Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

[Village Idiot]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Quick question: Do all blu-ray players upscale DVDs, or is that just a PS3 thing?

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Quick question: Do all blu-ray players upscale DVDs, or is that just a PS3 thing?

Yes
Have to be connected HDMI though

[Village Idiot]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Thank you, sir.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

This is like The Prestige (WB film, distributed by Disney)

This one is Paramout, but distributed by Miramax (Disney).

Ah.........makes sense. It scares me a little bit with the HD-DVD group not releasing a schedule for the Spring.....it's like their going to get whalloped by BD. On Highdef and AVS many don't care about the BD releases too much, except for a few titles and look at that list as filler...........but I view it differently and don't think that there is a lot of filler on BD's side.

I'm glad that I have both formats, but I do feel stupid investing too much on the HD-DVD side with the neutral releases if they can't get their act together. Oh well, those discs will always work so I guess it doesn't matter. Just a little bit frustrated.

[aholbert32]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Ah.........makes sense. It scares me a little bit with the HD-DVD group not releasing a schedule for the Spring.....it's like their going to get whalloped by BD. On Highdef and AVS many don't care about the BD releases too much, except for a few titles and look at that list as filler...........but I view it differently and don't think that there is a lot of filler on BD's side.

I'm glad that I have both formats, but I do feel stupid investing too much on the HD-DVD side with the neutral releases if they can't get their act together. Oh well, those discs will always work so I guess it doesn't matter. Just a little bit frustrated.

I side with the guys at AVS. What I've noticed is major releases move units and players. Casino Royale, Transformers, 300, Pirates and Spiderman are examples. There is only one major release imo in the first quarter and thats American Gangster in March. AG is HDDVD exclusive and will help sell players. BD doesnt have anything in those first 3 mos that will significantly move players.

[moose1619]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Dramatic Price Cuts for Blu-ray Players


Retailers have reportedly been chopping the price of Samsung's Blu-ray DVD player at record speed. The website High-Def Disc News noted that just days after several retailers cut the price of the player by $100 to $299, Costco dropped it still further to $279.99. Then on Tuesday, it said, Amazon cut it still further -- to just $269.98. That puts the price within $70 of the lowest price being asked for Toshiba's HD DVD players, which are now being offered by some retailers for $199.98.



this is taken off of imdb.com looks like blu ray may be trying to regroup and gain some HD customers.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Dramatic Price Cuts for Blu-ray Players


Retailers have reportedly been chopping the price of Samsung's Blu-ray DVD player at record speed. The website High-Def Disc News noted that just days after several retailers cut the price of the player by $100 to $299, Costco dropped it still further to $279.99. Then on Tuesday, it said, Amazon cut it still further -- to just $269.98. That puts the price within $70 of the lowest price being asked for Toshiba's HD DVD players, which are now being offered by some retailers for $199.98.



this is taken off of imdb.com looks like blu ray may be trying to regroup and gain some HD customers.

I think that Slayer posted this a few days ago, but the Samsung players that are being sold under $300 are old hardware that is being discounted. They don't have Profile 1.1 or see the day of 2.0 since they can't be upgraded, so their getting discounted. Not bad if you don't care for the PIP.

[moose1619]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I think that Slayer posted this a few days ago, but the Samsung players that are being sold under $300 are old hardware that is being discounted. They don't have Profile 1.1 or see the day of 2.0 since they can't be upgraded, so their getting discounted. Not bad if you don't care for the PIP.

sorry for the double post.

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I think that Slayer posted this a few days ago, but the Samsung players that are being sold under $300 are old hardware that is being discounted. They don't have Profile 1.1 or see the day of 2.0 since they can't be upgraded, so their getting discounted. Not bad if you don't care for the PIP.

Yep.

The A3 and BD-P1400 aren't priced to compete as feature-laden players, but nice entry-level hardware. I think the A3 buyer who settles for 1080i is equivalent to the BD-P1400 buyer who doesn't know about BD-J or Profiles 1.1 & 2.0.

[Virix]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Yep.

The A3 and BD-P1400 aren't priced to compete as feature-laden players, but nice entry-level hardware. I think the A3 buyer who settles for 1080i is equivalent to the BD-P1400 buyer who doesn't know about BD-J or Profiles 1.1 & 2.0.

If you have a TV that deinterlaces correctly there is literally no difference between 1080i and 1080p. The only benefit of a higher end HD-DVD player (like an A35 for instance) is that you can bitstream audio to your receiver so it can do the decoding on HD sound formats. If you have a receiver that cannot process TrueHD etc then the A3 and A30 can decode and send it to your receiver as PCM.

BTW, this is coming from someone with a 1080p TV and a A30. Save your money and get a A3. (Assuming your TV deinterlaces properly, your receiver cant decode HD sound formats but can accept them as PCM via HDMI)

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Yep.

The A3 and BD-P1400 aren't priced to compete as feature-laden players, but nice entry-level hardware. I think the A3 buyer who settles for 1080i is equivalent to the BD-P1400 buyer who doesn't know about BD-J or Profiles 1.1 & 2.0.

Very true.

If you have a TV that deinterlaces correctly there is literally no difference between 1080i and 1080p. The only benefit of a higher end HD-DVD player (like an A35 for instance) is that you can bitstream audio to your receiver so it can do the decoding on HD sound formats. If you have a receiver that cannot process TrueHD etc then the A3 and A30 can decode and send it to your receiver as PCM.

