Blu-Ray on a 720p display

Wolfgang -- Wed, 05/07/2008 - 09:53

My Vizio 50" plasma outputs 720p (and I believe 1080i?).

If I buy a Blu-Ray player, will I see a big difference from standard DVDs?
(I do notice an improvement when watching movies in hi-def on Comcast)

Thanks,
Wolfi

Steven Stone -- Wed, 05/14/2008 - 12:42

I'm pretty sure you will notice an improvement with Blue-ray.

I have Direct TV. Blue-ray (and the now-defunct DVD-HD) both display noticeable improvement over broadcast HD content when it comes to motion artifacts and MPEG break-up in scenes with high levels of motion.

Also with a Blue-ray player you have more image control options than with broadcast sources which translates to a better picture.

On standard DVD's my Sony S-300 does an exceptional job of upsampling, better IMHO than most standard DVD players I've seen.

Face it, you're going to have to buy a Blue-ray player eventually.

Its not a question of if, merely when and what... :wink:

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

C. Smith (not verified) -- Wed, 12/31/2008 - 14:06

I bought a Panasonic 42" Plasma with 720p. Will blue ray still look good, or should I even bother?

Robert Harley -- Wed, 12/31/2008 - 14:49

Blu-ray will without question deliver the best picture quality on your 720p display.

Wolfgang -- Wed, 05/14/2008 - 20:58

Yeah, you're right, but I was hoping the prices would come down considerably before I take the plunge.
My movies in Comcast HiDef do look MUCH better than they do on (standard) DVDs.

Is the PS3 the cheapest Blu-Ray player out there?
Should I wait for the version with internet connectivity?
Any cheap Blu-Ray players about to emerge?

Thanks!
Wolfi

Steven Stone -- Wed, 05/14/2008 - 22:27

Actually the Sony S-300 is less money than a PS 3 BUT (big big but) the S-300 doesn't support the latest Blue-Ray codec with full Internet interactivity.

The PS-3 will handle the new codecs via firmware updates.

The Sony S-350 and S-550 will support the latest level of BR interactivity (most of which is non-essential now but in time may add extra features that are worth the effort required to download them.)

As for waiting for prices to come down. I'm sure that BR machines will get less expensive, but will you want to own one? I suspect that the budjet-priced models will lack many of the control features needed to make BR look its best.

I've got not one, but two S-300's, but then again I'm crazy, so crazy that I've also got two DVD-HD machines (although the second one cost less than $200.)

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

kota (not verified) -- Wed, 03/11/2009 - 15:24

my question is about the panasonic 720p plasma will i get a noticeable diffrence with a blu ray or should i just buy a 1080p Lcd TV

mecolwell -- Sun, 03/15/2009 - 15:18

Blu-ray will look better than cable or satellite HD, even on a 720P display.
On a less than 50" display, I suspect one would be hard pressed to see a difference. Now, with 1080p AND 24p playback, I suspect that would look better on any display.
I got my Panasonic BD-55 player before Christmas, a top rated player by all who have used it, for street price of $325. How much cheaper do you want it to be? At that price, it is a no brainer! It out-performs the $2000 machines in many ways, including faster load times, supports all codecs, including 7.1 analog outputs, and stellar upconversion to 1080p/24 for DVD. It has been replaced with the BD-80, at the same MSRP of $399, with some new (not important to me) features.
Hope this is informative and helpful.
Mike

VinylGuy