Blu-ray compared to 1080i HDTV via cable -- big difference?

[Chordata]

I ask this because I watched several movies in HDTV over the weekend. Some were bad -- Pearl Harbor -- and some were good -- Pirates of the Carribean.

But they look fantastic. The fill the whole screen, and I imagine that the BD releases do not (unless shot in 1:85), but I'm just pointing that out -- I don't care about black bars. They don't make me cry.

I guess I'm just wondering how noticeable the difference will be between a 720p/1080i movie on cable versus a Blu-ray player.

Sorry for the newb question.

[CanadianKrazyMods]

the biggest problem is alot of stations bump the res up to HD but it is not really HD, stations like A&E are horrible for doing things like that.

[kpkelley]

The two that you mentioned will both look better on blu-ray than they do on hd cable. Most every blu will look better, except perhasp for a handful of poor transfers, but they may be no worse than a broadcast transfer.

If you have any concerns about the quality of a blu, let the reviewers here assuage your fears.

[Chordata]

No concerns, no fears. Just curiosity. It's hard to imagine the movies looking "better."

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

I ask this because I watched several movies in HDTV over the weekend. Some were bad -- Pearl Harbor -- and some were good -- Pirates of the Carribean.

But they look fantastic. The fill the whole screen, and I imagine that the BD releases do not (unless shot in 1:85), but I'm just pointing that out -- I don't care about black bars. They don't make me cry.

I guess I'm just wondering how noticeable the difference will be between a 720p/1080i movie on cable versus a Blu-ray player.

Sorry for the newb question.

I feel blu-ray looks better at 1080p the HD at 1080i due to a number of factors. HD on TV is often compressed due to space limitations, and could look better if it was not. However, you can also have a blu-ray with a poor transfer, that may or may not look better than some of the better HD channels on TV. Point is that there are a number of factors involved, but for a blanket answer, yes, blu does look noticably better tha HD on TV. This is my 2 cents on the subject anyway.

[Halcro 1]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What he said

[steve1971]

Watch Pearl Harbor on blu. Fantastic movie in my book and looks very good on blu.

[Kryptron]

Yeah Pirates looked good on Sat HD. But i noticed during dark scenes the picture was soft and lacked shadow detail. I pop in the Bluray to compare it and the Bluray was more detailed and the color saturation and shadow detail blew it away. But overall not bad, better then an upscaled dvd.

Almost forgot, the sound is nowhere near, even dvds compressed DD tracks sound better then what most cable/sat companies send.

[brett_day]

you are definitely going to notice a difference between cable/sat broadcasts and blu ray. Blu ray is superior, few main things in my experiences are better:

1.sound quality
2.color reproduction
3.sharpness

these 3 things are always noticeable from watching a feed on cable/sat to watching blu

[RandDawg]

Originally Posted by brett_day

you are definitely going to notice a difference between cable/sat broadcasts and blu ray. Blu ray is superior, few main things in my experiences are better:

1.sound quality
2.color reproduction
3.sharpness

these 3 things are always noticeable from watching a feed on cable/sat to watching blu

I though sharpness was a dirty word?

[Afflicted]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

I feel blu-ray looks better at 1080p the HD at 1080i due to a number of factors. HD on TV is often compressed due to space limitations, and could look better if it was not. However, you can also have a blu-ray with a poor transfer, that may or may not look better than some of the better HD channels on TV. Point is that there are a number of factors involved, but for a blanket answer, yes, blu does look noticably better tha HD on TV. This is my 2 cents on the subject anyway.

Agreed

[matt2009]

i can see a difference every time blu ray just looks that little bit sharper and cleaner

[Clark Kent]

Typically cable broadcasts are taken from inferior masters compared to the Blu-ray version. Compression artifacts are a huge problem on any fast motion in the broadcast versions. Depending on the look of the film, there can be a huge difference between the quality.

[Stoudman]

I was curious about this myself, as I have a 720p/1080i display and I didn't think Blu-ray would look any better than an upconverted DVD or anything on HD cable.

However, all my doubts were cleared up when I rented my first blu-ray from Netflix -- this was before they charged $1 extra for it, but it's well worth it.

The movie was 10,000 B.C.

Watching it on blu for the first time made the movie actually pretty good, because it brought back memories of watching bad sci fi on sunday afternoons on sci fi channel. Cheesy is not bad. Watching the film on blu in the greatest definition possible shows the viewer more of what the director is going for by making it easier to see little aspects of the film that you otherwise would not pick up on.

Another great example of this is One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, which looks like it just came out yesterday in theaters when you see it on Blu. A movie in excess of 30 years old having that nice and clear of a picture? It made Christopher Lloyd, Jack Nicholson, and Danny DeVito look younger than I ever remembered them.

Does it make a difference? It makes a very clear and important difference which will become completely obvious with the first blu you watch. Even at 1080i.

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

I feel blu-ray looks better at 1080p the HD at 1080i due to a number of factors. HD on TV is often compressed due to space limitations, and could look better if it was not. However, you can also have a blu-ray with a poor transfer, that may or may not look better than some of the better HD channels on TV. Point is that there are a number of factors involved, but for a blanket answer, yes, blu does look noticably better tha HD on TV. This is my 2 cents on the subject anyway.

x3

I think the main issue is that cable is more limited by bandwidth then blu.

[UFAlien]

I'm annoyed when they try to show fast motion on HD satellite/cable... there was an HD show about roller coasters, but sometimes the artifacts were so bad it looked like a bad YouTube video.

[Stoudman]

Originally Posted by UFAlien

I'm annoyed when they try to show fast motion on HD satellite/cable... there was an HD show about roller coasters, but sometimes the artifacts were so bad it looked like a bad YouTube video.

Oh man! I know exactly what you mean. Everything just tends to break up when they try to show fast motion on HD Cable. I mean what are they showing us, a video wityh a bitrate of 50?