I just wish to share my opinion on Blue-Ray vs HD movies from apple tv.

I watched my first BR movie( Transformer ) yesterday on BV7-40, and honestly there is only a little difference between Blue-Ray and HD movies if any, on this 40" screen.

The picture quality from BR is perhaps sharper.

What are your thoughts?

You're right. There's not *that* much difference between Sky HD movies and Blu-ray, either. I think you might see more of a difference on a larger panel, such as a 65".

The key difference is probably the sound. You tend to get uncompressed audio on a Blu-ray, whereas it's standard Dolby Digital 5.1 in a compressed downloadable movie.

Mind you, I wanted IronMan the other day, on a standard definition disc, and the video and audio quality made me wonder if Blu-ray discs were absolutely necessary? IronMan on SD was £3.98, whereas it's still £13 on Blu-ray.

i agree re blu ray , i've actually stopped buying them as the last few were mediocre at best in regards to picture quality

i downloaded a few sd , not even hd , apple movies the other day and was very pleasantly surprised , all came with numbered thumbnail chapters , rather good picture and very good 5.1 audio

On a 40" television, I have to agree, the difference in picture quality is not very important, but can easily be seen with fast movements or light variations of color such as smoke, where the image always gets pixelated.
But when I turn on the videoprojector, Itunes HD is just poor quality compared to Blu Ray.

Concerning sound, Blu ray wins hands on, it's a totally different experience.

The problem with iTunes movies is that it's also extremely expensive when you compare to a video rental shop which rents blu ray for 1 to 2€ here.

Now : why spending so much on a B&O cinema system just to see iTunes movies on it? It's like listening to 128kb/s MP3s on Beolab 5!

Maybe I have amazing super eyesight and hearing (doubtful), but you have to be kidding, right!  There is a *big* difference in both picture and sound quality between Blu-ray disc and iTunes "HD" movies. Even discounting the argument that iTunes movies are 720 (not "full" HD) resolution (in any case my 42" Pioneer plasma TV is only 768), the higher bitrate of Blu-ray means noticably better picture quality. And the sound is uncompressed on Blu-ray, the difference in sound quality very evident even with non-HD soundtracks. I have a very nice Blu-ray player, Pioneer LX71, and a nice TV, but the difference should be clear on any reasonable setup (unfortunately I haven't yet seen the BV7 Blu-ray, I gave up waiting for it and went with non-B&O!).

iTunes is very convenient, and slick, and definitely meets a need (and I use it sometimes) bit nowhere near Blu-ray in quality terms. I suspect that's why Apple are reportedly about to embrace the "bag of hurt" and include Blu-ray playback on future machines.  

Blu-ray will likely have a limited lifespan (as has been discussed on BeoWorld before), as it'll be irrelevant once full resolution, high bitrate, uncompressed files can be practicably downloaded. But that won't be anytime soon, at least not in the UK!

Hello All

Just my 2p!

I have been watching blueray movies on my BV7 for a while now and i was ripping my DVD collection to HDD for streaming to Apple TV when the other day i watch an SD DVD.

After and during this film i was shocked at how i had become so used to the blueray quality that i will never go back to SD now.

The difference amazing.

The only problem i have with the 9K bv7 is that you get panning on the screen and projector when in cinema mode.

Greg:

Maybe I have amazing super eyesight and hearing (doubtful), but you have to be kidding, right!  There is a *big* difference..

You are right, there's a difference for fast-moving objects. Some of the so-called 'HD' TV programmes are far worse than the same TV programme on BBC HD. Colours a lot more washed out. However, get a very good very recent SD DVD and on my BV7-40 MKIV, the internal Blu-ray player makes a very decent job in upscaling.

However, there's also a *big* difference in price. How many times do we watch movies? Rarely more than 3 times, even for the best movie. With this in mind, spending £14 for 'top quality' is ridiculous. Worse, Blu-ray discs are rarely discounted below £10, whereas most SD DVDs are £5 within 6 months of release. I often see SD DVDs for a fiver, whereas the same Blu-ray is still nearly £15 - three times more expensive.

