Bluray schmuray

[Alsone]

bigblue235:

Clare Newsome:You'll be delighted to know the Blu-ray version is the extended cut

(I watched it on Monday. Sci-fi/sport-loving geek-girl that I am, I was still in tears at least three times

)

Tears? That's all I need, more tears

I'm just waiting for her to come back from her best friend's wedding, en route to which the airline decided to lose her suitcase, containing all her priciest toiletries, make-up and shoes. I'm sure you understand her pain Clare! And you're now telling me I have to put up with Sex in the City Extended Cut ? Oh lordy. It'll be a wet weekend then!

Oh, and AV geek that I am, I almost put it on to see what the PQ was like

Give her your system for Chritmas and a new DVD then she can watch it all she wants...

...And with all the credits you'll have earned you'll be able to go out and by yourself another one at twice the price, and because its after Christmas, you can get it the sales then claim extra Kudos for buying it cheap!!!

 

[Anonymous]

I wasn't sure I wanted to delve into this thread as it was looking like a bit of a monster! But reading through I've seen some great quotes and some good arguments. I have a take on it that I'd consider progressive but with a few issues.

I'm keen to improve my system. No doubt. And I'm certain that BR (Because Bluray really should be BR and not BD - who ever spits out the oversized mouthful that is "Bluray Disk" anyway?) is going to be superior to DVD. It carries way more pixel data, way more definition in the sound codec and that's really not up for debate.

What is up for debate is whether you're happy with the product you already have in DVD. I am. I love my DVDs and while they're cheap as chips (sorry to steal that quote from someone earlier) I'm still happily buying films I love. £3-5 is cheaper than a single ticket to the cinema.

Now my system is HD Ready, which means I can't enjoy Full HD available on BR. But I can expect a sharper image and better sound. To me the sound is more than half of the deal. I love it. I already have a great picture. I really only want a small improvement, if that, but the sound, bring it on. With the addition of an SVS PB13-Ultra sub coming at Christmas I'm hoping the low end will tighten up and the earthquakes begin.

But there's a problem. I need a BR player that can output in analogue because my amp (and I'm sure this speaks for many people) can't handle HD audio. So what should I do? I want a class leading sound for CDs, DVDs and BRs all out of one player. My Toshiba is a £1200 DVD player and I bought it second hand for £120 and I love it to death. To replace it the BR would have to be drop dead gorgeous and have a better picture and sound. The Tosh is awesome. I just can't think of putting it to bed, but to bed it will have to go. Or maybe to my bedroom! So the Denon DVD2500BT is my benchmark. It has the looks, the picture, the transport. I can buy one for about £750 which would be bang on, but no analogue sound so it's a no go.

So what is the go go! Which player will be on a par with the Denon and give me CD, DVD and BR playback with analogue decoding of the new HD Audio Codecs and looks edible? I need your help here everyone and if it works, I'll be saying to Joel, come on down for a movie night mate. Bring the wife and kids and lets see what all the fuss is about.

Still gutted at the prospect of ever having to retire the Toshiba.

 

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm going to be saving up for a Denon DVD 3800BD sometime in 2009 then. Any alternatives? Maybe Arcam will bring something out. (In their own good time!) That'll please Joel! ;-)

 

[TKratz]

You just nailed my point completely there Will. I am in the same dilemma. I too wants a player who can handle both BD, DVD as well as CD's. There is only room for one player, but I will not tolerate poorer sound from CD's just because I am getting a BlueRay player.

I started a thread some months ago asking for advice, but as there was no replies I figured that the technology is simply not there yet.

I fully agree that the Denon 3800 is probably the best option when it arrives in some months. I only have two issues with this player. It is only profile 1.1 and it is more pricy than I had hoped. I am willing to pay 800-900 £, but 1.400 £ is a little rough...

 

[Alsone]

Will, just becasue your screen is HD ready and not FUll HD doesn't mean you can't enjoy the benefits of Blu Ray.

The HD ready Pioneer Kuro screens have been outscoring numerous Full HD screens for picture quality for ages now, and that includes rivals such as Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, LG,.... (just check out some of the group tests), which just shows that 1080P isn't everything when it comes to quality.

Similarly, tv broadcasts are not in the foreseable future going to be anything better than HD ready as 1080P simply demands too much bandwidth, although arguably the Freesat platform might be able to deliver Full HD in future times as its less bandwidth restricted, howver, don't hold your breath just yet.

As for BR vs DVD vs CD, there are a couple of players out there that have excellent DVD upscaling abilities according to the What HiFi reviews. As for CD quality sound, well I'm not so sure on that but to be honest, even a cheapish quality HiFi will usually blow away quite an expensive cinema system for music listening so personally I'd stick to 2 systems, one for music, one for HiFi and just use the cinema as a hifi in emergencies or when you're really too lazy to get up and turn on the hifi.

 

[JoelSim]

Will Harris:I guess I'm going to be saving up for a Denon DVD 3800BD sometime in 2009 then. Any alternatives? Maybe Arcam will bring something out. (In their own good time!) That'll please Joel! ;-)

LOL. It won't please me as I have no intention of upgrading. As I've stated I'm more than happy with what I have. On music however, the hunt will go on to improve over the rest of my lifetime.

ÿ

 

[TKratz]

Two systems is of course preferable, but some of us simply haven't got room for two systems and therefore have to do with one.

