BTW, my first mac was the mac SE/20MB HD with black and white screen still in the 80's, so that would put me in the early adopters group?
We could have a whole discussion just on this topic. I like to think of it as a bell curve, so it would vary with each product and how fast it is adopted. I am usually average to late adopter, depending on circumstances. I was late on the Mac because I needed an IBM for a computer science course, and the IBM was good enough for a while.
ive followed this thread from the start... ive seen some WILD claims from people, some sanity from the same people...
early on i cared...
since about page 20-30 its just been entertainment
-----
addabox
//you've got someone who is on one side with some balance, and someone who is on the other side with complete fanaticism, and it makes it appear as if the first party is more partisan than they actually are, if only because the temptation is strong to poke some holes in a fanatics relentlessness. //
so if the fanatic is RIGHT in the end, does that make them more or less valid than the "non" fanatic from the opposing side?
ive been OH so tempted to get an xbox... but the THOUGHT of giving M$ money makes me ill, if that makes me a fanatic then im fine with that
i guess you shouldnt wish your life away, but next year looks to be VERY interesting, and im gonna be looking forward to a PS3 launch over here, and all the apple goodness
mmm xmas... im overwhelmed... over weight... and overdrawn
I don't think it has much to do with being "right" either way. I was just commenting on the dynamic of the thread.
Well.... remember $200 ($159 w/ coupon) HD-DVD player on HTPC?... Well, this is how it goes.... and how the hi-def format war is ending sooner than everyone else thinks...
BTW, my prediction on BD hardware is coming true. There's good and bad news for Sony, but mostly bad news for the BD movie business. Good news is that PS3 is the most popular BD player right now. The bad news is PS3 is taking the BD hardware sales from other BD hardware supports. The PS3 installed base as a BD player is still small, but CE BD player shares have shrunken even smaller, which started significantly behind HD-DVD player installed base numbers. Well, I didn't think it would be this apparent this early in the game, but the sooner the format war ends the better. As I said before, CES 2007 will be the ultimate last flash of the BD movie market. Once again, Sony gets desparate and Sony kills off all their allies for it's own survival ending in the exact outcome of the prisoner's dilemma.
Well.... remember $200 ($159 w/ coupon) HD-DVD player on HTPC?... Well, this is how it goes.... and how the hi-def format war is ending sooner than everyone else thinks...
Now that I see the HD-DVD player stacked with the 360 I kinda wonder what the heck MS was thinking. That's really dumb looking.
Meh...I think I'm joining the 360 camp though. I sure as heck isn't for HD but because Bioware is making Mass Effect. There isn't a PS3 must have title for me at the moment. I'm also hoping for a Jade Empire 2 and that'd likely be a 360 title only too. But I won't bother until those games come out.
Well.... remember $200 ($159 w/ coupon) HD-DVD player on HTPC?... Well, this is how it goes.... and how the hi-def format war is ending sooner than everyone else thinks...
BTW, my prediction on BD hardware is coming true. There's good and bad news for Sony, but mostly bad news for the BD movie business. Good news is that PS3 is the most popular BD player right now. The bad news is PS3 is taking the BD hardware sales from other BD hardware supports. The PS3 installed base as a BD player is still small, but CE BD player shares have shrunken even smaller, which started significantly behind HD-DVD player installed base numbers. Well, I didn't think it would be this apparent this early in the game, but the sooner the format war ends the better. As I said before, CES 2007 will be the ultimate last flash of the BD movie market. Once again, Sony gets desparate and Sony kills off all their allies for it's own survival ending in the exact outcome of the prisoner's dilemma.
I don't see any way that your link supports your conclusion, did you link to the wrong place or something?
Blu-ray can't lose, the best you can hope for is a tie. There is no way that computers will end up using a 30 Gig HD-DVD drive if a 50 gig (or 200 gig) blu-ray drive is available, and its not like the PS3 will switch back to DVD or something.
I don't see any way that your link supports your conclusion, did you link to the wrong place or something?
Blu-ray can't lose, the best you can hope for is a tie. There is no way that computers will end up using a 30 Gig HD-DVD drive if a 50 gig (or 200 gig) blu-ray drive is available, and its not like the PS3 will switch back to DVD or something.
