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Old 07-02-2009, 18:40
Bazzer5
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I recently bought a Panasonic TH42PX80B and am thinking of buying a Blu Ray player. My question is about BR over DVD. Is it worth me buying a BR player? Would I get a substantially better picture experience through BR? Is a PS3 an option or should I look for a dedicated player? Should I not bother at all, stick to DVD and buy a 'full HD' set in a few years time?

Any advice is most welcome, thanks.
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Old 07-02-2009, 18:41
digibod
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I recently bought a Panasonic TH42PX80B and am thinking of buying a Blu Ray player. My question is about BR over DVD. Is it worth me buying a BR player? Would I get a substantially better picture experience through BR? Is a PS3 an option or should I look for a dedicated player? Should I not bother at all, stick to DVD and buy a 'full HD' set in a few years time?

Any advice is most welcome, thanks.
a ps3 with the official remote£17.99 is an awesome piece of kit

imo, going back to dvd...no way

on 2001, you can actually read the instructions on the gravity toilet, only seen by stanley kubrick in 1968
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Old 07-02-2009, 18:50
Bazzer5
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Thanks digi, just so I am clear, a Blu Ray movie, even on my non 1808p set will look significantly better than normal DVD?
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Old 07-02-2009, 19:15
digibod
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Thanks digi, just so I am clear, a Blu Ray movie, even on my non 1808p set will look significantly better than normal DVD?
if u have a hd ready tv, with a half decent hdmi lead, yes
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Old 07-02-2009, 19:52
Nigel Goodwin
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Thanks digi, just so I am clear, a Blu Ray movie, even on my non 1808p set will look significantly better than normal DVD?
Yes, massively so - BluRay gives you HD on your HDTV, DVD doesn't - there's no contest.
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Old 07-02-2009, 19:58
fearghost
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I agree! I have sold off most of my DVD collection and now have mainly Blu-Rays... The difference is amazing, particulary with recent movies. Even oldies like Preator or Wall Street are worth investing in IMO. The only DVD's I have left are mainly TV series.

The larger your TV the more you will notice the difference
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Old 07-02-2009, 19:59
digibod
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Yes, massively so - BluRay gives you HD on your HDTV, DVD doesn't - there's no contest.
im a bit of HD-DVD nut, i still really rate it, i have a toshiba hd ep10, see my blog for my list of HD-DVD
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Old 07-02-2009, 20:30
tomconti
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im a bit of HD-DVD nut, i still really rate it, i have a toshiba hd ep10, see my blog for my list of HD-DVD
But as HD DVD has been obsolete for almost a year you need now to use Bluray.

The selection is still quite small so dumping your dvd's is not a good idea as you wont be able to replace many of them just yet.

A PS3 is £299 and its a great package - however if you are not into games then you can now buy multiregion Bluray players for £269 so you can access all the US catalogue without worrying if its region free.

Bluray on the PS3 is just as good quality but the PS3 remote is shit.

Its Bluetooth for starters so you cant integrate it into your universal remote setup without buying an additional device to enable the PS3 to read infra red codes.

Secondly its not backlit and with the keys being so small its worse than useless in a dimly lit situation that you would often use for movie viewing because you cant see any of the keys.

Using a PS3 controller is equally naff.

Having said that - the remotes with standalones are equally poor but as they are IR you can use your universal remote instead.

But as the PS3 has a web browser and you can store cd's and photos on it you might find some of those additional features worth buying it for.

But if all you want is a Bluray player you would be better off buying a standalone where you will save more than £100 of the PS3 price or as I said before - you can go multiregion for BD and DVD.

If you have a large amount of R1 dvd's remember these wont play on the PS3
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Old 07-02-2009, 20:38
gixxerman 001
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Well, far be it from me to rain on anybody's parade here but here's an alternate view.

I have a very good & very recent large HD TV and I have Blu-ray, HD DVD, Sky HD and some .mkv downloaded HD content.

Some of it can look outstanding (on all of those formats).

The thing a lot of HD fans seem incapable of admitting though is that a hell of a lot of HD content really isn't all that great.

I've seen some outstanding HD (on Blu-ray, HD DVD, Sky HD and .mkv).

I've also seen a hell of a lot of deeply disappointing HD, barely better than DVD (on Blu-ray, HD DVD, Sky HD and .mkv).

TBH whilst I like my HD I do not think upscaled DVD is anything like as bad as some HD fans seem to like to make out
(and I've seen it upscaled on a 100" HD projector).

I'll buy HD on offer (HD DVD was incredible for this) but I won't pay more than new DVD prices for it.
IMO it's just not worth it.

Be honest, 5 minutes into a good film are you really bothered whether you can make out the stitching on an actor's jacket or are you into the film?

Does 2001 really hang on such stunningly irrelevant & banal details such as the gravity lav instructions?

Personally I don't see this gen of HD being anything more than a small minority niche of the market, like 3D it's all about the more showy fluff, not great story telling etc etc.
For instance last year's Blu-ray hit movie 'Iron man' had plenty of glitzy 'wow' effects but was in fact as shallow and dumb a kids film as has been.

