Is watching a blu ray on a laptop comparable to watching it on a stand alone?

[mcdaking84]

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...=5&item=401550

that's the laptop I own and I love watching blu rays on it, but I was wondering how does it compare to watching it on a stand alone player or a ps3. Is it much worse or is it about the same?

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by mcdaking84

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...=5&item=401550

that's the laptop I own and I love watching blu rays on it, but I was wondering how does it compare to watching it on a stand alone player or a ps3. Is it much worse or is it about the same?

A standalone Plasma or LCD screen has deeper blacks and many new models now offer true 1080P/24 refresh rates. A high-end Notebook computer will offer good 1080P/60 quality. I have watched BLU-RAY movies on a HP 20.1 inch 1920 X 1200 Notebook monitor and the quality is outstanding for portable use. Notebooks are ideal for portable BLU-RAY watching.
The computer from Sam’s club you mentioned will give you 720P quality for BLU-RAYS which is still better then 480I DVD quality.

[mcdaking84]

oh now I see now. so does the laptop also up convert dvds up to 720p?

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by mcdaking84

oh now I see now. so does the laptop also up convert dvds up to 720p?

The Laptop might display DVD’s at 480I quality. It is possible to up convert the image to 720P but I am not sure if the software/hardware that ships with that model supports up conversion. Laptops are great for portable use but the ANSI contrast ratio is better on the home theater Plasma and LCD flat screens. The PC world for desktop and Notebook monitors 30 inches and under lacks 24p refresh rates, has poor ANSI contrast ratios, and poor black levels when compared to home theater flat screens.

[Rojas]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

The Laptop might display DVD’s at 480I quality. It is possible to up convert the image to 720P but I am not sure if the software/hardware that ships with that model supports up conversion. Laptops are great for portable use but the ANSI contrast ratio is better on the home theater Plasma and LCD flat screens. The PC world for desktop and Notebook monitors 30 inches and under lacks 24p refresh rates, has poor ANSI contrast ratios, and poor black levels when compared to home theater flat screens.

WinDVD 9 Plus will up convert a Standard DVD to 1280 X 720p
sometimes even higher its called Trimension All2HD works great.

[dadkins]

If the DVD is 4:3, it will still be 4:3(black bars on sides).
Yes! PowerDVD/WinDVD/ArcSoft - all upscale/upconvert.

Here, this is Over The Hedge DVD played back on my AR190G(1920x1200) in PowerDVD Ultra:



Click for full size.

This is Dukes of Hazzard played in PowerDVD on AR190G:



Does pretty good.

Use the HDMI to a HDTV... will work fine!

[prerich]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

The Laptop might display DVD’s at 480I quality. It is possible to up convert the image to 720P but I am not sure if the software/hardware that ships with that model supports up conversion. Laptops are great for portable use but the ANSI contrast ratio is better on the home theater Plasma and LCD flat screens. The PC world for desktop and Notebook monitors 30 inches and under lacks 24p refresh rates, has poor ANSI contrast ratios, and poor black levels when compared to home theater flat screens.

You failed to mention that Nvidia Pure Video HD and ATI's Catalyst software both downconvert to a 24fps (not 24p)frame rate, upconversion to 1080i via all2hd is better than many standalones, and if you are already using a 1080p monitor as your desktop monitor - you can have one of the best experiences you can get through bluray (this is why in PC land we have something called HD Xtreme). You can even upconvert without upconversion software - PC's have been upconverting for years! I've watched my dvd's via my PC for over 7 years now - thats how long I've been upconverting!

[prerich]

Originally Posted by dadkins

If the DVD is 4:3, it will still be 4:3(black bars on sides).
Yes! PowerDVD/WinDVD/ArcSoft - all upscale/upconvert.

Here, this is Over The Hedge DVD played back on my AR190G(1920x1200) in PowerDVD Ultra:



Click for full size.

This is Dukes of Hazzard played in PowerDVD on AR190G:



Does pretty good.

Use the HDMI to a HDTV... will work fine!

Watched Over the Hedge last night via all2hd and it looks a whole lot like 120hz stuff! Cool Dadkins, just plain cool !!!!

