Since the discussion is about game consoles as well as HD for movies, I looked at the description and pricing for Xbox 360 and PS3. For someone who wants it for HD movies as well as games, the Xbox appears to cost $100 more. I'm assuming my son would want a hard drive for games, and in the Xbox information a lot of things can't be done without a hard drive.
The Sony is $500 with hard drive and BluRay player, and it has HDMI.
Xbox is $400 with hard drive + $200 more with HD-DVD player, and it doesn't even have HDMI.
The choice seems obvious to me. Am I missing something? I am neutral about the game platform, since I would need to buy new games to play in high definition. That is the goal of a HD game system, for me anyway.
HDMI is also a big plus, since I will likely use this interface for a HDTV system when I finally buy one. Component interface would likely look as good, but I think HDMI is the trend for the future, and what we will see the most of. I want something that stays current for many years.
Well, PS3 is being considered as only cheap BD player since all the BD players retails $1000 and above. However, standalone HD-DVD players can be had for $499 retail. So, PS3 maybe be the only cheap solution, but HD has more than one choices.... and all those existing xbox 360 market has the potential to become HD-DVD market support for the price of $200. Not a bad option.
I might go out and pick out PS3 for gaming when available, but I'll not be buying BD25 MPEG2 Movie titles.... I have tons SD DVD titles that should perform similar to the BD25 titles upconverted from toshiba.
BTW, HD experience isn't just the PQ anymore, but full complement of TrueHD audio sound tracks which just blows everything else away. Since the gaming console and the add-ons will lack such audio options other than (HDMI 1.3 with AVR with HD-Audio decoder, not available yet), gaming console will never be a good way to get the full HD experience. For those who knows someone or has a such set-up, go watch Batman Begins in HD with HD sound, it's just a newly found level of HT experience.
. . . all the BD players retails $1000 and above. However, standalone HD-DVD players can be had for $499 retail. . .
That is why I will not buy a BD player for many years. I didn't buy a DVD player until I could get one for $89. We used the PS2 much the way we plan to use the PS3.
Quote:
. . . all those existing xbox 360 market has the potential to become HD-DVD market support for the price of $200.
There are many more of us who have not bought either an XBox 360 or a PS3 yet. We see the PS3 as the cheapest way to get both HD movies and a better gaming experience, all in one box.
Quote:
. . . HD experience isn't just the PQ anymore, but full complement of TrueHD audio sound tracks which just blows everything else away. Since the gaming console and the add-ons will lack such audio options other than (HDMI 1.3 with AVR with HD-Audio decoder, not available yet) . . .
I guess I'll have to investigate this HDMI 1.3 with AVR with HD-Audio decoder that you speak of. I may have to wait a while longer, for the new improved HDMI 1.3 to become available.
Since the discussion is about game consoles as well as HD for movies, I looked at the description and pricing for Xbox 360 and PS3. For someone who wants it for HD movies as well as games, the Xbox appears to cost $100 more. I'm assuming my son would want a hard drive for games, and in the Xbox information a lot of things can't be done without a hard drive.
The Sony is $500 with hard drive and BluRay player, and it has HDMI.
Xbox is $400 with hard drive + $200 more with HD-DVD player, and it doesn't even have HDMI.
The choice seems obvious to me. Am I missing something? I am neutral about the game platform, since I would need to buy new games to play in high definition. That is the goal of a HD game system, for me anyway.
HDMI is also a big plus, since I will likely use this interface for a HDTV system when I finally buy one. Component interface would likely look as good, but I think HDMI is the trend for the future, and what we will see the most of. I want something that stays current for many years.
if you dont play online, and you enjoy the ps3 titles then hell thats the best choice for you.
if you dont play online, and you enjoy the ps3 titles then hell thats the best choice for you.
just hope bluray doesn't tank.
Whether it "tanks" or not is irrelevant when it comes to Sony's own gaming platform. Even if it doesn't become the dominant format, there's nothing stopping Sony from continuing to use the format on their game console.
Last week I went ahead and purchased a HD-DVD player (Toshiba HD-A1). I still believe that Blu-ray is the superior technology. However, since both formats support 1080p output via HDMI connections, and HD-DVD is less costly to manufacture (and its players cost half of Blu-ray's), I didn't feel that the cost of Blu-ray was justified.
I had considered buying Sony's internal Blu-ray drive (the BWU-100A) to burn my own HD movies, but balked when I realized that for $749.99 I couldn't even watch commercial Blu-ray movies on my PC!