The one big caveat to all of this is the natural world stuff (which IMHO generally tends to be where the best HD is to be found).
'Planet Earth' is outstanding, so too is something like 'Wild China' and some of the space stuff is stunning thanks to the better colour and detail.

But that unfortunately seems to be definitely in the minority as the Blu-ray format heads off down the ridiculous adolescent Hollywood movie cul-de-sac (thanks in large part to Blu-ray and it's heavy reliance on the PS3).

When TV and everything is commonly found in HD then things will be better.
My own view is that Blu-ray will just be another short-lived small segment of the market - which is great if you go into it accepting that, but if you seriously imagine it is going to be 'the next DVD' I think that is very very wide of the mark.
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Old 07-02-2009, 20:47
tomconti
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Strange that you find Planet Earth so great when much of it is simply upscaled sd anyway.

Portions of it were filmed where it was not possible to take HD cameras so those bits are not genuine HD.

There are quite a few Bluray discs about (and a lot of Sky HD broadcasts) where the wow factor is missing and this is usually down to Sky sourcing shit HD copies usually made a few years ago and the Bluray sourcing an old HD master.

Some very new films look stunning on upscaled dvd but those same films on Bluray wipe dvd off the planet.

Very bad Bluray copies can be hard to distinguish from very good dvd copies.

As for the detail - if you are not interested in seeing more detail why bother with HD at all and why not stick with VHS

The example of the clear text was an indication of the improved clarity of the image not that the text itself was of interest

The worst HD I have ever seen was on 3 different HD DVD's - however this was down to the source prints as other HD DVD material was superb and equally as good as the best of Bluray

As for the Hollywood pap comment- Bluray and HD wont get anywhere unless discs are sold and its the Hollyowood crap that sells in big numbers.

Without people buying tat like Iron Man we wont be able to see material from The Criterion Collection and the BFI
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Old 08-02-2009, 10:53
Bazzer5
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Guys, some excellent opinions thank you. It seems from a little investigation the the PS3 is still a main contender for a good quality player, unless someone here has an alternative view. My next question is regarding Profile, it looks like it can be updated on a PS3 where as other perhaps cheaper players cannot? I'm still very new to all this but the PS3 looks like it has it by a nose, and it is a games console in addition.

Please feel free to tell me I'm wrong! <gulp>
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Old 08-02-2009, 11:02
niall campbell
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PS 3 is up to profile 2.0 with software update 2.2

anyway try pannasonic for blu ray as they are supposed to be better than Sony........ who make the Playstation

you need to make sure its profile 2.0 out of the box or at least able to be updated


the onus is on you to check
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Old 08-02-2009, 14:16
digibod
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PS 3 is up to profile 2.0 with software update 2.2

anyway try pannasonic for blu ray as they are supposed to be better than Sony........ who make the Playstation

you need to make sure its profile 2.0 out of the box or at least able to be updated


the onus is on you to check
panasonic is class, but the ps3 remote is great, who cares if it isnt backlit
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Old 08-02-2009, 14:18
digibod
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But as HD DVD has been obsolete for almost a year you need now to use Bluray.

The selection is still quite small so dumping your dvd's is not a good idea as you wont be able to replace many of them just yet.

A PS3 is £299 and its a great package - however if you are not into games then you can now buy multiregion Bluray players for £269 so you can access all the US catalogue without worrying if its region free.

Bluray on the PS3 is just as good quality but the PS3 remote is shit.

Its Bluetooth for starters so you cant integrate it into your universal remote setup without buying an additional device to enable the PS3 to read infra red codes.

Secondly its not backlit and with the keys being so small its worse than useless in a dimly lit situation that you would often use for movie viewing because you cant see any of the keys.

Using a PS3 controller is equally naff.

Having said that - the remotes with standalones are equally poor but as they are IR you can use your universal remote instead.

But as the PS3 has a web browser and you can store cd's and photos on it you might find some of those additional features worth buying it for.

But if all you want is a Bluray player you would be better off buying a standalone where you will save more than £100 of the PS3 price or as I said before - you can go multiregion for BD and DVD.

If you have a large amount of R1 dvd's remember these wont play on the PS3
are you telling me this or the op?

ive had blu ray over a year, and yes, i still really rate HD-DVD.
toshiba make(made) some stunning players, they felt expensive, unlike some of the lower end BD players(apart from panasonic)
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Old 08-02-2009, 15:14
gixxerman 001
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Guys, some excellent opinions thank you. It seems from a little investigation the the PS3 is still a main contender for a good quality player, unless someone here has an alternative view.

Hello.

The PS3 is region locked, can't bitstream HD audio properly, is extremely ugly (IMHO of course), can be noisey and - if you have no real interest in video games - wasting a chunk of your money on stuff you have no need of.
Particularly as 'profile 2.0' players can now be had for much less than the PS3.

Personally the region locking was a big deal for me and I bought a multi-region player
(which allows me to buy bargain discs abroad).

tomconti -

I didn't say that the additional detail HD can offer was of no interest to me.

