Posted on 02/19/2008 9:02:21 AM PST by Vigilanteman
Have you forgotten that Toshiba sold Russia precise milling technology to manufacture quiet props for their submarines - costing us $$$$ in security costs/risks?
Not true. A standard DVD contains a maximum of 720 lines of resolution. "Upconverting" to 1080i or 1080p does not add information that wasn't there to begin with; it either extrapolates the extra pixels or it doubles existing pixels. You may or may not notice the difference, but the difference is real nonetheless. Upconversion is not magic.
“I have a question about how this will affect the computers. I have read that some of the new computers are coming with Blu-ray. Will they have DVD writers in Blu-ray, too? This is all confusing and frustrating.”
Blu-Ray on PC is much different. They have them built in to Laptops and they work. Of course with a 15” to 17” screen why bother...
There are both Blu-Ray readers only and readers/writers available. #1 they are expensive - $200 for a reader and $350 for a burner. Plus your montherboard, video card, HDMI cable and monitor must all be HDCP certified. If any one peice of the chain is not it will downscale or not run at all. That is even before you begin to talk about sound. Its difficult to get decent sound quality out of the system. Then there is the issue of software to play it on.
Dont bother trying to get Blu-Ray on your PC unless you live on the bleeding edge and dont mind spending money and tinkering.
Wow, your eyes are better then mine. :)
I opted for a Olevia 37” 1080i bought from Office Depot for $650, and a Panasonic upconvert DVD player from Raio Shack for $50.
Everything I have played looks as good as anything I have seen.
Now, that is from a distance of about 20 feet.
As you have said, mileage may vary.
I bought a 1080p 57" DLP for less than $2000 last year.
I just got a new computer from Costco, before Christmas, and I am thinking of returning it, if I still have time.
I really think that this is a scam to sell more expensive equipment. Most of the Blu-ray discs that I have seen are the $35 variety. I don’t know what double layer means, but there aren’t many movies out there that I would pay $35 to own.
I have heard that you will still be able to down-load movies directly from the internet and there is always ppv.
I also have the Sony BDP-S300. It replaced an Oppo standard DVD player, one of the expensive models with 1080i upconverting capability. I was very happy with the picture from the Oppo, but the standard DVD upconvert on the Sony BluRay puts it to shame. I don’t know if it’s because the Sony upconverts to 1080p, or if it is something else, but a standard DVD played on the Sony looks terrific on my 52” LCD flatscreen. Not quite as good as a real BluRay, but pretty darn close. Close enough that I would never consider replacing a standard DVD that I already own with a newly purchased BluRay version.
I agree, but like you said, will you notice? Probably not unless you are less then 5 feet from the monitor and have a monitor larger then 42”.
Damned evolution.
I don’t think that they had (p) sets last year, only 1080i. I have 1080i.
What? No Blue movies on BluRay?
Yes, they did. It’s a Mitsubishi, and it supports 1080p, though my highest input right now is my 1080i DirecTV HD-DVR. I’ve been waiting for the “format war” to end before I shelled out for an HD DVD player.
Yes. Thank goodness. I can’t afford to replace my 800+ DVD collection with Blu-Ray. I have played about 15 of my standard DVDs on the new Blu-Ray DVD player with zero problems.
I have only picked up Aeon Flux, The Rock, Crimson Tide, and Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl.
They all look awesome.
There is a good chance that Netflix will offer download services soon. You would have a box, like a cable box, that your movies would upload to. Then you play them like TiVo. When you are done, you erase it, and they download the next one.
Will you ever want Blu-Ray on a computer. Maybe some day. I would not worry about it for a couple of years. By that time you will need a new computer anyway.
I could have the (P) and (I) mixed up. One is new and is the one that costs a lot and works with Blu-Ray, the other is old, regular high definition. The last year’s high definition still gets you a better picture on DVDs than you can receive from cable or satellite. The lower level high definition tvs are fine for watching tv.
What effect does this have on all of my old VCR tapes?
We just went to Best Buy to look at the Magnolia Home Theatre Systems and the sales guy played Mission Impossible on Blu-Ray. Does Blu-Ray have a superior sound quality over a regular DVD? Is there that much of a difference?
Is your DVR really 1080i? I was told that they only really receive 780?
“I could have the (P) and (I) mixed up”
I = Interlaced. The player scans every other line and then comes back on the second pass and scans all of the other lines it missed on pass 1. So 2 passes to draw one screen.
P = Progressive. 1 pass scanning every line.
1080p is better at rendering high motion scenes.
Word on the street is that Liberals were four times more likely to have purchased a HD DVD player than Conservatives, while conservatives were 6 times more likely than Liberals to have picked Blu-Ray as the winner of the fomrat war.
(Okay, I just made that up, but it could be true.)
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