Maybe if Sony was as concerned about their customers as they were about copy-protection technology I might support them.
Last week I went ahead and purchased a HD-DVD player (Toshiba HD-A1). I still believe that Blu-ray is the superior technology. However, since both formats support 1080p output via HDMI connections, and HD-DVD is less costly to manufacture (and its players cost half of Blu-ray's), I didn't feel that the cost of Blu-ray was justified.
I had considered buying Sony's internal Blu-ray drive (the BWU-100A) to burn my own HD movies, but balked when I realized that for $749.99 I couldn't even watch commercial Blu-ray movies on my PC!
Maybe if Sony was as concerned about their customers as they were about copy-protection technology I might support them.
I was all for blue-ray in the beginning, but so far I like HD-DVD better. The quality is better all the way around on all currently released disks. Audio on Blue ray sucks, video has been using MPEG-2 encoding. They are just large DVD quality files with a higher resolution. I don't understand why if you buy the same movie on both formats blue ray disks are using all this old tech, and HD-DVD is offering the whole enchilada with updated technology, and better codecs. Thats not how you win a format war.
I was all for blue-ray in the beginning, but so far I like HD-DVD better. The quality is better all the way around on all currently released disks. Audio on Blue ray sucks, video has been using MPEG-2 encoding. They are just large DVD quality files with a higher resolution. I don't understand why if you buy the same movie on both formats blue ray disks are using all this old tech, and HD-DVD is offering the whole enchilada with updated technology, and better codecs. Thats not how you win a format war.
I think you need to catch back up. Most of the new releases that use a single layer Blu-Ray disc are now of a par with HD-DVD or slightly better. I expect they used the old technology because they were rushing. Now that they've had more time quality is no longer the issue. It'll be very interesting to see some of the DL releases too.
Regardless, it has also been shown on titles like Tears of the Sun, Click, Four Brothers, etc. that MPEG2 rivals if not beats VC-1/H.264 in PQ. It's all about implementation.
Monster House on Blu-ray is here too. They say it looks fantastic. It is a good movie to boot. I highly recommend it.
I'm not to sure I'm agreeing with you guys about the slightly better stuff. I've seen Bracke (the HD Digest reviewer) claim a slight Blu-Ray improvement in a head to head in like one case and that was pretty tenuous he wasn't very committal.
At best both formats today can show the same picture quality. With BD50 Sony might be able to crank up the bit-o-meter and improve things a bit. We'll see but I still believe that HD DVD has the higher avg movie quality and considering they sell 3x more movies per player than BD ROM I guess movie enthusiasts agree as well.
what's interesting is that even with BD50 title (Click) released, most enthusiasts wont consider it as the reference material, but still recommends "Tears of the Sun" which is BD25 Title. So it just proves that extra 25 GB can store full of hot air if MPEG2 encodes are used, but if VC-1 or H264 are used, then the extra space can retain extras in HD as well as all the HD audio you can have. Maybe BD50 isn't big enough to have MPEG2 at higher bit rates with all the extra materials and HD audio options...?
What people don't see is that studios who are neutral are going to do one encode. That means they'll encode to the least common denominator and then target both platforms. So what's "really" going to happen is that a movie targeted for both platforms will be as the same datarate or very close. The BD50 will only contain more extras. With MPEG2 even 50GB is confining if you want to add in lossless audio and copious extras.
BTW just took advantage of Googles new "Checkout" which is paypal'ish. Until the end of this month you will get $10 of a purchase of $30 or more. I just ordered F&F Tokyo Drift and Chronicles of Riddick for $21 a movie shipped.
I'm going to hit them up next week for Batman Begins and Corpse Bride. This will bring my movie total to 6 and all high quality movies.
Ray
Serenity
CoR
Tokyo Drift
Batman Begins
Corpse Bride
I may tack on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang so I have another combo disc in my collection.
What people don't see is that studios who are neutral are going to do one encode. That means they'll encode to the least common denominator and then target both platforms. So what's "really" going to happen is that a movie targeted for both platforms will be as the same datarate or very close. The BD50 will only contain more extras. With MPEG2 even 50GB is confining if you want to add in lossless audio and copious extras.
BTW just took advantage of Googles new "Checkout" which is paypal'ish. Until the end of this month you will get $10 of a purchase of $30 or more. I just ordered F&F Tokyo Drift and Chronicles of Riddick for $21 a movie shipped.
I'm going to hit them up next week for Batman Begins and Corpse Bride. This will bring my movie total to 6 and all high quality movies.
