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Author Topic: Anyone consuming HD or Blu-ray? Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 04-02-2007 09:50 PM                        I was thinking along the same lines, Joe. :-)  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-07-2007 04:09 PM                     quote: Bobby Henderson 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. Bobby, There is nobody stopping you from buying a D-Cinema setup for your home. In fact I know a west coast dealer that has done several home installs of the large Barco projector. Thats an expensive television set though  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-07-2007 04:48 PM                     Yup, anyone with deep enough pockets can put together a screening room with professional commercial theater gear. But it's hardly practical for the other 99.999% of the population. Something like Blu-Ray would be "good enough" for my home. Right now I seem to be doing just fine with 480p DVD. The much higher video bit rates along with discrete 3-chip DLP in a commercial projector versus rainbow color wheel one-chip DLP are pretty significant difference makers between the cinema and home. Unfortunately a lot of sales droids in the average Best Buy and Circuit City will overlook those details and proclaim "this stuff is equal or better than what's available in movie theaters! Buy it!"  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 04-07-2007 06:39 PM                        I'm getting ready to jump in... using someone else's money of course. Currently spec'ing a portable system for use at the local chapter JACL film screenings. Learning how to write grant requests to see if we can get this project funded. Looking at the Panasonic PT-AE1000U for the projector, which is a 3-LCD 1920x1080p native machine. Haven't narrowed down the field for the playback yet, though I'm leaning towards an HTPC at this point. LG has their BH-100 dual-format players out now too, for about $1200 on the street. Apparently Blu-ray is out-selling HD-DVD 9-1 both in Japan and in the US, which at least makes the format decision an easy one. That and Buena Vista, which releases all of the Studio Ghibli animated stuff that I'm such a nut about, is strictly in the Blu-ray camp. [ 04-07-2007, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-07-2007 07:16 PM                     If it weren't for movie studios like Universal Pictures and Paramount backing HD-DVD only (not to mention companies like Microsoft doing what they can to promote it) the format decision would be very easy in the favor of Blu-Ray. Warner Bros. is slanted heavily in favor of HD-DVD as well, even though it is releasing some movies in Blu-Ray and "Total-HD" formats. It's interesting to see just how extremely lopsided sales figures are in favor of Blu-Ray releases. Still, I would feel far better getting a disc player which could play both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs.  |  IP: Logged Mike Schindler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1039 From: Oak Park, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 04-07-2007 07:47 PM                     Paramount has been releasing BD's for quite some time now.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-08-2007 09:39 AM                     quote: Paul Mayer Apparently Blu-ray is out-selling HD-DVD 9-1 Thats because someone actually bought a Toshiba player... and Sony gave away 9 of their BRDP's to appease those Laptop battery explosion folks. Mark  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 04-08-2007 10:47 AM                        A few weeks ago the Hi-Def Digest reported that Casino Royale became the first hi-def disc title to ship over 100,000 units, as well as the first hi-def disc to make it onto Amazon's Top 10 sales list. So someone is buying these things. Of course now I can't find where that "9-1" sales ratio quote came from. But other stories since the first of the year peg the sales ratio at anywhere from 50 to 70% in favor of Blu-ray over HD DVD. Still, the format war will continue for a while. In my small niche of the anime market, some long-hoped-for titles like The Wings of Honneamise are slated only for HD DVD release in the US, while getting a dual-format release in Japan. Looks like I'll be continuing to consider imports for a while longer. Some recent Hi-Def Digest links: Mar 28: HD DVD Promotions Group Touts 2007 Release Line-Up; Reveals More Upcoming Titles Mar 27: 'Casino Royale' Blu-ray Breaks 100,000 Unit Milestone (UPDATED) Mar 9: February Disc Sales: Blu-ray Continues to Outsell HD DVD; 'Departed' Offers Head-to-Head Sales Comparison  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-08-2007 12:53 PM                     As of April 1st. Toshiba dropped the prices by $100 dollars on their HD-DVD decks. So their A-2 deck is list priced at $399 now. Which makes it the first deck available under $400 dollars, while Sony is still at the $799-$999 range. There may be problems for those who bought the first generation Blu-ray decks with future discs. Sony is dumping all those titles on the market to make the early buyers feel they got the right format. Till the they find the rest of the problems with there deck in there rush to win the market.  |  IP: Logged Christopher Crouch Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Holywood, ca, usa Registered: May 2006 posted 04-08-2007 03:18 PM                  Sony has also been cultivating potential blue-ray buyers via the system's inclusion in Playstation 3 consoles and their higher end PC's. Having the Playstation 3 come with a blu ray player will automatically aim a prime demographic towards the format. Miscrosoft has an external HD player add on for their 360 console, but that approach is obviously less effective than having the player come standard. Personally, I have a blue ray player on my laptop, but I can't say I've ever actually used it.