Blu-Ray or HD Player or Up-Convert DVD Player VS Standard

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Rick-An Ordinary Fool

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Has anyone jumped into one of these players? Which one seems to be the most popular? I think it's a joke that they are putting the consumers right in the middle of this head-buck system. So if I buy a HD DVD player and a few of my favorite movies are only available on HD Blu-Ray DVD than I am out of luck and can't . Makes me want to wait cause I can't decide which one to buy.

As a side note, has anyone bought one of those up-convert DVD players that is suppose to up-convert your DVD's to near HD quality 1080, those are a little bit cheaper, So do these up-convert players really change how your standard DVD movies look on a HD tv? Right now I only have a standard DVD player so that's about what 500 lines of resolution. If these upconvert DVD players can bring my regular DVD movies I have in my collection up to 750 or 1080 resolution wonder if you can really see the difference?

Nothing will compare to a true HD player or a Blu-Ray Player with a true HD DVD Disc but with the split in titles, I'm wondering what to do, jump into it or try one of these upconverts or just keep what I have standard, just hard to watch standard DVD's on a HD tv, when you watch programing on TV in HD, you want your movies to be that same quality.

Thoughts?
 
I've not jumped into the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray fray at all, and am really not that keen on doing so.

I guess it could be an age thing. I'm now in my upper '50s, and I've been through the "wars" before with LP vs. 8-track, cassette and later CD, VHS vs. Beta, VHS vs. LaserDisc, and LaserDisc vs. DVD. I've made the switch to DVD and find it to be of high enough definition for most of my needs.

Yes, the HD shows look great, but they also look somehow "unreal" to me. Entertainment images just don't really need to be THAT sharp, IMHO. Yes, I enjoy watching the CSI's and the HEROES and LOST'S of the world in HD, but I also find that enjoy the shows just as much in SD when I watch playbacks of them instead of live.

As for my DVD's, when authored correctly, they all look like nice film-like presentations. Every now and then I think about how it might be nice to see something in a bit more detail, but then I also find myself being distracted by that detail on HD programs. If a camera is pointed at a converstaion in a CSI lab, I find myself trying to read what's on the computer monitors instead of listening to the dialogue!

In answer to your question of which format will win, I don't think there's any kind of clear answer or consensus yet. I did read some rumblings about one of the studios thinking about jumping ship to the other format, but can't recall which one or which format.

With over 700 DVDs in my collection, the thought of upgrading or replacing even a portion of them with HD versions just doesn't seem appealing. Still, I can see myself somewhere down the road acquiring some hot new DVD that's only available in an HD format and having to get a player to play it on. I hope that won't be like opening a can of worms!

I also haven't yet explored the possibility of using an upconverted DVD player, since I keep reading about how my SONY TV has a better upconverter in it than most of these DVD players. I guess the only way to tell would be to experiment.

Harry
 
The good thing about the HD players (both kinds) is that they'll still play regular old DVDs. I am expecting that somebody will announce a player that'll handle both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disks, but of course licensing is a nitemare on that idea.

I don't know why the powers that be didn't learn from the CD introduction: Get ONE standard and the whole worle will buy it. By repeating the VHS/Betamax fiasco, they're shooting themselves in the collective feet. I think it's because none of the current decision-makers were born when the Beta/VHS war happened, so they don't remember that nonsense.

I have not upgraded to HD anything yet -- TV or players. I'm waiting for the digital changeover. At that point TVs will get cheaper and cheaper. When I can buy an HD set at about 40" for less than $1000, I'm in!

I'm with Harry though. DVDs look great now. And probably look just fine for about 99% of the people. Which is why the new HD formats just aren't kicking off with great gusto...same reason SACDs didn't fly. The majority of people are satisfied with what they have now. Sheesh, they're now starting to watch TV shows and movies on iPods, so who needs hi-def anyway?
 
