New BluRay discs v DVD

[ArticJack 10]

Is anyone using BluRay discs yet? They are supposed to be the highest quality disc ever and stores much more data.

 

If anyone is using them please let us know whether they are worth paying the extra cash.

[headup 10]

'Worth it' is dependent on what you're looking for. Do you want improved pictures and sound? The picture and sound quality between standard DVD and Blu-Ray can be night and day.

 

For action movies or any movie that has great/beautiful visuals, I think it's worth the upgrade. Great examples are the Pixar movies that're available, Blade Runner, Close Encounters, Pirates of the Caribbean. If you have a decent home theater sound system, there's also the upgrade in sound quality that comes from often uncompressed audio.

 

Now that HD-DVD is out of the way, Blu-Ray is the future of movies in the home (along with - to a lesser extent - direct downloads) and prices are dropping.

 

I recommend it if you're into movies and you're looking for a great upgrade to picture and sound - it's that simple.

[zaadee 10]

May i suggest , i think Blu-ray Dvd player is the Next Generation DVD Player .. follow me..

 

High definition format wars heat up.

Earlier this month, Warner Brothers decided to withdraw its support of Toshiba’s HD-DVD format. As a result, Toshiba has centered its efforts on offering

reduced prices to entice consumers. The 15 percent that own HD-DVD players face obsolescence should Universal Pictures and Paramount switch to Blu-ray Disc technology. The information below indicates that Blu-ray Disc is becoming the chosen format of major motion picture studios, while support for HD-DVD is dwindling.

 

Blu-ray Studio Support

Lions Gate

MGM

Sony Pictures

Twentieth Century Fox

Walt Disney Pictures

Warner Brothers

Vivendi Universal

HD-DVD Studio Support

Paramount

Universal Pictures

 

Source: http://blu-raydisc.com

[yorkguy1971 10]

you do not have to tell me lol bought a Toshiba HD-EP30 with HD DVD High Definition Playback for £219 in dec now same one from same retailer £79

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/836/1052/-/3497129/Toshiba-HD-EP30-HDMI-Upscaling-DVD-Player-with-HD-DVD-High-Definition-Playback/Product.html?searchtype=genre

just a pity films have not come down the same as player as dropped in price

[wbua 10]

HD-DVD is dead.

[yorkguy1971 10]

pity hd-dvd films still selling for so much tho least can still play normall dvds in it so nowt wasted

[mr chris 10]

As one of the happy few that can play both, I'll just sit back and enjoy cut price HD DVDs as they're being sold off (it's not like they're an inferior product!) and a drop in Blu Ray prices as it starts to pick up.

 

Sometimes being single, bored and well paid has its benefits!*

 

*I'd much rather have a girlfriend, or both!

 

At the moment you only need to upgrade your PC if you want to watch movies (you can get Blu Ray reading drives for about £90 and PowerDVD Ultra for about £50 - not a bad investment). If your monitor isn't HDCP compliant then AnyDVD HD will take care of that (another £40), but it's still way less than £200 - not bad when you consider the cost of a decent blu ray player!

[SimpyTimpy 10]

I watch alot of Blu-Ray movies on my Playstation 3, and the difference in quality between DVD and Blu Ray versions are noticeable and clearly the BluRay version is superior.

 

However, I don't think there's as much of an incentive to switch to HD Discs as it was to switch to DVD from VHS. DVD had all the advantages of using a disc to play video when compared to VHS, so you could skip, no need to rewind, smaller etc. All these advantages were ontop of the difference in quality.

 

If I didn't have a PS3 then knowing what I know now I wouldn't have too much of an incentive to switch to BluRay just yet.

 

Make sure when you go out and get a BD player that it's future proof, in the sense that it will support profile 1.3 or else you wont benefit from BD-Live when it's released later this year. I believe the PS3 will support profile 1.3.

 

Failing that, go out and get a PS3, it's one of the best BD players on the market.

[shakermaker 10]

bd-live is profile 2.0 (1GB storage, net connection, etc).... profile 1.0 and 1.1 players (there isn't a profile 1.3) won't be upgradable to bd-live (apart from the playstation).

 

there are already a few bd-live discs available, but no players as yet. bd-live upgrades for playstation are expected around may.

[punk 10]

I'm actually not that sure there's such a huge difference between a decent upscaled DVD (by which I mean upscaled by a good upscaling DVD player and not the TV upscaler) and a Blu-ray movie. Don't get me wrong; it's certainly better but the difference isn't huge in my eyes.

 

Someone above mentioned the difference between VHS > DVD, that was a massive upgrade and it brought a ton of improvements (not just picture quality, which was in itself a more significant improvement than the current one for me). DVD > Blueray is a very slight visual improvement over what upscaled DVD offers. It just feels like another excuse to resell you all the films you bought two or more times already (Betamax, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray, blah blah). I'm usually an early adopter of tech stuff but I just can't justify the cost of Blu-ray > DVD to myself at the moment.

 

I wouldn't even start shouting victory for Blu-ray yet. Everyone always bangs on about the "war" for HD was just between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray but HD movies downloaded directly onto media players/servers could be the future (both pirate versions and officially supported - xbox 360 for example). Downloadable HD media still feels a clunky at the moment but as hardware and 'net connections improve it will become more appealing.

[Kingmaker2 10]

I'm actually not that sure there's such a huge difference between a decent upscaled DVD

Someone above mentioned the difference between VHS > DVD, that was a massive upgrade and it brought a ton of improvements (not just picture quality

 

I wouldn't even start shouting victory for Blu-ray yet.

 

I agree with your sentiments.

Some have assumed that the victory of Blu Ray over HD DVD now means that standard DVD will be phased out, and Blu Ray is assured as the format that everyone will be watching in the near future.

I've been saying for a while now that Blu Ray hasn't really got the mass appeal that DVD had over VHS.

i.e size, accessability, durability, picture and sound quality.

Furthermore most households in Britain will need to purcahse a HD capable TV in addition to a Blu Ray player to enjoy better picture quality from films. So the consumer could well spend a grand or more to watch Blu Ray.

A grand is a lot of money to crack a £20 nut!

Blu Ray will appeal to technofiles and those with home cinema systems, but to the rest of the TV viewing public Blu Ray will be a luxury that they can take or leave.

Bear in mind that DVD hasn't been around that long itself, those with a big DVD collection are more likely to be cautious of buying lots of Blu Ray titles, as who's to say something even better will come long in the next 10 years?

I personally think Blu Ray won't become the big money spinner that the film companies hope, and as such will not become the standard to take over DVD.

People say the format war is over, but I actually think Blu Ray now faces its biggest battle, trying to get the public at large to convert to Blu Ray.

[Rich 12]

There is only 1 thing that would make me buy a Blu Ray player, and that's the release of all 6 Star Wars films in a Blu Ray HD boxset.. And no, I would not buy a PS3, it has about 2 games I want, if that... Not worthy of £425 IMO.