Blueray - PS3 or Dedicated BR Player?

[bobsticks]

Congrats mang, that's a good buy. I keep tellin' myself that I'm gonna pick up Metal Gear or Vice City 4 or whatever but it never happens.

I think one of the things you'll be presently surprised about, or at least I have been thusfar, is the general quality of transfers from old movies to the new format. One of the bigger problems I had with the HD-DVD format was the crappy appearance of older films. Yeah, I know that alot depends on the quality of the original filmstock but some of the reissues were horrific. I've been very pleased with what I've seen so far...watched "Full Metal Jacket" the other night and felt like Pix was in the room yellin' at me.

...and that Bilson girl is hot, true 'nuff.


--sticks

[L.J.]

Welcome to the club brotha! Since your using optical at the moment, rent yourself some BR with DTSMA tracks. Your only gonna get the "core" 1.5mbps for now but man it still sounds freakin' sweet! Fox has ALOT of DTSMA titles.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Way ta go Cartman! As far as I'm concerned, the 80 gig is a MUCH better bang-for-the-buck than the 40 gig, for only $100 more. Word of caution: keep it well ventilated.

[JSE]

Welcome to the club brotha! Since your using optical at the moment, rent yourself some BR with DTSMA tracks. Your only gonna get the "core" 1.5mbps for now but man it still sounds freakin' sweet! Fox has ALOT of DTSMA titles.

Thanks LJ and Sticks,


I'll check out some DTSMA titles soon. Can't remember if Jumper has DTS.

The HDMI capable receiver might come later this fall. Lots of funds going to other things like vacation and landscaping/outdoor kitchen right now. I told my wife I "needed" a new receiver and she just shot me "that look". Nuff said, no receiver. For now! Buwahahahahahahahaha!

What's that saying......... It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission?

[JSE]

Way ta go Cartman! As far as I'm concerned, the 80 gig is a MUCH better bang-for-the-buck than the 40 gig, for only $100 more. Word of caution: keep it well ventilated.

I should have enough ventilation. Plus, I have everything on slide-out shelves so I normally just pull the receiver out a bit when playing music or movies just as a precaution. I can do the same for the PS3.

That reminds me, I need to get some photos up of my media center I had made a while back. Turned out great.

[pixelthis]

Have you tried the HDMI or optical out?

The digital out is fantastic, these players have really great sound.
HDMI? If I get this paid off maybe a HDMI compatible receiver is next.
But on the 5.1 analog outs, no center or sub, puzzling, really.
Havew seen this on two players.
Btw my "crappy" Vizio can handle the 1080p out, but it looks like a
mescaline hangover, guess the scaler wasnt made for it

[kexodusc]

Nice grab, JSE...and yes it is easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission...

[Rich-n-Texas]

Welcome to the club brotha! Since your using optical at the moment, rent yourself some BR with DTSMA tracks. Your only gonna get the "core" 1.5mbps for now but man it still sounds freakin' sweet! Fox has ALOT of DTSMA titles.

I would like to know how you find this information out BEFORE you rent/purchase Blu-ray titles. I just rented 6 titles but I have no idea whether or not they have lossless audio formats.

[JSE]

Nice grab, JSE...and yes it is easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission...

Thanks Kex.

I also just bought a "slightly" expensive lens" for our upcoming vacation. It's on it's waty She does not know about it yet. Once I have begged for that forgiveness and if I can still breathing, maybe I can start working on the receiver.

BTW,

Just gave my coworker my free copy of Metal Gear 4 ( or something like that?) and you thought he had just won the lottery. You gamers are a weird bunch!

[L.J.]

I would like to know how you find this information out BEFORE you rent/purchase Blu-ray titles. I just rented 6 titles but I have no idea whether or not they have lossless audio formats.

You can try out a review site that lists the info. I like DVDTalk & Hidefdigest. Usually the track info is announced before the release. Most new releases are gonna have a HD track of some form, though I still bump into a 640 DD every now and then.

Now if you really want to get some serious title info, peep this out.

[L.J.]

Thanks Kex.

I also just bought a "slightly" expensive lens" for our upcoming vacation. It's on it's waty She does not know about it yet. Once I have begged for that forgiveness and if I can still breathing, maybe I can start working on the receiver.

Haha....The mysterious box at the door. I think were all guilty of that one. UPS, huh, wonder what they're doing here

BTW,

Just gave my coworker my free copy of Metal Gear 4 ( or something like that?) and you thought he had just won the lottery. You gamers are a weird bunch!

Hey, what about LJ

[GMichael]

Haha....The mysterious box at the door. I think were all guilty of that one. UPS, huh, wonder what they're doing here



Hey, what about LJ

Isn't that what you did for your monster sub?

"Huh? What 200lb box?"

[Rich-n-Texas]

You can try out a review site that lists the info. I like DVDTalk & Hidefdigest. Usually the track info is announced before the release. Most new releases are gonna have a HD track of some form, though I still bump into a 640 DD every now and then.

Now if you really want to get some serious title info, peep this out.

Thanks. I'll check those sites out.

