Blu-Ray movies??

[mom2boys77]

Pretty soon I will have to replace everything in my house and I was just wondering if Blu Ray movies are really better than regular dvds? I know they are more expensive but I have to start over anyway so I might as well get the best. Thanks!

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Yes - if you have a 1080p TV, Blu Ray movies are much better (assuming the movie was originally shot in Hi Def)...

 

[mom2boys77]

Ok what is a 1080p tv? I don't mean to sound stupid

Yes - if you have a 1080p TV, Blu Ray movies are much better (assuming the movie was originally shot in Hi Def)...

 

[wvjules]

Don't waste your money on Blu-Ray if you do not have an HDTV.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Ok what is a 1080p tv? I don't mean to sound stupid

Essentially, it is a Hi Def TV. There are two common levels of Hi Def TVs - 720p and 1080p. While 720p looks much sharper than a regular TV image, 1080p is that much better again - assuming the movie being viewed was shot in hi def...

 

[mom2boys77]

We had a fire so I don't have any t.v yet but we will most likely be buying an hdtv.

Don't waste your money on Blu-Ray if you do not have an HDTV.

 

[mom2boys77]

Thank you very much. That was very helpful!

Essentially, it is a Hi Def TV. There are two common levels of Hi Def TVs - 720p and 1080p. While 720p looks much sharper than a regular TV image, 1080p is that much better again - assuming the movie being viewed was shot in hi def...

 

[pozey]

mom2boys77...

I am sorry to hear that you lost some things in a fire (everything?).

But, if you are replacing your TV, DVD Player, and all the movies...then Yes...Blu-Ray is THAT much better than standard DVD's.

When replacing the TV, make sure you get one that is FULL HD - meaning 1080p. That way, you will get the maximum benefit from your Blu-Ray Player.

Also...If you had a large amount of DVD's that you will be replacing, just know that not all movies are available on Blu-Ray. Newer movies, yes. Some older movies...possibly.

 

[mom2boys77]

Thank you. Yes we lost everything we own..walked out with just the clothes on our backs. And thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it!

mom2boys77...

I am sorry to hear that you lost some things in a fire (everything?).

But, if you are replacing your TV, DVD Player, and all the movies...then Yes...Blu-Ray is THAT much better than standard DVD's.

When replacing the TV, make sure you get one that is FULL HD - meaning 1080p. That way, you will get the maximum benefit from your Blu-Ray Player.

Also...If you had a large amount of DVD's that you will be replacing, just know that not all movies are available on Blu-Ray. Newer movies, yes. Some older movies...possibly.

 

[PeterPan09]

You might be able to pick up some replacements at pretty decent prices. I was at our local Walmart last night and there was a nice selection of older titles on Blu Ray for about $10-$13.

 

[mom2boys77]

Thank you!

 

[Aimeedyan]

I'm so sorry about your house =( One of my worst nightmares!

Yes - the difference in quality is AMAZING but only if you have the right TV to view it on (like pp mentioned). If you don't, it's not worth the upgrade.

 

[moburg]

Also...If you had a large amount of DVD's that you will be replacing, just know that not all movies are available on Blu-Ray. Newer movies, yes. Some older movies...possibly.

And Blu-Ray players will play regular DVD's. So if you don't want to wait for a movie that is not on Blu-Ray yet, the DVD will work in the Blu-Ray player.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

One other note - if you find yourself replacing a lot of things, you can double dip with the PS3. It is a gaming system and a blu ray player, all in one device...

 

[mom2boys77]

I have a 14 year old son and this is what he is begging me to do lol I said no because I have a feeling I would never be able to watch any movies as he would take it over completely but thank you for that suggestion!

One other note - if you find yourself replacing a lot of things, you can double dip with the PS3. It is a gaming system and a blu ray player, all in one device...

 

[Golf4food]

Sorry about your loss.

Blu-ray is many times better than DVD in both picture quality and audio.

