I was going to get the US releases but they were about 3 weeks after the UK release so luckily I still didnt have them when the rather bizarre Disney BOGOF deal started on their dvd's and Blurays .
Bizarre in that brand new titles only released days earlier were also included - a nice idea to piss people off and stop them preordering future releases.
DVD.co.uk were first with the deal so I got TS and TS2 for £17.95 the pair .
MY son then decided he wanted them too and the following week Play.com had them at a similar price so I ordered them , but within a few minutes someone posted that Amazon were doing the incredible £12 deal
So I snapped up the 4 titles I listed and nearly went for Dumbo too.
Amazon stock of TS1 at that price was gone in minutes and they stopped offering it at that price .
The deal is still on but its now £16.99 - still a superb price and only £3 more than the dvd which is great because the Bluray set comes with a dvd aswell .
My daughter has both Toy Story films on DVD, for which we paid (a few weeks before Xmas) £4.99 for each one at Sainsburys.
Quite shocking how much they went up in price on DVD in the New Year just because they were coming out on Blu Ray as well.
I'd still love the Blu Ray format, but on this occasion I can't justify paying the extra given what we paid for the DVD's.
I recommend 'Up' to anybody who is into the whole Disney/Pixar thing!
Well considered post, thank you for a bit of balance. You are quite correct about people keeping hold of their present TVs and DVD players. People tend to assume especially on forums such as these that no one owns a CRT anymore. In fact the opposite is the reality, I can't remember just where I read it now but the figures suggest that CRT ownership is still in the majority in the UK (but only just). That's still a hell of a lot of old tech out there and I do know that the ownership life cycle for a CRT was around 14 years. When money is tight you don't just throw away what works. DVD PQ when paired with a CRT is pretty fair.
I personally don't agree with this:p but I do accept that there will be a lot of people who just cannot justify parting with a lot of money to upgrade their systems even with the improved picture quality. Unless people are into technology or need a new TV, a lot of people wont see the point in upgrading when their old sets work perfectly well. I think that eventually we will move towards the majority of people having HDTVs + HD broadcast/Blu ray but it will take many years to phase out the old technology. When people buy TVs they expect to keep them for a long time.
Screen that size if 1080p should be viewed at between 14' to 15' for HD content.
14-15ft is too far back.
If it was 1080p and you use THX recommendations of x1.2 or divided screen size by .84 you would need to be about 10ft away.
Our PJ is 720 and the recommended distance is around 11-12ft, but we have to take into consideration our 50" plasma which is in the same room - so around 10ft is perfect for us.
Home cinema is all about an immersive cinematic experience, this is lost if you sit too far back.
I just put a few DVDs (Star Trek and Transformers) on my Xbox 360 and the picture quality (1080p 50Hz upscaled) was rather fantastic! I don't think I'll be buying a blu-ray player until the disks and players are significantly cheaper. Upscaled DVDs are good enough for me at the minute!
I recently replaced our broken DVD player in the bedroom with a blu-ray player - £80 - plays BR, multi-region DVD, mp3 and DIVX - why on earth would I replace with a std DVD player when the cost has dropped so much?
As for downloads replacing physical media, well, when I can download around 25-50gb of data in a few minutes then that''s the day I'll move on.
I recently replaced our broken DVD player in the bedroom with a blu-ray player - £80 - plays BR, multi-region DVD, mp3 and DIVX - why on earth would I replace with a std DVD player when the cost has dropped so much?
There's a subtle difference though between buying a Blu-Ray player because the DVD player is broken than just because.
For me Blue Ray has two problems. Firstly the fact when played a decent upscaling DVD player DVD's look virtually as good. Secondly the farce that is 24 frames of animation.
Just for the non tech minding UK PAL TV's have always played back at 25 fps (frames per second) and because of this movies, that are shot at 24fps, had to be speeded up accomodate this. Thanks to the wonder of modern tech Blue Ray plays back at the film speed of 24fps. So on paper that sounds like a good thing right? You're finally getting the movie like it is at the pictures yeah?
Accept what it does in reality is create the problem of motion judder. Older HDTV's weren't built with 24fps in mind, can't handle it and what you get is an ugly jerking effect in slow panning shots. Some of them even "motion stutter" and jerk about wildly in normal shots too.