Ray
Serenity
CoR
Tokyo Drift
Batman Begins
Corpse Bride
I may tack on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang so I have another combo disc in my collection.
You're right... it's only Sony trying to push good old MPEG2 on BD50. Looks like everyone else is sticking with VC-1 or H264-AVC encodes and using them on both formats. I think market has already proven the advange or the lack of disadvange of MPEG4 derivative video encodes directly compared to the heavy weight MPEG2.
In the very begining, I was more worried about MPEG4 vs. MPEG2 rather than HD-DVD vs. BD-DVD, since I didn't really care about who wins this format war as long as I can have my prestine HD quality format movies at home. I can now give an honest approval to MPEG4 after watching over 20 HD-DVD titles. However, it seems that Sony's battling two wars at the same time.... MPEG2 vs. MPEG4 and BD-DVD vs. HD-DVD.... I guess it's only Sony who will benefit from BD-50 implementation and it's time that educated consumers to speak out and say.... "no thanks... we're fine with MPEG4 at lower cost"..... I guess even Sony knows MPEG4's wouldn't require BD-50 and this is why Sony keeps pushing MPEG2 so they can make money on BD-50. It's just sad that many ignorant consumers are seen as mass feeding buds by Sony and these consumers are happy to go fight the battle for their predator.
Anyway, have fun with your new HD-DVD movies. I bought Batman, Polar Express, Corpse Bride, and Charlie & Chocolate Factory last week and I and my family have enjoyed watching all of them in prestine HD quality. I'm not a big supporter of dual disc format (DVD & HD-DVD package) and have not picked up Tokyo drift, but I did get the original F&F.
BTW, did you guys know that most local Target retails now carry HD-DVD Titles on the shelves at online prices?
I wonder how many reading this thread have doubts about who will win the HD format war? I think it will be Blu-ray, but I'm not sure enough to go out and buy movies on BD, or buy a stand-alone player. I went with Beta tape years ago and don't want to repeat the experience.
I am a member of NetFlix and yesterday noticed a whole section on Blu-ray, and another on HD-DVD. It seems there is no premium to pay for an HD movie. So, a plan hatched. We can get either an XBox 360 with HD-DVD player, or a Sony PS3, whichever we happen to prefer as a game console. As a member of NetFlix we can watch HD movies in the format the game system requires, until the war is over and one side wins. No risk. No need to read this thread any longer and try to guess who the winner will be.
Comments
Since the discussion is about game consoles as well as HD for movies, I looked at the description and pricing for Xbox 360 and PS3. For someone who wants it for HD movies as well as games, the Xbox appears to cost $100 more. I'm assuming my son would want a hard drive for games, and in the Xbox information a lot of things can't be done without a hard drive.
The Sony is $500 with hard drive and BluRay player, and it has HDMI.
Xbox is $400 with hard drive + $200 more with HD-DVD player, and it doesn't even have HDMI.
The choice seems obvious to me. Am I missing something? I am neutral about the game platform, since I would need to buy new games to play in high definition. That is the goal of a HD game system, for me anyway.
HDMI is also a big plus, since I will likely use this interface for a HDTV system when I finally buy one. Component interface would likely look as good, but I think HDMI is the trend for the future, and what we will see the most of. I want something that stays current for many years.
Well, PS3 is being considered as only cheap BD player since all the BD players retails $1000 and above. However, standalone HD-DVD players can be had for $499 retail. So, PS3 maybe be the only cheap solution, but HD has more than one choices.... and all those existing xbox 360 market has the potential to become HD-DVD market support for the price of $200. Not a bad option.
I might go out and pick out PS3 for gaming when available, but I'll not be buying BD25 MPEG2 Movie titles.... I have tons SD DVD titles that should perform similar to the BD25 titles upconverted from toshiba.
BTW, HD experience isn't just the PQ anymore, but full complement of TrueHD audio sound tracks which just blows everything else away. Since the gaming console and the add-ons will lack such audio options other than (HDMI 1.3 with AVR with HD-Audio decoder, not available yet), gaming console will never be a good way to get the full HD experience. For those who knows someone or has a such set-up, go watch Batman Begins in HD with HD sound, it's just a newly found level of HT experience.
. . . all the BD players retails $1000 and above. However, standalone HD-DVD players can be had for $499 retail. . .
That is why I will not buy a BD player for many years. I didn't buy a DVD player until I could get one for $89. We used the PS2 much the way we plan to use the PS3.
