Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

1080p Blu-ray isn’t dead

M

Macalicious2011

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 15, 2011
1,878
2,021
London
This week I upgraded from PS3 to PS4 blow and popped in a Blu-ray movie this morning. The image quality jump is huge!

Colours are more vivid, grain reduced and overall clarity is better. While the image is a touch softer if you sit very close, it’s not far from 4K Movies on iTunes. Oblivion in particular, looks absolutely stunning now and is near 4K in clarity. Obviously HDR and 60hz is missing but that's OK.

If any of you 4K ATV owners are considering watching 4K only but have an old Blu-ray player, replace it with a new one and it will breath new life into your Blu-ray collection.

I was going to top buying 1080p BD but now I will resume as they aren’t expensive and have the benefit of DTS Master Audio.
 
But dude, it's last decades technology. IMO Blu Ray really filled the HD gap between 2007 - 2010. I truly can see why Steve Jobs discarded BluRay.
It also breaks my heart with all of the landfills spewing out plastic from old DVD BluRay players and DVD BluRay cases. All of that crap which some humans just 'have to buy'.
I put a disc on for the first time the other night whilst working and it seemed horrible hearing the disc spinning in the room. It just seemed so old fashioned. Plus the blurry cases look really really horrible in a house - they are not books!
It fits in with my environmental credentials that when I stream my iTunes film, it is powered by iCloud using 1005 renewables for which my TV is powered by my own solar panels :)
For me, going the streaming route from 2012 was the best video decision that I ever made.
 
cube said:
Sometimes "old" technology is better than "modern" technology.
Click to expand...
It depends. The world has changed. Its always changing and you have to adapt or you become stale. People travel more (they see the world, their minds become open, they spend more time getting an education & doing things and spend less time watching TV (outside of the US). Like me, I can't put a disc in my iPhone X, or watch it on my chic MacBook in bed on a Saturday morning with an espresso. In fact, a disc case is larger than my iPhone X which stores 50+ HD films :) :) :)
Having a old box that really hasn't changed in looks since a 1983 CD player in a room that plays a certain disc to me is pure crazy. It's like how music travels with you and adapts to your lifestyle. I remember in the olden days when a person would put a record on their HiFi and then sit down in a chair to listen to it. How crazy is that??? A bit sad isn't it? Whilst the world evolves :) I truly believe in every way that we are all living in the most exciting times of our life!People are now better educated, travel more, can see the lies of dirty politicians and thank fully have truly taken down the gutter press media moguls of the 1900s. Moving forward is fantastic!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Matthew Essex
Strelok said:
It’s better in the sense that it’s more convenient. Blu-Ray will pretty much always have better quality than streaming.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is more convenient, or perhaps cheaper. You can always rip the discs.
 
Strelok said:
It’s better in the sense that it’s more convenient. Blu-Ray will pretty much always have better quality than streaming.
Click to expand...
You notice this vividly if you compare a compressed HD cable stream with an OTA HD signal. The difference is stark and you're paying your cable provider for the privilege of poorer quality than the free OTA HD. This is true capitalism at work!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Snoopy4, mochatins and bopajuice
I prefer blu-rays over digital even though I collect both. That has somewhat changed with iTunes 4K because those movies do look noticeably better to me than blu-rays with SDR. But that just means that if I want to own a newer movie for the shelf, I can get the 4K disc even though I don't own a 4K blu-ray player yet, and redeem the digital copy in 4K (even for movies that only redeem in VUDU, since MoviesAnywhere conveniently solved that just in time).

However -- I am kind of skeptical of there being any jump in quality between playback of the same disc on a PS3 or PS4. If they were both connected to the same video input with the same picture settings, I don't know how the PS4 could be doing things better, other than faster read speeds.
I'm skeptical but I'm open to learning otherwise. And I'm speaking as someone who has both systems but primarily watches movies with the 4. I would test for myself over this weekend but I'm away from home at the moment.
 
cube said:
Not everybody lives in the USA and a BD drive is a basic peripheral.
Click to expand...

Most people on here are most likely in the US. A Blu-ray drive also isn’t something everyone will have, since nobody really watched Blu-rays on their Pc since the software sucks.
 
