HOME VIDEO: Blu-ray vs. upcoverting DVD

Since we have another light week of screen fighting releases I’m going to focus on the latest high-definition news and tips and follow with a rundown on download services and a few Asian DVD releases.

Blu-ray Players

In the wake of HD-DVD’s demise at the beginning of the year, it was expected that Blu-ray player sales would climb but the opposite has happened so far suggesting that the high-definition format has a long ways to go in replacing the hugely popular DVD format.

Ars Technica discusses the findings of two sales tracking reports released last week that indicate standalone Blu-ray player sales have dropped by as much as 40 percent from January to February 2008 and increased by only two percent in March. The exception to these findings is the Sony Playstation 3 console which has continued to sell well and is now estimated to account for 85 percent of all Blu-ray players sold in the U.S.

There are a number of factors that account for this lack of consumer interest. Prices on standalone players are still well above $100, movie selection on the Blu-ray format is still slim, and movie download services such as iTunes and Xbox Live are gaining popularity. One of the biggest reasons consumers may be less interested in upgrading to Blu-ray is the success of upconverting DVD players that can provide substantial boosts to the quality of DVD signals on HD TVs.

Upconverting Players

Upconverting DVDs will not result in the level of quality that Blu-ray provides but it’s enough of an improvement to consider owning a dedicated one if you have a large DVD collection you intend to hang on to.

Without upconversion technology, DVD playback quality can look awful on a high definition LCD, plasma or rear-projection screen. To fit movies on a single DVD, distributors use digital compression codecs that are usually optimized for 720×480 resolutions. This works fine for analog TVs because, whether using NTSC (U.S.) or PAL (U.K.) formats, analog TVs can only display a resolution up to 720×480. But HD monitors can or will eventually display anywhere from 1024×768 to 3840×2160. (Blu-ray players display movies at 1920×1080.) Watching a standard DVD on my computer at 1680×1050 without upconversion results in the appearance of heavy compression artifacts or blocky chunks of image distortion. The effect is diminished by moving further away from the monitor but it would still be very noticeable on a large 40-inch HD TV.

Upconverting players improve a standard DVD image by doing a better job of deinterlacing the image and scaling it up to HD standards. The player uses an HDMI cable to carry an improved signal to HD TVs. On a screen no larger than 32 inches, the difference between upcoverting and Blu-ray player image output is negligible but those with larger screens will still be able to easily notice the difference in image quality.

People interested in a high-quality upconverting player should check out the Oppo DV-983H. It costs the same as a PS3 but is one of the best choices for serious DVD collectors who want to get improved picture quality on an HD TV. A less expensive option is the Oppo DV-980H which is currently selling at HKFlix.

Online Rentals / Purchase

Watching martial arts movies is becoming a lot easier with the continued growth of digital downloading services. Torrents remain popular, either because they’re free or because they’re the only way to find an obscure kung fu movie. I’ve never taken to torrent use because it is a haven for pirated material, you may not be getting what you think you’re getting and also because it often takes an eternity to download a single movie. Meanwhile, my 5MB cable internet connection makes a sizable drop in speed as other torrent users download content from my computer, hence the nature of peer-to-peer file sharing.

Commercial movie download services are faster and more reliable. I’ve tried out a variety of services including Movielink, Vongo, Amazon, iTunes, and Netflix. Others I have not messed with include TV-oriented services like Xbox Live and digital on-demand service from cable companies like Comcast and Charter. None of them are ideal for the martial arts movie enthusiast due to limited selection and varying degrees of user unfriendliness.

For selection, Amazon’s Unbox Video Downloads is recommended. They have roughly 200 martial arts movie titles available to rent including new releases like THE SHEPHERD and a large collection of old school kung fu flicks from Crash Cinema. For ease of use I recommend Netflix. Although best known for their DVD-by-mail service, they have broadened into online movie and TV series. What sets them apart from most other services is their monthly billing plan which makes all their downloads available at no additional cost, while you can still have DVDs sent to your home. Their online selection is woefully small compared with their DVD library but it will no doubt expand. What I like best about Netflix is their simple browser-based movie viewer. Once you have an active subscription you can start watching movies within two button clicks and the quality of the image scales with your internet speed.

The one site that Asian movie buffs should definitely keep an eye on is TigerCinema. Like Netflix, they do both DVD rentals and online viewing but their focus is on Asian cinema.

DVD Releases

Nothing of note is coming out in the U.S. or U.K. this week. In Hong Kong, Joy Sales is releasing more Golden Harvest classics. Titles to consider include FINAL JUSTICE (1988) starring Danny Lee and Stephen Chow, TIGER ON BEAT (1988) and TIGER ON BEAT 2 (1990), both starring Chow Yun-fat and Conan Lee. Also coming out in Hong Kong this week is LIFE OF RACHAN THE BOXER, a Thai boxing drama.

TIGER ON BEAT

TIGER ON BEAT 2

LIFE OF RACHAN THE BOXER

Next Week:

THE MASTER (Tokyo Shock)
SHINOBI NO MONO 2: VENGEANCE (Animeigo)
TKO (Lionsgate)

Source: Cnet