twesterm said: So I was looking through my movie collection and looking at what ones are available on BluRay.  I've already converted some movies since Amazon and Best Buy both often do sales where I can get them for about $15 a piece but there are still a lot more to convert if I want to go all the way. But I also started thinking about something again that has been bothering me for a while: the PS3 upscales DVD's. Why should I buy the more expensive BluRay movies if the cheaper version look just the same?  I can either pay $30-40 for a new movie on BluRay or pay $15-20 for a DVD that looks exactly the same because the PS3 upscales my movies. Did Sony shoot themselves in the foot by upscaling DVD's?  I admit, I love the feature but it doesn't really make me want to switch to BluRay since they look the same. Also, is there really that much of a difference between an upscaled DVD and a BluRay movie?  I freely admit I can't tell the difference but I'm also not a huge video junkie.  I'm sure that very small minority of people that are the super video junkies could tell a difference, but can the average person?

 

upcale works for <32

also blu ray offers you less compressed audio 7.1

greenmedic88 said: There was a very good chart I saw a while back that showed the distance at which an individual (with 20/20 vision) must be within to notice the difference between 480, 720 and 1080 lines of resolution compared to the relative size of the screen (say from 20" to 120"). There is a definite diagonal scale. Whether an individual with 20/20 vision can notice the difference between various resolutions depends entirely upon both size of the display and the viewing distance. Sit back far enough from a give display size, say 50 feet from a 20" display as an extreme example, and you won't be able to tell the difference between even a sub SD (ex. 480x320) picture scaled out to fit the entire display, and a native 1080p signal, even assuming the display is a native 1080p display (like a computer monitor, rather than a flat screen TV). Stand close enough that same 20" screen (computer monitor viewing distances for example), and you can easily discern the difference between a 480p upscaled picture and a 1080p native picture. Read text on a monitor at various resolution settings at various distances to see the difference it can make on the same size display. The difference becomes more distinct, the larger the display. More pixels from both the video source, as well as the max native resolution of the display will ALWAYS mean more detail can be rendered. There is no way of interpolating data to cheat this. As is the case with resizing a 720x480 image in Photoshop to a 1920x1080 image, new data cannot be "made" only interpolated to the nearest adjacent approximation. But if an individual really can't tell, or has a hard time telling the difference, then there really isn't much reason to be paying a premium for HD media, and there's no point in even asking the question. And as it's been mentioned, there is a pretty wide gamut of quality for HD media, depending upon the master source and whether the master was cleaned up before transfer, in addition to several other factors. Put simply, some of the worst HD media transfers barely look better than a well mastered DVD. Given a poor enough source, an HD transfer could actually look worse than a cleaned up DVD transfer. So if the premium price is an issue, either wait for your favorite movies to go on sale, or check with the HD media review sites to see if the transfer really is worth the extra money. Also, there are plenty of titles that really don't need to seen in HD, unless you're simply trying to add to your HD collection, for whatever reason.

This pretty much says it all.  Nice post.

Also, there is no official standard for 1440p for commercially available displays.  That doesn't mean that companies haven't gone and made displays with that resolution though (just as we also have WQXGA displays as well)

 

New BDs go for $27 at the walmart near where I live.

I have a 32'' 720p/1080i TV and there IS a noticeable difference even on that. When I use my dad's 42'' 1080p set, I've never had ANYONE not see the difference. Even from 12 feet away.

The only people who say there's no difference between upscaled DVDs and high-def movies are the ones who've never seen high-def media anywhere other than Best Buy.

In the next couple of years MS will come out w/ their next XBOX, which will probably have a BD drive on it, and then we will see even MS fanboys get into Blu-ray, happily even.

SEGA4LIFE  By reading what your saying, I don't Think you understand anything about resolution or up scaling. I have a plasma 42" 1248x728 Now if I upscale a dvd that is 480x480 I'm stretching it which will cause distortion. Let me explain. Lets say I pause the tv at a close up of a womans face on an blu-ray disc.  It would use an estimate of 160 pixels to create her right eye, now in dvd format it would probably use 40 pixels. So if you up scale that on a hdtv it will have to use 4 pixels for every 1 pixel, which will cause a little blurr and you will lose detail. I notice a huge difference from blu-ray and upscale dvd. Just like a 42'' tv @720 is clearer than a 56" tv @720. Because you have the same amount of pixels but the bigger tv's pixels are larger to make up for screen size, the smaller pixels are more detailed. Now if the 56" were 1080 it would be clearer. DVD upscalers are just to fit to screen not to enhance video.

twesterm said: Why should I buy the more expensive BluRay movies if the cheaper version look just the same? Also, is there really that much of a difference between an upscaled DVD and a BluRay movie? I freely admit I can't tell the difference but I'm also not a huge video junkie. I'm sure that very small minority of people that are the super video junkies could tell a difference, but can the average person?

