Blu-ray conundrum

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by harvey_birdman

It would make more sense to abandon physical media altogether. The future is downloadable, and there's no reason to hoard physical discs, especially if all you're interested in is high picture and audio quality.

I beg to differ. Downloading films takes a while even on speedy broadband. If you really like film BluRay is the way to go. Very good picture and sound quality in my experience.

 

[greg_atlanta]

Join Netflix (don't buy DVDs).

Then worry about a new DVD player when you fall out of love with your current TV (you can speed this along by taking your netflix discs to friends' homes with HDTVs).

 

[bigbris1]

Last week we had a technician come out to adjust our HD dish. After he was done he related an experience where he was going on a call with a standard box and when he got into the apartment,

"the dude's crib was full of big TVs! Like 70 inch joints! I told him, look papa. Here's my card, I'll put down I was here. Don't call me no more. You got them big TVs and [are] watching garbage! Garbage! Call me when you switch to HD."

We rolled.

 

[bkk]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

If you don't notice the picture improvement you're either blind or watching on a screen that's too small and too far away. The difference is night and day on a large display. Audio improvements are also very real, though unless you have a good system, you probably won't notice.

PQ - Sure, the people who are enthusiasts will notice, but this isn't nearly as large of a leap as SDTV to HDTV. If you're using an old TV (original poster), You probably won't notice the upgrade.

SQ - To each their own. I don't hear a large difference, then again, the dead silence while a receiver switches from DTS to DTS-HD doesn't help.

 

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

If you don't notice the picture improvement you're either blind or watching on a screen that's too small and too far away. The difference is night and day on a large display. Audio improvements are also very real, though unless you have a good system, you probably won't notice.

Amen bro.

 

[B1FF]

Originally Posted by turboman808

You must not be familiar with the devices and the sources available. Popcorn hour rips DVDs and bluerays and more importantly pulls torrents.

Long time before this is available? Been doing this for 5 years.

If you are ripping Bluerays, then you are using ******* Bluerays.

As for torrents, that's why I used the word 'practical.'

Maybe you have a T3 running into your apartment. I don't, and I don't want to have to plan my TV watching a week in advance, so 30GB downloads aren't practical.

 

[ter1413]

Originally Posted by streffert

Being a huge Sony fan, and refraining from being a total douche', it's actually a "Vega" series.

I had an old roommate who called it a Wega all the time, wanted to smack him in the face, probably because he had red hair...

Fan fail! It's Wega! Your roommate should have slapped you!

 

[imschatz]

Originally Posted by B1FF

Yes. You can get decent players for $100 bucks or less. So, why not?

For older movies, the cost of a DVD and a Blu-Ray is often the same.

It will be a long time before you can practically (or will want to) download and store movies that equal BR for picture and audio quality.
Been doing it for years. You can download a DVD quality movie in 20 minutes or less and BluRay quality in an hour or less.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by ter1413

Fan fail! It's Wega! Your roommate should have slapped you!

Weeeelll yes and no. It is SPELLED WEGA. It is pronounced VEGA. WEGA was a German electronics company that Sony bought. The company was named after the star.

That being said, I think the poster's roomate should have slapped him anyways.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by imschatz

Been doing it for years. You can download a DVD quality movie in 20 minutes or less and BluRay quality in an hour or less.

Really hard to do in the U.S.

I can't speak to Canada, but we just don't have that kind of bandwidth down here. I assume that when you say "BluRay quality" you are being literal and not just some compressed to **** MKV or x264. Downloading 13GB of top notch relatively loss-less x264 in an hour or less is pretty impressive.

 

[turboman808]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

Really hard to do in the U.S. I can't speak to Canada, but we just don't have that kind of bandwidth down here. I assume that when you say "BluRay quality" you are being literal and not just some compressed to **** MKV or x264. Downloading 13GB of top notch relatively loss-less x264 in an hour or less is pretty impressive.
You can stream good quality 720p. I haven't seen 1080p in good quality for streaming. I let them download overnight if I want 1080p. I'm generally happy with 720p for most movies and tv shows.

Originally Posted by B1FF

If you are ripping Bluerays, then you are using ******* Bluerays. As for torrents, that's why I used the word 'practical.' Maybe you have a T3 running into your apartment. I don't, and I don't want to have to plan my TV watching a week in advance, so 30GB downloads aren't practical.
My device for watching tv downloads torrents direct. It's very practical but your right I may not have what I want that minute. But I can also stream divx and it does rip bluerays. Took me a few days to set it up but that was a long time ago. Works very well.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by turboman808

You can stream good quality 720p. I haven't seen 1080p in good quality for streaming. I let them download overnight if I want 1080p. I'm generally happy with 720p for most movies and tv shows.
Streaming "good quality" 720p is light years different than Blu-Ray quality though. Especially in audio quality.

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by harvey_birdman

It would make more sense to abandon physical media altogether. The future is downloadable, and there's no reason to hoard physical discs, especially if all you're interested in is high picture and audio quality.

+10

I wasn't totally convinced I'd ever want to give up the visceral thrill and anal retentive delight that is hoarding and stocking shelf after shelf of physical media. But instant-streaming Netflix on my XBox has changed my mind. The future isn't even downloadable; it's cloud-based. Downloads are going to become an anachronism as quickly as physical media will.