Strelok said:
Most people on here are most likely in the US. A Blu-ray drive also isn’t something everyone will have, since nobody really watched Blu-rays on their Pc since the software sucks.
Click to expand...
Where people are from or whether they have a BD drive does not make Blu Ray worse.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ulenspiegel
archer75 said:
1080p looks damn good up converted to 4k. Depending on your tv and viewing distance you likely won't even notice a difference between the two.
Click to expand...

Agreed, especially for titles that are shot well. In darker scenes however, HD BD can look a bit "dirtier" with colours getting a bit out of shape.

I've certainly learned that there can be a significant difference between Blu-ray players. My misconception was that that the "digital is digital" and that the image quality is down to the TV rather than the player. However, if that was the case there wouldn't be a market for £400-700 bluray players by Oppo and Arcam


vince22 said:
Oled65C7 + ATV4k + 4kHDR/DV streaming made me stop going to theaters now, I sold all my blurays / 4k physical disk too.
Click to expand...

Nice! I get your TV makes any content look good! Understandably if you have HDR rather than just 4K, there is no going back to non HDR movies.


NameUndecided said:
However -- I am kind of skeptical of there being any jump in quality between playback of the same disc on a PS3 or PS4. If they were both connected to the same video input with the same picture settings, I don't know how the PS4 could be doing things better, other than faster read speeds.
Click to expand...

I didn't expect improved picture quality as I abandoned BD once I got a taste of 4K iTunes movies. The pleasant discovery was made when I put a BD disc in the PS4 PRO for giggles. I think it has a better signal processor than the PS3. Don't forget that there is a 7 year age gap between the two consoles.
 
cube said:
It is crazy that people think that newer technology with worse quality is better.
Click to expand...

I'd say picture wise that 1. 4K DV iTunes is FAR better than the same film from a Blu-Ray. 2. An iTunes file of Meet Joe Black that I have is FAR FAR FAR superior to an old disc that I own - when compared, the old disc had been so poorly mastered that Brad Pitts skin was the orange colour of Trump. The iTunes copy that I bought in 2012 was natural! 3. The iTunes files are constantly updated. 4. I can download the file to my iPhone X to watch in Dolby Vision HD on the Eurostar, stream from the iCloud the film from my MacBook therefore taking up zero storage space and watch it in glorious 4K DV on my ATV.
Crazy to think that you think that your old disc with older technology is better than newer technology with better quality :) My young, healthy eyes tell me that a iTunes 4K Dolby Vision film LOOKS BETTER than a BluRay disc. As with everything in life, I use my own experience and my own findings.

But each to their own - BluRay vs Streaming is very much like arguing about politics. Each has their preference. I remember before my university days, I spent thousands of pounds on HiFi - NOW, I think that the iPhone and a Bluetooth speaker is the best thing ever. Why? Because it fits into my lifestyle and because of it, I actually listen to more music than I did back then and i'm far happier as i'm doing a million other things. For me, iTunes fits in with my lifestyle. I love having everything in one place on my beautiful MacBook. I buy surfing HD film direct from the surfing film maker, I buy French film direct from their unique websites etc etc - no way would my beautiful films of found their way on to BluRay let alone 4K BluRay which has not taken off here in the UK. You on the other hand are proud of your film collection and that's really nice.

But what is amusing is that people knock iTunes 4K DV and yet just 10 years ago, they were watching repulsive DVD and before that VHS in 240p :) I think people on this forum forget how damn lucky we all are and how fast this wonderful technology has been given to us. In a way, it's turning people into brats as they are expecting everything - NOW and that's an awful thing.
 
BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
I'd say picture wise that 1. 4K DV iTunes is FAR better than the same film from a Blu-Ray. 2. An iTunes file of Meet Joe Black that I have is FAR FAR FAR superior to an old disc that I own - when compared, the old disc had been so poorly mastered that Brad Pitts skin was the orange colour of Trump. The iTunes copy that I bought in 2012 was natural! 3. The iTunes files are constantly updated. 4. I can download the file to my iPhone X to watch in Dolby Vision HD on the Eurostar, stream from the iCloud the film from my MacBook therefore taking up zero storage space and watch it in glorious 4K DV on my ATV.
Crazy to think that you think that your old disc with older technology is better than newer technology with better quality :) My young, healthy eyes tell me that a iTunes 4K Dolby Vision film LOOKS BETTER than a BluRay disc. As with everything in life, I use my own experience and my own findings.