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 04-09-2007 05:34 PM                        The debate between HD DVD and Blu-ray amongst enthusiasts rivals some of the strongest Dolby Digital vs. DTS debates from years past. The Blu-ray companies have been doing their best to stoke the fire by releasing "we're winning / we've already won" press releases every couple of weeks. The HD DVD camp has been relatively quiet on the side of press releases, but they have dropped the MSRP on their players just recently. Blu-ray has gained a lot of steam since November/December with the release of the Playstation 3 and several other Blu-ray players, which were delayed through much of the 2nd half of 2006. By my count, there were 27 HD DVD titles released in the first quarter of 2007 vs. 71 Blu-ray titles. Of those 5 and 21 were day-and-date releases, respectively, which I think has a great affect on the initial popularity of a release on either format. This disparity has fueled Blu-ray software sales and given the Blu-ray companies plenty of ammunition for their press releases. What they don't mention is the fact that many of the Fox releases that weighed so heavily in January when they were announced have been delayed or cancelled. They also don't mention that their cheapest standalone player available still has an MSRP of $899 (Samsung BD-P1000). The Playstation 3 is the cheapest overall at $599 for the 60GB model (the 20GB model is generally unavailable), but since it doesn't have a standard IR remote, it doesn't work well for those of us with programmable remotes and a wish to use only one remote for controlling their equipment. What they also fail to mention is that the Blu-ray platform is difficult for software developers to program for. Different players treat the BD-Java language differently, so doing menus and any advanced type of interactive content is going to be more difficult than these people have experienced before. Most if not all players are not capable of dual video streams, so PIP commentaries and features are not possible at this time. (Descent actually puts two full versions of the movie on the disc to provide PIP commentary on the second version) On paper, Blu-ray should win the war. Based on specs alone, they should have trounced HD DVD last year already. But in reality, they've had trouble getting players released, the studios are having trouble releasing movies on time, and the players are priced much higher than HD DVD players. That's why you can't choose a side based on promises, announcements, and assumptions based on which studio is supporting which format. You can only make choices based on what's available now, and right now, I think the advantage based on reality is in HD DVD's favor.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-10-2007 12:11 AM                     Technically speaking, Blu-Ray is the superior format. But software drives any new platform, not hardware. If every studio released their movies equally on both formats Blu-Ray would likely have an even greater chance at winning (right now we're still in early adopter territory where specifications do matter more than sheer price). However, neither format can really stake out a victory when various studios are choosing to support one or the other format exclusively.  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 04-10-2007 01:07 AM                     I had another look in HMV in Birmingham about two weeks ago. Number of HDDVD titles on offer is now up to about 30, but no sign of any Blu-ray; previously there were about equal numbers of each. I think it's unlikely that they have sold out, and there was no empty space where they should have been, so I don't know what's going on. I don't know anybody who's got a player, and I haven't seen one in the shops, but the PS3 is now available over here, so that may give Blue-ray a boost There are plenty of 'HD ready' televisions in the shops, there's one at work, in a roo just a couple of doors down from my office, but the only HD material I've got that I could try it with is still the couple of clips from the BBC that I've got on my laptop, the same ones that I tried on the digital installation at the cinema. Even these now seem to have gone from the BBC website.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 04-10-2007 12:40 PM                        Once you become accustomed to HD, standard definition is no longer as watchable as it once was. I compare it to when I used to record things in VHS 6-hour mode and thought it was just fine. But, after I started to do some recordings in 2-hour mode, 6-hour mode was no longer acceptable. I get comments all the time from friends and family about how HD isn't necessary and they aren't interested in it. Even after doing some demonstrations, some don't always appreciate the enhancements that HD provides. This happens more with comparing DVD to HD DVD than with broadcast SDTV vs. HDTV because the differences are more subtle. Broadcast SDTV has been butchered so badly by cable and satellite alike that the jump to real broadcast HDTV can be stunning. (I have a clip from the Tonight Show recorded on my HD TiVo for just such a demo). It is this perception that DVD is "good enough" that is a tough hill for HD DVD and Blu-ray to climb. That's why I think the interactivity side of things plays an important part. Seeing the menu displayed while the movie is playing and seeing Morgan Freeman talking about a scene he's in is something that's tangible that people can see is different from DVD. If you have an HD television or projector and you are a movie fan, you owe it to yourself to check out HD DVD or Blu-ray. The Toshiba HD-A2 is $310 at Amazon.com right now (plus you get 5 movies for free by mail), and Netflix memberships start at $4.99 per month, so the price of admission is very low. Even if Blu-ray becomes the final victor, I will not regret purchasing the Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player. It's a very good upsampling DVD player as well, but watching HD movies are phenomenal! Once you start seeing things in HD, you want everything to be in HD!  |  IP: Logged Forrest Lee Film Handler Posts: 2 From: Northborough, Massachuetts, USA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 04-11-2007 05:22 PM                     I'd love to get one but I need a whole lot more money first. I have insurance to pay.  |  IP: Logged

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