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Topic: Anyone consuming HD or Blu-ray?
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 12-26-2007 07:51 PM
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Multiple anything Bobby is what keeps the economy goin round and round. Dual format units don't solve a thing and they will more than likely leave alot to be desired... and for a pretty high price tag too.
That notion doesn't apply so strongly to digital-based electronics. It's not like trying to cram two or more analog playback formats (like 8-track, cassette and vinyl LP) into one single component.
There's at least several programmable DSP chips in existence that can decode every audio and video compression format supported by both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. They do it all on just one chip. The only additional piece(s) of hardware that may be required in a dual format HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player is two different laser pickups. It may even be possible to make one laser pickup read both formats.
As to the price argument, look at DVD burners and flash memory card readers. Those products are pretty inexpensive, even many really good ones. You can't buy one of those items brand new and have them only support just one format. In time dual format players will get a lot better in quality, boast many more features and get a lot less expensive in price.
The drawbacks built into products like LG's dual-format "Super-Blu" player have more to do with the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats not being mature rather than anything being wrong with the concept of a dual format player. The first DVD players were missing crucial features, like dual layer playback capability or support of DTS output. The problems with early HD-disc players are just another occurrence of a common trend. Being an early adopter is a risky, expensive game.
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Individual units for each format is how the pros go about things and if you want optimum performance from each format thats the best route to get you there.
That kind of thing might be fine for an audio/video post production suite. Such a thing is not practical for consumer electronics. Most entertainment racks have limited space for components. Most wives don't want a refrigerator sized hunk of gear taking up a big footprint in the living room either.
Most HDTV monitors and audio video receivers don't have nearly enough HDMI inputs. That seems pretty odd since those inputs take up little space. Look at all the different sources emerging: HD digital cable or satellite, multiple gaming consoles, PC connections and legacy DVD players. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray add further to that. You'll either be forced to consolidate pieces of equipment, swap cables or connect certain devices via lower quality inputs.
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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 12-26-2007 09:03 PM
quote: Bobby Henderson
The first DVD players were missing crucial features, like dual layer playback capability or support of DTS output. The problems with early HD-disc players are just another occurrence of a common trend. Being an early adopter is a risky, expensive game.
Mark likes to buy things and pay and pay for them all the time...at least that seems to be the plan in the cinema world for him and he shows his theory here...it keeps the economy going and that is certainly a way to look at it.
quote: Bobby Henderson
That kind of thing might be fine for an audio/video post production suite. Such a thing is not practical for consumer electronics.
I'll side with Mark on this one...your lack of space or spouse approval has nothing to do with quality or functionality. It is unreasonable to presume that an "everything" device will function as well as separates, all else being equal. For HI-FI in the '70s, things started to get compacted together (receivers were really born there) but in the '80s, while receivers still were popular, separates regained some of their popularlity if you wanted to really optimize a system for ones own preference. The odds that one made the best tuner, pre-amp and amp and then put them all in the same box was zero. This is not to say there weren't respectable receivers but it wouldn't be hard to find separates that would outperform any receiver.
The similarities of HD DVD and Blu-Ray are likely to not suffer from this as much as there are many commonalities between the two already. It would certainly be possible for one to make an all-in-one that performed equally as well as two units, at least some day since there would be very little duplication of hardware. As you add in upscaling of SD discs though you are now delving into a different discipline and as the cost goes up, something will have to give or one will loose market share. At this time, I would think a multi-player is bound to underperform as compared to separate units as the separate units are not even mature.
As to A/V receivers...man...they have been adding inputs to those like mad. Since Denon offers their's for Pro Use (have RS232 control and custom rackmount) as well as a dedicated Pro preamp, I've noted the increase in inputs and also the distinct shift away from coax digital in favor of Toslink digital. Oddly enough, even with the multi-zone AVR-987 or AVR-988P that has a bazillion inputs, you are limited to two HDMI inputs. So, if you have HDDVD, Blu-Ray, Cable, Satellite...etc something has to give (or install an HDMI switcher and complicate the system...not good for a consumer). I know on the upper end of the A/V receiver line of things there are ones with more HDMI inputs (top of the line Denon has 6 HDMIs in addition to the bazillion analogs).
My guess is it won't be too long before A/V receivers will have many HDMI inputs on the typical models as HDMI becomes more and more THE cable type that you hook your video/audio up with. It would make for a much neater installation in the home with picture/sound all on one cable.
Steve
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