Blu Ray to the masses: 10 questions about Blu Ray

[york weir]

This is a great article and using the biggest cheerleaders of the format is brilliant.

[werewuf]

Originally Posted by mthopper

It is simply untrue that it makes no difference whether you're HDTV is 720 or 1080, etc. It makes a HUGE difference. Do NOT buy the 720 HDTV if you're interested in Blu-ray. That will be a waste of money. You must get the 1080p to take advantage of what Blu-ray offers you.

Completely untrue. I have two HDTV's: a Pioneer Kuro that's 720P and a new Samsung 46" 650 that's 1080P. The Pioneer kicks the Samsung's butt twice around the block every time I turn it on PQ-wise. Blu-Rays look more amazing on the Kuro, and the Kuro does a far superior job with broadcast HDTV than the Samsung.

[Terjyn]

Either that Samsung is the crappiest TV ever, or you have some kind of calibration issue then (or something equivalent).

[freddylinni]

As an Kuro owner I know that Pio crush anything else.
When deciding to go for 768p or 1080p i compared them side by side with Blu-Ray. Almost impossible to see any difference.


Kuro 768p is "always" better than any 1080p LCD.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by freddylinni

As an Kuro owner I know that Pio crush anything else.
When deciding to go for 768p or 1080p i compared them side by side with Blu-Ray. Almost impossible to see any difference.


Kuro 768p is "always" better than any 1080p LCD.

Right.
Let's do that comparison on a 50" + (even more so 60"+).
Black levels do not do everything, even if the Kuro's are indeed pleasing for the eye.
There are excellent LCD sets out there with very good color accuracy and good black levels, and at sizes that go 50" and beyond, the picture will look better than the 768p imo.

But, well, I'm telling that to a Kuro owner

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by freddylinni

As an Kuro owner I know that Pio crush anything else.
When deciding to go for 768p or 1080p i compared them side by side with Blu-Ray. Almost impossible to see any difference.


Kuro 768p is "always" better than any 1080p LCD.

I feel really embarrassed to be a Kuro owner sometimes...

I wish people wouldn't go around making us all look bad.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

Either that Samsung is the crappiest TV ever, or you have some kind of calibration issue then (or something equivalent).

The only TVs that can compete with any Plasma Kuros are the LED ones that just started to come out. On the "Kuro" LCD range, I did a side-by-side comparison of the LED 42" Philips and a 1080p Pioneer "Kuro" LCD, and the result was pretty one sided. As for the larger sizes the Samsung and Sony 9th gen TVs are very competitive with the Pioneers, and If I were buying a new TV; I would go with the Sony 46" XBR8 or Samsung 55" 950 instead of the 50" KRP-500.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by mthopper

It is simply untrue that it makes no difference whether you're HDTV is 720 or 1080, etc. It makes a HUGE difference. Do NOT buy the 720 HDTV if you're interested in Blu-ray. That will be a waste of money. You must get the 1080p to take advantage of what Blu-ray offers you.

That is quite possibly one of the largest lies possible.

[werewuf]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

Right.
Let's do that comparison on a 50" + (even more so 60"+).
Black levels do not do everything, even if the Kuro's are indeed pleasing for the eye.
There are excellent LCD sets out there with very good color accuracy and good black levels, and at sizes that go 50" and beyond, the picture will look better than the 768p imo.

But, well, I'm telling that to a Kuro owner

I would indeed take the Kuro, maybe not at 60" but surely 50" (Pio doesn't make a 720P 60" anyway)
As my previous post says, I have direct comparison in my home and I have seen extremely expensive 50"and larger 1080P LCD TV's recently that can't touch my 720P Kuro (Including Sony's highly acclaimed brand new XBR's which I saw in-store yesterday)

[mthopper]

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

That is quite possibly one of the largest lies possible.

Let me put it this way: I recently watched a Blu-ray disc on my brother-in-law's 42 inch Vizio, which is 720, and it was a miserable experience. It didn't look hi-def at all (even though HD television looks terrific on his screen). On my Samsung 1080, the same Blu-ray disc looks wonderful. I'm talking about a humongous difference, something that has left a huge impression on me.

Perhaps you may say that the real issue was his crappy Vizio. I'm not sure. All I know is I was first of all taught by a techie that 720 will not do justice to Blu-ray; then I watched a Blu-ray disc on a 720 and it looked horrible, especially in comparison to the same disc on my 1080. (And at his house we were using a Play Station 3 player.)

[Phibes]

Originally Posted by ps3andlovinit

Didn't DVD have firmware update issues in the beginning? And weren't most companies much further behind in using the internet to facilitate customer service back then?

Ayup, anyone remember the DVD release of the Matrix not playing or malfunctioning in the day?

[york weir]

Originally Posted by mthopper

Let me put it this way: I recently watched a Blu-ray disc on my brother-in-law's 42 inch Vizio, which is 720, and it was a miserable experience. It didn't look hi-def at all (even though HD television looks terrific on his screen). On my Samsung 1080, the same Blu-ray disc looks wonderful. I'm talking about a humongous difference, something that has left a huge impression on me.

Perhaps you may say that the real issue was his crappy Vizio. I'm not sure. All I know is I was first of all taught by a techie that 720 will not do justice to Blu-ray; then I watched a Blu-ray disc on a 720 and it looked horrible, especially in comparison to the same disc on my 1080. (And at his house we were using a Play Station 3 player.)

