Forum - View topicWorth getting Blu-ray player for anime?
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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It's not just the size of the screen that counts, but how far away you sit. Most of the articles I've read indicate that, at normal viewing distances in a living room, people do not see much difference between 720p and 1080p content on even largish (46"+) screens. Here's a commonly cited article with a useful graph: http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter/ People typically view monitors at much closer range than they watch TVs in a living room. So it's possible that the benefits of higher resolution are visible in that case. I can't see much difference between 720p and 1080p on my 40" (1 m) set at my usual viewing distance of 3-4 m. But I'm old, near-sighted, and slightly astigmatic. Young people with perfect vision may have better experiences. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23781 |
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Damn you people, you're hell bent to treat this as a serious topic, are you? Fine, but don't blame me if 10 years from now we still have "durrrrrr, should I get a Blu-ray player" threads popping up.
*shakes fist* Anyway, let me touch on something nobody seems to mention when it comes to BD vs DVD discussions: the placebo effect. I have watched DVDs on my HDTV and BD player that looked absolutely sumptuous (Vampire Hunter D, for example). So I know from personal experience that I don't "need" to buy BDs to get great visual quality. I suppose if I was playing a DVD and BD SIDE-BY-SIDE AT THE SAME TIME, I would probably see a diff in visual quality, but who ever watches anything that way? So why do I tend to buy BD in favour of DVD when BD is generally more expensive (I'm leaving audio out of the equation because I currently don't have a stereo set-up that can take advantage of "lossless audio" wtf that is)? Simple. Psychologically, it is important to me that I am getting the best quality possible. I *believe* a BD picture quality of a specific title will be better than its DVD counterpart even if the diff is not vast. So I feel better about the purchase. |
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Vata Raven
 Posts: 710 Location: TN |
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Eh, well...oh well, I sit back at like 10 feet from my 36", guess I won't see anything. But, oh well, I'll still buy blu-ray. Maybe one day I might get a bigger screen, but 36" is a decent size for the size of the room. |
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StormSky92
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I've seen that link thrown around quick a bit. Could I get an actual recommendation for a cheap BD player? Sure, there are amazon reviews, but I doubt a lot of them have watched anime with them. |
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batou37
 Posts: 455 |
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How cheap are you talking, while they have gotten relatively inexpensive there is still a point at which even though it is a BD player you might run into more problems if it is a too cheap player. My reccomendation on an affordable,good quality, and feature rich BD player would be a Panasonic BDt 220. (Although I might be a bit biased since I have 2 of them) I think its around $115 at Costco, and is 3d, integrated WiFi with all the apps, if you have a Panny TV it pairs with it, and I think it was rated CNet's best 2012 blu ray value. Anime looks great on it (especially the BDs like the EVA rebuilds, KnK, etc...) and even regular DVDs (I set it on I think cinema and 24p) look quite good. I was surprised that there was an improvement that there was, but it might be a combination of the player as well as my Panny GT30 TV. As for the op question on benefit of BD, on that size screen it is all going to depend on viewing distance. But planning ahead is always a good idea (future screen) and I also find the subs (if you are a sub watcher) to be much more clear on a BD than on DVD) Last edited by batou37 on Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:40 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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noigeL
Posts: 149 |
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Here's the thing though: is he going to have a 23" monitor forever? Probably not. We can debate whether 1080p is noticeable on smaller screens but there is still a strong argument to be made for future-proofing. Some day the original poster may get that large display but if he only bought DVDs now he may feel compelled to double dip on those titles down the line. If he buys Blu-rays now, he's covered for when he gets that large display. |
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StormSky92
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Well, I talked about my situation in another thread. As to not derail this thread, basically I was hoping for a BD player under $100. I only have an SDTV that is 16 years old, with no chance for an upgrade anytime soon. I figure i'll get a better BD player later on, but for now, I just want one that plays BDs and DVDs on an SDTV, I don't need any really special features. I just want to start buying anime on BD now, so when I do eventually get an HDTV for myself, I won't have to rebuy anything. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7983 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Definitely not worth it then if you don't even have the HDTV. You might as well stick with DVD since you wouldn't be able to take advantage of the new format anyway. In addition you may run into trouble trying to connect the BD player to an older TV with no HDMI ports (but that depends on if the player you bought had alternate video and audio-out ports). Finally if your theoretical BD player is anything like mine, you will also have to factor in the cost of buying the cables to connect it to your TV since it won't come with anything but a power cord. spoiler[Cheapass Insignia bastards.
