HD-DVD add-on now available - General Discussion (HARDWARE only)

[varock]

For $160-$200 (with free movie and remote) does it matter? Put it this way, buy it and its your vote to support the better (and cheaper) format. All the while no longer wasting money on standard definition versions of DVDs when you can get HD DVD ones for similar prices.

HD DVD is beating up Blu-Ray pretty badly anyway. It will take a miracle for Blu-Ray not to lose, nevermind win or draw.I'm a pretty avid DVD collector. If I choose a format over the other, I want to be able to buy movies with 100% confidence that the system I'm using really is the most prominent. In other words, I don't want HD-DVD to be a "phase" that only lasts a couple years. I'm not at all concerned with the $160 price of the system, rather I'm concerned with the amount of money I will be investing buying movies at $20 a pop. Currently, I never buy DVD's higher than $10 unless it comes with a promotional offer that I can't pass up. I consider myself a pretty economic consumer and even if I made some good deals buying HD-DVD's, there's no chance they're going to go as low as $10 for quite some time. The price difference adds up in the long run. I don't want to be stuck with a shelf full of obsolete software (ex. dreamcast games).

And I've seen the statistics comparing HD-DVD to Blu-Ray and I see how HD-DVD has its edge. Hell, I even see how HD-DVD could technically be better than Blu-Ray performance-wise. But the industry doesn't always back the technically better product. They back whatever is most popular and sells the most. And with PS3 not even out yet, I don't see how you can think the format war has even come close to being decided. That's pretty much my stance and I'm sure a few people can relate.

[FullmetalCJ]

Tonight I saw a couple of the add-ons in the local Best Buy's little video game holding area in the front. But last time I asked about it (I didn't today), they said they weren't selling them until the...19th, I think? Anyone else get told something similar? I wonder why Best Buy's instituted a street date on them that doesn't exist. I saw 2-3 units at Target but didn't bite because I'd rather get the Reward Zone points at BB.

[getmyrunon]

And I've seen the statistics comparing HD-DVD to Blu-Ray and I see how HD-DVD has its edge. Hell, I even see how HD-DVD could technically be better than Blu-Ray performance-wise. But the industry doesn't always back the technically better product. They back whatever is most popular and sells the most. And with PS3 not even out yet, I don't see how you can think the format war has even come close to being decided. That's pretty much my stance and I'm sure a few people can relate.

Couldn't have said it better myself. It's fun to be an early adopter, and with a 50% potential for success and about a $500 (player + a movie a month) investment before things become clearer in a year, a lot of people are willing to take that risk. But forecasting the death of Blu-Ray before the PS3 hits the market makes no sense.

[guyver2077]

I checked out fast and the furious 1 last night and was amazed how good it looked for an older movie.. probably looked as good or better than tokyo drift.

Sucks that i got my 1080i hd tv this year. Dont want to upgrade yet as 1080p are still way expensive.

If i have read correctly most new tv's dont even accept 1080p via component and/or vga. does that make the fall update useless?

[thrustbucket]

If i have read correctly most new tv's dont even accept 1080p via component and/or vga. does that make the fall update useless?


Microsoft said they took the thing to best buy a couple months ago and were able to connect it via VGA to almost every 1080p tv they had. So their logic is that's all you need.

[cleaver]

Yes it's displaying at 1080p. How does it look?
Good, but it's always looked good, at least since I got the VGA cable.

[Duo_Maxwell]

Your spelling never ceases to amaze.

Not one grammar mistake, oh I feel totally dishonored you've insulted my terrible spelling/grammar that I hashed out on an internet message board. Plus it's helping make your point more valid right? Should I dig through your posts for any spelling/grammar errors too? I can't though because I feel so bad now, I think I'll have to commit ritual suicide. Who wants to be my second?


Christ on a bicycle, someone is supportive of one product over another, and suddenly he's a fanboy. Overreact much? There's nothing he has said that is ridiculously out of the realm of possibility.

