blu-ray disc quality on picture and sound

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

I would appreciate comments re the quality of blu-ray vision and sound as I'm begining to feel we are all being deceived with regard to this.I do not wish to pay very much more for blu- ray when the quality is so poor especially with all the hype concerning sound and vision from the companies. They in many cases do not do what "it says in the Ads".

I would be very interested in comments from the many qualified people in What Hi-Fi and the ones that are even more so? on the forum.

My thanks in advance

 

[Big Chris]

So you're basically saying that Blu-Ray doesn't offer enough of an improvement over DVD? Is that correct?

What are your own findings regarding Blu-Ray?

 

[The_Lhc]

Yes, I'd have to say if you can't see a clear improvement in picture quality with blu-ray then I'd have to suggest there's something wrong with your equipment or the way you're connecting it together.

Or your eyes...

 

[strapped for cash]

Blu Ray sound and picture quality can vary dramatically, from the sublime to the dowright awful on some discs. I think the Blu Ray format means you need to be even more discerning when deciding which titles to buy, especially if you're looking to "upgrade" titles you own on DVD.

I always read reviews on bluray.com before buying (I'm yet to disagree with their appraisals of pic and audio quality). Plus, the price of Blu Ray titles is falling as the format has moved from a niche product to one more widely adopted. If I wish to buy a film, I'd generally (but not always) opt for the Blu Ray rather than the DVD. If you're buying new titles, the price difference between the Blu Ray and DVD versions is usually less than a fiver; while older titles can be bought cheaply on Amazon now (Band of Brothers Blu Ray box-set for £15, for example).

Generally speaking, I think it's a great format, which is not to say every title released is an out-and-out triumph.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Just got Toy Story 3 on dvd and i would have to say dvd is not dead by a long shot.

In fact it just looks as good as many blu rays, only on the disney bit at the very beginning could you tell it was a dvd in my opinion.

Watched it with some other people and they were all saying is this the blu ray? because it definitely looked like it. Sound as long as you turn it up to 19db it can sound as good as the other toy story 1 and 2 on blu ray but on 24db say.

But blu ray is better yes and can be very cheap today so why not just buy it and have blu rays and dvds then pick and choose at your pleasure.

 

[Anonymous]

• Yes however I'm not saying all blu-rays some like Avatar, Take That The Circus, Blue Planet are very good but some like Elton 60 the sound or picture is not as sharp.I have a Pioneer 50/90 TV with an Oppo 83 blu-ray player and upgraded DVD'S do appear to be nearly as good and in some cases the equal

 

[Anonymous]

Yes you could be right as I'm 74 I have them tested every year

But my point is.not all blu-rays are superior to upgraded dvd's.

I belive a consumer magazine has made a similar suggestion perhaps a bit clearer than me.

My equipment is reasonable Pioneer 50/90 TV Oppo 83 Blu-ray player Arcam 89 cd/dvd player B&w 602/603 7.1 speakers REL Strata

Sub Denon AVC A1 SE Amp

Many thanks for your input

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much for your info I'll certainly look at that site I'm glad I am not the only person who feels there can be variations in quality.

I certainly agree with your final comment

 

[Inter_Voice]

Unless there is something wrong with my ears and eyes, I can only say the picture and sound quality of Blue ray disks are MUCH MUCH superior than DVDs !!!

 

[smuggs]

as i see what ever the film/movie it is always as good if not 9/10 times better on blu ray so why get a dvd now. yes if you see a dvd for 3pound and the blu ray is 14pound and you can only see yourself watching it once then maybe get the dvd. but for future and knowing that you cant get better PQ&SQ on that film then i try always to rent a blu ray or watch in hd on sky.

 

[audioaffair]

I'm always careful to buy movies/shows on blu ray where its clear they have made a concerted effort with picture/sound quality and/or it's been remastered. Not necessarily always newer stuff as film itself has a very very high resolution (35mm over 4000 lines at least nevermind 1080) - but it does depend how well this film has been mastered onto blu ray. If it doesn't look much better go for the DVD - DVD/blu ray websites are always useful for a heads up on sound/picture quality.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Bluray, as a format, is streets ahead of DVD.

Just as with CD and DVD, the quality can vary, but this could be down to a number of things. The original master may not have been stored well, or might've been damaged. If it's been restored for Bluray, it'll look better than it ever did, but if it's not been 'cleaned up', all print damage will still be present. As long as the transfer has been taken from a high definition master, it WILL still look better than the DVD. DVD can look pretty good with up close objects, but try and encode the detail of a view overlooking a forest or city scape, and it'll fail dismally - it can't cope with small detail at distance. This is where Bluray obliterated DVD.