Today I was out shopping and inbetween plaza's I drove by a Circuit City and saw this guy bringing out to his truck a 51" Sony Bravia HD TV along the side of the cart I saw the Blu-Ray HD DVD player box by Sony and thought wow that person's gonna have a nice fun holiday, expensive but fun anyway.

Lately I have seen more and more of my most favorite movie titles appearing on HD DVD but I've found others that I like on Blu-Ray but I am like Harry I just can't decide if I want to jump into it but more importantly which format? It was easier when it was the jump from VHS to DVD cause it was just better all around, now with DVD going to HD DVD it gets harder to make a decision because of the split titles.

I've been reading about the up-coverting players and they are suppose to upconvert your standard DVD's to "near" HD quality either 750 or 1080. But my wonder is with a HD TV will you really see "that" much of a difference seeing that HD tv already makes it look pretty decent with just a standard DVD.

I agree too about getting somewhat distracted with near perfection viewing. It's great but sometimes you miss the dialog when you are so mezmorized in full details it's easy to get distracted (there's so much to see). Going a little off topic but I also think celebrites now a days have it worse cause there is this constant pressure to look your best cause HD programing shows everything, I mean everything. But I am glad to see programing like "Brother's and Sisters" on ABC being able to showcase actors like Sally Field and allowing her to act just the way she is without the need for full cosmetic surgery like so many other actors and singers are doing to their faces and bodies. I commend shows that allow actors to be themselves.
 
up-coverting players and they are suppose to upconvert your standard DVD's to "near" HD quality either 750 or 1080
I don't quite see how this can work. You can't put in pixels that weren't there to start with, can you? If anything, these things probably somehow "smooth out" the rough edges and make the picture appear clearer when it's really just a slightly "soft" version of it's low-def self.
 
I think that's largely true Mike. Upconverting basicallt works like a line doubler, smoothing things out, intelligently interpolating what the pixels in between are supposed to be. And I believe the effect would be a somewhat softer picture.

I see that same difference on my HDTV with two different DVD players. I have one set to "Progressive" through one input, and the other is a non-progressive player. The upconverting in the HDTV itself actually makes the Progressive player look a bit smoother, but softer, while the old non-progressive player looks sharper and better defined. Again, I think the TV does the better job of dealing with its inputs than some of the DVD players do with their outputs.

Harry
 
I have a PS3 which has Blu-Ray capability. The HD games look phenomenal. They just tickle the eyeball. I've seen one movie. I can't remember the name of it but it looked darn good too. I'm with the idea that there should have been one standard HD disc format. Once movie companies started picking sides, the life spans of both formats became questionable.

As for HD TV making regular DVD's look good, it's true that they don't look horrible. However, the jump in video quality between regular DVD's and Blu-Ray is absolutely stunning. There are many more lines of resolution which gives you deeper colors and sharper detail. Regular DVD's and Blu-Ray don't even compare.

Ed
 
Mike Blakesley said:
The good thing about the HD players (both kinds) is that they'll still play regular old DVDs. I am expecting that somebody will announce a player that'll handle both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disks, but of course licensing is a nitemare on that idea.

Pioneer and others have done this with SACD and DVD-Audio. If I ever jump on the HD bandwagon, I'd definitely consider a "universal" player. Having two competing formats is just silly, IMHO. By the time I can do it, though, both of these new technologies will probably be old hat.


Mike Blakesley said:
I don't quite see how this can work. You can't put in pixels that weren't there to start with, can you? If anything, these things probably somehow "smooth out" the rough edges and make the picture appear clearer when it's really just a slightly "soft" version of it's low-def self.

Line doublers have been in projection equipment for many years. They fill in the missing lines with an average of the line above and below the intermpolated line. (It's a simplification of the process, but that's basically how it works.) Since the DVD data is digital to begin with, it probably makes the process a lot simpler now.

I do notice that standard DVDs look much better on my computer than they do on a standard TV, probably due to the lack of interlacing on a computer monitor.
 
