Blu ray or a upscaling player? Is blu ray disc player worth it to buy?

Question

I just bought a LCD 1080i. I"m debating on just buying upscaling or blu ray disc player. Can Blu ray play regular DVDs and play on 1080i format? Or should I just save money and by a upscaling player that plays regular DVDs. How is the output on the upscaling player?

Answer 1

Up-scaling makes no difference unless you are spending money on a high unit like a Denon DVD-3910 or 5910, which are grossly more expensive than a blu-ray player. I'm sure people will argue with me on that but I've been in the industry to long to promote that snake-oil. Yes Blu-ray will play your basic DVDs. However, unless your a movie enthusiast i would wait a bit for some next-gen blu-ray players to emerge. Although they have been around for a moment and their movie library is growing, they still have lots of bugs. The best value for a Blu-ray player will be the PS3. Either way enjoy your new TV

Answer 2

A couple of points. I am sorry to inform you that you don't have a 1080i LCD as no such thing exists.  All LCDs are progressive and not interlaced. If you were told that it was 1080i then the salesperson or signage was misinforming you and it is probably a 720p/768p which can accept a 1080i signal but scales that down to 720p. There is an off chance that it is 1080P but I think they would have advertised that a little more prominently.

As to whether the Blu-Ray Player is worth the price difference, I am of the opinion that it is. But it is just that, an opinion. Most people can certainly see the difference when the same movie is played in both formats on the same TV side by side. How much you can tell depends on a few things. Screen size, distance to TV and the TVs resolution all play a part in your overall enjoyment and the difference in sharpness. Of course if you have a surround sound system then you may also benefit by getting better sound from the BD movies.

A Blu-Ray player will upscale DVDs just like a DVD player with that function can but that will never look as good as a Blu-Ray movie will.

When you ask about worth what is being discussed is subjective. Lots of people give opinions as fact like when they say an item is too expensive or isn't worth so & so. That doesn't mean you should settle for less than the best. You will have to determine that for yourself.

Answer 3

Ive checked on a 32inch LCD and a 120 inch hd projector flicking between high def and standard up scaling and to be honest its not worth the extra money spent.

standard is a 8 out of ten

high def is 9 and a half but does it really warrant paying the $$$$$$

those that have it say its great yet those that dont can hardly tell

i think a lot of it is like the story about the emperors new clothes(the one were he is naked but everyone says how great his clothes are. at the end of the day its not gonna make a c**p film any better just because its a touch clearer

Answer 4

Blu-ray players can also upscale regular DVDs.

Right now, the best Blu-ray player on the market is the PS3 which starts at $400.

If you don't want to spend that much now, you can get an upscaling DVD player for about $80-100.  Blu-ray players will drop in price as time goes on, and there's not a whole lot on blu-ray right now, so by waiting, you won't be missing anything.

An upscaled DVD will look a lot better than a DVD played on a regular TV, however a blu-ray movie will still give you the superior picture.

Answer 5

Not an easy question to answer.

First, you will have to decide based on YOUR priorities ... but let me offer some things to consider.

- Blu-ray is, and will likely remain, a niche premium format for people who can benefit and are willing to pay the premium price (~$300+ for the player and $5-$20 more for disks of the same movie vs DVD).

- Opinion of Blu-ray can vary from "wow!" to "what's all the fuss about" ... depending on how it is being displayed.

- To FULLY benefit you need a 40" or larger 1080p HDTV, with a good surround sound system capable of handling the advanced audio formats.

- You will still get some benefit from Blu-ray with a 720p HDTV (what you have), but you don't mention screen size, where you intend to watch from and whether you have a good sound system ... all of which influence the benefit/cost equation.

- Many Blu-ray films are poorly mastered and don't look much better than DVD even under optimum conditions.

- An upconverting DVD player won't make a DVD look as good as a Blu-ray disk, but on a 720p HDTV under about 40" detail will look fairly close. But picture quality is subjective -- and dependent on more than just resolution --  so you really have to see it for yourself and decide if Blu-Ray is worthwhile. Why not view a DVD and a Blu-ray disk on a HDTV similar to yours and see for yourself?

Personally I can say that I have a 720p projector and a 110" screen, and I tried HD DVD disks (which give essentially identical picture and audio quality to Blu-ray) and found insignificant improvement over upscaled DVDs. Since then I have bought 2 HD DVD tiltes (Planet eart and Sunrise Earth) and over 50 DVDs. I use my HD DVD player as an upscaling DVD player ... and pay about $20 less for movies than if I bought Blu-ray. So I guess I'm biased ... but upconverted DVD look just fine with me.

I should caution that not everyone sees the same thing (which is why I recommended seeing for yourself).

If you do consider an upconverting players note they are only as good as the video processing chip they use ... so avoid the under $60 models. The best are Oppo's models but they are a bit pricy.

BTW, if you do decide an upconverting DVD player is enough the liquidation prices (~$75) in effect on the Toshiba HD-A3 or Venture HD-7000 (Wal-Mart's brand) HD DVD player make them a very attractive option (and as a bonus you can play  any of the 400 HD DVD movies available (Noting there will be very few new ones after this month)). But you will have to move fairly fast .. a lot of people have realized the same thing and they are getting snapped up fast.

Finally, if you decide on Blu-ray, other than the PS3, you should wait until near the end of the year to get a Profile 2.0 (BD-Live!) player, and for prices to come down a bit.

Hope that helps.