Blue-ray worth it?

i heard a few rumors that most of the blue ray players out on the market these days only have a life expectancy of years before they start to crap out? i am wonndering if this is the same case for the computer drive blue ray players? does anyone have any experience with blue-ray players? is it worth it to just wait a bit for the prices to drop and players become a bit more reliable and then just install one myself?

 

I think this depends on how much you are going to use it. If you are a big movie person and plan on getting a decent screen or hooking it up to your TV via HDMI then it might be worth it. However, if it is an occasional thing you would probably be better off with DVDs because there are more titles out and they are cheaper.

 

FWIW.

 

That sums it up. I haven't heard much about reliability - but that's in part because they're so new that it's really too early to have realiable reliability statistics. The only thing that can really be said is they seem to be consistantly lasting longer than the XBOX 360 when it first came out. Even now, buying Blu-Ray is the same risk reliability-wise as it would have been buying a CD or Laser Disc player when they'd only been out about a year.

If you don't plan to use it a whole lot (or even if you do), prices will keep coming down. They already are starting to fall again (they'd gone up a bit after Toshiba decided to quit making HD-DVD players), and they'll probably be considerably less expensive in six months or a year - though still more expensive than DVD players are today by a decent margin. Hence why atbnet's statement sums it all up.

 

I am not sure about dedicated SATA Blu-Ray drives but I will say that when DVD first entered the market, the players were slow and large but they didnt have any inherent flaws. Atleast none of the name brand drives. I have a Toshiba from the first year DVD's really entered the market. Sure its thick and a bit slow, but it still is pounding on!

 

I will be hooking my comp up to a 1080p HDTV, and if im not mistaken that is blue ray quality right? meh i mean if a movie is out for blue ray and DVD mise well be able to get the blue ray right?

 

Depends on your method of video out.. as well as max supported resolution when displayed through external monitor. Whats the model of laptop you own

 

to be honest, i wouldn't get a blu-ray drive on my computer, it doesn't make terrible sense due to the lack of audio out possibilities (unless you really make your computer your media center and get a good soundcard). nevertheless, nothing beats a real blu-ray machine yunno? a computer is not meant to be one. I also seriously doubt blu-ray is the next "media of choice," I think everything is going to be digitally distributed or with DVDs.

 

Digital distro is a whole 'nother arguement. In the end no film house is going to want to distro predominantly digitally. It is going to have its niche in entertainment but that is about it for the forseeable future.

As for DVD's.

I agree with you somewhat in that I am not a fan of Blu-Ray as a format. However, one must realize that consumers who want better sound quality as well as 1080p high-definition video for their films is going too need a format. Whereever there is money to be made it will be made. With almost all broadcast television channels going HD, it would be a black hole for a major electronics company (Toshiba, Samsung, LG Philips, Sony) to not have a HD medium.

 

I'm considering getting a blu ray player for my new laptop. It has an HDMI I/O port that I'd be using to connect to a 50" 1080p plasma, but despite that would I still be losing a considerable amount of quality? My IGP is an Intel 4500HD. Would getting a sound card help?

 

Well my m1710 has Blu Ray and it was one of the first NBs to have it and my drive is still going strong. Also my PS3 is going strong too. The quality is amazing and the picture is great. There is no difference between my PS3 and my 1710. The only con is I have to keep updating the computer software for some of the movies that come out and that is a pain. No need for the PS3.

I also can burn and backup my ITunes library with one Blu Ray disc which is good. And rip Blu Ray movies which is also good. But the disc or expensive ($20 -$25 for one) If you are a multi-NB person, then you only need one Blu Ray if you only want it for movies. The same can be said if you want to burn Blu Ray as well.

Right now I say your cheapest avenue would to get a PS3. The extra benefit is you or your kids can game on it. That's what one of friends did when they came out. He uses it to watch movies and his son games on it. Both are happy.

 

Cheapest avenue are some of the Samsung, Toshiba's which just broke the $200 price point!

 

I don't see why one should spend money on a standalone Blu-Ray player when there's one built-in a PS3.

 

because i dont have a ps3... nor do i play video games... pshhhh video games are for kids, i play computer games man, they are for grown-ups hahaha...

but yeah what about that thread stealers question on the other page? im basically doin the same thing 1080P HDTV HDMI port yada yada yada... is there a loss of sound or video quaity??? and would not only a sound card help but a better graphics card as well??

 

You don’t have to play games on a PS3, you can use it ONLY for watching Bluray movies ! Many “adults” bought PS3s just for that because it was much cheaper than buying a standard Blueray player. And it is still cheaper than buying a notebook Blueray drive, besides if you are anyway going watch everything on TV then why bother hooking up the notebook to the TV and all that ? PS3 also supports 5.1/7.1 audio (which is very rare in notebooks).

 

Shhhhh....don't tell um all that.

 

I've seen notebook drive updates to Blu-ray for $165. That's a pretty good deal.

 

Not true on a couple points. You can buy a blu ray player and install it yourself, you can easily find one for $300 or less. Buying them in a preconfigured setup will be more expensive, true, since it's something they can turn a profit from. The other reason I want the drive in my laptop is so that I don't have to bring a blu ray player with me when I want to watch blu ray movies elsewhere. I'd love to be able to have my laptop with me at any of the dorms, and be able to hook it up to the TV and throw in a blu ray player, if it's one of the dorms that has an HDTV. If I were out of college and more stationary I'd totally agree, though.

The concerns of A/V quality do concern me, though. The laptop I'm getting is going to have an HDMI I/O port, but will audio or video quality be lost in the transfer from my laptop to the HDTV? It will have an Intel X4500HD IGP and Realtek alc888 sound. There's enough info on the forum about Intel's IGP, but what about the sound? Its product page claims it will support 7.1, but will the quality be horrible or something? Would buying a sound card help?

http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=135

 

I disagree with some of the things said above. There was a drive recently on sale from Samsung or LG I believe and it hit the $90 price point. For somebody looking to build an HTPC, it is not a bargain breaker at all.

 

I was referring to notebook Bluray drives (I assumed he was talking about a notebook)

If you can find a bluray drive for much less than a PS3 ($300) then yes, that would be better, especially if you also want portability. I was answering more along the lines of using the notebook as a HTPC in a single home/TV.

 

why do people talk about quality loss? hdmi is 100% digital. so eighter you have errors to no picture at all, or perfect quality. normally, it should be perfect quality 100% of the time if you get a picture at all..

am i wrong? i don't use hdmi myself at all.

 

That seems to be what everyone else is saying about HDMI. There are differences in the cables in their support of future HDTV formats though. I believe I read tests somewhere.

For right now though, those $1 HDMI cables work very well. I use several myself (satellite box, PS3, BluRay Player, receiver). Never noticed anything wrong.

 

My concern isn't whether anything is lost because of the HDMI cable, I know nothing will be lost there. I was more curious if my X4500 and Realtek alc888 would not process it properly or something before sending it out to the HDMI cable, causing quality to be lost before it hits the cable. So I have nothing to worry about?

 

It will process it properly. You'd only need to worry if you were trying to do this on something like a netbook.