In any rate, the analog (component) output on HD-A2 does output 480p/720p/1080i from HDM source. However, content protected SD-DVD upconversion is only allowed via HDMI to HDCP compliant display.
Hope this helps.
My goal is to get my self-produced HD content on to my projector so protected content is a non-issue. Unfortunately, my projector doesn't have component in. It's an all-around shitty projector though, so it might be time for an upgrade anyway.
Quote:
on top of 5 MIR offers with all players on both sides.
How do I get my 5 freebies? I don't have my box handy, but I don't think there were any flashy coupons or anything in there.
My goal is to get my self-produced HD content on to my projector so protected content is a non-issue. Unfortunately, my projector doesn't have component in. It's an all-around shitty projector though, so it might be time for an upgrade anyway.
How do I get my 5 freebies? I don't have my box handy, but I don't think there were any flashy coupons or anything in there.
And your notion here flies in the face of history for the movie watching market. Ask yourself this...isn't there a reason that ONE format has risen from previous format wars? Therein lies your answer, and your notion regarding dual formats simply doesn't coincide with what history has presented thus far. Could it change? Possibly. Is it likely, no not really.
It'd be a first in the video consumer market, sure. But there's all kind of formats that have managed to coexist on the market. DVD+ and - R? Sony memory sticks and Flash cards? The game consoles? Mac and PC? Don't some DVD players on the market today still play those VCD things? Doesn't QuickTime (and thusly apple's pro apps) support like 50 different video codecs?
We haven't had a real good format war since VHS and Beta, and the big difference this time is that 1.) video quality is exactly the same on both formats and 2.) there's no physical difference so a player that accepts both is as easy as supporting both DVD + and - R.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marzetta7
Also, HD DVD has around 40% marketshare, this is simply noticed when you look at the SI numbers I've posted. So, any type of warm, fuzzy feeling you get in trying to take a high week number for HD DVD of 45% isn't really accurate, especially this and last week are the highest HD DVD has ever gotten all year.
Hence why I said "35% - 45% (depending on the week)".
Quote:
Originally Posted by marzetta7
If I were a bettin' man, I'd say if Blu-ray holds the shutout in weekly sales vs. HD DVD all year, Warner will be making a Blu-exclusive announement at CES 2008. Remember, it is also in their best interest to make replication facilities uniform to save on cost to themselves.
They're reasserted their commitment to format neutrality for the foreseeable future. But yes, if HD DVD sales diminish instead of increase this holiday season (what with their $98 - $199 players), then they really don't have a prayer. They seem to be off to a good start, though.
Now I'd have to disagree with you there, the focal length of both formats are different for a start.
No physical difference in size, Walter. It's not like VHS and Beta, where having a player that supported both would have meant having a player two entirely independent drive mechanisms. A player that supports both HD DVD and Blu-Ray can be entirely seamless for the consumer, and far more financially plausible as most of the player components are shared amongst both formats.
Isn't there already a dual format player out there?
Yes. LG has one, and Samsung's coming out with one that was delayed in order to assure it's 1.1 Blu-Ray ready. LG also has a PC drive that reads both formats, and also burns DVDs and Blu-Ray discs for only $300. That in mind, I would imagine that the $800-$1050 price tag on the set top combo players isn't so much because of the cost to manufacture, but rather to differentiate them from the $499-$799 players which only do Blu-Ray. The additional cost to play both formats must be small considering the PC drive's $299 price tag.
For that matter, how many systems can run both PS3 and XBox games? Other than the small percentage of people who run Bootcamp, Parallels or VMWare, how many systems run both OS X and Windows? How many cameras have slots for both Memory Stick and SD/Compactflash/etc.? Meanwhile, despite the number of codecs in Quicktime, how many are actually encountered by the average user? The average person might see Sorenson, Cinepak, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (assuming the user has the MPEG2 playback component installed), MPEG-4 and h.264.
How many cameras have slots for both Memory Stick and SD/Compactflash/etc.?
How many card readers have slots for Memory Stick, SD, Compact Flash etc? How many printers?
Quote:
Meanwhile, despite the number of codecs in Quicktime, how many are actually encountered by the average user? The average person might see Sorenson, Cinepak, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (assuming the user has the MPEG2 playback component installed), MPEG-4 and h.264.
