Do I really need an XPS Blu-ray?

Hey Guys UK

I am buying a XPSM1530, But there is such a price jump from a non blu-ray to blu-ray player.

To be honest, all I am going to be doing is streaming and downloading, and if I want to watch a blu-ray, then the seperate players are coming down in price so much. I can get a samsung one for 199.00 right now.

If you have a xps m1530 with blu-ray, do you think it would be better to just buy the dvd one and then buy a blu-ray player seperate.

What do you think?

 

If it was maybe like ~$50 or so, I'd splurge and have it as a player to hookup to my projector for kicks and grins, but really, do you wanna have to have your laptop chained to your TV when you wanna view something?

I'd say save the money and just wait on stand alone players to fall in price.

 

I would not buy the $500 BD that comes with the XPS. I did get the $200 for the inspiron, because it is $200- and I also own about 50 Blu Ray movies.

As far as I understand it, the one tech that will significantly drop in price over the next year are these Blu ray drives. They have only now been able to make it much smaller and cheaper. Wait about 12 months.

With the laptop, there are many websites IIRC or whatever that you can download 10-15G movies (good enough for laptop resolution). Blu ray movies are 30-40Gs in size and would be completely overkill for a Laptop anyways.

Does, the XPS have the HDMI slot? If not, then hooking it up to your TV wouldn't do much good anyways.

 

You can pick up a PS3 for £80 more!

Personally I wouldn't buy it, unless you must have the greatest + latest. Wait for the price drop - now they have shrunk the lasers in Blu-ray and HD-DVD is dead.

 

Have you ever put on a DVD on a laptop and thought 'This is horrible, the resolution is too low!'

If the answer is yes, maybe blu-ray is for you. Or if you already have a big collection of blu-ray movies.

If not, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

That's exactly it, the difference between the SD-DVD and Blu Ray on a small laptop is very little. Not worth the $500.

Also, do not get the Samsung $199 stand alone. It is not profile 2.0 and you will not be able to play newer Blu Ray movies.

The only sub $400 Blu ray machine that is 2.0 compliant right now is the PS3@$399.

 

Yes just buy a set top. BD (blu ray) only looks good on larger big screens. It does not make sense to view a HD movie on laptop. Where I see BD benefit on a laptop is for storing data. But blank media is expensive still and I think it takes a long time to burn that much data.. but at some point that will be a good reason to include it.. Burning speeds are still too slow and media expensive so I don't see any value money wise.. yet.

The problem with BD players is they have not finished the standard yet. I think most players are still at 1.0 standard and don't support future features like downloads, updates and special features. HD DVD, on the other hand did. Its was a finished product and in many ways was a better product then BD is. Consumers did not choose the winner here, the studios and manufacturers did. But having said all that, you should wait or maybe look for something that supports the future standards for BD. Most people advise in buying a PS3 console since they can upgrade to any future standards online and are the safest bet for future proof BD player. I know you may not want a PS3 in your entertainment center but its the only one on the market that will support any of the potential features in the future.

 

This is all true.

I dont know why I got Blu-ray in my mind?

Just wanted to try future proof it a bit, but that will never happen when it comes to computers.

Thanks guys you have saved me hundreds.

Nice 1

Plus I dont even own one blu-ray disc, work that one out,

 

You know the world is f-ed up when the cheapest (proper) blu-ray player is a PS3.

 

Sorry D.A.

What did you mean by your post?

I think I am going to ditch the Blu-ray option

 

He meant that its screwed up that the only cheap BD player that is capable of the future profile is a gaming console. Just think, all those people who paid 600-1000 dollars for a stand alone BD player may have large paperweights when the new 2.0 profile comes out. First they confuse the public with two freaking formats and the one that wins is not even finalized yet.. after almost two years already. If these guys really want mass adoption they need to drop the prices to or at right above DVD levels. I don't see walmart shoppers paying twice as much for this technology. To most people, HD is not a big a deal as it was from going from VHS to digital. I'm not saying it won't be adopted by the masses. It most probably will. Its just going to take another year to hit those sub 100 dollar price points now that Sony is driving. If Sony is smart, they will get something out next Christmas under a 100 dollars with the 2.0 profile.. If they don't, they will have to wait another year. I don't see that happening, Sony wants to enjoy their spoils.

 

Don't have buy it now and can upgrade your drive when the prices are more reasonably priced. The PS3 is not a portable Bluray player such as in a laptop.

 

I agree that anything over 720P on a 15" screen is complete overkill. On a screen that small you can't appreciate 1080P even if the display is capable of that insane 1920X1080 res. I believe all 1530's have the HDMI since they come with the 8xxx series nvidia GPU's. You definitely should make sure your laptop comes with HDMI otherwise it will never be upgradeable to BD

As for downloading BD movies.. yes everything is on IRC newsgroups etc... Even the ability to copy to HD has been available shortly after BD came out via anydvd folks. But file sizes will probably keep your average joe from thoses.. But I do see a rise in copying discs to hard drives unless sony figures out a way to lock it down.

