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Topic: Anyone consuming HD or Blu-ray?

Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 02-18-2007 05:17 PM

Just be aware that the PS3 doesn't come with a remote, component cables or an HDMI cable. But I do believe it comes with Talledega Nights... your favorite movie ever!

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Mike Schindler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1039
From: Oak Park, IL, USA
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 02-18-2007 05:41 PM

quote: Joe Redifer
But isn't Dolby TruHD (proper spelling, most likely) way the hell better than wimpy-ass uncompressed PCM?

All kidding aside, highdefdigest.com just did a blind side-by-side comparison between the two with the first movie to be released in both formats, THE DEPARTED. Out of 20 tests, they only noticed a difference 4 times. But each time, PCM came out on top.

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 02-19-2007 04:40 PM

By crippled, I mean that quite a few of the Blu-ray players do not have ethernet jacks and are not capable of supporting the BD-Java interactivity functions. I'm able to update the firmware in my player via the Internet, and the interactivity software (HDi) of HD DVD is fully supported. Toshiba even demonstrated some Internet connectivity features at this year's CES, where extras could be downloaded/streamed and data could be shared between units.

Some models also are not able to support multiple simultaneous video streams, so the cool picture-in-picture commentary like what's on Batman Begins, Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, etc. isn't possible. See the photo here to see what I'm referring to.

I don't know which players have these features and which don't, which is part of the problem. These features are optional in the Blu-ray spec, so it's hard to know what you're getting unless you do a lot of in-depth research. And, because not all players have the features, the studios aren't very willing to take advantage of them. The BD-J spec isn't finished yet, as far as I know, but they're hoping for a June release.

I wish I could find the link to more information on this issue, as these issues are hidden gotchas that aren't widely known.

Edit: aha found them:

quote: Steve Guttag
will the DVD-HD output 1080 on Component outputs

My first-generation HD-A1 HD DVD player will output 1080i across the component video outputs, that's how I use it now. If I had the HDMI hooked up, it would also upsample DVD's to 1080i, and from what I've heard, it's very good at (really gotta plunk down the cash for a 35' HDMI cable one of these days...).
I'm not sure about passing 1080p via component, but I'm thinking that none of the HD DVD or Blu-ray players are able to do that. The HD-A20 and HD-XA2 are able to pass 1080p via HDMI, but if the TV properly deinterlaces the input, it doesn't matter whether the player sends 1080i/p.

quote: Mike Schindler
Scott, depending on your price range, you may want to look into the PS3 as a Blu-ray player. A lot of people are saying it's the best one out there, and at $600, it's also the least expensive.

I would consider it, except for the fact that isn't able to be controlled by a standard infrared remote (it's got Bluetooth only). Its inability to be controlled by my Pronto programmable remote makes it a non-functioning member of my entertainment rack, and that's unacceptable. Maybe they'll come out with some sort of add-on device that will serve that function. Some people have already figured out how to cobble together some USB/IR adaptor from the early PS2s, so it's not impossible to do.

It's all about the movies, though. Once there are an irresistible list of Blu-ray exclusive titles out there, I'll have to look at Blu-ray more seriously. Currently, there are very few Blu-ray titles I'm interested in watching.

By that time, I hope that some full-featured Blu-ray players are available, or they lower the prices on the "crippled" players to a more reasonable level.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 02-19-2007 06:06 PM

I only care about the movie, not the loser picture-in-picture of some dumbass' commentary. No need to hook it up to the interweb, either. Downloadable content only gives manufacturers an excuse to put out a shoddy product before it is finished and often even charge you for updates that should have been there in the first place.

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Paul Gordon
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 580
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 02-20-2007 07:07 AM

Blue Ray... HDVD their all blowing their own horn.. in 5 years all disc formats will be dead, people will simply download flicks, or get them on demand from their cable provider... its already happening.. Useless a Blue ray or an HDVD player is $50.00 like todays cheap DVD players it will never become mainstream fast enough to keep up with downloading movies. Walmart, Amazon and Itunes are already starting to sell downloadable flicks, now people don't even have to leave their home... we can all be fat fucks lazying on the couch watching shitty movies..

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 02-20-2007 12:37 PM

Screw that. I'll take the higher bitrate thank you.

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 02-20-2007 10:23 PM

Amen to that!

The worst-case scenario resulting from the HD DVD / Blu-ray format war on consumers is that downloads will do to movies what low-bit rate downloadable music has done to music.

We don't have near the amount of bandwidth in most areas of the U.S. to support downloading movies at anything approaching HD quality. Even if you cranked on the compression to get a 10GB file, that would take 4.5 hours to download on a 5 Mbps connection (and that's 5 Mbps for the entire duration of the download, which is something not many servers are capable of). No amount of P2P technology is going to overcome the speed bottlenecks of the last mile.

