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Giving Up On Blu Ray? (1 Viewer)

TJPC

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I have been rather distressed lately by all the evidence that manufacturers have decided to give up on 3D for the home. First it was no new televisions with the feature and increasingly discs of movies shown in 3D in the theatre are being only released flat in North America or you can order and ship the region Q disc from "Sri Lanka".

I purchased a Sony 65" 3D TV a few years ago so I could watch 3D Blu Rays. (I am now going to reveal a herecy). Except for 3D, I really don't see much difference between upgraded DVD and Blu ray!

I actually find DVDs more user friendly and love the fact that they load quickly and always keep the spot where you left off even days later. Despite these facts, I have only been buying Blu Rays, and always the 3D version if the movie was 3D.

It occurred to me today, WHY BOTHER? I can step back 10 years and save money. I have two recordable DVD players that I use mostly for classic movies on TCM. Why not do what I used to do with VHS? When the almost new movie plays on TV, I can record it, edit out the commercials and voila! Since I can't get the version I want no matter what, I will creat my own "good enough" version.
In 2 or 3 years most movies are in the Walmart bargain bins for $5.99. If I am dissatisfied with my own copy I can always replace it then.

Movies like this summers Mummy, Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2, and probably the new Transformers largely appeal to me because of 3D. Without that feature, they have minimal replay value to me and not worth buying. I can complete my series with a home made flat version, which is not the one I want, but not much worse than the flat Blu ray.
 

Robin9

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DVDs have always been more user friendly that Blu-ray discs. We've grown used to Blu-ray and don't complain any more about the total contempt for customers displayed by both the format creators and several companies putting out the discs.

65" is not especially large by today's standards, and I can well understand that many DVDs look so good that you are considering recording off the TV. One big caveat however: when your DVD recorders die the death, how will you replace them? They don't make them any more!
 

Edwin-S

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A person has to do what they have to do, but saying there is little difference between upconverted DVD and Blu-ray in image quality is not accurate in any way.

DVD may be more user friendly than Blu in the single instance of saving the last point a person has stopped at, but that is it as far as features go; however, even some BD discs have a resume function based on how they are authored.

Blu is most unfriendly in the background, because of the content protection scheme that is used and the fact that it uses, IIRC, a JAVA based authoring system.

Edit: Head to correct unconverted to upconverted.
 

Edwin-S

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Also, this discussion would be best seen in the Blu-ray media forum, not in the area dedicated to Apple discussions.
 

Robert Crawford

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I utterly disagree about the difference between upgraded DVD and blu-ray and respectfully suggest that your equipment is faulty!
I have to agree with you there about an upconverted DVD to a good BD presentation.. As to faulty equipment, I don't know about that, but something isn't right if that's the conclusion he's made here.
 

TJPC

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DVDs have always been more user friendly that Blu-ray discs. We've grown used to Blu-ray and don't complain any more about the total contempt for customers displayed by both the format creators and several companies putting out the discs.

65" is not especially large by today's standards, and I can well understand that many DVDs look so good that you are considering recording off the TV. One big caveat however: when your DVD recorders die the death, how will you replace them? They don't make them any more!

Walmart as about a year ago, when I bought my last recorder, was still selling them on their website.
 

TJPC

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I have to agree with you there about an upconverted DVD to a good BD presentation.. As to faulty equipment, I don't know about that, but something isn't right if that's the conclusion he's made here.

It's not that I see no difference. I was contemplating replacing my Chaplin DVDs, with Blu Rays, when I read a review of one of them. The author was all excited because behind Chaplin at one point was a poster on a wall, and you could see all the wrinkles on the poster clearly! Who cares? If it is a new better restoration count me in, but if the result is some accidental unimportant detail that the director would not care about, neither do I.
 

Alf S

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I doubt the OP has "faulty equipment" :rolleyes:.

I've rented several new movies on DVD and I was impressed with how clear and well done they look, especially compared to the old ones I may still have laying around from the 90's. The one genre I don't bother renting/buying Blu for is the kids cartoon style movies, like the Pixar stuff, Shrek and similar.

