Blu-ray barely better than DVD
Some are, many aren't, claims Which?
Blu-ray discs are supposed to represent "the maximum high-definition experience" yet there is little difference in quality to that of a DVD, apparently.
A study by consumer advocate Which? found less than a third of Blu-ray films demonstrate an exceptional difference compared to the equivalent DVD, and with a large gulf between the best and worst, HD quality is inconsistent.
The organisation used two identical TVs to simultaneously show Blu-ray and DVD versions of 17 films. About half of the Blu-ray Discs offered only marginal or virtually no improvement over DVD, Which? claimed.
Five films - among them Avatar, Casino Royale and Zulu - showed a marked picture quality improvement over DVD. Four, including Gandhi and Grease, were deemed to be clearly better than DVD.
Which? says it asked the British Video Association to explain the discrepancy, but the trade organisation instead simply quoted research suggesting that most consumers think Blu-ray did offer greater picture quality than DVD. ®
COMMENTS
Sigh
"The thing I actually like about BDs is that there is now only 1 region for the American continent, instead of splitting it into Region 1 and Region 4"
Wow, what a ringing endorsement. You "like" BD because the artificial barriers to trade that allow prices to be inflated according to your purchase location are slightly less confusing.
Yes, that sure is a lot to like. Thank god one of the few not insane laws we have down here in Australia makes it mandatory for manufacturers to provide region code unlocking on request making that whole anti-competitive load of consumer raping crap irrelevant in this country.
Five minutes in...
Five minutes into a good movie, the overall picture quality becomes largely irrelevant. Unless it's a mangled old VHS tape, of course.
I'm trying to work out if this post is written as a poem
or is merely suffering from Hyperactive Return Key Syndrome
Title
"...but the trade organisation instead simply quoted research suggesting that most consumers think Blu-ray did offer greater picture quality than DVD."
Because relying on confirmation bias and a soupcon of buyer's remorse is obviously more reliable.
But in a few years time...
You'll be able to buy new versions of your Blue Ray movies, labelled "newly remastered for Blue Ray" at better quality. I'd like to say you heard it here first, but I bet someone else has said it before...
