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+--- Thread: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW (/showthread.php?tid=55038)
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Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - pinkoos - 05-16-2008
Samsung Blu Ray player connected to a 42" Samsung 1080p LCD running a Blu Ray demo disc.
Stopped me in my tracks. Never really paid attention to Blu Ray/HD DVD displays, set ups, demos, news, etc. But, this "blu" (pun definitely intended) me away.
I'm sure the LCD, demo disc, etc. is calibrated and optimized to the hilt. However, is the quality similar to what you guys who are lucky enough to have a Blu Ray player get at home?
I've got a 720p LG 42" LCD mounted on the wall. Will there be some degradation in the image quality since my TV is not 1080p?
Like I said, I never really cared before b/c I usually just rent DVDs, rip them to Apple TV, watch them at my convenience and then delete. We haven't really used our Sony 5 disc upconverting changer in months.
But, if I can replicate the quality I saw at Best Buy in my home with my current TV, I just may consider a Blu Ray player.
As an aside, does Blockbuster offer Blu Ray titles for rental? If so, does it cost more than renting the same regular format DVD?
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - mikebw - 05-16-2008
The TV was probably the Samsung LN46a650, one of the best LCD's out there right now. 1080p, 120Hz, 50,000:1 contrast ratio, coupled with an BluRay player the picture is stunning.
720p vs. 1080p is not a huge difference. In either case you will get the best picture when your source material resolution matches your display exactly, that way there is no intermediate scaling to mess up the picture.
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - Chupa Chupa - 05-16-2008
Watch it on a 82"+ projection screen. You'll NEVER be able to watch DVD again. It's like the first time you watch a DVD movie and when it ended you dumped your VHS collection in the "trash."
You won't really notice a difference between 720p and 1080p on a 42" unless you're face is smack up against the glass. You have to get up to the 55" and up to really "feel" 1080p which is why they don't make "home theatre" size screens in 720p anymore. There is no market for them. Be assured BD will downscale to 720p, so as long as you buy a model with a good scaler you'll be gold. BTW half the experience is sound, so if you can set up a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system the effect is that much better.
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - karsen - 05-16-2008
My local Blockbuster has a PS3 setup showing movies. Spiderman 3 was on and it stopped me in my tracks. Amazing. I'll wait till that stuff comes down in price though. I don't watch enough to justify the purchase. Still though... wow.
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - Drakesgirl - 05-16-2008
See, I have the best of both worlds... one of my roommates bought a PS3, and the other bought a big flatscreen TV... now I can just watch things on their stuff, while waiting for the price on the players to come down.
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - Mr645 - 05-16-2008
What was funny, I saw the display, already have a 71" 1080p DLP, but still using a Marantz upscaling DVD player. "You know sweetie (Wife), let's just get the new BluRay player, go see if they have those two movies you want in BluRay. "
Problem............While Best Buy has three different BR players on display running, they only have one in stock, none of the ones being shown. The one they have is missing a few features, one key to what I need. oh well sweetie, we'll just get the regular DVD's.
Jon
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - N-OS X-tasy! - 05-16-2008
So much for the perception that most people can't see the benefit of HDM and think DVD is good enough.
This could be the player that breaks open the Blu-Ray floodgates: http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/13/samsungs-bd-p1500-blu-ray-player-in-stock-in-the-wild
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - macphanatic - 05-16-2008
Seems that a PS3 is a better deal than the Samsung. It's upgradable to support new features, it plays games and can access media servers.
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - Drakesgirl - 05-16-2008
Yeah, I agree. It's definitely better to get a PS3. And, besides, you can play games on it too, for roughly the same cost as a BR player that doesn't have gaming capabilities.
Re: Walked past a Best Buy Blu Ray demo...WOW - dk62 - 05-17-2008
Yes, the whole idea of "regular DVDs with a good upscaling player are good enough" is ridiculous. Once you see a recent high-budget movie in high definition, there is no going back. PS3 is still the best deal. Be careful with players - they should either decode all audio codecs internally or have full HDMI 1.3 specs in order to bitstream them (assuming you have a compatible receiver). A lot of current players are missing some of these characteristics. I would not worry about full 2.0 specs, though.