VoreLord

I bought a Panasonic 50" Plasma tv last May and I've been chomping at the bit to get into a Blu-ray player ever since. Right now good standalone BD players are still pretty expensive and the PS3 seems to be the cheapest and best way to currently get into Blu Ray.

A good friend of mine brought his PS3 over last night along with some Blu ray movies that I owned in SD and a SD movie we both owned so we could compare the differences in quality of the two machines. My Pioneer DV-400V is a SD DVD player with an HDMI output that upscales to 1080p resolution. (I don't have an HDMI receiver, so we didn't compare audio, only image quality).

First we compared the BD version of the 5th Element to the SD version. It was difficult to see a difference. The BD had a subtly sharper image, but it in no way took the SD player to school.

Next we compared the latest Bladerunner release. There was a more noticeable difference between the BD vs the SD. The BD had a sharper image and less picture noise.

Then we tried out Hellboy. The BD had the crisper picture, but again it didn't blow the SD out of the water.

Lastly we compared the difference on the PS3's SD 1080p upconverting to the Pioneer DV-400V's 1080p upconverting using the Return Of The King extended edition. My Pioneer's picture was much better than the PS3's by far. It was very noticeable. It was much crisper and more "in focus" looking. I was really shocked because I'd always heard that Blu Ray players had superior SD upconverting to a SD upconverting player. Not true at least as far as the PS3 was concerned.

Overall, I think the differences between BD & SD aren't significant enough for me to drop a wad of cash on a BD player. When the price drops around or below the $200 mark for a quality, dedicated BD player I'll probably jump on. Until then I'm more than happy with my Pioneer DV-400V.

Spiky

Which BD of 5th Element do you have? The original was actually created from a worse source than the CE DVD and they looked virtually identical. The updated BD is better.

clckworang

Am I wrong, I thought not all PS3s were able to upconvert, much like not all PS3s were backwards compatible?

I don't know about your setup, but I have an upconverting player at home and have done the side by side thing before and been very surprised at how much better the Blu-ray looked. I'm sure there are a lot of variable in that, though.

Oh, and which version of Blade Runner? I have only seen the re-release of Blade Runner on HD-DVD and Blu-ray, not the new DVD version. I have the old release of Blade Runner, and I can tell you that the Blu-ray is leaps and bounds better than that one. Can't comment on the new SD transfer, though.

Mr. Salty

Whenever I read a post like the OP's I have to wonder if the person had his equipment set up and adjusted correctly. Was the picture on the plasma tweaked correctly or were the settings the way it came out of the box? I'm not familiar with the PS3's settings, but was it outputting the correct signal?

I have a 50-inch Sony SXRD display and a Panasonic DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player, as well as a highly-regarded Oppo upconverting DVD player. The difference between DVD and Blu-ray is in no way subtle.

Sdallnct

When I first got my PS3 I had a similar issue. Comparing the same DVD on BD to that of the SD version on a nice player. I couldn't tell much of a difference.

Then I read and read about calibration and even picked up a disc. Even doing the calibration based on numbers at AVS on my projector and sources, made a HUGE difference. HUGE. I can now regularly see the difference. It is noticeable. Tho it was not that added resolution (sharpness) that I really notice. It is the color. The richness of the color and also the depth of the image. Yea on some movies the sharpness is a tinny bit noticeable, but it the other things, depth, black detail, richness of color that I really notice on BD (and HD since I still do HD DVD).

Yea, if you have an original 5th Element BD disc, it is crappy. Sony even exchanged it for free once they re-did it right.

As for the upconverting on the PS3, yes, if you updated the FW then the PS3 will upconvert. It does a nice job. Is it better then the best upconverting players? Probably not. I prefer the image of my HD-A3 on SD DVD's.

And personally, the price of the player is not really the issue, IMO. It is the cost of the BD. Yes even with a nice image, I'm not paying the $30 per disc unless it is a blockbuster movie that I love. I continue to buy HD DVD's at $9.00 and less, but otherwise I still buy mostly SD. Tho my collection of BD is slowly growing.

Mr. Cinema

Agreed. If you can't tell much difference between BD and upconverted DVD on a 50" plasma, you either have bad vision or your settings are not correct.

kefrank

or you're sitting 20 feet away.

SmackDaddy

Or, maybe it's like he said. He doesn't see enough of a difference to justify laying out the $$ for a Blu-ray player and the higher priced discs.

I can see the difference between HD/BRD and standard upconverted DVD, but I still don't own a Blu-Ray player (I don't care to pay the current going prices for Blu-Ray releases and the back catalog is just too sparse for me now), and I too would love to see a $200 player. Not everyone cares to spend hours calibrating their sets to look perfect (I do). Nor is HD content as important to some as it is to others.

Mr. Salty

Then why buy a 50-inch Panasonic plasma?

[DT]

Agreed. You get a solid BD player (with network based firmware updates which has kept it up with new BD specs, etc.) as well as media services box and if you're inclinded, a terrific gaming machine.

Heck, I'd say if you had any interest in gaming, you're sort of paying less than $400 for the BD side if you catch my drift

The fact that it's a BD player is totally independent from the players ability to upscale. That's handled by a specific sub-system and is good/bad based on the sophistication of the electronics used. A Reon based upscale chip is outstanding for example. The interesting this with the PS3 is the upscaling is being handled in "software" (by the CELL processor). I think new more efficient and better predictive algorithms will increase the PQ of the PS3 SD output in subsequent firmware updates. (or knowing Sony...not )

The underlined is the key takeaway - I mean you've indicated there IS a difference, but from your subjective assessment, it's not enough for you (some people have said the same thing about SD vs. HD TV content).

There are movies I want to watch and own and I want the best possible experience - this is provided by BD. I don't want to have to compare or wonder, etc., I just want to pop in a disk I know will have the best PQ/SQ and not have to debate with myself that the upscaled version is "almost, kind of, just as good".

I would like just about everyone else appreciate a drop in costs of disks. I've picked up most of ours through sales, used and such, so I'd say my average disk cost is probably around $15-18, but I know new releases really push that $30 mark.

DT

VoreLord

That's all I'm saying. There was a difference, Blu-Ray had the better picture no question, but it wasn't mind blowingly "holy shit" better imo. At least not enough to justify me throwing down $399 for a player and $30 for discs. I'm going to wait for the prices to come down. I'm more than happy with what I have until then.

Fyi - my tv was professionally calibrated and we sat about two feet away from the screen. All was hooked up using HDMI cables. My friend said he had brought the newer 5th Element disc, but regardless that wasn't the only movie we compared.

Blu-ray dvd menu's look shitloads better than sd dvd menu's, no contest !

Because it's beats the pants off of my old 27" JVC tv ! My wife and I love movies and wanted to move up to something bigger and nicer looking. The upconverting on my Pioneer looks awesome on it and we get HDTV from Cox.

Spiky

No good quality DVD players ever dropped below $200. It may be quite a wait for a BDp.

VoreLord

I got my Pioneer DV-400V for $150 and it's region free. It's the best dvd player I've ever owned.