Being within 5-10 bucks is a "similar price." Being on sites like this has made you oversensitive to slight price differences. Hey, most of the time I feel the same way, but that's not exactly a reasonable point of view. But, ok, if you want to nickle and dime the fucking topic to death, then OMG YES, those extra few bucks are a HUGE DEALBREAKER. Man, 20 HD-DVDs later and you're in the poor house! Where did I possibly go wrong?? :(

I'm not jaded to saving money, just looking at the numbers. Let's put that $5-10 stat to good use. The average DVD is priced around $15-20, I think we can agree on that. So if the average next-gen DVD is priced at $5-10 more that's a price increase of 25-50%. Yep, that pricing plan sounds real similar to me, I'm way off base. It may only be a few bucks, but ask anyone with an extensive movie collection and a $4 difference in the movies you buy will add up few quickly. As for chist riding his bicycle, Ruined is the very definition of a fanboy. He posts only in those threads were he supports the product, hasn't posted a word about (or probably used) the competing product, he constantly stalks around threads or creates them making negative comments while avoiding any kind of negatvity about the one he supports. Supporting one product while bashing another (and distributing misleading info at times) to me is the definition of a fanboy. And don't try to trun that definition on me, it's not that I dislike HD-DVD or like Blu-ray, I'm pretty neutral on the whole thing and think both have advantages at this point, I'm simply arguing out that his point about pricing is faulty.


If you're not looking for a deal on them, you'll pay more. The same goes for regular DVDs.

True but for nearly every HD-DVD you get a deal you can get the same or even better deals on standard DVDs, sometimes even with less effort.


Yeah, that wild, out-of-this-world coupon code was really insane. I hope they keep it simple for us in the future.

There are ways to get reasonably ($20-$25) priced HD-DVD movies. Yes, some of those ways will only be known to the dedicated/early-adopters/hardcores. The same people who research their product before buying. The same people who will know about and find those deals.

And for the record by "weird coupon code" I was refering to the one year sustainability on the thing, makes it sound like I'm signing up for a service or something, plus you still have to buy 3 at a time. Since when was $20-25 reasonably priced for a movie anyways? VHS tapes cost that much when I was like 5 I think, laser discs maybe, perhaps the very early days of DVDs. Times change though, anything over $20 has ecome a premium. As product research, some early adopters may do that, but in my experiences I've seen very few customers research anything, early adopter or no. Alot of early adopters are people wanting the lastest tech, but don't really follow the tech scene, they just have the money to act like it.


The average buyer doesn't have an HD-DVD player yet, so it is irrelevant.

Won't be long. Wouldn't be surprised to see some for the holiday shopping season. Amazon has plenty of both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs marked at $20, and they're the most popular online retailer. It's not exactly tricky to find a deal on discs.

If I implied it's tricky to find a deal then maybe I'm wrong. But how much are the same version of the regular DVDs going for? My guess is less, and it's even less tricky to find deals on them. This brings me down to my final point for this little argument (I'm not going into it anymore, we've gone too far off topic already), if the companies are content that this "similar pricing" will work sometime to come, then the average customer will continute to buy current gen DVDs vs. next-gen. It doesn't have the all-out, clear cut advantages that DVD had over VHS. The average guy walking into a store doesn't know the difference and at current pricing doesn't really care either. They don't know what storage means, encoding, even resolution. Those are foreign words to most people. If you can't sell the product to an average guy then it won't excel, so if the pricing trend lasts for a long time and DVDs are still around at prices being the same or cheaper, both Hd-DVD and Blu-ray may become the next last disc and just get skipped over altogether. In all honesty I doubt that'll happen (game systems help it out alot in getting to the average guy too, but saying HD is clear winner writes that off altogether) but it is a possiblity few talk about. These have to get cheaper eventually or DVd has to go away. Ruined wanted to no why it matters, or why price matters, and, at least IMO, that's why.

[Duo_Maxwell]

Microsoft said they took the thing to best buy a couple months ago and were able to connect it via VGA to almost every 1080p tv they had. So their logic is that's all you need.

I heard that on Major Nelson's podcast, but I never understood that logic. For starters it's not like BB sells every 1080p set out there. Some sets (admittedly few) don't even have VGA inputs. Also they apparently skipped some of Sony and Sharp TVs (odd too seeing as how Sony's 1080p tvs are the biggest sellers), because it doesn't work on alot of them or the set doesn't even support 1080p via VGA. I always wondered if they just said they did that, or just tested their buddy Samsung's sets only, or somehting because I don't how they could've come to that conclusion if they really tested all them (unless of course testing was different from the final product, then I can understand it better I guess). I guess there's a better chance of it working if you buy it from Best Buy.

[Psykoboy2]

How does that deal work with Amazon?

[nyprimus4]

Where are the screenies?

[Psykoboy2]

Where are the screenies?

Of what?

Putting up shots of what's on our TV's aren't going to really show off anything, would they?