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Rojas

WinDVD 9 Plus will up convert a Standard DVD to 1280 X 720p
sometimes even higher its called Trimension All2HD works great.

upconverts mine to 1920x1080p and yes it does work great!!!

[dadkins]

They(PCs) do quite well, despite what some people try and say, huh?

[mcdaking84]

ok thanks guys. now I am trying to connect my laptop to my hdtv via hdmi

I bought a cable and connected it. Does anyone know if I can make the screen bigger as the desktop was I think the size of the monitor

or maybe I should wait two months before I get my ps3

[dadkins]

In the Display options or possibly a Fn + F7(?) combination, it should allow you to select the TV only(might get finiky if you try both laptop and TV at the same time).
Might also be auto-detect enabled. Many are these days.

Then in Display Properties, there *SHOULD* be a new monitor displayed and the option of setting the resolution for it.

Set it to whatever the HDTV is capable of and it should be good to go!

[quexos]

Originally Posted by mcdaking84

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...=5&item=401550

that's the laptop I own and I love watching blu rays on it, but I was wondering how does it compare to watching it on a stand alone player or a ps3. Is it much worse or is it about the same?

Well you'd have to see if the laptop is 1080 x 1920 but with a small screen there would be no significant difference, so I don't think it could be comparable to watching an HD movie on, say a 52" screen

[mcdaking84]

yeah the highest resolution the laptop goes to is 1280 by 800 pixels, so I guess the screen is going to stay 15 inches on my hdtv.

at least it looks good watching it on my laptop, and will hold me over until I get a ps3

[prerich]

Originally Posted by mcdaking84

yeah the highest resolution the laptop goes to is 1280 by 800 pixels, so I guess the screen is going to stay 15 inches on my hdtv.

at least it looks good watching it on my laptop, and will hold me over until I get a ps3

Set you laptop for the Tv only and if your video card in the laptop is capable, set it for 1920x1080p

[dadkins]

Originally Posted by mcdaking84

yeah the highest resolution the laptop goes to is 1280 by 800 pixels, so I guess the screen is going to stay 15 inches on my hdtv.

at least it looks good watching it on my laptop, and will hold me over until I get a ps3

As I posted above, once the laptop is connected to the HDTV, the display setting should have the ability to set resolution of the external display(the HDTV) to 1920x1080.

The picture will be the same as any other BD player.

[mcdaking84]

Ok I think this is the screen you guys are talking about. played around a little bit and havent foudn away to get to tv only



am i doing something wrong?

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by Rojas

WinDVD 9 Plus will up convert a Standard DVD to 1280 X 720p
sometimes even higher its called Trimension All2HD works great.

The HP Quickplay BLUI-RAY playback software that comes with the 20.1 inch HP Pavilion looks excellent with BLU-RAY’s but when I playback the 480I DVD discs the quality looks like a DVD. HP Quickplay is either displaying the DVD at 480I or the quality of the upconversion is not that good. BLU-RAY looks so much better then DVD.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by mcdaking84

Ok I think this is the screen you guys are talking about. played around a little bit and havent foudn away to get to tv only


am i doing something wrong?

This will be hard to describe ("it's easier to "show" you). What you need to do is right click anywhere on the desktop (not an icon) and you should get a list of things - properties being at the bottom. On some intel graphic chipsets, they place a catagory in that list called graphics options or somethiing to that effect. Click on that and you should see a screen that allows you to assign the display settings (i.e. notebook - external monitor or clone) You would want to choose the external monitor (or whatever its called). If you don't have these options - select "advance" on the screen that you took a screenshot of and we will go from there.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

The Cyberlink BLUI-RAY playback software that comes with the 20.1 inch HP Pavilion looks excellent with BLU-RAY’s but when I playback the 480I DVD discs the quality looks like a DVD. Cyberlink is either displaying the DVD at 480I or the quality of the upconversion is not that good. BLU-RAY looks so much better then DVD.

A computer really doesn't display DVD in interlaced (480i) format because all computer monitors are progressive scanned - at worse, Cyberlink is displaying at 480p - but as Rojas stated, WinDVD 9 Plus BD is a champ - I will post some pics tonight