Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD (2006)

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Comments

  • Reply 1101 of 2106
    mellomello Posts: 555member
    I was at Best Buy last night & I saw an HD-DVD Demo on a 42" Toshiba Regza 1080p LCD. Some

    of the trailers looked good but some scenes seemed over-saturated (not sure if that was because of

    of the tv) but then the trailer for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride started playing. Holy S%@T! The video

    was friggin' unbelievable! I'm guessing it's because the movie was shot with Canon DSLR cameras.



    I was holding out for Samsung's LED Dlp but now I'm seriously considering an LCD due to the size

    of my living room. Also, do they normally release new television models in January? If yes, I may

    wait because I heard that the Toshiba doesn't accept a 1080p source. It upconverts 1080i.



    Does anyone have this set? Is there any gaming lag when playing video games?
  • Reply 1102 of 2106
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Usually they announce new sets right before CES in january and you can get good deals on the previous years sets. I'm hoping that my current fav the Samsung HLS5087 1080p is cheaper by then so I can pick it up or the 56"



    The Corpse Bride looks great. King Kong is going to look great. Aeon Flux is said to be the highest quality HD disc you can buy right now bar none.



    I don't know about gaming lag I would tend to think that it's not a problem with today's newer sets.
  • Reply 1103 of 2106
    PS3 is a great buy. A standard blu-ray player cost about 1000, and PS3 cost 500. It is also a great gaming machine. Sony still rules the gaming world. EAT THAT XBOX AND MICROSOFT!!!!! The only thing ill personally use of yours again is hotmail.
  • Reply 1104 of 2106
    luvosxluvosx Posts: 50member
    My bet is that they would cripple the damned BRay in PS3 somehow that you don't get to quite use it in its full glory - knowing their $1000+ players wouldn't stand a chance. may be it will play them at 1080i or 720p or 320x or some such crap. Or they would provide a full blown BRay option for the cost of their dvd player that everyone sees it as a major value in getting a gaming console free for the price of a dvd player. Yuk.

    Sony have a tradition of killing good things by either overpricing it (Beta / DAT) or shortlicensing it (MD, by putting in a stupid proprietary compression nonsense called ATRAC that nobody wants to understand - the audacity - they go on to produce ATRAC2 and 3) that a handful buy it and the rest of the world buys something else and the damned thing becomes a hit.

    I was shocked to see that they have not done that to the PSP and stuck to a nominal greed / arrogance factor.

    While I am also drooling for the PS3 as my hex24s are running low after the mac pro purchase, I seriously have a feeling that sony would not let it go that easily.

    Sorry to bust your bubble but I am mighty pissed with them man.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacsRbetterthanPC


    PS3 is a great buy. A standard blu-ray player cost about 1000, and PS3 cost 500. It is also a great gaming machine. Sony still rules the gaming world. EAT THAT XBOX AND MICROSOFT!!!!! The only thing ill personally use of yours again is hotmail.



  • Reply 1105 of 2106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by luvosx


    My bet is that they would cripple the damned BRay in PS3 somehow that you don't get to quite use it in its full glory - knowing their $1000+ players wouldn't stand a chance. may be it will play them at 1080i or 720p or 320x or some such crap. Or they would provide a full blown BRay option for the cost of their dvd player that everyone sees it as a major value in getting a gaming console free for the price of a dvd player. Yuk.

    Sony have a tradition of killing good things by either overpricing it (Beta / DAT) or shortlicensing it (MD, by putting in a stupid proprietary compression nonsense called ATRAC that nobody wants to understand - the audacity - they go on to produce ATRAC2 and 3) that a handful buy it and the rest of the world buys something else and the damned thing becomes a hit.

    I was shocked to see that they have not done that to the PSP and stuck to a nominal greed / arrogance factor.

    While I am also drooling for the PS3 as my hex24s are running low after the mac pro purchase, I seriously have a feeling that sony would not let it go that easily.

    Sorry to bust your bubble but I am mighty pissed with them man.



    You burst my bubble.
  • Reply 1106 of 2106
    But putting out a perfunctory pantomime only enhances the glory of the competition ...

