Blu Ray vs Up converted dvd

[melodywhore]

high def is only as good as the original source material and how it is remastered. a lot of newer films are shot in hd digital and some are further enhanced with things like DNR. catalog films can also be enhanced with edge softeners. but you do get a high definition version of the film regardless of the quality. the resolution is higher than standard definition dvd.

upconversion is a process that increases the resolution and uses mathematical equations to try to increase the quality. it is marketed as "near high def" and some dvds do look pretty good upconverted. however, again this is dependent on the source and the mastering of the dvd. if your dvd is letterbox and has black bars attached to the top and bottom... or what i like to call fake widescreen... then you have to stretch this image to fit on your hdtv without the bars. this will not look good upconverted. other films are chock-a-block full of special features leaving very little room for the actual film itself and thusly, the video compression sucks.

a lot of sony films are labelled "mastered in high definition" and they usually look pretty good. there are other films that look decent as well when upconverted, but they still lack true high def resolution. the upconverting technology is excellent for the job it does and it may even be improved in the future. however as the blu-ray catalog increases, it's going to be a better experience to view it on true hd rather than upconverted dvds.

upconversion should really be an intermediate solution anyway.

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by BLK71

Ok, Flame me if you want, but at least give me the chance to explain.

This is one of my pet peeves (sp?) with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD. There doesn't seem to be a standard of quality for a film to be transferred to Blu-Ray. What I mean is the picture and audio quality of all films on Blu-Ray should be graded at 5 stars or they shouldn't be released on Blu-Ray. Period!

There is nothing worse then spending $20 - $40 on a Blu-Ray movie only to find out your upconverted DVD looks just as good. And there are MANY titles where this is the case. Sure the "Transformers" and "Wall-e" look great, but what about "Kiss of the Dragon" or "28 Days Later"? The upconverted DVD looks just as good or even better.

So to answer the original qestion, NO Blu-ray does not always look better than an upconverted DVD. I would suggest that before buying your next Blu-Ray, check out the review page and see what the experts have to say. They are pretty much "spot on" when it comes to grading the quality of the video and audio. Don't spend $34.99 for a Blu-Ray that just doesn't look or sound that good. Save your money for the good conversions like "Iron Man" and movies with 4 stars or higher.

Just my 2 cents.

Very well said.
While this is not to say all studios should stop Blu-ray releases, we as consumers should do our homework first before rushing out to buy that title we think it might be good.

Like you said, some titles are pointless to buy if the quality is almost as good as upconverted DVD.

There is also another point to note. The size and quality of your TV. If you have a small screen size, like 32" and below, upconverted DVD looks really good.
Yes. Blu-ray will still win in terms of details, but right here, my family still enjoy watching MOVIES. And they didn't really notice which was upconverted DVDs and which were Blu-ray.

Therefore, now I'm only buying Blu-ray titles that are truly worth spending that extra cash.

Needless to say, that next title would be The Dark Knight for me

[alphadec]

to me upscaling just looks terrible the picture looks very blorry no detail. So to those who say upscale and bd is the same pq.

All I wanna say to that is that "they" don't know what they are talking about.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by alphadec

to me upscaling just looks terrible the picture looks very blorry no detail. So to those who say upscale and bd is the same pq.

All I wanna say to that is that "they" don't know what they are talking about.

Once you've had HD you really want nothing else and that explains what happened to me over a year ago.

[rm082e]

Originally Posted by alphadec

to me upscaling just looks terrible the picture looks very blorry no detail. So to those who say upscale and bd is the same pq.

All I wanna say to that is that "they" don't know what they are talking about.

Claiming everyone else is wrong and they don't know what they are talking about is a much more mature and accurate approach than acually taking all of the various factors into account.

There is plenty of craptastic source material out there. BD has both good and bad moments...just like DVD. If you have the money to blow and you enjoy collecting, buy Blu across the board. If you have a decent budget for entertainment, buy Blu and sell if it you don't feel you'll watch it over and over again. If you're on a budget, shop Amazon Market place for dirt cheap DVD to upconvert and save your Blu purchases for the big "must have" titles like The Dark Knight and Wall-E.

This isn't rocket science: The value of an object is directly proportional to the amount of money each person has to spend. Our members who are bachelors making 80K a year have a very different view of Blu-ray than those who have a family and make half that.

[Dweedlebug]

Originally Posted by rm082e

This isn't rocket science: The value of an object is directly proportional to the amount of money each person has to spend. Our members who are bachelors making 80K a year have a very different view of Blu-ray than those who have a family and make half that.

Which has no bearing on the actual PQ of the two formats. The amount of your disposable income doesn't affect the actual picture quality. It may affect wether or not you think it's worth the extra money though.


PS. Don't forget about the improved sound quality that BD has over DVD, upconverted or not.

[rm082e]

Originally Posted by Dweedlebug

Which has no bearing on the actual PQ of the two formats. The amount of your disposable income doesn't affect the actual picture quality. It may affect wether or not you think it's worth the extra money though.

The discussion in this thread moved slightly to weather the improved PQ/AQ was worth the upgrade, not weather it existed. That's what the quoted comment was responding to; not the OP.

