Just purchased a new 720p Panasonic 42" plasma at a terrific price and was pondering upgrading to Blu-ray.

My question is, is there a noticeable improvement compared to an upscaled DVD at 720p resolution? This is my second 720p set and I'm sure there are others like myself who are pondering the Blu-ray plunge but wonder if there's any true improvement in picture at this resolution.

I'm guessing this topic has been addressed before but any observations and insights would be greatly appreciated.

I have seen a monster difference in PQ. My set is 720p native and I have the Panasonic BD10. I had a Panasonic DVDS97 up-convert DVD player. I have heard people say that some of the earlier BDs are barely better than up-converted DVDs, I think they may have had some wires loose. The difference is like the difference from VHS to Standard DVD. Even the BD of The Fifth Element was far more superior than the Superbit version.

Both HD-DVD and BD blow away SD DVD. Your 720p display is HD resolution; SD DVD is only 480i. Don't you like the PQ of HD broadcasts, and aren't they better than your current SD DVD?

My LCD is 720p native. Last night i watched Black Hawk Down and every single scene in that movie there was a noticeable improvement. It was like watching the movie for the first time again. The colors, the sharpness, the detail thats present in the image is far better than anything you'll see on a SDDDVD. So yes, there is a VERY noticeable improvement.

This is great feedback, thank you. I'd love to hear from others as well.

Question: are you all outputting the Blu-ray player at 720p?

Question 1: Absolutely better, no question. 1080p is nice, but its not a requirement to enjoy either format.

Question 2: For the Samsung, DEFINITELY use 1080i output. I've A/B compared them extensively, and the internal TV scaler on my plasma does a much better job than whatever the Sammy does. But other players may have different results, and different TVs as well. But for Sammy Plasma + Sammy BD player, no question 1080i over HDMI looked the best.

Blu-Ray blows away SD DVD completely as well as hd from DirecTV on my 720P Infocus 7200 DLP projector. From what I have seen, HD DVD would do so as well.

My Sharp Aquos has a resolution of 1366x768, should I set my DMP-BD10 at 720p or 1080i?

The number of combinations of players & displays is such that you're unlikely to get a quick response from someone with an identical setup.

Easiest thing is to fire up one of the test patterns from a Sony disc and just do some A/B comparisons yourself. Trust your own eyes to judge your own setup.

Just purchased a new 720p Panasonic 42" plasma at a terrific price and was pondering upgrading to Blu-ray.


Is there a panny plasma that is 720p ?

Most Panansonic plasmas are 1280 or 1366x768. I assume that's what he means by 720p.

This is great feedback, thank you. I'd love to hear from others as well.

Question: are you all outputting the Blu-ray player at 720p?
I'm feeding my SharpVision 720p DLP projector with my Samsung set to 720p out. I've experimented with it also set to 1080i (projector won't accept 1080p), and the 720p setting is ever so slightly sharper on this display. I believe it all comes down to which is the better scaler; the Blu-ray player, or your display. I suggest putting a movie in and comparing the FBI seal in both settings. The small print on the seal is a good way to judge the sharpness of your display Blu-ray output.

TopJack,
I'm going to give you a different opinion. I have a 60" Pioneer plasma 1366x768 and a 720p lcd projector showing a 106" picture. I've directly compared A/B the image from a Panasonic S77 upscaled image to the Blu-Ray from a PS3 and Panasonic DMP-BD10 with the Black Hawk Down disc.

I found the differences to be very subtle. It's nowhere near the difference between SD-DVD and HD tv broadcasts as someone above posted. My wife and I had to freeze frame certain shots and critically pick through the picture to notice the differences. Obviously the difference was more noticeable on the 106" picture (from 12 feet).

If you're watching a 42inch Panasonic plasma (aren't they all 1024x768?), I really think the differences will be very subtle. Honestly, on that size screen at that resolution, I think it would be difficult.

