Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

lol. This is the plus side of having a format war: deals, deals, deals.

And thus, we reap the benefits.

Very true. It just sucks that these sales come in a month where we are bombarded by all these new releases.

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A guy over at AVS has DH 1 & 4 on BD and it doesn't sound so promising for the original release. Hopefuly more impressions will start coming in. I hope that this isn't the case for it, this looks lke a keepcase.



Die Hard 4
Picture 5.5/6: despite the digital grading by the filmmakters the image is razor sharp without a hint of EE and an incredible amount of deatail - this is easily Fox best Blu-ray-Release yet and is (almost) up there with the best HD-Titles out there (Casino Royale, King Kong, Pirates of the Carribean)
Sound: 6/6: Reference-Quality all the way

Die Hard 1
Picture 3.5/6: quality is a bit disappointing in the first 20 minutes with sharpness and detail changing heavily from scene to scene; but then the image improves and it actually looks better than I exspected (given that the movie had always a soft-look to it); the picture quality is far from being demo-material but the improvement over the DVD is still very apparent and the image is far better than other Fox-Catalogue-Releases such as "Broken Arrow" oder "Courage Under Fire"; no doubt the movie could have looked even better if Fox hadnt used the HD-Master from 2002 (the Fox-Logo at the beginning is still distorted)
Sound: 3/6 despite Master Audio it doesnt sound any better than the DVD

[Holic]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I just picked up Ratatouille on Blu-Ray @ Sam's Club. Got the last copy they had for $24.88. Kids are watching it now, and it looks amazing in 1080p.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Finally got around to watching some HD material on the A2.
Very solid and the load times are much faster than the A1...still not as quick as the 360 add on.

Went ahead and listed my 360 HD player on ebay. No need for both since my other HDTV is a old school RP...very little difference b/w true HD material vs upconversion.

Still waiting for my HD DVD, Inside Man to arrive.
Couldn't resist the $11.88 price tag.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I've compared both the HD-DVD add on, and the A2.

Load times - Add on by a mile

Picture quality - I couldn't notice any difference

Sound - A2 by a mile. I have a HDMI receiver that will do uncompressed 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 PCM soundtracks. The add on gives me normal 5.1, granted at 1.5 bps, but the A2, gives me the uncompressed sound. A2 just destroys it in this department.

The 3 discs I demoed were Poseidon, 300, and The Departed. Did not use Transformers, since it contains a normal 5.1 soundtrack.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I've compared both the HD-DVD add on, and the A2.

Load times - Add on by a mile

Picture quality - I couldn't notice any difference

Sound - A2 by a mile. I have a HDMI receiver that will do uncompressed 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 PCM soundtracks. The add on gives me normal 5.1, granted at 1.5 bps, but the A2, gives me the uncompressed sound. A2 just destroys it in this department.

The 3 discs I demoed were Poseidon, 300, and The Departed. Did not use Transformers, since it contains a normal 5.1 soundtrack.

What's the going rate for a HDMI receiver? I have a crappy JSI receiver that came in a cheap HTIB at Sears.
I have a small room so it gets the job done (barely).

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

What's the going rate for a HDMI receiver? I have a crappy JSI receiver that came in a cheap HTIB at Sears.
I have a small room so it gets the job done (barely).

I have the Onkyo 605 which I bought at the beginning of the year for $350 after multiple discounts at CC. The thing retailed for $450 at the time, but after a few price matches I was able to get it cheap and it allows for full audio and video 1080p passthrough.

I haven't check prices, but EG bought his receiver recently which I think is a Sony so he might have better prices for you.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I have the Sony 910. I looked at both the Onkyo 605 and the Sony, and went Sony for a few reasons. 3 HMDI inputs, and it converts any input into a HDMI output. My Wii goes in component, goes out HDMI. That feature alone was a seller. Also, liked the fact that I could rename any input on the Sony, and you can't on the Onkyo.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I have the Sony 910. I looked at both the Onkyo 605 and the Sony, and went Sony for a few reasons. 3 HMDI inputs, and it converts any input into a HDMI output. My Wii goes in component, goes out HDMI. That feature alone was a seller. Also, liked the fact that I could rename any input on the Sony, and you can't on the Onkyo.

Those are 2 nice features on that receiver, you have 1 extra HDMI than I do + whatever cable you originally input to the receiver, all it needs is that HDMI. I remember looking at these when I was looking for a receiver earlier in the year and their prices were insane.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

From some dude over at HighDefDigest.com.

buy.com has Prison Break for $63.00. Plus if you sign up for and use google checkout you get an additional $10 off bringing it to $53.00 + free shipping. Last time I ordered from there with free shipping, it took about 5 days which isn't bad considering you save $10-$20 on certain items.

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Another sale..

Amazon.com BOGO free Blu-Rays

Pretty much the same line up as the last Amazon sale (Disney/Buena Vista movies).

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Received my copy of Inside Man (HD DVD) from buy.com yesterday. Was supposed to take 7-10 days...got it in 3. Glad I decided to go with the $1.90 cheap, first class shipping.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Another sale..

Amazon.com BOGO free Blu-Rays

Pretty much the same line up as the last Amazon sale (Disney/Buena Vista movies).

I really wish that Amazon would get more titles in on this.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Slayer, also add Sony to the Amazon mix too:

Among the 72 discs being offered by Sony are such A-list Blu-ray titles as 'Casino Royale,' 'The Fifth Element (Remastered),' 'Hollow Man' and 'Black Hawk Down' (view complete list of Sony titles).

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Plus, the Sears BF deal online, only 1 hour left:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...me=DVD+Players

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Slayer, also add Sony to the Amazon mix too:

Among the 72 discs being offered by Sony are such A-list Blu-ray titles as 'Casino Royale,' 'The Fifth Element (Remastered),' 'Hollow Man' and 'Black Hawk Down' (view complete list of Sony titles).

Awesome find, just got Patriot and Replacement killers for $15 total shipped. They apply the buy 1 get 1 after the total price, so I get 4 bucks off with my discount too!