Stan for video - regular vs. blu-ray

[lpizzuro123]

Our wedding is in 2.5 weeks and we were planning on using the blu-ray version for our video. Now we are wondering if it is worth the extra money. We are doing the classic edit with 7.5 hours during the day and then bringing him back for the dessert party later that night. As the blu-ray is an extra $500.00 we are wondering if it is worth it. In know you get that extra book but honestly we are using Misty as our photographer and I am sure we will have more then enough photos from her. The extra you also get is all the raw footage which I am really not sure we want.

If those that have used Stan, is there a big difference in the quality of your video using the regular as opposed to the blu-ray?

Thanks,
Linda

 

[figmentfan814]

I wasn't going to go with the blu-ray, but in the end my dad offered to pay for it and I'm so glad he did it for us. I work in TV and my dad works in the communications field too. Right now, it might not seem like a big deal but in the next few years as technology changes and everything goes to digital you will dramatically notice the difference in the quality of the video.

I would also suggest looking at some of the sneak peeks on his site. There is a big difference in the HD versus non HD videos. I know I'm a little more particular because of my work in media, but I know you won't be disappointed.

We haven't watched our raw footage yet, but we plan to do it for our 1st anniversary. I think it will be nice to catch all the little details that we might have forgotten from the actual day itself

 

[lpizzuro123]

Thanks Vanessa, I know what you mean about the speed of technology. I am so afraid if we do not go with the blu-ray we will regret it in the end. We were thinking of adding the Stylized Short - which is your video cut down to 20 minutes in a stylized version. I am sure we will love our video but I can't imagine everyone wanting to watch 90 minutes of it. The short stylized version sounds great - edited down to 20 minutes. I know when we go to visit Sheldon 93 year old aunt after the wedding she will not want to watch 90 minutes and no one will invite us over this Christmas because we will be bringing our video .

Linda

 

[Lorelei528]

Linda-
After giving it some MAJOR thought...we are going with the Blu-ray as well...

I just think big picture wise, it will be best for us...but it is a good chunk of $, so I understand your predicament (sp?)

Lori

 

[beachprincess23]

So I am definitely not an expert on this kinda of stuff, but I'm not sure that it's worth it. When we looked into him we were originally going to go for blue-ray because he's one of the only videographers that offered it, but we decided not to use him altogether for a number of reasons. Even if we were going to use him, we decided we weren't going to go for the blu-ray disc.

When we got back from our planning trip just for the heck of it I went and bought a blu-ray DVD and put it up against one of my standard DVDs and tried it (I'm a dork like that). We don't have a blu-ray DVD player and If you don't have a blu-ray DVD player, you aren't going to notice the quality difference.

Also, for the huge price difference, you can always pop the standard DVD into your computer and upgrade it at any time. It is still (or should be still) shot using the same camera so the quality is there, just not in the DVD output and screen resolution, which you can always change if you want.

 

[VVFF]

So I am definitely not an expert on this kinda of stuff, but I'm not sure that it's worth it. When we looked into him we were originally going to go for blue-ray because he's one of the only videographers that offered it, but we decided not to use him altogether for a number of reasons. Even if we were going to use him, we decided we weren't going to go for the blu-ray disc.

When we got back from our planning trip just for the heck of it I went and bought a blu-ray DVD and put it up against one of my standard DVDs and tried it (I'm a dork like that). We don't have a blu-ray DVD player and If you don't have a blu-ray DVD player, you aren't going to notice the quality difference.

Also, for the huge price difference, you can always pop the standard DVD into your computer and upgrade it at any time. It is still (or should be still) shot using the same camera so the quality is there, just not in the DVD output and screen resolution, which you can always change if you want.

how did you compare the Blu-ray to DVD if you don't have a Blu-ray player. I know you said you don't understand the technology but a Blu-ray cannot be played without a blu-ray player. It is not backwards compatible.

As for the last paragraph, I'm not sure what you are getting at. If you buy the DVD, you will only have the lower resolution video. It cannot be upgraded at all. The source video is always 480 lines of resolution. You have to buy the Blu-ray to get High definition source video.

