[Rclark]

 Even Netflix looks better than a DVD version (they must rip BLURAY), VUDU HD is light years better than DVD, and of course, BLURAY itself just... destroys DVD.

 Friend had the latest Batman movie on DVD. Never saw it. Was quickly reminded how bad DVD's are. Flat colors, low resolution, just a dullness to everything... Just an unpleasant ugliness that is very jarring and noticeable.

 

[decal]

It wasn't that many years ago that DVD was the cat's PJs.

[Tyson]

What's really amazing are the older titles that get remastered and transferred to bluray - Lawrence of Arabia, Wizard of Oz, High Noon, and a bunch of others look like they could have been filmed in the last 5 years.  Great times we live in....

[coverto]

I haven't noticed Netflix looking better than DVD by any stretch.

[Rclark]

Really? I do all the time.

[Tyson]

Netflix is hit or miss - if it's a new show or movie, they usually use a hirez source.  But if its an older movie or show, a lot of them are just transferred/compressed from a DVD quality source.

[Mag]

What's really amazing are the older titles that get remastered and transferred to bluray - Lawrence of Arabia, Wizard of Oz, High Noon, and a bunch of others look like they could have been filmed in the last 5 years.  Great times we live in....

As I understand it 35 mm, 70 mm film is the equivalent of 24 bit HD digital resolution. So these old movies are already HD quality and only need to be transferred to digital HD.

[ajzepp]

What's really amazing are the older titles that get remastered and transferred to bluray - Lawrence of Arabia, Wizard of Oz, High Noon, and a bunch of others look like they could have been filmed in the last 5 years.  Great times we live in....

You just hit upon one of my favorite aspects of bluray. When I heard that the resolution of film was something like 4k, even dating back many decades, it got me really excited to start watching some older films that I'd never seen. When they clean up an original copy of a film and really put some effort into a flawless transfer, you're exactly right...it looks like we have been transported back in time because of how amazingly real it looks. I was watching The Outlaw Josey Wales a while back on bluray and I was truly amazed at how this film looked. The image was detailed, bright, and beautiful. All of a sudden these movies that always had that old, run down look have sprung to life and are able to give us a much more detailed glimpse into the past. It really is pretty remarkable.

[wushuliu]

Netflix is hit or miss - if it's a new show or movie, they usually use a hirez source.  But if its an older movie or show, a lot of them are just transferred/compressed from a DVD quality source.

Hm, my 1st gen Roku shows better than DVD quality for all Netflix titles including old films and television shows. Granted I watch on a lowly 720p 50". This is where I think some attention needs to be shown to the streaming device. My old Roku outclasses new Rokus and Panasonic BD player streaming in PQ, don't know why. I do know the emphasis is on cheaper all in one processing chips and the old Roku uses higher quality. The new Apple TV I also found to be slightly subpar. More attention needs to be paid streaming PQ for sure.

[srb]

DVDs have a maximum resolution of 480p, as compared the 720p, 1080i or 1080p that you can get with Cable, Satellite, OTA or Netflix, so it's obvious that they won't look nearly as good.  Upscaling can't do much to improve on that.

Although Netflix will state a requirement of an Internet connection of 3 Mbps for HD content, that only insures that you won't have buffering and stuttering, but the stream will still be automatically downgraded with a higher compression rate if your Internet connection is unable to sustain > 5-6 Mbps.

Steve

[Rclark]

It's not just the resolution, there are other flaws. DVD has really flat colors, dull dynamic range of lighting in comparison, usually really grainy, and of course, the audio isn't as nice.

[squirrel_nut]

i am not going to say that DVD video looks as good as Blue-R, it cant, but through my Oppo 83-se our DVD collection was tranformed. most scenes look every bit as good as Blue. there are those occasional close-ups that are obviously grainy, but for the most part the picture is just excellent. it wasnt that way with my previous Blue player, a pioneer. we have had 2 TVs since buying the Oppo, a Samsung DLP 1080p and our current Panasonic plasma.
the audio is another story, no comparison if the Blue-R has had some love put into the tracks.

[ctviggen]

Even Netflix looks better than a DVD version (they must rip BLURAY), VUDU HD is light years better than DVD, and of course, BLURAY itself just... destroys DVD.

Netflix to me looks terrible compared to DVD, on a 37 inch screen.  I guess it depends on what you're watching. 

