That's fine if you are watching HD all the time but you have to balance it against the dreadful quality of Sky SD and Freeview on a large screen.
I've enjoyed seeing a big improvement on Bluray since switching from 32" 1080i to 37" 1080p at the same viewing distance but the built in Freeview is worse as expected.
I'm finding the sd upscaled via my Samsung V+ box to be the best quality for sd at the moment
It depends on what TV you have. I have a Panasonic Plasma with a pretty weak Freeview signal and I am more than happy with the quality. It is much better than the 26" Sony LCD we have in the other room with Sky SD. I am looking forward to getting Freesat HD though.
I have decided to go the PS3 route as I need a Blu-ray player and I like the idea of being able to use it as a games machine and a general media centre AppleTV type thing. I have noticed a PS3 40GB going for £219 new. I think this is all I need. My budget is £200 and don't want to go to far north of that. Is the 40GB sufficient or do I just need it if I start renting movies and adding a music library and pictures etc? I won't need all that stuff as I just plan to stream music and movies from my Mac if the PS3 supports wireless N.
EDIT: I have noticed the PS3 accepts ethernet. I have ethernet running all over the place so this is not an issue.
I would advise against the 40Gb (especially at £219/ £150-£175 at most now really)as the storage is too small especially if you are a regular gamer
Many games require an install when first played and they take up a lot of space if you are going to play many different games .
The cd storage is great but if you want to store music and photos aswell as downloading trailers and playing games the 40Gb will soon run out.
A supermarket was recently doing the 120Gb slimline for £200 so shop around. Sainsbury I think.
For about £45 you can buy a separate 320Gb hard drive and install that yourself if you prefer that
I am considering getting a blu ray player, but the main problem is that I have an extensive collection of non region 2 dvd's.
My present dvd player is converted to 'multiregion' playback and there are hardly any blu ray players that can be modified to play these, so it would be necessary
to keep my current player.
This will be a problem for many people interested in upgrading.
I am considering getting a blu ray player, but the main problem is that I have an extensive collection of non region 2 dvd's.
My present dvd player is converted to 'multiregion' playback and there are hardly any blu ray players that can be modified to play these, so it would be necessary
to keep my current player.
This will be a problem for many people interested in upgrading.
Multiregion Bluray players are readily available albeit not quite as easy as current dvd players.
The supermarket cheapie from Curtis is hackable for both Bluray and dvd.
Specialist retailers like Richer Sounds will supply all their Bluray players multiregional for dvd but if you want Bluray multiregion too its a £130 markup but players are available from Multiregion Magic- I've had a Panasonic one from them for a year.
Needless to say the PS3 is unlikely to ever be multiregion
I'm in the market for a Blu Ray player and have been thinking of the Philips BDP3000 which is being sold at various outlets for approx £100.
I've been told though that this is end of line kit, which I'm not bothered about, but also that it isn't futureproof, which of course I am. Discs to be released soon will not be able to be played on this machine???
Is this the case or is the statement wrong. If it is, can anyone recommend a good cheap player. We've been playing discs so far on my lads PS3, he has now taken his machine to his room (which means I can watch TV again!), but leaving the rest of the family with no means of playing the discs.
On another note, how would the Philips access the internet, is it wireless like the PS3 or would I need more kit. I have a wireless router.
I would advise against the 40Gb (especially at £219/ £150-£175 at most now really)as the storage is too small especially if you are a regular gamer
Many games require an install when first played and they take up a lot of space if you are going to play many different games .
The cd storage is great but if you want to store music and photos aswell as downloading trailers and playing games the 40Gb will soon run out.
A supermarket was recently doing the 120Gb slimline for £200 so shop around. Sainsbury I think.
For about £45 you can buy a separate 320Gb hard drive and install that yourself if you prefer that
the ps3 hdd is user replaceable - flib out a flap, unscrew six screws, unclick hdd out, click in new hdd, screw, lid back on - took around 10 mins.