I hope I don't have to explain to you what HTPC is.... I'm sure you can also have BD/HD-DVD as storage solution with your HTPC in the future, but I'm pointing out that anyone with HTPC can add HD-DVD movie playback feature for just $200 or less. When a technical website like anandtech writes an article regarding HTPC with HD-DVD playback using xbox360 add on, it's a free advertisement for getting the word out for those who have not yet thought about xbox360 hd-dvd add on as HD-DVD rom drive for a HTPC as well as xbox360 owners.
You'll also be able to use xbox360 hd-dvd add on with your macs too when apple starts shipping new models with hdcp complaint gpu. If apple lacks support, then you can always use bootcamp.
I hope I don't have to explain to you what HTPC is.... I'm sure you can also have BD/HD-DVD as storage solution with your HTPC in the future, but I'm pointing out that anyone with HTPC can add HD-DVD movie playback feature for just $200 or less. When a technical website like anandtech writes an article regarding HTPC with HD-DVD playback using xbox360 add on, it's a free advertisement for getting the word out for those who have not yet thought about xbox360 hd-dvd add on as HD-DVD rom drive for a HTPC as well as xbox360 owners.
You'll also be able to use xbox360 hd-dvd add on with your macs too when apple starts shipping new models with hdcp complaint gpu. If apple lacks support, then you can always use bootcamp.
Hypertext Caching Protocol?
Oh, you must mean HDCP, that thing that's never going to happen.
I hope I don't have to explain to you what HTPC is.... I'm sure you can also have BD/HD-DVD as storage solution with your HTPC in the future, but I'm pointing out that anyone with HTPC can add HD-DVD movie playback feature for just $200 or less. When a technical website like anandtech writes an article regarding HTPC with HD-DVD playback using xbox360 add on, it's a free advertisement for getting the word out for those who have not yet thought about xbox360 hd-dvd add on as HD-DVD rom drive for a HTPC as well as xbox360 owners.
You'll also be able to use xbox360 hd-dvd add on with your macs too when apple starts shipping new models with hdcp complaint gpu. If apple lacks support, then you can always use bootcamp.
That's great, but the article hardly supports your outrageous claim that somehow the war has been lost by Blu-ray. If anything, Blu-ray has been slowly and surely garnering momentum this holiday seaon seeing how Blu-ray players now outnumber HD DVD players now 5 to 1 just in terms of consoles--not even counting the players from Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, and Sony.
That's great, but the article hardly supports your outrageous claim that somehow the war has been lost by Blu-ray. If anything, Blu-ray has been slowly and surely garnering momentum this holiday seaon seeing how Blu-ray players now outnumber HD DVD players now 5 to 1 just in terms of consoles--not even counting the players from Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, and Sony.
Even if those numbers are correct, do you really think over 25% of PS3 owners would use it as bd a player? I doubt even 25% would have HDTV to hook up PS3 on.
Even if those numbers are correct, do you really think over 25% of PS3 owners would use it as bd a player? I doubt even 25% would have HDTV to hook up PS3 on.
that may be true. i'm on gears of war (the most played xbox live game) and it seems like everytime i ask someone if they are on HD its a sad no.
it could very well be 25%
i think the number will jump significantly after the holidays.
That's great, but the article hardly supports your outrageous claim that somehow the war has been lost by Blu-ray. If anything, Blu-ray has been slowly and surely garnering momentum this holiday seaon seeing how Blu-ray players now outnumber HD DVD players now 5 to 1 just in terms of consoles--not even counting the players from Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, and Sony.
After reading the Cymfony review, I notice a few holes in the research, and how basic it would be to skew the results markedly. It wasn't a dispassionate review of the two formats at all as can be seen on page 4, but could instead have been viewed as a tirade against Sony. THis does detract somewhat from the legitimacy of the report.
I'm not sure how well the PS3 is going to do in the long run. Personally, I hope it does well, I want blu-ray to win and I would like to get a PS3 in the future. But, when I was at futureshop on Sunday, there were a few there and I could have easily picked one up. This was at 4 in the afternoon as well. In my opinion, it should be flying off the shelves still for it to have any sort of major success. I didn't think the price would be that big of a deal. Systems back in the day used to launch at similar prices.