Well, I just learned on that Blu-ray discussion you linked that Cloverfield's audio bitrate is above 4Mb/s, which is waaaaay above anything I've listened to so far on my equipment. It's in my queue but when I actually receive it is another story. I also like the sound of that scan tool they talk about the will allow you to see the actual bit rate of any disk you check. http://www.cinemasquid.com/Tools.aspx and it's free to install on your computer.

[L.J.]

Thanks. I'll check those sites out.

Well, I just learned on that Blu-ray discussion you linked that Cloverfield's audio bitrate is above 4Mb/s, which is waaaaay above anything I've listened to so far on my equipment. It's in my queue but when I actually receive it is another story. I also like the sound of that scan tool they talk about the will allow you to see the actual bit rate of any disk you check. http://www.cinemasquid.com/Tools.aspx and it's free to install on your computer.

Yes, Cloverfield has a niiiccceee track. TrueHD I think.

Dude, you can get the actual bitrate info on the PS3. Just hit display while the disc is playing. It'll tell you what it's decoding, audio/video bitrate and time info

[Rich-n-Texas]

Yes, Cloverfield has a niiiccceee track. TrueHD I think.

Dude, you can get the actual bitrate info on the PS3. Just hit display while the disc is playing. It'll tell you what it's decoding, audio/video bitrate and time info

Understood. I'd just like to know this before I rent one, certainly before I buy one.
Or... maybe I should just bookmark DVDTalk! DUH!!!

[L.J.]

Isn't that what you did for your monster sub?

"Huh? What 200lb box?"

Yeah then you gotta walk to the door while holding a straight face.

O yeah, I forgot I ordered this. Honey, didn't I tell ya this was coming

[L.J.]

Understood. I'd just like to know this before I rent one, certainly before I buy one.
Or... maybe I should just bookmark DVDTalk! DUH!!!

Yeah I pretty much read up on whatever I'm gonna rent. Highdefdigest is good about posting reviews and title info a week or so before release date.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html

[pixelthis]

I would like to know how you find this information out BEFORE you rent/purchase Blu-ray titles. I just rented 6 titles but I have no idea whether or not they have lossless audio formats.

they hide that info on the back of the box

And just about every title I have rented has dtsma, which is great, means they are going for quality sound.
My player has a bitmeter, says its for video, tho.
All of the other Sonys I have had have bitmeters for audio.
Guess they want to show off blus 20 to 41 (and up) bitrate.
Casino Royale hit 42 at one point.

[Rich-n-Texas]

they hide that info on the back of the box

Yeah, and the make the text so tiny I can't even read it w/o a magnifying glass.

And just about every title I have rented has dtsma, which is great, means they are going for quality sound.
My player has a bitmeter, says its for video, tho.
All of the other Sonys I have had have bitmeters for audio.
Guess they want to show off blus 20 to 41 (and up) bitrate.
Casino Royale hit 42 at one point.

While watching MiB last night, I was able to display all sorts of video playback and audio info during the movie which is pretty slick. Bad thing is, I get no Dolby TrueHD light (or any indication whatsoever) that my receiver is seeing a lossless format.

[kexodusc]

they hide that info on the back of the box

And just about every title I have rented has dtsma, which is great, means they are going for quality sound.
My player has a bitmeter, says its for video, tho.
All of the other Sonys I have had have bitmeters for audio.
Guess they want to show off blus 20 to 41 (and up) bitrate.
Casino Royale hit 42 at one point.

Looks like you stumbled into a nice piece of gear.!

Have you been able to compare the higher bit-rate DTS or Dolby audio files with any standard DVD audio tracks with the lower bitrates? I'm curious to know how significant the higher bitrate improvement is on these old formats. I know with some audio files, mp3, wma, .ogg etc, after a certain bit rate, improvements are almost inaudible but file size increases dramatically. IE, 192 mp3's sound nearly identical to 320 kbps, and of course neither are as good as lossless FLAC. But the difference between 128 kpbs and 192 kpbs is huge. Just curious if you could make a comparison here?

I'll be living on core DTS or whatever for awile until I find a new receiver or processor I like with HDMI. Then I can go lossless.

I was in BB looking at some Sony and Samsung stand alones and the PS3. I would say each had its advantages in terms of picture quality and picking a clear winner was virtually impossible. I didn't try any DVD's though. This was in a light controlled environment on a reasonably calibrated set not running torch mode too. I like the idea of analog outs on the Sony/Samsung players, but processing power of the PS3 is more than those two combined. Given the price and the multimedia/streaming/web browsing capabilities of the PS3 I need someone to talk me out of going that route.

[JSE]

I was in BB looking at some Sony and Samsung stand alones and the PS3. I would say each had its advantages in terms of picture quality and picking a clear winner was virtually impossible. I didn't try any DVD's though. This was in a light controlled environment on a reasonably calibrated set not running torch mode too. I like the idea of analog outs on the Sony/Samsung players, but processing power of the PS3 is more than those two combined. Given the price and the multimedia/streaming/web browsing capabilities of the PS3 I need someone to talk me out of going that route.