After I got back from the gulf I used my tax-free and haz pay $ to finish my home theatre (aka the family room or Man room or Dad's Den of Solitude). At the time I looked at boht Blu-Ray and HDDVD and decided (after a few questions tossed to my pals here) to wait and see which format wins the war...

I did by an HD TV (LCD) and we upgraded our cable (and DVD-r) to HD for the CSIs and all our faves (like Harry), but for the player I went with a regular player with upconverting. It looks great and will do until a winner is declared.

As for upgrading everything I own already... No way. I have 5000 albums of which I'd say 4000 will never be on CD. I'm fine with that. So with movies, I have some on VHS that will never get the DVD treatment and likely many of my DVDs will never get released on either HD format. Naturally there are those that will be "must owns" on HD -- the Star Wars films come to mind -- but for the most part, I'll live with more hardware options in my system than to try and have everything in a single univeral format... Besides I'm not that rich! :laugh:

--Mr Bill
 
Well, besides that...you just KNOW that as soon as HD gets entrenched, there will be some even better whizbang format. The DVD came along when peoples' VHS collections were starting to get a little long in the tooth, and DVD is a major improvement over VHS. Can't say that with HD...for most people, it's a minor upgrade at best and not worth all the hassle/money.

I think the time will come when nobody has any entertainment software in their house. It'll all be on servers somewhere, and you'll just be able to watch anything anytime you want. That might be the only way we'll ever get, say, seasons 4-6 of Green Acres.
 
Mike Blakesley said:
I think the time will come when nobody has any entertainment software in their house. It'll all be on servers somewhere, and you'll just be able to watch anything anytime you want. That might be the only way we'll ever get, say, seasons 4-6 of Green Acres.

If you've seen demos of iTV from MAC you'd know you are probably more right than you think you are. "The future is now and so be you."

--Mr Bill
 
Haven't seen that -- I'm really not a TV person too much, so I'm not up on that newest technology like I should be.

There is an ad in the newest Entertainment Weekly for a DVD player from LG that plays both Blu-Ray and HD formats. Anyone seen this, or something similar?
 
Mike Blakesley said:
Haven't seen that -- I'm really not a TV person too much, so I'm not up on that newest technology like I should be.

Me neither--the only thing our "TV" is used here for are video games and DVD/LD. I have a roof antenna, but don't even have it hooked up...and I ditched DirecTV years ago. Don't miss it one bit--I love the peace and quiet.

I know some digital cable TV systems already have VOD (video on demand), so you can watch certain features whenever you'd like. I think our broadband pipes will get larger as years go on, so we'll pretty much be served by the internet for viewing video, either streamed from a remote server, or stored on a local media storage server in our own home. (The Shoutbox is already making this possible for music.) When they can offer DVD-quality video over the internet, and lossless digital music, I'll gladly take part.

Mike Blakesley said:
There is an ad in the newest Entertainment Weekly for a DVD player from LG that plays both Blu-Ray and HD formats. Anyone seen this, or something similar?

That's the universal player we're waiting for. :D I'm sure others will follow. This does not necessarily mean a player is expensive either: Pioneer's DV-578A, a player I own, was readily available online for under $100, and it played all the audio disc formats (CD, SACD, DVD-Audio, MP3), as well as many video discs (DVD, Video CD, etc.).

Anything with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are going to be pricey for awhile since the technology is newer (and I don't know if both can be read by the same laser). With Pioneer's aforementioned player, the DVD laser was already a commodity item, and the difference was in the electronics within the player.
 
Over on Film-Tech, I mentioned that LG player and one person replied that it costs $1000. Ehhh, not yet for me.

I remember when Captain Bacardi, or maybe it was Mr. Bill, gave me crap about not having a DVD player...this was about 3 or 4 years into the DVD "revolution" I guess. I finally got into the DVD age...So now I'm stuck in THIS rut.

