Impressions of my first Blu-ray unit

[Mr Peabody]

My Samsung BD-P1200 arrived today. I couldn't wait to hook it up. I did read some of the manual to see if anything important jumped out. I'm running the video into my Toshiba 62" DLP via Tributaries HDMI cable. For audio I just plugged my existing digital Toslink in. I've got one BR movie so far, Fantastic Four. I popped it in and I was amazed, smiling from ear to ear. Well.... this was after I couldn't get a picture and went checking connections and such only to find out my HDMI is input #6, not #1. I'll blame it on the excitement. So even some what experienced hobbyists can have a brain fart

The picture was incredible. My wife was even stunned. She was like "yeah, just another one of his gizmos", but this got her attention. There have been statements made as to the fact that people don't think the difference is large enough for consumers to notice, well I beg to differ with that. After viewing some of my BR movie, I put a SD in to see how it looked. The Samsung is supposed to be a great upscaler, even with that, the SD did not come close to the BR picture. The demo discs they have at some of the stores with the split screen showing BR vs SD is not a slanted exaggeration. I had my output resolution set to 1080i, that's the highest my display will go.

The audio was just as stunning. I wondered how much difference there would actually be using digital in/out. It was plenty noticeable. It wasn't so much sound quality as it was the presentation of it. It seemed like there were more sound effects, the steering of the effects around the room and the sound being more enveloping. I am happy with what I've experienced and it really takes the HT experience up a notch.

My first impression of Blu-ray is that there is more of an improvement in both audio and video over standard DVD than I thought there would be. Some one here stated in a thread that they had trouble watching SD since they had gotten their HD disc player. I was skeptical, but now I could see how that could be.

[pixelthis]

Beleive me, watch enough HD and SD is downright pedestrian.
An episode of stargate atlantis tonight was simply stunning.
BTY I might be mistaken but it seems that DLP is a progressive display, with most
having a display of 720p, as good as your new toy looks it might look even better
with an output set to a progressive format

[Mr Peabody]

My DLP's manual says it is capable of 1080i but they never say what the "native" resolution is. I understand from some of the articles I've read that 1080i is a better picture than 720p, dispite my logic. I'll have to play with it to see if there is any difference.

[L.J.]

Congrats on the new toy. Give Pirates 1&2 a try. I was very impressed with the PQ & SQ. Easy demo matl. Take a look at Planet Earth as well. PQ on some scenes is amazing.

[Blue Meanie]

Beleive me, watch enough HD and SD is downright pedestrian.
An episode of stargate atlantis tonight was simply stunning.
BTY I might be mistaken but it seems that DLP is a progressive display, with most
having a display of 720p, as good as your new toy looks it might look even better
with an output set to a progressive format

What is 'BTY'?

Jeff

[musicman1999]

Mr.P
Why don't you hook up your 5.1 outputs and get some of that uncompressed pcm sound.Glad you like your new purchase.

bill

[Mr Peabody]

Using my existing hook up was faster. I may try the analog outs later. Primare tells me my processor has true analog pass through, the signal will bypass any processing. This makes me wonder if my settings will still be in effect or if I will have to set up all my speaker settings using the Blu-ray player, this was a big hesitation too, to be truthful. Also, I've been reading something about certain HD audio formats when converted to the analog, the sub, or LFE, being 10 db down. I'm not sure why this happens. I guess with each channel having it's own volume that this really wouldn't be a problem though.

I don't know if soundtracks are remixed for HD discs or less compression makes that big a difference but the few movies I've watched via the digital connection have been very impressive. Like I just watched The Messengers earlier today and one part sounded like walking was on the ceiling. As I mentioned before the sound effects are a new level from DVD. I previously, except for a hand full of movies, thought my rear speakers were wasted on DVD. But on Blu-ray they get a pretty good workout.

[musicman1999]

What you are getting is full bitrate DTS so it should sound a bit better than the more common half bitrate Dts or DD.I would think that you would need to set your levels in player,post your results as you go.I will be in the same boat if and when i go Bluray,i will be using the analog connection as my Anthem is not going anywhere.

bill

[Mr Peabody]

I watched some scenes on a couple DVD's tonight and I do think it's more the less compression because the sound effects seem to be better than what I remembered.

[musicman1999]

If you mean sd dvd,i don't think the sound should be that much different,because as i understand it the full bitrate dts comes from downconverting the high def audio formats on blurays and the sound from sd dvd's should be pretty much the same allowing for different transports as you are connected by coax digital and your processor is decoding.

bill

[Mr Peabody]

Nope, if you watch standard DVD through a Blu-ray player you will get better DD and DTS sound. Dolby Labs has an explanation for this on their website. If I have it straight, the HD versions still contain the core DD or DTS signal in an uncompressed or less compressed form which in turn allows for better sound using our existing decoders. The HD versions are extensions of the core. I was pretty excited to find this out and I know it's true. It's not just a subtle difference.

[pixelthis]

What is 'BTY'?

Jeff

BTW= BY THE WAY

IMHO=IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

DLP= DEAD LAMP PISS!

