Are all Blu-Ray players created equal?

[sharkbyte5150]

I have a Panasonic 50" plasma (TC-P50U50) and an LG BD610 BR player, was running both the BR and my XBOX 360 through an HDMI switch due to TV only having 2 HDMI inputs, and sometimes while watching movies, the sound will cut out. I've removed the HDMI switch but haven't watched many movies yet to see if that fixed the issue. Beyond the intermittent sound issue, the picture just doesn't seem to look as good as I expect it to.

A lot of people say that since all Blu-Ray players output 1080p there is no difference in quality of the picture, but even among models with similar features there can be a $100 difference in price. In regards to playing DVD's (not Blu-Ray), are some players better at upscaling than others? Also, I'm not sure if my BR player has Progressive Scan or not, but even Blu-Rays don't look as crisp as they should.

I've had my eye on the Sony BDP S3100, and before that I liked the Panasonic DMP-BDT220. The LG player I have was from a Black Friday sale at Walmart 2 years ago, got it for $49 bucks and I guess I just have a hard time accepting that the Blu-Ray picture I'm seeing is as good as it should/could be.

I've done calibration on my TV, using a number of methods. Should I expect a big improvement with a newer player or not?

 

[ssddx]

watch some movies without the hdmi switch. it could very well be a bad connection inside the switch which reduced the quality of the image. you may not have noticed on the xb360 since many games arent 1080p but you would notice on blueray.

i have a ps3 hooked up to my 1080p sony lcdtv and you can definitely tell when content is 1080p. i am not using expensive cables but they are shielded and not the $5 ones you can pick up in bargain stores. if you are using a cheap cable this could also be the problem.

the more expensive br players normally have a bunch of other features on them besides br playback. this is most likely why they cost more. of course you could be right and it could just be a very shoddy br player and an upgrade to a better player may be an improvment. 1080p should be 1080p so unless there is interference or perhaps some settings on the player like sharpen, blur, etc causing issues the output image should be the same as on other players. i can tell you that on my sony ps3 blueray is crystal clear. both my parents and my relative also own sony blueray players without issue.

as far as dvd upscaling is concerned... i do believe some are better than others but models in the same price brackets should be comparable. i can say that the sony models upscale pretty good.

also keep this in mind: just because you buy a blueray it does not mean that the content was filmed for blueray. if you buy an older movie on blueray it is not going to look as good as brand new releases try watching something that came out in the last year and see how it looks on the player.

 

[sharkbyte5150]

Thanks.

I don't use high-quality cables, they are (as you said) from a $5 bin at Fry's, but there are SEVERAL sources online that show arguable evidence that there really is no difference. I find it hard to believe that cables of higher quality can't benefit somehow, but that's not to say I'm going to be the kind of sucker who pays $60 for some gold plated 3ft cable.

I have removed the HDMI switch and I'll watch a blu-ray that's been more recently released to see how good it looks and to see if the intermittent sound issue goes away. I understand what you mean about old movies/standard DVD's on Blu-Ray, if it wasn't filmed in HD it won't compare to Blu-Ray. I think I've just expected too much from upscaling of my older DVD's and not watched enough new movies on Blu-Ray to believe I'm seeing true HD. Many people would say I'm expecting too much from my TV, which is considered a "budget" model, but Life Of Pi was STUNNING on it so I know what it's capable of.

I guess it's silly to buy old movies on Blu-Ray unless you're building a collection and find them cheap because they'll still look like they did, not like new movies.