Blu-Ray vs DVD

[Piratelvr1121]

DH insists he can tell the difference, but I can't.  I started to wonder if it was just the difference in men's eyes vs. women's or something, but my middle son told me recently he thinks it's just a hoax to get people to spend more money for the players and DVD's.  Which made me laugh, cause he's 10. 

I don't know, maybe it's not a gender thing but just some people's eyes pick it up more.  We have a Blu-Ray player cause DH just had to have one a few years ago but it will also play normal DVD's so most of the time, I just get the DVD because I don't see the point in paying extra when I can't tell the difference.  Now today I did buy Finding Nemo on Blu-Ray only because I couldn't find it on just DVD.

So can you tell the difference? Do you have a blu-ray player? I guess it's the way movie technology is going and just like when vcr's went by the wayside and we had to surrender since no one even carries VHS tapes anymore, DVD's may go that way too. But I honestly don't know the difference.

[EMuir]

It would probably not make much difference if you don't have an HD TV... but if you do, I can definitely tell.

[Outdoor Girl]

Since I'm still using my CRT TV because I'm loathe to throw out something that works perfectly well, I'm probably not the best one to ask.   

I do have a Blu-Ray player because I won it in a raffle.  I did buy season 4 of True Blood and the Harry Potter set as Blu-Ray because of the extras but when I went to play True Blood, I used the DVDs because I just wanted to watch the shows and didn't care to see the extras.  I'll probably use the Blu-Rays when I rewatch it before watching the next season.  It may be just because I'm not used to it but I like the DVD menus better than the Blu-Ray menus.  I find them easier to navigate.

I think I'm going to do a Harry Potter marathon for New Year's Eve.  Anyone want to join me?   

[Morrigan]

Female and I can see a difference.  I use an HDTV, though.

[CLE_Girl]

It would probably not make much difference if you don't have an HD TV... but if you do, I can definitely tell.

Agreed!  We have a Blue-Ray player on our HD TV (home theater type set up).  Even just regular 10 year old DVD's look better on that TV.  I haven't watched a Blue Ray on a non-HD TV to know if I could see a difference.   When it comes to buying or renting, I'll get Blue-Ray for big action/suspense movies, but for silly chick-flicks and rom-coms not worth the money.

[Punky B.]

It also depends on the transfer- if they use the same print of the film from the DVD for the BR, you won't see as much difference as you would if the print was specially formatted for high def.

[Piratelvr1121]

Ours is an HDTV though, and I still can't tell the difference.   Nor can I tell the difference between HD channels and regular channels except that the volume on the HD channels is always soft. I have to turn it up all the way in order to hear what they're saying, but the regular channels are fine. 

[Outdoor Girl]

Ours is an HDTV though, and I still can't tell the difference.   Nor can I tell the difference between HD channels and regular channels except that the volume on the HD channels is always soft. I have to turn it up all the way in order to hear what they're saying, but the regular channels are fine.

I hate the HD channels because they take 4 times the space on my DVR!  I used to be able to record over 90 hours; now I can only record 24.  Which is fine for day to day viewing but a PITA if I'm away on vacation.

[Piratelvr1121]

Do they? I never noticed that, but man it would explain a lot, when the boys or DH record something on an HD channel and we suddenly have a lot less space on our DVR.

[Outdoor Girl]

Here, it used to be that to get HD channels, you had to be on a specialty cable pack and they were higher up.  Most networks ran their low in channel number station as non-HD.  Now, all the mainstream channels are HD - I can't watch (or record) anything that isn't HD.

[siamesecat2965]

I can't say, and I was also one who didn't think I noticed any difference between regular and HD tv, but now that I have a new HDTV, and an old one in my bedroom, I defintely can tell the difference.  I can also tell on my tv when I go from the "regular" to HD channel. I couldn't at first,  but now I do notice the difference.

I still have my first DVD player, which must be 10+ years old. I'm not a big movie watcher; just don't ahve time, so I'm sticking with what I have, until this one dies.  At that point, I might upgrade to a blu-ray, but for now I'm happy wiht what I have.

[CrochetFanatic]

Not crazy about Blu-Rays because a couple movies I wanted to buy only came out in that format, and I don't have a player...I can't really tell the difference, either way.

[Piratelvr1121]

A friend of mine got really ticked off about that when Disney decided they released Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides on Blu-Ray about 3 weeks before they released the DVD version.   Yes the Blu-Rays often come with a DVD but why pay extra for a disc you can't even use?

[magician5]

With me, the difference probably lies in the source material rather than the playback quality. Pulling titles out of thin air, I have no idea if I'd see the difference while watching (a blu-ray vs a dvd) of a "Bones" episode, but I can definitely tell the difference between the dvd of "Gone With The Wind" vs the carefully-restored blu-ray.

A separate question, of course, is whether I'd want to pay extra for spectacular detail in a copy of the latest "mall-fodder" starring Will Ferrell.

Sidebar: best blu-ray player I've ever seen is a Playstation3. It's a DVD/Blu-ray player, it's a game system, it's a media server (grabs videos from my computer at the other end of the house), it's a picture viewer, and more.

[camlan]

I can see a difference. My brother has a Blu-Ray player and a very good HD TV and there is a clear improvement in the quality of the picture. His entire home theater system is top of the line and you can really see a difference.

So I think it depends on the quality of the Blu-Ray player, the disc and the TV you are watching it on.