PLASMA= NEED SOME "PLASMA" WHEN MY "PLASMA" FELL OFF THE WALL

DA= DUMB ASS

DAAQ= DUMB ASS ASKING QUESTIONS (just kidding)

[Blue Meanie]

BTW= BY THE WAY

IMHO=IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

DLP= DEAD LAMP PISS!

PLASMA= NEED SOME "PLASMA" WHEN MY "PLASMA" FELL OFF THE WALL

DA= DUMB ASS

DAAQ= DUMB ASS ASKING QUESTIONS (just kidding)

That STILL doesn't explain what 'BTY' is, which you've used on more than one occasion. Sorry if you find this to be a DA question.

Jeff

[pixelthis]

That STILL doesn't explain what 'BTY' is, which you've used on more than one occasion. Sorry if you find this to be a DA question.

Jeff

BTY= LOUSY TYPIST
And the ONLY "DA" question is the one you dont ask.
How else are you gonna find anything out?

[mdalcant]

My son has had the Play Station 3 as a blue ray HD DVD and it is stunning. That is why I got one myself and for free. I found an easy way to have the PS3 for free. It is one of the few offers that only asks for trying one service and I chose stamps.com, first because it could actually be useful, second because you can cancel in four weeks without being charged, and you keep the free PS3. The sign in for getting the free offer is very easy and clearly explained in the following link: http://www.YourPS34free.com/index.php?ref=4024541

[bobsticks]

It's getting cold in here... a bit shilly...

[PeruvianSkies]

BTY= LOUSY TYPIST
And the ONLY "DA" question is the one you dont ask.
How else are you gonna find anything out?

Well, at least you admit you can't type very well....and here all along I just thought that you were as ignorant as you came across, now I know that you are still ignorant, but also that you can't type well either and that the two are not as closely related as I initially perceived.

[Mr Peabody]

PS3 for free, that's the way to go.

[pixelthis]

Well, at least you admit you can't type very well....and here all along I just thought that you were as ignorant as you came across, now I know that you are still ignorant, but also that you can't type well either and that the two are not as closely related as I initially perceived.

You're hostility is matched only by your stupidity.
You probably dont know the difference between a rectifier and a rectum
(which probably pisses off your boyfriend to a great degree)
Peruvian skies is a great name for you, as your grey matter is probably as thin as the
air in Peru, and probably composed of oxygen

[fudgemik]

My DLP's manual says it is capable of 1080i but they never say what the "native" resolution is. I understand from some of the articles I've read that 1080i is a better picture than 720p, dispite my logic. I'll have to play with it to see if there is any difference.

720p is higher resolution than 1080i, so u know, its not just scan lines, its a pixel rating and 720p is actually higher 1080i, dont know the numbers off top of my head but check into it.................might be worth it...........now 1080p thats a diff story..........

[E-Stat]

And I've been part of it too...

Let's get back to discussing the real topics, k?

rw

[pixelthis]

And I've been part of it too...

Let's get back to discussing the real topics, k?

rw

Sounds good to me.
Mr Peabodies set has a native res of 720p, when they say it can display 1080i they are just being simplistic, trying not to confuse people.
What they mean is that it can convert 1080i into 720p

[Smokey]

720p is higher resolution than 1080i, so u know, its not just scan lines, its a pixel rating and 720p is actually higher 1080i, dont know the numbers off top of my head but check into it.

How could that be?

Going by number of pixel rating, 1080i set have twice as much pixels (2 milion pixels...1920 × 1080 = about 2.07 million) as compare with 720p sets (1 million pixels...1280 x 720= 0.92 million pixels).

The only difference between 720p and 1080i format is that pixels in 720p sets get refreshed twice as much as 1080i sets in a given time frame

[StoneMountain]

Getting back to the OP. I agree the Blu-ray PQ on my PS3 is amazing on the Panasonic 58 PZ700u. Another nice thing is the upconversion of SD DVD's with animated movies (Cars, Ice Age) phenomenal. It is so good, we are probably not going to buy the blu-ray versions of what we have. However, I am holding off on buying any SD DVD's if it may come on blu-ray later on.

[Mr Peabody]

I hate to make broad generalizations but I have also noticed that animated movies seem to have the least difference between SD & HD. I bought The Ant Bully on BR after having rented it on DVD. Going just from memory the BR didn't seem to show much difference. I have Chicken Little on BR that I haven't watched yet and my kids have the DVD so I plan to do some more comparisons. The Transporter 2 I have on both formats and there is a pretty noticeable difference when going A/B. The upsampled SD looks very good though, I'm wondering if people don't A/B if they will think HD discs are worth the money. The SD looks good but then go to BR and watch a few minutes and go back to SD, you will tell a difference, it's like the SD is almost hazy in comparison. After owning mine, I think HD is worth it.

I just hope people don't think their cable HD is the same. In my area BR is significantly better picture quality over cable HD.

Stone Mountain, welcome to the forums. Let me guess you are in the Atlanta area? I lived there in the mid 90's and have been to the top of Stone Mountain.