Until I was in a large electrical store the other day, I wasn't aware how cheap Blu-Ray players were these days. I was thinking of replacing our 8-9 year old combined HDD/DVD machine, because I need a satellite tuner rather than the integrated terrestrial tuner that this box has, so I was minded to buy separate boxes. Our television is a Samsung 32" Smart TV, which we won't be upgrading in the foreseeable future to any bigger size.
I was wondering whether anyone here had any comments as to whether we would notice the difference in picture quality difference between DVD and Blu-Ray?
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Its like going from VHS to DVD, I find it difficult to watch DVDs now in the same way that I could never watch a VHS film again.
Make sure your TV can do 1080P or better for best results and use HDMI.
One thing I have noticed that some Blu Ray discs don't work straight away and the player needs to be connected to the internet to download the relevant files, something to do with security keys but it doesn't cost anything. I guess if the player can't connect to the internet then it won't play the newer discs?
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You'll definitely notice the difference, but our experience (renting discs from Cinema Paradiso) involved a lot of playback problems with Blue-Ray. We got tired of discs freezing partway through and having to return them. Eventually, we just rented the DVDs instead.
I note Zippy's last para above and indeed our player could not connect to the internet. I would expect Cinema Paradiso to tell us, however, if that was a factor. In each instance, they merely sent a second Blu-Ray disc, which would play right through.
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Sticking Blu Rays.....
The data is do packed in on these things that they need to be kept spotlessly clean. Dirty Blu Rays won't play in the same way as dirty DVDs.
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Yes, they did suggest cleaning the discs and gave instructions, but it didn't work for me. Perhaps they were too far gone.
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Had my Blue Ray player for about 8 years now, however I do have a few Blue Ray discs I am not really a film fanatic so I don't have that many. The difference is huge though, DVDs in comparison look really compressed and lacking in detail.
I must admit though as a record collector I don't really have room for DVDS/BR discs so I tend to use Netflix/Amazon/4OD for everything now. Occasionally I may even watch something from the propaganda channels such as BBC Iplayer.
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I have a Panasonic Blu-Ray player, bought to go with my Pana plasma TV 5 years ago. I think I've got a grand total of 1 Blu-Ray disc - Avatar :)
I bought the player to watch BR discs from Lovefilm, but eventually gave that idea the elbow. The ole woman used to use it for her 'Rosemary Conley' (whoever she is) exercise CD, but now it just sits there under the equally-unused Panasonic VHS recorder I bought on eBay last year for 50 notes!!
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If Mike is watching on a 32" I doubt he will see much if any difference between DVD and Blu-ray.
I upgraded a very old DVD player a couple of weeks ago because my new Smart TV didn't allow SCART connections. An adaptor unit was going to be £40 so I decided to spend £80 on a BluRay player instead.
I have no BluRay discs but it upscales DVDs and the picture from these is certainly very good on a 50".
Getting a player thats the same make as my new TV had an indirect benefit as they can share the same remote.
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>> If Mike is watching on a 32" I doubt he will see much if any difference between DVD and Blu-ray.
Like Mike, I'm watching on a 32" Samsung and I can see the difference clearly enough. Having to watch on DVD, rather than Blu-ray, wouldn't spoil my enjoyment of a good film though.
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Rent most of my stuff now from Google or Amazon, but haven't watched a DVD in ages. Buy the occasional Blu-Ray; as others have said it's a world of difference and it's quite difficult to watch a DVD now, especially when it's stretched over a big TV.
The disc itself needs to be spotlessly clean but is incredibly robust, the surface coating is about as hard as glass so you don't need to be particularly careful about looking after them. Ours rarely return to their boxes and live in a stack next to the PS4.
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Same here, except I have a 32" Panasonic.
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>> If Mike is watching on a 32" I doubt he will see much if any
>> difference between DVD and Blu-ray.
>>
>> I upgraded a very old DVD player a couple of weeks ago because my
>> new Smart TV didn't allow SCART connections. An adaptor unit was going to be £40
>> so I decided to spend £80 on a BluRay player instead.
>>
That's what I was thinking regarding TV size. We have a large DVD collection, which as i said we play from our Panasonic combi through an HDMI connection, and I have the player hooked up to the hifi so the sound is excellent. The only thing we stream is iPlayer, and we usually have to watch that on the lowest quality level. We've recently joined Amazon Prime, and the quality on that isn't too bad. The bottom line is, we are likely to be using physical media for the foreseeable future, hence the question. Our next purchase will be "Star Trek Beyond" over the next couple of weeks, so the decision whether to buy as DVD or Blu-ray has to be made!
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>> ... Our next purchase will be "Star Trek Beyond" over the next couple of weeks, so the decision whether to buy as DVD or Blu-ray has to be made!
If you're in the UK, you could have a 14-day free trial on Cinema Paradiso and have both versions of the same film. That should help you to decide.
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>> ... Our next purchase will be "Star Trek Beyond" over the next couple of weeks, so the decision whether to buy as DVD or Blu-ray has to be made!
I am a real Trek fan, but must say this was all action and no plot!
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>> >> ... Our next purchase will be "Star Trek Beyond" over the next couple of weeks, so the decision whether to buy as DVD or Blu-ray has to be made!
>>
>> If you're in the UK, you could have a 14-day free trial on Cinema Paradiso and have both versions of the same film. That should help you to decide.
>>
... if you know someone with a suitable player and 32" TV!!!
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>> If you're in the UK, you could have a 14-day free trial on Cinema Paradiso
>> and have both versions of the same film. That should help you to decide
Unfortunately not, we live in Austria. I have no access to a Blu-ray player to try both versions anyway unless I buy one, which is the whole point of this thread. If Cinema Paradiso is a streaming facility, then there's no point in comparing that way - see my comments regarding our internet connection elsewhere.
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You need to consider viewing distance. There are various online guides and the consensus recommended viewing distance on a 32" if you want to see 4k/Blu Ray detail is 2-4 feet!
Even with larger screens the viewing distances are much closer than I would feel comfortable and yet I am convinced I can see more detail from a distance that the experts say is way too far.
Perhaps those of you watching high res on 32" can offer practical advice on how far away you can sit and still see a benefit?
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DVD vs. Blu-Ray - zippy
