DVD vs. Blu-ray

[JensAyton]

My recommendation is not to get a TV. Horrible addiction.

[Selezen]

My recommendation is not to get a TV. Horrible addiction.

Seconded.

[Cody]

My recommendation is not to get a TV. Horrible addiction.

Seconded.

Agree... I threw mine out years ago. A very good decision, and such fun when the TV licensing men call... they just don't believe it!

[Commander McLane]

My recommendation is not to get a TV. Horrible addiction.

Seconded.

And with which other horrible addiction have you guys replaced it? Something from the intertubes?

[pagroove]

My recommendation is not to get a TV. Horrible addiction.

LOL, mostly agree. But when watching TV you have to get good quality. But I agree most of the time there are crap programms that you even don't want to see in HD. But sometimes some documentaties are great on HD. And Movies and Games (for example my PS3) looks great. Besides with my TV I can also watch youtube. So plenty of distraction from 'normal' tv

[Loxley]

And with which other horrible addiction have you guys replaced it?

I'm fairly sure everyone on this board is addicted to something....

[snork]

I read that blueray movies are cheaper (to buy) than dvds.

I see HD mainly as a means to :
- fight p2p / pirating,
- persuade customers to buy a new TV / receiver / recording device / payTV-contract / more stuff,
- be able to do more "sophisticated" advertising.

If you, like myself for example, see no need for some monster-giant screen (ugly, ugly, ugly) or HD-beamer in your house, then I don't see advantages in any HD, but the disadvantages then overweigh.
Like any attempt to edit HD content needs way more resources than like full_PAL content.

Everytime you run a movie, it needs all kinds of advanced en-/de-cryption running, for "copyright protection". I really would like to see an educated guess about how many crappy powerplants (globally) could be shut down, if this wasn't the case.

I think the existing Blueray standards already allow the "edited into the movie" advertisement. I have seen (print magazine) a proof of concept demo of various brand name drinks being introduced into "Casablanca".
So Rick would be drinking Johnny Walker when watched on my TV, but Pepsi when watched on your TV, and so on. Whatever your google consumer profile etc. calculates as being most effective.
Next thing I guess will be live-editing the dialogues with it, to reflect the usual advertisement slogans.

My recommendation is not to get a TV. Horrible addiction.

I don't have no TV, but I can watch analogue cable-TV (and dvd) on my PC .

LOL, mostly agree. But when watching TV you have to get good quality. But I agree most of the time there are crap programms that you even don't want to see in HD.

What for ?
Often I use the computer-TV-thingy as like-radio - there are so many programs that do not really need a picture : news, talk shows, science/ technology reports, bicycle racing (first boring 200 km on flat stages)*, interviews, quiz shows, history features etc.

* today : la primavera : Milano-San Remo.

A very good decision, and such fun when the TV licensing men call... they just don't believe it!

In Germany you have to pay the TV license for computer with broadband internet access, too.
Screw them.

[Cmdr James]

This is actually much simpler than all this would indicate. How much money do you want to spend, and what do you want to do with your new tv?

For me its enough to have a 10 year old SD tv, which is not widescreen, and a dvd player. I dont mind watching movies in "low res", and although I could probably afford it, I dont want to spend a significant amount of money on both a new tv, and a blu-ray player. I think its worth bearing in mind that until recently it was normal for people in the uk to spend a fortune on a widescreen tv and then be perfectly happy watching normal tv in "fathead mode"/stretched screen, so I am not at all convinced high res realistic tv is required. I suspect many people didnt even notice that their tv was showing warped pictures, many claimed it was better.

My guess would be that you can pick up a cheap tv and dvd player, and if you feel like it isnt good enough, then go out and spend some more. My dvd player as something like £30, so it isnt going to break the bank if you feel it was wasted.

[Alex]

There is a simple rule for new technology.

I would think a tinned meat Assassin of Mac L's stature, well...

Let them that can afford it buy it. Wait a few years and see what works. Or Kills.
By that time you will know what you are looking at.

Works and has done for decades for me.

Never heard of a small LED under a 10m wide screen?
'Light Emitting Diode' that small to give that sort of resolution!

Really don't think so.

But then I haven't played in that sand box in quite a few years.

Only LEDs I've seen in proper use have been in traffic lights,(In South Africa I think they are called 'Robos") car lights and home lights in their Ultra bright format. Some countries are looking at using them in street lighting too.

LCD, Yes, only the size of the crystal you can have activated determines the resolution.
The main breakthrough with that was making them multi coloured, increasing the view angle and dropping the back light required.

LCD is still heaps better that plasma.
Plasma has a fixed burn out life and uses heaps of power, so I recon that'll be the first to fall. If it hasn't already.

Watch out for prices gowing up or down a lot in this sort of stuff, usually means they are trying to get rid of crap.