[nyprimus4]

Of what?

Putting up shots of what's on our TV's aren't going to really show off anything, would they?

If you have a half decent camera and can keep it still the difference between HD DVD and regular DVD is extremely noticable.

[Ruined]

Ruined is the very definition of a fanboy. He posts only in those threads were he supports the product, hasn't posted a word about (or probably used) the competing product, he constantly stalks around threads or creates them making negative comments while avoiding any kind of negatvity about the one he supports. Supporting one product while bashing another (and distributing misleading info at times) to me is the definition of a fanboy. And don't try to trun that definition on me, it's not that I dislike HD-DVD or like Blu-ray, I'm pretty neutral on the whole thing and think both have advantages at this point, I'm simply arguing out that his point about pricing is faulty.


Feel free to challenge me on any technical facts.

[Ruined]

BANDAI VISUAL's Anime goes HD DVD!

Today BANDAI VISUAL announced the agreement with Memory-tech and Microsoft that they will use VC-1's to release animation in HD DVD worldwide.
Quote from Bandai Visual VP 前田明雄
“We are very happy to be a pioneer in the HD optical market and will team work with Microsoft and Memory-Tech to find the best compression technique for transfer. We hope the animation fans worldwide will enjoy the high quality content from us."

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20061115/hddvd.htm
http://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/pdf/2006/pr061115.pdf

A few examples of titles in their catalog:
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C.
Cowboy Bebop
.hack//SIGN
Banner of the Stars
The Big O
Eureka Seven
Jin-Roh
My-HiME
Scrapped Princess
Witch Hunter Robin
Wolf's Rain
Gundam Series

[doubledown]

How does that deal work with Amazon?

Check the DVD deals thread....all explained there.

I finally compared Training Day side by side with the DVD and HD-DVD version. I see a difference, but not leaps and bounds like some are saying. Basically I paused and swapped back and forth. I see a nice difference, so I'm not complaining.

I have a 55" Mits RPTV that is 1080i. My DVD player is a Pioneer.....

Maybe I just am used to my broadcast HDTV like LOST, NFL, HOUSE....etc.

[Ruined]

Check the DVD deals thread....all explained there.

I finally compared Training Day side by side with the DVD and HD-DVD version. I see a difference, but not leaps and bounds like some are saying. Basically I paused and swapped back and forth. I see a nice difference, so I'm not complaining.

When you pause a 1080i signal, generally you will get the equivalent of a 540p frame out of the player. So you are likely comparing 540p to 480p, not 1080i to 480p by pausing.

[doubledown]

When you pause a 1080i signal, generally you will get the equivalent of a 540p frame out of the player. So you are likely comparing 540p to 480p, not 1080i to 480p by pausing.

Thanks.....I guess that might be it. It does look pretty good when it plays....so, I like it. MI-3 just shipped for me too!

[Duo_Maxwell]

Feel free to challenge me on any technical facts.

I never said you were incorrect on technical facts, but saying crap like prices are similar to standard DVDs and the format war is already over in less than one year is what makes you a "fanboy". I'm not saying HD-DVD won't win out, but it's nothing but asinine to try to delare a clear winner before the most affordable Blu-ray tech hits the market, perhaps by the end of next summer you could call it clearly. Plus can you blame me, it's hard to look at a guy who has done nothing but peddle one format as having an objective opinion. But again, we are getting grossly off-topc now so I'm going to shut the hell up.

In other news, I'm going to be pissed if Bandai only puts out Banner of the Stars on HD and not Crest of the Stars, as it did start the series.

[Ruined]

I never said you were incorrect on technical facts, but saying crap like prices are similar to standard DVDs and the format war is already over in less than one year is what makes you a "fanboy". I'm not saying HD-DVD won't win out, but it's nothing but asinine to try to delare a clear winner before the most affordable Blu-ray tech hits the market, perhaps by the end of next summer you could call it clearly. Plus can you blame me, it's hard to look at a guy who has done nothing but peddle one format as having an objective opinion. But again, we are getting grossly off-topc now so I'm going to shut the hell up.

I'll put it this way. Paying $3 more for an HD DVD is $15 less than I'd have to spend to rebuy the standard DVD over again in HD DVD if I waited to adopt. And anyway, in my book $15 is similar to $18. Heck even at Target HD DVD are 19.99/ea.

In other news, I'm going to be pissed if Bandai only puts out Banner of the Stars on HD and not Crest of the Stars, as it did start the series.

