Old and new Technology.

[plastic penguin]

This question has probably been asked many times but I rarely frequent this section.

Will a Blu-Ray disc play with as good quality as a standard DVD on my bog-standard TV and DVD player?

 

[Frank Harvey]

How would you be connecting it to your TV? Bluray players don't have scart outputs, only HDMI, component, composite, and maybe s-video usually.

That aside, it might vary from film to film, but Bluray will have a better black level, so the picture will look much more solid and believable. In the darker areas, there will be more noticable detail. Because Bluray is less compressed, you will see finer details better, and you'll see far less edge enhancement.

Whether a DVD disc will play on the Bluray player as well as it does on your current DVD player will depend on the player you go for. I find most budget models just not good enough for DVD playback - it's the higher end models that have better picture processing for standard definition. There's a huge difference here between a Panasonic BD60 and a Sony BDP5000ES. But then, there should be.

 

[Anonymous]

you can't play a blu-ray disc on a dvd player, or even with a blu-ray player and a standard, non hdtv.

 

[Anonymous]

How would you be connecting it to your TV? Bluray players don't have scart outputs, only HDMI, component, composite, and maybe s-video usually. That aside, it might vary from film to film, but Bluray will have a better black level, so the picture will look much more solid and believable. In the darker areas, there will be more noticable detail. Because Bluray is less compressed, you will see finer details better, and you'll see far less edge enhancement. Whether a DVD disc will play on the Bluray player as well as it does on your current DVD player will depend on the player you go for. I find most budget models just not good enough for DVD playback - it's the higher end models that have better picture processing for standard definition. There's a huge difference here between a Panasonic BD60 and a Sony BDP5000ES. But then, there should be.

there may be a very small difference in the upscaling abilities, but there's no difference with blu-rays.

 

[Frank Harvey]

This question has probably been asked many times but I rarely frequent this section. Will a Blu-Ray disc play with as good quality as a standard DVD on my bog-standard TV and DVD player?

I think some clarification is needed here:
Which DVD and Bluray player do you have? (if both)
Which TV do you have?

 

[Frank Harvey]

There's a huge difference in upscaling abilities. And there will be a noticable difference with Blurays because of the reasons I've mentioned.

(I was talking about their playback on the TV in comparison to DVD, not Bluray vs Bluray)

 

[plastic penguin]

My old CRT only has Scart connections. Later in the year I'll be upgrading to a LCD and [possiby] Blu-Ray player. Just wondered whether it's worthwile buying Blu-Ray rather than conventional?

 

[Anonymous]

There's a huge difference in upscaling abilities. And there will be a noticable difference with Blurays because of the reasons I've mentioned.

huge? i'd say very small.

and as far as blu-ray goes, well the data is read from the disc and passed through the relevant codecs then streamed digitally via hdmi to the tv, that's it. every blu-ray player can do this with no data loss, that's why they don't differ, the first blu-ray players are as good as the latest.

 

[Frank Harvey]

huge? i'd say very small. and as far as blu-ray goes, well the data is read from the disc and passed through the relevant codecs then streamed digitally via hdmi to the tv, that's it. every blu-ray player can do this with no data loss, that's why they don't differ, the first blu-ray players are as good as the latest.

Well seeing as I own both the Sony and the Panasonic, I'm in the best position to comment on the upscaling abilities of both players.
As for all Bluray players being equal - show me a PS3 that's as good as a decent dedicated Bluray player.

 

[Frank Harvey]

My old CRT only has Scart connections. Later in the year I'll be upgrading to a LCD and [possiby] Blu-Ray player. Just wondered whether it's worthwile buying Blu-Ray rather than conventional?

Well you may as well buy a Bluray player as this will benefit you long term. If your TV only has scart connections, I'd wait until you get the TV before buying the player. All Bluray players have a composite output, so you will be able to playback through that connection into the TV's scart, but it'll be standard definition, so there will be no benefit as far as resolution is concerned.

 

[Anonymous]

huge? i'd say very small. and as far as blu-ray goes, well the data is read from the disc and passed through the relevant codecs then streamed digitally via hdmi to the tv, that's it. every blu-ray player can do this with no data loss, that's why they don't differ, the first blu-ray players are as good as the latest.