Ironically, I was at futureshop to pick up the HD-DVD attachment for my 360. Now that I have it at home, I wonder if it was worth it. Futureshop seems to be pushing blu-ray more so and they are hard to come by locally. It isn't like I can even rent them at my local Blockbuster. So, now I am tempted to return it and get a WiFi adapter for some wireless live action.
I hope I don't have to explain to you what HTPC is....
The only folks that know what a Home Theater PC (HTPC) is are geeks from AVS. Most HTPCs are a pain in the ass (having owned/built several). The fact that you can get a HD-DVD drive for a "HTPC" or Media Center PC for $200 is a non-event. The market penetration might as well sit at zero in comparison to the number of XBoxes, 360s and PS3s that will be used in that media center role.
Having a 360 or iTV act as a MCE to a server with large drives makes HTPCs obsolete IMNSHO. I've been bleeding on uber-geek gear for a decade. Today I just want to hit play and NOT BLOODY TINKER.
Hence the desire for a Mac experience in HT.
Quote:
When a technical website like anandtech writes an article regarding HTPC with HD-DVD playback using xbox360 add on, it's a free advertisement for getting the word out for those who have not yet thought about xbox360 hd-dvd add on as HD-DVD rom drive for a HTPC as well as xbox360 owners.
Wake me when J6P starts doing this.
Quote:
You'll also be able to use xbox360 hd-dvd add on with your macs too when apple starts shipping new models with hdcp complaint gpu. If apple lacks support, then you can always use bootcamp.
At least there are some now. A year ago that number was zero. So if you have an older vid card your cost isn't $199 but $199+vid card w/HDCP. Some of those cards are still odd on playback...like HDCP on HDMI but not DVI or whatever. And the MSI NX7600GT is a real gem where it has HDCP on DVI but not HDMI. WTF?
The only older HTPC/MCPC with HDCP support are some Sony ones with custom NVidia cards.
This is still uber-geek or guys with $$$ to pay uber-geek territory.
The only folks that know what a Home Theater PC (HTPC) is are geeks from AVS. Most HTPCs are a pain in the ass (having owned/built several). The fact that you can get a HD-DVD drive for a "HTPC" or Media Center PC for $200 is a non-event. The market penetration might as well sit at zero in comparison to the number of XBoxes, 360s and PS3s that will be used in that media center role.
Having a 360 or iTV act as a MCE to a server with large drives makes HTPCs obsolete IMNSHO. I've been bleeding on uber-geek gear for a decade. Today I just want to hit play and NOT BLOODY TINKER.
Hence the desire for a Mac experience in HT.
Wake me when J6P starts doing this.
At least there are some now. A year ago that number was zero. So if you have an older vid card your cost isn't $199 but $199+vid card w/HDCP. Some of those cards are still odd on playback...like HDCP on HDMI but not DVI or whatever. And the MSI NX7600GT is a real gem where it has HDCP on DVI but not HDMI. WTF?
The only older HTPC/MCPC with HDCP support are some Sony ones with custom NVidia cards.
This is still uber-geek or guys with $$$ to pay uber-geek territory.
Vinea
Well.... I'm not sure when J6P will even engage in all this Hi-Def Home Movie market anytime soon, but HTPC who knows?.... Once BD & HD-DVD rom drives are preinstalled from the PC vendors like dell and apple, it maybe more popular and I don't think we're so far away. I would guess that within 18 months the optical rom drives to reach even more affordable prices. (Sharp?) just announced mass blue laser diode support for HD & BD, so the prices will drop soon enough. So, hopefully, we shall see cheaper $200 - $300 Hi-Def format players for the masses soon and the format that reaches the price range first will win. I'm betting my $$ on HD-DVD.
As for having HDCP complaint GPU, it's been available for more than last 6 months. Just need do some digging to get the right price. Anyway, it's gotten so cheap that the lowest price you could have gotten about a month ago was around $120. Below is the list provided by anandtech about a month ago, so price may have gotten even lower now.
when I was at futureshop on Sunday, there were a few there and I could have easily picked one up. This was at 4 in the afternoon as well. In my opinion, it should be flying off the shelves still for it to have any sort of major success. I didn't think the price would be that big of a deal. Systems back in the day used to launch at similar prices.
are you sure there were some there? or just boxes showing you that they carry the ps3? where exactly do you live cuz i've never heard of futureshop?
i mean i'm hearing that people cant get their hands on the Wii or the PS3 and yet some of you here claim that they sit on shelves? are you sure its just not the box showing you that they carry the system?
are you sure there were some there? or just boxes showing you that they carry the ps3? where exactly do you live cuz i've never heard of futureshop?
i mean i'm hearing that people cant get their hands on the Wii or the PS3 and yet some of you here claim that they sit on shelves? are you sure its just not the box showing you that they carry the system?
doesn't mean they have them
I have to agree. There is nowhere where PS3's can just sit on a shelf. They are obviously just display boxes.