Mike "Still watching the old CRT" B.
Hey, at least I upgraded my computer to flat-panel
 
Mike Blakesley said:
Over on Film-Tech, I mentioned that LG player and one person replied that it costs $1000. Ehhh, not yet for me.

They'll drop in price eventually. It might not be as dramatic of a drop as you'd see with a mainstream product like standard DVD players, but the early adopters will be the ones paying for it. I know that Blu-Ray was supposed to get a boost from Sony's PS3 game system, but that system has not been flying off the shelves either--too expensive, and too few good game titles.

I think my first DVD player was purchased in 1997--it was a Pioneer Laserdisc/DVD combo unit (LD-700). I still use it as an LD player.

No plans to upgrade any TV in the house either. For what little they are used here, these are fine.
 
Mike Blakesley said:
I remember when Captain Bacardi, or maybe it was Mr. Bill, gave me crap about not having a DVD player...this was about 3 or 4 years into the DVD "revolution" I guess. I finally got into the DVD age...So now I'm stuck in THIS rut.


It wasn't me, man. I didn't get a DVD player myself until a couple of years ago. It will probably be a while before I go the HD route as well. It's not just the HD TVs and players, but the cable costs that keeps me where I'm at today. I'll have no problem waiting for the prices to come down on all of these things.



Capt. "Cheap" Bacardi
 
I wouldn't mind watching the Michigan/Ohio State game in HD this weekend, actually. :D (Big 10 title up for grabs here.) But HD would be useless for me otherwise at this point: too much cost involved to have to replace everything in the chain, and get DirecTV HD to feed it as well. If the Nintendo Wii or Xbox 360 did HD, that would possibly push me to upgrade the visuals a bit.
 
Rudy said:
I wouldn't mind watching the Michigan/Ohio State game in HD this weekend, actually. :D (Big 10 title up for grabs here.)

I just go to my favorite watering hole to watch the Bears' games, and they're on HDTV. I have seen a baseball game on HD at a friend's house, and it's pretty spectacular. But it's not a high priority right now to go that route.


Capt. Bacardi
...okay, not cheap - just thrifty, online...
 
Montana Mike said:
I remember when Captain Bacardi, or maybe it was Mr. Bill, gave me crap about not having a DVD player...

It wasn't me! I never give people crap! :laugh:

--Mr Bill
 
O Thrifty One™...

Captain Bacardi said:
Rudy said:
I wouldn't mind watching the Michigan/Ohio State game in HD this weekend, actually. :D (Big 10 title up for grabs here.)

I just go to my favorite watering hole to watch the Bears' games, and they're on HDTV. I have seen a baseball game on HD at a friend's house, and it's pretty spectacular. But it's not a high priority right now to go that route.

Given the outcome of the game, and the crappy way Michigan played, I'd have preferred NO-def TV. *sigh* Michigan State beat Penn State, but in that case I was rooting for Penn State, and Joe Pa couldn't even hold the lead at the end of the game... :rolleyes:
 
Rudy said:
I wouldn't mind watching the Michigan/Ohio State game in HD this weekend, actually. :D (Big 10 title up for grabs here.) But HD would be useless for me otherwise at this point: too much cost involved to have to replace everything in the chain, and get DirecTV HD to feed it as well. If the Nintendo Wii or Xbox 360 did HD, that would possibly push me to upgrade the visuals a bit.

I replaced my TV and amp a couple of months ago and I couldn't be happier that I did it.

Ed
 
Mike Blakesley said:
Over on Film-Tech, I mentioned that LG player and one person replied that it costs $1000. Ehhh, not yet for me.

That is way too much for me to pay for that player although it sounds like the way to go since it appears more and more titles are appearing in both formats so there is no stopping the split formats.

