Is anyone else gay for Blu-Ray?

[Simmi]

Sorry if there has been something about this already, but with the format war over I was just wondering if anyone was converting to Blu-Ray DVDs?

I have six or so films now and have started to really enjoy the better picture quality to the point where I'm now reluctant to buy a film on regular DVD. I tend to buy films that can really showcase the format such as the new Bond, Black Hawk Down, I Am Legend etc, but I cant quite understand how old films can be updated to such great quality and wondered if anyone had seen any. I'm not about to update my entire collection but I think its great knowing you are watching better then cinema-quality in your own home.

I was also wondering how noticable the jump up from HD to full 1080p is. I cant fathom it being that much better but I was wondering whether to upgrade my older LCD.

[Rallyst3ve]

To me it just seem's like another way of trying to get more money from us. Firstly you need to get a DVD player which recognises Blu Ray more money and then the Blu Ray discs themselves cost more dont they??
So i cant be bothered with this im happy with quality of DVD's is Blu Ray really that much better anyway.
It's like HD channels on sky you have to pay enough for sky as it is, then a load more for HD i dont think its worth it really.

[Mark]

Films are shot on film anyway (the clue is in the name!) so upgrading old films to high def isn't an issue.

[Daniel]

I'd say it's worth it :)

It's a bit sad that Blu-Ray won..... HD-DVD was cheaper to manufacture, cheaper to licence and it was also region free which is a good thing.

If we get a 1080p TV I'll probably buy a player if they come down to around £100 but hopefully by then HD-downloads will be more commonplace as I don't see the point in owning a disc when I just want to see a movie.

[Rallyst3ve]

I may buy one when i get a new DVD player then.

But lets face it, it wont be long before another format comes out :p :p

[Simmi]

I've heard people say that Blu-Ray might have won out purely because the name sounded better.

Obviously there are a multitude of other reasons. Daniel is right region free is a great feature, although some Blu-Ray films (Paramount I think) are also region free.

As for the PQ on Blu-Ray, I too couldn't see how it could be better then on DVD but some stuff is pretty jawdropping. Obviously some films lend themselves to it much more. I'd definately recommend I Am Legend as a great HD picture transfer.

[Daniel]

I've heard people say that Blu-Ray might have won out purely because the name sounded better.

Yup.... some people went on about how Blu-Ray discs could hold more data and how that made them better. Great for a storage format (who burns stuff to CD when you've got DVD's for the same price unless you're wanting to burn a music disc) but for video I think cost and the fact that HD-DVD is region free was a better idea for it to succeed but alas it's not worked out that way.

[Daniel]

I may buy one when i get a new DVD player then.

But lets face it, it wont be long before another format comes out :p :p

I think you'll find it's a while before a new video format comes out. Standard Definition has been around for aaaaages :) You'll see 100hz tv's becoming a lot more fashionable before you see Quad HD TV's on the market.

There won't be anything coming along soon which will usurp Blu-Ray in terms of resolution till sometime mid way through the next decade. Downloads might be the thing to kill Blu-Ray off though unless people who can't grasp the idea of owning a licence do their thing and prop it up :)

I just wish the boneheads in government would realise that fast broadband is a requirement of a country like the United Kingdom and bite the bullet and roll fiber out so we could download movies at a reasonable speed!

[schmenke]

... You'll see 100hz tv's becoming a lot more fashionable before you see Quad HD TV's on the market...

120Hz televisions are pretty much the norm nowadays, at least from what I can see from the local electronics store adverts :mark:

[schmenke]

...I just wish the boneheads in government would realise that fast broadband is a requirement of a country like the United Kingdom and bite the bullet and roll fiber out so we could download movies at a reasonable speed!

It's not really up to the government is it? It's up to the local telecom companies to provide the fibre optic infrastructure. The cost of doing this vs. satellite transmission is what's holding them back.

[Rallyst3ve]

Daniel
...I just wish the boneheads in government would realise that fast broadband is a requirement of a country like the United Kingdom and bite the bullet and roll fiber out so we could download movies at a reasonable speed!


Places in France have about 100Mb Broadband speeds dont they?? Shows it can be done.

[Daniel]

120Hz televisions are pretty much the norm nowadays, at least from what I can see from the local electronics store adverts :mark:

I think that's only because the power over there is 60hz. I could be wrong :p Over here the power is 50hz so we get 100hz TV's :)

[Daniel]

It's not really up to the government is it? It's up to the local telecom companies to provide the fibre optic infrastructure. The cost of doing this vs. satellite transmission is what's holding them back.

Here we don't really have local phone companies. AFAIK BT owns all of the copper to the homes and there are some companies which own hardware in the exchanges and a lot of companies just buy their connections wholesale from BT. Realistically if BT can't afford to roll fibre out then the government should have to foot part of the bill.

Well I'm a dopey ****er......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7506742.stm
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/news/fibre-to-the-home---what-might-it-cost--402.html

It seems it was in the news just days ago :) It'll be years before it comes to me but when it comes I'll grab it with open arms. I would finally be able to host a web server and a few game servers without having to pay a company to host it all for me.