But I was saying that holding up things like a set of lavatory instructions was precisely the sort of banal approach to this that I find so pointless and largely worthless.
It added nothing of value.
However on something like Planet Earth (yes I know it was not all shot in HD, not that it makes much difference to the entire series overall) that detail adds something wonderful and of huge value.

That's why I gave the example of Iron Man and the coming 3D.
It'll all be 'wow' nonsense
(and usually over edge-enhanced & with weird DNR settings, not in themselves much to do with 'HD' at all)
for it's own sake and which adds nothing of much worth to the 'work'.

If you really want a couple of examples of HD done horribly
(a low I've yet to see matched by anything but the most inept amatuer .mkv encoders)
try out the original Blu-ray 'The Fifth Element' or 'House of the Flying Daggers' or 'Wall Street' or 'Halloween' or '28 Days Later'.
Total rubbish.
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Old 08-02-2009, 20:56
tomconti
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panasonic is class, but the ps3 remote is great, who cares if it isnt backlit
Anyone who wants to try and use it in your darkened home cinema room
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Old 08-02-2009, 20:57
tomconti
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are you telling me this or the op?

ive had blu ray over a year, and yes, i still really rate HD-DVD.
toshiba make(made) some stunning players, they felt expensive, unlike some of the lower end BD players(apart from panasonic)
Yes - sorry I didnt make it clear that apart from the opening comments the rest was for the OP
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Old 08-02-2009, 21:00
tomconti
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Guys, some excellent opinions thank you. It seems from a little investigation the the PS3 is still a main contender for a good quality player, unless someone here has an alternative view. My next question is regarding Profile, it looks like it can be updated on a PS3 where as other perhaps cheaper players cannot? I'm still very new to all this but the PS3 looks like it has it by a nose, and it is a games console in addition.

Please feel free to tell me I'm wrong! <gulp>
If you want to play games buy the PS3.

If all you want is Bluray playback buy a standalone.

That way you can either pay at least £100 less than the PS3 or you pay nearly the PS3 price and get a fully multiregion Bluray player

The Panasonic BD30 at £269 is Profile 1.1

However - if you use some Profile 2.0 BD Live discs you will be so underwhelmed you wont believe it- BD Live is unimportant
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Old 09-02-2009, 07:58
Bazzer5
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Gaming is not that important to me, as I already have an xbox and a wii for my kids, so I can take it or leave it. I would rather spend less money on one, with multi region built in, which is quieter. Panasonic would be my first choice as I can vlink it.
Are these players profiles upgradeable? If I buy a Profile 1.1 player can I upgrade through say an ethernet connection, or am I stuck with the profile version that it is supplied with?
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Old 09-02-2009, 09:09
OranguMaTang
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If you want to play games buy the PS3.

If all you want is Bluray playback buy a standalone.

That way you can either pay at least £100 less than the PS3 or you pay nearly the PS3 price and get a fully multiregion Bluray player

The Panasonic BD30 at £269 is Profile 1.1

However - if you use some Profile 2.0 BD Live discs you will be so underwhelmed you wont believe it- BD Live is unimportant
You can get the Panasonic BD35 which is Profile 2.0 for under £200.
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Old 09-02-2009, 12:25
methodyguy
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I am suprised no one has mentioned the Sony BDP-S350 its a great machine with awesome Picture Quality it is a really good Bluray player and you can buy it from play.com for under £200.

Regards

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Old 09-02-2009, 12:41
soulboy77
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I am suprised no one has mentioned the Sony BDP-S350 its a great machine with awesome Picture Quality it is a really good Bluray player and you can buy it from play.com for under £200.
Agree, the Sony BDP-S350 is great value for a Blu-ray player and will also do a decent upscale of SD DVDs. Can be found as cheap as £170 on-line. Upgrading to profile 2.0 is a simple exercise and don't worry about not having on board coding for DTS-HD Master Audio, as the vast majority of us don't need it.
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Old 09-02-2009, 21:07
tomconti
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You can get the Panasonic BD35 which is Profile 2.0 for under £200.
Not multiregion for Bluray and dvd you cant
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Old 09-02-2009, 21:11
tomconti
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Gaming is not that important to me, as I already have an xbox and a wii for my kids, so I can take it or leave it. I would rather spend less money on one, with multi region built in, which is quieter. Panasonic would be my first choice as I can vlink it.
Are these players profiles upgradeable? If I buy a Profile 1.1 player can I upgrade through say an ethernet connection, or am I stuck with the profile version that it is supplied with?
The cheapest player I know of is that is fully multiregion for both Bluray and dvd is the Panny BD30 at £269 from Multiregion Magic.

The Profile 2.0 BD35 is £80 dearer and believe me if you try out BD Live you will kick yourself for wasting money.

There are other players available but be careful you dont jump in and buy one that is multiregion just for dvd - there are plenty of those about.

The BD35 (MR)is about £350 but you can get a PS3 cheaper - which is more important - the cost - multiregion for Bluray or Profile 2.0?


Note the £130 difference between a player that is multiregion for dvd and the same player that is multiregion for BD too


http://www.mrmdvd.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=22_98
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