I must have about forty Blu-ray movies and released that's about £600 of discs sitting on the shelves. Unless you're a footballer or won the lottery, Blu-rays are just overkill.

I don't agree :

You can rent blu rays for a very low price, and more importantly, you can RESELL blu rays, or buy them second hand... So the price can be LOWER than crappy HD on iTunes!

thing i like aboot the dloads is the lack of so called special features and the uber complex interfaces that most bd's exhibit

i just want to see a film - nothing more

no interviews with the second lighting cameraman in swahili in 4 x 3 from 1974 thank you

What do you have against swahili?

Maybe worth checking the settings for the projection connection.

A cinematographer I know, and who is very critical of image quality, connected the best of the InFocus projectors to his AppleTV, via HMDI, and decided not to build a Blu-ray library. Sound is vastly superior on BD - IF the movie company has taken the bother and not just upsampled from a regular mix.

blu ray does have problems

cant read disc errors

long load times even on latest players

long layer change times

large amount of bluray laser failures on ps3  i wonder if that effects other brands as well

ill stick to dvd great sound on 5.1 surround sound nice filmic quality bluray can look a bit unnatural and some sd dvd can nearly match bluray quality 

you can buy casino royale on dvd for £2.99 uk price great buy

I just don't see the point spending 10k€ on a B&O home cinema and then watching what can be stated as correct quality DVDs, but not state of the art HD... B&O has very good upscalers for SD, but a kikinoko screen with a HD signal beats B&O with SD...

mbee:

I just don't see the point spending 10k€ on a B&O home cinema and then...

Yes, but out of principle, we should have to spend £14 or more on a Blu-ray when the same film is almost a third of the price on SD. Just because we *can* afford to spend, it doesn't mean we *should*. That's reason the world's in the mess it's in right now. A flippant attitude to throwing cash for the best 'experience'.

Agreed. Though, movie rentals are definitely why i bought it. The number of movies is not really "very limited", as somebody said. I think there's plenty of movies in HD to rent. Blu-ray to Apple TV

from what i've read on the net the difference between appletv hd and blu ray is minimal at best , especially on screens 40" and less

plus the appletv has the convenience factor , and i'm much more impressed by the reliability of apple's hardware than sony's

i'm on my 3rd ps3 now and i just don't trust the hardware anymore

while everyone i know with an appletv is really happy with it

just make sure you go for the 160 gig model ;)

Flappo The Grate:

from what i've read on the net the difference between appletv hd and blu ray is minimal at best , especially on screens 40" and less

plus the appletv has the convenience factor , and i'm much more impressed by the reliability of apple's hardware than sony's

i'm on my 3rd ps3 now and i just don't trust the hardware anymore

while everyone i know with an appletv is really happy with it

just make sure you go for the 160 gig model ;)

I used to have a PS3 which was one of the better blu-rays available back at the beginning .... just that the machine is totally unreliable.
After 2 returns and and a new one in under a year , I gave up and traded in for a samsung BD player

The samsung never gave me any grieve and performs all disks perfectly so far. (over 50 BD rented so far )
I had a problem with one disk I rented, but that ended up being because of a dirty disk !!! 
Rental price here is same for BD or SD disks. 

Extremely happy with the quality of image and sound coming from my BD player.

I used to have an apple tv which I ended up selling rather quickly as I found it fairly slow in use, needs my computer to be always on, unstable wireless connection and an image quality (even the HD rentals) is barely at par (even connected with hdmi)  with a regular SD image upgraded through the Samsung Blu-ray player's hdmi...
A dedicated mac mini now serves as hub for itunes and plex for music and hd downloads which ended up being slightly better and more versatile.

My screen is a 42" pro panasonic plasma and believe me, nothing beats the blu-ray for image quality in sharpness, depth and speed. Sounds is also very good .....even with my 'antique' AV7000.....

Just my 2 cents worth .... 

I use an 80gb Sony PS3 and an Apple TV on a BV7-40 Mark III. I can see no difference in picture quality personally. Tested with The Dark Knight download and disk. Can't comment on sound too much as I can't have surround in my living space. Big fan of the ATV and of the PS3. Bought both last year and had no problems with either ... so far.

