Blu-ray and HDTV

[technoid]

Okay... I admit I don't know a great deal about them but I've been looking around a lot and finally got to see a Blu-ray player at Best Buy playing a movie on a 40" Sony HDTV. What I seen didn't seem that impressive to me so I thought I'd run it by you guys to see if I'm looking at this wrong.

First a question. What resolution does Blu-ray use? All of them? By that I mean does it playback depending on the TV, duh, and output 1080p, 720p, or 1080i.

Second my observations. It seems to me that there were a lot of artifacts in the image, and if I frooze it it just looked very so so to me. I expected a razor sharp image but wasn't impressed with it at all. So is it suppose to look razor shrap?

I guess what I'm mostly looking for is a review of my observations.

I know what I seen was a canned demo, but shouldn't it be an impressive look at Blu-ray?

Thanks for any information you can share with me. I'm getting close to buying an HD setup and since I'm retired now I can't afford to make any mistakes in my choices.

[mullet]

Blu Ray plays 1080P, just get a TV that is 1080P which most of all TV's do these days. Yes Blu Ray looks great.

[technoid]

Originally Posted by mullet

Blu Ray plays 1080P, just get a TV that is 1080P which most of all TV's do these days. Yes Blu Ray looks great.

Thanks for the information. So does this mean if I buy a 720p HDTV I can't use a Blu-ray player with it since Blu-ray outputs 1080p?

[bacon12]

Blu rays true superior appeal over DVD is not the picture to me. Its the uncompressed ear candy.

Dolby 5.1 on dvd can't come close to that, but you can get near blu ray picture quality from upscale players.

[technoid]

Originally Posted by bacon12

Blu rays true superior appeal over DVD is not the picture to me. Its the uncompressed ear candy.

Dolby 5.1 on dvd can't come close to that, but you can get near blu ray picture quality from upscale players.

Thanks a lot for your perspective. I just got through doing a google search on blu-ray and found out quite a bit, and it's interesting to note that I seen comments like yours several times in other forums. I know this is terrible to say but for us the video quality is the only important thing, we sold our home theater audio equipment and now watch tv in the bedroom only. (the reason for this is my wife is severely disabled and is a chronic pain patient, so for the most part she lives in bed) So the audio is just the tv speakers. I think going with a good upscaling dvd player might be the right thing for us, do you have any suggestions on the make and model?

On the subject of upscaling dvd players, do they work better on a 720p or 1080p TV?

[bacon12]

Originally Posted by technoid

Thanks a lot for your perspective. I just got through doing a google search on blu-ray and found out quite a bit, and it's interesting to note that I seen comments like yours several times in other forums. I know this is terrible to say but for us the video quality is the only important thing, we sold our home theater audio equipment and now watch tv in the bedroom only. (the reason for this is my wife is severely disabled and is a chronic pain patient, so for the most part she lives in bed) So the audio is just the tv speakers. I think going with a good upscaling dvd player might be the right thing for us, do you have any suggestions on the make and model?

On the subject of upscaling dvd players, do they work better on a 720p or 1080p TV?

I have no experience with stand alone players I use a pc so have only dealt with power dvd/nvidia pure video. Also not sure about which would be better 720 or 1080, but you can feel that you upgrade would be more future proof with 1080 and is what I would suggest.

I really do feel you are on the right track, and would suggest blu ray if the prices of disks, and players were to fall to reasonable levels. But if you have a netflix sub, which I suggest for any movie buff then its still a viable option.

[technoid]

Originally Posted by bacon12

I have no experience with stand alone players I use a pc so have only dealt with power dvd/nvidia pure video. Also not sure about which would be better 720 or 1080, but you can feel that you upgrade would be more future proof with 1080 and is what I would suggest.

I really do feel you are on the right track, and would suggest blu ray if the prices of disks, and players were to fall to reasonable levels. But if you have a netflix sub, which I suggest for any movie buff then its still a viable option.

Thanks again. Yes I think a 1080p is the best way to go too so that's what I'll most likely do. We have a Netflix account and I'm going to take a look at their blu-ray collection soon. We also watch a few movies off the internet, which is just so so. But it's free.

[tnava]

I suggest that you read the reviews especially the ones coming from the experts if you want to have an idea on which is the best LCD TV that fits your budget. That's what I did when I bought my 32" samsung LCD TV six months ago. It's the best way to get the best bang for your buck in my opinion.

[ViN86]

Originally Posted by technoid

Thanks for the information. So does this mean if I buy a 720p HDTV I can't use a Blu-ray player with it since Blu-ray outputs 1080p?

Yes you can, but the player will only output 720p.

[nrdstrm]

I don't know that I agree with Bacon12 on the video part (the audio part is obviously established). When I compare Casino Royale, the blu ray is significantly better than the same DVD upscaled (by the same player). In my case it is a PS3, and it does a good job on both blu-rays and upscaling from what I read. So in my opinion, the video output is substantially better on BR.

As for resolution, I would say try to find a 1080p set, as tests have shown BR to look marginally better on 1080p vs. 720p (I have only ever had a 1080, so I can't confirm this myself). Size would also matter. If your getting say a 32" or smaller, I don't think 1080p matters much...

[DJMONDY]

I would read some reviews on tv's that are in your price range and go for the best 1080p tv you can get. at least then you will know you have the best that you can afford, which is what i did.

I have the Sony 40W2000 which is very highly recommended in most reviews and is a few years old now so can be picked up very cheap brand new. im not sure where you are but this set in the UK can be bought for around £500 these days and its one hell of a good tv...trust me.

Good place to start for reviews: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/television...02139,1,00.htm

I know this probably isnt what your looking for and i dont know what your price range is but i would also recommend buying a PS3 for watching Blu-Ray and upscaling your old dvd's. it upscales dvd's really well and it does everything you want it to really. with the new slim ps3 just being released the older ps3's are cheaper again and i would think its one of the best Blu-Ray players available for the price.

To answer your question about quality it really does depend on the setup and what film was being displayed and how the store set it all up. some films look amazing and some just look grainy and awfull. alot of new films these days do look impressive on blu-ray but its best to just buy new releases on blu-ray and stick to buying most older films on dvd and just let the player upscale it. ive made the mistake a few times thinking a blu-ray release of a film made in 1980 would look amazing and trust me it just doesnt, the picture does look a bit better but nothing compared to a new film released on blu-ray.

Good place for blu-ray reviews: http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/reviews.html

If they say the picture quality and sound quality is 4-5 stars they are usually spot on. anything less i just buy on dvd.