Blu-Ray Makes Me Steal (More)
I’m not a Blu-Ray fan. In fact, I don’t give a fuck. Oh, and it really only has a little to do with my intense hatred of Sony.
Think of it this way: Back in 1999 I was used to playing video games on the Playstation and Nintendo 64 and when the Dreamcast came out, I think my pants were literally blown off. That was the difference between VHS and DVD. It wasn’t “slightly better.” You got a smaller form factor, you got better picture and sound quality, you didn’t have to rewind when you were done, you could easily skip to any point in the movie, the machine never ate the movie, and you didn’t have to worry about tracking. That’s a fucking upgrade. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD came out and it was a little bit more like the difference between Dreamcast and PS2. “NEW! Does all the exact same things, only a little bit better (if you’re really looking for it).”
In fact, as an interesting aside, the difference is so subtle they have to exaggerate those side-by-side comparisons they run in electronics departments to impress Johnny Clueless Consumer. I was standing in line the other day at Best Buy watching an enormous display of several nature scenes in both standard DVD resolution and HD. Sure, HD looks good. There’s a couple hundred more lines of vertical resolution. But on this demo, there was a very distinct difference in color; the HD side of the screen was much more vivid. Now, last time I checked, resolution had nothing to do with color saturation. I don’t care how you slice it, that’s very unscrupulous marketing. But I digress. Best Buy can eat a bag of dicks anyway.
So I have absolutely no interest in upgrading my player, my TV and my entire library of movies and TV shows for “a little better” and yet, when I find myself standing in front of the DVD case looking at new releases, I can’t help but think “…this is a dead format.”
Really, the only thing an honest consumer can do is just download more. I guess I’ll just download rips of DVDs I would have otherwise bought until Blu-Ray has such deep market penetration that I feel like the guy standing in the clearance cassettes section of the music store when I’m looking at DVDs. That’s my cue to move on, and not a second before. I asked Jesus and he said that’s what he would do. Not Christ, mind you. Jesus is this guy I go to for bargain car stereo parts, but I always trust his judgment when faced with a moral dilemma.
16 Responses to “Blu-Ray Makes Me Steal (More)”
Fucking THANK YOU.
Fuck Blu Ray. HDMI is the only reasonable upgrade. My dad and my roommate both have 40+ in. HD TVs and the only movies I’ve ever watched on either are normal DVD’s that get slightly upconverted with HDMI. And you know what? They look great. Like, there’s no reason I would want them to look any better than they already do, especially not for $15 extra on every title.
Since the players are backwards compatible, I don’t see DVD fully dying for well over five more years. Especially not when you start being able to get perfectly good movies for $5 just because they’re the “inferior” format while Blu Ray’s still go for over $30 for a ten year old title you already own on DVD.
Fuck that.
Good post.
Yeah, I have a regular old DVD player running component at 480p to my TV. It looks fucking great. I don’t think there would be a noticeable difference between running HDMI compared to component on my set up.
I’m sure running 1080p or 720p with a Blu Ray would make the picture look a little nicer, but not for a 300 dollar player and a 35 dollar/movie price tag.
I’ll stick with my 5 year old 80 dollar DVD player until, like Bill said, it gets awkward checking out DVD selections and getting that creepy “he still watches DVD” looks.
I will say that in addition to an overall higher res picture, blu-ray image does have improved color saturation and contrast over standard def sources.
i have no idea what you guys are talking about but i like it alot
Fuck you guys. Long live cassettes!
dude beta
Crispy: Then that has to do with how the movie is mastered for Blu-Ray. There’s nothing about increased storage capacity that’s going to inherently improve contrast or color saturation. Especially since early Blu-Rays (I think) even used the same codec.
getting up every 4 hours to switch discs of Battlestar Galactica < getting up every 20 hours to switch discs of Battlestar Galactica
BLU-RAY WINS
Guys, I think we’re missing the biggest deal breaker here…the disc is FUCKING BLUE. Or Blu, or something.
SIGN ME UP.
Beyond the storage capacity of the disc is also the increased amount of data that an HDMI cable (and to a lesser extent, a component cable) is able to transfer. Also, beside improved picture quality and color, Blu Ray discs allow for use of lossless audio codecs, so if one has the equipment to take advantage of them, there’s another upside.
Long story short: Blu ray offers more than just a “slightly sharper picture” (not actually quoting anybody in particular). I’m also defending Blu Ray. Taking advantage of the features it offers generally requires an expensive overhaul of one’s home theater setup, and a majority of people are just fine with DVD. I still have no problem with DVDs, but a properly mastered blu ray on the right equipment can be an impressive thing. Jumping from standard def to hi def may not be a drastic leap (though it sometimes is), but once you’ve gotten used to watching a lot of HD content, going back to SD can be tough.
Also, the discs aren’t actually blue (the blu refers to the color of the laser reading them). They look pretty much like any other DVD/CD, with the addition of a special coating on the data surface that makes them more resistant to scratches and the like. Just an FYI to keep you from making any faux pas at future social gatherings.
Blu ray also means less compression of data, so the resultant video has less unintended noise, artifacting, color banding, etc. than it would on DVD, which is particularly important if you’re watching on a larger screen where those things are more apparent.
I’m not saying Blu-Ray is shitty technology, I’m just saying the jump from DVD isn’t a big enough deal for me to warrant an upgrade anytime soon.
Your pants were blown off?!? Wow!
Well, I like Blu-Ray. If you came to the apartment more you could watch shit in high-def and see that it actually does look better.
As for the comparison videos at Best Buy I’ve complained about that to Home Theater, mainly because the “good” TV looks like shit with contrast too high, sharpness raised up to an ungodly level, and in general it needs TLC. According to the folks at my store, and I’ve questioned a good number about it, nearly every TV in a Best Buy should be left to the specs it’s set at when you first take it out of the box, unless otherwise noted. We only have two TVs in my entire store that are set up properly and have been calibrated because there’s concerns over false advertising and people bringing TVs back because they “don’t look like they do in the store” if we were to properly set up the video settings.
It just kills me that so many of our TVs have such varying contrast, color, and brightness and typically look shitty yet we don’t change it because too many customers are unable to understand that fiddling with the settings is important. I’m worried what percentage of our customers spend $2000+ on their new TVs and then never touch the video settings.
Ugh.
I agree with you billy. its not like…the scene in Back to the future 2 when jaws came out and tried to eat Michael j fox. that would be a step up from dvd. yeah just wait a few years until its more affordable and more accessible.
Oh, I know this conversation is a month old and this comment won’t get seen, but Nick: The comparison was side-by-side on a single screen so calibration wasn’t the issue.
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