On my current 42 inch screen the differences between Bluray and DVD aren't much, especially as far back as we sit.  We also are running audio through two channels (old) or TV (new), so there's not much difference there.  When I had my Proceed DVD player, that thing rocked and got a great picture on my 57 inch RPTV. 

Now, on my 92 inch projector screen with 7.1 sound, there's a difference between Bluray and DVDs, although we have many more DVDs than Blurays and the DVDs still look quite good. 

[Bob2]

.

[Photon46]

Netflix looks terrible to me compared to our DVD player, no comparison. On our 55" Panasonic plasma, our Sony BDP-790 plays dvd's with vastly higher quality than our older players. True, it's DVD playback is no match for BluRay, but I don't sit around thinking about what I'm missing.

[marsjx]

I find netflix from a PS3 to be of higher quality than most DVDs even upscaled (again from the the PS3 dvd player).

Val

[Elizabeth]

I exist in that flat colorless world of DVD. Never did bother with BluWhatever....
hah hah haaaaaa

[Rclark]

Noooo. Netflix is superior to DVD far more often than not. It's a very clear difference. Of course, I don't have a megabuck DVD player that sort of spreads the putty around lol. I also dont believe there's any DVD player that makes a DVD look as good as bluray. 

Maybe a really crap bluray disc from like '06 but even that's iffy. You're not gonna put in say, Avengers and say it's as good, or anything since the launch.

[brother love]

Even Netflix looks better than a DVD version (they must rip BLURAY), VUDU HD is light years better than DVD, and of course, BLURAY itself just... destroys DVD.

 Friend had the latest Batman movie on DVD. Never saw it. Was quickly reminded how bad DVD's are. Flat colors, low resolution, just a dullness to everything... Just an unpleasant ugliness that is very jarring and noticeable.

RClark, Did you compare the referenced DVD Batman movie to Netflix or other streaming service?  DVD player brand?  TV size/ type in question?  Viewing distance?  All these parameters come into play when evaluating/ comparing equipment/ sources. And the movie itslef may be the pits from desired filming atmosphere or film transfer.

I have an Oppo BDP-83SE w/ a Pio 720p 42" plasma viewed from 7.5 ft. away & in general greatly prefer DVD upconverted movies/ shows to Netflix & even some Blu-ray transfers.

This chart outlines recommended viewing distance in order to see benefits of greater resolution.  Most people sit too far away from TV screen to take advantage of greater resolution anyways.

[kenreau]

Netflix looks terrible to me compared to our DVD player, no comparison. On our 50" Panasonic plasma, our Sony BDP-790 plays dvd's with vastly higher quality than our older players. True, it's DVD playback is no match for BluRay, but I don't sit around thinking about what I'm missing.

Same experience here.  I've used Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and just recently VUDU.  VUDU's video quality is the worst I've experienced.  I have yet to see a streamed movie or tv program compare remotely close to a even a basic DVD picture quality.  BRay is still the holy grail, imho. 

The recently released Batman movie Dark Knight Rises is the perfect example and the exact title I watched and complained about.  My exchange with their customer service is below for your reading pleasure.  Typical un-informed e.s.l. customer service bot reply...


Hello ,

Thank you for contacting VUDU customer care. I would like to first apologize for the delayed response. For the movie Dark knight Rises the quality is what it should be the movie was shot to be dark and on our service it is also very dark. The movie steamed directly to you in the 720p quality you purchased it in and I see that you watched the entire movie in one sitting without any issues.

Best regards,

Nicholas
VUDU Customer Care
1-888-554-VUDU (8838)
support@vudu.com
 Customer By Web Form

I just started using VUDU with my new OPPO player. I used the free credit towards the new Batman movie in 720P. The video quality is soo poor, it was worse than watching a standard def channel.

I have a fairly high 25Mbps internet service, all hardwired ethernet. Why would the video quality be so poor? Is a 1080 resolution any better?

If the quality of the downloads is not any better than this experience, I plan to cancel my membership.    


I had been using a Sony PS3 for the past 4~5 years for BRay, DVDs and streaming and it finally started to malfunction.  I recently replaced it with a new OPPO 103 in hopes that it may also improve the streaming video quality.  While the user interface is much improved, the video streaming quality is no better.

Does anyone know if the Apple web streaming picture quality is any better?

Thx
Kenreau