another use for a Blu-Ray Player

[Brian]

I think it was in the DVD Architect manual that i found out that you can
create a HD video on a DVD and play it back on a Blu-Ray player. It gives
me another reason to buy a blu-ray player. I would not get the usual 2
hours of video on a single layer DVD but at least the video would be in HD
quality. Has anyone tried this? I'd need to make sure that the brand of blu
ray player could play the DVD.

Another reason would be the upscaling of video for DVD's played on a
blu-ray player but I'm told that there can be problems when upscaling a DVD
to 1080 video quality.


--
Regards Brian

[David Ruether]

"Brian" <bcl...@es.co.nz> wrote in message
news:1637215753345852855....@free.teranews.com:

> I think it was in the DVD Architect manual that i found out that you can
> create a HD video on a DVD and play it back on a Blu-Ray player. It gives
> me another reason to buy a blu-ray player. I would not get the usual 2
> hours of video on a single layer DVD but at least the video would be in HD
> quality. Has anyone tried this? I'd need to make sure that the brand of blu
> ray player could play the DVD.

The quality level is limited by the maximum that can be recorded to
DVD (18Mbps?), so while the video can look good (with good software,
and poor with other software...), it doesn't match Blu-ray image
quality, which can reach 40+ Mbps when writing using DVD Architect.
BTW, we just bought an "LG" computer internal Blu-ray (plus everything
else "under the sun") reader/writer for well under $100 from Newegg. com
(but you would need PAL and not NTSC?).

> Another reason would be the upscaling of video for DVD's played on a
> blu-ray player but I'm told that there can be problems when upscaling a DVD
> to 1080 video quality.
>
> --
> Regards Brian

Most (all?) HDTVs upscale very well - so well that I freely buy used
DVDs unless Blu-rays are VERY cheap (the image quality is surprisingly
similar, regardless of the specs...;-).
--DR

[Brian]

Thanks David.
As I live in another country there are international shipping costs and
maybe insurance, then I get hit with GST when it goes through customs. It's
a long way to ship it back if its faulty.

I've been doing some research on blu ray dvd players. In my case it's a big
step up in quality as I have my DVD player connected to the LCD TV using
component cable. HDMI cable did not exist when I brought the DVD player.
The TV will only play back in stereo when I connect it to the camera using
HDMI cable so to get HD video and surround sound I need to record to a DVD
in a high video data rate which will only playback on a blu ray player.

I'm wondering if its worth getting a 3D blu ray player, may TV is not in 3d
but maybe one day i might invest in a 3D TV. With the lack of 3D material
it's not worth it at the moment.

--
Regards Brian

[clover]

Not all "DVD" players are equal, nor do they all LIMIT themselves to the
20+ year old DVD spec. I'm sure you can find several which play from
DVD media at higher than 1x, which is 10 mbps. If not, your PC's DVD
player will surely do 4x, though modestly priced PC DVD players will
perform at 32x. However, reading is often governed at a lower rate -
but, they'll surely perform at 16x. Perhaps you can forestall a BD
player purchase by checking out DVD player specs? I don't know of any
"DVD" players that will handle H.264, but many devices which handle the
codec also handle DVDs. These "media players" care more about file
format and codecs than they do the specification of attached devices.
I'm guessing that a WD TV Live (or its Plus version) will play H.264
from DVD using an external DVD drive or a network connection to your PC.

Your PC and HDTV might connect, which renders the WD-like-device
suggestion unnecessary, however if it does not, a device like the WD
mentioned above would easily bridge them via your network.

[Brian]

Thanks Clover for your reply.

The TV and computer are in different rooms.

It's good to find out that blu ray players do more than just play blu ray
dvd's these days. Many allow the video to be streamed from the computer via
a board band WiFi. It's also good to see 3d blu ray players pushing the
price down on non 3d blu ray players. DVD players are becoming so cheap
that they are becoming a child's toy. I'm not planning on upgrading the TV
to 3D so the lower cost of a blu ray player suits me better. In a way it's
making people buy another TV so they can enjoy 3d so the sales person can
sell more TV's.

My main reason for wanting a blu ray player is to play my avchd video
camera videos on the TV in high quality.
--
Regards Brian

[Mark Burns]

On Dec 24 2011, 8:22 pm, Brian <bcl...@es.co.nz> wrote:
> clover <clo...@invalid.nul> wrote:
> > On 12/20/2011 1:28 AM, Brian wrote:

> >> "David Ruether"<d_ruet...@hotmail.com>  wrote:

Brian:

Most Blu-Ray players will play back high definition content from DVD-
R's, as well as thumb drives for that matter in XVID and/or MKV. I
suggest converting your playback content to mp4 in an MKV container.
Handbrake is a good freeware tool for converting to mp4. All Blu-Ray
players do NOT support MKV, so it is important to get one that will
for this. I have converted video to 720P and 1080P and find little
difference in play back quality on my 60" television.

[Brian]

Thanks Mark.
Good to know there are still some useful freeware programs around.
The big difference seems to come from the video data rate, try comparing a
video of 8 Mbps (DVD quality) with a video rate of 16 Mbps (HD) on your
large TV.

--
Regards Brian

[Brian]

Mark Burns <marcus...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>Brian:
>
>Most Blu-Ray players will play back high definition content from DVD-
>R's, as well as thumb drives for that matter in XVID and/or MKV. I
>suggest converting your playback content to mp4 in an MKV container.
>Handbrake is a good freeware tool for converting to mp4. All Blu-Ray
>players do NOT support MKV, so it is important to get one that will
>for this. I have converted video to 720P and 1080P and find little
>difference in play back quality on my 60" television.

The Sony S380 Blu-Ray player handles those formats and has a lot of
features for the price. It won't however play XVID videos but that's
not a major limitation.

Regards Brian