Perhaps something in his configuration or settings are wrong. I really doubt the difference would be night and day.

[andyman1970]

Originally Posted by mthopper

Let me put it this way: I recently watched a Blu-ray disc on my brother-in-law's 42 inch Vizio, which is 720, and it was a miserable experience. It didn't look hi-def at all (even though HD television looks terrific on his screen). On my Samsung 1080, the same Blu-ray disc looks wonderful. I'm talking about a humongous difference, something that has left a huge impression on me.

Perhaps you may say that the real issue was his crappy Vizio. I'm not sure. All I know is I was first of all taught by a techie that 720 will not do justice to Blu-ray; then I watched a Blu-ray disc on a 720 and it looked horrible, especially in comparison to the same disc on my 1080. (And at his house we were using a Play Station 3 player.)

Originally Posted by mthopper

It is simply untrue that it makes no difference whether you're HDTV is 720 or 1080, etc. It makes a HUGE difference. Do NOT buy the 720 HDTV if you're interested in Blu-ray. That will be a waste of money. You must get the 1080p to take advantage of what Blu-ray offers you.

Uh...NO!!! This is not true. If you ask any HONEST TV sales person they will tell you that any TV with a screen under 50 inches you can NOT tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. I have a 1080p 42 inch TV and I have set my PS3 to 720p and 1080p and watched movies on both settings and NO visible difference. The Blu-ray disc looks great on either setting.

[Anthony P]

Uh...NO!!! This is not true. If you ask any HONEST TV sales person they will tell you that any TV with a screen under 50 inches you can NOT tell the difference between 720p and 1080p.

stupid maybe, honest not at all

I have a 1080p 42 inch TV and I have set my PS3 to 720p and 1080p and watched movies on both settings and NO visible difference.

I have no idea what TV you have, but you do realize that whatever it and whatever setting you use the display resolution will be the same. Yes if you use 720p to transmit to the diisplay you are down scaling and then re up scaling so you should see a difference, but either way you are still watching 1080p. To do an honest assessment you would need a 720 and a 1080 set. And even then the 720 most likely will be disadvantaged because a 720 set would either be cheaper/ lesser quality in build or older technology.

[mophious]

That is correct!
Quality is better than quantity!

[andyman1970]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

stupid maybe, honest not at all

I have no idea what TV you have, but you do realize that whatever it and whatever setting you use the display resolution will be the same. Yes if you use 720p to transmit to the diisplay you are down scaling and then re up scaling so you should see a difference, but either way you are still watching 1080p. To do an honest assessment you would need a 720 and a 1080 set. And even then the 720 most likely will be disadvantaged because a 720 set would either be cheaper/ lesser quality in build or older technology.

It would seem that many would disagree with you.

http://www.carltonbale.com/2006/11/1080p-does-matter/
http://askville.amazon.com/true-vide...uestId=5030286
http://ask.metafilter.com/76861/1080p-v-720p
http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-...d-1080p/15283/
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7596_102...sageID=2460005

It seems like this is the only forum on the internet where people can seem to see the difference between 720p and 1080p on screen size less then 50 inches. I am soooo glad I don't ask for advise here as from what I read in other threads where others ask for help it is always bad advice. Always "Spend more money and buy the most expensive or get what I have you can't go wrong because I'm always right and I know everything." I think it's all in your heads. I guess the best thing a person could do is go to a store and see for themselves what the difference is. I know I have never seen the difference between 720p and 1080p on a set under 50 inches. I just happened to find a 1080p 42 inch at a great price.

[Bobby Henderson]

Sheesh, it's more "I bought an old, limited 720p resolution TV and I need to feel good about my old (or cheap) purchase" nonsense.

720p in HDTV sets has its days numbered. There really is no reason for that junk to continue. We can talk all about viewing distance and screen size all we want. In the end, the freaking monitor itself is still only displaying only so many pixels as the monitor will allow. And 2.037 million pixels is ALWAYS better than 900,000.

Honestly, if low resolution was really better we would still be farting around with anamorphic 480p. Yes. Someone could pull the same silly 720p is better than 1080p argument using 480p against 720p on the same principal. It's stupid. 1080p is the real, legit standard on true HD. Blu-ray reinforces that. If 720p is so great, please show a list of movies encoded in 720p on Blu-ray. Let's see how dominant that standard really is.

[Anthony P]

It would seem that many would disagree with you.

so? there where many that thought HD DVD would be the futurte, there where many that thought BD or DVD would not go any where. There ar many stupid people. Why would you think any of those people would know. I am sure you can find some blogger or poster saying that there is no difference between a Lada and a Porsche because he bought a Lada.

[Blove23]

Its funny you say that because without our Blu-ray player, what else comes in at 1080p my friend. They got you caught up on a number and a number it is. If 1080p is the king, then why don't they have 19 inch 1080p televisions. Please don't compare cars to televisions!

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

In the end, the freaking monitor itself is still only displaying only so many pixels as the monitor will allow. And 2.037 million pixels is ALWAYS better than 900,000.

Right, but this is a case where the "it's good enough" argument actually holds some water. It's still HD, and it still looks good, well enough to be indistinguishable from 1080p to an average person a large portion of the time.

It's not that 720p is better; it's that it's good and cheap.