Blu-ray on non 1080p TV

[sebush3]

I'm considering the move to Blu-ray but I have an older Panasonic Plasma that is not 1080p (The TH-42PX50U 1024x768).

Am I going to see big jump in image quality over DVD or should I wait to make the move until after I upgrade to a 1080p TV?

Thanks in advance.

[Anthony P]

You should be able to see a difference, the only issue with a none 1080p set is that then you get downscaling and so that will add some artefacts, but now you have artefacts from up scaling DVD. BD has two advantages over DVD (apart from resolution) it is less compressed (so less artefacts on the disk) and better sound.

[Avond]

I have a 720p TV and I can tell a difference between upscaled DVD and blu-ray if that helps any I've found the picture quality to be pretty darn good, even with the downscaling....

[CrabbyAzz]

It's a huge improvement. Go for it.

[LORDs_angellos]

There's a huge difference between 480i and 720p. Go for it!

You can upgrade your TV to a 1080p one sometime in the future, but in the meantime 720p will look a LOT better.

[My_Two_Cents]

Yes, you will see a HUGE difference! Don't let folks tell you that you need a 1080p TV to enjoy BD, because they don't know what they are talking about. There is a lot more to the quality of your picture than just resolution. Whether you will see a difference between 768p and 1080p is dependent on screen size, viewing distance and your eysight.

[crackinhedz]

Sony BDP-S350

$180 Thanksgiving day sale

[MAPdead]

You will see a big difference my family has a 720p TV and I can tell a BIG difference between DVDs and Blu Rays.

[sebush3]

Thanks for the input!

I'm pretty much sold on moving to Blu-ray. It's just a matter of waiting for the right sale.

[RazorFromHRSnet]

it's sort of like asking if you should upgrade from Digital Cable to High Definition cable... DUH of course you should :-)

Although DVD tends to look better than digital SD cable, the resolution is still the same (480 lines is all that a DVD can hold... so...)

[Mr. HiDef]

I have a 1080p lcd and a 720p plasma and yeah when I watch a bd on my 720p there is a deff but it still looks awesome

[Zyclone]

iv'e got 350 blu rays now and it was only until about a week ago that i actually got a 1080p set i was quite happy with my 26 inch 720p set but now that i have more room for a bigger set i upgraded so if you wanna jump into blu ray regardless of your set go for it

[Dynamo of Eternia]

I have a 720p set and Blu-Ray movies look great on it. Granted, I'm sure they'd look even better on a 1080p set, and I will likely upgrade at some point down the road, but for now what I have works great.

You will likely see a major improvement with your current set.

And something else to consider is this. Many Blu-Ray players will be at very low, affordable prices for the holiday season (heck, some already are). Even for someone who only has an old fashioned 480 TV, even if this person doesn't plan on getting an HDTV for another year or two (but does definately plan to get one), it may be worth it to just get a Blu-Ray player now and start collecting movies on Blu.

They may not see a major quality leap in the meantime using the old TV, but by getting the player now and by collecting movies on Blu going forward, by the time they do get a new TV, they will have a nice collection of movies to watch on it.

It was one thing for non-HDTV owners to still buy DVDs and otherwise take a watch and wait stance back when the format war was still going on, since it wouldn't make sense to potentially buy the technology that ends up dying out and not even get the immediate additional quality that it would provide. But now that the winner has been determined and players are becoming more affordable, it just makes sense for someone to upgrade who plans on getting an HD set at some point, even if it's not for a while yet.

[BACsader]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I have a 720p set and Blu-Ray movies look great on it. Granted, I'm sure they'd look even better on a 1080p set, and I will likely upgrade at some point down the road, but for now what I have works great.

You will likely see a major improvement with your current set.

And something else to consider is this. Many Blu-Ray players will be at very low, affordable prices for the holiday season (heck, some already are). Even for someone who only has an old fashioned 480 TV, even if this person doesn't plan on getting an HDTV for another year or two (but does definately plan to get one), it may be worth it to just get a Blu-Ray player now and start collecting movies on Blu.

They may not see a major quality leap in the meantime using the old TV, but by getting the player now and by collecting movies on Blu going forward, by the time they do get a new TV, they will have a nice collection of movies to watch on it.

It was one thing for non-HDTV owners to still buy DVDs and otherwise take a watch and wait stance back when the format war was still going on, since it wouldn't make sense to potentially buy the technology that ends up dying out and not even get the immediate additional quality that it would provide. But now that the winner has been determined and players are becoming more affordable, it just makes sense for someone to upgrade who plans on getting an HD set at some point, even if it's not for a while yet.

I don't agree with this at all. Why spend money now on something you can't fully utilize. Not only that, in a year or so when people upgrade, the idea is that Blu-ray players and hopefully movie prices will come down. I would only suggest this if for some reason you have an awesome stereo system capable of playing HD audio codecs, otherwise this would not be a wise investment.

[Aerodude73]

lol - maybe a dumb question but I think they're pretty much the same (?). Anyway, like the reader above, i'll have my Blu Ray player soon enough but the 1080P TV is a couple years down the road (hell, I just Got my TV this year--Great Deal, $800 floor model!, and it works/looks fine on the DirecTV HD channels and DVD's).

That said, i'm assuming I will still notice an Improvement in the DVD PQ with Blu Ray and upscaling of my regular DVD's as well, correct? Not to mention, the improved AQ obviously.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by aerodude73

lol - maybe a dumb question but I think they're pretty much the same (?). Anyway, like the reader above, i'll have my Blu Ray player soon enough but the 1080P TV is a couple years down the road (hell, I just Got my TV this year--Great Deal, $800 floor model!, and it works/looks fine on the DirecTV HD channels and DVD's).

That said, i'm assuming I will still notice an Improvement in the DVD PQ with Blu Ray and upscaling of my regular DVD's as well, correct? Not to mention, the improved AQ obviously.

In a word: Yes.

Your set will scale the image to it's native resolution, something like 1024x768.

[Aerodude73]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

In a word: Yes.

Your set will scale the image to it's native resolution, something like 1024x768.

BTW, NICE SET UP (58" in the basement "media room"?! DAMN!)

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by sebush3

I'm considering the move to Blu-ray but I have an older Panasonic Plasma that is not 1080p (The TH-42PX50U 1024x768).

Am I going to see big jump in image quality over DVD

Absolutely you will. Your TV will also give you a better picture than all but the highest priced 1080p LCD's too.

[andyman1970]

Originally Posted by sebush3

Thanks for the input!

I'm pretty much sold on moving to Blu-ray. It's just a matter of waiting for the right sale.

Well, Black Friday is coming up so you should find some good buys on players and BD's then.

[Mr. HiDef]

I play blus on my samsung plasma thats only 720p and i think it looks awesome