Just thought I would pass along the info I received... Sorry for any confusion
No no, I'm glad you did. It's just a shame that the Best Buy bossmen are spreading false information to their sales staff and thusly consumers. The glasses are best used with a tv from the same manufacturer, yes, but any 3D blu-ray player will work with any 3D television.
I don't suppose they told you guys that 3D blu-ray discs are backwards compatible with current blu-ray players, and will just play as 2D if you don't have a 3D player/television? So there really is no new disc format, either.
No no, I'm glad you did. It's just a shame that the Best Buy bossmen are spreading false information to their sales staff and thusly consumers. The glasses are best used with a tv from the same manufacturer, yes, but any 3D blu-ray player will work with any 3D television.
I don't suppose they told you guys that 3D blu-ray discs are backwards compatible with current blu-ray players, and will just play as 2D if you don't have a 3D player/television? So there really is no new disc format, either.
I don't recall being told that either, but now I have a bunch of stuff I can tell to the rest of the HT dept.
Anyway, thanks a bunch for that info. I will definitely pass it along.
Just to throw a different aspect on the Blu-ray thing. At Best Buy, we just had our training on the 3D stuff that's coming out and how it's going to affect Blu-ray. Right now, we are seeing several different 3D players emerge, most if not all of which are going to have HDMI 1.4, which is incompatible in any HDMI v1.3 or below receiver. So right off the bat, you're screwed when it comes to that. Plus, all of the 3D formats are going to be proprietary due to the lack of a common standard. This means that a Samsung 3D Blu-ray player will only work on a Samsung TV with Samsung Glasses. Same with Sony, Panasonic, LG, etc. The only thing I'm not so sure on is the PS3. I've heard that the PS3 will work on any TV w/ any glasses, but I highly doubt that. So now you're going to see that Blu-ray is going to be a victim of a format war between manufacturers until a standard is found.
Personally, I think the 3D is cool, but right now, it's going to be a gamble, an expensive one. So I'm telling anyone who's interested in 3D Blu-ray to stay away from the 3D for another 1-2 years until a standard is out. But that's only if you're into 3D. By the way, the only 3 movies set for release in 3D in 2010 are Monsters vs Aliens, A Christmas Carol, and possibly Avatar, which I severely doubt.
So yeah, just my 2c.
This is a valid concern. We do have to see how it gets implemented on every 3D ready displays among different vendors, but even with finalized 3D specs, it may vary things alot in implementation. It requires 3d transmeter that will have to work with your player and also requires synching with 3D shutter glasses. I know Samsung does make their own and Mitsubishi did announce thier 3D kit compatibility with Samsung TV's. However, there are different 3D kits available for LCD's vs. DLP types of displays.
I do have a 3D ready samsung display and will find out once Avatar 3D version comes out.
It must be some consolation to those with dust layered HD-DVD players that Apple haven't introduced Blu-ray yet. Enjoy your Netflix boys
As for DVD, do people really imagine it's the future? A standard definition format in a High Definition world? Pretty soon people wont be given a choice, just as there's now no option to buy a standard definition TV in most stores these days.
1) The price of flat panel HDTV's that can display Blu-ray disc playback at full resolution are rapidly coming down in price.
2) The price of Blu-ray players that support video streaming from an external source are also rapidly coming down in price.
3) You can get new-release Blu-ray releases for not much more than what you pay for a new DVD release.
4) Licensing costs for Blu-ray technology has dropped quite a bit since the Blu-ray Disc Association announced a single-point technology licensing model.
This is why I do think Apple is preparing to release within the next six months iMacs and Mac Pros with an optional next-generation BD-RE Superdrive optical disc recorder. Since you sit fairly close to a computer on a iMac, Blu-ray disc playback on a 27" iMac should be spectacular, to say the least.
