Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Off Topic OT: BD quality

I think there is a point missing here, yes, there is a difference in quality; but the point is, some films are not as good as they should be. We pay good money � sometimes for the same film, and the results are not as good as they should be. A half hearted attempt. The point is: the �Which� report should not exist, as all Blu-ray films should be as good as possible. I accept that some films are re-mastered and some are simply transferred. Are we saying that �Master and Commander� is as good as it could be?

Never seen Lord of the rings on Blu-ray as the �powers that be� thought it would be a good idea to release the theatrical versions only. I will wait until the �full versions� come out. Is this a money making scam, it does make one sceptical!

We pay a premium for Blu-ray � let�s not forget that!

If one is serious about wanting to know what one is buying on Bluray, www.dvdbeaver.com is the only resource I have found which really helps. Their reviews comparing different releases on Bluray and DVD are amazingly informative from the technical point of view.

Look at the left column: you need to scroll down a bit for New Reviews, Latest Bluray Reviews and (lower) Comparisons.

Thanks, that link is nice. I added it to my favorites and pulled the trigger on the "Apocalypse Now" Bluray.

We must put the Which? Consumers Association findings into perspective.

They are a consumers association who deal with consumer matters and their reviews are performed in a controlled environment using equipment which would be typical of UK consumers setup, ie size and viewing distance. Many people on this forum are not using typical consumers equipment.


The whole point of the review is that Bluray can do better. Clearly there are some Bluray pressings that look far better than DVD whilst some others do not look as good on consumer equipment. As far as Which? is concerned, all Bluray discs should look better as this is one of the biggest selling points of Bluray over DVD. It immaterial whether the differences can only be seen or heard on �xxk equipment as this is not what most UK consumers own. What matters to them is that UK consumers are getting a fair deal on what to expect from Bluray on typical home equipment, in this case, approx �1000 of TV and DVD player.

Which is exactly the findings that will benefit us the most as Which? are one of the few establishments who can fire with big guns and actually shame companies or champion legislation changes to make companies improve their products.

That's a good move: I watched it last week and it was amazing.

Accepted, but I don't have an outrageous viewing system -not very different from their test system except my panel is a bit bigger (46" v 40") and I have never (that's right - never) viewed a Blu-ray disc on it that I could remotely confuse with standard DVD, and in every case when I have done a DVD - BD comparison the difference has been obvious. My guess is that many people (including possibly this panel of "experts") use a viewing distance that is too great to discern the difference. (Afaik they did not state their viewing distance to the screen which for 1080p and 40" screen and should be less than eight feet and preferably six feet). None of which is to deny the proposition that some Blu-ray transfers could be better.


I'm all for that, but I have to say that I think Which sells reports because people expect them to report that the �50 plastic fantastic is just as good as the �500 properly designed and manufactured product, so that they can buy the �50 piece of junk and believe that they have saved �450 and got something that's just as good. I know a little bit about cameras and you'd be bonkers to rely on Which for a recommendation rather than a dedicated website like dpreview (quite apart from the fact that you have to pay to subscribe to Which and dpreview is free). If the testers are incapable of telling the difference between good, mediocre and bad, then they are just pandering to the lowest common denominator. Which is just about as far from the values of Meridian and the subscribers to this forum as you can get.

Where these diaplays properly calibrated ?

I have over 1000 Bluray titles and only very few of them are coming from bad masters and i consider them bad. Mostly cheap tries to get a title out on Bluray. (1080i50 video master made for TV put on a Bluray)

I did watch lots of these blu rays on a 120" 21:9 screen (JVC HD-750 and Schneider CIH lens) Radiance XD and sony/samsung/HDI-dune Bluray players.
DVD just looks less good on these screen sizes. (played from M800)
This was all color calibrated (projector and Radiance).

Perhaps if you test with non 1080p displays that cannot do 24p, the image quality of a Bluray is not displayed as good as it can be ?

If the internal processing of the TV does things wrong, it might not matter what you input, it always looks bad ?

Whilst the difference projected on a screen is night and day, the average 32"-42" TV screen used in the majority of living rooms is not going to show anywhere near the same advantage. I have a few friends who's investment in a BD player in such circumstances was met with a resounding "so what" by the rest of the family.

I don't dispute that the difference between BD and DVD is discernible by most people, but the value placed on that difference is minimal. I find it interesting that 3 years after starting to sell BD discs, the local Asda (supermarket for those outside the UK) has no more shelf space allocated to it now than initially, and the larger Tesco Extra stores have even less titles on display. I don't remember this slow promotional effort being the case with DVDs a decade ago? I do wonder if it does reflect a general low level of interest in Bluray from Joe Public (as Chrislayer rightly pointed out quite some time ago)?

Regarding mastering quality, I'm all for the studios' occasionally lazy efforts being highlighted and shamed, but sadly I think the points above (allied to downloads and recessionary times) have more bearing on the future of BD than the technical merits of individual releases.

Cheers

George

Last week I was in our local Best Buy (consumer electronics)store in Las Vegas and noticed that the Blu-Ray section was now just as large if not larger than the DVD section. Also the "What's new" section was entirely populated by Bluray. My thoughts at that time were that DVD was the next Dinosaur. Then along comes this thread.

Gary

Perhaps this is just a UK market response? HMV is a high street music and movie retailer, and even their branches in bigger cities (in Scotland) have pretty feeble BD sections.

My impression is that the US has been way ahead of the UK for all things Hi-Def for a number of years.

Cheers

George

After 30 minutes of digging, here are a few stats to digest

a) Bluray Sales will total about $2 billion this year

b) This will put it at about 18% of the combined DVD/BD Market

c) iTunes recently became the single largest Music Retailer worldwide.........their iTunes business is generally regarded as a "Booming" one............and yet is about $4 billion per annum................Bluray Sales of $2 billion or 50% of iTunes........nothing to be sneezed at!!

d) Bluray Sales in Europe up 67% last quarter

e) In the US the Bluray premium over DVD is about 20%.............In Europe it ranges from 33% on most discs to 50% on New Releases................Once the Retailers get their Pricing on a "sane" level, then it will become more successful

One further note of my own.............when DVD was launched, the following did not exist as an option

** Multiple Sky and Direct TV Satellite Movie Channels
** "Online" Movie and TV Viewing via Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, BBC iPlayer etc.
** Bi-torrent type "Illegal" Downloads

So, it's much tougher for Bluray to compete against that backdrop.............and yet it's still managed to gain a $2 billion foothold (and growing)

There is hope yet IMHO!!

Don't forget that HMV typically charge a �10 premium over Amazon/Play on-line charges for a Blu disc. No wonder they don't sell many.......