Ok, so you've just listed 5 codecs which is a hell of a lot more than 2 disc formats. More importantly, you've given us a great example of how the one player handles competing formats seamlessly for the end-user. We're just talking about software instead of hardware.
As I said earlier I just bought an HDDVD player for demoing my HD video work. I only got to spend about 20 minutes watching an HD movie on an HDTV, but I'm hooked. I'm psychologically ready to declare myself format-neutral and get Blu-ray and an HDTV as soon possible. Unfortunately I'm not financially ready for that.
Since combo players are obviously not such a huge technological hurdle, (see the above cheap PC drive) I'd imagine it's corporate politics keeping combo players off the market. It looks to me like a combo could be built and sold for no more than a $100 premium over a stand-alone Blu-ray counterpart. If that ever actually happens I think we just might see a format war that ends more like Korea than WW2. It may even happen anyway since right now you can have HDDVD and Blu-ray for only $100 more than Blu-ray alone.
I missed the WalMart sale but if I run into a $100 HD-DVD player I'll likely buy one just because. Not too likely to get a bunch of movies though since I've been watching nothing but Pixar the last few months. At least my son is finally tired of Cars. Now its Bugs Life.
None, and yet support for it exists in every DVD burner on the market today. Eventually it became cheap and easy enough to just support both + and - discs, I believe the same will shake out with Blu-ray and HD DVD, considering a Blu-ray/DVD burner that also reads HD DVDs can already be had for $299.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kolchak
For that matter, how many systems can run both PS3 and XBox games?
A moot point. Blu-Ray/HD DVD combo players already exist on the market. Game consoles are proprietary systems to those manufacturers, next-gen High Definition formats are not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLL
Other than the small percentage of people who run Bootcamp, Parallels or VMWare, how many systems run both OS X and Windows?
And yet every Mac is capable of doing so if the user so desires. That's my point. The ability is just there, whether the user needs it or not. Playback support for both HD DVD and Blu-Ray could end up likewise in set top players. Just a standard, expected feature.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLL
How many cameras have slots for both Memory Stick and SD/Compactflash/etc.? Meanwhile, despite the number of codecs in Quicktime, how many are actually encountered by the average user? The average person might see Sorenson, Cinepak, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (assuming the user has the MPEG2 playback component installed), MPEG-4 and h.264.
And yet support for these hardly-used codecs remains whether anyone needs them or not. Again, the point is formats don't necessarily have to be exterminated; support for them just becomes so easy and inexpensive it becomes standard.
ok... so I officially bit the HD bullet yesterday.
I purchased a 42" Panasonic plasma 1080p (42pz77u), my cousin's 60gb ps3 for $300, and over spent on a monster hdmi cable (it's going back for one that avsforum members recommend for 1/70th the price).
I purchased, The Last Samurai, The Corpse Bride, and Troy. I watched all of TLS, parts of TCB, and about 20 min of Troy. I didn't want to watch too much as I want to break in my Plasma and didn't want any letterboxing / etc getting Image Retention or Burn-in. I'm currently using a break-in DVD that changes the color every 30 seconds at full 720p.
Anyways... I gotta say... I'm not THAT impressed. There were some beautiful scenes in Troy and TLS. And there were some crappy ones. It seems when you have a blurred background and sharp foreground objects, the background is blurred... I'd say about 2/3 of the movie was gorgeous. So I blame how the film was mastered vs HD technology. Troy seemed to be a little better, but still had the same issues with certain scenes. These are rated almost perfect hd video quality via hidefdigest.com.
Again, I was impressed with some of the beautiful scenes on this set up. I'm still trying to optimize my settings on my tv, but I went with what was suggested on AVSforum.
I still want to get a 1080p hd-dvd player to see how movies compare. I spent enough money yesterday so it will be a while before I go down that road. I will say that while I was in Circuit City, I saw more movies that IIIII wanted to see. That is just my personal choice though. I'm sure people can say that about blu-ray as well.
Back to my original statement. I'm not THAT IMPRESSED with hd so far. It takes up to 100 hours to "break-in" my plasma (according to people at avsforum and circuit city and panasonic), the set was "expensive" for j6p, I got a good deal on the ps3 but it still was "expensive", and the HDMI cable retailed for $99 but I got an open box for $75. I knew I was getting ripped off on the HDMI cable... but at least I know it isn't the HDMI cable's fault for any bad quality video / sound.