But hey we've all got newer sets now that carry the "24fps" sticker and can so the marketing says can actually play back 24fps correctly. Ha those poor dweebs with older TV will just have to upgrade (again).
Accept all these new 24fps capable sets still seem (to my eyes) judder. Oh that can't be right can it? Well all you have to do is google the term "motion judder" and you'll find hundreds of nerdy forums with people moaning that they are still seeing judder and uber nerds who've bought into the 24fps hype trying to deny it exists.
I saw a tech blog give a breakdown on this judder effect and the reasons its happening. Its very simple; 24 is a lower number than 25 frames. Incase that doesn't spell it out you're getting less animation, and the less animation the more jerky things look. People in the film industry have been aware of 24fps judder for years. 24fps is just not a very fast rate of animation and they actually teach camera men that there are right and wrong ways of panning the camera to reduce the jerking effect.
So, in reality you're actually paying more money with Blue Ray for a downgrade in your animation. At the mild benefit of the slightest improvement in picture clarity. Enjoy.
That doesn't make sense. Whats shot in 25 fps? Nothing. The difference between 24-25 is unnoticeable for the sake of argument. Film is inherently 24fps, and decent 24fps tv's repeat frames just as theater projectors do. Without 24p you are repeating frames and altering the speed, which can only be worse.
There's a subtle difference though between buying a Blu-Ray player because the DVD player is broken than just because.
Of course. The only point I was making that as the life-cycle of DVD players ends out there, it makes no sense to buy another std DVD player as the cost of BR ones is dropping so much.
I got the Spiderman movies for a ridiculously low price at Tesco's. Can't remember what it was - less than £15 for all three I think.
But that was a while ago now, I think it was a very limited offer of a boxed set.
On the whole, BDs remain at a higher price than I'm willing to pay at the moment.
I have two players, and two TVs both capable of 1080P FullHD, so I can see the difference - but it's not enough to warrant the generally higher price over the same DVD titles.
There are still a number of homes, especially among the elderly, who don't have and don't want an Internet connection. This is virtually a pre-requisite if you want to use all that BD has to offer, or simply want to keep your player up-to-date.
Play were doing Spidey Trilogy recently for about £17 and around the same time I got The Matrix Trilogy for £12.99 and the Mission Impossible Trilogy for £14.99.
BUt prices seem to fluctuate on a daily basis but there is no need to pay anymore for new release Bluray than you would have done for dvd just a few years ago
As for the internet being a pre requisite?
Have you ever used BD Live.
Its as inconsequential to Bluray as the multiangle feature turned out to be for dvd
My daughter has both Toy Story films on DVD, for which we paid (a few weeks before Xmas) £4.99 for each one at Sainsburys.
Quite shocking how much they went up in price on DVD in the New Year just because they were coming out on Blu Ray as well.
I'd still love the Blu Ray format, but on this occasion I can't justify paying the extra given what we paid for the DVD's.
I recommend 'Up' to anybody who is into the whole Disney/Pixar thing!
The £4.99 Toy Story were the old releases.
The film has only just been rereleased on Bluray and dvd
I'm surprised you cant justify paying the £1 extra for the Bluray sets (which is what I paid) especially as the Bluray set comes with a dvd inside the case too.
So basically I paid £1 more for each film to get the Bluray:)
The film has only just been rereleased on Bluray and dvd
I'm surprised you cant justify paying the £1 extra for the Bluray sets (which is what I paid) especially as the Bluray set comes with a dvd inside the case too.
So basically I paid £1 more for each film to get the Bluray:)
What's different about the new releases on DVD then?
I saw on Play this evening I can get both on Bluray for £17, but even so, that's £17 extra.
What's different about the new releases on DVD then?
I saw on Play this evening I can get both on Bluray for £17, but even so, that's £17 extra.
Is there more to the actual DVD releases?
£17 extra ? But thats for HD versions and a dvd too
I doubt there is much different on the new releases.
My TS dvd's were the Region One 3 disc boxset from 10 years ago so my reason for upgrading was to get the Bluray.
