IMO, Blu-ray does not deliver it's promise [incorrect settings / mod]

[saprano]

I posted this in another thread.

Originally Posted by saprano

Some people just cant appreciate an HD picture, they just dont see the difference. theres nothing wrong with that i guess, to bad for them.

But we can, we know what to look for, we see the increased resolution.
and all this talk about calibration, yea it will help, but i can clearly (pun) see a huge difference from SD and HD. i dont need to fix some settings to notice a better picture, its right in your face!

I see the better colors, i see the better detail, i see better sharpness. basically i see HD!

i feel sorry for the people who think blu-ray is no different than DVD, your lost.

[welwynnick]

Originally Posted by skioutwest

Not sure about my overscan setting....will have to look into that....I suppose it is on the default setting.

Default overscan will generally slice a few pixels off every edge to avoid any noise or unwanted lines. The remaining image will then be scaled up by the display, so that say, 1912x1074 pixels will be used to fill a 1920x1080 display. That sort of scaling is bad for PQ, and you will lose a lot of detail.

HD has five or six times the resolution of SD, and I think thats a fair measure of how much better it looks to me. And Blu-ray is certainly better than broadcast when you're comparing like-for-like.

Nick

[joegs300]

i agree sometimes when i watch certain movies but then again i am blown away when i watch others.. notably pixar and apocalypto

[Paganmoon]

well, I'm using a 42" tv (watching at 2 meters), and I see a difference in PQ, easily comparing DVD to Blu-ray. Also see major difference between HD broadcasts and Blu-ray.
At 100" and not seeing a difference, I'd say -something- is wrong... Should definatly check the overscan settings as someone mentioned earlier. Do you run through a hdmiswitch, maybe that has a builtinupscaler that messes with the picture?

/P

[The Don]

Originally Posted by saprano

I posted this in another thread.

while I am a Blu-ray ***** and all....I wonder if Blu-ray may not be worth it if everyone doesn't see a difference...

I see a difference...but if everyone can't experience it for what it is, that's just crazy...

[FendersRule]

100% of people can see the difference, except for blind people. Actually, blind people could easily note the quality in audio better than we can! So yes, even blind people can tell a difference!

Step 1: Purchase Patton on DVD (or rent it)
Step 2: Purchase Patton on Blu-ray
Step 3: Put the DVD of Patton inside if your drive, and freeze it on any spot that has good depth and fine detail. Such things as wording, or symbols in the background. Let it get burned into your retina.
Step 4: Put the Blu-ray of Patton inside of your drive, and freeze it on the same spot. Anyone will see a difference.

People are going to WANT to see the difference. When people say "I don't note a difference", they simply are not looking or do not care.

The only thing that is subjective in this matter is the saying "I don't see enough difference to justify the cost". Ok, fine enough. But saying "there is no difference" is scientifically and realistically false.

[Slec]

While true, I've NEVER heard people discussing the fine detail or lack there of when the watch a movie (other than on the interwebs). It's usually a content conversation or suppositions. If one were to watch a movie and not notice the detail difference, that may be because they were wrapped up in the movie. Isn't that the purpose, entertainment as well as art? It may not be so nefarious.... just a thought as the world is not black and white

[Bobby Henderson]

It's not the fault of the Blu-ray format if end users do not have their equipment set up properly.

When using equipment fully capable of reproducing the 1080p/24 imagery of Blu-ray, along with the equipment being properly set up, there is absolutely no "upconverting" SD DVD system that can hang with Blu-ray at all.

One can do only so much with only 345,600 pixels of native detail (SD DVD). Trying to make it look like it has 2,073,600 pixels of detail (like 1080p on Blu-ray has natively) is a futile task. I've seen lots of upconverting setups (including the output from an Oppo player) and nothing comes close to Blu-ray.

Upconverting has its place: blowing up old DVDs already on my entertainment shelf. When it comes to buying new movies, DVD is a dead format to me.

Over the air HDTV and pay HDTV services, including Verizon FIOS, don't compare with Blu-ray. Even the 1080p/24 video on demand download service from Dish Network doesn't equal Blu-ray in quality. The bit rates just aren't there. Although Verizon may be feeding fiber into the homes of customers, they're not getting fiber quality bandwidth feeds from their content providers.

Networks like HBO-HD already have their broadcast data output seriously compressed to save costs on bandwidth. Sometimes those networks do a good job pre-compressing the material so the cable/satellite providers don't have to do so much in re-compressing it for final delivery to customers. Anything live is compressed on the fly and subject to all sorts of problems. But you have the benefit of watching it live.

Overall HD-quality TV programming is more about programming variety rather than image quality. It isn't a replacement for Blu-ray, the current champ in terms of delivering the highest image quality of any HD format anyone can watch at home.

[vega2K]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

What's wrong with projectors??? Whenever I jump up and cheer during a ball game, the picture goes black for a second! That's what's wrong. I don't have that problem with my 27" tube TV.

Oh wait, nevermind. I figured it out.

First: Man this was funny as hell! Thanks.

Second: I can clearly see the difference and I hate it when they don't have Blu-ray at Blockbuster - It makes a huge difference! However, a while back, I had my PS3 hooked-up to my Panasonic 56" 1080i RPTV (via Compononent cables) and I only saw a slight improvement. I then replaced my TV with a Plasma and I swear, it was like the first time you wear glasses! I say check your settings carefully because I have yet to see someone not amazed at how much better Blu-ray is -- at least in my set-up. Good luck!

