Help on blu ray specs....?

Question

I am trying to pick between a ps3 and a 360..I don't need a bunch of opinions on which is better I can choose that..What I don't know is much about blu ray. I have a 32" lcd 720p/1080i JVC. I wish I would have gotten a full HD but I could not afford it. If I get the blu ray will it be worth buying blu ray movies for it, will they be better than basic upconversion even though my tv is not 1080p? Please help.

Answer 1

It really comes down to you, how and where you watch from and your eyesight.

Blu-ray is 1080p, and on a 720p HDTV you will lose out on some of the potential resolution. Video quality from an upconverted DVD and downsampled Blu-ray on a 32" HDTV (a fairly small screen ... many recommendations are for 40"+ screens to benefit from Blu-ray), particularly from the sub-optimum viewing distances most viewers use, will be close.  Note that Blu-ray also has improved audio ... so that may be a consideration ... if you have audio equipment to take advantage of it.

I won't mention player prices since you don't want help choosing between a 360 and PS3.  But, the real question is disk prices. At the moment Blu-ray disks are significantly (one recent report showed an average $11) more expensive than DVDs.

I've tried HD disks on my 720p projector and wasn't convinced. If disks drop to $1-$2 premium for Blu-ray I might consider it .. but for now I'm sticking with DVD.