Anyone Going to Forego Blu and Go with Upconverting?

[ironbird01]

A Happiest Thanksgiving to Everyone here =D

A magazine I subscribe to entertains the the notion of foregoing Blu Ray and due to prices go with Up Converting, Since it's almost as good. With every invention there's problems BUT....

Myself being in the economic down turn for the past 10 years and abusing a CRT way past it's expiration date! My question is...

Is anyone else thinking of getting a Up converting DVD player instead of going full tilt HD?

Thanks for Your Time & Have a Delicious Thanksgiving!

Chris

[Woochifer]

I can't believe how fervently this whole "upconverting is almost as good as Blu-ray" meme has gotten pushed by the tech press. This angle is primarily written by bloggers whose so-called expertise is in computer hardware. In other words, they're more concerned about ancillary issues related to connectivity and long features lists, and don't know/care about picture and audio quality. Their agenda is promoting streaming and downloading, and to them any kind of new disc media format is an obstacle. Also scattered in the group are a few HD-DVD fanboys who were so blindly anti-Blu-ray that they'd rather hitch onto the streaming/downloading bandwagon than swallow their pride and buy a Blu-ray player.

Just a couple of days ago, one of PC Magazine's bloggers wrote an article about recommended tech gifts. His recommended buy for the holidays is a Roku/Netflix media streaming box, and recommends one of Toshiba's XDE upconverting DVD players over a Blu-ray player. Basically, he's recommending two technologies that deliver inferior video and audio quality. His only justification is the "high" $250 price tag on Blu-ray players -- conveniently ignoring the fact that $150 Blu-ray players are now readily available and brand name players now go for less than $200.

After hooking a PS3 up to my HDTV and seeing the difference for myself, I say there's no contest between upconverted DVDs and Blu-ray. PC Magazine acknowledges that the PS3's DVD playback scores very high on their HQV benchmark tests, and comparing the DVD and Blu-ray playback on Batman Begins with a PS3, the picture quality's not even close. The Blu-ray reveals details and has a range of color contrasts that the DVD cannot touch. The DVD looks washed out and soft by comparison.

The bottomline is that even the best video scaler and upconverting technology cannot manufacture what's not there in the first place. DVD resolution is limited to 480 lines, a resolution whose limitations are readily revealed by any HDTV. Blu-ray resolution is 1080 lines, which takes full advantage of what HDTVs are capable of. Anyone who claims the two formats are remotely similar is either trying to disingenuously steer you towards downloading/streaming options or they're out to lunch.

You won't find too many people on this board who will make that ridiculous claim. The obstacle to Blu-ray adoption has been pricing. On the hardware side, it's now at a point where price is no longer a huge barrier (except to those true cheapskates who won't buy a Blu-ray until it's the same price as a $50 DVD player).

But, the disc prices remain an issue, and this time it's not necessarily the studios' fault. The list prices on Blu-ray discs are now only about $5 higher than new release DVDs (and often at near price parity with the two-disc special edition DVDs), but retailers often sell them for close to $10 more than the DVD versions. Given that the format has been on the market for more than two years, we're finally starting to see some price breaks on the older Blu-ray titles.

[blackraven]

Whats the point? Blu-Ray players are down to $128 and Walmart has the Sony BP 350 Blu-Ray for $179 And the best DVD upconverted still does not compare to a BR picture.

[pixelthis]

AND DONT FORGET THE "TUNES".
The sound alone is worth the price of a Blu player, "upconversion"
will not give you better sound.
Truth is, DVD is the eight track tape of the future.
I highly reccomend that you get a DVD recorder for archiving
and maybe timeshifting, etc, but for serious (or even casual) movie
watching Blu cant be beat.
There isn't even the price to consider anymore.

[Mr Peabody]

When you said you have an old CRT, is it still regular TV, not HDTV? If you don't have a HDTV yet neither upsampling or Blu-ray will benefit you because, NTSC, old school TV's don't have the resolution to display anything beyond 480i. You first need a HDTV which have dropped in price significantly. You can buy a 30 something LCD Emerson at Wal-Mart for $388.00.

My Blu-ray player has one of the best upconverting chipsets available, Silicon Optix, and on duplicate titles of standard versus Blu-ray there is still an improvement in picture with Blu-ray. How much of a difference depends on the title. Transporter 2 you could see a difference but it was not vast. Other titles it's almost as vast as HD versus non-HD. In audio there is no comparison, if you can take advantage of the HD audio tracks it's the difference between mp3 and CD, at least.