    I thought H264 was all there - why didn't they use it - I wonder.

    And Apple is on the BRay board - surely they must have done something to influence it since Apple would never put out a product that is half baked - regardless of how the industry received it in the past (I remember the painful cube episode - man, that was one hell of a box).

    Then again, BRay standards vs the BRay player - different ownerships I guess.

    I would hate to see BRay go the way of Betamax.

    Ah, well, wait and see is all we can do, I guess



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by marzetta7


    I wondered the same thing. As Murch had mentioned earlier, it is possible that the tools for H.264 or VC-1 weren't ready yet, but should be in future releases. Another possiblility is that the BDA wanted to get the Blu-ray format out there so that the public knew there was a competing HD format before HD DVD could gain any traction. Who knows? I too, would think the BDA would leverage H.264 since it looks so fantastic on Apple's website. Maybe when we get the "cool" interactive features and extras that have been promised or when we receive 50 GB dual layered discs from Blu-ray. Heck, at 50GB, I think the use of MPEG2 at a higher bit rate will look quite pristine, it's just that you don't have that luxury on a single layer 25 GB disc.



  • Reply 1107 of 2106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by luvosx


    My bet is that they would cripple the damned BRay in PS3 somehow that you don't get to quite use it in its full glory - knowing their $1000+ players wouldn't stand a chance. may be it will play them at 1080i or 720p or 320x or some such crap. Or they would provide a full blown BRay option for the cost of their dvd player that everyone sees it as a major value in getting a gaming console free for the price of a dvd player.



    They're counting on the standalones dropping in price to below the PS3 soon. They're hoping the price of the BR reader drops dramatically in the next twelve months, because they need that and the Cell 65nm jump to go off flawless to have a good shot at profitting on the PS3.
  • Reply 1108 of 2106
    Before the holidays this year ? If the BRay players drop to $300 I would rather pick that one up and a PSP

    May be their profiting would be more on carrying the online avatars in the ps2 games over

    Sorry to hijack this thread into a gaming discussion. I shall cease and desist this topic



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ZachPruckowski


    They're counting on the standalones dropping in price to below the PS3 soon. They're hoping the price of the BR reader drops dramatically in the next twelve months, because they need that and the Cell 65nm jump to go off flawless to have a good shot at profitting on the PS3.



  • Reply 1109 of 2106
    Blu-Ray is very much tied to the PS3's success. Any gaming "hijacking" on the thread isn't your fault.



    And it won't be $300 by Xmas. More like that around Xmas 2007.



    The issue with making HD stuff catch on is that you need the whole package: TV + HD cable + HD DVR to make it worth it. If any one of those components isn't HD, you get no benefit. So it's sort of a big jump for Joe Consumer, since HD TVs aren't cheap, and TVs tend to last a while.
  • Reply 1110 of 2106
    And who, more than Sony, is poised to provide the total experience !!

    I see your point. They will probably expect people to buy the rest of the nine yards and jack up the prices on those to make an indirect windfall. Agreed.

    I just hope to god they provide unmessedup 1080p on their HDMI.

    And of course, they would charge $100 more for the remote to operate the DVD



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ZachPruckowski


    Blu-Ray is very much tied to the PS3's success. Any gaming "hijacking" on the thread isn't your fault.



    And it won't be $300 by Xmas. More like that around Xmas 2007.



    The issue with making HD stuff catch on is that you need the whole package: TV + HD cable + HD DVR to make it worth it. If any one of those components isn't HD, you get no benefit. So it's sort of a big jump for Joe Consumer, since HD TVs aren't cheap, and TVs tend to last a while.



  • Reply 1111 of 2106
    Sony's risk, however, is that if HD doesn't catch on as fast as they hope it does, they take a hit in Blu-Ray, the PS3 (both major hits), and in their HDTV department and if they sell DVRs (I don't think they do). They also have their movie studio producing lots of Blu-Ray movies for which a market doesn't yet exist.