. . . all those existing xbox 360 market has the potential to become HD-DVD market support for the price of $200.
There are many more of us who have not bought either an XBox 360 or a PS3 yet. We see the PS3 as the cheapest way to get both HD movies and a better gaming experience, all in one box.
. . . HD experience isn't just the PQ anymore, but full complement of TrueHD audio sound tracks which just blows everything else away. Since the gaming console and the add-ons will lack such audio options other than (HDMI 1.3 with AVR with HD-Audio decoder, not available yet) . . .
I guess I'll have to investigate this HDMI 1.3 with AVR with HD-Audio decoder that you speak of. I may have to wait a while longer, for the new improved HDMI 1.3 to become available.
Since the discussion is about game consoles as well as HD for movies, I looked at the description and pricing for Xbox 360 and PS3. For someone who wants it for HD movies as well as games, the Xbox appears to cost $100 more. I'm assuming my son would want a hard drive for games, and in the Xbox information a lot of things can't be done without a hard drive.
The Sony is $500 with hard drive and BluRay player, and it has HDMI.
Xbox is $400 with hard drive + $200 more with HD-DVD player, and it doesn't even have HDMI.
The choice seems obvious to me. Am I missing something? I am neutral about the game platform, since I would need to buy new games to play in high definition. That is the goal of a HD game system, for me anyway.
HDMI is also a big plus, since I will likely use this interface for a HDTV system when I finally buy one. Component interface would likely look as good, but I think HDMI is the trend for the future, and what we will see the most of. I want something that stays current for many years.
if you dont play online, and you enjoy the ps3 titles then hell thats the best choice for you.
just hope bluray doesn't tank.
if you dont play online, and you enjoy the ps3 titles then hell thats the best choice for you.
just hope bluray doesn't tank.
Why wouldn't you be able to play online with a PS3?
if you dont play online, and you enjoy the ps3 titles then hell thats the best choice for you.
just hope bluray doesn't tank.
Whether it "tanks" or not is irrelevant when it comes to Sony's own gaming platform. Even if it doesn't become the dominant format, there's nothing stopping Sony from continuing to use the format on their game console.
Why wouldn't you be able to play online with a PS3?
same reason playing on a ps2 online isn't great.
I had considered buying Sony's internal Blu-ray drive (the BWU-100A) to burn my own HD movies, but balked when I realized that for $749.99 I couldn't even watch commercial Blu-ray movies on my PC!
Maybe if Sony was as concerned about their customers as they were about copy-protection technology I might support them.
same reason playing on a ps2 online isn't great.
I have not yet seen the PS3 online offering, but I did like the PS2 version. Just like gaming on a PC - it served it's purpose.
Last week I went ahead and purchased a HD-DVD player (Toshiba HD-A1). I still believe that Blu-ray is the superior technology. However, since both formats support 1080p output via HDMI connections, and HD-DVD is less costly to manufacture (and its players cost half of Blu-ray's), I didn't feel that the cost of Blu-ray was justified.
I had considered buying Sony's internal Blu-ray drive (the BWU-100A) to burn my own HD movies, but balked when I realized that for $749.99 I couldn't even watch commercial Blu-ray movies on my PC!
Maybe if Sony was as concerned about their customers as they were about copy-protection technology I might support them.
I was all for blue-ray in the beginning, but so far I like HD-DVD better. The quality is better all the way around on all currently released disks. Audio on Blue ray sucks, video has been using MPEG-2 encoding. They are just large DVD quality files with a higher resolution. I don't understand why if you buy the same movie on both formats blue ray disks are using all this old tech, and HD-DVD is offering the whole enchilada with updated technology, and better codecs. Thats not how you win a format war.
I was all for blue-ray in the beginning, but so far I like HD-DVD better. The quality is better all the way around on all currently released disks. Audio on Blue ray sucks, video has been using MPEG-2 encoding. They are just large DVD quality files with a higher resolution. I don't understand why if you buy the same movie on both formats blue ray disks are using all this old tech, and HD-DVD is offering the whole enchilada with updated technology, and better codecs. Thats not how you win a format war.
I think you need to catch back up. Most of the new releases that use a single layer Blu-Ray disc are now of a par with HD-DVD or slightly better. I expect they used the old technology because they were rushing. Now that they've had more time quality is no longer the issue. It'll be very interesting to see some of the DL releases too.
What releases exactly? I'll look into it.
There is plenty of info earlier on this thread.
What releases exactly? I'll look into it.