I bought a 500gb with my 80gb phat and a year on, still have 200gb left - i use it not only as a bluray/dvd upscaler, but as a freeview pvr (play tv) - its the only device i need under the tv.
to op - just get a ps3 - prob a bit more than the cheapest standalone player, but you can also use the ps3 as a freeview pvr, as well as games, net, media servia (stream videos from your computer) oh and you can easily download rented films from the ps store.
you have to balance it against the dreadful quality of Sky SD and Freeview on a large screen.
I'm finding the sd upscaled via my Samsung V+ box to be the best quality for sd at the moment
Ive turned my ps3 into a 500gb Freeview pvr (play tv) - it upscales freeview and i would say the image quality is significantly better than just watching it through a tv aerial directly.
When recording freeview, you can also play games, surf net, watch bluray/dvds
the ps3 hdd is user replaceable - flib out a flap, unscrew six screws, unclick hdd out, click in new hdd, screw, lid back on - took around 10 mins.
.
Hence the last line of my post you quoted.
I got rid of the PS3 as I'm not a gamer and multiregion was most important for me.
I do miss the musci storage as my Pioneer dvdr does not compress cd's nor store alphabetically but the rest of the PS3 features are of no interest .
I certainly would not pay £11+ to download a film that I could buy for the same price with extras and not lose when the drive goes tits up
The PS3 was a pain to incorporate into my IR remote controlled setup - its own Bluray remote was quite possibly the worst remote I've ever come across.
But if you have all your bits in the PS3 then I guess it does not matter.
I have a motorised satellite ,Sky HD , V+, 2 dvd recorders and the Bluray player
I am considering getting a blu ray player, but the main problem is that I have an extensive collection of non region 2 dvd's.
My present dvd player is converted to 'multiregion' playback and there are hardly any blu ray players that can be modified to play these, so it would be necessary
to keep my current player.
This will be a problem for many people interested in upgrading.
I've got a Sony BDP-S350 and I've never had a problem playing any of my Region 1 DVDs..
eventually, we will have both wont we - a PS3, if you want games AND standalone BluRay players
I must now have about 10+ devices that play DVD's - 2 HDD-DVD recorders, 4 computers, 3 standalone DVD players - HiDef Games systems - Home Cinema Amp
HOWEVER - we wont want/need multiple BluRay players until the price of blu-rays comes down - I am sorry, but when I can buy DVD's at £3-£4, I am not going to pay £16plus (or even 2 for £25) for a blu-ray disk.
Its your money of course, but I spent £150 on a Samsung BD-P1500 a year ago, you can probably get that or other players for around that price, if not cheaper.
Also, I highly recommend a Lovefilm subscription.
Thanks for getting back to my post
The only reason I asked is if the money needs to be spent, still cant work out if it does or not
Are you sure your DVDs were actually R1 only? My BDP-S350 most definitely wouldn't play genuine R1 disks until I modded it with a remote and that experience has been echoed by others.
Specialist retailers like Richer Sounds will supply all their Bluray players multiregional for dvd but if you want Bluray multiregion too its a £130 markup but players are available from Multiregion Magic- I've had a Panasonic one from them for a year.
I've got one of those Richer Sounds near me. They do a Sony blu ray that is multi region for dvd only. So I can ask them to make it multi region blu ray also and they will do it in the shop for me for a price?
I don't mind doing that actually because I can take it back easily if I come across any problems then.
Also, the televisions in the house are all 32", and we are not changing any time soon to a larger one. Blu Ray will look fine and dandy on these?
I've got a Sony BDP-S350 and I've never had a problem playing any of my Region 1 DVDs..
A Sony centre shop are unlikely to supply a hacked player so your R1 dvd's are either music dvd's or coded for more than one region.
What R1 titles do you have?
eventually, we will have both wont we - a PS3, if you want games AND standalone BluRay players
I must now have about 10+ devices that play DVD's - 2 HDD-DVD recorders, 4 computers, 3 standalone DVD players - HiDef Games systems - Home Cinema Amp
HOWEVER - we wont want/need multiple BluRay players until the price of blu-rays comes down - I am sorry, but when I can buy DVD's at £3-£4, I am not going to pay £16plus (or even 2 for £25) for a blu-ray disk.