First, when I walked in the front door there was a large ad saying the store received 17 units that day. Second, there were two boxes on display (not sure if they were actual units or not). But, when I was waiting for my HD-DVD drive I walked over to look at the PS3 section and an employee came over to me and asked me if I was interested in the PS3 because they had a few in stock. So no, it wasn't a mistake and I didn't just see empty display boxes. There were ACTUAL units in stock and I was quite suprised.
PS. Futureshop is a Canadian electronics store, basically Best Buy (since Best Buy purchased them a few years back).
CANOGA PARK, Calif. - Wicked Pictures has become the first adult video company to penetrate the HD-DVD market with its release of Jonathan Morgan?s slasher-movie spoof, Camp Cuddly Pines Power Tool Massacre. The title is tentatively slated to ship on Friday.
Representatives from Wicked and authoring house Dimension DVD brought a check disc of the finished product to AVN?s offices for a demonstration Monday afternoon. Boasting vivid color and detail, the anamorphic widescreen presentation showcases the unprecedented quality and interactivity of the HD format.
?We started doing the preliminary work on this in March,? said Jackie Ramos, vice president of DVD production for Wicked Pictures. ?We really started conceptualizing it before that point; we've been talking about going over to HD-DVD for over a year now. As soon as we heard that great strides were being made in the mainstream world with this format, we?ve always had our ear to the ground. There were a lot of hurdles?it was a lot more work than we thought. I?ve heard through the grapevine that other companies have been ready to do this, but that when it came down to it, they weren?t ready for the technical problems that go along with it.?
Wicked selected Camp Cuddly Pines as its first HD-DVD release based on the title?s popularity. Morgan's feature won the AVN's Best Sex Comedy Award in 2006. ?We looked in our vault to see what we had as far as hi-definition, and Camp Cuddly Pines seemed like an obvious choice,? Ramos said. ?It?s been a very popular bestseller for us, and a lot of our newer stuff was still being edited when we started testing the new format. We asked Dimension for their opinion, and they agreed on Camp Cuddly -- when they had the encoding ready, we said, okay, let?s roll with it.?
One of the major hurdles that Wicked and Dimension encountered was the scripting of advanced content menus, which allow viewers to navigate options without interrupting the feature.
?The functionality of the disc is the same quality as any mainstream product out there,? said Dimension DVD President Daniel Milstein, who has worked closely with Ramos from the project?s inception. ?We used the same exact encoder that the major mainstream studios use?it took about two weeks to encode the feature, frame-by-frame. It takes a lot of processing power.?
?The first one is always the hardest,? added Dimension VP Robert Brickman. ?Now that we know the procedure, we?ll be able to do it faster the next time out.?
According to Ramos, Wicked already has additional titles in the HD queue, including the AVN-nominated Curse Eternal. ?We?re going to follow up with our other new releases after that,? he said. ?It?s been a long, hard road doing this; at times, it got tense. The leading edge of technology is a dangerous place to be sometimes. But we?re really happy with the outcome. When I took the check disc home and watched it on my plasma TV, I was amazed by the color and the definition. It?s incredible.?
Camp Cuddly Pines Power Tool Massacre will be available at this January?s AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. The HD-DVD package will also contain a standard-def DVD sampler with five sex scenes from Wicked releases including the aforementioned Curse Eternal, Sleeping Around, Brad Armstrong?s F*** and Manhunters and Julia Ann Hardcore.
"While getting to the market first certainly is very exciting for us, it was more important to us that we put out a properly functioning disc,? said Wicked Pictures President Steve Orenstein. ?Jackie has spent countless hours with Dimension DVD to make sure we release a quality product, and I think we have definitely succeeded."