With all of this in mind, I don't see the common consumer going HD any time soon. This was a lot to go through $$ and time wise. I know some of you will say, then go LCD. IMO from what I've seen and read, LCD isn't ready for primetime with fast action scenes. To each his own though.
I want to check out The Departed and Mission Impossible III. Soon as my TV is broke-in I'll form a final opinion.
This was a more common problem with the older plasmas. You'd have the letter boxes on the sides or top (depending on the format playing), or tickers on the bottom (like cnn), or bright logos in the bottom right (like a fox or discovery image), or gaming symbols... basically anything static on the screen for long periods of time, that would temporarily or permanently burn-in the screen and always have an opacity layer of that image over the tv. Supposedly they have new methods to preven this, but still recommend that a user break in the tv OR not use anything that will generate static images for long periods of time for the first 100 hours. I'm just glad I had people at avsforum, and friends let me know about this. I would have been pretty pissed to spend that much on a tv then always have to look at the cnn ticker bar at the bottom.
I was breaking in tv with the break-in dvd... and I figured I'd run it for 16 hours because that is how long it plays. My girlfriend joked around and asked "if i was sure this wasn't a prank and leaving it on at night, someone's ass would show up on the screen and permanently burn-in the screen"... makes you wonder ;p
ok... so I officially bit the HD bullet yesterday.
I purchased a 42" Panasonic plasma 1080p (42pz77u), my cousin's 60gb ps3 for $300, and over spent on a monster hdmi cable (it's going back for one that avsforum members recommend for 1/70th the price).
Well jeez dude...at 42" there's usually no difference between 720 and 1080 at the common seating distances. At 9 feet they're going to look more or less the same. What does that imply?
You aren't getting the full impact of 1080. To get the full impact you need to sit at 5 or 6 feet. And then you feel like you're sitting too danged close to the screen.
As far as the blurry scenes I guess it all depends on if it was in the film itself. Its unlikely a transfer issue.
And yeah...Monoprice. Never pay inflated prices for cables again.
I missed the WalMart sale but if I run into a $100 HD-DVD player I'll likely buy one just because. Not too likely to get a bunch of movies though since I've been watching nothing but Pixar the last few months. At least my son is finally tired of Cars. Now its Bugs Life.
Yeah the kids and wife(who claims she doesn't watch tv) have taken over my HDTV. I think I've seen one football game this year in HD.\
By the time I get a chance to watch tv 4080p will be all the rage.
ok... so I officially bit the HD bullet yesterday.
I purchased a 42" Panasonic plasma 1080p (42pz77u), my cousin's 60gb ps3 for $300, and over spent on a monster hdmi cable (it's going back for one that avsforum members recommend for 1/70th the price).
I purchased, The Last Samurai, The Corpse Bride, and Troy. I watched all of TLS, parts of TCB, and about 20 min of Troy.
Were those movies blu ray? If so that's kinda worrisome to me. The movies(blu ray especially) are supposed to have the best picture quality. Wait till you see the pq in hd cable channels. I believe it's only 720p and quality can vary considerably. Some content I've seen on the discovery channel hd is good but otherwise pretty unimpressive as well.
ok... so I officially bit the HD bullet yesterday.
I purchased a 42" Panasonic plasma 1080p (42pz77u), my cousin's 60gb ps3 for $300, and over spent on a monster hdmi cable (it's going back for one that avsforum members recommend for 1/70th the price).
I purchased, The Last Samurai, The Corpse Bride, and Troy. I watched all of TLS, parts of TCB, and about 20 min of Troy. I didn't want to watch too much as I want to break in my Plasma and didn't want any letterboxing / etc getting Image Retention or Burn-in. I'm currently using a break-in DVD that changes the color every 30 seconds at full 720p.
Anyways... I gotta say... I'm not THAT impressed. There were some beautiful scenes in Troy and TLS. And there were some crappy ones. It seems when you have a blurred background and sharp foreground objects, the background is blurred... I'd say about 2/3 of the movie was gorgeous. So I blame how the film was mastered vs HD technology. Troy seemed to be a little better, but still had the same issues with certain scenes. These are rated almost perfect hd video quality via hidefdigest.com.
