Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Pioneer Blu-ray. Results.

Ok folks. I own a 50" Elite plasma pro1000HDI. And this is what we have in the media room. I also have a Panny 42" plasma that we keep in the main family room. I have loved both TV's but the Elite's picture (even though it's 3 years old but only used a few hours a week) is just spectacular. I had been debating about getting the Pioneer Blu ray player but this guy I know had been telling me that i would be wasting my time unless my Elite was 1080p, mine is 1080i. I thought well I'll get it and if the picture stinks I'll just take it back. I am pretty familiar with HD just because of the directv HD DVR that I have and audiophile friends that have either HD or Blu Ray DVD's. So I hook it up through my Integra DTR 7.7. Now as far as I know this Elite is not 1080p but when I put in Casino Royale I was just blown away at how good it looked. My friend came over and he himself owns an Elite 1080p plasma and he almost seemed mad (everyone knows these kinds of people)because it looked so good. Yes I know I'm not getting the full benefit of 1080p but I also know it's not just in my head due to the fact I replaced it with a Sony 999es DVD which by anyone's standards is pretty darn nice. So if anyone in my situation feels they wont get a beautiful experience I say give it a shot. I couldn't be happier. Again, I know people out there will say "Man just wait till you get a nice 1080p display, then you'll really know", which is the case in some AV forums where people just aren't as nice as the axiom folks around here.

That's a point for another time... OTHER AV forums where everyone is just so...So.....uhhmmmmm...Snotty? Is that a good word for it?

Take care everyone.

Max

Max, I could not agree with you more, My Toshiba plasma is 720p and the difference between SD and Blu Ray or HD DVD is very immpressive. What I found equally as good is the HD Audio.

I agree. I have 1080i Panasonic 50" Plasma and the PQ from my Blu-Ray is just stunning, probably even better than my cable's HD. I don't think you can really tell the difference between 1080p and 1080i. It's just those damn marketing hype. But then again, I'm probably just blind

Just a few comments (to all of the messages so far). HD on a disc (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) will be better than cable or satellite, or SHOULD be anyway. Cable and satellite take the HD picture and still have to compress it a little bit to get all of the channels to fit in their bandwidth. Thus the reason it looks better on a disc than over a cable.

Also, 1080p really is a benefit for the "big guns" as far as screen sizes go. It has been discussed here and elsewhere that this will be a bigger benefit for projection systems with screens near and above 100". That is why you think that 1080p doesn't look any better than 1080i. At 50" 720p and 1080i look almost the same.

I've just started dabling with HD on my 720p front projector at 104" and I am loving it. This is just over the air stuff too, not the "good stuff" like Blu-Ray or HD-DVD...

Max, your Elite actually displays material at 1080p. Its native resolution is 1080, and as a plasma set it's inherently a progressive(rather than interlaced)display. The "1080i" description means only that it doesn't accept 1080p material directly, but deinterlaces 1080i to 1080p. As you've seen, the deinterlacing that your set does is excellent and you get a great picture. Enjoy.

Wow. Thanks for all the input, especially Nick and John. Nick explained it very well from the literature I have read and John told me a little something technically about my Plasma I didn't even really know. I guess that is why my picture looks better than my neighbors when he told me I would be wasting my time buying any type of HD/Blu ray player. So I appreciate that.

I guess one of my points is that some of the elitist's whom I spoke of before, at other AV forums, can be quite sh!tty to people when giving their opinion about purchasing new products. It hasn't happened to me but one guy just got roasted for saying how excited he was that his new Toshiba HD player would be showing up shortly. The perp told him that he wasted his money and shouldnt even bother hooking it up. You can guess what happened to that original poster? Yes, he never posted again.

That's what I love about the axiom board. Everyone is given their due respect and opinion.

That is shy this forum is so great. Yeah, I am in the HD-DVD camp, but I don't own one, and it isn't that I want Blu-Ray to fail. I just like some of the things with the format. To heck with which studios support which format. Since I don't own one, I look just at the technology. They are both great. I just like the fact the HD-DVD did it with a method that wasn't so costly to the manufacturer, and thus lower cost to the consumer. I am tired of companies like Sony thinking that just because they have some "all new" technology, that people will pay for it. Case in point, PS3. Sales are nowhere near where Sony wants them. Why? Too expensive for most people. Now look at the Wii. Cheapest of the "big 3" and people are eating it up. Is the PS3 cool? Absolutely, but the Wii is fun, and costs less than 1/2 of the PS3.

I like that model. Think of what the consumer is willing to buy, and don't try to cram cutting edge tech into consumer products right at the start when something else does just as good for less cash.

So with that belief, I am not going to slam you for buying a Blu-Ray. I think that it is awesome that you got one. I just don't agree with the business model.

So enjoy your HD movies! I know I wish I was!

I've been debating on weather to buy a Pioneer Elite Blue ray now. Or wait for next model to come out. I have a Elite Pro-1130HD. Im not sure when things will be compadable with Dolby Digital True HD and DTS-HD. Thats been the major hang up for me. I kind of want to future proof things. I hate all this upgradeitis! I also plan upgraded to Sherwood Newcastle pre amp and 7ch amp. Im just waiting for them to accept next gen audio formats. I guess my question is. Is it worth waiting for next gen auido formats?

Nick,

I am so with you on that as far as Sony goes!!!! It gets a little disgusting. I won't even get into how they calculate price point. Some kind of monkey math I think.

I would have prefered HD DVD but I got this Pioneer for free due to the fact that my wife is working on an advertising project for them right now. Well I shouldn't say free. She got it for me at a greatly reduced price without me even knowing. She brought it home and said, "They're a client so I feel a bit of patriotism in supporting them". Who am I to turn that down? lol.

Nick,

Honestly I think people that are in the know are sick to death of Sony and their pricing structure. I mean every HD DVD manufacturer has reduced their wholesale cost (a great deal in most cases) to retailers at this point while Sony Blu Ray, PS3 and PSP has reduced their rate by only a few percentage points to high volume retailers to zero for smaller outlets. It all just makes me sick.