Watched BR Jumper last night. Decent flick but man the sound was much more impressive that my older DVD player that upscales. I know I am not getting true HD sound without the HMDI receiver but man, this thing sounded great. I'm running audio via the optical cable to my receiver. Much "bigger" sound. Very impressed. My wife even commented on the better sound and we both were blown away by the full 1080p video.

I also thought about a standalone BR player but the PS3 seems to have won out in pretty much every category. I thought the PS3 would be harder to control since it's not primarily a BR player but that has not been an issue at all. The $25 Sony PS3 remote is very nice and set up was a breeze. Very easy to control. You just pop in a BR disk and the PS3 does the rest. Very nice. I am 100% satisfied with my purchase so far. I have not regreted going the PS3 route at all.

Thanks again for all the advise guys.

JSE

[Rich-n-Texas]

Looks like you stumbled into a nice piece of gear.!

Have you been able to compare the higher bit-rate DTS or Dolby audio files with any standard DVD audio tracks with the lower bitrates? I'm curious to know how significant the higher bitrate improvement is on these old formats. I know with some audio files, mp3, wma, .ogg etc, after a certain bit rate, improvements are almost inaudible but file size increases dramatically. IE, 192 mp3's sound nearly identical to 320 kbps, and of course neither are as good as lossless FLAC. But the difference between 128 kpbs and 192 kpbs is huge. Just curious if you could make a comparison here?

I haven't done a side-by-side yet, but I have a Cream concert DVD with a DTS 1.5Mbps track, 48KHz, which sounds awsome all things considered (read... my room acoustics), and last night's Dolby TrueHD track. The difference was clearly noticeable. I really felt more of a movie theater presence in my house. What I did do, during playback was to switch the PS3 from Linear PCM to Bitstream, which gave me more decode choices and none of them matched what I heard when in TrueHD mode. From what I've read so far though, YMMV from title to title.

I'll be living on core DTS or whatever for awile until I find a new receiver or processor I like with HDMI. Then I can go lossless.

I suspect you're waiting until you move to your new house before the serious auditions start?

I was in BB looking at some Sony and Samsung stand alones and the PS3. I would say each had its advantages in terms of picture quality and picking a clear winner was virtually impossible. I didn't try any DVD's though. This was in a light controlled environment on a reasonably calibrated set not running torch mode too. I like the idea of analog outs on the Sony/Samsung players, but processing power of the PS3 is more than those two combined. Given the price and the multimedia/streaming/web browsing capabilities of the PS3 I need someone to talk me out of going that route.

Talk you out of going the PS3 route? It won't be me. As L.J. and others have pointed out, this is much more than a BDP. I'm having an issue right now trying to start and/or install the game that came with my PS3, but I haven't even touched on the other capabilities of this system. The convenience of having the three features you stated above all in one box... in my living room... easily holds this method of HD delivery way above a stand-alone player, IMO.

[GMichael]

Watched BR Jumper last night. Decent flick but man the sound was much more impressive that my older DVD player that upscales. I know I am not getting true HD sound without the HMDI receiver but man, this thing sounded great. I'm running audio via the optical cable to my receiver. Much "bigger" sound. Very impressed. My wife even commented on the better sound and we both were blown away by the full 1080p video.

I also thought about a standalone BR player but the PS3 seems to have won out in pretty much every category. I thought the PS3 would be harder to control since it's not primarily a BR player but that has not been an issue at all. The $25 Sony PS3 remote is very nice and set up was a breeze. Very easy to control. You just pop in a BR disk and the PS3 does the rest. Very nice. I am 100% satisfied with my purchase so far. I have not regreted going the PS3 route at all.

Thanks again for all the advise guys.

JSE

Cool. Glad you are liking it.
I enjoy mine as well, and look forward to the days of lossless audio and 1080p. Till then, optical out and 720p will do.

[kexodusc]

I haven't done a side-by-side yet, but I have a Cream concert DVD with a DTS 1.5Mbps track, 48KHz, which sounds awsome all things considered (read... my room acoustics), and last night's Dolby TrueHD track. The difference was clearly noticeable. I really felt more of a movie theater presence in my house. What I did do, during playback was to switch the PS3 from Linear PCM to Bitstream, which gave me more decode choices and none of them matched what I heard when in TrueHD mode. From what I've read so far though, YMMV from title to title.

That's encouraging.

I suspect you're waiting until you move to your new house before the serious auditions start?

Been doing lots of auditions - I'm weighing the pros and cons of using a receiver or just buying a mid-fi pre-pro and selling off my integrated. I've got some other hobbies I'd like to start again too. Finally ordered the 1080p projector last week though...

Talk you out of going the PS3 route? It won't be me. As L.J. and others have pointed out, this is much more than a BDP. I'm having an issue right now trying to start and/or install the game that came with my PS3, but I haven't even touched on the other capabilities of this system. The convenience of having the three features you stated above all in one box... in my living room... easily holds this method of HD delivery way above a stand-alone player, IMO.

Yeah, I'm strongly leaning that way - just doing my due diligence.

[L.J.]

I went about 6/7 months using optical out on my PS3 before going HDMI and I noticed a nice improvement in sound over standard DVD/DTS. The 1.5mbps DTS tracks sounds really good. Something I had to live with while waiting for the PS3 DTSMA update.