 

[beachprincess23]

I don't have a blu-ray player, but my fiance has some video game system that you can watch blu-ray discs on. That's what I was trying to say, but it came out wrong apparently. You can't watch the dvd if you don't have the right player, so it's definitely a downside. But, if its still shot in HD you can put it on your computer and burn it yourself or upconvert standard to HD if your DVD player has that function. I don't know the specifications, but I know it's possible because I used some program my dad has to burn our HD vacation videos onto DVD and it's HD when I watch it--it was really easy. Maybe because we used our raw footage and not once it was on a DVD? It just seems for all that extra money to give your videographer to just burn it to a disc is a little silly. I think as long as he shoots in HD you're going to get better quality. But hey, if you have the extra money to spend go for it. It's your wedding and you can do anything you want

 

[Lorelei528]

I'm confused...I thought you could play the high def DVD on a regular player, it just wouldn't look as good as if you were playing it on a high def Blue-ray player....
If I can't watch the DVD at all on our regular player (all we have for now), I might have to rethink after all!

hmm....

Or am I misunderstanding yet again?

 

[VVFF]

I'm confused...I thought you could play the high def DVD on a regular player, it just wouldn't look as good as if you were playing it on a high def Blue-ray player....
If I can't watch the DVD at all on our regular player (all we have for now), I might have to rethink after all!

hmm....

Or am I misunderstanding yet again?

No, you won't be able to play the Blu-ray on a normal DVD player.

 

[VVFF]

I don't have a blu-ray player, but my fiance has some video game system that you can watch blu-ray discs on. That's what I was trying to say, but it came out wrong apparently. You can't watch the dvd if you don't have the right player, so it's definitely a downside. But, if its still shot in HD you can put it on your computer and burn it yourself or upconvert standard to HD if your DVD player has that function. I don't know the specifications, but I know it's possible because I used some program my dad has to burn our HD vacation videos onto DVD and it's HD when I watch it--it was really easy. Maybe because we used our raw footage and not once it was on a DVD? It just seems for all that extra money to give your videographer to just burn it to a disc is a little silly. I think as long as he shoots in HD you're going to get better quality. But hey, if you have the extra money to spend go for it. It's your wedding and you can do anything you want

Ok, so first of all, upconverting to HD is not the same as blu-ray. Upconverting simply attempts to make the image look ok when blown up on a big screen. See, DVD has 480 lines of resolution. Typical HDTV's have 720-1080. So the image needs to be "stretched" onto this resolution. If this is done with no processing your picture will look very blocky and jagged. A upconverter attempts to smooth these blocks and remove the jagged edges of objects displayed on screen.

A Blu-ray has a native resolution of 1080p and therefore no scaling is needed. There will be detail that wasn't there in the DVD because even though they both end up displayed at 1080p, there is no way to "add" more detail to a DVD.

What you did with your video camera is this. You took it off the camera onto your computer preserving the resolution of the HD camcorder. You then likely compressed the file, with the same resolution, but smaller file space so it fit onto a DVD. Doing this you do lose some of the detail and picture quality. The DVD can store the file but it typically can not be played back on DVD players as DVD players have a file structure and resolution limits that needs to be followed. If you can play it back on every normal DVD player then it isn't actually still in HD anymore.

So, in summary, there is no way to display high definition video from a DVD player. Yes, you can upconvert but its still not the same as playing a blu-ray. DVD's are shot in 480p and blu-rays at 1080p. Because you can't add detail once the scene is stored, this is the resolution you have to work with. The blu-ray will look much more detailed even with the DVD upconverted.

 

[beachprincess23]

From what I understand, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but a hi-def DVD is different than a blu-ray DVD. You can watch a hi-def DVD on a regular DVD player, but you can't watch a blu-ray DVD on a regular DVD player, you need a blu-ray DVD player (or in my case something that plays blu-ray DVDs, like my fiance's stupid game system LOL). But, if you have a HD TV and watch a regular DVD it definitely does look better than if you don't have an HD TV. We have a HD TV in our living room but not our bedroom and I notice the picture being a little clearer when we watch movies in the living room. But none of it matters unless you have something to play your blu-ray disc on. It's still pretty new, but I feel like things change so frequently that maybe it will be out dated in a few years and they will think of something else? I could be totally wrong and it last forever, what do I know. I just keep thinking everytime I buy a new iPod of phone something else better comes out LOL. Now they have HD and even better HD...argh.

 

[beachprincess23]

Ok, so first of all, upconverting to HD is not the same as blu-ray. Upconverting simply attempts to make the image look ok when blown up on a big screen. See, DVD has 480 lines of resolution. Typical HDTV's have 720-1080. So the image needs to be "stretched" onto this resolution. If this is done with no processing your picture will look very blocky and jagged. A upconverter attempts to smooth these blocks and remove the jagged edges of objects displayed on screen.

A Blu-ray has a native resolution of 1080p and therefore no scaling is needed. There will be detail that wasn't there in the DVD because even though they both end up displayed at 1080p, there is no way to "add" more detail to a DVD.

