Are Blu-ray's worth the extra Money? (1 Viewer)

[Jim Mcc]

Let us reiterate that not all of us have unlimited high speed internet.

We* have 20g**, at most, of high speed in a combination of Wild Blue, Tmobile(from 2 phones and a dedicated Jet 2.0), Sprint(two phones with wifi sharing) and Verizon Wireless(5 device network card).

*That "we" is me, my gf, my cousin, her husband and my uncle.

**That 20g is what is left from 33g of high speed. 13g(at least) is chewed up by ADT, Itunes(ipods and ipads have constant link), papers for school(online classes).

20g at 720P(which is what I self-impose) gets us around 14 hours...a month...among 5 people.

My internet speed is 10 Mbps.

 

[schan1269]

I'm not talking about the speed of my internet, per se.

I'm talking how much of fast internet I have before throttled...or in the case of Verizon...before I pay overage.

Wild Blue, when you hit your "rolling limit", you are entirely bricked...as in they shut you off.(I've actually received "please stop using so much internet" text messages)

Tmobile, when you get throttled, you barely have enough speed to check email...not kidding.

Sprint, their throttling still allows SD streaming...but it buffers.

 

[Bob Engleman]

As a prelude, in 1992 I began retailing CDs, movies and games, and. except for dropping CDs, remain in the business. In those yrs., I elected to sit-out both Sega Saturn and the HD format; in each situation, I correctly guessed those formats to be unsuccessful.

As to if Blu-ray is worth the money, last Sat., all my shoppers, by their action to not purchase, said NO; fortunately, games were hot. On Sun., though, I had a record Blu-ray day AND games were hotter!

The only conclusion I can draw is that it all depends upon with whom one is conversing.

Bob Engleman

 

[Jim517]

It depends. I've seen some Blu-ray versions of the same DVD, and they looked no better than the DVD. It also depends on the size of your TV.

 

[FoxyMulder]

It depends. I've seen some Blu-ray versions of the same DVD, and they looked no better than the DVD. It also depends on the size of your TV.

It doesn't depend on the size of the TV, i see a difference on a laptop which is only 17 inches and dvd usually has inferior encoding, thanks to low bitrate MPEG 2, with artifacts galore and edge enhancement and other issues, so even if resolution alone isn't greatly improved over some dvd's, think Hitchcock's Spellbound as one example, the encode of the blu ray is usually miles better.

So if it comes down to spending a few extra bucks on the blu ray then that's the one i'd buy, always and without hesitation.*


*Unless it's a Universal catalog release, in which case i'll always hesitate.

 

[MaxMorrow]

The only conclusion I can draw is that it all depends upon with whom one is conversing.

+1

 

[Carl Johnson]

I won't always replace a DVD that I already own with a blu ray, but I can't imagine buying a new DVD when a blu ray is available to save a few bucks.The last time I was in Fry's they had numerous catalog blu rays available for $5, and I passed on a few keep from storing a bunch of titles that are barely worth a single viewing. I suppose I could happen upon some DVD worth buying, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I'm a TV on DVD buyer.

In most cases, I'll never get a blu-ray release to compare the DVD to, or the shows were videotaped, so there's no reason to put 'em on blu.

Star Trek:TNG on blu made a convert of me. Before that, I was one of the people saying "well, it's not that much of a difference, why bother?"

But, from the first promo trailer relesed on the internet, it was obvious that TNG blu is light years better looking than DVDs. If you can't see that, you may be blind.

And, from there, I picked up some other sets, like The Dick Van Dyke Show, and once again, the difference is stunning. Now I've started picking up some films. Nothing major, just old favorites. But they're worth it. And the price has finally come to the point that there's not much of a difference between blu and dvd.

I'll never be a blu or nothing person because of what I enjoy collecting. But, if you're mostly into films? Blu probably is the way to go.

 

[vidiot33]

If it's an older movie and it hasn't been remastered for the blue ray release, I see not point in spending the extra $ for blue ray. I have. 120" inch front 1080p projector and a top of the line Cambridge Audio blue ray player and I see no difference between regular DVD and blue ray on unmastered titles.

 

[atfree]

I'll wade into the muck....In my lifetime (hopefully about 25-30 years left), I can't imagine streaming approaching the consistent quality of BD for EVERYONE. Right now, if streaming was equal to BD (full 1080p video, lossless sound) and everyone one using Netflix, Vudu, etc was streaming that quality the internet would crash. Despite improvements in broadband speed over time, not everyone will have access to or be able to afford the speed required to watch BD quality streaming (as well as having multiple other devices connected and utilizing bandwidth simultaneously) not to mention data caps imposed by providers. I have a 24 meg connection but with as a family we might have 6 or more devices connected at any time (game consoles, iPods, laptops, gaming PC's, phones, etc). Most times the 24 meg is fine but on weekends Netflix in "HD" will buffer or stutter if everyone is online doing stuff at the same time, especially if my kids are gaming, watching YouTube, etc. My BD player never has that trouble.IMO, we are still a long way from streaming EQUALING the FULL video and audio quality of BD (not to mention 4k). Add in stuff being added/subtracted from streaming libraries almost daily and I'll take my physical, full HD video/audio BD library over streaming any day. And best of all, its "on demand"..... MY demand, whenever I want to watch it.

 

[Mark-P]

If it's an older movie and it hasn't been remastered for the blue ray release, I see not point in spending the extra $ for blue ray. I have. 120" inch front 1080p projector and a top of the line Cambridge Audio blue ray player and I see no difference between regular DVD and blue ray on unmastered titles.

Sorry, but if you can't even spell Blu-ray, then your opinion doesn't count.

 

[DaveF]

I'm a TV on DVD buyer.

As a rule, Blu-ray is undoubtedly better than DVD and I'll rent/buy Blu over DVD. Moreover, the cost premium is minimal now.

But TV gives me pause. I like to watch TV on my iPad when I travel. I can fairly easily rip TV DVDs, move them to my iPad, and watch. I can't rip and watch Blu-ray. So I tend to buy TV on DVD still. This also de-motives me from replacing the bedroom DVD player with a Blu-ray, which enhances this cycle.

What's breaking the cycle is that I can now easily transfer Tivo shows to an iPad, which is reducing how much TV on disc I buy.