|
|
 
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Anyone consuming HD or Blu-ray?
|
Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001
|
posted 11-07-2006 10:03 PM
I noticed that next week is shaping up to be the biggest week yet in terms of titles being released in a single week on HD DVD and/or Blu-ray Disc. This makes me curious about who here has actually gone out and purchased a Blu-ray and/or HD DVD player? Have you bought many movies? What are your thoughts, impressions, etc.?
For those who have not yet bought a player, what title(s) being released would entice you to make a player purchase? Is the fact that there are two incompatible formats influencing your decision to not support either?
Hi-Def Release Calendar
quote:
November 14
Accepted (HD DVD)
ATL (Blu-ray)
Barry Manilow: Manilow Live! (HD DVD)
Behind Enemy Lines (Blu-ray)
Black Hawk Down (Blu-ray)
Casablanca (HD DVD)
Chicago And Earth, Wind & Fire: Live At The Greek (HD DVD)
Cream: Live At The Royal Albert Hall (HD DVD)
Da Vinci Code, The (Blu-ray)
Eagles: Farewell I Tour Live In Melbourne (HD DVD)
Fantastic Four (Blu-ray)
Forbidden Planet (HD DVD)
Forbidden Planet (Ultimate Collector’s Edition, HD DVD)
Heart: Live In Seattle (HD DVD)
James Taylor: A MusiCares Person Of The Year Tribute (HD DVD)
King Kong (2005, HD DVD)
Kingdom Of Heaven (Director’s Cut, Blu-ray)
Kiss Of The Dragon (Blu-ray)
Last Samurai, The (Blu-ray)
Layer Cake (Blu-ray)
League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The (Blu-ray)
Million Dollar Baby (Blu-ray)
Mutiny On The Bounty (1962, HD DVD)
Omen, The (2006, Blu-ray)
Speed (Blu-ray)
Transporter, The (Blu-ray)
Waterworld (HD DVD)
[ 11-08-2006, 07:35 PM: Message edited by: Michael Coate ]
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
|
posted 11-08-2006 08:19 PM
It's probably going to be around a year before I buy a player in either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD format. Even the products featuring these drives as a bundled capability (PS3, X-Box 360, new computers) have a very high price and nagging limitations.
Problem 1: It can't do true 1080p!
All the discs have it. But none of the hardware can play it. You'll get 1080i due to current HDMI 1.1 bottlenecks. If you try hooking up via component video chances are you'll only get 480p, all thanks to HDCP "5C" copy protection.
Problem 2: Watered down audio.
Dolby True HD is limited to 2 channel operation in current hardware. DTS HD isn't fully supported either.
Problem 3: Disc formats aren't fully mature.
Just like the first generation of DVD, these players won't be able to handle the emerging capabilities of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs. When the first dual layer DVDs were released, many of the first generation of DVD players, units that cost $700, couldn't play those discs. I hear talk about four-layer Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs. There's also supposed to be all that user-interactivity -which none of the current players support. In short, if you buy today you get a bare bones player that doesn't even do the basics to the proper measure.
Problem 4: Hybrid Format Players? When? Never?
Format wars suck. Some technology companies have already developed single chip solutions to play back both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats (along with many older formats). But no one is coming out with any players that do both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. There were rumors that Sony had language in its Blu-Ray hardware licensing contracts that prevented companies from making players capable of both formats. Sony has denied that. Still, for whatever reason, no one has announced any hybrid HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players. Unfortunately for all those entrenched business people, the only way either of those formats is going to sell and sell well is by making lots of hybrid players that support every kind of media format.
Problem 5: Many newer movies suck.
Great movies drive the sales of a new format. 1999-2000 was a great period for DVD because movies like The Matrix and Gladiator were released during that time. A lot of innovation was happening in how DVDs were packaged and bundled with features. I think The Lord of the Rings trilogy was the last set of movies that could really sell people on buying new home theater hardware. Exactly what movies have been released lately that will make people itch to get a new hi-def setup?
I'm almost done, but to finish:
I've looked at HD-DVD and Blu-Ray closely. They do indeed look a lot better than standard DVDs. There's just a lot more detail to the image. That's especially apparent if you view one hooked up to a TV with native 1920 X 1080 resolution. It's just too bad you can't get the video stream in progressive scan.
A lot of standard DVDs tend to look like crap on a lot of flat panel plasma and LCD TVs unless the player or some other device has some way to line double the image in a quality manner. And even then the finished result is noticeably soft compared to the same movie in HD-DVD.
