Worried my DVDs will look bad on new HDTV (1 Viewer)

[AndyMcKinney]

I think I missed the boat on Oppo, didn't I?

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If you're not against buying used equipment, you can hop on that boat right now! I had (well, still have, as I've not sold them yet) three perfectly-fine BDP-83s. I wanted newer decks, mainly because I was a little impatient with the load time on the four Modern Family season sets. That's really pretty much the reason. Otherwise, they still played everything I've thrown at them great. Load times on some BDs is a little slow, but not too bad (except the aforementioned discs). They're built like tanks and still work great.

Anyway, to replace them, I bought three used BDP-103s, and all of them cost less than what they were new (so, they're not outrageously marked-up like Oppo's two 4k players). Like my current setup, I also bought two multi-region hardware mods, and for the third player, I'm just using the SuperDisk software hack to get by with region-free on DVDs only (if you'd like a "deal" on a good BDP-83, drop me a PM!).

I'm going to have to do some screen size testing (SD viewing distance calcs); my room is limited in size and so I'm probably only going to be 8 to 12 ft from the screen. I know that limits my TV size options, of course. (Which for DVD viewing might be a good thing.)

If your distance is 8ft away, I'd recommend a 40-42 inch set. If your distance is more like 12 ft, you should be able to get away with something in the 50-60 inch range.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Micah,

You don't need to use a "computer" to stream "digital". You probably don't even have to get a dedicated STB like Roku or AppleTV since most modern TVs and BD players come w/ Vudu and a few (or more) other streaming apps -- not sure if AppleTV app is as common though (for those titles not on MoviesAnywhere).

I can wholly recommend a Roku box. We've got one on every TV (and our smaller bedroom TVs are actually RokuTVs, so they have it integrated into the set). Roku is easy to use and inexpensive. The only real downside I see right now is that some of the newly-rolled-out networks like Peacock and HBO Max are still not available on the Rokus due to "money" bickering between Roku and the developers of those two channels. If you absolutely gotta have Peacock and HBO Max, you might want to go with an Apple TV instead.

 

[Worth]

If your distance is 8ft away, I'd recommend a 40-42 inch set. If your distance is more like 12 ft, you should be able to get away with something in the 50-60 inch range.

I sit about 6-7 feet away and DVDs look quite good on my 42 inch plasma - on the 60 inch, not so much.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

FWIW, a whole (diff) bunch of good catalog titles from Paramount just went on sale on iTunes for $4-5 -- the $3.99 price point is definitely rarer... even though that doesn't beat the $30 for 10 classic faves bundle from a week ago...

Chinatown (in 4K no less) is among this batch (at $5). And a few titles like Paper Moon and Dead Again, which still don't even have BD releases here in USA, are only $3.99 each. Couple others at $3.99 that might be of interest are High Noon and Hud (and there are some others)...

And most these sales run weekly and recurring now and then w/ some titles showing up at these price points multiple times each year...

Anyway, I don't imagine bumping up from 60" to 75" should make your DVDs look too much worse from say 10-12ft distance. If they look great to you now, I imagine they should still look pretty good to you after the upgrade -- at worst, just sit another foot farther than before me thinks. But the inexpensive HD digitals should likely look like a revelation for you...

_Man_

 

[Ejanss]

Chinatown (in 4K no less) is among this batch (at $5). And a few titles like Paper Moon and Dead Again, which still don't even have BD releases here in USA, are only $3.99 each.

Not YET, perhaps, but Paramount, like other studios licking their 10's post-Digital VOD wounds, is eyeing Warner Archive and dipping back into catalog Blu-ray again with their "Paramount Selects" line, and the announced titles strangely seem to coincide with those already streaming on their PlutoTV Paramount Channel. (Eg. John Wayne, Elvis musicals, etc.)
If Paper Moon's playing there--and it is--the Blu-ray is when-not-if. Not sure about Dead Again, Heaven Can Wait or Bugsy Malone, though.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Not YET, perhaps, but Paramount, like other studios licking their 10's post-Digital VOD wounds, is eyeing Warner Archive and dipping back into catalog Blu-ray again with their "Paramount Selects" line, and the announced titles strangely seem to coincide with those already streaming on their PlutoTV Paramount Channel. (Eg. John Wayne, Elvis musicals, etc.)
If Paper Moon's playing there--and it is--the Blu-ray is when-not-if. Not sure about Dead Again, Heaven Can Wait or Bugsy Malone, though.

That may be so... but Paramount just has never been all that reliable for quality disc releases anyway, eg. the recent debacle w/ To Catch A Thief is just the latest case. So definitely don't put too many eggs in that basket anyhow...

Anyway, the suggestion to consider "digital" (w/ all the frequent low pricing) is mainly specific to the OP (and others w/ similar criteria), who specifically doesn't want to spend (significant?) $$$ upgrading his media library. Anteing up for WAC titles and the like for such would be (more or less) the opposite of what he's looking for (even though there are periodic WAC sales)... Otherwise, there would be even more options like imports, eg. Paper Moon on BD can be imported from UK, which is what I (and some others) did some time ago.

Anyhoo...

_Man_

 

[Micah Cohen]

So, first of all, you are all awesome (knowledgeable, generous) for chiming in on this thread.

I love hearing about how you have dealt with some of the same issues I'm feeling, the inevitable march of technology, media choices, upgrades, upscaling, etc.

You've added so much to my understanding of how this technology has grown and changed. I am going to have to make a list of things to consider.

Meanwhile, I continue to watch DVDs on my 60" Sony RP from about 8ft away, and even my wife, Goldilocks, loves having this kind of "movie theater" in the house. (So, I must be doing something right.)

I've been thinking about running a CAT6 connection to the theater room to connect directly to the next TV I get (no wifi issues). That would probably improve digital viewing, making me more likely to take advantage of it.

Just one idea inspired by this thread.

Micah

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I sit about 6-7 feet away and DVDs look quite good on my 42 inch plasma - on the 60 inch, not so much.

Now that I'm home, I've got the 'ol measuring tape out.

I sit about 10 1/2 feet away from my 52-inch LED Sharp LC-52LE830U and DVDs look fine. This is the set that I compared head-to-head in the store with a 55-inch one (an LG). Standing the same measured distance away, the DVD (a Region 2 of Dr Who: Pyramids of Mars playing in native PAL from my Oppo BDP-83) looked good on the 52-inch set. On the 55-inch, DVD compression artifacts/noise were starting to be obvious to the naked eye. So, in my tests, a 52-inch set was pretty much the 'upper limit' for a 10 ft. approx viewing distance, if you want DVDs to not start looking noticeably bad for casual viewing.

Downstairs, we have a 60-inch Sharp (from the previous model generation), but we're sitting farther back (about 12ft). Honestly, we could probably do 65 or 70 inches down there, but the set gets little use, so I have no real reason to replace it (especially since it's fully multi-system).

 

[DaveF]

I'm not a big fan of watching DVDs on an HD set. But lately I've been watching Futurama (4:3 DVD) on my 49" TV from ~18 feet away and Community (16:9 DVD) on my 120" screen from 14 feet away. And they're fine. Community is soft, definitely not a blu-ray. But I'm watching for the humor and I quickly forget about the softer, lower resolution image.