Blu-ray format... Do you like it compared to DVD?


Before I get to my questions.
I would like you to know this is our first ventcher into boob tube home entertainment.

We have just replaced our Sony tv with a new Panasonic 37 inch LCD.
Prior to the purchase we were given a used Sony 6 channel surround with "small cube speakers" and a subwoofer, which B.T.W. passes my wife's approval.
A few days ago I mounted the speakers and had it up and running using our Sony tv.

That evening we watched a movie and the both of us enjoyed the added feature of the surround sound in our home.

The both of us are not complete strangers to home theater, we have watched movies in friends home.

Through out our marriage the both of us have never really been interested in spending hours on end in front of a tv.

I recall once having a bumber sticker many years ago that read..."Shoot Your T.V."

Anyway, here we are now.

Last night we watched two dvds on the new Panasonic tv.
Blue planet documentary and a movie called Layer Cake.
The dvds were recommended and lent to us for the weekend.

We enjoyed both of them ,however we were going to spread the time for watching the dvds for Friday and Saturday night, didn't happen, however I borrowed more.

My question to those of you that own a Blu-ray player, how do you like this format compared to standard dvd?

Which brand of player are you using also would it be worth buying into this format at this time?

The current dvd player we are using now is on short term loan.

Basically I would like to experience what this highly rated Consumer Report Panasonic tv can do.


stiltskin

Showing 1 response by audiojedi

I am always amazed to hear that some people don't see a dramatic difference between standard DVD and Blu Ray. To my eye it is night and day and if only my audio purchases were as dramatic I would be very happy indeed. I find that with Audio gear it is much more incremental.

At any rate, I have a 50" 720p plasma and as I don't care a great deal for much on TV I just run analog cable which looks pretty awful. I picked up an Oppo player which was highly regarded and it does a great job on standard DVD's. When I got into high def movies I found it to be a significant upgrade and at this point I hardly consider watching a standard DVD. Even if you don't have a 1080p TV the results are extremely impressive, to the point that I haven't even been tempted to upgrade my panel at all.

All that being said, just like with recorded music, some Blu Ray discs look better than others. The biggest thing that you have to get over is that because film has grain, many movies will have a grain to them especially on darker scenes but the detail will still be considerably better. To compare to the audio world, some great recordings have a bit of background noise or hiss but they can still be great recordings all the same. There is a website called High Def Digest which has great reviews listing content, picture quality and sound quality of each disc. It's a great resource to find out if the disc you are considering buying is actually a good transfer etc. The better discs should certainly impress though. If not, you should pay a visit to your local optometrist.