How much better is Blue Ray?

[caduceus]

I have currently got a Toshiba 32WL56P LCD tv, and a Sony RDR GX210 DVD player. And I was wondering how much better a Blue Ray player is than the standard player I have right now. Is the difference enough to justify the cost?
I don't watch alot of tv, just TopGear, Holby & the news tbh. So not bothered about the grainy delivery on that front. But would like to enjoy DVDs in a more superior quality.
Is the tv I've got good enough to keep, and upgrade to a blue ray? Or do I need to start thinking about newer technology to make use of a new B/R player?

Thanks
Cad

[OldSkoolRS]

Unless you sit really close (and I'm talking well within 2 metres) of your 32" then I think you'll be underwhelmed with BluRay picture quality. I sit 4 metres back from a 40" and it's hard to tell the difference, hence why I only bother watching BluRays on my projector (where the difference is clear to see). There is a table somewhere of recommended seating distances verses screen size, but off the top of my head I think they talk about 2 times the screen width (not diagonal) as being around the range you should aim for (I sit about 1.4 x screen width for my PJ and the difference is easy to see).

[RizzoTheRat]

OldSkoolRS said:

There is a table somewhere of recommended seating distances verses screen size

http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html

I believe DVD is 480p, though whether or not your DVD player is upscaling will effect how good it looks on a higher resolution telly.

[GMX09]

I'm a quality freak, and I can't stand watching things if the video isn't decent quality. I end up steering from the video itself and paying attention to the little flaws.

For me Blu-Ray was a massive improvement, considering the resolutions;

Standard DVD is 720x576 (IIRC) and Blu-Ray can go as large as 1920x1080 (1080p/i) which is a respectable ~2.5x increase. They say 1080p is the max we'll have for the next 7/8 years, until we can come up with something outrageously large.

EDIT - If sheer numbers aren't your thing, here's a size comparison (25% scale)

Edited by GMX09 on Monday 5th October 19:46

[Ultra Violent]

It's nearer a 5 times increase is it not? Its an area not a vector.

[OldSkoolRS]

RizzoTheRat said:

I believe DVD is 480p, though whether or not your DVD player is upscaling will effect how good it looks on a higher resolution telly.

American NTSC region 1 DVDs are 480p UK PAL DVDs are 576p as quoted above. If the TV is 1080p, but you feed it with 576p then the TV itself will do the upscaling (otherwise you would end up with the picture being a small rectangle in the middle of the screen). Some better TVs do a better job of this than some cheaper DVD players, you can compare to see which gives the better result.

The theory of how many pixels is all well and good, but the screen is too small/too far away, then IMHO it's still a waste. I will always select a film on BluRay when I rent (no extra cost anyway online, so why not) but that's only because I'm going to watch on a big enough screen to make it worthwhile. If I was watching on my 40" from nearly 4 metres back I may as well watch an upscaled DVD (although having a decent external video processor probably helps too, but you get my point).

[caduceus]

I think the only reason I bring up the quality issue is because the difference between normal tv and Hi Def is astonishing.

Is the difference between normal DVD and Blue Ray not the same kind of step up in performance?

Btw, I currently sit 3 meters away from my 32 inch LCD.

Thanks for the replies so far gents.

[JustinP1]

caduceus said:

I think the only reason I bring up the quality issue is because the difference between normal tv and Hi Def is astonishing.

Is the difference between normal DVD and Blue Ray not the same kind of step up in performance?

Btw, I currently sit 3 meters away from my 32 inch LCD.

Thanks for the replies so far gents.

I sit 5 metres away from a 63 inch and you can see the difference between DVD and blu-ray straight away.

Not only in the definition of the picture but things like the colour grading. On DVD especially in dark areas the pixellation is clear - on blu-ray, perfect (or near enough...!).

[drybeer]

You could always get an upscaling amp first - this would upscale your sky and DVD in a pretty good way to give close to HD imaging - but even then you would notice a HUGE improvement in quality to go for Blueray.

And that's BEFORE we mention the HD master audio available on the Blueray disc!

[Ultra Violent]

Slightly off topic, but I found the Tacima (or what ever it is called) mains conditioner extender thingie, made as much difference as the scaler in my AV Amp WRT picture quality. It really was that good and only £20 or so.

[OldSkoolRS]

drybeer said:

You could always get an upscaling amp first - this would upscale your sky and DVD in a pretty good way to give close to HD imaging - but even then you would notice a HUGE improvement in quality to go for Blueray.

And that's BEFORE we mention the HD master audio available on the Blueray disc!