Again, I was impressed with some of the beautiful scenes on this set up. I'm still trying to optimize my settings on my tv, but I went with what was suggested on AVSforum.
I still want to get a 1080p hd-dvd player to see how movies compare. I spent enough money yesterday so it will be a while before I go down that road. I will say that while I was in Circuit City, I saw more movies that IIIII wanted to see. That is just my personal choice though. I'm sure people can say that about blu-ray as well.
Back to my original statement. I'm not THAT IMPRESSED with hd so far. It takes up to 100 hours to "break-in" my plasma (according to people at avsforum and circuit city and panasonic), the set was "expensive" for j6p, I got a good deal on the ps3 but it still was "expensive", and the HDMI cable retailed for $99 but I got an open box for $75. I knew I was getting ripped off on the HDMI cable... but at least I know it isn't the HDMI cable's fault for any bad quality video / sound.
With all of this in mind, I don't see the common consumer going HD any time soon. This was a lot to go through $$ and time wise. I know some of you will say, then go LCD. IMO from what I've seen and read, LCD isn't ready for primetime with fast action scenes. To each his own though.
I want to check out The Departed and Mission Impossible III. Soon as my TV is broke-in I'll form a final opinion.
Hm.. Are you sure you got a 1080p plasma? Is it 1080p compatible or is 1080p? I thought the smallest 1080p plasma is 50" from pioneer. But this was about 6 months ago, perhaps it's different now. I'm more interested in the microLED backlight LCD's these days.
Anyway, the first thing you should do is try to do a simple calibration, if you haven't done this already. A simple Contrast & Brightness adjustment alone can improve image quality. If you do not own a calibration disc, you can just use the THX free tools in most Pixar DVD's.
If you have a 1080p TV that can deinterlace 1080i properly(most newer models do), you don't need a 1080p HDM player. In this case, 1080i = 1080p. Unless, you have a 1080p screen that can manage 1080p24/48/72/120 and want pass through 1080p24 directly from the HDM disc.
Just make sure to use the right demo HDM disc. The Corpse Bride is a better demo disc than Samurai or Troy. I'm sure there are many other demo materials some of the BD supports on the thread can recommend.
BTW, if you can, return that HDMI cable. Can't believe it cost as much as the HD-A2 HD-DVD player. I've been using monoprice cables for some time now. You can get 24 guage net-jacketed HDMI cables for 1/4th of the Monster price.
Comments
Congrats!...
In any rate, the analog (component) output on HD-A2 does output 480p/720p/1080i from HDM source. However, content protected SD-DVD upconversion is only allowed via HDMI to HDCP compliant display.
Hope this helps.
My goal is to get my self-produced HD content on to my projector so protected content is a non-issue. Unfortunately, my projector doesn't have component in. It's an all-around shitty projector though, so it might be time for an upgrade anyway.
on top of 5 MIR offers with all players on both sides.
How do I get my 5 freebies? I don't have my box handy, but I don't think there were any flashy coupons or anything in there.
edit: Nevermind, I found it. the form
My goal is to get my self-produced HD content on to my projector so protected content is a non-issue. Unfortunately, my projector doesn't have component in. It's an all-around shitty projector though, so it might be time for an upgrade anyway.
How do I get my 5 freebies? I don't have my box handy, but I don't think there were any flashy coupons or anything in there.
edit: Nevermind, I found it. the form
Oops... I guess I'm little late.
There seems to be two different MIR forms available for download with difference being group of two movie titles.
This site also has some valuable info on the MIR titles that may help you with your choice.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=909110
And your notion here flies in the face of history for the movie watching market. Ask yourself this...isn't there a reason that ONE format has risen from previous format wars? Therein lies your answer, and your notion regarding dual formats simply doesn't coincide with what history has presented thus far. Could it change? Possibly. Is it likely, no not really.
It'd be a first in the video consumer market, sure. But there's all kind of formats that have managed to coexist on the market. DVD+ and - R? Sony memory sticks and Flash cards? The game consoles? Mac and PC? Don't some DVD players on the market today still play those VCD things? Doesn't QuickTime (and thusly apple's pro apps) support like 50 different video codecs?