Now, this is MY HUMBLE PERSONAL OPINION. I realize I'm the lone voice on this side, but I've done the A/B comparison with good equipment (I don't have any loose wires :)), and I was fairly underwhelmed. It's nothing like the WOW of going from SD to HD for the first time.

And I'm not a hater. I did this with the PS3 and I STILL bought the Panasonic player for $1000 because I'm hoping to upgrade to a 1080p display and I do believe the pq and aq are better, but it just depends on your expectations.

My wife and I were expecting the magnitude of difference to be like going from SD to HD again. It wasn't for us. No flames please. I've done due diligence on testing pretty thoroughly. I realize others mileage may vary.

See my thread here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=753625

Like the OP, I've been wondering what the perceived difference would be going from 480i to 720p. I've been on the fence for a while now as a result. I feel the displays in stores don't give an accurate depiction as they're usually playing demo discs and not an actual movie. I tried burning some hi-def DivX/XivD trailers and some regular standard trailers on to a disc to play and compare on my DivX DVD player, but alas, only the standard format trailers would play...I think I need DivX Ultra capable player to play the hi-def ones.

Anyways, I love hearing that Blu-ray is leaps and bounds better than Standard DVD throughout many threads on this forum which gets me excited about the new format. However, a lot of the times, I wish a little more information would be given about the posting users context such as their:
1) screen size,
2) viewing distance,
3) were the differences observed mainly with static images when paused or throughout the entire length of a moving picture. This information would go a long way in painting a real world perceived difference which is why I found this thread to be one of the more informative ones.

I currently have a Sony 50" LCD-RP which I believe has a native res of 768 or 720 (the manual doesn't say for certain) and I sit about 13 feet away. Despite the many posts about the increase in detail, I'm a little hesitant because I feel I might end up with the same opinion as Jacksonion, in that from my viewing distance the difference between standard DVD @ 480i/p and Blu-ray @ 720p would be minimal.

I found this chart on the net about being able to tell the differences between 480, 720, 1080 taking into consideration the viewing distance also.http://www.carltonbale.com/blog/2006/11/1080p-does-matter/
I wonder how accurate it is...

In Canada, Blu-ray players are going for quite a premium so I want to make sure I get my monies worth is all.

My Sharp Aquos has a resolution of 1366x768, should I set my DMP-BD10 at 720p or 1080i?

Try both and see if one looks better. I'd start at 720p.

Just purchased a new 720p Panasonic 42" plasma at a terrific price and was pondering upgrading to Blu-ray.I think most/all Panasonic 42" plasmas are 1024x768 resolution.

Subtle improvement for me......

PS3 w/HDMI
Sony RP LCD KDF-42WE655
Viewing distance ~8 feet

Gotta move closer merlintl!
8 feet from 42"?!?!? I'd need binoculars!
We sit about 10 feet form 92"... Try 6 feet!

:)

Just purchased a new 720p Panasonic 42" plasma at a terrific price and was pondering upgrading to Blu-ray.

My question is, is there a noticeable improvement compared to an upscaled DVD at 720p resolution? This is my second 720p set and I'm sure there are others like myself who are pondering the Blu-ray plunge but wonder if there's any true improvement in picture at this resolution.

I'm guessing this topic has been addressed before but any observations and insights would be greatly appreciated.

The simplest way to answer may be as follows: Do you have any HD services through your service provider, and have you seen movies in HD? If so, do you perceive them to be better than upconverted DVD? Based on this you should have your answer. Blu Ray and HD-DVD may be somewhat better than HD Movies over Cable/etc due to higher bitrates (less macroblocking for example)

I have a 42" 720p set and there is a clearly noticeable difference over DVD.

It's all in the details of course.

Well, I finally stumbled across a PS3 (sans TN) today. So I picked up KoH. All I can say is Holy Cow! :eek:

I typically sit about 6 feet from my 32in Sharp LCD (1366x768). When I watch DVDs with my Panny S97 upconverting player I usually lean back deep into my couch so I don't notice the compression artifacts. I sometimes lean forward when I watch HDTV because they look better, but I can't lean forward too far.