HD tv's have really started to come down in price, I remember when I first wanted one they were like $25,000.00 dollars, I think I paid $3100.00 for mine and it is really so worth it, I have a cablecard for my HD tv from Comcast and the cablecard goes in the back of the tv enabling me to pick up all the local HD channels as well as all the HD premier channels like Discovery HD, MTV/Country HD music, Universal HD (all movies) National Geographic HD, HGTV (Home/garden) MojoHD (showing a mixure of shows) TNT HD, A&E HD. I hardly ever watch non HD channels anymore. Because of the cablecard I don't pay any monthly fees on top of my regular billing. No need to rent their box. I also have a Sony HD recorder with a 500 GB hardrive also have a cablecard in the back, so I have 2 tuners can watch tv and record at the same time (with 500 GB that's alot of hours of HD programing) it has TV guide built into the unit so I can program tv programs through the HD recorder and it captures them in HD (providing it was a channel broadcasting in HD). I'm still waiting for a HD DVD recorder. At this point I can watch HD and record HD on my HD recorder but to save it to a DVD I only have a standard DVD recorder and from what I know they only record to DVD standard def so I can record programs from my Sony HD recoder but to save it to DVD it drops the resolution to standard, still it's looks great when I record it to DVD-R but it still isn't HD playback on the DVD-R.
 
I have noticed that there are some music releases that are being released simultaneously on HD-DVD and BluRay. A Pat Metheny title was actually the first to be released that way.
 
hi guys how you all doing?
first I was reading all of your guys posts. and I have been with the audio and video since the 70's. and I am 51 years old. so what I heard I did see HD and as the people in here saw it for themselves at there local best buy or circuit city stores. well if some of you do not know this. but as of February 11,2009 no more analog as they are switching over to HD and digital, but here is the good news. first. this is what I was told at the stores. that one could have a digital tuner and still get the broadcast becasue they will broadcast in both HD and digital, and for us other people who can't afford to buy a TV with either HD or with a Digital tuner biult in, they are going to sell a converter for around $200.00 starting in the fall of 2008. but you will NOT!!!! get the HD siginal.
take care
bob
 
To add to Bob. Here in my area, Comcast has just about converted all their analog stations to digital. I would say there is only a handful, 5 maybe 8 channels that are broadcasting in analog. Let me tell you how I know...As I mentioned previously I own a Sony DHG HDD500 High Def Recorder (DVR) the 500 stands for GB hardrive, Sony also made a 250. I believe they are now discontinued, I have seen them on ebay and they go for alot of money. Unlike Tivo where you are forced to pay a monthly subscription for their TV guide listing so that you can program show you want, the Sony is free TV guide, how the Sony works is the TV guide is downloaded over one of your local PBS analog stations, it's behind the scenes so you can see it being downloaded but it does downloaded about 3 times a day at differnt intervals, the Sony has to be turned off to receive the daily tv guide downloads. In case you have it on during the day you can catch one of the other downloads during the day when the machine is off. When you know which local PBS station is broadcasting this service, that will be considered your "host channel" that the Sony DVR picks up and locks into automatically.

I said all that to say because about 6 months ago Comcast changed my local PBS station (my host channel) from a analog channel to a digital channel. Because of this I lost my host channel and thus my Sony DVR lost the free downloads of tv guide. It was Comcast that did this not the local PBS station. So I had to make several call to Comcast and to my local PBS station to advise them they have to provide a duplicate analog channel for PBS to broadcast there downloads over, Sure enough after a few weeks of emails and phone calls, Comcast made a duplicate PBS channel here in my area. In other words there is a digital PBS station and an analog PBS station (they are the same) just located on different channels on the cable lineup, the digital one is ch 17 and the analog channel is 94. The one time I was on the phone to Comcast they told me other people were asking for this same thing, so I was not alone in wanting a analog channel for my local pbs station in order for my DVR to pick up this free download of TV guide. (As a side note, I am not referring to the tv guide that scrolls across one of your cable channels that is from your cable co, I am referring to a behind the scenes download you can't see but your DVR picks up from a local host channel (usually a local PBS station) Unfortuanately, this Sony DVR recorder will only work by picking up a "analog" host channel for this free tv guide service.
 
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