    If HD adoption is a lot slower than Sony wants, most of it's major divisions will see heavy losses. The goal of a major company like Sony is to diversify so that not every department has a bad year at once. But if the TV department, Blu-Ray group, PS3, and movie studio see losses because of slow HD adoption, Sony's in bad financial shape. Not bankrupt by any means, but major loss of profits translating to major share price loss.
  • Reply 1112 of 2106
    marzetta7marzetta7 Posts: 1,323member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by luvosx


    And who, more than Sony, is poised to provide the total experience !!

    I see your point. They will probably expect people to buy the rest of the nine yards and jack up the prices on those to make an indirect windfall. Agreed.

    I just hope to god they provide unmessedup 1080p on their HDMI.

    And of course, they would charge $100 more for the remote to operate the DVD



    I wouldn't worry to much about this as the $599 PS3 equipped with an HDMI port has been confirmed by Sony to do full 1080P. The $499 PS3 however, does not come equipped with an HDMI port, thus will be outputting over component which I understand maxes out at 1080i.



    Also, I've read over at IGN that the PSP will be able to function as a remote for the PS3 as well.
  • Reply 1113 of 2106
    kupan787kupan787 Posts: 586member
    You might want to hold off on the Blu-Ray computer drive purchase as the first Blu-ray (BD) disc drive for desktop PCs won't play commercial BD movies.



    Note that their laptops CAN play Blu-Ray movies:



    Quote:

    Today, the only HDCP-supporting BD playback application is the OEM version of Intervideo WinDVD BD that's bundled with Sony's VAIO VGN-AR18GP notebook. The AR18GP also offers an HDCP-compliant HDMI connector, which makes it capable of playing commercial movies without issue.



    So the aftermarket option is less than exciting at this point.
  • Reply 1114 of 2106
    marzetta7marzetta7 Posts: 1,323member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kupan787


    You might want to hold off on the Blu-Ray computer drive purchase as the first Blu-ray (BD) disc drive for desktop PCs won't play commercial BD movies.



    Note that their laptops CAN play Blu-Ray movies:



    So the aftermarket option is less than exciting at this point.



    From what I understand this is a Blu-ray computer drive from Sony only. Also, from what I understand this is due to no current graphics cards supporting HDCP, but will most likely be corrected with a firmware update.



    True, the most prudent action in this regard is to just hold off.
  • Reply 1115 of 2106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by marzetta7


    Also, from what I understand this is due to no current graphics cards supporting HDCP, but will most likely be corrected with a firmware update.



    I thought the issue was not firmware, but the lack of encryption on the channel on the video card, or missing a crypto-ROM. Anyways, I heard that it's an encryption related hardware issue, not a firmware issue.
  • Reply 1116 of 2106
    19841984 Posts: 955member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mello


    I don't think that Sony is using the mpeg2 decoders that you mentioned because all of the BluRay reviews compared to HD-DVDs have been consistently negative & they all can't be blamed

    on Samsung's faulty BluRay player.



    Well, until Sony, LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, etc. release their Blu-Ray players we won't know either way. Blu-Ray supports both MPEG2 and MPEG4 so it's up to the studios how they wish to encode them. They could be using MPEG4 together with the larger storage capacity of Blu-Ray to really blow HD-DVD away but they aren't.
  • Reply 1117 of 2106
    marzetta7marzetta7 Posts: 1,323member
    Wow, why doesn't this suprise me seeing all of the other things cut from Vista...



    http://media.engadget.com/2006/08/24...ut-of-the-box/



    Quote:

    Vista will not support Blu-ray or HD DVD playback out-of-the-box or on 32-bit processors