But each to their own - BluRay vs Streaming is very much like arguing about politics. Each has their preference. I remember before my university days, I spent thousands of pounds on HiFi - NOW, I think that the iPhone and a Bluetooth speaker is the best thing ever. Why? Because it fits into my lifestyle and because of it, I actually listen to more music than I did back then and i'm far happier as i'm doing a million other things. For me, iTunes fits in with my lifestyle. I love having everything in one place on my beautiful MacBook. I buy surfing HD film direct from the surfing film maker, I buy French film direct from their unique websites etc etc - no way would my beautiful films of found their way on to BluRay let alone 4K BluRay which has not taken off here in the UK. You on the other hand are proud of your film collection and that's really nice.

But what is amusing is that people knock iTunes 4K DV and yet just 10 years ago, they were watching repulsive DVD and before that VHS in 240p :) I think people on this forum forget how damn lucky we all are and how fast this wonderful technology has been given to us. In a way, it's turning people into brats as they are expecting everything - NOW and that's an awful thing.
Click to expand...
You can buy UHD Blu Ray. I only buy 3D 1080p Blu Ray. And you can't download or stream 3D.
 
cube said:
You can buy UHD Blu Ray. I only buy 3D 1080p Blu Ray. And you can't download or stream 3D.
Click to expand...

So you only buy a completely dead technology that no TV CE supports in 2017 models in the USA?

I hope you enjoy importing...
 
Macalicious2011 said:
This week I upgraded from PS3 to PS4 blow and popped in a Blu-ray movie this morning. The image quality jump is huge!

Colours are more vivid, grain reduced and overall clarity is better. While the image is a touch softer if you sit very close, it’s not far from 4K Movies on iTunes. Oblivion in particular, looks absolutely stunning now and is near 4K in clarity. Obviously HDR and 60hz is missing but that's OK.

If any of you 4K ATV owners are considering watching 4K only but have an old Blu-ray player, replace it with a new one and it will breath new life into your Blu-ray collection.

I was going to top buying 1080p BD but now I will resume as they aren’t expensive and have the benefit of DTS Master Audio.
Click to expand...

Oblivion isn't a 4K movie, it was made at 2K, so a "4K" disc or stream of it is just an upscale. Most movies are made in 2K, even now. Check the technical specifications section on IMDB and look for the resolution of the Digital Intermediate. That's the resolution of the final movie. Good luck finding movies in 4K, they're very thin on the ground.

Weird that you would see a quality improvement on BDs between a PS3 and a PS4. They're just digital bits, one player will output the same bits as any other. There's no analogue processes involved at all. So unless your PS3 was set to 720p or something like that, it's a mystery to me.

You're right though that a good BD can still look great though, especially on a good screen. I'm fortunate enough to have a big OLED panel and I'm often amazed by the quality of blu-ray. The lack of compression artefacts goes a long way, and can often make for a nicer looking picture than a more compressed 4K image.
 
Macalicious2011 said:
Obviously HDR and 60hz is missing but that's OK.
Click to expand...
60 Hz should remain missing. Movies should really be viewed in the framerate it was filmed, and not some strange factor of the original framerate which is bound to cause stuttering.

cube said:
I don't live in the USA, and I would not buy any 2D TV anyway.
Click to expand...
You'll have a hard time buying a modern TV then. 3D is on the way out, as it should be, as there's practically no content being made. In fact, *one* movie was filmed in 3D in all of 2017 (Transformers 5)!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ulrich65
T'hain Esh Kelch said:
You'll have a hard time buying a modern TV then. 3D is on the way out, as it should be, as there's practically no content being made. In fact, *one* movie was filmed in 3D in all of 2017 (Transformers 5)!
Click to expand...
3D is not dead. It is the USA TV market that is backwards.

There were several movies shot in 3D in 2017, and there were also many conversions (which take up to a year to process).
There are many 3D movies coming in 2018.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: hanser
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back