Blu-ray’s “Big” little secret

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by ibprofane

I'm always so surprised when people are buying a Roku box or something like Amazon Fire TV for this reason. You can get a quality, solid brand name (Sony/Samsung) blu-ray player for the same price that will do everything those pieces hardware can, and play blu-ray discs as well.

A vast majority of people aren't even aware that blu-ray players can play DVDs, stream Netflix, HULU, VUDU, etc. I agree with those who said they should expand their marketing to show everything a blu-ray player can do. So much value when compared with products in a similar price range.

To be fair, my WDTV Live player plays far more file formats than any blu-ray player I've had my hands on - straight from a USB device, or streaming. And a nice interface with tons of updates and fixes/feature enhancements too.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by benji888578

I recall hearing that. Supposedly you could play DVDs on an HD-DVD player, but not on a blu-ray.

While it's nice that most DVDs upscale nicely, the only problem is that some of my older DVDs that are "widescreen" are actually fullscreen then letterboxed, not anamorphic...my BD player plays these with four black bars around it, or stretched horizontally, but not vertically, depending on my settings. Nothing seems to bring it up to fill the screen, keeping the aspect.

This is the problem with non-anamorphic DVDs. This is sadly unavoidable. The best you can do is "zoom" in if your player or tv does that. Far from ideal, but my tv has an option to zoom a bit closer, reducing the size of the 4 black bars. At least the image fills more of the screen that way while retaining the correct aspect ratio. But yeah, non-anamorphic DVDs are virtually unwatchable for this reason.

[reason108]

Originally Posted by Musicguy

Okay, I live in Hollywood and many of my friends are film buffs (It’s Hollywood after all)

So…some will say to me that they bought a film on DVD, and I say why don’t you buy the Blu-ray instead – most will say they don’t own a blu-ray player.

I respond “why not” The answer usually comes back as “Because I have so many DVDs”

I then say “You know you can play DVDs on a blu-ray player”

9 out of 10 didn’t know that

DVD’s look great on a blu-ray player, and blu-ray players don’t cost much – buy the blu-ray - the quality is better and you won’t have to upgrade later, and blu-rays don’t cost that much more than DVD anymore

I’m wondering just how many consumers out there know they only need a blu-ray player and can then start buying blu-ray disc instead on DVDs?

Ask your friends - bet they didn’t know that


Maybe if people bought blu-ray players – they would buy blu-ray discs

I`ve driven through Hollywood! It seems that none of my friends give a crap about blu ray. They either dvr-it or download.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by reason108

I`ve driven through Hollywood! It seems that none of my friends give a crap about blu ray. They either dvr-it or download.

I think that's a major part of the problem. Not too long after Blu-ray was introduced, the studios decided it would be more cost-effective to have one master copy they could stream to everybody, but that people never really could own, instead of pressing thousands to hundreds of thousands of physical copies that people could keep on their shelves and watch at their own leisure anytime now or in the future, without need of an internet connection, access code, or any possibility of the studio's discontinuing access to the studio-provided content (on Blu-rays now limited to the "BD Live" features).

People who will watch movies on their phones or iPads or stream to their computers and TVs really couldn't care less about Blu-rays that with a relatively inexpensive 1080p projector and home audio system can give them pretty much the identical image and sound quality of the local multiplex.

[I KEEL YOU]

Video game consoles and the fact that PS3 isn't backwards compatible with PS2, nor PS4 is with PS3 and PS2 (I'm talking about discs) probably has something to do with this misconception.

[zman73]

How about the people who thought DVDs would work on thier CD players back in the day "I don't see why it wouldn't work, it's just a cd and it fits."

It took many years for the technically challenged to grasp just the DVD concept down here. Then the format wars happen and confuse people more, people thinking you could play an HDdvd in an upscaling DVD player... "The name of it is HD DVD... Right?!?"

Many people who own hd tvs, but don't have or know HOW to actually get hd programming from it. I had to show my own brother that his directv box wasn't being optimized as he was not using an hdmi cable with it

A lot of the video advertising for blu ray advertises it as being compatible with your DVDs while providing better picture from them. I can assure you most people don't pay attention to those things these days. Throw in 3d and needing special equipment for that and you are left with dumbstruck people, especially in this area that I am NOT a native of... As long as their stupid football team wins they are happy as most folks put their self worth into THAT.