I recently got Love Actually and Bridget Jones in the 2 for £17 deal.
DVD's are cheap now but if you want quality you pay for it. Having said that I rarely pay more than £14 for a Bluray and thats on rare occasions.
Most of my US Blurays are under £12
I've got one of those Richer Sounds near me. They do a Sony blu ray that is multi region for dvd only. So I can ask them to make it multi region blu ray also and they will do it in the shop for me for a price?
I don't mind doing that actually because I can take it back easily if I come across any problems then.
Also, the televisions in the house are all 32", and we are not changing any time soon to a larger one. Blu Ray will look fine and dandy on these?
I don't think Richer Sounds will modify for Bluray if its not already available off the shelf.
Last time we heard from RS they said they were staying away from MR Blu because of a lower amount of interest caused by a combo of the £130+ mod price + the fact that 70%+ of US Blurays are region free.
DVD was different because the mods were cheaper and more in demand because all of Hollywoods dvd's were and still are region coded
If you want multiregion for Blu its either the Curtis for under £100 or you contact Multiregion Magic and pay £309+
I am between 7 and 8 feet away and when I had my 32" it was night and day between dvd and Bluray and that was only 1080i
The 37" I now have is 1080p which is even better on Bluray
1080i can only refer to it not accepting 1080p, presumably what you really meant was it had a lower resolution than 1080 lines? Presumably your new TV has a resolution of 1080 lines. It helps if you give accurate information as calling an HD ready TV 1080i is pretty meaningless since they all are.
I would never suggest (and have never suggested) that to get benefit from Blu-ray you need full HD 1080p, I have a 1366x768 50" plasma (though it does accept 1080p) and get a big benefit from it. I would suggest that the major reason for the difference you now get between Blu-ray and DVD is the size of the screen rather than the increased resolution as at your viewing distance you don't really need full HD 1080p.
1080i can only refer to it not accepting 1080p, presumably what you really meant was it had a lower resolution than 1080 lines? Presumably your new TV has a resolution of 1080 lines. It helps if you give accurate information as calling an HD ready TV 1080i is pretty meaningless since they all are.
I would never suggest (and have never suggested) that to get benefit from Blu-ray you need full HD 1080p, I have a 1366x768 50" plasma (though it does accept 1080p) and get a big benefit from it. I would suggest that the major reason for the difference you now get between Blu-ray and DVD is the size of the screen rather than the increased resolution as at your viewing distance you don't really need full HD 1080p.
The 32" accepted 1080i from V+ and Sky HD while the 37" is Full HD which is 1080p.
Where's the confusion?:rolleyes:
Is it that difficult to know what I am referring to when I compare a 1080i set to a 1080p one?
Your comments are clearly inaccurate as I can see the obvious improvements on Bluray between the previous set and the 1080i via Sky and Virgin is also more noticeable.
The fact that the 1080p inputs look better than the 1080i ones shows that I do benefit from it which I wouldnt if the 37" was still 1080i so your generalisation is wrong
The 32" accepted 1080i from V+ and Sky HD while the 37" is Full HD which is 1080p.
Where's the confusion?:rolleyes:
Is it that difficult to know what I am referring to when I compare a 1080i set to a 1080p one?
Your comments are clearly inaccurate as I can see the obvious improvements on Bluray between the previous set and the 1080i via Sky and Virgin is also more noticeable.
The fact that the 1080p inputs look better than the 1080i ones shows that I do benefit from it which I wouldnt if the 37" was still 1080i so your generalisation is wrong
1080i and 1080p are the same resolution. The only difference is how the picture frame is sent to the TV. When displayed however a 1080i picture has just as many pixels as a 1080p picture. So any improvement you see must be due to something else.
Is it possible the 32in TV was not a 1080 resolution set but 768? It would still accept a 1080 resolution picture but downscale it to fit the native resolution of the screen.
Your 37in TV however could be a full 1080 resolution display so would look better than a 768 resolution display.
