General Forum

Re: blue-ray

moxxey — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:07:57 GMT

Flappo The Grate:
roll on the bv7/40 blu ray that's all i can say - woohoo !!

Yeah, I bet the PQ will be even better than through the PS3, too!

Good point about flogging old Blu-ray's second hand. I might try that on eBay.

Re: blue-ray

Flappo The Grate — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:14:33 GMT

oh look who's moaning aboot price now !! i thought that was MY job..

only joshing..

to be fair blu rays have that extra hard layer that means theyre very hard to scratch so they'll last a lot longer , plus you get very good trade in prices when you re sell them , finally the video rental shops i go to are all going over to blu ray for the unscratchability factor alone , the amount of dvds they rent that come back ruined is staggering they told me

with blu rays they've hardly had any problems and are most impressed !

i think for casual viewing appletv or something similar is more than sufficient , or a good dvd upscaler like the denon 1940 or pioneer dv600 but once you've seen full hd on a 1080p screen , it really does blow your mind i can tell ya !

the clarity , lack of noise and sheer 3d effect is something to behold

roll on the bv7/40 blu ray that's all i can say - woohoo !!

Re: blue-ray

moxxey — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:03:07 GMT

I do agree with Flappo that the PS3 is a fantastic product. Soundproof, it's very quiet. My 40Gb PS3 is almost silent - far quieter than my Sky HD box, for example.

The only issue I have is with the price of Blu-ray discs. Still too expensive at around £17.99 each, especially when you see regular DVDs reduced to 'buy 3 for £20' a few months after release....whereas Blu-ray discs are still £17.99!

I hear that Transformers is supposed to be absolutely staggering, in terms of PQ and sound quality. Not seen it, but has been recommended as a test disc for high quality.

Re: blue-ray

Flappo The Grate — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:48:55 GMT

i think it depends on which model you buy

the 40 gig has a much quieter fan as far as i can tell , the 60/80 seems to ramp up after about 20 minutes

but it's nowhere near the terrible din the x box 360 makes

i had the hd-dvd add on for that and although the picture was excellent - transformers is amazing on hd-dvd - the noise the 360 made ruined any film watching enjoyment

overall if the 360 is a 10 and the wii is a 1 on noise , i'd give the ps3 a 5-6 , plus you can always put it in a ventilated cabinet and use a nice long hdmi cable

my sister went to the usa last week to see van halen in concert and brought me back loads of blu rays that i'm currently watching

the picture quality even on old classics like terminator 1 and rambo first blood really is very impressive

for the £300/$300 the ps3 now costs i think most bno enthusiasts could easily afford a toe in the water with this little 'toy'

go on , buy one ! :) you can always tell the wife it's for the kids to play gta on !! :)

Re: blue-ray

soundproof — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:25:53 GMT

Agreed, the Playstation 3 is a very impressive bit of tech with unlimited possibilities. I didn't like the noise from the drive - is that gone?

Re: blue-ray

Flappo The Grate — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:29:51 GMT

i use a ps3 and it's amazing

very fast operation , plus it has wifi so updates are easy

oh and it plays a mean call of duty 4 online too !!

picture quality on a good blu ray is stunning ( got die hard 4 today and it was like buying a new pair of eyeballs ) plus it upscales dvd's to a really good level !

Re: blue-ray

soundproof — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:21:00 GMT

I dislike the entire Blu-ray format. Had a Pioneer Blu-ray player on trial some months ago -- took miiiiinnnnnuuuuuutttttteeeeeeesssssss to just get going, slow and unpredictable, lots of DRM checks and balances. Me no like at all. Have tried others, and while access times have improved I think that these formats are simply not catching on, and that the movie studios are taking a hard look at downloads instead.

Why? Because the downloaders name is embedded in the movie file you buy/rent, Which means that if it's illegally copied, they know which door to knock on, and that's very attractive to them, while Blu-ray disks are just as prone to be illegally copied as DVDs - and as the above poster states, the only solution is frequent firmware updates. I'm not going to be bothered. Could be my eyes - 1080i does it for me, as long as I'm not using a projector and a very large screen.