Of course such things do have their advantages as well, the recent blockbuster closings yielded much more cheaper blu ray goodness than others were getting, the DVD aisles were generally swamped when I went, the blu ray sections very calm...

[PrestigeWorldwide]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

I have to disagree with that. I never use my smart tv or BD player for that because the interface sucks. (Both Panasonic.) I love my Roku and I'll pick up a Firetv if it goes on sale.

Same here, I prefer Roku's interface, but I also had issues streaming Netflix on the Panasonic bd player. When I tried Netflix on the Roku 3, it worked flawlessly and the two devices are the exact same distance from the router. To be fair, my Panny bd player is a few years old, so the wi-fi isn't dual band with wireless N like the Roku. That seems to make a big difference.

Back on topic. I was surprised to learn a couple years ago that my sister and parents had no idea blu-ray players would play DVD's and they own 1080p HDTV's. I upgraded them both with bd players for Christmas. At the time, my dad muttered something under his breath about not needing it, yet now he uses Netflix streaming on that bd player on a daily basis.

[bigdaddyhorse]

Ironically I bought my first BD player to use as an upscaling dvd player. I figured all my dvds can look better, and had done my homework. So $30 for a dvd player vs $50 for blu, I went blu to have the extra option. My plan also included not buying everything I already owned again on blu, just new stuff. I'd use the library to get free blu rents. That lasted 2, maybe 3 weeks then the upgrading of my collection began.

I sat on the sidelines of the format war and rooted for the loser. The red cases looked cooler in the store, and some mis-information stuck with me during that time, like blu had to be connected to the net to even work, so I'd be watched and probably go to jail for playing a dubbed dvd. Amazing how many lies were spread, although looking at Target and Wal-Mart lately, most people must still think they won't play dvds, as the dvd sections keep growing and the BD sections shrink at most retail outlets.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

It's not surprising that most of the general public still don't know that Blu-ray players are backwards compatible & can play regular DVD's. I myself pay attention to things like this & knew about Blu ray compatibility years before I even got a Blu-ray player myself (my first was about 1 1/2 years ago, so relatively recently); however, I know most people don't pay attention to things like this.

However, this is fine with me since this is making Blu rays somewhat of a niche format these days. I.e., if everyone had a Blu player & was buying Blu's, they would be much more difficult to find; of course, more people buying them may also result in the production of these being ramped up so you wouldn't have so many limited edition Blu's being released - but, there are advantages & disadvantages to everything, so it is what it is....

[chip75]

Originally Posted by benji888578

I recall hearing that. Supposedly you could play DVDs on an HD-DVD player, but not on a blu-ray.

While it's nice that most DVDs upscale nicely, the only problem is that some of my older DVDs that are "widescreen" are actually fullscreen then letterboxed, not anamorphic...my BD player plays these with four black bars around it, or stretched horizontally, but not vertically, depending on my settings. Nothing seems to bring it up to fill the screen, keeping the aspect.

Sometimes I'll watch the smaller window-boxed image and just put up with it.

But there are ways to make it fit the screen. First you need to change your BD player to Wide or Stretch for 4:3 images instead of original. This way the side will go left and right to eliminate the pillar-boxing. Now with your TV remote you'll need to increase the height of the picture, you don't need to zoom in just stretch the height so the picture fills the frame (try and get a DVD with 1.78:1 aspect ratio or 1.85:1 so it easier to work out the stretch). Your TV probably has an option to move the image up and down, so it will take a few minutes to get it just right.

The TV should save the setting for future use and you can just go back to Full Pixel or 1:1 mode for your BDs and 4:3 mode for 1.33:1 DVDs. The only drawback is if you need subtitles you'll have placed most of if not all that area outside the viewable area.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Hey guys - just to throw in my opinion re: past experience on trying to make a non-anamorphic print fit the screen: from what I've seen when I've done this in the past, the picture will look stretched out, and also the PQ suffers as a result. That being said, it is nice to have the picture fill out the screen, especially if you have a large, widescreen set.

Also note that from what I've seen, if you set your TV to compensate for a non-anamorphic print like this, you will have to go back and re-set this the next time you play a film/TV show that is anamorphic....

Just my .02...

