Up-Convert Player vs. Blu Ray

[merrim19]

Ok, give me a chance to explain because I think I have a legitimate question and I'm sure I'm not the first. I have a 37'' 720p LCD in the living room playing off of an up-convert player. I like the picture and have been happy with the LG player. I just purchased a 50'' 720p Plasma for the basement, "media room". The easy pick would be a Blu Ray player for this unit, but is the difference worth the additional $100-200. Am I missing out on a noticeable picture difference if I go with another top of the line up-convert, assuming I'm not interested in building an expensive Blu Ray disk collection?

In another forum, the advancement in sound quality was brought up. My counter-point was that I am running a Panasonic receiver and speakers from 2000, which only has a DTS chip. I wouldn't think that the newer Blu-Ray sound technology would translate any better when going through my current receiver.

[gearyt]

If your receiver supports analog in's you could get HD sound
speaker age has little or no bearing.. they can last a lifetime

and yes, if $100 doesn't break you, give the Blu-ray a try
a Digital experience is a whole new world

[DavePS3]

The bigger the image, the more you notice the difference between SDVD and Blu-Ray. Edges are dead smooth, colors don't bleed and look true. In short, the image from Blu-Ray looks like a postcard when compared to the regular DVD.

[DavePS3]

Oh and yes even when compared to an up-converted DVD

[tntkain]

yes, it is so worth it. I don't watch any dvd's. Blu-ray all the way for me

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by gearyt

If your receiver supports analog in's you could get HD sound
speaker age has little or no bearing.. they can last a lifetime

and yes, if $100 doesn't break you, give the Blu-ray a try
a Digital experience is a whole new world

agreed!

[Sammy]

Originally Posted by merrim19

Ok, give me a chance to explain because I think I have a legitimate question and I'm sure I'm not the first. I have a 37'' 720p LCD in the living room playing off of an up-convert player. I like the picture and have been happy with the LG player. I just purchased a 50'' 720p Plasma for the basement, "media room". The easy pick would be a Blu Ray player for this unit, but is the difference worth the additional $100-200. Am I missing out on a noticeable picture difference if I go with another top of the line up-convert, assuming I'm not interested in building an expensive Blu Ray disk collection?

In another forum, the advancement in sound quality was brought up. My counter-point was that I am running a Panasonic receiver and speakers from 2000, which only has a DTS chip. I wouldn't think that the newer Blu-Ray sound technology would translate any better when going through my current receiver.

Yes its worth it, even with my 11 year old receiver, I can hear the difference and can defininitelly see the difference; even with a 720p T.V., Blu-ray will give you more resolution than an upconverted DVD from a 480p source.

[bootman]

Seriously what kind of answer do you expect in a BLURAY forum?

"Sure, upconverting a dvd with 1/6 of the picture information that a bluray has is just as good as a bluray itself!"

If you don't want to spend the $$$, that is your right.
But trying to justify not spending the money based on the "quality of DVD vs Bluray" isn't going to go far here.

[brett_day]

you will see a significant amount of improvement if you step up to blu ray from an upconvert player. Picture will be sharper, color reproduction will be life like and not flat, every movie you watch, even if you have seen it 100 times will be like seeing it for the first time all over again! Spend the extra and step up to blu!

[RC-Bruin]

Blu-Ray is the way to go regardless of sound. Standard DVDs are pretty much not watchable anymore, just like Non-HD channels or Non-HD programming on Cable/Sat.

[Rob J in WNY]

Yes, definitely upgrade your life to Blu-ray. You do not seem the sort who is ignoring the TV technology trends, as you just purchased a nice 50" plasma, and Blu-ray is, for the most part, to DVD as your LCD and plasma are to the CRTs. Although your TVs are 720, you will still enjoy the Blu-ray experience so much more. I have a feeling you will be glad if you make the investment. If it's in your budget, why not buy a Blu-ray player and a couple really good, recent Blu-ray action flicks, and then rent a few to see some different things.

Or, if you can, compare the same movie in Blu-ray and DVD and see if the difference means much to you. I think you're going to like the difference Blu-ray brings!