1080i and 1080p are the same resolution. The only difference is how the picture frame is sent to the TV. When displayed however a 1080i picture has just as many pixels as a 1080p picture. So any improvement you see must be due to something else.
Is it possible the 32in TV was not a 1080 resolution set but 768? It would still accept a 1080 resolution picture but downscale it to fit the native resolution of the screen.
Your 37in TV however could be a full 1080 resolution display so would look better than a 768 resolution display.
Comments
It depends on what TV you have. I have a Panasonic Plasma with a pretty weak Freeview signal and I am more than happy with the quality. It is much better than the 26" Sony LCD we have in the other room with Sky SD. I am looking forward to getting Freesat HD though.
I have decided to go the PS3 route as I need a Blu-ray player and I like the idea of being able to use it as a games machine and a general media centre AppleTV type thing. I have noticed a PS3 40GB going for £219 new. I think this is all I need. My budget is £200 and don't want to go to far north of that. Is the 40GB sufficient or do I just need it if I start renting movies and adding a music library and pictures etc? I won't need all that stuff as I just plan to stream music and movies from my Mac if the PS3 supports wireless N.
EDIT: I have noticed the PS3 accepts ethernet. I have ethernet running all over the place so this is not an issue.
Many games require an install when first played and they take up a lot of space if you are going to play many different games .
The cd storage is great but if you want to store music and photos aswell as downloading trailers and playing games the 40Gb will soon run out.
A supermarket was recently doing the 120Gb slimline for £200 so shop around. Sainsbury I think.
For about £45 you can buy a separate 320Gb hard drive and install that yourself if you prefer that
My present dvd player is converted to 'multiregion' playback and there are hardly any blu ray players that can be modified to play these, so it would be necessary
to keep my current player.
This will be a problem for many people interested in upgrading.
Multiregion Bluray players are readily available albeit not quite as easy as current dvd players.
The supermarket cheapie from Curtis is hackable for both Bluray and dvd.
Specialist retailers like Richer Sounds will supply all their Bluray players multiregional for dvd but if you want Bluray multiregion too its a £130 markup but players are available from Multiregion Magic- I've had a Panasonic one from them for a year.
Needless to say the PS3 is unlikely to ever be multiregion
I'm in the market for a Blu Ray player and have been thinking of the Philips BDP3000 which is being sold at various outlets for approx £100.
I've been told though that this is end of line kit, which I'm not bothered about, but also that it isn't futureproof, which of course I am. Discs to be released soon will not be able to be played on this machine???
Is this the case or is the statement wrong. If it is, can anyone recommend a good cheap player. We've been playing discs so far on my lads PS3, he has now taken his machine to his room (which means I can watch TV again!), but leaving the rest of the family with no means of playing the discs.
On another note, how would the Philips access the internet, is it wireless like the PS3 or would I need more kit. I have a wireless router.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
the ps3 hdd is user replaceable - flib out a flap, unscrew six screws, unclick hdd out, click in new hdd, screw, lid back on - took around 10 mins.
I bought a 500gb with my 80gb phat and a year on, still have 200gb left - i use it not only as a bluray/dvd upscaler, but as a freeview pvr (play tv) - its the only device i need under the tv.
to op - just get a ps3 - prob a bit more than the cheapest standalone player, but you can also use the ps3 as a freeview pvr, as well as games, net, media servia (stream videos from your computer) oh and you can easily download rented films from the ps store.
Ive turned my ps3 into a 500gb Freeview pvr (play tv) - it upscales freeview and i would say the image quality is significantly better than just watching it through a tv aerial directly.
When recording freeview, you can also play games, surf net, watch bluray/dvds
Hence the last line of my post you quoted.
I got rid of the PS3 as I'm not a gamer and multiregion was most important for me.
I do miss the musci storage as my Pioneer dvdr does not compress cd's nor store alphabetically but the rest of the PS3 features are of no interest .
