I recently was at Walmart they have considerably reduced the amount of Blu-Ray discs available, Best Buy seems to have a good selection but alot of titles that came out over a year ago are not on the shelves. What gives? I read alot of people using standalone players have to upgrade thier firmware constantly in order to play evolving standards in Blu-Ray now what average joe is gonna even know to do that and be able to perform the task correctly...is Sony and the Blu-Ray standards it's own worst enemy? After reading all that fuss I chose to buy a lite-on blu-ray drive for my htpc the picture is great ironically as soon as I installed my PowerDVD7 ultra software I had to install an update to get Star Trek collection to play. Is Blu-Ray live even worth it do you use it or would we just be happy with a good movie that plays without issues. I am just wondering what others think. I have two upconvert dvd players the picture on them is good however BR is much much better but is it that much better? I would really like to hear others thoughts and feedback.
IMHO, it depends on the size and the quality of the TV. I used to have a Sony 32" XBR4 in the living room. I ran "House of Flying Daggers" (lots of bright colors and movement) simultaneously on my upscaling DVD player and my bluray. I time synced them and flipped back and forth between the two. Some people could tell the difference, others could not. I though it was pretty close but i would still give the edge to Bluray. I recently upgraded the TV to a 46" Samsung Series 6. The difference is easily noticeable. Blyray is sharper, clearer, and IMHO, altogether a nicer viewing experience IF you can see the difference. Of course, if you've never seen Bluray you probably wouldn't notice the difference and upscaled DVD would be watchable nonetheless.
There is some strong evidence regarding the size of the screen and blu-ray over DVD. I recently read and article in Maximum PC saying to truly reap the benefits of BR you need a Tv over 42" otherwise the upscaling DVD is just fine. I do agree with some movies there is little difference to the naked eye.
What does not appear that obvious / apparent to the "Average Joe" is just how close they are standing to a 40 + inch screen and how good the picture looks when seeing HD. In the days before HD, a big screen meant poorer picture quality but the technology has moved on so much now and I belive it takes HD to really appreciate both the big screen TV and the HD formats such as bluray. I watch on a 32" and also have Bluray and upscalling DVD. I can barley notice the difference between DVD and upscalled and have found FUll CGI movies to be the best of examples. On most movies I can see and appreciate the advantages of Bluray but the way some are transfered leaves me wondering why i bothered. As for audio, i can only appreciate the same as I would get from DVD due to my surround system capabilities. The trouble for Bluray is still that a very large number of the public are quite happy with DVD, and DVD was a stepped change over VHS.
Regarding transfers I agree I recently purchased Stargate on BR and it didn't look one bit different from the Ultimate Edition I rented from Netflix. If they don't take the time to remaster the movie then transfer it to BR it makes no sense sometimes in the conversion process the video doesn't look better but worse due to surface artifacts however with newer movies there is a marked difference. Then again dvd using hd mastering improved the picture there as well. Larger screens do seem to reap the most benefits from BR when you are close up less pixeling better overall clearity. I read here on afterdawn yet more changes coming to BR standards, when does it end and why do people with older players have to upgrade firmware so often I am sure many don't know how to do it most want to by a player and it simply work. i recently used the trial version of Cyberllnk BR player it was great but in the end decided to purchase Windvd 9 it was on sale and much cheaper software yet it doesn't support bluray live not that I would ever use that honestly but that kinda sux.
I think BD-Live is one of those "What else can we do to make Bluray more attractive over DVD sales" It's a load of rubbish and boringly slow. Overall, now I'm into HD, I will always choose a Bluray over DVD. I often choose HD broadcast over SD, but not necessarily. But i think many would find it all so dissapointing comapred to the hype.