Blu-ray sight and sound quality are unbelievable. For those of you that are skeptical, there's no better movie than Transformers to make you a believer.On 1080p, the picture is crystal clear, the colors are vibrant, and the sound is amazing, I swear you can practically feel those' robots.Full of good bonus features that update in real-time (BD-Live capabilities). Plus Michael Bay talks about how they took each Transformer from toy to movie star.
3) You can get new-release Blu-ray releases for not much more than what you pay for a new DVD release.
I never bought new release DVDs for that reason. And I won't buy Blu-Ray (in quantity) either until not new-release BR discs are not much more than not new-release DVDs, which at this time is absolutely not the case. Two year-old DVDs cost as little as $6. I have not seen a single Blu-Ray movie for less than $20, and most are $30.
Blu-ray sight and sound quality are unbelievable. For those of you that are skeptical, there's no better movie than Transformers to make you a believer.On 1080p, the picture is crystal clear, the colors are vibrant, and the sound is amazing, I swear you can practically feel those' robots.Full of good bonus features that update in real-time (BD-Live capabilities). Plus Michael Bay talks about how they took each Transformer from toy to movie star.
Correction......
"High Definition sight and sound qualify are unbelievable,..............."
It must be some consolation to those with dust layered HD-DVD players that Apple haven't introduced Blu-ray yet. Enjoy your Netflix boys
As for DVD, do people really imagine it's the future? A standard definition format in a High Definition world? Pretty soon people wont be given a choice, just as there's now no option to buy a standard definition TV in most stores these days.
I don't belive anyone stares at the discs for two hours, but do watch the contents on the disc. High definition/standard definition AV contents are not optical disc format dependent anymore to watch. At least, it holds true at my house.
1) The price of flat panel HDTV's that can display Blu-ray disc playback at full resolution are rapidly coming down in price.
2) The price of Blu-ray players that support video streaming from an external source are also rapidly coming down in price.
3) You can get new-release Blu-ray releases for not much more than what you pay for a new DVD release.
4) Licensing costs for Blu-ray technology has dropped quite a bit since the Blu-ray Disc Association announced a single-point technology licensing model.
This is why I do think Apple is preparing to release within the next six months iMacs and Mac Pros with an optional next-generation BD-RE Superdrive optical disc recorder. Since you sit fairly close to a computer on a iMac, Blu-ray disc playback on a 27" iMac should be spectacular, to say the least.
you forgot about #5&6....
5) number of HTPC users are increasing rapidly.
6) Win7 media center provides online streaming access including netflix. MacOS supports iTunes and probably only iTunes knowing how SJ is so forgiving of competition.
Blu-ray sight and sound quality are unbelievable. For those of you that are skeptical, there's no better movie than Transformers to make you a believer.
No one is skeptical. BR has amazing quality and won the format war.
But for those of us who came into this discussion half a decade ago, we constantly heard that $149/$199 was the magic price for everyone to jump aboard. Anyone who disagreed was scoffed at.
Now we're at $70. for players, 3 years into BR's purported "5-year life", and the tech still isn't totally mainstream yet.
No one is skeptical. BR has amazing quality and won the format war.
But for those of us who came into this discussion half a decade ago, we constantly heard that $149/$199 was the magic price for everyone to jump aboard. Anyone who disagreed was scoffed at.
Now we're at $70. for players, 3 years into BR's purported "5-year life", and the tech still isn't totally mainstream yet.
To be perfectly accurate, blu-ray "didn't lose". It is yet to be determined if it will actually "win". But yeah, HD-DVD did indeed "lose".
The second point seems somewhat like a strawman if not directed at someone in particular. People from all sides of the debate had unique opinions on what the magic price point was. And every assertion about pretty much anything has been scoffed at in this thread. Thus, pointing out that someone disagreed with something that has now been proven right, doesn't seem to do much other than mock an unspecified person or group of people.