I'm not really for watching hot chicas without their close off doing naughty things but some of you might like this.
Comments
BTW, my first mac was the mac SE/20MB HD with black and white screen still in the 80's, so that would put me in the early adopters group?
We could have a whole discussion just on this topic.
ive followed this thread from the start... ive seen some WILD claims from people, some sanity from the same people...
early on i cared...
since about page 20-30 its just been entertainment
-----
addabox
//you've got someone who is on one side with some balance, and someone who is on the other side with complete fanaticism, and it makes it appear as if the first party is more partisan than they actually are, if only because the temptation is strong to poke some holes in a fanatics relentlessness. //
so if the fanatic is RIGHT in the end, does that make them more or less valid than the "non" fanatic from the opposing side?
ive been OH so tempted to get an xbox... but the THOUGHT of giving M$ money makes me ill, if that makes me a fanatic then im fine with that
i guess you shouldnt wish your life away, but next year looks to be VERY interesting, and im gonna be looking forward to a PS3 launch over here, and all the apple goodness
mmm xmas... im overwhelmed... over weight... and overdrawn
I don't think it has much to do with being "right" either way. I was just commenting on the dynamic of the thread.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2890
BTW, my prediction on BD hardware is coming true. There's good and bad news for Sony, but mostly bad news for the BD movie business. Good news is that PS3 is the most popular BD player right now. The bad news is PS3 is taking the BD hardware sales from other BD hardware supports. The PS3 installed base as a BD player is still small, but CE BD player shares have shrunken even smaller, which started significantly behind HD-DVD player installed base numbers. Well, I didn't think it would be this apparent this early in the game, but the sooner the format war ends the better. As I said before, CES 2007 will be the ultimate last flash of the BD movie market. Once again, Sony gets desparate and Sony kills off all their allies for it's own survival ending in the exact outcome of the prisoner's dilemma.
Well.... remember $200 ($159 w/ coupon) HD-DVD player on HTPC?... Well, this is how it goes.... and how the hi-def format war is ending sooner than everyone else thinks...
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2890
Now that I see the HD-DVD player stacked with the 360 I kinda wonder what the heck MS was thinking. That's really dumb looking.
Meh...I think I'm joining the 360 camp though. I sure as heck isn't for HD but because Bioware is making Mass Effect. There isn't a PS3 must have title for me at the moment. I'm also hoping for a Jade Empire 2 and that'd likely be a 360 title only too. But I won't bother until those games come out.
Vinea
Well.... remember $200 ($159 w/ coupon) HD-DVD player on HTPC?... Well, this is how it goes.... and how the hi-def format war is ending sooner than everyone else thinks...
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2890
BTW, my prediction on BD hardware is coming true. There's good and bad news for Sony, but mostly bad news for the BD movie business. Good news is that PS3 is the most popular BD player right now. The bad news is PS3 is taking the BD hardware sales from other BD hardware supports. The PS3 installed base as a BD player is still small, but CE BD player shares have shrunken even smaller, which started significantly behind HD-DVD player installed base numbers. Well, I didn't think it would be this apparent this early in the game, but the sooner the format war ends the better. As I said before, CES 2007 will be the ultimate last flash of the BD movie market. Once again, Sony gets desparate and Sony kills off all their allies for it's own survival ending in the exact outcome of the prisoner's dilemma.
I don't see any way that your link supports your conclusion, did you link to the wrong place or something?
Blu-ray can't lose, the best you can hope for is a tie. There is no way that computers will end up using a 30 Gig HD-DVD drive if a 50 gig (or 200 gig) blu-ray drive is available, and its not like the PS3 will switch back to DVD or something.
I don't see any way that your link supports your conclusion, did you link to the wrong place or something?
Blu-ray can't lose, the best you can hope for is a tie. There is no way that computers will end up using a 30 Gig HD-DVD drive if a 50 gig (or 200 gig) blu-ray drive is available, and its not like the PS3 will switch back to DVD or something.
I hope I don't have to explain to you what HTPC is.... I'm sure you can also have BD/HD-DVD as storage solution with your HTPC in the future, but I'm pointing out that anyone with HTPC can add HD-DVD movie playback feature for just $200 or less. When a technical website like anandtech writes an article regarding HTPC with HD-DVD playback using xbox360 add on, it's a free advertisement for getting the word out for those who have not yet thought about xbox360 hd-dvd add on as HD-DVD rom drive for a HTPC as well as xbox360 owners.