Personally, I think if broadband speeds pick up in North America we will see a huge demand for downloadable or streaming HD. Everyone is already used to moving digital around in non physical media formats.. Look at how successful Ipods are. As soon as that technology is available for HD video it will kill Blockbuster etc.. once and for all. And for the tech savy, this is already a reality.. even more so with more compressed formats such as Xvid's. There a real convenience factor for people when they can watch movies without going to the store and buying and renting. Eventually thats wheres its all going.. Its just a matter of when. For many, thats already a reality believe me. Hollywood video cannot compete with streaming because someone who streams a movie won't be faced with titles being out of stock. And I don't mean streaming on computers either. Stuff like Apple TV is already streaming off internet connection straight to TV in HD lite. Its coming.

Lots of people say that the physical media format will be with us a long time and that BD will have a long life. Maybe. But if broadband connections pick up in speed, people will definitely stream, or dl the material just like they do with their MP3's. Video is no different. Its just a little behind on the curve because of the file sizes. Thats the only thing saving BD in the short term. Sometimes I think the movie studios would have been wiser to go with JVC's HD tape.. That was extremely uncompressed videos and the file sizes were huge.. hundreds of gigs per title. It they really wanted to protect their content then going with the largest file size possible is the way to go if you ask me.

 

I think it really depends on what you are going to do. If you already have a big screen TV and you only want to watch Blu-Ray with your TV, then buying a cheaper separate player makes perfect sense.

On the other hand, if you don't have TV and you love the convenience and portability of watching Blu-Ray with your laptop, then buying a laptop with Blu-Ray drive makes perfect sense.

I have to disagree that watching Blu-Ray with 15" screen doesn't make any difference. Even a 15" would make a big difference. Blu-Ray is not just about high resolution. If the movie is properly transferred, you will notice that Blu-Ray doesn't have compression artifact that regular DVD has. I have a 13.3" notebook with an external Blu-Ray drive and the contrast of the Blu-Ray and DVD is striking. Try watching movies like Lost season 3. Compare the Blu-Ray and DVD version and you will notice a big difference.

 

The blu-ray player is only worth it if you have 1980x1200 res.

 

Wait till they've released V2 later this year.

 

I read recently that a Blu-ray drive in a laptop decreases battery life when compared to a standard DVD drive.

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/pcs/news/2008/02/bluray_power

 

What kind of external BD drive do you have? Is it USB? And does it also have a HDMI output on it? I was always wondering if a external USB BD drive could transmit DRM content at 1080 over USB. It was my understanding you needed it cabled with a HDMI cable so I am interested on any info on external BD drives.

 

The BD for the Inspiron I am sure does not have HDMI. I am pretty sure. I can still update the profiles via Internet connection I think. I just cannot hook it up and max out the 1080p quality to my HDTV.

 

It is a USB drive. I use built in laptop screen which doesn't have to be HDCP compliant. My laptop doesn't have HDMI output. But I would think that whether or not you can transfer the content to an external monitor is a function of the video card and not the drive.

 

Well, you probably don't want to use battery even for regular DVD anyway. The DVD drive draws too much power that unless you use an extra capacity battery, I doubt you can watch 2 hours DVD with full brightness and full volume speaker.

 

Not worth it right now. It would be nice to have it since I'm starting to build a Blu-ray collection and I'd like to watch them on the go but $500 is asking too much. I wish they would add a read-only option for less. Maybe at $200 I'd consider it.

 

Lots of people watch DVDs on their laptops during a flight. The point of the article is that Blu-ray drives draw much more power.

 

It will probably always draw more power.

 

Absolutely. The higher the res the more processing power it consumes and the GPU also works harder as well.

 

Hey guys

Thanks for the warming responses.

So the blu-ray drive that is in the dell XPS is :

1. A Blu-Ray burner as well.
2. It is only a version 1, and will not play new and upcoming Blu-Ray Disc's?

See I thought it was only a player, I was wondering why is was more expensive than a Sony FZ Series.

To be honest, You are all right, 1 you will only get like 1 1/2 hours maybe 2 watching a blu-ray on a 9 cell battery.

Thanks again guys I think you have saved me a lot of money.

 

Ok, finally got my Blu Ray drive on my 1420. Since there is internet connection, the Blu ray can be easily updated to the newest profiles.

The only drawback is that since the screen is only 1440x900. I believe that it is only playing in 720p. To truly enjoy Blu ray at 1080p you will need a 1900x1200 screen.

 

I personally think blu-ray on a laptop is a waste of money. Why would I need it on a 15" or 17" screen when it was made for watching on a large, wall-mounted flat-panel HDTV?

I can get just as good resolution on a screen that small by playing regular DVDs as I would with blu-ray.

But then again, I don't even watch DVDs on my laptop. I use a standalone player hooked directly to my TV. I guess for plane flights, somebody might want one, but I've never felt the need to carry all that stuff around with me when I travel, anyway...

 

You aren't the target market. It's geared for people that are adopting blu-ray as their main disc format. I stopped buying dvd's a while ago, and now have a decent collection. Since I usually take movies with me when I travel it made perfect sense for me to get the Blu-ray reader installed on my 1730.

 

Well I can justify anything, I guess. I think for the extra price that you have to pay, it's still a waste of money. Especially on a screen that small where the difference in picture quality is negligible at best.

But if some people want to change formats every couple of years and have the bread to blow buying the same movies over and over again, by all means, knock yourself out...