[AikonEnt]

Originally Posted by skioutwest

I know I am going to be flamed here, but I just don't think blu-ray's picture is very good. I had very high hopes for it, especially since my Verizon FIOS provides such a great picture on the movie channels, but when watching my BR player, it just doesn't compare. Am I doing something wrong???

Here is my equipment:

Epson 1080UB projector (100" screen)
Sony STR-DA5300ES
Panasonic DMP-BD35
7 Definitive Technology speakers
HDMI 1.3a cable switched by my receiver

When running the player, I check the signal information on my projector and it is showing 1080P signal. The focus is fine, but the picture just does not compare to my 1080i cable signal....how can this be??

I am comparing my BR picture to my Oppo dvd player, which apparently does an excellent job with upscaling. To be honest, I see very little difference between my Oppo DVD and my Panasonic Blu-ray.

Any thoughts here? Should blu-ray be as good or better than my FIOS signal??

Thanks all!

-Mark

No flaming, just cold hard facts. You're an idiot.

But seriously, the first time I watched Blu on my little 32inch 1080i Samsung I noticed a massive difference in quality. So clearly there is need to look at the way you have your system setup.

[Wreck]

put in a pixar blu ... cars, ratatouile, walle etc. .... then lemme know what u think ....

if u dont see the difference then, visit your local optometrist.

[Slec]

Originally Posted by AikonEnt

No flaming, just cold hard facts. You're an idiot.

"tis better to keep your mouth closed and have people think you're a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt"

If you can think of anything LESS constructive to say, I'd be impressed.

[CptGreedle]

For the OP, that is a HUGE screen you have. But still, you should know that BD is much higher quality, and at a much higher resolution than cable tv. Cable at best is only 1080i, and compressed video and audio with up to 5.1 surround sound. Blu-ray is normally 1080p video, at a lower compression, with up to 7.1 lossless surround sound. There is a world of difference between 1080i and 1080p. In short, i uses half the amount of data than p, which they use to save bandwidth.
Clearly you are either using a wrong disc or your system is indeed not set up right.
If you put in a DVD of say Wall-E, and then the Blu-ray, and see little to no difference, your system is set up wrong.

[FendersRule]

Originally Posted by Slec

"tis better to keep your mouth closed and have people think you're a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt"

If you can think of anything LESS constructive to say, I'd be impressed.

I think Aikon was in the right for saying that. I believe the OP is just flame baiting.

[Slec]

Originally Posted by FendersRule

I think Aikon was in the right for saying that. I believe the OP is just flame baiting.

While I'll admit the title of the thread looks that way... The OP is very open to the possibility that its a calibration issue. He changed some settings and even noticed his focus was 'soft' and fixed that (all on the 1st page of the thread). All Aiken did was prove he posted based on the title and didn't actually read any of the thread. How is that justified? If he had commented that he just disagreed, I would have left it alone.

Someone with their settings off is not an idiot, I don't care how you paint it.

[prkprkprk]

FLAME YOU!!!!!!!

[Betamax]

Mark,
With all the $$$ you already have invested in your system its silly not have someone come over and setup everything properly. I would check the equipment and settings before I would dismiss Blu ray. Sounds like something is not right somewhere. Good Luck.

[AikonEnt]

Originally Posted by Slec

"tis better to keep your mouth closed and have people think you're a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt"

If you can think of anything LESS constructive to say, I'd be impressed.

If you're going to quote somebody then rip them, isn't it better to quote the whole thing?

The next line I typed clearly started 'but seriously' hinting that I might have in fact been having a little fun with my initial comment.

But you are a gooner so that says everything really

[Slec]

Originally Posted by AikonEnt

If you're going to quote somebody then rip them, isn't it better to quote the whole thing?

The next line I typed clearly started 'but seriously' hinting that I might have in fact been having a little fun with my initial comment.

But you are a gooner so that says everything really

... ouch, if only I knew what stereotypes went along with supporting this club.

[SkantDragon]

You folks are being trolled. Not all trolls type badly and are rude. A good troll can keep people going with false claims just on the edge of believability for a long time.

The situation this guy is describing can't be true. I have a 65" screen and one of the best DVD upscalers on the market, and DVD already looks pretty poor at that size. The compression artifacts and lack of sharpness are obvious and distracting. This guy claims to have a high end 100" system, and can't see the difference between his DVD and Blu-ray. Meanwhile, his broadcast HD supposedly looks better than both.

That's just not possible. Not even if his Blu-ray was misconfigured somehow. And how long has it been, and it's supposedly still that way? Blu-ray is not hard to setup. You guys are being trolled.

The notion that upscaled DVDs (or broadcast HD or digital downloads) look just as good as Blu-ray is a myth being pushed by certain interested companies. And the real purpose of this thread is to lend credibility to that myth for anyone searching the internet trying to figure out if Blu-ray is as good as its claims.

In the real world, the difference between Blu-ray and upscaled DVD on a high end 100" system is nothing short of dramatic. This isn't one of those questionable differences like when audiophiles claim old analog tubes somehow sound better. At that screen size, you couldn't miss the difference if you'd been hit by pepper spray a minute before.