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In Reply to: Blu ray now sell 2.6 discs when HD DVD sell 1 disc in USA. posted by Ole Lund Christensen on February 11, 2007 at 05:38:09:
DVDs upscaled to 720p look surprisingly good on my 106" screen. So I think it's safe to assume that the average consumer with a 32" or 40" set and a lower income is quite happy with standard DVD when confronted with the alternative of paying $3000 or more for a new 1080p set and $1000 for a new player - all to play 150 mediocre overpriced titles.Yes, I'm interested in higher-resolution video. But I'm sitting this format war out until a single standard is declared, until we move beyond the problem-plagued first generation players, and until decent titles become available at reasonable prices. I'm not about to buy a $1000 player, that will be bettered in a couple of years by a new $150 version, to play a $30 copy of "The Fifth Element". And in a couple of years, I'm sure you'll be able to buy a 1080p projectors for less than $1000, just like 720p projectors today.
Unfortunately, since it makes so much sense to wait, both formats will likely fail to become the new standard just as DVD-A and SACD failed to become the new audio standard.
Follow Ups:
I have a Playstation 3 and an Oppos DVD player, and a 60" 720P set.The PS3 Blu-ray kicks butt over the Oppos any day. All you hear about is the resolution difference, but there are other advances in technology that are just as significant and make the new formats worthwile.
There is the resolution that on my set looks like the best Over the Air HDTV signal (I run the PS3 as 1080i on movies), this is a significant jump from the Oppos. Motion is much better with Blu-ray, as the picture is so seamless and smooth moving compared to DVD. And the best thing is color. Blu-ray displays many more colors than DVD. The tonal palette has been expanded, and bright primary colors are more intense, and there are more subtle colors, so many more shades of blue in sky, more kinds of natural greens in a forest, more detail in shadows.
Soundwise, on a good Bu-ray disk, there is no comparison either. The DVD has audible compression artifacts on dynamics (you don't hear it until you hear something better), and sounds just altogether rougher. But some Blu-ray discs sound better than others, since there are so many different ways of storing the audio, some (mostly the very first releases) sound worse than the Oppos. But, for instance, The Brothers Grimm, has a lossless audio track you can select, and this sound will blow you away. So when the producers figure out the audio on Blu-ray, I think most movies will sound gorgeous.
Netflix carries both Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and there are a LOT of Blu-ray movies to choose from, though the movies released are not the best selections, but I expect that to change fairly quickly. So I am not replacing my DVDs, just enjoying all the Blu-ray discs for no more money.
I had some friends over last night and we watched "Running with Scissors" on Blu-Ray and it was a treat. There are a bunch of songs played in the movie, and I am pretty sure that the sound quality coming through the movie was way better than my CDs could produce. That's just not true for a DVD player. My friends, who are not audiophiles, but know my system really well, spoke up during the movie and commented on how great all those old songs sounded.
I'm not saying that I wouldn't appreciate the difference. But I have a Denon DVD-5910 which is no slouch at getting the best out of standard DVDs and upconverting to 720p. It creates a very acceptable picture on a 106" screen, even with my cheap Optoma HD-70 projector. The Optoma is only 10-bit color and 720p native resolution, so I would have to replace it to see any major benefit with Bluray or HD DVD.As I said, in a couple years when 1080p projectors are cheap and there are better cheaper players and more titles available for rental or at discount prices (I buy most of my DVDs used from Blockbuster for $3 to $5), then I will consider it.
On my 122" screen, 720p upsampling is fine too. Well, it's better than fine, it's stunningly good, I'd even dare say, film like.I'm with you. When I bought the projector, the Panasonic was nearly a giveaway with rebates making the 1080 models cost at least 5X more with little to gain.
Now, the new Sony Pearl seems to have the same specs as the Ruby and cost half as much. When Blockbuster has all the new titles in Blu-Ray and/or HD DVD, I'll think about it. I'm not a buyer of DVDs anyway and I'd surely not buy any a second time.
I'm also happy enough with the ocassional movie eye candy on DirecTV HD, making HD DVD even less attractive to me. Recently I caught "Amadeus" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in 720p. For free. And they looked great. Sometimes you can even catch those quirky but entertaining little movies you wouldn't necessarily pay to see otherwise, like "The World's Fastest Indian". So why would I spend thousands for HD DVD?
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