DVD, even though it's a dying format (along with Blu) has come a long way in picture quality compared to when we all first started this video adventure in the 90's.
 

TJPC

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I utterly disagree about the difference between upgraded DVD and blu-ray and respectfully suggest that your equipment is faulty!
Knock yourself out, but how many average people who don't have money or equipment to set up gigantic home theatres feel the difference is unnoticeable. They are busy craining their necks to see the 45" tv they have mounted above their fire place.
 

Alf S

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DVDs have always been more user friendly that Blu-ray discs. We've grown used to Blu-ray and don't complain any more about the total contempt for customers displayed by both the format creators and several companies putting out the discs.

65" is not especially large by today's standards, and I can well understand that many DVDs look so good that you are considering recording off the TV. One big caveat however: when your DVD recorders die the death, how will you replace them? They don't make them any more!

:huh:

I'd say 90%+ of the TV's sitting out for sale at Best Buy, Costco etc are of the 55" and under variety. Sure you can find a handful of bigger, but I bet the general viewing public ops for at most 65 but mainly 55" or under.

If you're saying there are several over 65" TV's for sale now vs. say 10 years ago, yes you are correct, but those probably are sold to a much smaller niche of folks.
 

TJPC

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Try here:
https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/magnavox-dvd-recorders

:huh:

I'd say 90%+ of the TV's sitting out for sale at Best Buy, Costco etc are of the 55" and under variety. Sure you can find a handful of bigger, but I bet the general viewing public ops for at most 65 but mainly 55" or under.

If you're saying there are several over 65" TV's for sale now vs. say 10 years ago, yes you are correct, but those probably are sold to a much smaller niche of folks.
ry
 

jcroy

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65" is not especially large by today's standards, and I can well understand that many DVDs look so good that you are considering recording off the TV. One big caveat however: when your DVD recorders die the death, how will you replace them? They don't make them any more!

In the event that dvd recorders are not available anymore, another possibility is to jerry-rig a solution which exploits the "analog hole".

On some cable systems, they still offer the old analog signal for customers who haven't moved on to digital. All it takes is an old computer tv tuner card or its modern equivalent, where one can digitize an analog ntsc signal.
 
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Robert Crawford

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Knock yourself out, but how many average people who don't have money or equipment to set up gigantic home theatres feel the difference is unnoticeable. They are busy craining their necks to see the 45" tv they have mounted above their fire place.
That may be true, but this forum is run and vastly populated by hard core home theater enthusiasts so I guess many of us are not average people in your opinion.
 

smithbrad

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I utterly disagree about the difference between upgraded DVD and blu-ray and respectfully suggest that your equipment is faulty!

While there is an obvious technical difference that cannot be debated, there are also value and perceived differences that can be debated. For many, once a movie starts they get lost in the enjoyment of the story and no longer focus on how detailed the image is, so from a cost difference perspective in equipment and content the value may not be there. In addition, screen size to viewing distance ratio and vision acuity has as much to do with the perceived quality differences. There is really no need for to try and state a persons equipment is faulty just because they may not share the same perceived value of blu-ray.
 

Alf S

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While there is an obvious technical difference that cannot be debated, there are also value and perceived differences that can be debated. For many, once a movie starts they get lost in the enjoyment of the story and no longer focus on how detailed the image is, so from a cost difference perspective in equipment and content the value may not be there. In addition, screen size to viewing distance ratio and vision acuity has as much to do with the perceived quality differences. There is really no need for to try and state a persons equipment is faulty just because they may not share the same perceived value of blu-ray.

Amen
 

smithbrad

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That may be true, but this forum is run and vastly populated by hard core home theater enthusiasts so I guess many of us are not average people in your opinion.

Also true, but sometimes the have's have a way of looking down upon the have not's. In this particular instance it came off, IMO, a bit more blunt then necessary. And I think this forum is as much about enjoying content, which includes everyone, than what's the best setup. There are other forums that focus on that quite well. The focus of the thread seemed quite valid to me that others may share an interest in.
 

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