With Blu-ray, I can lean forward as far as I want (to something like 3 feet) and the picture is still crystal clear. The difference is staggering, nothing is fuzzy anymore.

gandalf :o

Gotta move closer merlintl!
8 feet from 42"?!?!? I'd need binoculars!
We sit about 10 feet form 92"... Try 6 feet!

:)

Hey Dave,

You're probably right. Thinking of upgrading to a 1080P 50" SXRD this spring. Fingers crossed.... :-)

One thing I can say is that the Blu-Ray DVDs that I've watched so far come nowhere close to a good DiscoveryHD or HDNet program. And those channels are coming through a 8300HD Time Warner HD-DVR.

Hey Dave,

You're probably right. Thinking of upgrading to a 1080P 50" SXRD this spring. Fingers crossed.... :-)

One thing I can say is that the Blu-Ray DVDs that I've watched so far come nowhere close to a good DiscoveryHD or HDNet program. And those channels are coming through a 8300HD Time Warner HD-DVR.

You're not making a valid comparision. You need to compare a movie on HDNet (or some other HD channel) to a movie on Blu Ray.

Filmed-sources will not have the same look as documentary "taped" sources that you'd often find on DiscoveryHD/etc.

That's not to say that a non-filmed source on a Blu Ray disc would not look as a good or better as on on an HD Broadcast network.

Blu Ray is just a storage medium!

Hey Dave,

You're probably right. Thinking of upgrading to a 1080P 50" SXRD this spring. Fingers crossed.... :-)

One thing I can say is that the Blu-Ray DVDs that I've watched so far come nowhere close to a good DiscoveryHD or HDNet program. And those channels are coming through a 8300HD Time Warner HD-DVR.


Although I must say I picked up Tears of the Sun this evening and its pretty darn good. Probably the best BD I've seen so far.

I found the differences to be very subtle. It's nowhere near the difference between SD-DVD and HD tv broadcasts as someone above posted. My wife and I had to freeze frame certain shots and critically pick through the picture to notice the differences.

You're not the lone soldier on this. Based on what I was reading here I was expecting a bigger difference than I got.

I'm on a Optoma HD72 (720P) projector on a 92" screen about 10 feet away.

Comparing the OPPO upscaling a DVD to the PS3 BluRay there IS a noticeable difference but it is no where near standard TV vs HDTV.

In my case - I have to output 1080i which as I understand gets scaled twice to 540P then to 720P so if there is a firmware update that allows 720P output I may see more improvement.

I have to agree with MUCHO - there is a difference, it depends on the titles and how good your SD-DVD upscaling player pre Blu-ray was...

Using a PS3 via Component (Monster PS3 cables) @ 1080i60 to my Panasonic PT-AE900 (720p projector) I see a difference between SD upconverted to 720p by my Denon 1920 but it is not jaw dropping.

Much depends on the movie. I watched Stealth for my first movie and really didn't see much difference at all - at least not worth $699. Then last night I watched the Devil Wears Prada and the difference is there, it's significant but not jawdroping on all titles (at least not with Component). I have not tried it with HDMI (The Denon is connected via HDMI).

I have to get KOH (Kingdom of Heaven)- if I can ever find it in the store since that is supposed to be a much better transfer on Blu-Ray. I also wish the PS3 did 1080P24 since the AE-900 is supposed to accept same over HDMI and I think that may improve some of the imaging as well. Perhaps Sony will give us that, 720p for Blu ray and up SD-DVD up-conversion in the next update for a real comparison.

My PJ, the Mits hc3000 takes the 1080i signal, deinterlaces it to 1080P, then downscales to 720P. One reason I went with the Mits. instead of the optoma. For us it is a TREMENDOUS leap PQ-wise. Huge... I can only imagine what a 1080P PJ would look like with the BD...
one day...

This is great feedback, thank you. I'd love to hear from others as well.

Question: are you all outputting the Blu-ray player at 720p?

Those of us with PS3's cannot output at 720p. Only 1080p, 1080i, 480p.