Of course, the quality of your viewing screen will also play a part, as well as it's size. Even on a 42" screen, if you know what to look for (as mentioned above) you'll be able to spot the difference pretty quickly between HD and SD, no matter how good the upscaling is. the bigger the screen, the easier it is to spot the difference. Pixel for pixel, if a 42" full HD screen was to show an SD picture with no upscaling, it'd be about the size of a 17" portable TV - which would look nice and sharp, but zoom in on that (like you would do a photo on a PC), and things soon become fuzzy and soft.

I will admit there have been some let downs this year as far as picture quality is concerned, like Alien Resurrection which looks like a DVD (not that anyone cares), Donnie Darko (budget film, so I assume cheap film stock), and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (I think I expected more, but again, a low budget movie). But overall, most of what I've bought this year (way too much!) has been stunning - Book Of Eli, the Original Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday The 13th, There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, Fight Club, Alien and Aliens, Good Night And Good Luck, Zombieland, and even Psycho, which looks stunningly good.

Due to filming issues, there will usually be a couple of scenes that look a bit rubbish - watching Edge Of Darkness the other day, a few scenes just looked out of place as far as quality is concerned.

Some films you just have to accept that unless they do a frame by frame remaster, that's as good as it's going to get until we get 4K2K - Bluray is the best video format we've had so far, but it's still no match for the quality of film, which is of a higher resolution. Personally, I can't wait - then we'll be complaining that upscaled Bluray doesn't look very good

 

[Anonymous]

Blu Ray may have it's short comings at times when picture quality isn't quite up to scratch. But I think most would agree that HD sound is one of the greatest advances in home cinema ever. The way a film can draw you in with atmospheric sounds, only to blow your head off, is nothing short of amazing. Long reign HD audio!

 

[The_Lhc]

Jase Brown:Blu Ray may have it's short comings at times when picture quality isn't quite up to scratch. But I think most would agree that HD sound is one of the greatest advances in home cinema ever. The way a film can draw you in with atmospheric sounds, only to blow your head off, is nothing short of amazing. Long reign HD audio!

Yes but there's just as many examples of bad HD soundtrack mastering as there are poor blu-ray pictures.

 

[landzw]

From my experience i have found blu ray to be an improvement in sound and picture.

BUT

I have sat there for many hours comparing films like Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, The Matrix Trilogy and Avatar and though i have noticed picture quality improvements in some parts of a lord of the rings it was very small improvement and then other parts the detail was a big improvement . Also it depends on the size of your screen and how far you sit from it .

If you have a big screen and sit near you will see the detail , I have a 40inch and sit 8 to 10" away depending were i sit , so things like detail for my eyes can be more limited

I guess when they say Blu Ray Offers Up To 5X the Quality i really think thats on the first ever manufactured DVD , at times i would question if its even twice the picture quality of current modern DVD's as even the modern DVD has improved so much over the last couple of years.

If you'r playing your blu rays through a home cinema system then the sound is a big plus , if anything the sound has always been the biggest plus point for me , wheather this is on all discs i wouldn't know.

Overall i personally think it all depends on how you setup you'r TV in regarding you AV equipment and how far your sitting away from your TV in the relation to the size of the screen to get the best from it all

For me DVD's and HD Downloads ( 720p ) are good enough for me and when i've compared the 720p downloaded format to 1080p at the distances i sit at i really struggle to notice the difference , sometimes you know its there but its not life changing , Hence the reason i have sold my blu ray player and films on

Though its each to there own

 

[RobGardner]

In my experience something like Avatar is significantly better in blu-ray than in dvd in both picture quality and sound quality. Many smaller movies don't really benefit significantly if at all from the change in format. Buy your format according to the type of movie. If something like Watchmen doesn't both look and particularly sound much better in Bluray then you have either got a very small tv screen, a low resolution tv screen or you need to clean your glasses.

Also check that your blu-ray player is set up to output the optimum quality for your tv/projector.

Finally, if its an aweful film, don't bother watching it in whatever format. If it's a great movie then any thing will do.

 

[Chewy]

Surely the difference between SD and HD comes down to the size and quality of the screen it is being watched on too.

On most screens less that 50" it is more difficult to tell the difference at a viewing distance of more than 10-12ft away.

I have also seen blu-rays played through a number of cheaper LCD sets, and the image is terrible; not a lot better than the DVD version.

For me personally, on a 106" screen, the difference between HD and SD is massive; its like going back to VHS (OK I may be exagerating a little there!

) even with a DVD with a good transfer, upscaled by an off-board scaler.

That said, I agree with what some others have said, I have seen a number of blu-rays that shouldn't claim to be HD as the PQ is awful.