You'll also be able to use xbox360 hd-dvd add on with your macs too when apple starts shipping new models with hdcp complaint gpu. If apple lacks support, then you can always use bootcamp.
I hope I don't have to explain to you what HTPC is.... I'm sure you can also have BD/HD-DVD as storage solution with your HTPC in the future, but I'm pointing out that anyone with HTPC can add HD-DVD movie playback feature for just $200 or less. When a technical website like anandtech writes an article regarding HTPC with HD-DVD playback using xbox360 add on, it's a free advertisement for getting the word out for those who have not yet thought about xbox360 hd-dvd add on as HD-DVD rom drive for a HTPC as well as xbox360 owners.
You'll also be able to use xbox360 hd-dvd add on with your macs too when apple starts shipping new models with hdcp complaint gpu. If apple lacks support, then you can always use bootcamp.
Hypertext Caching Protocol?
Oh, you must mean HDCP, that thing that's never going to happen.
I hope I don't have to explain to you what HTPC is.... I'm sure you can also have BD/HD-DVD as storage solution with your HTPC in the future, but I'm pointing out that anyone with HTPC can add HD-DVD movie playback feature for just $200 or less. When a technical website like anandtech writes an article regarding HTPC with HD-DVD playback using xbox360 add on, it's a free advertisement for getting the word out for those who have not yet thought about xbox360 hd-dvd add on as HD-DVD rom drive for a HTPC as well as xbox360 owners.
You'll also be able to use xbox360 hd-dvd add on with your macs too when apple starts shipping new models with hdcp complaint gpu. If apple lacks support, then you can always use bootcamp.
That's great, but the article hardly supports your outrageous claim that somehow the war has been lost by Blu-ray. If anything, Blu-ray has been slowly and surely garnering momentum this holiday seaon seeing how Blu-ray players now outnumber HD DVD players now 5 to 1 just in terms of consoles--not even counting the players from Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, and Sony.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/15...add-on-5-to-1/
That's great, but the article hardly supports your outrageous claim that somehow the war has been lost by Blu-ray. If anything, Blu-ray has been slowly and surely garnering momentum this holiday seaon seeing how Blu-ray players now outnumber HD DVD players now 5 to 1 just in terms of consoles--not even counting the players from Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, and Sony.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/15...add-on-5-to-1/
Even if those numbers are correct, do you really think over 25% of PS3 owners would use it as bd a player? I doubt even 25% would have HDTV to hook up PS3 on.
Even if those numbers are correct, do you really think over 25% of PS3 owners would use it as bd a player? I doubt even 25% would have HDTV to hook up PS3 on.
that may be true. i'm on gears of war (the most played xbox live game) and it seems like everytime i ask someone if they are on HD its a sad no.
it could very well be 25%
i think the number will jump significantly after the holidays.
That's great, but the article hardly supports your outrageous claim that somehow the war has been lost by Blu-ray. If anything, Blu-ray has been slowly and surely garnering momentum this holiday seaon seeing how Blu-ray players now outnumber HD DVD players now 5 to 1 just in terms of consoles--not even counting the players from Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, and Sony.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/15...add-on-5-to-1/
Indeed yes, and in terms of general interest in blu-ray as opposed to HD-DVD, check out the following link from Google:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=hd-dvd%2C+blu-ray
After reading the Cymfony review, I notice a few holes in the research, and how basic it would be to skew the results markedly. It wasn't a dispassionate review of the two formats at all as can be seen on page 4, but could instead have been viewed as a tirade against Sony. THis does detract somewhat from the legitimacy of the report.
something that was so hyped but never delivered.
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/18/ti...ms-ps3-a-bust/
Ironically, I was at futureshop to pick up the HD-DVD attachment for my 360. Now that I have it at home, I wonder if it was worth it. Futureshop seems to be pushing blu-ray more so and they are hard to come by locally. It isn't like I can even rent them at my local Blockbuster. So, now I am tempted to return it and get a WiFi adapter for some wireless live action.
I hope I don't have to explain to you what HTPC is....
