I watched the Dark Knight on a premium channel with my gradson the other day. He remarked that it paled in comparison to the Blu-ray version he had seen earllier. I have just bought my first HDTV(Sammy PN58B650). I have TWC and will be moving to Dish. These are my options, it's one or the other but not both.Comments are appreciated.

1. Subscribe to all premium services through Dish

2. Buy a Blu-ray and subscribe to a monthly service that provides blu-ray

#2.

There is no comparison. HBO butchered the movie. The director cut between various screen formats for impact and from what little I saw HBO showed none of that. Plus, 1080p looks great. 1080i is OK but lacks something.

BR no question

Blu-Ray.

Even if a channel is showing it OAR, the bit rate is much lower than what BD can provide, so you won't see the same clarity that you will off BD.

It gets worse with satellite companies and many cable companies recompressing the signal even further to stuff in more channels.

bluray is superior to anything cable or fios or sats can offer. All of those content providers will suffer from macroblocking during fast motion scenes.

Definitely get the Blu-ray!

Blu-Ray.

Even if a channel is showing it OAR, the bit rate is much lower than what BD can provide, so you won't see the same clarity that you will off BD.

It gets worse with satellite companies and many cable companies recompressing the signal even further to stuff in more channels.

Exactly what Comcast is doing to channels in my area. BluRay will absolutely kill HBO's HD broadcasts.

Blu-ray...not only for the visual quailty, but also consider the fact (or at least to my knowledge) that no permium channel currently offer lossless audio (Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master)...difference you'll be able to appreciate if you have a 5.1 setup.

I don;t subscribe to the pay channel like hbo and cinemax. however I do subscribe to HDnetmovies and mgmHD. they show the movies in proper widescreen format. I would recommend those channels over hbo and other pay channels. I agree with others that bluray is superior.

I watched the Dark Knight on a premium channel with my gradson the other day. He remarked that it paled in comparison to the Blu-ray version he had seen earllier. I have just bought my first HDTV(Sammy PN58B650). I have TWC and will be moving to Dish. These are my options, it's one or the other but not both.Comments are appreciated.

1. Subscribe to all premium services through Dish

2. Buy a Blu-ray and subscribe to a monthly service that provides blu-ray


Why do you have to subscribe to "all premium services"? :confused:

Pick the service you watch most and get Netflix "one at a time" and a Bd player.

CD

Premium channels like HBO and Showtime offer their own programming like The Sopranos, The Wire, The Tudors, Weeds, etc, because it is hard to compete with services like Netflix.

Most people I know who subscribe to these premium channels do not do it for the movies. It you just want movies...Bluray/Netflix.

btw, there is a third option that companies like Netflix, Apple and VuDu provide, but if you mention it here you get flamed.

Today - on Cinemax HD is the Burt Reynolds movie STICK

It isn't available on DVD let alone BD.

Premium channels like HBO and Showtime offer their own programming like The Sopranos, The Wire, The Tudors, Weeds, etc, because it is hard to compete with services like Netflix.

Most people I know who subscribe to these premium channels do not do it for the movies. It you just want movies...Bluray/Netflix.

btw, there is a third option that companies like Netflix, Apple and VuDu provide, but if you mention it here you get flamed.

Nothing wrong with "Streaming" the more ways to get media the better!

CD

Thanks to all. Very good insight to what now seems like a one way decision.

Thanks to all. Very good insight to what now seems like a one way decision.

...read more books instead?
...on the giant large screen Kindle I mean.:D

You might be happy with a good DVR (Tivo/Dish) and premium channels. The best part about that is that you can often catch things you would never think to put into your Netflix/Blockbuster queue and many are quite good in the quality department. On the other hand, Blu Ray is easily the best out there (I will also second comments above on Vudu, but NF w/Blu is cheaper).

You can also look into a combination. I really like Showtime's series right now and you can get one out at Netflix for $9 and that gives you free streaming. Many cable/sats have HDNet Movies as well as part of a free package. The quality of that channel is usually top notch. If I had a fixed budget of say $XX per month, I'd personally get 1 (or 2 out) Netflix, Cable/Sat with a DVR and basic HD pack (usually has HDNet Movies and others) and maybe see if there was enough left over for one pay service- often you also get their OnDemand serivce as well.

Not to sound contrary, because I love and review movies on Blu-ray and I believe BD's picture and sound quality are definitely superior to anything cable or satellite have to offer. However, be aware that there are many people with high-definition televisions who prefer digitally shot TV programs not for their absolute object delineation but for their cleanness, their lack of noticeable grain.

To me, there is little reason why a person who can afford a high-def television set couldn't divide his money for content between an HD premium cable or satellite broadcast and a few well-chosen, well-loved BD movies for purchase or rental. I understand the OP wants to rent through one service or another only, but, again to me, it does not seem like a person has to subscribe to every premium channel there is, nor does he have to buy or rent every movie that appears on Blu-ray. A little compromise may be in order: one or two premium channels and a cheap Blu-ray player (I just saw Panasonic BD players at Costco for $230 and Sharp BD players for $199, plus Sylvania BD players at Wal-Mart for $169).

John

To get the best picture possible make sure you get your new tv calibrated.

Comparing quality you will get a better picture from Blu-ray compared to the dish. Blu-ray movies have a resolution of 1080p, tv, sattelite, cable have lower resolution and are more compressed. However quality aside you must decide too on which would get the most use out of, movies are all the tv channels.

I watched the Dark Knight on a premium channel with my gradson the other day. He remarked that it paled in comparison to the Blu-ray version he had seen earllier. I have just bought my first HDTV(Sammy PN58B650). I have TWC and will be moving to Dish. These are my options, it's one or the other but not both.Comments are appreciated.

1. Subscribe to all premium services through Dish

2. Buy a Blu-ray and subscribe to a monthly service that provides blu-ray

Get the BD and rent. I have the full DirecTV movie pack and rarely watch any of it mainly due to content, not pq. I need to cancel that.

#2.

There is no comparison. HBO butchered the movie. The director cut between various screen formats for impact and from what little I saw HBO showed none of that. Plus, 1080p looks great. 1080i is OK but lacks something.
zack i agree with you 100%.but one mans ceiling,is another mans floor.
the issue with hd is you better make sure your eyes are close to 20/20.
i read this all the time that a broadcast in hd blows away a blu-ray.i to say no way!this is why the studios have to make sure they get the best transfer they can.to me thats the key,bd players can sure play back a great pq disc.the studio's offen think about there pocketbook first,before putting out a great looking bd movie.the startrek 6 movie pak comes to mind,it could have been a lot better.but they rushed it out because of the new movie.the future of blu-ray is really in the studios hands!

I can tell you that TWCNYC's generally PoS-quality isn't even 1920x1080i, it's some really horribly compressed utter PoS higher-than-SD but sub-HD resolution, full with macroblocking etc.

Seriously: Time Warner NYC is the worst f*&^%$ TV quality EVER now. And it's getting worse and wrse by every single added upconverted mushy sh!t they dare to call "new HD channel"... :mad:

I don't know about Dish but FIOS gives you 45 movie channels for $30 a month. PQ is pretty darn good as I have mentioned and many show them in OAR. Would consider it ( FIOS ) in place of BD but not sure against Dish.