I would agree though that blu-ray hasn't gained mass appeal yet despite players having gotten relatively cheap. The problem seems to be that no matter how much videophiles rave about picture quality, the general public seems to be saying "whatever". While nearly everyone would certainly take better quality with all things else being equal, apparently they're willing to put exactly zero money and effort into getting that quality. You could probably even GIVE some folks a blu-ray player and they wouldn't use it due to sheer lack of motivation to swap out their current DVD player. Baffling right?
I never bought new release DVDs for that reason. And I won't buy Blu-Ray (in quantity) either until not new-release BR discs are not much more than not new-release DVDs, which at this time is absolutely not the case. Two year-old DVDs cost as little as $6. I have not seen a single Blu-Ray movie for less than $20, and most are $30.
Wow! I see Blu-rays all the time for less than $20. Our local Walmart has a section of $10 Blu-rays.
As far as I know, there are no Walmarts in Hong Kong. There's several in Shenzhen though, not far away.
I doubt Wal?Mart in Shenzhen sells media. Even so, thanks to GeeDub, it now costs me US$130 for a visa to Shenzhen (vs. $15 during the Clinton Administration), so I don't go any more.
I doubt Wal?Mart in Shenzhen sells media. Even so, thanks to GeeDub, it now costs me US$130 for a visa to Shenzhen (vs. $15 during the Clinton Administration), so I don't go any more.
Really? Didn't know that. A visa for HK isn't a visa for the PRC? Never been to HK. Taiwan and Japan are where I end up. One of these days I should do the extra hours...
Really? Didn't know that. A visa for HK isn't a visa for the PRC? Never been to HK. Taiwan and Japan are where I end up. One of these days I should do the extra hours...
Americans and most Europeans don't need a visa to go to HK.
The reason the visa for the PRC is so expensive now is that they adopted something called "reciprocal fees" which means they charge the same amount to certain countries that those countries charge for Chinese citizens. Bush, in his infinite wisdom, (well, his administration, anyway) decided to quadruple visa fees to the US. China rightfully got pissed off, and reciprocated.
Comments
Just thought I would pass along the info I received... Sorry for any confusion
No no, I'm glad you did. It's just a shame that the Best Buy bossmen are spreading false information to their sales staff and thusly consumers. The glasses are best used with a tv from the same manufacturer, yes, but any 3D blu-ray player will work with any 3D television.
I don't suppose they told you guys that 3D blu-ray discs are backwards compatible with current blu-ray players, and will just play as 2D if you don't have a 3D player/television? So there really is no new disc format, either.
No no, I'm glad you did. It's just a shame that the Best Buy bossmen are spreading false information to their sales staff and thusly consumers. The glasses are best used with a tv from the same manufacturer, yes, but any 3D blu-ray player will work with any 3D television.
I don't suppose they told you guys that 3D blu-ray discs are backwards compatible with current blu-ray players, and will just play as 2D if you don't have a 3D player/television? So there really is no new disc format, either.
I don't recall being told that either, but now I have a bunch of stuff I can tell to the rest of the HT dept.
Anyway, thanks a bunch for that info. I will definitely pass it along.
Just to throw a different aspect on the Blu-ray thing. At Best Buy, we just had our training on the 3D stuff that's coming out and how it's going to affect Blu-ray. Right now, we are seeing several different 3D players emerge, most if not all of which are going to have HDMI 1.4, which is incompatible in any HDMI v1.3 or below receiver. So right off the bat, you're screwed when it comes to that. Plus, all of the 3D formats are going to be proprietary due to the lack of a common standard. This means that a Samsung 3D Blu-ray player will only work on a Samsung TV with Samsung Glasses. Same with Sony, Panasonic, LG, etc. The only thing I'm not so sure on is the PS3. I've heard that the PS3 will work on any TV w/ any glasses, but I highly doubt that. So now you're going to see that Blu-ray is going to be a victim of a format war between manufacturers until a standard is found.