The only folks that know what a Home Theater PC (HTPC) is are geeks from AVS. Most HTPCs are a pain in the ass (having owned/built several). The fact that you can get a HD-DVD drive for a "HTPC" or Media Center PC for $200 is a non-event. The market penetration might as well sit at zero in comparison to the number of XBoxes, 360s and PS3s that will be used in that media center role.
Having a 360 or iTV act as a MCE to a server with large drives makes HTPCs obsolete IMNSHO. I've been bleeding on uber-geek gear for a decade. Today I just want to hit play and NOT BLOODY TINKER.
Hence the desire for a Mac experience in HT.
When a technical website like anandtech writes an article regarding HTPC with HD-DVD playback using xbox360 add on, it's a free advertisement for getting the word out for those who have not yet thought about xbox360 hd-dvd add on as HD-DVD rom drive for a HTPC as well as xbox360 owners.
Wake me when J6P starts doing this.
You'll also be able to use xbox360 hd-dvd add on with your macs too when apple starts shipping new models with hdcp complaint gpu. If apple lacks support, then you can always use bootcamp.
At least there are some now. A year ago that number was zero. So if you have an older vid card your cost isn't $199 but $199+vid card w/HDCP. Some of those cards are still odd on playback...like HDCP on HDMI but not DVI or whatever. And the MSI NX7600GT is a real gem where it has HDCP on DVI but not HDMI. WTF?
The only older HTPC/MCPC with HDCP support are some Sony ones with custom NVidia cards.
This is still uber-geek or guys with $$$ to pay uber-geek territory.
Vinea
The only folks that know what a Home Theater PC (HTPC) is are geeks from AVS. Most HTPCs are a pain in the ass (having owned/built several). The fact that you can get a HD-DVD drive for a "HTPC" or Media Center PC for $200 is a non-event. The market penetration might as well sit at zero in comparison to the number of XBoxes, 360s and PS3s that will be used in that media center role.
Having a 360 or iTV act as a MCE to a server with large drives makes HTPCs obsolete IMNSHO. I've been bleeding on uber-geek gear for a decade. Today I just want to hit play and NOT BLOODY TINKER.
Hence the desire for a Mac experience in HT.
Wake me when J6P starts doing this.
At least there are some now. A year ago that number was zero. So if you have an older vid card your cost isn't $199 but $199+vid card w/HDCP. Some of those cards are still odd on playback...like HDCP on HDMI but not DVI or whatever. And the MSI NX7600GT is a real gem where it has HDCP on DVI but not HDMI. WTF?
The only older HTPC/MCPC with HDCP support are some Sony ones with custom NVidia cards.
This is still uber-geek or guys with $$$ to pay uber-geek territory.
Vinea
Well.... I'm not sure when J6P will even engage in all this Hi-Def Home Movie market anytime soon, but HTPC who knows?.... Once BD & HD-DVD rom drives are preinstalled from the PC vendors like dell and apple, it maybe more popular and I don't think we're so far away. I would guess that within 18 months the optical rom drives to reach even more affordable prices. (Sharp?) just announced mass blue laser diode support for HD & BD, so the prices will drop soon enough. So, hopefully, we shall see cheaper $200 - $300 Hi-Def format players for the masses soon and the format that reaches the price range first will win. I'm betting my $$ on HD-DVD.
As for having HDCP complaint GPU, it's been available for more than last 6 months. Just need do some digging to get the right price. Anyway, it's gotten so cheap that the lowest price you could have gotten about a month ago was around $120. Below is the list provided by anandtech about a month ago, so price may have gotten even lower now.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2874&p=3
Now, go out and buy the xbox360 HD-DVD add on to enjoy HD-DVD from your pc/mactel...
when I was at futureshop on Sunday, there were a few there and I could have easily picked one up. This was at 4 in the afternoon as well. In my opinion, it should be flying off the shelves still for it to have any sort of major success. I didn't think the price would be that big of a deal. Systems back in the day used to launch at similar prices.
are you sure there were some there? or just boxes showing you that they carry the ps3? where exactly do you live cuz i've never heard of futureshop?
i mean i'm hearing that people cant get their hands on the Wii or the PS3 and yet some of you here claim that they sit on shelves? are you sure its just not the box showing you that they carry the system?
doesn't mean they have them
are you sure there were some there? or just boxes showing you that they carry the ps3? where exactly do you live cuz i've never heard of futureshop?
i mean i'm hearing that people cant get their hands on the Wii or the PS3 and yet some of you here claim that they sit on shelves? are you sure its just not the box showing you that they carry the system?
doesn't mean they have them
I have to agree. There is nowhere where PS3's can just sit on a shelf. They are obviously just display boxes.
