Blu-ray Tech Question

[Mike Skerritt]

Sorry if this has been addressed before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything.

My question basically is this: Is it worth the money for Blu-ray if you've only got a 720p TV?

I took the HDTV plunge a little over a year ago and am very happy with the sets I bought. We've got a 42" plasma in the great room, and last Christmas I treated myself to a 32" LCD. They're great, and I'm happy with the way they present standard def DVD. But at the same time I'm very intrigued by the possibilities of Blu-ray; I just don't know if it's worth the extra scratch if my TV's won't display the picture to its full capabilities anyway.

Any thoughts on this from other folks who had the same concern? Thanks!

[Eric W.]

Sorry if this has been addressed before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything.

My question basically is this: Is it worth the money for Blu-ray if you've only got a 720p TV?

Yes. It's high definition. That's all you "need."

I took the HDTV plunge a little over a year ago and am very happy with the sets I bought. We've got a 42" plasma in the great room, and last Christmas I treated myself to a 32" LCD. They're great, and I'm happy with the way they present standard def DVD. But at the same time I'm very intrigued by the possibilities of Blu-ray; I just don't know if it's worth the extra scratch if my TV's won't display the picture to its full capabilities anyway.

Any thoughts on this from other folks who had the same concern? Thanks!

Go for it. Well worth it. You would set any Blu-Ray player to whatever the closest thing is to your TV's native resolution, which is probably 720p in both instances here.

720p and 1080i are both real high definition signals and that's what the network and cable/satellite channels are using for their high def.

I think you'll be plenty happy. Whatever BD player you buy will also upconvert/upscale your regular DVD's to that same high def resolution which is a nice picture quality bonus.

Real high definition is something that will spoil you in short order. You'll get the most out of your nice TVs and really get to see what they can do for you.

What are you looking at buying? What's your budget here?

[Mike Skerritt]

Thanks for responding, Eric.

I guess the main question is whether 720p really provides a difference I can see when the native resolution on the discs is 1080p, which my TV's aren't capable of.

If I felt it was worth it the budget wouldn't be a HUGE concern (though we just bought a condo, so I'm not talking about several hundred dollars here). Many friends have told me to just get a PS3, and that's $400. On the whole I'd consider that reasonable, but again, only if there's less of a difference in the downgrade between 720p and 1080p (if there is at all) than in the upgrade between standard def and what my TV's can pump out, if that makes sense.

[Eric W.]

Thanks for responding, Eric.

I guess the main question is whether 720p really provides a difference I can see when the native resolution on the discs is 1080p, which my TV's aren't capable of.

Not really. The only way you'd see serious differences is if you were running some kind of large front projection system with at least 70 inches on up.

The thing that's going to be the big difference here for you and frankly most other people is this:

Like DVD, obviously, you have good BD discs and not so good BD discs. Good BD discs are supposed to be remastered from the ground up and eveything runs at a much higher bit rate on both audio and video than DVD could ever imagine.

It's REAL high definition, so even if you're not running at 1080p (I'm not either) believe me, you're in for a treat.

I run my BD on a 34 inch widescreen CRT Tube, the Sony KD 34- XBR960. I'm at 1080i and I see broadcast HD at both 720p and 1080i and even from across the room I can see differences between HD material vs. not HD material even though there's no 1080p involved at all.

There's a LOT of marketing hype about 1080p because they want to sell players and TV's. That's fine for what it is. 1080p is awesome if you have it but no, the difference between 720p and 1080p is not anywhere remotely close to the difference between HD vs. non HD, so proceed with confidence.

Some of the marketing hype makes it sound like 1080p is the only "real" high definition and that simply isn't true.

Anything from 720p on up is real high definition.

If I felt it was worth it the budget wouldn't be a HUGE concern (though we just bought a condo, so I'm not talking about several hundred dollars here). Many friends have told me to just get a PS3, and that's $400. On the whole I'd consider that reasonable, but again, only if there's less of a downgrade in difference between 720p and 1080p than there is an upgrade between standard def and what my TV's can pump out, if that makes sense.

It's not a downgrade like that at all and I second the advice: Get the 40 gig PS3 for $399 and call it a day unless you really need analog audio outputs, which I personally didn't, in which case I'd say get a Panasonic DMP-BD30. http://www.blu-ray.com/players/players.php?id=5



With whatever you get, if you can do it, you'll want to keep the player connected to the Internet for the convenience of firmware/software updates which enable more features, etc.

If not viable, you can get firmware discs. There's always a way to get it done.

EDIT: Some new players from Sony and Pioneer are coming soon.

http://www.blu-ray.com/players/players.php?id=62

^^ This could be a candidate for you if you didn't want a PS3 at that price point. If you wait and play some haggling, you probably will see some sales. That's just list price. You know how it works with electronics.

http://www.blu-ray.com/players/players.php?id=63

^^ In the Fall.


http://www.blu-ray.com/players/players.php?id=37

http://www.blu-ray.com/players/players.php?id=71

^^ More expensive but I'm seeing advanced good word of mouth on forums like AVS.

All told, the PS3 is probably your best, all around bet unless again you really NEED analog outputs.

[AndyDursin]

It's worth it Mike! Take the plunge! If you aren't interested in the PS3 I would imagine waiting until Christmas would probably net you a good player at $299 or under this year.

1080p is a lot of hype for the most part. Sure I'd go for it if I were buying a newer set but I've tried setting my players at 1080p and 1080i and honestly I cannot see a difference when running BD or HD-DVDs. As Eric said most of the people who can see a difference are folks who are running obscenely large sets or projection screens, in which case they're going to have problems with most of what they're going to be watching one way or another.

I actually see more differences between 720p and 1080i than I do 1080p/1080i or 1080p/720p. On my displays I tend to think 1080i looks a little crisper than 720p, but that's all dependent on your own TV and its native resolution. 720p on some sets will look better than 1080i and vice versa.

[azahid]

WOW

I just got my PS3 last week which I ordered from Amazon.com for $399.99 and it fits my Samsug 720p LCD with great ease and not to mention my Denon 2807 AVR, making even my standard dvd's also upscale on very good definition.

Just sampled my Master & The Commander Blu ray dvd and it certainly the DEMO dvd in terms of pure DTS sound giving and boosting my rear channels an un precedented display of sound output. Just amazing!

Amer

[AndyDursin]

Hi Amer!

The MASTER AND COMMANDER soundtrack is phenomenal...better than the transfer in fact!

[azahid]

Hi Andy,

Would you reccomend other Blu ray dvds which have superior sound outout and similar to the MASTER sound... Thanks!

Amer