differences become much less noticeable.
Btw, in reviews, most Blu-Ray players do a poor job of playing a DVD, especially if the DVD is "upscaled" - poor design, or good marketing?

At any rate, no, I don't have a Blu-Ray player yet. But that's mostly because I don't buy/rent movies very often anymore - I either watch them in the theatre or wait for them to come out on HD movie channels. And I still can't find a multi-disc (5 disc) Blu-Ray player. (But that reminds me, I still haven't gotten a BD drive for my HTPC.)

Ah Quaker , maybe you tried the wrong blueray player ? A PS3 is a good one but I have this one http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S550-.../dp/B001FN3ZRQ , and believe me , is better than going to the cinema , of course I have a 52" samsung full HD 1080p tv.

@ OP , I think you will get better prices just having a GPU streaming via HDMI 1080p to your FUll HD tv, just download blue ray movies , it is way way cheaper. The PS3 is not a bad option , but you don't have all the sound setup/options as a BDP-S550.

Quaker · Jun 27, 2010, 03:06 PM // 15:06

Geez, all I said, originally, was I wasn't a big fan of Blu-Ray. I wasn't meaning to start any discussion on the merits of Blu-Ray versus DVD - somebody else started that.

But, to again answer the question, "as compared to what?" - let me state again that why I'm not a fan of Blu-Ray has more to do with the whole DRM issue, plus the loong start up time of BD, plus the availability of HD movie channels. It's not because BD is arguably not that much better than DVD. As I stated in an earlier post, I don't rent or buy very many movies anymore, so I (just me) have no compelling reason to buy a BD player.

Lord Sojar · Jun 28, 2010, 03:48 AM // 03:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

...plus the loong start up time of BD...

This is no longer true. Only the first BD players were like that. The models from 2009 onward have all been lightning fast, and the PS3 has always been very very fast.