Embracing blu-ray

The missus and myself have started to gather a couple of the worthy titles on Blu(e)Ray. I dont know why the even bother to release some of the trash not worth the materials its burned on. These are my main complaints with the format:

HD-DVD was intended to be an open and portable format. Blu(e)Ray is locked down tighter than a practising chastity nun. As the consumer, you are only permited to use it in the precise way Sony intend you to use it. Any deviation is either made impossibly difficult, or illegal.

No standard free codec for HTPC computer systems, forcing you to purchase proprietary software. I dont want to use PowerDVD, its a POS, i want to use media player classic Home Theatre which i play all other DVDs and digital media in.

The Blu(e)Ray menu system is god awful, slow, and clunky, and most of the time i play a disk it informs me mouse is unavailable, i am only permitted to use my keyboard....

Blu(e)Ray was release to the consumer as an untested and underdeveloped product. Many Blu(e)Ray disks will not function in many players, for absolutely no good reason, and the Sony marketing BS is 'Blu(e)Ray is a new product, its not our fault it doesn't work, you early adopter you'

With regards to the physical media vs digital downloads debate, there will ALWAYS be a market and benefit for a physical deployment medium. Having an actually product, boxed, insert etc is much more satisfying than having a flag in a database that lets you view a product.
 
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Never had a problem with my blu rays and I never buy dvd's now. In-fact I have purchased blu rays of some of the tops titles in my standard dvd collection (1000+ films).

I am awaiting a surround sound system to complete my system which should be here on Tuesday.

BLu ray quality is massively better than standard dvd - though it is more noticeable in some films than others.
 
i just rent films now , if i can in bluray format if not then its dvd , i used to buy tons of dvds and built a big collection, i only buy films for keeps on bluray that i may watch more than once such as big hits like avatar

i do hope dvd completly goes soon , bluray has been out long enough now to be able to completly dominate the market
 
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I haven't abandoned DVD yet but about a year ago I started buying Blu-ray versions of my most anticipated movies. As I usually watch movies on my computer, Blu-rays are a bit.. unusable at the moment. There's something wrong with my setup as watching a BR-movie while doing anything D3D-related on other screens results into a quick crash. I've been debugging the problem for about a year now, changed all relevant components such as GFX card from Nvidia to ATI as well as re-installed Windows etc. but still haven't found a fix. OpenGL-based games/software work fine though so it's definitely a D3D issue of some kind.
 
BD have a few pro's
Great value with DVD and Digital Copy

HD Lossless Audio (PEOPLE ALWAYS FORGET AUDIO!!)

Much better Picture Quality (Excluding 28 days Later (DV camcorder was used)and fantastic four(PQ was simply awful and was one of the 1st 25gb releases goodish movie tho)

Digital downloads have harping on for a while now.
I will ask you to download a genuine movie with Lossless Audio.

You ain't going to find one(I will apologise if anyone does). What happens if I buy a **** movie can you sell it? What happens if a friend wants to borrow it? oh take my 360 around or PC.

Digital Download has got a while to go before you get the quality of blu-ray.

I do see one day they won't bother packaging DVD seperately and only do combi's or simply BD. And 5-6 years after won't bother with DVD.
 
nshire said:
HD Lossless Audio (PEOPLE ALWAYS FORGET AUDIO!!)
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Yes, because most people don't know, don't care, and wouldn't be able to tell the difference and fewer still actually have the equipment to do a high end encode justice. A good pair of speakers is infinitely more important, and the general consumer is quite content to use the speakers inbuilt into their flat screen tv.

Most people will happily squint at a side by side and be able to see the difference between SD and HD content. Of course the irony is the most perceptible difference was nothing to do with image definition: its the proper encoding of colour which up-scalers can fix now anyway.

Benefit should be obvious to the consumer. A consumer product should imply its function explicitly without the need for training, resources, and esoteric understanding. The very fact that to sell these systems they need to do side by sides demonstrates the poor scalability blu(e)ray* holds over dvd

*Sorry for typing it this way. I just can't stand the suffocating whiff of smugness emanating from Sony's marketing division 'teehee, oh look, we dropped the e, we so cool and down with the kids, mwhahaha!'. Is it named after the colour of the laser? Yes? Then damn well spell it right.
 
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BunnyKillBot said:
Yes, because most people don't know, don't care, and wouldn't be able to tell the difference and fewer still actually have the equipment to do a high end encode justice. A good pair of speakers is infinitely more important, and the general consumer is quite content to use the speakers inbuilt into their flat screen tv.

Most people will happily squint at a side by side and be able to see the difference between SD and HD content. Of course the irony is the most perceptible difference was nothing to do with image definition: its the proper encoding of colour which up-scalers can fix now anyway.

Benefit should be obvious to the consumer. A consumer product should imply its function explicitly without the need for training, resources, and esoteric understanding. The very fact that to sell these systems they need to do side by sides demonstrates the poor scalability blu(e)ray* holds over dvd

*Sorry for typing it this way. I just can't stand the suffocating whiff of smugness emanating from Sony's marketing division 'teehee, oh look, we dropped the e, we so cool and down with the kids, mwhahaha!'. Is it named after the colour of the laser? Yes? Then damn well spell it right.
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I have none of the problems you've stated in any of your posts. Nothing wrong with the menus, they're speedy as hell on my PS3 and that's ancient, they're also damned speedy on my standard BR player. If your HTPC can't keep up don't blame it on the format.