Also, either way you go, you will need HDMI connections. I don't know of any DVD player that will upsample via component. It's a HDCP, or copy protection thing.

In the early days of BR I think the archieves will show some claimed to remain with DVD and upsample but as they seen the difference I believe they have been converted themselves. I have to say seeing Amazon dumping good movie titles on DVD at $4.99 and up it has been a bit tempting not to at least buy some older movies that way. Those pre-5.1 capable.

Trying to be objective here, whether you go HD or Blu-ray really depends on how much you care about your viewing. Here at AR as hobbyists obviously we are enthusiastic about the video and audio improvements. On the other hand as I talk to people at work I am always amazed at how many have not yet even bought an HDTV. I guess if they can see a picture they are happy. A friend of mine got out this morning and landed a Black Friday Blu-ray player, he is excited to say the least.

My personal opinion here, it sounds like you might be on a budget, don't go out and buy the cheapest thing available. Sometimes the headaches can ruin your experience with a new technology. Read the reviews, obviously take them with a grain of salt but if a problem is consistently mentioned that should raise a flag. The friend I was talking about who just scored the Black Friday deal, trust me, he is on a budget. After reading the reviews he determined the $128.00 Blu-ray player was junk. So he went out in the wee morning hours to camp out for a Sony. I suspect there will continue to be good buys on both the HDTV's and Blu-ray players, so take your time and buy wisely. Sometimes a deal is not a deal in the long run.

[winston]

TRUE WORD MR. PAE. just last night i decided to used my SONY BDP-550 in the backward ways? i have a set of analysis coaxial & component cable, after setting up the menu i put on monstermusic HD SS EXPERENCE of 3 DOORS DOWN live away from the sun on dvd. i choose in the audience 5.1 surround mix in DTS, by the way have you guys check out this super disc? it came out around xmas of "205" it have a mint of sound "option" for avr & cumputer. what i an trying to say is i like what WOOCH & MR PAE is saying i was blown away by the sound i got from the reg. hookup on the BDP-550 so i an happy that i did not get too cheap and pick up crappy br player and that i choose br.

[nightflier]

Of course, just about every BR player will upconvert too, so if you're going to pay anything over $100 for a player anyway, then just get the BR player. It will come in handy when you get that new TV, eventually.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Very odd thread. Nevertheless, Wooch summed things up perfectly IMO.

[dax]

i put on monstermusic HD SS EXPERENCE of 3 DOORS DOWN live away from the sun on dvd. i choose in the audience 5.1 surround mix in DTS, by the way have you guys check out this super disc? it came out around xmas of "205" it have a mint of sound "option" for avr & cumputer. what i an trying to say is i like what WOOCH & MR PAE is saying i was blown away by the sound i got from the reg. hookup on the BDP-550 so i an happy that i did not get too cheap and pick up crappy br player and that i choose br.

I believe that DVD came with the CD, correct? I have that and had listened to the DTS soundtracks when I had first purchased it. Haven't listened to it in a few years, but will do so tonight on my Panny DMP-BD55K. Thanks for reminding me of it!

[hermanv]

It's not the player cost, it's the software.

I own about 120 DVDs if they were Blu-Ray I would have paid about $1,500 more for them.

With my Oppo upconverting player I can easily see differences in production quality between many films, garbage in garbage out.

I do easily agree that for the high budget films, Blu-Ray offers a noticeable edge in resolution.

[pixelthis]

It's not the player cost, it's the software.

I own about 120 DVDs if they were Blu-Ray I would have paid about $1,500 more for them.

With my Oppo upconverting player I can easily see differences in production quality between many films, garbage in garbage out.

I do easily agree that for the high budget films, Blu-Ray offers a noticeable edge in resolution.

No matter how good your oppo, the Blu will beat the pants off of it, both for bLU PLAYBACK AND UPCONVERTING.
Not to mention the audio.
Sure Blu costs more, but that is a false economy, you can rent, after all, and that is how I view most of my discs.
And BLU ISNT THAT EXPENSIVE, THE MOST EXPENSIVE DISC I bought was Celine Dion, 25 bucks.
My old upconverter bought out a lot in movies also, but it cant even come close to my Blu player.