I still like my DVDs. I bought Cars on DVD just yesterday. I'll keep my old home theater setup for the time being. About the only way I'm going to upgrade anytime soon is if a whole new batch of HDTV sets are released featuring native 1080p resolution and full support of 1080p video streams, as well as 1080p resolution computer monitor connections. Whenever I pull the trigger on that new TV purchase then I'll upgrade my satellite TV setup. It may be several months or longer before I buy any HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player. I just hope hybrid players capable of both formats arrive before I buy.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mike Schindler
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1039
From: Oak Park, IL, USA
Registered: Jun 2002
|
posted 11-08-2006 09:05 PM
Bobby, I'm not 100% sure of all the technical stuff, but I think 1080p is possible with the current HDMI generation. The Toshiba HD DVD player only outputs 1080i, but I'm able to output a 1080p signal from the Samsung Blu-ray player to my projector. That being said, I've heard that it's not true 1080p, just a 1080i signal that's deinterlaced by the player. Also, I haven't tried it myself, but I've read that no one is limiting the resolution over the component signal yet.
As for the audio, there's supposed to be a firmware update which allows you to decode 5.1 Dolby True HD with the Toshiba HD DVD player. I don't know what's involved with getting that data to the receiver, but it's there now.
I don't have a car or a family or a house. My biggest responsibility is to my cat. So like a sucker, I bought both. And I couldn't be happier with them. On my system, I think Blu-ray looks ever so slightly better because of deinterlacing and scaling issues. So far, the best HD DVD I've seen is MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III and the best BD I've seen is probably GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. But it's hard to watch DVDs now. I've been spoiled.
The fact that the PS3 is a Blu-ray player is great. I think it'll really pick up after that. And I read somewhere that people in the industry are speculating that the PS3 will be the best of the first generation players due to the heavy amount of QC that's being put into it. For $500, you can't beat that.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002
|
posted 11-08-2006 10:17 PM
I agree with Mike. I was in a store the other day and they sure seemed to have BluRay playing into a Sony 1080p unit although I can't swear with technical certainty that it wasn't being converted to 1080i. A local computer store has the same setup in the window and I have to admit that it looks spectacularly good. It's not just the resolution - the color seems far better--far richer, deeper and with more color depth. And that's watching through the window glass and in daylight, which kills proper viewing of the image. If it was 1080i and 1080p is even going to look better, I almost can't imagine what that would look like. Too bad the films released are mostly crap and still very costly.
That was the first HD image I've seen that made me want to own it.
But like many others, I'll wait. First of all, I'm waiting for 1080p Plasma (or some newer technology) in 50" priced at $2K or less. Secondly, I might even wait for the analog TV sunset date because all of the analog I've seen looks like total crap on any HDTV set I've seen - it all looks like an over-pixelated, low resolution JPG. Also, I've never put in 5.1 (or more) and if I bought an HDTV + HD-DVD or BluRay, I feel like I'd have to put in the new sound as well, so it would get pretty pricey, especially if I went for quality. And for what? To watch bad TV and some movies that I really don't want to see again anyway? But it did look pretty cool.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
|
posted 11-09-2006 08:23 AM
quote: Mike Schindler
Bobby, I'm not 100% sure of all the technical stuff, but I think 1080p is possible with the current HDMI generation.
If any device in the home theater setup has HDMI 1.1 connections, then true 1080p is impossible. Same goes for delivery of Dolby True HD 5.1 signals. HDMI 1.1 doesn't have a wide enough pipe to deliver all the bits of data.
HDMI 1.3 is supposed to have a lot more capability. Not only is it able to deliver true 1080p video streams from disc formats like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, it can deliver 1080p at up to 60 frames per second. That's not useful for movies, but it can make a big difference in performance from game consoles and computer connections.
Very few devices on the market have HDMI 1.3 connections. Even the new Playstation 3, due to hit store shelves on 11/17, doesn't even have them. PS3 was too far along in production to incorporate the new standard. So the best that PS3 will deliver on Blu-Ray playback is 1080i. Perhaps future batches of next-gen game consoles will feature HDMI 1.3 connections. Right now none have them.
It's going to be a good while before HDMI 1.3 and other needed improvements are incorporated into HDTV sets, audio-video receivers, surround controllers, etc. This reminds me of the early days of DVD when it was tough to find a DVD player with DTS output capability and proper dual layer support.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 105 pages: 1 2 3 4 ... 103 104 105
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
Printer-friendly view of this topic