Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Blu-Ray on a 720p plasma?

My brother has hinted he might like a blu-ray player for his birthday. My only hesitation is that he has a panasonic 720p plasma tv.

Anyone out there have a 720p plasma and blu-ray player? Is it worth the cost to go blu-ray and be limited to 720p?

He has no high-def to compare it to, as he doesn't have cable tv...he only watches movies or tv shows on dvd.

What say you all? Should I get him a player?

How big is his TV, how far away does he sit, and does he have an audio system that would take advantage of the new sound formats?

40" (maybe 42", I don't remember)

He sits pretty close. (probably about 7-8')

Axiom M22's powered by a Rotel integrated amp. (No surround sound)

I would think that any HD TV will benefit from Blu-Ray, the difference between 1080p and 720p should be all but unnoticeable with TVs under 50". If he's not watching anything HD I'd be inclined to believe the BR would be a vast improvement over what he's watching now.

Craig, I have the Panasonic 50" 720p, and no Hi-Def source - just an up-converting DVD player. My neighbour was kind enough to let me borrow his Toshiba HD-DVD player and movies for about a week.

In a nut shell, it was definitely better than my up-converted DVD's, and simply blew away everything else. I hated to give it back. Worth the investment - no hesitation.

The other thought would be a PS3.... You could buy two, and send one my way!

And, it did a better job of upconverting standard DVD's than my player.

I have a 1024x768 Panasonic Plasma (so 720p) and the difference between Blu-ray and well-upconverted DVD is immediate. A trick I frequently play to guests is to put my Blu-ray copy of Lost III and put the DVD in my good upconverter (BD-30). As they marvel to the picture from the BD-30 (which IS very, very good), I then switch to the PS3 running the Blu-ray version of the same episode without telling them ("oops, sorry I pressed on the wrong button!").

And then the comments vary, but the midlest I ever heard was "Hey Dude, I don't know what you did, but... it looks better. Like... I don't know... static free".

In other words, the difference is quite visible. Is it worth the price, that's always one for budget and priorities in life! For me it is without the shadow of a doubt.

Sounds like you have your answer. I'd think PS3 as well though, that way you can say you got him a gaming console AND a BluRay player. What a great brother!

I have a Pioneer Kuro 768p 50 inch set and sit 8 feet away from it. Most Blu-ray's that I watch definitely stand out over regular dvd's. The big differences are color, more detail and sharpness. Every now and then you will run into a Blu-ray that isn't mastered that well where it doesn't look much better than a nicely mastered dvd. But, this is quite rare and not really what your question is. Since this is a suprise Christmas present it is a little bit difficult to just hook it up and see for yourself. Unless you were to sneak in while he was away for some reason. In that case, try renting Pirates of the Caribbean on Blu-ray and dvd. You should notice a difference on this title over the standard def. If not then Blu-ray is not worth it on the display.

- Nick

Craig-
Are you open to adopting more brothers?