Eight Below (Disney) - H.264
16 Blocks (Warner) - VC-1
Swordfish (Warner) - VC-1
Lethal Weapon 2 (Warner) - VC-1
And there is many more. You can catch up on all the various titles with newer codecs here...
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/reviews.html
Regardless, it has also been shown on titles like Tears of the Sun, Click, Four Brothers, etc. that MPEG2 rivals if not beats VC-1/H.264 in PQ. It's all about implementation.
Monster House on Blu-ray is here too. They say it looks fantastic. It is a good movie to boot. I highly recommend it.
At best both formats today can show the same picture quality. With BD50 Sony might be able to crank up the bit-o-meter and improve things a bit. We'll see but I still believe that HD DVD has the higher avg movie quality and considering they sell 3x more movies per player than BD ROM I guess movie enthusiasts agree as well.
What people don't see is that studios who are neutral are going to do one encode. That means they'll encode to the least common denominator and then target both platforms. So what's "really" going to happen is that a movie targeted for both platforms will be as the same datarate or very close. The BD50 will only contain more extras. With MPEG2 even 50GB is confining if you want to add in lossless audio and copious extras.
BTW just took advantage of Googles new "Checkout" which is paypal'ish. Until the end of this month you will get $10 of a purchase of $30 or more. I just ordered F&F Tokyo Drift and Chronicles of Riddick for $21 a movie shipped.
I'm going to hit them up next week for Batman Begins and Corpse Bride. This will bring my movie total to 6 and all high quality movies.
Ray
Serenity
CoR
Tokyo Drift
Batman Begins
Corpse Bride
I may tack on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang so I have another combo disc in my collection.
Which format are those movies your buying hmurchison?
hd-dvd duh!
bitemymac
What people don't see is that studios who are neutral are going to do one encode. That means they'll encode to the least common denominator and then target both platforms. So what's "really" going to happen is that a movie targeted for both platforms will be as the same datarate or very close. The BD50 will only contain more extras. With MPEG2 even 50GB is confining if you want to add in lossless audio and copious extras.
BTW just took advantage of Googles new "Checkout" which is paypal'ish. Until the end of this month you will get $10 of a purchase of $30 or more. I just ordered F&F Tokyo Drift and Chronicles of Riddick for $21 a movie shipped.
I'm going to hit them up next week for Batman Begins and Corpse Bride. This will bring my movie total to 6 and all high quality movies.
Ray
Serenity
CoR
Tokyo Drift
Batman Begins
Corpse Bride
I may tack on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang so I have another combo disc in my collection.
You're right... it's only Sony trying to push good old MPEG2 on BD50. Looks like everyone else is sticking with VC-1 or H264-AVC encodes and using them on both formats. I think market has already proven the advange or the lack of disadvange of MPEG4 derivative video encodes directly compared to the heavy weight MPEG2.
In the very begining, I was more worried about MPEG4 vs. MPEG2 rather than HD-DVD vs. BD-DVD, since I didn't really care about who wins this format war as long as I can have my prestine HD quality format movies at home. I can now give an honest approval to MPEG4 after watching over 20 HD-DVD titles. However, it seems that Sony's battling two wars at the same time.... MPEG2 vs. MPEG4 and BD-DVD vs. HD-DVD.... I guess it's only Sony who will benefit from BD-50 implementation and it's time that educated consumers to speak out and say.... "no thanks... we're fine with MPEG4 at lower cost"..... I guess even Sony knows MPEG4's wouldn't require BD-50 and this is why Sony keeps pushing MPEG2 so they can make money on BD-50. It's just sad that many ignorant consumers are seen as mass feeding buds by Sony and these consumers are happy to go fight the battle for their predator.
Anyway, have fun with your new HD-DVD movies. I bought Batman, Polar Express, Corpse Bride, and Charlie & Chocolate Factory last week and I and my family have enjoyed watching all of them in prestine HD quality. I'm not a big supporter of dual disc format (DVD & HD-DVD package) and have not picked up Tokyo drift, but I did get the original F&F.
BTW, did you guys know that most local Target retails now carry HD-DVD Titles on the shelves at online prices?
I am a member of NetFlix and yesterday noticed a whole section on Blu-ray, and another on HD-DVD. It seems there is no premium to pay for an HD movie. So, a plan hatched. We can get either an XBox 360 with HD-DVD player, or a Sony PS3, whichever we happen to prefer as a game console. As a member of NetFlix we can watch HD movies in the format the game system requires, until the war is over and one side wins. No risk. No need to read this thread any longer and try to guess who the winner will be.