Personally, I think the 3D is cool, but right now, it's going to be a gamble, an expensive one. So I'm telling anyone who's interested in 3D Blu-ray to stay away from the 3D for another 1-2 years until a standard is out. But that's only if you're into 3D. By the way, the only 3 movies set for release in 3D in 2010 are Monsters vs Aliens, A Christmas Carol, and possibly Avatar, which I severely doubt.
So yeah, just my 2c.
This is a valid concern. We do have to see how it gets implemented on every 3D ready displays among different vendors, but even with finalized 3D specs, it may vary things alot in implementation. It requires 3d transmeter that will have to work with your player and also requires synching with 3D shutter glasses. I know Samsung does make their own and Mitsubishi did announce thier 3D kit compatibility with Samsung TV's. However, there are different 3D kits available for LCD's vs. DLP types of displays.
I do have a 3D ready samsung display and will find out once Avatar 3D version comes out.
Blu-Ray players hit the $69. mark. Still can't kill off DVD...
Haha... I thought blu-ray took over the world, already. All PS3 users only watch Blu-ray movies.
As for DVD, do people really imagine it's the future? A standard definition format in a High Definition world? Pretty soon people wont be given a choice, just as there's now no option to buy a standard definition TV in most stores these days.
1) The price of flat panel HDTV's that can display Blu-ray disc playback at full resolution are rapidly coming down in price.
2) The price of Blu-ray players that support video streaming from an external source are also rapidly coming down in price.
3) You can get new-release Blu-ray releases for not much more than what you pay for a new DVD release.
4) Licensing costs for Blu-ray technology has dropped quite a bit since the Blu-ray Disc Association announced a single-point technology licensing model.
This is why I do think Apple is preparing to release within the next six months iMacs and Mac Pros with an optional next-generation BD-RE Superdrive optical disc recorder. Since you sit fairly close to a computer on a iMac, Blu-ray disc playback on a 27" iMac should be spectacular, to say the least.
3) You can get new-release Blu-ray releases for not much more than what you pay for a new DVD release.
I never bought new release DVDs for that reason. And I won't buy Blu-Ray (in quantity) either until not new-release BR discs are not much more than not new-release DVDs, which at this time is absolutely not the case. Two year-old DVDs cost as little as $6. I have not seen a single Blu-Ray movie for less than $20, and most are $30.
Blu-ray sight and sound quality are unbelievable. For those of you that are skeptical, there's no better movie than Transformers to make you a believer.On 1080p, the picture is crystal clear, the colors are vibrant, and the sound is amazing, I swear you can practically feel those' robots.Full of good bonus features that update in real-time (BD-Live capabilities). Plus Michael Bay talks about how they took each Transformer from toy to movie star.
Correction......
"High Definition sight and sound qualify are unbelievable,..............."
YMMV depends on your HT equipments.
It must be some consolation to those with dust layered HD-DVD players that Apple haven't introduced Blu-ray yet. Enjoy your Netflix boys
As for DVD, do people really imagine it's the future? A standard definition format in a High Definition world? Pretty soon people wont be given a choice, just as there's now no option to buy a standard definition TV in most stores these days.
I don't belive anyone stares at the discs for two hours, but do watch the contents on the disc. High definition/standard definition AV contents are not optical disc format dependent anymore to watch. At least, it holds true at my house.
Here's what we know now:
1) The price of flat panel HDTV's that can display Blu-ray disc playback at full resolution are rapidly coming down in price.
2) The price of Blu-ray players that support video streaming from an external source are also rapidly coming down in price.
3) You can get new-release Blu-ray releases for not much more than what you pay for a new DVD release.
4) Licensing costs for Blu-ray technology has dropped quite a bit since the Blu-ray Disc Association announced a single-point technology licensing model.
This is why I do think Apple is preparing to release within the next six months iMacs and Mac Pros with an optional next-generation BD-RE Superdrive optical disc recorder. Since you sit fairly close to a computer on a iMac, Blu-ray disc playback on a 27" iMac should be spectacular, to say the least.
you forgot about #5&6....