As far as DVD players go.
Make sure it is NOT region dependent.
That can be a royal pain.

My last DVD player cost $40 Oz dollars, about 20 quid. If it works for 5 years I'm way happy. I'll just buy another.

And by the way.. As a electronic tech that has spent all my working life with my hands inside repairing these sort of toys. Even under the cheapest badges, you find the top components. There are many badges but few true manufacturers.

TV is a hand me down from a friend that went huge LCD.
TV is 25 year old, top of the range at it's time wide screen 'LOEWE'.
Had never heard of them my self. But top Q picture and heaps of features like pic sizing, avoiding squeezed and streached heads. And built in Dolby sounds.

Before that I really like 'Sharp' stuff. Still have the wee one the Loewe has taken over from. When I move house again I'll be taking the 14" Sharp and passing on the 2 man carry Loewe. CRT's of that size are realllllly heavy. Closer to 100Kg than 60. (14" is about 3Kg)
And you can see the low energy lights dim as the beastie fires up to light the screen. But a great picture.

Very few people realise that the human eye cannot physicaly see what the sales person is convincing you, that you want to see, to make the sale.

ERGO;

Do not spend TOO much, coz it'll be out dated before you get it working the way you want.

Funny that TDM (This Damn Machine) does the same.

TV--- LCD with HD tunner, most come with built in DVD player
if not go with the Bluray, but get a sharp or something you can balance with cost to replace when it dies or becomes obsolete.

See if they have plug in HD drives?
Would be a bit like VHS video then. i.e. Usefull. For people.

[DaddyHoggy]

Never heard of a small LED under a 10m wide screen?
'Light Emitting Diode' that small to give that sort of resolution!

Really don't think so.

But then I haven't played in that sand box in quite a few years.

Only LEDs I've seen in proper use have been in traffic lights,(In South Africa I think they are called 'Robos") car lights and home lights in their Ultra bright format. Some countries are looking at using them in street lighting too.

With regards to your doubtful mind over LED TVs - the very pretty Samsung LED TV.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/experience/te ... index.html

[Diziet Sma]

As Alex said, he's been out of the loop for a few years.

Alex, LED tv's are actually LCD tv's with LED backlighting instead of fluorescent backlighting.. the main advantages are less power used and much cooler operation.

[Commander McLane]

Not only have I been out of the loop, but I also have never in my life even owned a VCR, much less a DVD player. And it is far from being a given that I have to buy any TV-storage equipment at all.

It's just that I noticed that there's this DVD-thingy, and then there's this Blu-Ray-thingy, and I wanted some opinions to give me an idea what's it all about.

And those I got. Thanks to all for taking the time!

[allikat]

Well, if you're buying from scratch, then my recommendation would be:
Decent computer with a Blu-Ray drive and software, and big screen with possibly a tv tuner card.

Course, if you really want a telly, then get sky first off (with the HD package so you get the decent digital video recorder box) add a nice big LCD tv with LED backlighting and a PS3 all hooked up with HDMI cables.
(Don't buy super-expensive HDMI cables, the signal is digital, and it will either work or it won't, gold plated super-shielded cables are useless unless you're running the signal to the other end of the house)

Add in broadband from someone like O2 or BE (same company but the service is slightly different on each) and you're peachy. BT is rolling out 20Mbit broadband around the country, and several other services have great broadband at high speed. (Sky's is cheap, but is a real marmite service, people love it or loathe it, Virgin is similar in cabled areas)
Don't forget a TV licence tho.

http://www.tvcatchup.com will let you see live tv on the computer as will the bbc why?player (BBC only) (making the unwatchable unavoidable )

Reminder of the current (right) state of the law:
You need a TV licence in the UK to watch live TV, if all you do is listen to the radio, or watch the pre-recorded shows on the iplayer and 4onDemand or the ITV catchup then you don't need it. If you watch it live, by any means you need a tv licence.

[snork]

As I am going to relocate from the african bush to european civilization later this year,

Where are you planning to go to ?

Since you are used to be without TV / DvD / etc. , I would also recommend to keep it that way.

Or if you want to have a (cheap) look into it then, get a Dvd(real cheap) or Blueray+DvD player, just any TV (or monitor that can handle DvD / blueray input) and get yourself movie DvDs for free from your local library. Here I can keep them for up to 2 weeks. And they also have many "in concert" DvDs, very cool.

I do not know if they also lend out bluerays, but I would not be surprised if they do so.

[Commander McLane]

As I am going to relocate from the african bush to european civilization later this year,

Where are you planning to go to ?

Germany, but don't know yet which region (still looking for a job).

And I'm not used to living without a tee vee. In Tanzania we bought a set right before the Athens Olympics—and were deeply disappointed that there was no coverage of the games in any of the channels we could receive (except for stills in news programmes, which is not exactly how I like to watch the Olympics).