Blu-Ray worth it on 15" NP8662?

Hi all,

The NP 8662 is looking more and more attractive to me, but I most likely will be getting the 1680x1050 screen since I think that gaming on a 15" 1920 would be overkill and too small? Correct me if I'm wrong?

Anyhow, I was was hoping to get your opinion on having a blu-ray drive on a 1680 screen, which obviously wouldn't be 1080p...

Thanks for any input!

 

nope, its not worth it.
unless you use you laptop to play blu-ray disc and output the video to HD TV monitor.

 

I think the blu-ray drive is worth it if you have a 1080p tv and not for watching it on the laptop screen. 1920x1200 on a 15" is crazy also.

 

Do you have a blu-ray collection? Do you plan on building one any time soon?

If so, of course it may be worth it, even on a 1650x1080 screen. You are getting most of the detail, and lets face it, 75% of people with blu-ray drives at home only have ~32" 1366x768 screens anyway. So who cares if your res is a little less than 1920x1080, the important thing is that you can play the disc if you want to.

 

I think that is exactly what many people would use the blu-ray drives for, I know I would run the HDMI from my laptop to my 46" LCD. At $160 it's actually a decent price for a blu-ray player, and I've been looking for one. Is there any drawback from buying an actual external blu-ray player over just bundling it with this one?

 

Well, in that case, go buy BD drive for your laptop

AFAIK, there is no drawback... as long as your laptop have the power to play BD and a decent Audio hardware in it.

 

Will the standard "Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included" suffice? I never desire to pay extra for a sound card in a laptop...

Thanks!

 

Just to be safe, buy a laptop with Dolby certified audio.

 

integrated sounds cards nowadays are pretty good.

you shouldn't need to get an external sound card.

 

I kind of like it

 

last time i checked notebooks cannot bitstream HD audio. your media player will have to decode the stream into LPCM and send that across HDMI. the ATI Mobility HD 4000 series can send 7.1 LPCM but i think the bitrate is capped at 6Mbps. not too sure about the latest mobile offerings from nVidia.

 

thanks. can you translate that? why do i care about the bitstream caps of audio, and how will it affect my viewing/listening experience?

 

That means you will have less audio experince if you're watching blu-ray disc from the laptop instead of a dedicated DVD player.

 

ideally, you want to experience HD video and audio. connecting a notebook to your big screen LCD, for example, directly with an HDMI cable will only get you plain old stereo (two channel audio). the HD audio streams on Blu-ray must be sent across HDMI as bitstream or LPCM. notebooks, nowadays, cannot bitstream HD audio but those with ATI Mobility HD 4xxx can transmit LPCM (i assume the latest series by nVidia can do the same). anyways, you send this data to your home theatre receiver for an awesome treat.

audio is half the movie watching experience. since you invested in Blu-ray technology you might as well get your money's worth by ensuring you have full access to HD video and HD audio.

 

So bringing this back to the NP 8662, which of the following would I want/need if I were essentially using my notebook as a portable blu-ray player (for hookup via hdmi to a hdtv and sound system) ?

The options xoticpc offers are:

-Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included

-Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 SB1090 5.1 Channels 24-bit External USB Sound Card ( + 99 )

-Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi 7.1 Xtreme Audio Notebook Express Card (BACK ORDER) ( + 119 )

Thanks for all the help guys, really appreciate it!

 

I don't think you need any extra, as HDMI carrys both sound and video.

 

The only reason (maybe, well for me ;P) to get an external sound card is to run higher end headphones (in which case, you probably should instead get a headphone amp/dap combo). I would definitely not buy an external audio card from the place where I got my notebook, not when there are places like Newegg where you could probably find them for less $$ once/if you decide you need one.

I think a bluray drive, unless you have a bluray movie collection and/or use your notebook as a media pc (meh), isn't worth it at this point - and won't be until it can burn bluray discs (for storage, and when bluray media is cheap). But hey, if you want it as a bluray player, go nuts

 

ideally, you have:

- media player on your notebook that can decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio into LPCM and send it across HDMI
- HDMI cable to connect notebook to receiver
- HDMI cable to connect receiver to LCD

with these items you'll enjoy HD video from your LCD and HD audio from your 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup.

i'm not familiar enough with the audio components listed in your most recent post to know which ones (if any) will or can send LPCM streams to an HDMI port

 

the issue with the low/stereo quality of the hdmi connections is tru. i have experienced it with my bluray capable notebook.
i have been actually trying to get the sound to pass through the spdif out instead of the hdmi out but have been unsuccessfull. maybe a better option would be to use a dvi out and spdif out.
but im not sure if dvi supports 1080p as i dont have a long dvi caable

 

optical cable / coxial will transport these types of audio streams, none of which are HD audio

- two-channel stereo
- compressed 5.1 Dolby Digtal
- compressed DTS

DVI does support 1080p

 

optical will not work on the m860tu as it does not have an optical out port

 

So this means for people who loves watching HD movies, watching Blu-Ray Disc using laptop is not worth it, yes? Because you can't get full experience from laptop.