5) number of HTPC users are increasing rapidly.
6) Win7 media center provides online streaming access including netflix. MacOS supports iTunes and probably only iTunes knowing how SJ is so forgiving of competition.
Blu-ray sight and sound quality are unbelievable. For those of you that are skeptical, there's no better movie than Transformers to make you a believer.
No one is skeptical. BR has amazing quality and won the format war.
But for those of us who came into this discussion half a decade ago, we constantly heard that $149/$199 was the magic price for everyone to jump aboard. Anyone who disagreed was scoffed at.
Now we're at $70. for players, 3 years into BR's purported "5-year life", and the tech still isn't totally mainstream yet.
No one is skeptical. BR has amazing quality and won the format war.
But for those of us who came into this discussion half a decade ago, we constantly heard that $149/$199 was the magic price for everyone to jump aboard. Anyone who disagreed was scoffed at.
Now we're at $70. for players, 3 years into BR's purported "5-year life", and the tech still isn't totally mainstream yet.
To be perfectly accurate, blu-ray "didn't lose". It is yet to be determined if it will actually "win". But yeah, HD-DVD did indeed "lose".
The second point seems somewhat like a strawman if not directed at someone in particular. People from all sides of the debate had unique opinions on what the magic price point was. And every assertion about pretty much anything has been scoffed at in this thread. Thus, pointing out that someone disagreed with something that has now been proven right, doesn't seem to do much other than mock an unspecified person or group of people.
I would agree though that blu-ray hasn't gained mass appeal yet despite players having gotten relatively cheap. The problem seems to be that no matter how much videophiles rave about picture quality, the general public seems to be saying "whatever". While nearly everyone would certainly take better quality with all things else being equal, apparently they're willing to put exactly zero money and effort into getting that quality. You could probably even GIVE some folks a blu-ray player and they wouldn't use it due to sheer lack of motivation to swap out their current DVD player. Baffling right?
I have not seen a single Blu-Ray movie for less than $20, and most are $30.
Have you tried opening your eyes before looking, there are plenty of blu-ray movies available for less than $20, new releases, and old ones
I never bought new release DVDs for that reason. And I won't buy Blu-Ray (in quantity) either until not new-release BR discs are not much more than not new-release DVDs, which at this time is absolutely not the case. Two year-old DVDs cost as little as $6. I have not seen a single Blu-Ray movie for less than $20, and most are $30.
Wow! I see Blu-rays all the time for less than $20. Our local Walmart has a section of $10 Blu-rays.
Wow! I see Blu-rays all the time for less than $20. Our local Walmart has a section of $10 Blu-rays.
As far as I know, there are no Walmarts in Hong Kong. There's several in Shenzhen though, not far away.
As far as I know, there are no Walmarts in Hong Kong. There's several in Shenzhen though, not far away.
I doubt Wal?Mart in Shenzhen sells media. Even so, thanks to GeeDub, it now costs me US$130 for a visa to Shenzhen (vs. $15 during the Clinton Administration), so I don't go any more.
I doubt Wal?Mart in Shenzhen sells media. Even so, thanks to GeeDub, it now costs me US$130 for a visa to Shenzhen (vs. $15 during the Clinton Administration), so I don't go any more.
Really? Didn't know that. A visa for HK isn't a visa for the PRC? Never been to HK. Taiwan and Japan are where I end up. One of these days I should do the extra hours...
Really? Didn't know that. A visa for HK isn't a visa for the PRC? Never been to HK. Taiwan and Japan are where I end up. One of these days I should do the extra hours...
Americans and most Europeans don't need a visa to go to HK.
The reason the visa for the PRC is so expensive now is that they adopted something called "reciprocal fees" which means they charge the same amount to certain countries that those countries charge for Chinese citizens. Bush, in his infinite wisdom, (well, his administration, anyway) decided to quadruple visa fees to the US. China rightfully got pissed off, and reciprocated.