My DVD player stopped working so as a replacment I got a Blu-ray which of course plays DVDs. The differnce in price for used DVDs and Blu-ray is significant. $6 or so against $15 or so. Currently I am on a film noir kick, I have just bought The Big Sleep and Double Indemnity, want to get Sweet Smell of Success and some others. Do I really need to get Blu-ray versions? I have a 55 inch TV and sit about 6 feet away.
You don’t need to, but there is a difference. If you have to ask, you are probably fine.
Blu-rays are less popular than they used to be now that streaming is the new default, so not as many movies are being released in that format. Get them when you can, however you can, in any format you can, is my advice.
Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to put in the DVD of SSoS and think, what a horrible picture.
New TV, new player. Just put in DVD of Apocalypse Now, it looks fine. Maybe a side by side comparison with the Blu-ray would show a difference.
It mainly depends on how blurry you like your videos. For me, at that size and distance, I would want a higher resolution than DVDs can provide. But if you can watch DVDs and be satisfied, then that’s fine, too.
Something that would heavily factor in, though, are the extras. If I’m going to buy physical media, then I want all the trimmings. If the Blu-ray release skimps on those, I would likely go with DVD. But if the Blu-ray has new extras, I’d get them even if I was going to watch them in a way where I couldn’t tell the difference in picture quality.
I’m also the type who would check and see if the Blu-ray was made from high quality masters, or just digitally enhanced from existing scans. If it’s latter, it’s probably not all that different than using a sharpening filter. I would definitely see if your Blu-ray player has that feature, and not waste time on a low quality Blu-ray if the sharpened DVD pic is good enough for you.
Considering your stated screen size and viewing distance, you’ll definitely notice the difference in picture quality. Once you’ve gotten used to viewing in full HD, you won’t be able to go back to SD.
With that being said, if you’re satisfied with the current picture quality and have no interest to improve it, you definitely don’t need Blu-ray.
I have some movies on DVD, Blu-Ray and streaming. As stated, depending on how the source and remastering if any of the Blu-Ray and stream source, the quality difference can be anywhere from worst (poor upscale from the DVD master) to excellent (remastered from a new scan). YMMV.
Check out review sites like blu-ray.com and dvdbeaver.com for reviews of the different releases. For example, the review of The Big Sleep Blu-Ray is a new remastered scan: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Big-Sleep-Blu-ray/43670/#Review
I have a 46" tv and sit about 10 feet away and while I can tell the difference between Blu-ray and DVD picture, it’s not much. Mainly because blu-ray players upsample the DVD, and also because DVD players tend to use RCA inputs instead of HDMI.
I would say the difference between a DVD played in a blu-ray player vs a DVD player is a much bigger jump in quality than the difference between a blu-ray and DVD both played with a blu-ray player.
Also, for used prices, yeah, blu-ray is close to double. Typically I pay $3.49 for a used blu-ray and $1.99 for a used DVD. I get them from an online DVD/CD/Book swapping site. Usually I’m “selling” my CDs to pay for DVDs and blu-ray.
Here’s how I would rank picture quality for stuff I watch:
- Blu-ray
- Cable
- Streaming / DVD (played in the blu-ray player)
But I don’t have 4k, just regular old 1080 HD, so I’m probably not the best judge.
IDK about more recent upsampling capabilities of modern Blu-Ray, but yes there is a big difference between DVD’s and Blu-Ray. During a prolonged power failure which also took out internet, but we have a generator, we broke out the DVD and blu-ray collection. It’s a older Bluray device. As we put in the DVD I was thinking what crappy picture, I remember when DVD’s were the cat’s meow, though that was when we all had the older TV’s and was comparing it to VHS. Later watching a Blu-Ray it was much better in terms of picture quality. That was with a 36 in set at about 15 ft away
Well that said and a few minutes into the DVD I adjusted back and it worked fine for the viewing experience. So yes DVD’s can be fine, though lower quality. Also to add back in the day I would buy mainly DVD’s as they are cheaper, but occasionally would treat myself to a Blu-Ray, usually for a hit movie I wanted to see or a treat for myself when I was not feeling well. So I’d say yes you will be fine with DVD’s especially since you have not really noticed the difference and perhaps the upsampling has gotten better.