Simon.

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cooldude:

 

I used to have an apple tv which I ended up selling rather quickly as I found it fairly slow in use, needs my computer to be always on, unstable wireless connection and an image quality (even the HD rentals) is barely at par (even connected with hdmi)  with a regular SD image upgraded through the Samsung Blu-ray player's hdmi...

I've also got a MacMini, but compared to you, my ATV experience is as follows.

1. Very fast - has movies up and running in a few seconds, including HD. Retrieves content immediately, switches easily between sources, accesses content on other computers or storage devices without any trouble.

2. No - the computer doesn't need to be on, and I've even gone with just the ATV in my bag to hotels, the cabin, etc., to watch content stored on it, or just connecting to the Ethernet there, to go on the net to watch movies, using my account without any problems.

3. The wireless connection is flawless on mine. Fast and reliable, with no drop-outs.

4. The HD quality is excellent, which makes me believe yours was set up wrong, or not properly updated. Have mentioned this before, but a friend of mine who is a leading cinematographer, dropped building a BD library when he carried out comparisons between a properly set up ATV-HD feed and a variety of BD sources. Yes - the sound quality will differ, and if you are projecting onto a very large screen, you will appreciate the enhanced BD resolution. But otherwise, very nice from the ATV, IMO.

Dear soundproof.

I do need to clarify that the ATV I owned indeed was a first generation unit bought about a year or so after they first came out. So, upon you reply, I did check them out at the apple store again and I admit they seem to work alot smoother now. Mine sure didn't..... 
I don't want to bash the ATV as I still think it's a very capable little machine that I do love ( I did own one after all...) but in my case was such a frustration that I basically gave up on it. Also it dependence on the itunes store or it's need for hacking has put me off.

1) my mac mini does the same job just as fast, and can do a bit more than the ATV. 

2) My library is now too big to store on any ATV, also I have no intention of traveling with my setup  (though the ATV is perfect in that sense.) I also do NOT want to buy or rent movies through the apple store or any other online store. Used the apple store only once to setup the apple tv and to try out some HD content.

3) The wireless connection is more stable on my mac mini, something my ATV didn't accomplish as it had a myriad of problems connecting to my 1TB nas. So satisfied that I have now started ripping some of my regular dvd's with the mac mini to the NAS server. The NAS will be extended to 2or even3 TB if possible

4) My ATV setup was done correctly and was tried with several SD and HD files from downloaded, ripped and Itunes origin on one hand and the blu-ray player with SD and BD disks on the other. I DID notice the difference in image quality on my plasma. Both the atv and BD player were connected through hdmi to my screen ( also I did plug them in the same HDMI port with the same cable, just to make sure..... ) I suppose newer screens will probably have better video processors built-in to further upgrade the image. Also, the larger the screen, the more you'll notice the difference. Sound quality indeed does differ as well.

The mac mini should play video to the same quality as the atv. Still not to the HD quality of the Blu ray player on my screen. ( I did try all possible settings....) but that could just be my plasma and this situation could be different on other screens. 

In my case it was easier (at that point in time) to just sell my atv and buy a BD player with it. I only paid $195 (Canadian icnl tax) which I consider even now a fairly good deal for a BD player (samsung bd1600). Also our local video rental place sells off their excess BD disk for 6$ to 10$ when they move them from the 'new arrivals' to the 'regular' shelving (usually one month or so after they hit the shelves). They also come with a full warranty. Just like the fact that I have most of my music now digitally stored I still want a back-up original copy.

I did add the mac mini mainly for playing music (though I still play cd's and records more often) as my wife prefers this. The video part has only been added now to store some of her favorite (older) movies and shows as our library is getting pretty big and some of it will have to go into storage.

Regards

this looks grate !

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/22580/

eyetv elgato on the iphone / ipod touch

AT LAST !!

Indeed very lovely and needed. I think I will give it a try when I have reinstalled my iMac with OS X 10.6. Thanks for the link