I do not own a Blu-ray player, but have been extremely impressed by the look of channels like MGMHD. The look of these films is far superior then a standard DVD. I was wondering if movies on Blu-ray looks better or worse (or the same) as HDTV.

about the same.

Actually its not the same, it depends on the source and the channel.

If you are watching films and shows on Fox HD, FX HD, ABC HD, ABC Family HD, Disney Channel HD, Disney XD HD, ESPN HD, and ESPN 2 HD then the broadcast is 720p high-defintion with 384kbs or lower Dolby Digital audio.

Other HD channels offer 1080i HD broadcasts also with 384kbs or lower Dolby Digital audio.

Bear in mind, the audio is not always in 5.1 surround sound either. You may get DD 2.0 Stereo or DD 2.0 Surround.

Some cable/satellite providers do offer pay-per-view on-demand movies in 1080p but you have to download them first to your DVR's hard drive. And again, its going to be 384kbs or lower DD audio.

Blu-ray Disc's two major advantages over HD Broadcast:

1. Up to 1080p picture quality with better compression.

- For shows like Scrubs and Dollhouse the best picture quality you could get on TV is 720p while the BD offers 1080p/24f video.

- Many cable/satellite provides have to severely compress their video streams due to limited bandwith which can result in macroblocking, compression artifacts, or other anamolies. While BD video is compressed as well, BD allows up to a 40mb video bit rate so the video does not have to be so tightly squeezed.

2. Dolby Digital, DTS, DTS-HD High Resolution PCM uncompressed, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio sound.

- Smallville has a DD track but the BD offers a 640k DD track.

- Damages not only gets an upgrade on BD from 720p to 1080p, the sound is now transparent to the original studio master with Dolby TrueHD lossless audio.

- Scrubs & Dollhouse also get bumped to DTS-HD Master Audio from DD 5.1. DTS-HD MA also includes a 1.5mbs standard DTS core track.

Better. Much better....well, how much better depends on the size (or distance from TV) and, eh, quality of your set.

Audio is much improved as well.

EDIT: Eh, the post above is all you need to know. I was just too lazy to write it.

same.

Wrong.

Emachine got it right, there is a substanital difference.

my work here is done.

I don't own a HD-TV however, whenever I see 'em at the shops or even at my cousins house, I find that the picture quality of a blu-ray film is far Superior.

I remember being really shocked by "To Catch A Thief" on HDTV. This was a film I had no interest in watching at all, but I turned on the TV and saw the masquerade party scene toward the end of the film and my jaw hit the floor. I can't imagine any DVD looking this good. I think this was shot in Vistavision or something, but the colors were as good as anything I have ever seen.

Not to pile on, but you couldn't be more wrong. But welcome to the forum. It's a great place to learn and correct the error of your ways.

I do think the films that have impressed me were broadcast on that 1080p process (MGMHD AND HDNET), so that would be what I was asking about.

Not sure about any other means of seeing them, but cable can only support up to 1080i right now, so anything I watch on HDNet is never 1080p.

MGM HD, HDNet, and HDNet Movies are 1080i.

Like I said before, due to the limited bandwidth of cable and satellite, the best live transmission is always going to be 1080i. Some cable & satellite providers do offer 1080p video but you have to use their on-demand service that downloads the film over the internet to your hard drive. This gives it a bigger bandwidth to work with. However, for these movies, you do have to pay to view them.

I watch it on DirecTV, but thanks to everyone who replied. The great thing about the channels I mentioned (MGMHD, HDNET) is there does seem to be a real effort to air the best prints available. I don't see that as much on other channels.

Let's just skip past the whole 1080i vs 1080p debate and pretend we're talkin' to a joe six-pack here, because we just might be.

To put it simply, television does not broadcast at as high a resolution as what BD's can have, and that might be negligible enough for plenty of people. However, most stations do have bandwidth issues that can cause artifacts and macroblocking, and when the same material is properly transferred onto a Blu-ray disc, the image quality goes up quite a bit.

Blu-ray is better, hands down. For example, I find The Office Season 5 to look a bit better on Blu, and I also find Dexter to be better than broadcast as well (most of the time). South Park Season 12 even.

Truth! Unless a studio royally effs up the transfer of a Blu-ray version (ahem, Gladiator).

There are movies I even watch on stuff like Showtime HD where the HD quality is definitely pretty good, but they don't compare to the Blu-rays I own.

I agree with What you said about The Office Season Five. I watched it all last season in the HD broadcast and it looked awesome! But I the BD still manages to impress me further.

At least with my cable provider (Comcast), the signal is compressed during instances of bright flashes, so pixelation (macro-blocking I think is the correct term?) occurs. It's very distracting during scenes with lightning, strobe lights, flashing lights, waterfalls, and any other scene with bright lights or sparkles. I don't know if it's just Comcast or if all providers do this.

For example, I can't even watch Speed Racer on Comcast. The pixelation is incredible. Any "club" scene in a movie where things are only visible during the flashes of light are completely unwatchable.

Blu-ray has none of this, of course.

Looks like dvdDan deleted his post and took a walk.

couldn't be more wrong my friend. scroll up. its still there.

HD channels are 720p and 1080i, Blu Ray is 1080p, which is much better.

Maybe you should save yourself further embarrassment and delete it.

Try watching the Dark KNight on HBOHD or cinemaxHD, and sync up the blu. The night scenes with thw helicopter overhead when they are taking Dent to jail....on Blu it is ctystal clear when you look at the street below, but on the HD broadcast it is fuzzy. Just look at the lower right screen when the Helicopter turns. Nothing is better than 1080p.

yet.... http://www.hdtvuk.tv/2008/10/100gb_1920pcapa.html

oh-no... I AM NOT upgrading again.... !!!!!