What you did with your video camera is this. You took it off the camera onto your computer preserving the resolution of the HD camcorder. You then likely compressed the file, with the same resolution, but smaller file space so it fit onto a DVD. Doing this you do lose some of the detail and picture quality. The DVD can store the file but it typically can not be played back on DVD players as DVD players have a file structure and resolution limits that needs to be followed. If you can play it back on every normal DVD player then it isn't actually still in HD anymore.

So, in summary, there is no way to display high definition video from a DVD player. Yes, you can upconvert but its still not the same as playing a blu-ray. DVD's are shot in 480p and blu-rays at 1080p. Because you can't add detail once the scene is stored, this is the resolution you have to work with. The blu-ray will look much more detailed even with the DVD upconverted.

Alrighty then, all I know is that it was shot in HD and not burned on a blu-ray disc, but still looks really good

But now what's 1080i? Is that different then 1080p? I feel like they need to teach this stuff in school.

 

[VVFF]

From what I understand, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but a hi-def DVD is different than a blu-ray DVD. You can watch a hi-def DVD on a regular DVD player, but you can't watch a blu-ray DVD on a regular DVD player, you need a blu-ray DVD player (or in my case something that plays blu-ray DVDs, like my fiance's stupid game system LOL). But, if you have a HD TV and watch a regular DVD it definitely does look better than if you don't have an HD TV. We have a HD TV in our living room but not our bedroom and I notice the picture being a little clearer when we watch movies in the living room. But none of it matters unless you have something to play your blu-ray disc on. It's still pretty new, but I feel like things change so frequently that maybe it will be out dated in a few years and they will think of something else? I could be totally wrong and it last forever, what do I know. I just keep thinking everytime I buy a new iPod of phone something else better comes out LOL. Now they have HD and even better HD...argh.

You have a point. HD DVD was a rival format to blu-ray. HD DVD was "defeated" and blu-ray is officially the successor to DVD. SOME HD DVD's had 2 sides. One was HD DVD, one was DVD. These could be played in regular players by flipping them over. They looked no different from the DVD version however unless you played the HD DVD version on a HD DVD player.

 

[VVFF]

Alrighty then, all I know is that it was shot in HD and not burned on a blu-ray disc, but still looks really good

But now what's 1080i? Is that different then 1080p? I feel like they need to teach this stuff in school.

1080i is the same resolution as 1080p...its just displayed differently.

The easiest way to explain it is video in "i" or interlaced format is stored in alternating lines of resolution.

So, if you were to look at one FRAME of 1080i video you would see every other line in black. The next frame would have every other line black as well but in the opposite pattern as the previous frame. It's kind of like taking your hand and holding it sideways. Your fingers are the lines of resolution. Keep them spread a bit to represent the alternating lines of interlaced video. The next frame is your other hand. When you bring them together you get one full picture.

Your TV will take 1080i video and convert it to 1080p video before it is displayed. So in real life there is no difference between what is displayed in 1080i and 1080p. It will look the same.

 

[figmentfan814]

From what I understand, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but a hi-def DVD is different than a blu-ray DVD. You can watch a hi-def DVD on a regular DVD player, but you can't watch a blu-ray DVD on a regular DVD player, you need a blu-ray DVD player (or in my case something that plays blu-ray DVDs, like my fiance's stupid game system LOL). But, if you have a HD TV and watch a regular DVD it definitely does look better than if you don't have an HD TV. We have a HD TV in our living room but not our bedroom and I notice the picture being a little clearer when we watch movies in the living room. But none of it matters unless you have something to play your blu-ray disc on. It's still pretty new, but I feel like things change so frequently that maybe it will be out dated in a few years and they will think of something else? I could be totally wrong and it last forever, what do I know. I just keep thinking everytime I buy a new iPod of phone something else better comes out LOL. Now they have HD and even better HD...argh.

Stan's package for HD automatically includes the Blu-Ray disc too You receive 2 HD DVD copies and a Blu-Ray disc. If you want a Blu-Ray disc I was told that it needs to be shot in HD.

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

Stan's package for HD automatically includes the Blu-Ray disc too You receive 2 HD DVD copies and a Blu-Ray disc. If you want a Blu-Ray disc I was told that it needs to be shot in HD.

ahh I was wondering about that! That is good to know. I also went with HD. Stan did tell me it wasn't something you can switch to that day since he has to have a special film or camera to shoot in HD.

 

[Lynn5700]

Yes it is worth it! I'm so glad we upgraded!

 

[Lorelei528]

Thanks all!

And now at least I can remember why we upgraded to the HD package!!!