Can't Whip up enthusiam for Blu Ray (1 Viewer)

[hampsteadbandit]

Here in the UK I have easy access to an off-shore retailer called 'Play' who I buy all my brand new Blu-Rays from - they cost me 1/2 the price of taking a walk to high-street retailers in London, buying on-line I will wait a few days for shipping but its otherwise great.

I often make great savings if I pre-order titles in advance, LOTR and Saving Private Ryan on Blu are both incoming examples


the retail market in the UK is changing very quickly, major retail chains like "Borders" and "Zavvi" (formerly Virgin Megastore) both went backrupt during the past year or so, leaving only HMV and Blockbuster (rental stores who also retail disc)

Blockbuster is currently struggling with a bloated store portfolio, staff overheads and massive competition from on-line retailers, and word is it may not last another year in its current guise

I get a surprising amount of my Blu-Ray second-hand from dedicated trading stores here in London

I've been surprised how much the prices have dropped in the past year for second-hand Blu, with a wide selection available, normally at prices only a little higher than second-hand DVD

the second hand option is a great opportunity to get hold of classic films (for example - Ghostbusters for GBP£4!!) that have not otherwise caught my attention, compared to more recent releases that are being heavily promoted

 

[cineMANIAC]

Why does a Blu-ray have to "load" when you pop one into a player? With DVD you just put the disc in the tray, hit close and the disc started playing right away, or at least a menu screen appeared - none of this "please wait five minutes while the disc loads" crap. Is it something inherent to new BD technology?

 

[Jay Taylor]

After Blu-ray won the format war I was somewhat more interested in collecting Blu-ray discs. Replacing a 60" Sony LCD with a front projector and 133" screen is what really renewed my interest.
Watching a movie on Blu-ray disc with a front projector setup is so close to the original movie experience that my wife and I want to have a hi-def collection of all our favorite movies. We're not at all interested in a more compressed, streamed version of the movies.

We'll probably be having this conversation again in about ten years or so when the 4K systems become available.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

The studios forced me to go to Blu-ray this past holiday season. What I mean by that is I could no longer abide the way recent popular mainstream movies on DVD looked upscaled to my 720p projector. ("The Dark Knight", "Iron Man", and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" DVDs all contain *extremely mediocre" MPEG-2 encodes, but look *fantastic* on Blu-ray.)

But now that I'm here, I have to say that I'm really enjoying the format! Our family viewed the just-released "The Music Man" Blu-ray last night and were absolutely blown away by the A/V quality. It almost felt like we were *in* River City! Also, over the past year or so I had purchased a handful of BDs which also contained a DVD (mostly Disney/Pixar titles) and so we've really enjoyed finally being able to see those titles in HD. Finally, I've found that a lot of the titles I crave on BD are already heavily discounted at places like Wal-Mart and Costco. The bottom line is that it would appear that if you love movies then Blu-ray is the place to be now. And it's affordable.

 

[Worth]

Originally Posted by Jay Taylor

After Blu-ray won the format war I was somewhat more interested in collecting Blu-ray discs. Replacing a 60" Sony LCD with a front projector and 133" screen is what really renewed my interest.
Watching a movie on Blu-ray disc with a front projector setup is so close to the original movie experience that my wife and I want to have a hi-def collection of all our favorite movies. We're not at all interested in a more compressed, streamed version of the movies.

We'll probably be having this conversation again in about ten years or so when the 4K systems become available.

I can't see 4K being necessary (or particularly beneficial) for a home theatre set up. 35mm release prints typically fall into the 720p-1080p resolution range. And almost all digital intermediates these days are only done at 2K, and they look pretty damn good projected onto a fifty foot screen, let alone one ten feet or smaller.

I'd rather see real improvements to things like dynamic range, colour depth and compression before increasing resolution. 1080p is plenty for home cinema.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Oh, I also agree that I can't see streaming/downloads doing it for me for the forseeable future. Download speeds are just way too slow (at least here in the NYC area w/ its stone-aged infrastructure) for quality streaming, IMHO. I'd rather not bother at all and find something else to do (and there are plenty actually) than pay to stream/download heavily compressed SD content or similar.

It's one thing to do free streaming or similar for recent TV shows from the various broadcast TV network sites, YouTube, etc. or maybe download a free TV show (or some included digital copy) to an iPod or similar, but I'm not about to *pay* for something low quality that I don't really need. If I'm gonna pay, I'd much rather pay for something high quality or not bother at all. My time (and the whole viewing experience) is worth something too afterall, and I don't need to waste that on crappy quality streaming, etc. Heck, I don't even feel cable/sat service to be worthwhile for my family as it is...

_Man_

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by Luisito34

Why does a Blu-ray have to "load" when you pop one into a player? With DVD you just put the disc in the tray, hit close and the disc started playing right away, or at least a menu screen appeared - none of this "please wait five minutes while the disc loads" crap. Is it something inherent to new BD technology?

It's the BD-Java applications (mostly the menus) loading. Generally, the better the player the shorter the load time. For example, the PS3 is lightning fast, but the Panasonic BD-10 (their first player) is pretty damn slow.

Some discs are programmed with HDMV and therefore do not have BD-Java menus to load.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Man-Fai Wong

Oh, I also agree that I can't see streaming/downloads doing it for me for the forseeable future. Download speeds are just way too slow (at least here in the NYC area) for quality streaming, IMHO. I'd rather not bother at all and find something else to do (and there are plenty actually) than pay to streamline/download heavily compressed SD content.