    Posted Aug 24th 2006 9:21AM by Thomas Ricker

    Filed under: Home Entertainment, Media PCs



    For all the noise Microsoft made about Vista supporting HD DVD you'd think we'd be able to play those studio-released, HD DVD titles right out of the box right? Not so childrens, at least not in Australia according to c|net. See, Mark O'Shea, a Microsoft OEM systems engineer (not exactly an executive level position, mind you) sez that version 11 of the Windows Media Player shipping with Vista will not support playback for commercial Blu-ray or HD DVD films. By this, we assume he means that WMP11 won't include the ability to decrypt AACS encoded titles. For that you'll have to use third party software like PowerDVD from Cyberlink or Intervideo's WinDVD BD, neither of which is currently available for retail but may (or may not) ship with your BD or HD DVD drive. Then it'll all work, right? Maybe, but if your media rig is pumping video over DVI or HDMI then you'd better be sure your graphics card, driver, and display all support HDCP (not just HDCP ready) if you expect to decrypt that High Definition digital signal. All assuming your CPU or GPU has the muscle to decode the HD compression codecs to begin with. Heads' spinning yet? Sure, so go ahead, lie down for a bit, we'll understand why you put off your next-gen optical PC drive purchase while the DRM gets a bit, say, more consumer friendly.



    Update: Oh my. Microsoft just announced that they won't support high definition playback on 32-bit versions of Vista, at all! In other words, unless you've recently upgraded to a Core 2 Duo or similar 64-bit processor, you won't be using that new Blu-ray or HD DVD drive to playback studio films when you upgrade to Vista. If that's your gig then you'd best get saving for a whole new rig, son, cause your old digs won't cut it.



    This certainly doesn't help HD DVD's cause...but I'm OK with that!
  • Reply 1118 of 2106
    snoopysnoopy Posts: 1,901member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by marzetta7


    . . . Update: Oh my. Microsoft just announced that they won't support high definition playback on 32-bit versions of Vista, at all! In other words, unless you've recently upgraded to a Core 2 Duo or similar 64-bit processor, you won't be using that new Blu-ray or HD DVD drive to playback studio films when you upgrade to Vista. If that's your gig then you'd best get saving for a whole new rig, son, cause your old digs won't cut it. . .






    Sounds like Microsoft's old tricks. To preserve the loyalty of Intel and hardware vendors, Microsoft obsoletes everyone's computer. Intel sells more chips, Dell sells more hardware, and Microsoft sell more OS licenses.
  • Reply 1119 of 2106
    marzetta7marzetta7 Posts: 1,323member
    This ought to be sweet...



    http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...on_Blu-ray/193



    Quote:

    Sony Scares Up 'Monster House' on Blu-ray

    Thu Aug 24, 2006 at 02:36 PM ET

    Tags: Disc Announcements, Sony (all tags)

    Blu-ray fans can expect a scary treat in their candy bags come Halloween, when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will unleash the $75 million-grossing hit 'Monster House.'



    Though no technical specs or supplemental details are yet available, Sony will issue a full announcement in the coming days for the title, which will hit stores day-and-date with the standard DVD release on October 24.



    The release of 'Monster House' on Blu-ray is also exciting as it will mark the first time a full-length, wholly computer-generated feature film will make its way to a next-gen format. Needless to say, we're certainly looking forward to seeing how an all-CGI feature looks in high-def.



    Stay tuned for full specs next week, and in the meantime, we've added a listing for 'Monster House' to our complete Blu-ray Release Schedule.



    The movie was real good. Took my 3 boys and they loved it.
  • Reply 1120 of 2106
    marzetta7marzetta7 Posts: 1,323member
    Quote:

    Blu-ray Disc Assoication press conference on August 31 at IFA

    Posted Aug 23rd 2006 7:55PM by Matt Burns

    Filed under: Industry, Programming



    The Blu-ray Disc Association just dropped us a note concerning their August 31 press event at the IFA Conference. While we don't have any exact details, we do know what is going to be talked about and the part the interests us the most is the key partner announcement. Fox is planning to announce its release titles, but that is to be expected as this is the first major BDA event in a while and Fox has been tight-lipped up until now. PS3 and Blu-ray format update news should be interesting too but we just wonder what "key partner announcement" means?



    Hmm, I can think of two interesting scenarios in terms of the "key partner announcement" which could be...



    1) Universal Studios has come to an agreement to release its videos on the Blu-ray format.



    or



    2) Apple releases software tools enabling Blu-ray studios to encode movies in H.264/MPEG4



    All speculation, but this meeting will be interesting indeed!
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