We haven't had a real good format war since VHS and Beta, and the big difference this time is that 1.) video quality is exactly the same on both formats and 2.) there's no physical difference so a player that accepts both is as easy as supporting both DVD + and - R.
Also, HD DVD has around 40% marketshare, this is simply noticed when you look at the SI numbers I've posted. So, any type of warm, fuzzy feeling you get in trying to take a high week number for HD DVD of 45% isn't really accurate, especially this and last week are the highest HD DVD has ever gotten all year.
Hence why I said "35% - 45% (depending on the week)".
If I were a bettin' man, I'd say if Blu-ray holds the shutout in weekly sales vs. HD DVD all year, Warner will be making a Blu-exclusive announement at CES 2008. Remember, it is also in their best interest to make replication facilities uniform to save on cost to themselves.
They're reasserted their commitment to format neutrality for the foreseeable future. But yes, if HD DVD sales diminish instead of increase this holiday season (what with their $98 - $199 players), then they really don't have a prayer. They seem to be off to a good start, though.
2.) there's no physical difference so a player that accepts both is as easy as supporting both DVD + and - R.
Now I'd have to disagree with you there, the focal length of both formats are different for a start.
Now I'd have to disagree with you there, the focal length of both formats are different for a start.
No physical difference in size, Walter. It's not like VHS and Beta, where having a player that supported both would have meant having a player two entirely independent drive mechanisms. A player that supports both HD DVD and Blu-Ray can be entirely seamless for the consumer, and far more financially plausible as most of the player components are shared amongst both formats.
Isn't there already a dual format player out there?
Yes. LG has one, and Samsung's coming out with one that was delayed in order to assure it's 1.1 Blu-Ray ready. LG also has a PC drive that reads both formats, and also burns DVDs and Blu-Ray discs for only $300. That in mind, I would imagine that the $800-$1050 price tag on the set top combo players isn't so much because of the cost to manufacture, but rather to differentiate them from the $499-$799 players which only do Blu-Ray. The additional cost to play both formats must be small considering the PC drive's $299 price tag.
It'd be a first in the video consumer market, sure. But there's all kind of formats that have managed to coexist on the market. DVD+ and - R?
How many movies are released on DVD+R?
How many cameras have slots for both Memory Stick and SD/Compactflash/etc.?
How many card readers have slots for Memory Stick, SD, Compact Flash etc? How many printers?
Meanwhile, despite the number of codecs in Quicktime, how many are actually encountered by the average user? The average person might see Sorenson, Cinepak, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (assuming the user has the MPEG2 playback component installed), MPEG-4 and h.264.
Ok, so you've just listed 5 codecs which is a hell of a lot more than 2 disc formats. More importantly, you've given us a great example of how the one player handles competing formats seamlessly for the end-user. We're just talking about software instead of hardware.
As I said earlier I just bought an HDDVD player for demoing my HD video work. I only got to spend about 20 minutes watching an HD movie on an HDTV, but I'm hooked. I'm psychologically ready to declare myself format-neutral and get Blu-ray and an HDTV as soon possible. Unfortunately I'm not financially ready for that.
Since combo players are obviously not such a huge technological hurdle, (see the above cheap PC drive) I'd imagine it's corporate politics keeping combo players off the market. It looks to me like a combo could be built and sold for no more than a $100 premium over a stand-alone Blu-ray counterpart. If that ever actually happens I think we just might see a format war that ends more like Korea than WW2. It may even happen anyway since right now you can have HDDVD and Blu-ray for only $100 more than Blu-ray alone.
Unfortunately, there weren't any available in the pittsburgh area.
(No HD media for me this holiday season)
How many movies are released on DVD+R?
None, and yet support for it exists in every DVD burner on the market today. Eventually it became cheap and easy enough to just support both + and - discs, I believe the same will shake out with Blu-ray and HD DVD, considering a Blu-ray/DVD burner that also reads HD DVDs can already be had for $299.
For that matter, how many systems can run both PS3 and XBox games?
A moot point. Blu-Ray/HD DVD combo players already exist on the market. Game consoles are proprietary systems to those manufacturers, next-gen High Definition formats are not.
Other than the small percentage of people who run Bootcamp, Parallels or VMWare, how many systems run both OS X and Windows?
