Blu-Ray

[hatt]

I never use BD Live..he might, but I don't. I'm just not big on a lot of extras. I watch the movies and maybe deleted scenes and that's it.

I also don't use it, but you never know if they will come out with something worth connecting to BD-Live. If you're a person who never really cares about the extra stuff on DVDs then BD-Live is a non issue.

[Dave L.]

Correct on the HDMI, necessary, however the $130 cables are a HUGE ****in rip off. Enormous and foolish waste of money. And as mentioned, if your TV isn't 1080p, then Blu Ray isn't being Blu Ray. Blu Ray is a 1080p player....it only counts on a TV capable of that degree of resolution. It'll still look good on 1080i however.

Now you guys tell me (F$CK).
That could have been ammo.

Thanks guys- learn something new every day.

[Honu]

AMMO IS AMMO it shoots or it wont its all the same !!!!
well yes and no ?
its what happens along the way and a few other things that do factor in and to some it does matter but if you are shooting dead cars at the gravel pit for fun it does not matter !
it also might matter the gear you are running it with and out of and the distance etc...


I guess thats the way I read it about cables you get what you pay for but you can also get ripped off
Monoprice and bluejeancables will cover you
but to say its digital its there or its not ? well true and many times its NOT ! and that will get you sparklies and drop outs and such
I think bluejeans is a small step up from monoprice
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/


lets say a 8 foot cable
which will run you $15-$40 tops from bluejeans or monoprice (like mentioned)
but many $5 cables will give you drop outs sparklies etc..
and $100 is marketing and not worth it

the only time you will run into more issues if you need to run over 20 feet then cables will be important (but again not have to be expensive)




chances are your player will work fine for you
went and looked up this for you way to much info but you can skim parts
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=936144
I think this is the model from what you posted ?

take this AVS forum to be a bit like arfcom some good some bad info but overall you can get issues that might pop up etc... like you are having issues setting something these long threads can help you out by doing a search in them etc...

depending on whats running your audio ?
if you end up with decent speakers and decent receiver say spend around $1500 - 2K on a setup it will blow you away with how much more enjoyable movies are
as they say Audio is %70 of what you see !!!!!


just so you know where I am coming from
I have pretty decent stuff and have about 7K into just the audio (speakers and amps) stuff so decent enough amount to enjoy and enough that for 30K you dont get tons more but it blows away other stuff
and I am the kind that will buy a $1000 DVD or Blu-Ray player
I dont figure in projectors and plasmas as I tend to get them each year and update
I am a sucker that way but I can see it and appreciate it
(I do photography for a living) so my eyes are also kinda used to seeing nice I guess

I might say am kinda more into HT junk that guns but love both

hope this helps

[Honu]

I see the 1080i vs 1080p thing being thrown around a bit ?
remember thats more about the signal than the set

HDTVs are generally 720 and 1080 in resolution the i or the p is the way its displayed and one is not always better than the other but p is preferred by many

all the HD broadcast junk you watch is most likely all 1080i

OK decided to go grab a article that might help some
http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/scottw...2608interprog/

[C4IGrant]

Looks like your wife scored a good deal Todd!

For cables, I always go here: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

High quality a good price.



C4

[caporider]

If you plan on buying more than a handful of movies a year, Netflix is totally worth it. $10 a month gets you all you can eat Blu-Ray movies, one at a time. Movies get to you within a day of receiving back the one you already have. And their selection is just impossible to beat.

[DrewH]

Might want to see if your Blu-Ray comes with the latest "lossless" audio formats, DTS HD Master Audio or Dolby Digital TruedHD. If it doesn't the regular Dolby Digitial 5.1 sounds just fine, but I think (as a non-audiophile, admittedly) the lossless formats really sound good. Might have to invest in a new receiver to get them, depending.

Got my HDMI cables from monoprice.com

Blu-ray looks excellent, even on a 720P/10801 TV, and my blu-ray player does an excellent job upconverting my regular DVDs as well.

[ToddG]

Thanks again for all the advice, guys. I knew there would be more than a couple former AV Club nerd kids here.

I'm not much of an "extras" guy, so the BD-Live doesn't sound like something I need. If it becomes popular, my thought process is that two years from now the price of everything will have gone done substantially and I can always replace the machine. For now, it appears it will do what I want.

Our sound system is 5.1 and quite a few years old, but still works great for our needs. It's a Sony with a built-in DVD player that is starting to struggle which is one reason we were looking at Blu-Ray. We actually canceled our Netflix account because our DVD player couldn't handle scratched disks. Looks like we'll need to re-up.

[Norva]

Should have bought a PS3!

[DBautista]

Congrats on the BR.

I just picked up 300 for 19.99 at Circuit City yesterday.

Two words with a hyphen: KICK-ASS