PS. Futureshop is a Canadian electronics store, basically Best Buy (since Best Buy purchased them a few years back).
Well.... I'm not sure when J6P will even engage in all this Hi-Def Home Movie market anytime soon, but HTPC who knows?....
J6P is into HDTV because of ESPN-HD. They'll get into HD movies when they buy a 360 or PS3 or full players reach $99.
Now, go out and buy the xbox360 HD-DVD add on to enjoy HD-DVD from your pc/mactel...
No, I'm buying a 360 as I said above. I'll get the HD add-on at that point. Having seen the previews I don't think that Mass Effect is THAT far away.
Vinea
CANOGA PARK, Calif. - Wicked Pictures has become the first adult video company to penetrate the HD-DVD market with its release of Jonathan Morgan?s slasher-movie spoof, Camp Cuddly Pines Power Tool Massacre. The title is tentatively slated to ship on Friday.
Representatives from Wicked and authoring house Dimension DVD brought a check disc of the finished product to AVN?s offices for a demonstration Monday afternoon. Boasting vivid color and detail, the anamorphic widescreen presentation showcases the unprecedented quality and interactivity of the HD format.
?We started doing the preliminary work on this in March,? said Jackie Ramos, vice president of DVD production for Wicked Pictures. ?We really started conceptualizing it before that point; we've been talking about going over to HD-DVD for over a year now. As soon as we heard that great strides were being made in the mainstream world with this format, we?ve always had our ear to the ground. There were a lot of hurdles?it was a lot more work than we thought. I?ve heard through the grapevine that other companies have been ready to do this, but that when it came down to it, they weren?t ready for the technical problems that go along with it.?
Wicked selected Camp Cuddly Pines as its first HD-DVD release based on the title?s popularity. Morgan's feature won the AVN's Best Sex Comedy Award in 2006. ?We looked in our vault to see what we had as far as hi-definition, and Camp Cuddly Pines seemed like an obvious choice,? Ramos said. ?It?s been a very popular bestseller for us, and a lot of our newer stuff was still being edited when we started testing the new format. We asked Dimension for their opinion, and they agreed on Camp Cuddly -- when they had the encoding ready, we said, okay, let?s roll with it.?
One of the major hurdles that Wicked and Dimension encountered was the scripting of advanced content menus, which allow viewers to navigate options without interrupting the feature.
?The functionality of the disc is the same quality as any mainstream product out there,? said Dimension DVD President Daniel Milstein, who has worked closely with Ramos from the project?s inception. ?We used the same exact encoder that the major mainstream studios use?it took about two weeks to encode the feature, frame-by-frame. It takes a lot of processing power.?
?The first one is always the hardest,? added Dimension VP Robert Brickman. ?Now that we know the procedure, we?ll be able to do it faster the next time out.?
According to Ramos, Wicked already has additional titles in the HD queue, including the AVN-nominated Curse Eternal. ?We?re going to follow up with our other new releases after that,? he said. ?It?s been a long, hard road doing this; at times, it got tense. The leading edge of technology is a dangerous place to be sometimes. But we?re really happy with the outcome. When I took the check disc home and watched it on my plasma TV, I was amazed by the color and the definition. It?s incredible.?
Camp Cuddly Pines Power Tool Massacre will be available at this January?s AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. The HD-DVD package will also contain a standard-def DVD sampler with five sex scenes from Wicked releases including the aforementioned Curse Eternal, Sleeping Around, Brad Armstrong?s F*** and Manhunters and Julia Ann Hardcore.
"While getting to the market first certainly is very exciting for us, it was more important to us that we put out a properly functioning disc,? said Wicked Pictures President Steve Orenstein. ?Jackie has spent countless hours with Dimension DVD to make sure we release a quality product, and I think we have definitely succeeded."
I'm not really for watching hot chicas without their close off doing naughty things but some of you might like this.