And yet every Mac is capable of doing so if the user so desires. That's my point. The ability is just there, whether the user needs it or not. Playback support for both HD DVD and Blu-Ray could end up likewise in set top players. Just a standard, expected feature.
How many cameras have slots for both Memory Stick and SD/Compactflash/etc.? Meanwhile, despite the number of codecs in Quicktime, how many are actually encountered by the average user? The average person might see Sorenson, Cinepak, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (assuming the user has the MPEG2 playback component installed), MPEG-4 and h.264.
And yet support for these hardly-used codecs remains whether anyone needs them or not. Again, the point is formats don't necessarily have to be exterminated; support for them just becomes so easy and inexpensive it becomes standard.
I purchased a 42" Panasonic plasma 1080p (42pz77u), my cousin's 60gb ps3 for $300, and over spent on a monster hdmi cable (it's going back for one that avsforum members recommend for 1/70th the price).
I purchased, The Last Samurai, The Corpse Bride, and Troy. I watched all of TLS, parts of TCB, and about 20 min of Troy. I didn't want to watch too much as I want to break in my Plasma and didn't want any letterboxing / etc getting Image Retention or Burn-in. I'm currently using a break-in DVD that changes the color every 30 seconds at full 720p.
Anyways... I gotta say... I'm not THAT impressed. There were some beautiful scenes in Troy and TLS. And there were some crappy ones. It seems when you have a blurred background and sharp foreground objects, the background is blurred... I'd say about 2/3 of the movie was gorgeous. So I blame how the film was mastered vs HD technology. Troy seemed to be a little better, but still had the same issues with certain scenes. These are rated almost perfect hd video quality via hidefdigest.com.
Again, I was impressed with some of the beautiful scenes on this set up. I'm still trying to optimize my settings on my tv, but I went with what was suggested on AVSforum.
I still want to get a 1080p hd-dvd player to see how movies compare. I spent enough money yesterday so it will be a while before I go down that road. I will say that while I was in Circuit City, I saw more movies that IIIII wanted to see. That is just my personal choice though. I'm sure people can say that about blu-ray as well.
Back to my original statement. I'm not THAT IMPRESSED with hd so far. It takes up to 100 hours to "break-in" my plasma (according to people at avsforum and circuit city and panasonic), the set was "expensive" for j6p, I got a good deal on the ps3 but it still was "expensive", and the HDMI cable retailed for $99 but I got an open box for $75. I knew I was getting ripped off on the HDMI cable... but at least I know it isn't the HDMI cable's fault for any bad quality video / sound.
With all of this in mind, I don't see the common consumer going HD any time soon. This was a lot to go through $$ and time wise. I know some of you will say, then go LCD. IMO from what I've seen and read, LCD isn't ready for primetime with fast action scenes. To each his own though.
I want to check out The Departed and Mission Impossible III. Soon as my TV is broke-in I'll form a final opinion.
That goes a long way toward showing why J6P isn't showing any interest in buying any of this newfangled HD nonsense.
I was breaking in tv with the break-in dvd... and I figured I'd run it for 16 hours because that is how long it plays. My girlfriend joked around and asked "if i was sure this wasn't a prank and leaving it on at night, someone's ass would show up on the screen and permanently burn-in the screen"... makes you wonder ;p
ok... so I officially bit the HD bullet yesterday.
I purchased a 42" Panasonic plasma 1080p (42pz77u), my cousin's 60gb ps3 for $300, and over spent on a monster hdmi cable (it's going back for one that avsforum members recommend for 1/70th the price).
Well jeez dude...at 42" there's usually no difference between 720 and 1080 at the common seating distances. At 9 feet they're going to look more or less the same. What does that imply?
You aren't getting the full impact of 1080. To get the full impact you need to sit at 5 or 6 feet. And then you feel like you're sitting too danged close to the screen.
As far as the blurry scenes I guess it all depends on if it was in the film itself. Its unlikely a transfer issue.
And yeah...Monoprice. Never pay inflated prices for cables again.
I missed the WalMart sale but if I run into a $100 HD-DVD player I'll likely buy one just because. Not too likely to get a bunch of movies though since I've been watching nothing but Pixar the last few months. At least my son is finally tired of Cars. Now its Bugs Life.