 

the ATI Mobility HD 4000 series of GPUs includes an onboard audiochip that supports 7.1 channel LPCM transmission over HDMI. if your notebook has a media player that decodes lossless (HD) audio into LPCM then you have a reasonable Blu-ray player.

 

okay. i assume then the SPDIF connector is electrical (otherwise known as coaxial). the SPDIF protocol cannot transmit HD audio at all regardless of connector type, optical or coaxial.

 

So I guess no one watches Blu-Rays on their notebooks? When I'm not by my HDTV I plan to watch them on my notebook.

 

as far as i know spdif is hd audio...
am i wrong??

 

It's not like that dude.
It means that watching Blu-ray in laptop will only give you the HD video experience (in smaller screen) but not the HD audio experience.

I'm sure though, movie maniacs that have BD collection, will watch BD in their notebook some of the time, like when they are in road trip or plane travel, etc.

You wrong dude

 

so spdif is stereo audio?
then why the need for seperate spdif and stereo jacks?

 

Below is your answer:

 

ok that sorted things out for me thanks!

 

SPDIF is optical. Read again the above explanation.

 

nope.

SPDIF in Clevo notebooks (as well as most other notebooks) are Digital Coaxial ....NOT optical.

 

Yup, sorry I miss that.
I know SPDIF can use optical and coaxial, but I thought the optical is more popular in laptops.

Afterall, I don't have laptop with SPDIF... yet

 

ign.com recently came out with an article titled why dvd is better than blu-ray.
they basically said that they feel blu-ray is just a transition tech and the real future lies in downloadable hd content

 

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/963/963916p1.html

heres the link just in case your interested

 

I used blu-ray once on my previous laptop to connect to my 55"... looked brilliant, but I don't rent many movies the traditional way to care enough

 

I myself never interested in Blu-ray.

I love movies, acting, and cinematography, but to me, Blu-ray is just overkill. DVD is more than enough, especially since I like my laptop to be the all-in-one ultimate machine

 

Point made and agreed. There's a point where you go from fanatical film-fan to frame-obsessed freak. Films aren't about the clairty of the picture (as long as it is viewable) or sound quality but the entertainment/education of the actual content.

I'm happy having a four disc DVD boxset anyway. It seems more presitgious and thought-out than having it all crammed on to one disc.

 

You haven't experienced HD to its fullest then. Anyone I know that I have shown pure HD footage to cannot look at SD (DVD) the same way again.

But I admit, for the typical hollywood movie, you are not going to care. But for the details and imagery of an amazing Caribbean backdrop, you'll definitely appreciate it more

 

The level of quality isn't as big from BD to SD as it has been from VHS and it's counterparts (go Betamax! )

People were happy with DVD's because it finally moved televisual recordings from analgue to digital for the consumer market. Something much needed seeming as the audio market had been ahead on this for nearly a decade.

Besides most of us can't shake the feeling that this is just a big ploy by Sony to grab as much cash without pushing tecnhnolgy as far in advance as possible.

Anyway, back to the topic. Unless you ask for a 1080p (1920×1200) screen equiped into the M860TU you really won't be getting the full HD effect that people are bragging about.

Sure you'll get a better picture anyway, but I'd be more inclined to go for a bigger screen if you really want to do the BD any justice. It just seems wasted on the M860TU screen.

 

Yes, HD video and audio is great. I even can watch the grainy makeup details on Christian Bale's face in The Dark Knight

I myself never interested in Blu-Ray because to me, the ultra visual experience is not "urgent". No drastic improvement like from VHS/VCD to DVD. Beside, I use my laptop for everything including watching movie. And since watching BD in a laptop will not give me full HD experience, I have no reason to own BD either by purchase or download.

 

OK, just a *totally* n00b question. I'm ordering the Sager NP8662. I just want to confirm that the hdmi out from the 260m is going to carry audio. Don't really care if it's HD or not (I only have standard stereo tv speakers to work with anyway) - just want to be sure that when I plug hdmi from laptop to tv I get picture *and* sound.

That's how it works out-of-the-box, right?

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

yes the HDMI will have the audio stream as well.... please download the user manual for details when using it.

 

Thanks. I've been lurking here for a while, and I've learned a ton.

Cool. I'm psyched for my new laptop.

 

hi there. yes it will carry audio but NOT HD audio
fyi

 

Yup, me too. 2 days reading post here and there at NBR Forum, and I was like.. "Wow dude, I know a lot of things about computer and desktop PC, but I feel like a kindergarden kid here."

And congratulations for your new laptop