I think it's very realistic to think that a 10GB could take 4-5 days, at best, to download. Considering that many HD DVD's are 30GB discs, triple that figure. If you want to look at 50GB Blu-ray titles, do the math...

I'm more than happy to rent HD discs from Netflix and buy the occasional demo or re-watchable title. The quality of the movies I've seen so far have been excellent! I just finished Casablanca, which is probably the best so far. An incredible image, and that's with a 60 year old movie!

Downloads are fine for a teenager's iPod, but they aren't ready for my 100"-wide HD home theater yet.

As the WOPR learned back in the 80's, the only to win at this war is not to play, but what's the fun in that? The only way a consumer can truly win at this war is to have players for both formats.

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Paul Gordon
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 580
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 02-21-2007 07:09 AM

Just wait for Internet II!!

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-21-2007 06:48 PM

quote: Paul Gordon
in 5 years all disc formats will be dead, people will simply download flicks, or get them on demand from their cable provider

While that indeed will happen we will also see "Walkman" style blue ray players an it will hardly die out, it will just keep on growing. The best part about Blue Ray is that its storage density is high enough to also support other as of yet designed playback formats. It may also eventually be the supported distribution method for D-Cinema.

Mark

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Tim Rectanus
Film Handler

Posts: 51
From: Raleigh, NC, USA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 03-03-2007 10:51 PM

I was just watching "What's Kewl at CES 2007" on HDNet and LG had debuted the first HD and Blu-ray Disc Player. One machine, one tray that plays both kinds of discs for $1200. For a starting price point, that isn't too outrageous. I am not going to run out and buy one but I thought it was interesting. Granted, the "Format War" won't grind to a halt but it is good to see that some companies are starting to move towards somewhat of a middle ground. CES was in the mid-January but I hadn't seen any mention of this topic until now.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-04-2007 12:37 AM

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
The best part about Blue Ray is that its storage density is high enough to also support other as of yet designed playback formats. It may also eventually be the supported distribution method for D-Cinema.

While Blu-Ray definitely has the file storage capacity and bitrate bandwidth advantage over HD-DVD, it really honestly sucks amphibian crap compared to what is currently delivered to D-Cinema capable theaters. Blu-Ray does not at all have anything anywhere near a 250Mb per second bandwidth. It may take years or even a new generation of optical-disc based format to come up with something similar. A large capacity hard disc "virtual print" delivered to a movie theater has more than 7 times the bandwith of the very best quality Blu-Ray release.

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Frank Dubrois
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 896
From: Cleveland, OH
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 03-04-2007 01:28 AM

I believe I read something about Holographic Versatile Discs (HVD) are being worked on now and capable of 3.9 Terrabytes of storage. They thought that because of the current bluRay/HD war, Holo-disc might just leapfrog both of those formats. I think I'll wait. I'm not that excited about repurchasing my collection at $30/disc, then RE-REpuchasing when HVD comes out.

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 03-05-2007 10:25 PM

That's why renting is such an attractive alternative to purchasing.

The last DVD I purchased for my own use was back in December 2005, and I have yet to break the plastic on it. I probably have about 120 or so DVD's on my shelf, and I don't expect that the collection will grow by more than a handful past that. Every time I get tempted by the $3.99 deals that the big box retailers do, I remember that it's just easier to rent them when I want to see them instead of having the extra clutter.

After buying an HD DVD player in early October, I have a grand total of three discs. The most expensive one was $22, and the other two were under $20.

With the convenience of places like Netflix and Blockbuster Total Access, one really has to want a movie at arm's reach to buy anything these days. There are library titles I would repurchase in a heartbeat, though, so I'm not completely immune!

But, as always, to each his own...

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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-29-2007 10:16 AM

quote:
Just wait for Internet II!!

Here at UAH, we've had "Internet II" for years, but we only get "Internet II" when transferring data from other "Internet II" connected sites. Otherwise, we have the awfully slow normal campus network with a relatively low bandwidth shared by all students, staff, and faculty.

About DVDs and the future being downloading... I've noticed that the number of DVD purchases I've made has gone down tremendously in the past year. It would be silly for me to purchase BluRay or HD-DVD now when my big-screen TV only gets turned on about once a month. I don't think I've played a movie on my system this year yet, but I have shown a few TV shows from DVD. The trend now seems to be toward things like YouTube, but those videos make VHS look like HDTV by comparison. We're moving backwards. Eventually, the trend will have to move toward higher quality.

To be honest, there haven't been many movies I've wanted to see during the past year. I wanted to see Cars and Clerks II, and bought them on DVD, and have never watched either. What does that say? The last time I went to a movie theatre was May 27, 2006 (X-Men 3 at the Cinemagic Theatre in Athens, AL). Not seeing anything in theatres and not being interested in hardly any movies certainly cut down my DVD buying. I need to go see a movie on May 27, 2007 in the theatre I guess.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 03-29-2007 06:00 PM

I'd recommend waiting until May 28th, that way you can say it's been "over a year".

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