 

Haven't read the responses, but I'll comment on what everyone else is probably weighing in on: there is a noticeable difference between blu-ray movies and upscaled dvds.  This is true in terms of video, and in terms of sound as well. Period.  Yes, the AV setup you have will affect the experience and how much of a difference you notice.  But by example, a 50inch 1080i (not p) TV and a $300 2 year old sound system are plenty good enough to make upscaled DVDs pale in comparison to Blu-Ray.

Now, everyone falls somewhere on the scale in terms of wanting quality vs. wanting to spend less money and accepting lower quality in return.  At one extreme, people watch stolen Divx versions of movies because they are free.  At the other, people buy Blu-Rays and don't even bother to look for sales.

By using Netflix to rent/preview, and by keeping an eye open for online sales and sometimes buying on eBay, a Blu-Ray library containing only movies that you love can be built for under $20 per disc.  Not that your DVDs are worthless, though...they are quite watchable when upscaled, even on large TVs.

I don't think I understand why you're replacing your DVD collection if you can't see the difference. Even I wouldn't do that, and I love HD.

If anyone wants to see a handy direct comparison between upscaled 480p and true 1080p, try this page: http://xylon.haloapplications.com/bluray/stargate/04/


You seem to be lacking the concept of perspective. A 30-inch TV from 3 feet away looks exactly the same as a 60-inch TV from 6 feet away (approximately). There is no absolute size at which high resolutions become worthwhile.

Borkachev said: So I was looking through my movie collection and looking at what ones are available on BluRay. I've already converted some movies since Amazon and Best Buy both often do sales where I can get them for about $15 a piece but there are still a lot more to convert if I want to go all the way. I don't think I understand why you're replacing your DVD collection if you can't see the difference. Even I wouldn't do that, and I love HD. If anyone wants to see a handy direct comparison between upscaled 480p and true 1080p, try this page: http://xylon.haloapplications.com/bluray/stargate/04/ Sorry but saying an Upscale-DvD on a 46inch looks the same as BR on a 46inch, is not Ridiculous. Blu-ray on a 46inch and lower is a waste of money, plain and simple. The whole reason why you get Blu-Ray and 7.1ss is to have the best of the best, throw in a small tv and you just screwed the whole setup. You seem to be lacking the concept of perspective. A 30-inch TV from 3 feet away looks exactly the same as a 60-inch TV from 6 feet away (approximately). There is no absolute size at which high resolutions become worthwhile.

The ones I've been replacing are the ones that I really like (300, Phantom of the Opera, A Knights Tale, ect) or ones that are really old DVD's that don't have anamorphic widescreen (or whatever it is that doesn't work with widescreen TV's very well).

Also, I've been skimming down my movie collection even more so I trade in a crap load of movies and buy a small amount of BluRay or other movies I really like.

 

kingofwale said: let's be fair, if you can't tell the difference between a naive 1080P movie.. vs 480P upscaled DVD.. there isn't much I can say.

 

 Many people who claim to know the difference can't really tell the difference either. Yes most people can tell the difference whenplyaing side by side in the same video as a demo but when the video is by itself and without a reference many people including the ones who say the can tell think the 480P upscaled is in fact 1080P.

That said Twestern the difference is very apparant at the same time especially for things such as blinds, text, minor facial difference. there is also the advantage of more codecs(VC-1,AVC(H.264), and even MPEG-2 among others). Blu Rays also allow for higher bitrates whichmeans things like less artificating and other flaws due to overcompression.

If you have a blu ray player and the TV to watch it on and do  not intend on lending your collection out at least for now go ahead and by the Blu Ray version for mvies you don't own yet. COnverting is a different collection....Do you have to buy the same movie twice....only if you really care about video quality which I don't think you do.

kingofwale said: >I can either pay $30-40 for a new movie on BluRay or pay $15-20 for a DVD that looks exactly the same because the PS3 upscales my movies. There are soooo many things wrong with that sentence... I don't even know where to begin to repute. let's be fair, if you can't tell the difference between a naive 1080P movie.. vs 480P upscaled DVD.. there isn't much I can say.

 

Well, PS3 haters can't differentiate between upscale dvd and Blu-ray movies, while 360 haters can't differentiate between pre-falcon RROD and after falcon normal defect rate.