If you are replacing the TV as well, which you are, you can get many deals right now to buy a new TV and get a Bluray player included as an incentive. You can get a good Bluray player for $99-$150 right now and it is well worth it. Especially if you have surround sound - the audio on Blurays is often uncompressed/lossless audio (not all of them) which means you get the full effect like a movie theater instead of watered down audio like on an DVD (which cannot hold as much data).

Get at least a 37" HDTV, larger if you can (screen size is actually a bit smaller than older CRT TVs because of the widescreen orientation so if you had a 37" old TV you actually want a bigger HDTV to get the same effect). Make sure it is 1080p and at least 120Hz refresh rate and it should have at least 3 HDMI ports. Samsung, LG, and a few others will give you the best quality right now in HDTVs.

But do youself a favor first and buy your HDMI cables from www.monoprice.com and nowhere else. You can get perfectly good cables from Monoprice for $6 or you can let Best Buy sell you a Monster HDMI cable that is no better in quality but will cost you $100. Seriously. Biggest ripoff in electronics right now, HDMI cables are.

If you go to www.blu-ray.com they have forums where people post deals that are available and they have a movie price tracker - put in the title and it will give you the price on Amazon and the entire price history so you can see if it ever goes on sale, etc.

The PS3 option is certainly one to consider, but like you say, you run the risk of fighting over movie time vs. game time, too.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

And Blu-Ray players will play regular DVD's. So if you don't want to wait for a movie that is not on Blu-Ray yet, the DVD will work in the Blu-Ray player.

I was going to suggest this as well. Most (maybe all) Blu-Rays will play standard DVDs as well. And if you have kids or a portable DVD player, keep that in mind with replacements. I have yet to see a portable Blu-Ray (but I'm sure that is coming).

OP...so sorry you lost everything in a fire...

 

[bumbershoot]

Thank you. Yes we lost everything we own..walked out with just the clothes on our backs. And thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it!

I'm so sorry for the loss, but so glad that you guys are OK.


DVDs are "upconverted" in bluray player, which means they look much better in the bluray player than in a DVD player. We recently sold a bunch of CDs, and with that money bought a bluray player from Costco. We only have a couple actual bluray discs (either they came with the "package" like Up and Snow White, or one was the birthday gift from Disney Movie Rewards), but we're going through and watching the DVDs again, and it's like a different movie.

Even older things like Robin Hood (animated) look incredible.

So you don't *have to* replace with bluray, if you're trying to stretch the movie-replacement budget.

The player we got is one we didn't know existed! Came across a Vizio player at Costco...it was something like 119.99, but there was an unadvertised special on it, so it was 99.99. I read a couple negative reviews about it after we got home and DH was setting it up, but it's really good so far!

We also have a Vizio TV that we like a lot. Only 32", but it is good quality for not too horribly much (also bought from Costco, though a few years ago).

We're seeing things from our DVDs that we never saw before when played in the DVD player...it's that much of a change.


I hope that it's at least sort of fun to replace things...even if it was for a sad reason.

 

[mom2boys77]

Thank you so so much everybody! Lots of awesome advice! And Bumbershoot..I am doing exactly that and trying to think about how much fun it will be to go shopping. I thank God we are ok and while I'm sad about what was lost they are just things and being without all my things these past months I've really learned how unimportant they were. Thank you again guys

 

[bicker]

Blu-ray is many times better than DVD in both picture quality and audio.

For folks who are interested in just how many times better.... Peak video data bitrate for DVDs is 9.8 Mbps, while for Blu-ray Discs its 40.0 Mbps, or about four times as much video data.

The difference vis a vis audio is not that great, actually. That's not a dig on BD, but rather a tribute to just how good the audio on DVDs can be. It is possible for a DVD to provide audit data at 754 kbps, compared to 1.5 Mbps for Blu-ray Discs, using standard codecs, so only twice as much data (rather that four times as much).