As far as I can tell virtually all the bonus features from the old releases are included although I cannot find Pixars Tin Toy on the Bluray.
I would say that if you have any of the previous dvd releases then there is no reason to buy them on dvd again , but the Bluray has a dvd in it too which is useful for those with kids who want to watch the film on their player upstairs instead of the Bluray downstairs
Feel sorry for the suckers who have paid £14.99 for each film downloaded onto their PS3 with no case , no extras , only standard 2 channel sound and no dvd either
Secondly , many Bluray players do not support 24p and those that do offer it as a selectable feature.
Judder sometimes occurs when players have 24p selected then try to playback sd at 25p.
But this depends on player and tv .
I have my player set to 24p but I never get any judder even when playing sd material on Blurays
I have never seen a BD player that does not support 1080p24 (its the native format). It's not the player it's the display that does not support 24fps requiring the player to massage the frame rate to a rate that the display supports usually the Ntsc standard of 29.97fps using a drop frame technique hence the slightly jerky appearance in shots with fast action or rapid pans
I have never seen a BD player that does not support 1080p24 (its the native format). It's not the player it's the display that does not support 24fps requiring the player to massage the frame rate to a rate that the display supports usually the Ntsc standard of 29.97fps using a drop frame technique hence the slightly jerky appearance in shots with fast action or rapid pans
Apparently the phillips BDP3000 didn't support 24fps until a reccent upgrade a few weeks ago.
I have never seen a BD player that does not support 1080p24 (its the native format). It's not the player it's the display that does not support 24fps requiring the player to massage the frame rate to a rate that the display supports usually the Ntsc standard of 29.97fps using a drop frame technique hence the slightly jerky appearance in shots with fast action or rapid pans
Yes I should have said it was the display not the player that supports 24p.
It was my last Panny tv that did not accept the 24p .
Whenever I tried to switch it on via the player it would not work .
If it was 1080p and you use THX recommendations of x1.2 or divided screen size by .84 you would need to be about 10ft away.
Our PJ is 720 and the recommended distance is around 11-12ft, but we have to take into consideration our 50" plasma which is in the same room - so around 10ft is perfect for us.
Home cinema is all about an immersive cinematic experience, this is lost if you sit too far back.
Have looked at four calculators - try Googling them and they all recommend around the same distance i.e. the one I provided you with so don't shoot the messenger.
I just put a few DVDs (Star Trek and Transformers) on my Xbox 360 and the picture quality (1080p 50Hz upscaled) was rather fantastic! I don't think I'll be buying a blu-ray player until the disks and players are significantly cheaper. Upscaled DVDs are good enough for me at the minute!
I actually tried a similar experiment with my DVDR tonight but to be honest I struggled to see much improvement and that was sitting only two feet from the screen. I used my Panny EX78 DVDR which up-scales via HDMI and fed that into my Panny PX60 720p Plasma. I used the latest Star Trek movie as the source DVD. The PQ was very good, however, if I toggled between the HDMI input and scart AV3 RGB the PQ via the scart was almost indistinguishable. I tried it on action shots or shots where there was a lot of detail but I would say they were both equally as good - which was very good.
I would be interested to see just how much if any improvement there would be using Blu-Ray. I doubt using this particular panel that Blu-Ray would be anything other than a small step change.
I actually tried a similar experiment with my DVDR tonight but to be honest I struggled to see much improvement and that was sitting only two feet from the screen. I used my Panny EX78 DVDR which up-scales via HDMI and fed that into my Panny PX60 720p Plasma. I used the latest Star Trek movie as the source DVD. The PQ was very good, however, if I toggled between the HDMI input and scart AV3 RGB the PQ via the scart was almost indistinguishable. I tried it on action shots or shots where there was a lot of detail but I would say they were both equally as good - which was very good.
I would be interested to see just how much if any improvement there would be using Blu-Ray. I doubt using this particular panel that Blu-Ray would be anything other than a small step change.
I have a full hd 37" Panny and the most recent Star Trek movie looks incredible on Bluray.
I had a bit of a job getting the installers out of my house as they were gobsmacked at the film when I used it to test out the set and they said the image was fantastic as many lcd owners don't even have an HD source to use
I have a full hd 37" Panny and the most recent Star Trek movie looks incredible on Bluray.