Yeah the kids and wife(who claims she doesn't watch tv) have taken over my HDTV. I think I've seen one football game this year in HD.
By the time I get a chance to watch tv 4080p will be all the rage.
ok... so I officially bit the HD bullet yesterday.
I purchased a 42" Panasonic plasma 1080p (42pz77u), my cousin's 60gb ps3 for $300, and over spent on a monster hdmi cable (it's going back for one that avsforum members recommend for 1/70th the price).
I purchased, The Last Samurai, The Corpse Bride, and Troy. I watched all of TLS, parts of TCB, and about 20 min of Troy.
Were those movies blu ray? If so that's kinda worrisome to me. The movies(blu ray especially) are supposed to have the best picture quality. Wait till you see the pq in hd cable channels. I believe it's only 720p and quality can vary considerably. Some content I've seen on the discovery channel hd is good but otherwise pretty unimpressive as well.
ok... so I officially bit the HD bullet yesterday.
I purchased a 42" Panasonic plasma 1080p (42pz77u), my cousin's 60gb ps3 for $300, and over spent on a monster hdmi cable (it's going back for one that avsforum members recommend for 1/70th the price).
I purchased, The Last Samurai, The Corpse Bride, and Troy. I watched all of TLS, parts of TCB, and about 20 min of Troy. I didn't want to watch too much as I want to break in my Plasma and didn't want any letterboxing / etc getting Image Retention or Burn-in. I'm currently using a break-in DVD that changes the color every 30 seconds at full 720p.
Anyways... I gotta say... I'm not THAT impressed. There were some beautiful scenes in Troy and TLS. And there were some crappy ones. It seems when you have a blurred background and sharp foreground objects, the background is blurred... I'd say about 2/3 of the movie was gorgeous. So I blame how the film was mastered vs HD technology. Troy seemed to be a little better, but still had the same issues with certain scenes. These are rated almost perfect hd video quality via hidefdigest.com.
Again, I was impressed with some of the beautiful scenes on this set up. I'm still trying to optimize my settings on my tv, but I went with what was suggested on AVSforum.
I still want to get a 1080p hd-dvd player to see how movies compare. I spent enough money yesterday so it will be a while before I go down that road. I will say that while I was in Circuit City, I saw more movies that IIIII wanted to see. That is just my personal choice though. I'm sure people can say that about blu-ray as well.
Back to my original statement. I'm not THAT IMPRESSED with hd so far. It takes up to 100 hours to "break-in" my plasma (according to people at avsforum and circuit city and panasonic), the set was "expensive" for j6p, I got a good deal on the ps3 but it still was "expensive", and the HDMI cable retailed for $99 but I got an open box for $75. I knew I was getting ripped off on the HDMI cable... but at least I know it isn't the HDMI cable's fault for any bad quality video / sound.
With all of this in mind, I don't see the common consumer going HD any time soon. This was a lot to go through $$ and time wise. I know some of you will say, then go LCD. IMO from what I've seen and read, LCD isn't ready for primetime with fast action scenes. To each his own though.
I want to check out The Departed and Mission Impossible III. Soon as my TV is broke-in I'll form a final opinion.
Hm.. Are you sure you got a 1080p plasma? Is it 1080p compatible or is 1080p? I thought the smallest 1080p plasma is 50" from pioneer. But this was about 6 months ago, perhaps it's different now. I'm more interested in the microLED backlight LCD's these days.
Anyway, the first thing you should do is try to do a simple calibration, if you haven't done this already. A simple Contrast & Brightness adjustment alone can improve image quality. If you do not own a calibration disc, you can just use the THX free tools in most Pixar DVD's.
If you have a 1080p TV that can deinterlace 1080i properly(most newer models do), you don't need a 1080p HDM player. In this case, 1080i = 1080p. Unless, you have a 1080p screen that can manage 1080p24/48/72/120 and want pass through 1080p24 directly from the HDM disc.
Just make sure to use the right demo HDM disc. The Corpse Bride is a better demo disc than Samurai or Troy. I'm sure there are many other demo materials some of the BD supports on the thread can recommend.
BTW, if you can, return that HDMI cable. Can't believe it cost as much as the HD-A2 HD-DVD player. I've been using monoprice cables for some time now. You can get 24 guage net-jacketed HDMI cables for 1/4th of the Monster price.