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by AnamorphicWidescreen

Hey guys - just to throw in my opinion re: past experience on trying to make a non-anamorphic print fit the screen: from what I've seen when I've done this in the past, the picture will look stretched out, and also the PQ suffers as a result. That being said, it is nice to have the picture fill out the screen, especially if you have a large, widescreen set.

Also note that from what I've seen, if you set your TV to compensate for a non-anamorphic print like this, you will have to go back and re-set this the next time you play a film/TV show that is anamorphic....

Just my .02...

I tried that with my Memphis Belle DVD a few years ago. Never again. Luckily, this is coming to BD next week.

[Dragun]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

I also worked in Hollywood and I've experienced the same thing. And the people who knew there was a difference between the two formats didn't seem to care.

These are the people to whom the industry is trying to sell 4K TVs. And on most screens there's even less of a perceptible difference between HD and 4K than there is between SD and HD.

[twardyyy]

I can't count how many times I've been at work (Target) and I'll have a customer or co-worker come up to me and ask me, "Can you play DVDs in a Blu-Ray player?" or "Can you play Blu-Rays on a DVD player?" In terms of the latter, I have to sit there and explain to them that it's not possible and most of the time, they don't understand or it takes them a couple minutes to realize what I'm saying.

I don't really understand why they continue to make DVD players. I feel like it should be going the same route as TVs -- everyone upgraded from the tube versions to the flat screens, and now that's all that's sold in stores like Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy; only place you can find older TVs now is in pawn shops, Goodwill stores, etc... Nowadays, everyone should be upgrading to Blu-Ray players as it is the "future", just like flat screens. At the very least, companies should market BD players as "Blu-Ray AND DVD Player" just because most people don't know about playing DVDs on a BD device. But, that's just me.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by twardyyy

I don't really understand why they continue to make DVD players.

As most BD players have only HDMI outputs on them, I think they need to sell DVD players as they have a few more connection options but most can be connected to a HDTV if the buyer chooses.

I don't think I've heard anyone in the UK say they didn't know that BD plays played DVDs but most I've talked to say they can't see the point or difference in picture quality.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by chip75

As most BD players have only HDMI outputs on them, I think they need to sell DVD players as they have a few more connection options but most can be connected to a HDTV if the buyer chooses.

I don't think I've heard anyone in the UK say they didn't know that BD plays played DVDs but most I've talked to say they can't see the point or difference in picture quality.

Then they are legally blind or sitting 15' away from their 40" display.

[KingRad]

I've noticed this phenomenon as well. I can recall at least five different instances when I've had to explain Blu-ray players play DVDs--they're always shocked.

[bigdaddyhorse]

Originally Posted by chip75

Sometimes I'll watch the smaller window-boxed image and just put up with it.

But there are ways to make it fit the screen. First you need to change your BD player to Wide or Stretch for 4:3 images instead of original. This way the side will go left and right to eliminate the pillar-boxing. Now with your TV remote you'll need to increase the height of the picture, you don't need to zoom in just stretch the height so the picture fills the frame (try and get a DVD with 1.78:1 aspect ratio or 1.85:1 so it easier to work out the stretch). Your TV probably has an option to move the image up and down, so it will take a few minutes to get it just right.

The TV should save the setting for future use and you can just go back to Full Pixel or 1:1 mode for your BDs and 4:3 mode for 1.33:1 DVDs. The only drawback is if you need subtitles you'll have placed most of if not all that area outside the viewable area.

My TV will not allow "zoom 1" through HDMI, so I have to use my old dvd player running component to fill my screen with non-anamorphic WS movies. I do like the move picture feature though and can still see the subs for 2.35 flicks (Star Wars originals) when I move the movie to the top of the screen. Not so good for 1.85 or 1.78 subs though.

[Musicguy]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Then they are legally blind or sitting 15' away from their 40" display.

Unless you have a big screen tv you can't really see much difference in Blu-ray vs DVD. Many people do not have large screen TVs - which is also why Blu-ray hasn't taken off like the studios originally though it might and why people see no need in switching formats.

Once you buy a large screen TV and see a blu-ray and then the DVD you will most likely go out and buy a blu-ray player otherwise there isn't much difference.

But if you have a large Screen TV and a Blu-ray - WOW! like going to the movies

[wonkavision]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

The first Samsung BD player couldn't play CDs.

Ha! Really? Another reason to avoid Samsung products. Sorry, hate the brand.