No-one I know has ever had to have a side by side comparison to see which is which, except maybe in the case of a very crap transfer which is nothing to do with the format itself.

Blu-Ray is more flexible than DVD is so how does it have poor scalability?

It's obvious you just hate Sony and the format so it makes what you're saying very biased. Personally I have many HD-DVDs as well as Blu-Rays, I'm interested in picture quality and audio quality and both formats provide it.
 
Maybe in the high street but if you shop online they're usually around a tenner. The only two discs I've bought which were more than that were Avatar: Extended Collectors Edition and importing Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut. If you're paying like £15 or more per film you're getting mugged tbh. You sometimes have to wait for a bit after release but I've bought BDs online that were cheaper than the DVD equivalent in the shops. They've come WAY down in price since they first came out as a medium because more and more people are buying them.
 
Been using blu ray for over a year now, first on pc and then i bought a standalone player. Havent totally abandoned dvd just yet. Though some films i had on dvd ive sold on and replaced with the blu ray version.
 
I've had a BR drive roughly a year. Don't own a single Blu-Ray. Rent them from Blockbuster though.

I have little desire to replace my DVDs with Blu-Rays but my eyesite isn't perfect and I don't like watching wearing glasses.

For me VHS to DVD was a bigger jump than DVD to Blu-Ray - mainly due to 5.1.
 
I've always considered Bluray interim tech. I expect Downloadable content to become the primary format, in much the same way as MP3s have overtaken CDs.

I think one of the problems Bluray has vs VHS is compatibility, you couldn't stick a Video in a DVD player. Add the extra cost, and the fact a lot of people simply don't see the difference and it's really no surprise its struggling to impose itself.
 
I'm a convert, absolutely love blu-ray and can see the difference it has over DVD's, both in image and sound quality. Anything I buy now tends to be on blu-ray, but I'm the same with utajoker, I don't see the point in buying the likes of stand ups, unless there isn't a huge difference in price.

I'm also buying my favourite films over again as and when they come out, replacing the DVD's that are currently stored somewhere in the house. I've managed to get the girlfriend over to the blu side as well and currently have a player wherever there's a TV in the house.

I also don't see the problem with the price of them, so long as you shop around you won't pay over £15 for a new release, which I can remember the price of DVD's being when a new one was out. Plus you seem to get a DVD with the blu-ray anyway, so win win in my eyes. I will of course probably do the same with any new technology that comes out in the future, so long as I can see a significant difference as I can between DVD and Blu-ray.
 
It's all about numbers. Lets use VCD as a near VHS equivalent.

PAL VCD is 352x288 = 101,376 pixels
NTSC DVD is 720x480 = 345,600 pixels
PAL DVD is 720x576 = 414,720 pixels
1080p is 1920x1080 = 2,073,600 pixels

Vertical Resolution:

VCD > DVD = 100% increase in vertical resolution
NTSC DVD > 1080p = 125% increase in vertical resolution
PAL DVD > 1080p = 87.5% increase in vertical resolution

Overall pixels is where the HD jump is seen.

VCD > DVD = 309% increase in pixels
NTSC DVD > 1080p = 500% increase in pixels
PAL DVD > 1080p = 400% increase in pixels
 
Calm said:
I think one of the problems Bluray has vs VHS is compatibility, you couldn't stick a Video in a DVD player. Add the extra cost, and the fact a lot of people simply don't see the difference and it's really no surprise its struggling to impose itself.
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DVD suceeded and had the same problem though :confused:
 
BunnyKillBot said:
Below
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HD-DVD was intended to be an open and portable format. Blu(e)Ray is locked down tighter than a practising chastity nun. As the consumer, you are only permited to use it in the precise way Sony intend you to use it. Any deviation is either made impossibly difficult, or illegal.

Sour previous HD-DVD owner I guess :) Yes HD-DVD was really open with AACS as standard !!

No standard free codec for HTPC computer systems, forcing you to purchase proprietary software. I dont want to use PowerDVD, its a POS, i want to use media player classic Home Theatre which i play all other DVDs and digital media in.

AnyDVD HD is your friend, far from illegal, call it fair use. Recording TV content was "illegal" too.

The Blu(e)Ray menu system is god awful, slow, and clunky, and most of the time i play a disk it informs me mouse is unavailable, i am only permitted to use my keyboard....

Depends on the player

Blu(e)Ray was release to the consumer as an untested and underdeveloped product. Many Blu(e)Ray disks will not function in many players, for absolutely no good reason, and the Sony marketing BS is 'Blu(e)Ray is a new product, its not our fault it doesn't work, you early adopter you'

Were in 2010 not 2006. Profile 1.0 players are pretty much obsolete
 
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Johnnytoxic said:
It's all about numbers.
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Impressive numbers indeed but they mean absolutely nothing it all boils down to percieved difference by the end user which is entirely subjective.

I've just recently got my first blu ray player and have a fe Blu rays now and while both myself and the other half can see the difference compared to DVD's upscaled in the same player the difference is far from massive.

I remember the DVD being a night and day improvment over the video which the blu-ray certainly isn't over a decently upscaled DVD in most average viewing situations.
 
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