Well seeing as I own both the Sony and the Panasonic, I'm in the best position to comment on the upscaling abilities of both players. As for all Bluray players being equal - show me a PS3 that's as good as a decent dedicated Bluray player.

any ps3 is as good as any bdp, under the hood they all do the same thing, read the data then decode it then send it to the tv. simples.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Again, I've owned, compared, and ditched a PS3 in favour of the Panny. A noticable difference on my PJ.

 

[Anonymous]

My old CRT only has Scart connections. Later in the year I'll be upgrading to a LCD and [possiby] Blu-Ray player. Just wondered whether it's worthwile buying Blu-Ray rather than conventional?

no point buying blu-rays till you can play em pp, you're better off waiting till you have the new tv and bdp.

 

[Anonymous]

Again, I've owned, compared, and ditched a PS3 in favour of the Panny. A noticable difference on my PJ.

there couldnt have been imo. but if you feel it was worth the outlay then fair enough.

 

[Frank Harvey]

There may not have been a difference 'in your opinion', but there was, because I saw it.

 

[Anonymous]

There's a huge difference in upscaling abilities. And there will be a noticable difference with Blurays because of the reasons I've mentioned.

(I was talking about their playback on the TV in comparison to DVD, not Bluray vs Bluray)

ah, i've misunderstood then 🙂

 

[plastic penguin]

This question has probably been asked many times but I rarely frequent this section. Will a Blu-Ray disc play with as good quality as a standard DVD on my bog-standard TV and DVD player?

I think some clarification is needed here: Which DVD and Bluray player do you have? (if both) Which TV do you have?

Sony 28 DL11U integrated TV and Sony DVD recorder GX300.

 

[bigboss]

Again, I've owned, compared, and ditched a PS3 in favour of the Panny. A noticable difference on my PJ.

Maybe it's because of the picture on the projector, but I have not found any difference in blu-ray picture quality between the PS3, Pana BD60 & Denon 2500BT on my Kuro.

 

[Frank Harvey]

One of the guys here who went from a PS3 to the free Sony player he got with his 40" Sony, noticed the difference too.
I suppose it's another one of those does it/doesn't it arguments.

 

[richardw42]

I've two blu Ray players. A Sony S570 & a Marantz BD5004.
I'd take the Marantz anyday Whilst I can't really comment on SQ as they are connected differently. PQ on the Marantz is measurably superior.

Some forum posters do seem to know better than developers and reviewers and retailers who have the benefit of being able to compare different players.

 

[Anonymous]

I've two blu Ray players. A Sony S570 & a Marantz BD5004. I'd take the Marantz anyday Whilst I can't really comment on SQ as they are connected differently. PQ on the Marantz is measurably superior. Some forum posters do seem to know better than developers and reviewers and retailers who have the benefit of being able to compare different players.

developers and retailers are biased, and a quick google will show that there are far more reviewers that don't believe various blu-ray players differ very much on actual 1080p blu-ray disc playback than do...

 

[plastic penguin]

It seems the overriding message is hang fire until the LCD and Bluray are in place?

 

[Anonymous]

yes. Blu ray doesn't make any sense unless you have a LCD capable of 1080p, and more than around 38 inches in size.

Even then, I watch most of movies streaming through the Tivo, so anything that plays a disc is not used much.

I've just got the PS3 as my blu ray player.

 

[Anonymous]

I personally think the PS3 gives a superb natural picture on Bluray,and additionally its upscaling abilities are also very good indeed

its very difficult to judge PQ from one Bluray player to another as its depends on what "flavour" the manufacturer wants to add to the PQ - so for instance, sharpening, contrast etc etc etc

PS3 - I can't spot any flaws at all in the PQ, even from 2cm away - very detailed, no ringing (so not oversharpened), colours seem natural, and movement is fluid - not sure how that can be improved ?

I also use a HTPC - and with that you can set whatever flavour you like - so want it a bit oversharpened - sure tweak in driver settings etc etc