I had a bit of a job getting the installers out of my house as they were gobsmacked at the film when I used it to test out the set and they said the image was fantastic as many lcd owners don't even have an HD source to use
Well as I said it looks pretty good on my older HD Ready panel as well - very smooth clear lines on all shots. What puzzles me though is there appears to be virtually no difference between the scart input and the HDMI as it's the HDMI input where the up-scaling supposedly kicks in. I kept replaying identical scenes to look for differences and that was from two feet. Move back another two feet and I would have defied anyone to see a noticeable difference.
Well as I said it looks pretty good on my older HD Ready panel as well - very smooth clear lines on all shots. What puzzles me though is there appears to be virtually no difference between the scart input and the HDMI as it's the HDMI input where the up-scaling supposedly kicks in. I kept replaying identical scenes to look for differences and that was from two feet. Move back another two feet and I would have defied anyone to see a noticeable difference.
As both bits of kit were Panasonic then I assume the upscaler in both is very similiar in performance.
Comments
My daughter has both Toy Story films on DVD, for which we paid (a few weeks before Xmas) £4.99 for each one at Sainsburys.
Quite shocking how much they went up in price on DVD in the New Year just because they were coming out on Blu Ray as well.
I'd still love the Blu Ray format, but on this occasion I can't justify paying the extra given what we paid for the DVD's.
I recommend 'Up' to anybody who is into the whole Disney/Pixar thing!
I personally don't agree with this:p but I do accept that there will be a lot of people who just cannot justify parting with a lot of money to upgrade their systems even with the improved picture quality. Unless people are into technology or need a new TV, a lot of people wont see the point in upgrading when their old sets work perfectly well. I think that eventually we will move towards the majority of people having HDTVs + HD broadcast/Blu ray but it will take many years to phase out the old technology. When people buy TVs they expect to keep them for a long time.
14-15ft is too far back.
If it was 1080p and you use THX recommendations of x1.2 or divided screen size by .84 you would need to be about 10ft away.
Our PJ is 720 and the recommended distance is around 11-12ft, but we have to take into consideration our 50" plasma which is in the same room - so around 10ft is perfect for us.
Home cinema is all about an immersive cinematic experience, this is lost if you sit too far back.
http://www.dvd-intelligence.com/display-article.php?article=859
As for downloads replacing physical media, well, when I can download around 25-50gb of data in a few minutes then that''s the day I'll move on.
There's a subtle difference though between buying a Blu-Ray player because the DVD player is broken than just because.
Just for the non tech minding UK PAL TV's have always played back at 25 fps (frames per second) and because of this movies, that are shot at 24fps, had to be speeded up accomodate this. Thanks to the wonder of modern tech Blue Ray plays back at the film speed of 24fps. So on paper that sounds like a good thing right? You're finally getting the movie like it is at the pictures yeah?
Accept what it does in reality is create the problem of motion judder. Older HDTV's weren't built with 24fps in mind, can't handle it and what you get is an ugly jerking effect in slow panning shots. Some of them even "motion stutter" and jerk about wildly in normal shots too.
But hey we've all got newer sets now that carry the "24fps" sticker and can so the marketing says can actually play back 24fps correctly. Ha those poor dweebs with older TV will just have to upgrade (again).
Accept all these new 24fps capable sets still seem (to my eyes) judder. Oh that can't be right can it? Well all you have to do is google the term "motion judder" and you'll find hundreds of nerdy forums with people moaning that they are still seeing judder and uber nerds who've bought into the 24fps hype trying to deny it exists.
I saw a tech blog give a breakdown on this judder effect and the reasons its happening. Its very simple; 24 is a lower number than 25 frames. Incase that doesn't spell it out you're getting less animation, and the less animation the more jerky things look. People in the film industry have been aware of 24fps judder for years. 24fps is just not a very fast rate of animation and they actually teach camera men that there are right and wrong ways of panning the camera to reduce the jerking effect.
So, in reality you're actually paying more money with Blue Ray for a downgrade in your animation. At the mild benefit of the slightest improvement in picture clarity. Enjoy.