BTW, this is coming from someone with a 1080p TV and a A30. Save your money and get a A3. (Assuming your TV deinterlaces properly, your receiver cant decode HD sound formats but can accept them as PCM via HDMI)

I agree, if your TV deinterlaces the 1080i signal, not worth getting anything hire than the A2 or A3.....unless you have the $$$$$ to spend or best to just wait it out.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Microsoft Releases Xbox 360 HD-DVD Emulator
New development and testing tool will aid studios in HD-DVD authoring.
by Gerry Block

December 13, 2007 - Microsoft today announced the release of new software that aims to help HD-DVD authoring studios test and develop HD-DVD materials such as HDi-based interactive menus, features, and games. An interesting twist is the fact that the commercial testing software runs on the Xbox 360 and will be distributed via Xbox Live.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD-DVD Emulator software allows studios to test HD-DVD movies and interactive content in a virtual environment that also provides debugging tools, rather effectively streamlining the currently established workflow that requires authoring studios to burn new HD-DVD discs every time a revision needs testing, manually seek out bugs, and hand-code programming corrections. The HD-DVD Emulator software runs on standard Xbox 360s and is capable of playing HD-DVD test content from network drives, USB flash drives, and burned optical discs. The licensing fee for the commercial software is $2,999, which equates to a rather absurd number of Microsoft Points.

The announcement is indicative of Microsoft's support for HD-DVD on a tertiary level, but what the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Emulator software tools are really about is helping studios debug interactive features programmed on Microsoft's HDi language for interactive content on HD-DVDs. HDi is not the only means by which advanced features like interactive games and picture-in-picture commentary tracks can be programmed for HD-DVDs, but due to good support on Microsoft's part and a stable feature set, HDi has become the generally favored tool for HD-DVD content creation. Its strengths are particularly apparent in situations in which a movie like "300" is available on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray. A glance at the back of the boxes reveals the Blu-ray version lacks almost any interactive features, a consequence of the currently unstable and difficult to use BD-Java and Blu-ray Profile 1.0 / 1.1 development environments.

Microsoft has been testing the software for the past five months with more than 40 commercial authoring studios like Deluxe Digital and NetBlender, apparently rather successfully. NetBlender's CEO, John Harrington, praises the tools: "The authoring process for HD DVD is more complex and expensive than the process for standard DVD, and as with any new technology, it can require a lot of time and resources. In the process of working with the new Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Emulator, we were able to cut the number of test discs needed per month from roughly 200 down to 50, saving more than 100 work hours per month. This positively impacted our business essentially overnight. We estimate we will recoup the low cost of the tool in less than one month's time."

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

'Pirates' Blu-ray Sales Top 160k Units

irst week sales for the Blu-ray edition of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' are shaping up to be a record-breaker for the Blu-ray format.

That's according to an article at Video Business, which quotes unnamed sources as saying that the trilogy-capper moved an estimated 160,000 Blu-ray units its first week out.

Although Disney has yet to confirm the numbers, such strong BD sales for the title would handily beat the format's previous first-week sales champ -- Sony's 'Spider-Man 3,' which reportedly sold 130,00 copies in its first six days.

DreamWorks Plans 'Things We Lost in the Fire' HD DVD

As always, you'll find the latest disc details for 'Things We Lost in the Fire' linked from our HD DVD Release Schedule, where it's indexed under February 12, 2008.

Saw IV' Blu-ray to Feature Web-Enabled "MoLog"

Promising to push the limits of next-gen interactivity, Lionsgate says its January Blu-ray release of 'Saw IV' will allow consumers to blog about the flick directly from a web-connected Blu-ray player.

Dubbed "MoLog" (short for Movie Blog), Lionsgate tells us that the new feature will enable consumers to create and share their own added value content via blog entries.

'Saw IV' is the second announced Blu-ray title from Lionsgate to include web-connected features. Last week at the Web 2.0 conference in Los Angeles, it was revealed that the studio plans to include a network-connected game on its Jan 1 release of 'War,' which Lionsgate says will allow fans to play each other online.

At press time, it still wasn't clear whether there would be any Blu-ray players compatible with the new technology at launch. Although studio officials have hinted that an upcoming firmware update for the PS3 will unlock web-enabled features such as these, Sony has yet to confirm these reports, and no manufacturer has provided a timetable for the first true BD-Live hardware.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

HDNow claim "BD exclusive studio to go neutral" in next few days
Just had the latest email update from the HDNow campaign which starts with the following:

"Our next newsletter is only a few days away, as we are compiling some late-breaking information that appears to be VERY exciting. Look out for it - it's a doozy... Something about a major BD studio going "neutral"!"

I am format neutral but am so sick of the BD FUD I'm really hoping this proves to be true and not just more mindless fan boy posturing - if only to counteract all the nonsense from fan boys continually claiming Warners are about to announce they're no longer format neutral in the face of constant denials from Warners.

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LOL! Watch it be FOX..............Sony can keep them, they'll release first hd-dvd in 2011.

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Out comes another log in the rumor mill. The difference between that one and WB going blu-ray exclusive should be obvious. Credibility of source(s)..

We'll see if mainstream press picks this up ala the WB rumor. I doubt it, since it's pretty vague.