Blu-ray

[interested]

Have you used the HD movie download service? If you have, do you rate it? I don't do games either or ever look to own DVD's so I'm interested in streaming HD movies.

Yes I do, that's the one reason I bought the thing. Not bothered about showing pics or any of that crap, I just wanted it so I could rent movies over the internet. I'd say it's as good as upscaled DVD's on my 1080i Bravia TV.

If you're going to get one, get the one with the larger hard drive - reason being is that I find myself ripping DVD's I rent and storing them on the AppleTV - I'll run out of space soon.

 

[Spacecadet]

Ahh, they've came down then. You'd get one on ebay for £200 pretty easy (I did, brand new unused). But retail would be another £40 or so.

BTW ON the HD thing - I use my PS3 and stream HD movies to it, works a treat

Yup PS3
Blu-ray
upscales DVD's very well (better than the newish samsung i have)
HD for storing other media (video/music/photos)
Software updates via the web
builtin web browser... which is pretty good for watching youtube clips when you're pissed
4 USB ports on the front - easy to plug in a usb stick with a movie or other media on it
A lot of card slots, take the memory card out of your camera and plug it straight in
Wifi media server compatible
Full HD output and I think its even got the optical outputs
very easy to use and never goes wrong

oh... and it plays games too

 

[Batcatz]

Yup PS3
Blu-ray
upscales DVD's very well (better than the newish samsung i have)
HD for storing other media (video/music/photos)
Software updates via the web
builtin web browser... QUOTE]

... or a laptop with a blueray player and hdmi from laptop to tele... also good for bbc iplayer etc.

I have a PS3 and a sony vaio laptop.
I love gadgets. :-)
Batcatz

 

[chef]

before you buy a blu-ray player do you have a tv (LCD or plasma) that can display High Definition/HD (i.e can display resolutions of either 1024 x 768 or ideally Full HD being 1920x1080), if you do great, if not dont bother buying a blu-ray player as you wont benefit at all from the current display you have..

assuming you do have a decent tv/plasma/lcd then the visual benefit of blu-ray over dvd is equivalent to the audio difference between tape vs cd

as to which player to buy, i have a ps3 which as many have already said is as good as any dedicated blu-ray player with added benefits, i also have a blu-ray/hd dvd combined player as part of my home theatre pc which is my main player, both are very impressive and make a good blu-ray movie (300, i am legend, 2001:space odessey [spelling?]) look far better than Sky HD, definately worth the money i'd say.. gf chef agrees aswell..

 

[interested]

before you buy a blu-ray player do you have a tv (LCD or plasma) that can display High Definition/HD (i.e can display resolutions of either 1024 x 768 or ideally Full HD being 1920x1080), if you do great, if not dont bother buying a blu-ray player as you wont benefit at all from the current display you have..

assuming you do have a decent tv/plasma/lcd then the visual benefit of blu-ray over dvd is equivalent to the audio difference between tape vs cd

as to which player to buy, i have a ps3 which as many have already said is as good as any dedicated blu-ray player with added benefits, i also have a blu-ray/hd dvd combined player as part of my home theatre pc which is my main player, both are very impressive and make a good blu-ray movie (300, i am legend, 2001:space odessey [spelling?]) look far better than Sky HD, definately worth the money i'd say.. gf chef agrees aswell..

I've got a Sony Bravia TV at the moment but it's 1080i rather than 1080P. I'm thinking of upgrading to the Bravia X series should I go ahead and get the Blu-ray player.

At the moment I'm using an upscaling Sony DVD player - are you saying that there would be a noticeable difference if I had a Blu-ray player with my current telly?

cheers

 

[DiscoStu]

I've got a Sony Bravia TV at the moment but it's 1080i rather than 1080P. I'm thinking of upgrading to the Bravia X series should I go ahead and get the Blu-ray player.

At the moment I'm using an upscaling Sony DVD player - are you saying that there would be a noticeable difference if I had a Blu-ray player with my current telly?

cheers

I have a cheap nasty 32" 1080i TV and there's a definite difference between upscaled DVD's and Blu-Ray.

 

[PAH]

To be honest I've only used my PS3 in the last few months for watching blu-rays. Got GTA IV but always seem to have something I'd rather be doing than play it, like watching a movie!

I'd be wary about buying an older/cheaper blu-ray stand-alone as the format still seems to be receiving the odd tweek to it's capabilities, and last time I checked, the PS3 was the only blu-ray player capable of being updated as these new revisions are released. Maybe the newer players don't have this issue, not sure they're cheap as chips yet though.

 

[chef]

are you saying that there would be a noticeable difference if I had a Blu-ray player with my current telly?

yes, definately

 

[stingman123]

yes, definately

Make sure yor TV supports HDCP as well (High Definition Copyright Protection)
otherwise you'll end up watching a blank screen, as long as your TV was manufactured within the last 12-18 months, you should be OK

 

[Churchill]

To be honest I've only used my PS3 in the last few months for watching blu-rays. Got GTA IV but always seem to have something I'd rather be doing than play it, like watching a movie!

I'd be wary about buying an older/cheaper blu-ray stand-alone as the format still seems to be receiving the odd tweek to it's capabilities, and last time I checked, the PS3 was the only blu-ray player capable of being updated as these new revisions are released. Maybe the newer players don't have this issue, not sure they're cheap as chips yet though.

Good advice indeed.

I bought a Sony Vaio at Xmas that has a Blu-Ray drive. Sony have release 3 updates to the software so far this year!

The Vaio has a HDMI interface that I use to output to my HD Ready TV. Very good output indeed!