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superdry
 Posts: 1309 |
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As Kruzser said, you might have a problem connecting the BD player to an SDTV unless the BD player you buy and the SDTV supports component video (even then...the PQ will be crippled).
What inputs does your monitor have? If it has hdmi, you're fine, but the bare minimum would be DVI that supports HDCP (you can probably find out if you read the specs of manual of your LCD monitor) - so you can at least get video going. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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When I use my 23inch TV/monitor, my eyes are less than four feet from the screen, so the difference in SD and HD material is dramatic. Whether you're comparing 720p to 1080p with viewing distance is irrelevant in a BD versus DVD debate, DVD is always 480p even if it can hold a larger resolution image. Maybe if we had 720p BDs and 1080p BDs of the same anime on the market, but we don't, that's a debate left to downloading BDrips which is also irrelevant here.
A $2 HDMI cable is the same as a $60, it's all digital. I did have to buy a specific DVI to HDMI for my pre-HDMI Macbook to use on a TV that didn't have a DVI port, but that was still way inexpensiv, and it's a really well made cable. Any other common cables, HDMI, VGA, DVI, RCA component/composite: cheap as dirt, don't get them from Best Buy unless you like paying 500% markup. Pre-plan if you don't think your TV or BD player will come with one. My little Samsung TV did, so we have a few extra laying around. "Expensive cables" isn't an argument if you can use Amazon, Newegg, or basically any cheap retailer online. While you're in the process of shopping a BD player, invest in a new TV as well. Unless your current one is some awesome big flatscreen tube TV or an equally large rear-projection, getting yourself a decent LCD HDTV for a reasonable price isn't a tough endeavor. Just do some research into what you can afford. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2261 |
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There are several things you have to consider. First what kind of inputs/connectors do you have on your TV? Component, Composite, S-Video? It probably doesn't have HDMI since its 16yrs old. Many cheap BD players I saw when I bought mine last year only had a single HDMI. My Sony has HDMI and Component which was difficult to find at the time and it wasn't cheap. Maybe its different now, but that's how it was for me last year. Then you have to consider what kind of audio inputs/ connectors do you have? Or do you have an audio system that can handle the audio. Do you have a digital coaxial input, a optical input or just plain stereo jacks? The BD players I've seen usually only have the coaxial or optical as an extra (my Sony happens to have both). Since you don't have HDMI to carry the sound along with the video and if you don't have those other audio inputs you may not get sound. You may be able to get around some of this stuff with adapters, but then that becomes an extra cost. So you need to check your inputs first and then see if any cheap BD player can match up with what you have. Also BD players have gotten better, but some have been notoriously slow to load stuff. I don't know how well the cheap ones do in this department. |
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Kruszer
Posts: 7983 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Yeah I once bought something for $100, I think it was my multi-port HDMI switch, and then looked on Amazon and found one, same brand and everything, for like $10. Needless to say I went back to Best Buy, receipt in hand and returned that unopened mother****** for a refund stat. Also I've never seen HDMI cable anywhere for less than $25 and those cords were too short for my needs. I'm sure I can find it cheaper online of course, but there are just certain items that I want to be able to go examine and purchase in person, to make sure I get exactly what I want, because it's hard for me to keep the finer details of A/V cords straight. 
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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I just checked Amazon, and saw two different 25 ft cables for $11.95. For that length, probably not too outrageous of a price.
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varmintx
 Posts: 1200 Location: Covington, KY |
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One-Eye
Posts: 2261 |
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This was the HDMI 10ft cable(Link) I bought on Amazon for $11.99 and though I'm not in love with the casing on the cable (pretty cheap quality) it has worked perfectly fine for me. I've used it with a 42 inch plasma with a BD player and with my laptop with no issues.
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