Just to say that amplifiers don't tend to have very good upscaling abilities, it's just a convienience feature to allow a single cable out to the screen. It may well give no better result than the OP is already seeing (remember my point above that his TV is already upscaling) and not many amps have RGB scart sockets, so he'd end up using S-video or worse composite vide as the source for the upscaling (rubbish in rubbish out). However I would recommend checking that the existing Sky and DVD players are checked to make sure they are both using RGB out and not standard composite video and you might find you are happy with the image if this is changed to RGB, especially from 3 metres back. I really think you will struggle to notice the difference going to HD, if you are listening through the TV speakers then the HD sound format will make no noticable difference (big debate as to whether it does on a full scale amp and speakers set up, though I happen to think it does). Of course if you need a new DVD player, you may as well get a BluRay player anyway as the cost is low now and you'll still be able to use the interactive 'features' (whether you find them useful is a moot point).

I know we're all into having the latest tech, but I just think it's only fair to point out that in some circumstances the benefits may not be noticable.

[hairyben]

Like said you won't see much of a muchness on a '32. Although if you have plans to get a bigger telly in the near future it'd make sense to swop DVD buying to blu-ray now.

If you buy a HD amp, or if your amp has a 5.1 input, you can use the uncompressed soundtrack which is a big step up.

[CraigW]

Ultra Violent said:

Slightly off topic, but I found the Tacima (or what ever it is called) mains conditioner extender thingie, made as much difference as the scaler in my AV Amp WRT picture quality. It really was that good and only £20 or so.

how does that work mate? what does it plug into?

[PJ S]

Just to add a bit more weight to what OldSkool has already explained regarding upscaling of SD sources for using with a HD display - 99/100 there's little point in setting the upscaling DVD player to anything beyond 576p (deinterlacing the signal), as the TV's own scaler will in all likelihood, be the same, if not better.
Similar story for playing DVD on a B-R player, and also goes for the AV amp fed with SD Sky/Virgin.

1080p is a marketing point, pure and simple, and only is of any benefit in the context of the TV being able to handle the signal, and having a 1920x1080 native pixel count, and B-R players, obviously!
In every other instance, the use of 1080p is purely ballcocks, serving no actual purpose.

Regarding B-R quality - setting aside the audio element - if your current TV is "only" HD Ready, with a 1366x768 native pixel count, then your 1080p B-R movie signal, is going to be downscaled by the TV anyway, and if you set the output to 720p, the TV then has to upscale that to fit its 768 vertical pixels.

So, in a nutshell - forget Blu-Ray for the meantime, and revist it when you're going to have a screen size to do the format justice (50" in reality) and sitting 6-7' from it to be able to appreciate the extra detail presented. Otherwise, you may as well make do with 720p Sky/Virgin/FreeSat HD on a 37"/42" HD Ready TV (and plasma preferably) to enjoy the low-fat HD content being broadcast.

[Tycho]

I have the same TV and when sitting about 8-10ft away, you can see a difference but it isn't mind blowing when coming up from DVD. If your DVD is upscaling then the difference will be even less IMO.

I am however starting to get Blu-Rays now as any TV I get in the future will be a lot larger and I already have a player in my PS3. I think if I didn't already have a PS3 then I wouldn't have bothered with Blu-Ray as I only have a 32inch TV.

[clonmult]

Ultra Violent said:

Slightly off topic, but I found the Tacima (or what ever it is called) mains conditioner extender thingie, made as much difference as the scaler in my AV Amp WRT picture quality. It really was that good and only £20 or so.

If you're running a high def source through HDMI to a large screen, a mains conditioner shouldn't make a blind bit of difference - everything there is happening in the digital domain with error correction, no data should be lost.

[Ultra Violent]

Sorry should have been clearer, it is SD through the AV scaler to HD. The main improvement was when the LCD was plugged into the mains adapter but the scaler also improved. Welcome to come and see for yourself, it is night and day different.

[Ultra Violent]

CraigW said:

Ultra Violent said:

Slightly off topic, but I found the Tacima (or what ever it is called) mains conditioner extender thingie, made as much difference as the scaler in my AV Amp WRT picture quality. It really was that good and only £20 or so.

how does that work mate? what does it plug into?

Its just a plug socket extender with some extra bells and whistles. What Hi-Fi recommended it, as i've always thought it was first class BS, I thought i'd call What Hi-Fi's bluff and spend the £20. Turns out they were correct, the difference is really noticeable.

[Tiggsy]

I sit 10ft from a 50" and the BR is superb. We used to watch our old 32" crt down the length of our room but now have one half for TV and one half for "not" Tv....so we now watch the 50" across the width...far better.

[caduceus]

Thanks very much for all the comments guys! Very informative.
I went into a hifi shop today for a quick nose around and had a gander at some B/R players. The guy in there said if my tv wasn't 100 htz or more, then don't bother. He showed me a 50 and a 200 htz and the difference was stunning.
At the moment I'm using a component lead from the DVD to TV, as I don't have an RGB port. Only a HMDI port and the usual comp and scarts.

Also the consensus on here seems to point to not bothering with my current setup. So if the tv is less than a 100 anyway, I don't think I'll bother for the time being.

Cheers again.