Imagine how slow it'll be when a million or more people are trying to download the latest summer blockbuster at the same time.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway ). Disabling internet access might even help address certain other disc loading problems that can be attributed to BD-Live issues too.

_Man_

 

[Brent M]

I always said I'd never become an "HD snob" meaning I wouldn't be one of those people who found DVD inferior just because there was a better format out there, but I'll be damned if I haven't become exactly that. Anytime I try to watch one of my old DVDs now I just get depressed at how bad they look compared to movies on Blu-Ray. I've become completely spoiled by the PQ(and lossless sound) of Blu and as a result I've sold off almost all of my DVD collection. I have maybe 50 standard def titles left and when those films become available on Blu-Ray they'll be gone as well.

 

[Jay Taylor]

Originally Posted by Worth /forum/thread/298368/can-t-whip-up-enthusiam-for-blu-ray#post_3663828

 

[kemcha]

Well, it would be nice if Blu-ray players were designed so that you could skip past all of those annoying "must watch" warnings and previews.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I don't know about your player, but my Sony does let me skip past trailers and such. Either I select "Top Menu" after pressing "Options" on the remote, or I use the skip forward button a few times. Works for me on this player, but didn't on my previous Sony player from 2 1/2 yrs ago (my current one is just over a year old).

 

[Brandon Conway]

Usually being able to skip the logos/trailers/etc. depends on the studio and what they've enabled or locked out button wise.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Why does a Blu-ray have to "load" when you pop one into a player? With DVD you just put the disc in the tray, hit close and the disc started playing right away, or at least a menu screen appeared - none of this "please wait five minutes while the disc loads" crap. Is it something inherent to new BD technology?

As it was explained to me, a BD player is nearer to a
computer than a DVD player. The other poster was
correct about menu loads but I believe it also needs to
go through several security checks as well.

A PS3 loads BD titles immediately because of its
CPU power. The standalones just don't have that
kind of power behind them.

Basically, I buy all new releases on BD these days.
The prices are about the same as sDVD unless you
are talking about Paramount. Otherwise, I only pick
up a few catalog favorites throughout the year.

...and the reason we are still not seeing major, major
releases to the format is because the overall market
penetration is still quite low. The studios don't want
to let go of their big guns until they know that they can
sell a lot of copies.

...that being said, there really are some major titles
that have been released to the format that I never
thought would be available so soon.

 

[David_Jr]

I am fairly new to the BD format (this past Christmas). I haven't played a laserdisc in several years and the player doesn't work so well anymore (collection collecting dust). I was an original DVD evangelist spreading the gospel to as many friends and family as possible. I got burned on the wrong side of the format war (and still love my HD-DVDs & 4 players), but I never spread the love. I picked up a Black Friday BD player and several holiday season bargain discs. I did notice that even though some of the movies look absolutely spectacular on my 50" plasma, even some of the new releases looked more like DVD to me than BD. The prices are what is keeping me from really diving in. Many new releases are coming out at $25 and then go up to $30. Older and catalogue titles at $20. And I see the $8 & $10 stuff like the $5 DVD bin at Walmart. With work, a wife and three kids I'm lucky if I can watch a movie every other week. I can't spend what BD requires to have discs go unwatched for months on end. I may start renting as well

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I am staunchly against streamlining/downloading. I will stick with physical media for the rest of my lifetime, even if it ever becomes a thing of the past. Just as people today can still play vinyl records or 16mm films, so too will there ALWAYS be a way to keep playing your discs, find new parts for the old players, etc. I also have to say that I am completely baffled as to why anyone who is a rabid fan and supporter of physical discs (DVD or BLU) would ever download or stream movies. That's like helping out the enemy, IMO.

As for Blu-ray -- I switched over about a year and a half ago to BD, and have been mostly pleased. However, I feel like Blu-ray came along too late, and it's not really gaining any kind of foothold or domination. Furthermore, as much as I apprecaite a great-looking HD picture on my 46" HDTV, the fact is I am discovering more and more that an upconverted ol' DVD looks damn good as it already is, much of the time. I just watched the older Warner 2-disc SE DVD of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and it looked so good that I can't see the point in ever "upgrading" to the Blu-ray. And I keep getting disappointed by some Blus now and then which don't look like any big deal; I recently bought GRAN TORINO on BD, and it could have been a standard DVD for all I could tell.

 

[Van594]

What were the load times like for HD-DVD players? If they were better than Blu-ray that would be reason enough that that format should have won. I'm so annoyed at waiting and I have a PS3 which is considered fast. In the year 2010 we should not have load times for movies...It seems we go backwards the more we go forward.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Load times on Blu-ray are much faster than video downloads (iTunes, Amazon Unbox, DirecTv OnDemand), and in most cases, even streaming video services (Netflix, Amazon Unbox, etc).

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Van594

What were the load times like for HD-DVD players? If they were better than Blu-ray that would be reason enough that that format should have won. I'm so annoyed at waiting and I have a PS3 which is considered fast. In the year 2010 we should not have load times for movies...It seems we go backwards the more we go forward.

Oh, for f***'s sake...the format war is over. Get over it.