I certainly would not pay £11+ to download a film that I could buy for the same price with extras and not lose when the drive goes tits up
The PS3 was a pain to incorporate into my IR remote controlled setup - its own Bluray remote was quite possibly the worst remote I've ever come across.
But if you have all your bits in the PS3 then I guess it does not matter.
I have a motorised satellite ,Sky HD , V+, 2 dvd recorders and the Bluray player
I've got a Sony BDP-S350 and I've never had a problem playing any of my Region 1 DVDs..
The BDP-S350 does have to be made multi region for DVDs but that is an easy process using a remote.
I must now have about 10+ devices that play DVD's - 2 HDD-DVD recorders, 4 computers, 3 standalone DVD players - HiDef Games systems - Home Cinema Amp
HOWEVER - we wont want/need multiple BluRay players until the price of blu-rays comes down - I am sorry, but when I can buy DVD's at £3-£4, I am not going to pay £16plus (or even 2 for £25) for a blu-ray disk.
That's interesting. I've obviously been lucky with mine as I've never had to do it.
No, you must have bought a MR one without realising, did you buy from Richersounds
Thanks for getting back to my post
The only reason I asked is if the money needs to be spent, still cant work out if it does or not
No, from a Sony Centre shop.
I've got one of those Richer Sounds near me. They do a Sony blu ray that is multi region for dvd only. So I can ask them to make it multi region blu ray also and they will do it in the shop for me for a price?
I don't mind doing that actually because I can take it back easily if I come across any problems then.
Also, the televisions in the house are all 32", and we are not changing any time soon to a larger one. Blu Ray will look fine and dandy on these?
A Sony centre shop are unlikely to supply a hacked player so your R1 dvd's are either music dvd's or coded for more than one region.
What R1 titles do you have?
I recently got Love Actually and Bridget Jones in the 2 for £17 deal.
DVD's are cheap now but if you want quality you pay for it. Having said that I rarely pay more than £14 for a Bluray and thats on rare occasions.
Most of my US Blurays are under £12
I don't think Richer Sounds will modify for Bluray if its not already available off the shelf.
Last time we heard from RS they said they were staying away from MR Blu because of a lower amount of interest caused by a combo of the £130+ mod price + the fact that 70%+ of US Blurays are region free.
DVD was different because the mods were cheaper and more in demand because all of Hollywoods dvd's were and still are region coded
If you want multiregion for Blu its either the Curtis for under £100 or you contact Multiregion Magic and pay £309+
http://www.mrmdvd.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=22_98
I am between 7 and 8 feet away and when I had my 32" it was night and day between dvd and Bluray and that was only 1080i
The 37" I now have is 1080p which is even better on Bluray
I would never suggest (and have never suggested) that to get benefit from Blu-ray you need full HD 1080p, I have a 1366x768 50" plasma (though it does accept 1080p) and get a big benefit from it. I would suggest that the major reason for the difference you now get between Blu-ray and DVD is the size of the screen rather than the increased resolution as at your viewing distance you don't really need full HD 1080p.
The 32" accepted 1080i from V+ and Sky HD while the 37" is Full HD which is 1080p.
Where's the confusion?:rolleyes:
Is it that difficult to know what I am referring to when I compare a 1080i set to a 1080p one?
Your comments are clearly inaccurate as I can see the obvious improvements on Bluray between the previous set and the 1080i via Sky and Virgin is also more noticeable.
The fact that the 1080p inputs look better than the 1080i ones shows that I do benefit from it which I wouldnt if the 37" was still 1080i so your generalisation is wrong
Is it possible the 32in TV was not a 1080 resolution set but 768? It would still accept a 1080 resolution picture but downscale it to fit the native resolution of the screen.
Your 37in TV however could be a full 1080 resolution display so would look better than a 768 resolution display.
Isn't a 1080i set 720p?
The 32" was HD Ready. The 37" is Full HD
Nope there were quite a few TV's with 1920 x 1080 displays that could not handle 1080p only 720p and 1080i.
There are loads of TV's that can do 1080p25, 1080p50 and 1080p60 but not 1080p24 (native bluray format)