[Mark]

Virgin media are already doing that to an extent. They currently have fibre to the cabinet at the end of the road then normal twisted pair copper going into your house. But they are rolling out a system now which takes fibre right into your modem, which promises to be great, for those who can get it.

[Daniel]

Virgin media are already doing that to an extent. They currently have fibre to the cabinet at the end of the road then normal twisted pair copper going into your house. But they are rolling out a system now which takes fibre right into your modem, which promises to be great, for those who can get it.
Virgin only do that sort of stuff so they can go

"Wooooooo look! We can give you 1,000,000 mbps connections"

*Please note this is only available in applicable areas*

:p

What you're describing is exactly the situation I had in Australia :) The box down the street had fibre running to it and then copper to the houses. It is cheaper to run fibre to RIM's (Remote Integrated Multiplexers) then copper out to the houses from the RIM rather than running copper from the exchange to each house individually.

[Dave B]

Good luck with getting high-speed internet from Virgin for any period of time. Yes they promise high speeds, and unlike ADSL they usually deliver, but they're introducing STM which will practically kill your connection if you download too much.

Back in ye olde days (pre-2006) it was only a few geeks or illegal downloaders who were considered heavy users. Now I'm sitting here streaming News 24 to my desktop while the iPlayer is downloading an hour of last night's TV. If I tried this in peak hours I'd pretty soon hit the threshold whereupon my speed would drop through the floor.

ISPs love to advertise the benefits of super-dooper-broadband, but don't like it when the masses start using it!

[Daniel]

Good luck with getting high-speed internet from Virgin for any period of time. Yes they promise high speeds, and unlike ADSL they usually deliver, but they're introducing STM which will practically kill your connection if you download too much.

Back in ye olde days (pre-2006) it was only a few geeks or illegal downloaders who were considered heavy users. Now I'm sitting here streaming News 24 to my desktop while the iPlayer is downloading an hour of last night's TV. If I tried this in peak hours I'd pretty soon hit the threshold whereupon my speed would drop through the floor.

ISPs love to advertise the benefits of super-dooper-broadband, but don't like it when the masses start using it!

Yeah. That's an annoyance. Thankfully we signed up with BT before they put a fair use clause in the contract (I think) and I've never been capped apart from the start period when they forgot to raise our speed from the 512k it was with orange which took them about 3 months to sort :mark:

[The instant classic]

i have a PS3 so i have blu-ray and i really dont see any diff in that and other dvd i watch, blu-ray is just way to over price alot

[Simmi]

i have a PS3 so i have blu-ray and i really dont see any diff in that and other dvd i watch, blu-ray is just way to over price alot

Are you using a hi-def television connected via HDMI? Because if not you wont notice a difference it will look worse if anything. With all the correct kit in place Blu-Ray is beautifully crisp.

[The instant classic]

Are you using a hi-def television connected via HDMI? Because if not you wont notice a difference it will look worse if anything. With all the correct kit in place Blu-Ray is beautifully crisp.
you know im sure that wolud help much if i did use hi-def tv, cuz my PS3 not hook up to one lol, yeah the tv its on now, the blu-ray looks like nothing great, i do i have a hi-def tv i sholud have hook it up that tv first, i have seen blu-ray movies playing in stores and it looks just wow

[Dave B]

Any HD setup is going to be contrained by the weakest link in the chain. If the TV isn't HD then of course you're not going to see an improvement!

[Simmi]

you know im sure that wolud help much if i did use hi-def tv, cuz my PS3 not hook up to one lol, yeah the tv its on now, the blu-ray looks like nothing great, i do i have a hi-def tv i sholud have hook it up that tv first, i have seen blu-ray movies playing in stores and it looks just wow

Yeah hook it up to an HDTV and your PS3 will come alive!

[The instant classic]

Yeah hook it up to an HDTV and your PS3 will come alive!
i will try that tonight cuz its still daytime here :mad:

i will let you know what its like later tonight ;)

[Daniel]

Any HD setup is going to be contrained by the weakest link in the chain. If the TV isn't HD then of course you're not going to see an improvement!

Yep. A Wii would be just as good even though it's got less graphics horsepower. I always laugh at people who go on about how great their PS3's are because of Cell and how they've got 7 cpu's in there (you don't you ninny :p ) and they're using it on an old CRT TV which means there's no real improvement over a PS2 :p Oh well :D

[The instant classic]

Yep. A Wii would be just as good even though it's got less graphics horsepower. I always laugh at people who go on about how great their PS3's are because of Cell and how they've got 7 cpu's in there (you don't you ninny :p ) and they're using it on an old CRT TV which means there's no real improvement over a PS2 :p Oh well :D
i have my PS3 but i could never go on about how great it is, the games i have are just ok, and many times i see myself going back to my PS2 alot more

[Daniel]

i have my PS3 but i could never go on about how great it is, the games i have are just ok, and many times i see myself going back to my PS2 alot more
Sorry :) I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about all the people who go absolutely ga ga for the PS3 because it's supposedly got so much power when in reality it's not that great compared to most new PC's :)