 

[Anonymous]

JoelSim:
Will Harris:I guess I'm going to be saving up for a Denon DVD 3800BD sometime in 2009 then. Any alternatives? Maybe Arcam will bring something out. (In their own good time!) That'll please Joel! ;-)

LOL. It won't please me as I have no intention of upgrading. As I've stated I'm more than happy with what I have. On music however, the hunt will go on to improve over the rest of my lifetime.

ÿ

Yeah come on Joel, keep em punches coming! Sock it to em. I will not upgrade I will not upgrade, blahhhhahahahaahhhhhhhh. Heheheheeeeeeheeeeeee. Mate I/you love it.

But seriously, I only want one player and it's got to do the business on all three fronts, CD DVD & BR. Frankly I think a top spec player such as the 3800 should be adequate and I'm already using a power amp for the front pair so they can always be upgraded. Frankly I would have called that Hi-Fi wouldn't you?

Actually my front pair are a bit bonkers. I'm using Dali Ikon 6 speakers bi-amped from an Audiolab X7 and I've bridged 4 of the amps into 2 so that the bass drivers are getting a double hit, but frankly I can't tell the difference from before I bridged them. Does sound better than simply running off the Denon AVC A10SE though. Bit lost as to what to upgrade next. Think I'll stick with everything, enjoy the new sub and then sometime next year get the BR player.

Joel mate, do chill out a little. I feel as though I ought to pop round and bring you a bottle of gin to take the edge off.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

TKratz:
You just nailed my point completely there Will. I am in the same dilemma. I too wants a player who can handle both BD, DVD as well as CD's. There is only room for one player, but I will not tolerate poorer sound from CD's just because I am getting a BlueRay player.

I started a thread some months ago asking for advice, but as there was no replies I figured that the technology is simply not there yet.

I fully agree that the Denon 3800 is probably the best option when it arrives in some months. I only have two issues with this player. It is only profile 1.1 and it is more pricy than I had hoped. I am willing to pay 800-900 £, but 1.400 £ is a little rough...

I'm awaiting delivery of the Sony BDPS550 and will use the CA DacMagic for cds (the BD player as transport). The DacMagic is very small so doesn't really count as a box to me! This should give me around £500 worth of cd player sound along with a great dvd and BD playback.

 

[John Hereford]

If I may add my own (hopefully objective) general observation to a, seemingly, very contentious subject. My son connected his SPS3 to my Toshiba 42Z3030 TV and played the Blu-ray edition of The Island, running it in tandem with an SD version playing through my Pioneer DV-600AV. We were therefore able to make a direct comparison of the two formats. Whilst I have to admit that the HD version was slightly superior, to be honest I didn't find it that much better. When the time comes for me to replace my DVD player, I will certainly go for a Blu-ray machine (one with onboard HD audio decoding through 5.1 analogue outputs, so that I can obtain improved audio through my Sony STR-DG700 A/V receiver), but must admit that my findings to date leave me in no rush to change.

 

[Anonymous]

Thats a fair comment john but you cant really make an accurate assesment after watching one film! Also the rest of your kit is also affecting your opinion of blu ray. On my projector with a 94" image there's a night and day difference! Its kinda like saying that this 5 grand CD player doesnt sound much better than my £50 one through my bush amp and matsui speakers! (not there's anything wrong with your stuff im just exagerating to make a point)

Ive been to the pub sorry!!!!
and i know i cant spell

 

[bigblue235]

Alsone:Give her your system for Chritmas and a new DVD then she can watch it all she wants...

...And with all the credits you'll have earned you'll be able to go out and by yourself another one at twice the price, and because its after Christmas, you can get it the sales then claim extra Kudos for buying it cheap!!!

Christmas is already planned

An RSLCR, and a pair of RS1's (easy to convince her providing Sevenoaks do their usual 25% off sale) to add to my RS6's... which means I can then justify buying a surround amp... which I'll obviously have to get before Crimbo so I can enjoy my new speakers

No point having the speakers and no amp is there?!

We're just a bunch of con-men (and women!) really aren't we?

 

[Anonymous]

JoelSim:On music however, the hunt will go on to improve over the rest of my lifetime.

Here, here, what a superb pastime indeed...

 

[JoelSim]

I do seem to have opened a can of worms!

Just watched LOTR on telly. rubbish compared to DVD. Oh well.

PS I'm very chilled, it's the BD bunch who are getting upset because, although I consider myself kind of an audiophile, I can't see why I would gleam extra from a Bluray.

Ho hum

ÿ

 

[Alec]

JoelSim - yes, and for the same reason they cant see why theyd get anything extra from a better CD, DAC or whatever.

No-one can talk you into it, you would have to see/hear it.

i havent made the br jump either - in fact i still have a crt tv - but im not sure where you're going with this.

like i said, it isnt something you can be talked in to.

 

[Anonymous]

JoelSim:
I do seem to have opened a can of worms!

Just watched LOTR on telly. rubbish compared to DVD. Oh well.

.

Ho hum

ÿ

That's really odd because I caught 20 mins of it and couldn't believe the quality of the picture. But then I have this funny suspicion that the one thing my plasma does very very well is Freeview. Really weird as I'm sure that's not the norm and it is infuriatingly slow at changing channels, but amazing picture. (For me).

 

[Andrew Everard]

Seemed pretty good on C4 HD, though I did only have a brief look.