Don't worry about your receiver and speakers for now. You will still be able to enjoy surround sound from the basic Dolby Digital or DTS options or "core" audio from the newer, lossless audio formats. Even just 2-channel stereo will be fine for now if you have it. You can upgrade your sound system later (although the audio from Blu-ray is truly amazing, and its dynamics and clarity are both an important part of the overall experience). It should be mentioned that standard Dolby Digital and DTS tracks on Blu-ray discs are, most of the time, encoded with less compression, generally yielding better audio quality than their DVD counterparts.

Yeah, go for it!

[Driver_King]

I can tell you that a DVD played on a projector really is a joke. Blu-ray is like being at the theaters but better. I don't like the theaters at all anymore. I'm done with theaters at this point! My point is that cleaning up a DVD by up-converting can never compare to the real thing. A DVD up-converter can never add lines of resolution that aren't there on DVD's.

[kdn1221]

Go with a Blu-ray player. You have an HDTV, use an HD player.

I own an older Panasonic 50" DLP 720p/1080i HDTV and I can tell the difference. There are more color saturation in the image and it seems 3 dimensional by default. I own both an HD-DVD player and a Blu-ray player. On both machines, some times you feel like you're there.

You should have someone show you a BD first hand. Don't go by what is displayed at the stores. Most of the time they only plug in a DVD to the HDTV or using composite cabling. This is a terrible way to showcase HDTVs.

[supersix4]

not only video quality which I find is much better then any of my dvds( i've tried the ps3, stand alone blu-ray, 3 progressive scan dvd players(sony/samsung/ Mcintosh MVP861), and an HD-dvd add on) and while some do better jobs then others on making certin dvd's look good, not one of them would I settle for the dvd version. But you also are losing the hd audio tracks. Even if you use the tv speakers you can hear a difference in quality, or at least I can.

buy blu-ray

[merrim19]

Seriously what kind of answer do you expect in a BLURAY forum?

"Sure, upconverting a dvd with 1/6 of the picture information that a bluray has is just as good as a bluray itself!"

If you don't want to spend the $$$, that is your right.
But trying to justify not spending the money based on the "quality of DVD vs Bluray" isn't going to go far here.

Yea, ok, I understand the bias of posting in here, but it's still a better answer than I'd get asking a sales person. Actually, I just wired in my audio and video components last night to test everything and my current up-convert player crapped out on me. It's making grinding noises, great. I'm going to pick up a Blu-Ray from Best Buy tonight and I don't expect to be disappointed.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by merrim19

Yea, ok, I understand the bias of posting in here, but it's still a better answer than I'd get asking a sales person. Actually, I just wired in my audio and video components last night to test everything and my current up-convert player crapped out on me. It's making grinding noises, great. I'm going to pick up a Blu-Ray from Best Buy tonight and I don't expect to be disappointed.

Nope, you sure won't be, take my word for it. Once you go BD there is no looking back

[SillyMammo]

Originally Posted by merrim19

Yea, ok, I understand the bias of posting in here, but it's still a better answer than I'd get asking a sales person. Actually, I just wired in my audio and video components last night to test everything and my current up-convert player crapped out on me. It's making grinding noises, great. I'm going to pick up a Blu-Ray from Best Buy tonight and I don't expect to be disappointed.

Good call! Sounds like you just need a little nudge in the right direction in order to justify getting blu-ray. You came to the right place. Please let us know what you think once you have it hooked up.

[bootman]

Originally Posted by merrim19

Yea, ok, I understand the bias of posting in here, but it's still a better answer than I'd get asking a sales person. Actually, I just wired in my audio and video components last night to test everything and my current up-convert player crapped out on me. It's making grinding noises, great. I'm going to pick up a Blu-Ray from Best Buy tonight and I don't expect to be disappointed.

I apologize for coming across harshly but unless its a real $$$ issue, bluray just blows away DVDs on anything larger than 40". Period

Anyone who says differently is just lying and secretly watching HD-DVDs anyway.

(don't get me wrong, if I had a large collection of HD-DVDs, I wouldn't send the $$$ to get bluray copies of them either)

[(Fe)Man]

Good to see that you're going blu. I've only been blu but for a few months and it's addictive. You definitely won't be disappointed. The picture and audio is beautiful.

Don't forget to come back and let us know your experience.