[Ace_of_Sevens]

Just by counting pixels, Blu-ray has six times the resolution of DVD. That's not the whole story, though as Blu-Ray also has relatively higher bit rates and better codecs, resulting in less information lost to compression. This should be notice on any HDTV, though more so on larger ones.

[BillythePuppet07]

Originally Posted by BLK71

Ok, Flame me if you want, but at least give me the chance to explain.

This is one of my pet peeves (sp?) with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD. There doesn't seem to be a standard of quality for a film to be transferred to Blu-Ray. What I mean is the picture and audio quality of all films on Blu-Ray should be graded at 5 stars or they shouldn't be released on Blu-Ray. Period!

There is nothing worse then spending $20 - $40 on a Blu-Ray movie only to find out your upconverted DVD looks just as good. And there are MANY titles where this is the case. Sure the "Transformers" and "Wall-e" look great, but what about "Kiss of the Dragon" or "28 Days Later"? The upconverted DVD looks just as good or even better.

So to answer the original qestion, NO Blu-ray does not always look better than an upconverted DVD. I would suggest that before buying your next Blu-Ray, check out the review page and see what the experts have to say. They are pretty much "spot on" when it comes to grading the quality of the video and audio. Don't spend $34.99 for a Blu-Ray that just doesn't look or sound that good. Save your money for the good conversions like "Iron Man" and movies with 4 stars or higher.

Just my 2 cents.

Well said and I totally agree. Some dvd's look almost as good as the blu-ray. I say almost because most of the time the blu-ray should look better. Most newer movies filmed in hd look very good upscaled.
I think the bigger question is it worth the money to invest in blu-ray or not. For some people the difference in dvd and blu-ray is just not gonna be worth the extra expense espacially if they already have a large dvd collection. Secondly, there is still some real doubt as to if blu-ray will become the next hd dvd or betamax. We see story's daily about how the format is underperforming and not living up to expectation's. People who invested in hd dvd and already got burned once are gonna be highly pissed if it happen's again with blu-ray. Although your investment appear's minimal if you just have the add-on and three movies.
If your still kind of on the fence I would wait until after christmas. By then we should have a much better idea if blu-ray will be mainstream or remain a niche product.

[Blinx123]

I just watched the "Horton Hears A Who" DVD and was angry about myself right from the beginning (bought the single disc DVD just because it was so damn inexpensive, and there was a special shortfilm on it only this DVD edition bought from a specific retailer has.)

Well. What to say? The beginning of the movie looked absolutely horrible. With an overall noise I've never seen before. In the end (starting at the 60th minute) it got a lot better, to a point you could even say it somehow looks a little "blurayish". But what's with the beginning of the movie? Did the studio just mess up the encode or is it my fault having only 2,5m between me and the TV (but then why did it look so much better in the end)?

My Blu-Ray player/upconverter: PS3 60GB PAL (Block Noise Reduction 3, everything else 0. Scaling: Full)

My TV: LG 47LG6000 "Scarlet"

[Blacklac]

Originally Posted by Blinx123

My Blu-Ray player/upconverter: PS3 60GB PAL (Block Noise Reduction 3, everything else 0. Scaling: Full)

My TV: LG 47LG6000 "Scarlet"

Yikes. Personally, I'd say turn block noise off. Mosquito NR should definetly be used for DVD's. It will remove those fuzzy lines around outlines that makes things sometimes look soft. It can even give images more 3D pop with Mosquito noise removed. Block Noise helps with Macroblocking, I think, but it also washes out so much information in doing so!

Just play with them and see what you think. I just hate what block noise does to the picture, especially jacked up all the way.

[Blinx123]

Ok. I'll try. To me it looked better with block noise but then it was late when I tried it and I really hadn't the nerve to try everything.

BTW: Are there some hidden scaler options? I can't believe that 4 scaler options are all the PS3 has.

[Blacklac]

Originally Posted by Blinx123

Ok. I'll try. To me it looked better with block noise but then it was late when I tried it and I really hadn't the nerve to try everything.

BTW: Are there some hidden scaler options? I can't believe that 4 scaler options are all the PS3 has.

No problem, if you like it better one way, than definetly use that setting. I don't have a PS3, just a dedicated NR unit with multiple kinds of NR. Block noise tends to remove way too much detail from the picture when it's turned up to a level that actual removes noise. Maybe the PS3's setting is alot more subtle.

Def. try Mosquito Noise though.

[b15nut]

I watched Monsters Inc on DVD today and upconverted to 720p and could tell that for some reason the picture looke clearer in native format. I am assuming it is because it is trying to make things better that just arent there in the signal. I love the BD over all of the DVD's I have even with the upconvert. Just buy used BD's like me and save some cash.

[FreddyC]

There are scant few DVD's that I feel really sparkle when viewed upconverted on my Toshiba or PS3. Return of the Jedi looks great. The Lord of the Rings films are nice. My favorite is Sin City. It looks so good, I see no use in buying the blu ray when it's released.

I try to find out, through reviews, what is really an upgrade over DVD and those are the films I make sure I get in blu-ray if I'm interested. There are also films that don't have much action, but they are personal favorites so I buy those on HD DVD or blu-ray (such as Big Lebowski). Freddy