Re: blue-ray

Flappo The Grate — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:18:45 GMT

that is a very good point

why don't bno allow internet based software updates like other companies do ?

Re: blue-ray

beojeff — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:56:03 GMT

It's worth noting that while you can rent HD movies on Apple TV, you can only purchase movies in SD on Apple TV.

The introduction of a B&O Blu-Ray player will bring with it one very interesting characteristic: the need for frequent firmware updates. Blu-Ray players by their very nature require that the firmware be updated periodically to keep up with updates to the DRM. An ethernet or wireless internet connection incorporated into a B&O Blu-Ray player would finally eliminate or at least minimize the costly software/firmware updates that have required a house call by a certified B&O technician.

Re: blue-ray

erg4000 — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:59:59 GMT

Flappo The Grate:
that must be america , you're always years ahead of us lot in the uk
why they're dragging their feet over here with apple is beyond me

You can get an US account for iTunes and get full access to the world of Apple TV.

Re: blue-ray

erg4000 — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:55:26 GMT

soundproof:
...
We were discussing blu-ray versus upscaled DVD and the HD quality of AppleTV. We watched Sweeney Todd fro AppleTV, which is a particularly good HD-transfer on a 50" plasma, and my friend's evaluation was that this convinced him he was not going to replace all his DVDs with blu-ray versions. ...

There is a big chance that even blu-ray is not going to dominate the HD movie market because of downloadable HD contents. Apple TV is a good example, and I'm astonished by the results compared to blu-ray (Playstation 3) on my B&O setup (BV4 50" / Beosystem 3).

I received an announcement for Germany's B&O dealers where the discontinuation of the DVD 2 was announced. They also announced that a blu-ray replacement for DVD 2 is not planned. Instead, the support of namable blu-ray producers, based on regular updates, is scheduled for the future. However I don't know what a "PUC solution" is. Does anybody have an idea ?

I find it rather disappointing that B&O still has no concept for integrating blu-ray players into their own products. A DVD 2 updated with a blu-ray drive would be a logic continuation of the product line. The combination of a Hard-disc and DVD recorder is advantageous. I love the design of the DVD 2 in combination with the Beosystem 3 and I would prefer to build my future B&O acquisitions on this design line.

Re: blue-ray

Flappo The Grate — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:53:38 GMT

that must be america , you're always years ahead of us lot in the uk

why they're dragging their feet over here with apple is beyond me

Re: blue-ray

soundproof — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:38:58 GMT

I should point out that you can purchase movies in high-resolution, not just rent them.

Lots of services coming with this offer now. Vudu.com, www.videogiants.com, etc. And you can also purchase movies from AppleTV, which means they won't autodelete.

Re: blue-ray

Flappo The Grate — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:36:35 GMT

i think the only advantage of blu ray is having a hard copy that you can replay , the downloads auto delete after 1 play

plus blu ray has that very handy in movie menu system for finding scenes , changing setting and getting alternative soundtracks , one of the biggest improvements over dvd but hardly ever mentioned

i'm investigating a few dvd upscalers at the moment , but they only upscale via hdmi so i'll need an hdmi expander kit , the dvd committee won't allow hd playback via component for copyright reasons - the killjoys !

it's all getting awfully complicated !

Re: blue-ray

soundproof — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:48:57 GMT

I had a friend who's a professional cinematographer visit last Friday. He has shot several dozen features, and actually had one in competition in Cannes this year.

We were discussing blu-ray versus upscaled DVD and the HD quality of AppleTV. We watched Sweeney Todd fro AppleTV, which is a particularly good HD-transfer on a 50" plasma, and my friend's evaluation was that this convinced him he was not going to replace all his DVDs with blu-ray versions. He hasn't bothered getting a blu-ray player, in spite of having a projector at home, but was considering it now, until he saw the quality of HD downloaded over the net ...

Worth thinking about. I'm likewise also not getting a blu-ray player, for the same reasons.