Have your say & ask the experts

fr0g:

Andrew Everard:

fr0g:

and early CD players beat the most expensive compact casette players.

Hmmm... First-generation Philips player or Nakamichi Dragon?

Unfair.

How so? I addressed exactly the point you made.

Andrew Everard:

fr0g:

Andrew Everard:

fr0g:

and early CD players beat the most expensive compact casette players.

Hmmm... First-generation Philips player or Nakamichi Dragon?

Unfair.

How so? I addressed exactly the point you made.

Andrew Everard:

Opinions, I think...

Andrew Everard:

And of course more data is all there is to it...

Quite simply the jump in picture quality from DVD to Blu Ray isn't anywhere near the difference we all experienced from VHS to DVD and there are DVD players out there right now around the £600 and upwards mark that many would say knock spots off the current crop of Blu Ray players

We will have to see over the next year what the quality of future generation Blu Ray Players will reveal but reveal they will have to if the globe is goint to Ditch DVD proper for Blu Ray and yes.....if you've got £000's to spend on a Blu Ray Cinema set up then you're going to be thrilled by the spectacle...however the masses might not even consider spending more than around £1,500 on a set up and that's probably pushing it a little

In this game it all boils down to affordability and making people believe that Blu Ray is really the way forward and then again millions of us can't really see the difference between the two mediums in a £1,500 set up..........or can we?

fr0g:

Andrew Everard:

And of course more data is all there is to it...

I didn't say that.

And in many cases, no. Certainly once the amount of data is more than enough (such as digital cameras, and the quest for pixels)
But when the amount of data doesn't even fill the screen, and in fact only fills a quarter of it, then yes, the amount of data is VERY important.

And now we're back to the point at which my original comment was misinterpreted – I wonder when the next fake Italian will turn up...?

fr0g:

Andrew Everard:

And of course more data is all there is to it...

I didn't say that.

And in many cases, no. Certainly once the amount of data is more than enough (such as digital cameras, and the quest for pixels)
But when the amount of data doesn't even fill the screen, and in fact only fills a quarter of it, then yes, the amount of data is VERY important.

Yes, the amount of data is very important, but there are two other crucial considerations:

1) Just because a Blu-ray disc has the capacity to carry high-quality pictures/sounds, doesn't mean to say it's doing so. Way too many rush-released Blu-ray titles are poor-quality transfers that are effectively just upscales from the DVD master. My several-year-old Pioneer DVD player looks better playing the same title on DVD, upscaled via my receiver.

2) Picture detail is just one part of the visual-enjoyment equation: what about colour and motion-handling; about contrast? All things a good high-end DVD player will - unsurprisingly - trump a cheap Blu-ray player for.

That's why despite loving my PS3 for gaming and Blu-ray playback, I keep my old Pioneer in the AV rack for DVD duties (handy for all the multi-region discs I own, too).

We love the PS3 as a budget all-rounder - that's why it's a current Award winner - but it's just one option.

Hopefully for people with the money and inclination towards a higher-end all-round solution will have some superb Blu-ray products to choose from by the end of the year: when the best BD player on the market (for performance) remains a year-old Pioneer, it's not great. 

Tallyho:

Quite simply the jump in picture quality from DVD to Blu Ray isn't anywhere near the difference we all experienced from VHS to DVD and there are DVD players out there right now around the £600 and upwards mark that many would say knock spots off the current crop of Blu Ray players

We will have to see over the next year what the quality of future generation Blu Ray Players will reveal but reveal they will have to if the globe is goint to Ditch DVD proper for Blu Ray and yes.....if you've got £000's to spend on a Blu Ray Cinema set up then you're going to be thrilled by the spectacle...however the masses might not even consider spending more than around £1,500 on a set up and that's probably pushing it a little

In this game it all boils down to affordability and making people believe that Blu Ray is really the way forward and then again millions of us can't really see the difference between the two mediums in a £1,500 set up..........or can we?

Clare Newsome:

fr0g:

Andrew Everard:

And of course more data is all there is to it...

I didn't say that.

And in many cases, no. Certainly once the amount of data is more than enough (such as digital cameras, and the quest for pixels)
But when the amount of data doesn't even fill the screen, and in fact only fills a quarter of it, then yes, the amount of data is VERY important.

Yes, the amount of data is very important, but there are two other crucial considerations:

1) Just because a Blu-ray disc has the capacity to carry high-quality pictures/sounds, doesn't mean to say it's doing so. Way too many rush-released Blu-ray titles are poor-quality transfers that are effectively just upscales from the DVD master. My several-year-old Pioneer DVD player looks better playing the same title on DVD, upscaled via my receiver.

2) Picture detail is just one part of the visual-enjoyment equation: what about colour and motion-handling; about contrast? All things a good high-end DVD player will - unsurprisingly - trump a cheap Blu-ray player for.

That's why despite loving my PS3 for gaming and Blu-ray playback, I keep my old Pioneer in the AV rack for DVD duties (handy for all the multi-region discs I own, too).

We love the PS3 as a budget all-rounder - that's why it's a current Award winner - but it's just one option.

Hopefully for people with the money and inclination towards a higher-end all-round solution will have some superb Blu-ray products to choose from by the end of the year: when the best BD player on the market (for performance) remains a year-old Pioneer, it's not great. 

fr0g:

I think the PS3 playing Casino Royale on BluRay is stunning. The DVD 5 cannot hope to match the detail. It may very well have a great picture, and may well have a better colour balance, or whatever, but there is no way it can match the 'detail' seeing as 3 quarters of the picture is made from guesswork.

But then - see my post above - Casino Royale is a showcase title: Sony deliberately engineered it to be the best Blu-ray could be, visually. The HD master was made directly from the camera negative after the film was shot, rather than from a second-generation print/cinema print.

It was why it was bundled free with the first batch of PS3s that launched in the UK, for example, to show just what the format's capable of.

And I agree, there's no way a DVD (even one also transferred/downscaled from that spotless movie master) is going to compete for detail with that Blu-ray.

But that wasn't - and hasn't been - Andrew's point. If I was in his position, i'd stick with the Naim, too! 

Clare Newsome:

If I was in his position, i'd stick with the Naim, too! 

fr0g:

Clare Newsome:

If I was in his position, i'd stick with the Naim, too! 

...So would I!

I just had a Victor Meldrew moment.

Clare Newsome:

Casino Royale is a showcase title: Sony deliberately engineered it to be the best Blu-ray could be, visually. The HD master was made directly from the camera negative after the film was shot, rather than from a second-generation print/cinema print.

And I agree, there's no way a DVD (even one also transferred/downscaled from that spotless movie master) is going to compete for detail with that Blu-ray.

As with most people's comparisons with SD and HD, it all boils down to what screen the comparison is being viewed on and the quality of source components. Everyone knows there's a big difference between low and high end plasma screens, and a huge difference between low end and high end projectors.

HD is the way forward, and after seeing figures of how the BluRay format is growing far quicker than DVD did within the same space of time, it won't be long before we're seeing budget BD titles (we already are to an extent). DVD quality will be dropping as quick as it's prices, otherwise film companies wil be losing money.