Stuart Slater
Blu-Ray for me was a painful lesson in adopting new technology, writes technology blogger Dr Stuart Slater.
I had previously adopted Toshiba’s HD-DVD format.
The reason for this at the time was simply that HD-DVD was the first “Hi-Definition” format (I’m gonna just call it Hi-Def) I could actually buy in the stores andonline.
As with all new technologies there was substantial hype and murmurings in the online community before the products were actually available.
I bought a player or two, loads of movies, only to be informed from a press release by Toshiba after just over a year of usage that the format was to be scrapped, leaving only Blu-Ray to provide my Hi-Def movie experience.
Both of these formats offered additional benefits over DVD for consumers interested in the ultimate home movie experience.
The first was in picture quality – traditionally DVD was a huge jump in picture quality from VHS offering consumers like me substantial noticeable differences.
With the move from DVD to one of the two Hi-Def formats users with “suitably equipped displays” could see sharper and more detailed images (this maximum quality is termed 1080 and refers to the number of lines displayable).
Unfortunately on a standard screen TV (CRT or Cathode Ray Tube) the difference was negligible, this was made worse as when HD-DVD and Blu-Ray first came out Plasma TV’s/LCD/LED televisions were expensive and as such they were not as common as they are now.
A SCART lead
Therefore take up seemed to be slow, movies hard to find and the whole experience painfully expensive.
Secondly, at the point of Hi-Def being available, SCART was still the main way of connecting Video Recorders and DVD equipment to the TV for most home users.
This rather large and at time cumbersome cable is still extremely popular today.
Though most consumers were using SCART, enthusiasts were using component cables instead for video, which offered a better picture quality on supporting devices, and either optical or coaxial for the sound which they fed to their surround sound system.
These component cables looked a little like cables for audio , and were usually coloured Red, Green and Blue as shown.
Now things were about to get more complicated as a new connection method emerged around the same time as Hi-Def called HDMI (High definition Multimedia Interface) .
This rather slim cable was able to carry both audio and sound to a suitably equipped display from the Hi-Def player and as such saved folks like me having a mound of spaghetti cables littering my living room (though they were and still are extremely expensive to buy).
These cables were able to allow the Hi-def players to send Hi-Def movies to a Hi-Def Display closing the loop on the Hi-Definition experience so we thought.
It seemed crazy to now spend a huge mound of money on a Hi-Def player like a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray and connect it to a TV with a SCART cable unless the TV did not support HDMI/Hi-Def or else the picture would not be any better than a DVD player, and as such frankly pointless.
Component leads
New audio formats emerged with the Hi-Def growth spurt from both Dolby Digital and DTS including DTS-Master audio and Dolby True-HD which now offered consumers “With suitably equipped surround sound systems” an enhanced sound experience, and for me the difference was as noticeable as the picture improvements.
In fact when I first got movies that supported the Hi-Def formats I would do a demo for visitors and get all excited at the prospect of being able to demonstrate a clear improvement to the sound experience.
Other features such as being able to access online content and extras for movies will I am sure appeal to some folks, but for me it is not a big attraction to the format.
So it would seem that the move in the ways mentioned could enhance the experience, but there were and are a few niggly things.
The first is that until very recently loading times for the movies was long, in some instances I could boil the kettle and make tea while my Blu-Ray player powered on and my movie was ready to play.
Thankfully this has been mostly addressed with players released in 2010, although they are in many instances still not as fast at loading as DVDs.
An HDMI lead
Blu-Ray went through a few different versions, called “profiles”, thankfully again current players generally have adopted the most recent version.
In a later blog I will discuss a few of the players I have had and currently own including the Playstation 3.
So was the move to High-def really worth it?
Well, I think the general public have been slow in adopting a Hi-Def format like Blu-Ray not due to confusion over HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray, but because without a rather large display like 32”or above and support for at least 720 or 1080, the picture quality difference from a normal movie on DVD and Blu-Ray was not really the leap it was from VHS to DVD.
It comes down to a value for money exercise for the public when other priorities may be more pressing, which is fair enough.
This is changing I think in recent months, as I have noticed how much larger displays are in local stores, and more surprising how much 720 or 1080 TV’s (Plasma/LCD/LED) have come down in the last year.
Earlier when I discussed HDMI cables, I was cautious in my tone, because when I say HDMI cables, I should really say there are three things folks should know about these cables.
Firstly there are different HDMI cables that are branded or called by versions such as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and rightly or wrongly 1.4. These cables can turn the hi-def experience into a costly exercise if the buyer gets it wrong.
Secondly, there are different length cables, that if you get over excited and buy a very long length, your hi-def experience can become like a Christmas scene, with these nice “sparklies” dancing across your display (looks a bit like snow on the screen).
Thirdly, there is a huge divide in cost between cheap cables that can be found on E-bay and Amazon for a few pounds, and rather expensive cables that can be very expensive typically 30 pounds upwards (in some cases a hundred pounds or above. Eek!).
So how do we not get confused with these cables?
Well first and foremost in my own experience (sometimes painfully expensive) it is good to do a little research on the TV and Blu-Ray player you’re going to buy.
this can be through many avenues such as the web or word of mouth, I never get pushed into buying anything anymore.
Seek out the equipment in your local stores and ask for a demo.
Investigate what HDMI cable the equipment requires i.e. 1.3a, 1.3b, 1.4 (more on the mysterious 1.4 in later posts, though technically 1.4 cables don’t exist so be patient).
Now I personally buy HDMI 1.3 cables for anything but 3D tv’s and 3D Blu-Rays (More in a later Blog).
Now you’re going to ask about 1.3, 1.3a, 1.3b etc – told you it gets confusing.
So check the manufacturer’s web site, such as Samsung or Panasonic to see what the player & TV supports.
Next think carefully about cable lengths, I try not to use over 5 metre cables for my own personal preference, the shorter the cable the less cost generally.
Finally the actual brand of cables is very much a personal choice, me I like whatever cables offer me the best value, but works so I read reviews on forums on the internet.
If I am feeling particularly lush then brands like QED are just so well made that they can stand some fair amount of handling, which frankly some other cables I have bought have broken very quickly which can be annoying.
So that’s my lot for now until next time….
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