What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

I hope both formats fail.

[SportsorDeath]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

Very well said.

Do you feel that DirecTV's HD signal is better or worse on the local channels than doing straight antenna?

You mean their "new" local HD service through the mpeg-4 receivers? If so, I believe it should be the exact same. I got my mpeg-4 box from them hooked up in December, and didn't have an antenna before that, so this is really my first go round with local HD. However, everything I have read is saying that DirecTV takes the exact same feed as the antennas get, and they aren't compressing them as of yet, so it should be identical. I do notice a bit of a difference in picture quality most of the time with the locals versus the national HD channels (70-79), so that must be true to this point.

[Jistic]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

You mean their "new" local HD service through the mpeg-4 receivers? If so, I believe it should be the exact same. I got my mpeg-4 box from them hooked up in December, and didn't have an antenna before that, so this is really my first go round with local HD. However, everything I have read is saying that DirecTV takes the exact same feed as the antennas get, and they aren't compressing them as of yet, so it should be identical. I do notice a bit of a difference in picture quality most of the time with the locals versus the national HD channels (70-79), so that must be true to this point.

Yeah I'm getting my MPeg -4 box this saturday. How does ESPN HD look?

[koolbubbaice]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

I hope both formats fail.

Thats very closed minded of you..You want to stifle improvement? I'm sure everyone will agree..Great PQ is a good thing..

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

Thats very closed minded of you..You want to stifle improvement? I'm sure everyone will agree..Great PQ is a good thing..

It's not, it's a money making scheme in my eyes. I don't feel it's that great of an improvement for me to re-buy all my movies over again, so in 10 years they can come up with a better "DVD" and force me to re-buy movies again.

[neovsmatrix]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

It's not, it's a money making scheme in my eyes. I don't feel it's that great of an improvement for me to re-buy all my movies over again, so in 10 years they can come up with a better "DVD" and force me to re-buy movies again.

Well, I'm looking forward to HD movies, but I'm waiting. I might get the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, and/or the PS3 and use the Blu-ray drive there, but right now, the whole implementation is a mess. They don't even have any decoders for the newer HD audio soundtracks that are in the HD-dvd's.

[SportsorDeath]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

Yeah I'm getting my MPeg -4 box this saturday. How does ESPN HD look?

It will look the same as it does on mpeg-2, since all the national channels are still on the mpeg-2 birds. Channels 70-79, and the distant network feeds in the 80's, will look exactly the same, i.e. compressed, but some stuff will look really good. The only programming on the new satellite for the time being will be your HD locals, but I have heard that Sunday Ticket is moving to mpeg-4 this season.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

Well, I'm looking forward to HD movies, but I'm waiting. I might get the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, and/or the PS3 and use the Blu-ray drive there, but right now, the whole implementation is a mess. They don't even have any decoders for the newer HD audio soundtracks that are in the HD-dvd's.

See, that's what kills me. I was reading on some Blu Ray releases, and saw that Basic Instinct 2 was doing a day/date with DVD/Blu Ray. Two dvd releases, an R and an unrated verison. The extras on the R are commentary and making of. The unrated has deleted scenes and other features. The Blu Ray version comes out the same day, is only the R rated version and only has the R rated version's features. All that room and it's not being used at all. Plus it's $15 more than the R Rated DVD. No thank you.

[snepp]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

The Blu Ray version comes out the same day, is only the R rated version and only has the R rated version's features. All that room and it's not being used at all. Plus it's $15 more than the R Rated DVD. No thank you.

Oh come on now, that sounds like an excellent deal.

[/sarcasm]

[neovsmatrix]

Re: What's the Deal With HD/DVD and Blue Ray???

See, that's what kills me. I was reading on some Blu Ray releases, and saw that Basic Instinct 2 was doing a day/date with DVD/Blu Ray. Two dvd releases, an R and an unrated verison. The extras on the R are commentary and making of. The unrated has deleted scenes and other features. The Blu Ray version comes out the same day, is only the R rated version and only has the R rated version's features. All that room and it's not being used at all. Plus it's $15 more than the R Rated DVD. No thank you.

This is hardly a new tactic. Studios bilk the consumer for all they can. They do it with multiple releases, poor quality releases in the beginning followed by incrementally improved releases later.

It's not limited to the new formats, they still use the same tactic with DVD. Evenutally, I think the studios will have to wise up and start playing fair with the consumer. Or else, they're going to end up driving the consumer away from what they're trying to push.

As for dvd extras, I'm not too interested in them. Some deleted scenes actually turn out to be really good, most turn out to be trash. Either way, I'll end up watching them maybe once the entire time I have the dvd in my possession. I watch the dvd for the movie, and its audio and video quality. It really depends on how much the Basic Instinct 2 Blu-Ray disc is using up space for that audio and video and how much is left over, to determine if the studios could really have done more. It's a nascent technology, it'll get better as the years go by, same as DVD. DVD looked amazing upon its entry, but now we look back, and see its video and audio were crude in comparison to the latest entries. That, and the space was far too limited.

I think Blu-Ray will have the same trend as I think they are right now just releasing single-layer discs, before fully using the 50 GB capacity and transition to the dual-layer discs.