Pal isn't 25fps, its 50 interlaced fields.
Of course. The only point I was making that as the life-cycle of DVD players ends out there, it makes no sense to buy another std DVD player as the cost of BR ones is dropping so much.
Play were doing Spidey Trilogy recently for about £17 and around the same time I got The Matrix Trilogy for £12.99 and the Mission Impossible Trilogy for £14.99.
BUt prices seem to fluctuate on a daily basis but there is no need to pay anymore for new release Bluray than you would have done for dvd just a few years ago
As for the internet being a pre requisite?
Have you ever used BD Live.
Its as inconsequential to Bluray as the multiangle feature turned out to be for dvd
The £4.99 Toy Story were the old releases.
The film has only just been rereleased on Bluray and dvd
I'm surprised you cant justify paying the £1 extra for the Bluray sets (which is what I paid) especially as the Bluray set comes with a dvd inside the case too.
So basically I paid £1 more for each film to get the Bluray:)
Firstly they dont look anywhere near as good.
Secondly , many Bluray players do not support 24p and those that do offer it as a selectable feature.
Judder sometimes occurs when players have 24p selected then try to playback sd at 25p.
But this depends on player and tv .
I have my player set to 24p but I never get any judder even when playing sd material on Blurays
What's different about the new releases on DVD then?
I saw on Play this evening I can get both on Bluray for £17, but even so, that's £17 extra.
Is there more to the actual DVD releases?
£17 extra ? But thats for HD versions and a dvd too
I doubt there is much different on the new releases.
My TS dvd's were the Region One 3 disc boxset from 10 years ago so my reason for upgrading was to get the Bluray.
As far as I can tell virtually all the bonus features from the old releases are included although I cannot find Pixars Tin Toy on the Bluray.
I would say that if you have any of the previous dvd releases then there is no reason to buy them on dvd again , but the Bluray has a dvd in it too which is useful for those with kids who want to watch the film on their player upstairs instead of the Bluray downstairs
Feel sorry for the suckers who have paid £14.99 for each film downloaded onto their PS3 with no case , no extras , only standard 2 channel sound and no dvd either
I have never seen a BD player that does not support 1080p24 (its the native format). It's not the player it's the display that does not support 24fps requiring the player to massage the frame rate to a rate that the display supports usually the Ntsc standard of 29.97fps using a drop frame technique hence the slightly jerky appearance in shots with fast action or rapid pans
Apparently the phillips BDP3000 didn't support 24fps until a reccent upgrade a few weeks ago.
Yes I should have said it was the display not the player that supports 24p.
It was my last Panny tv that did not accept the 24p .
Whenever I tried to switch it on via the player it would not work .
My current 1080p Panny does though.
Have looked at four calculators - try Googling them and they all recommend around the same distance i.e. the one I provided you with so don't shoot the messenger.
I actually tried a similar experiment with my DVDR tonight but to be honest I struggled to see much improvement and that was sitting only two feet from the screen. I used my Panny EX78 DVDR which up-scales via HDMI and fed that into my Panny PX60 720p Plasma. I used the latest Star Trek movie as the source DVD. The PQ was very good, however, if I toggled between the HDMI input and scart AV3 RGB the PQ via the scart was almost indistinguishable. I tried it on action shots or shots where there was a lot of detail but I would say they were both equally as good - which was very good.
I would be interested to see just how much if any improvement there would be using Blu-Ray. I doubt using this particular panel that Blu-Ray would be anything other than a small step change.
I have a full hd 37" Panny and the most recent Star Trek movie looks incredible on Bluray.
I had a bit of a job getting the installers out of my house as they were gobsmacked at the film when I used it to test out the set and they said the image was fantastic as many lcd owners don't even have an HD source to use
Well as I said it looks pretty good on my older HD Ready panel as well - very smooth clear lines on all shots. What puzzles me though is there appears to be virtually no difference between the scart input and the HDMI as it's the HDMI input where the up-scaling supposedly kicks in. I kept replaying identical scenes to look for differences and that was from two feet. Move back another two feet and I would have defied anyone to see a noticeable difference.
As both bits of kit were Panasonic then I assume the upscaler in both is very similiar in performance.