My above list was just some examples of what could be announced based on the press release, not actual titles announced.

[CaseyRyback]

Thanks.....I guess that might be it. It does look pretty good when it plays....so, I like it. MI-3 just shipped for me too!

I bet the beginning of that movie will look great in HD. It was one of the few times special effects really wowed me

[psychobrawler]

Got mine!! The guy at CC stared at that $40 off coupon and kinda looked around like he was needing help... Took him like 5 full minutes to ring me up. I could sense that he was really unsure, but in the end he didn't challenge me. So $167 or so out the door and I'm very happy. Can't wait to get home tonight and check it out.

[Psykoboy2]

Don't forget to come back and post your impressions.

[jrutz]

BANDAI VISUAL's Anime goes HD DVD!

Today BANDAI VISUAL announced the agreement with Memory-tech and Microsoft that they will use VC-1's to release animation in HD DVD worldwide.
Quote from Bandai Visual VP 前田明雄
“We are very happy to be a pioneer in the HD optical market and will team work with Microsoft and Memory-Tech to find the best compression technique for transfer. We hope the animation fans worldwide will enjoy the high quality content from us."

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20061115/hddvd.htm
http://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/pdf/2006/pr061115.pdf

A few examples of titles in their catalog:
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C.
Cowboy Bebop
.hack//SIGN
Banner of the Stars
The Big O
Eureka Seven
Jin-Roh
My-HiME
Scrapped Princess
Witch Hunter Robin
Wolf's Rain
Gundam Series

This is AWESOME!!! Now I hope it makes it to the US. Isn't it surprising that a Japanese company, an anime one no less, would announce support for something other than Blu-Ray.

Jeremy

[LinkinPrime]

I'm starting to think that porn will be the deciding factor between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray...

[flybrione]

Finally was abel to pick one of these up at my local Circuit City using the coupon with out any problems.

I will be checking this out during my vacation next week and post some impressions. Now I have to get a few more movies.

[darkrage]

I'm starting to think that porn will be the deciding factor between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray...


that would make sense, porn decided the war between VHS and Beta.

[varock]

Quick question: If I were to use the coupon, and there happened to be a problem...say the employee mentions the "no photocopies" bit and rejects it. is there a reasonable argument I can make to change his/her mind?

[LinkinPrime]

Quick question: If I were to use the coupon, and there happened to be a problem...say the employee mentions the "no photocopies" bit and rejects it. is there a reasonable argument I can make to change his/her mind?
Just say that you're suscribed to CircuitCity.com e-mailing list and you printed out the coupon that they emailed you. The photocopies thing is there so you don't print 2 ;)

[psychobrawler]

Well I got mine set up and ready to go. I'm running on a 3 year old Samsung 30" CRT with 1080i native resolution. The only movie I have to demo is King Kong. I threw in Lord of the Rings in my current DVD player and had it running at the same time, so I could just cycle through my inputs to compare picture quality. I figure LOTR is one of the best looking DVD's I own, so it was fair game.

Visually, King Kong looks spectacular. The clarity and depth of the picture is stunning. Switching back to my regular DVD play running LOTR in 480p, that picture looked incredibly washed out and dull by comparison. I even hit my tv channel to check out an over the air HD channel by comparison. There wasn't a huge difference here, but I would argue that the HD DVD trumps that picture as well.

There is an unfortunate lack of features. I like to be able to adjust my zoom and picture position, and the lack of a bookmark feature is pretty dissapointing. I'm hoping some additional fuctionality may come down the road with a dashboard update in the spring.

Overall, it's a very nice package for $160. I added HD-DVD's to my netflix queue, and I can't wait to rewatch a bunch of movies in HD in the coming weeks. Now if only we could get LOTR on HD DVD....

[Ruined]

There is an unfortunate lack of features. I like to be able to adjust my zoom and picture position, and the lack of a bookmark feature is pretty dissapointing. I'm hoping some additional fuctionality may come down the road with a dashboard update in the spring.


Bookmark works fine (I believe you hit the B button while a movie is playing to bookmark).

Note that both Bookmark and Zoom are software controlled features; Paramount, for instance, has many titles out that do not support bookmark or zoom. No Universal titles support Zoom, either. Warner titles, however, support both Bookmark and Zoom.

[allout1986]

Got mine today with the $40 off coupon and am very impressed. Now I just need to get some more HD-DVDs. King Kong is impressive though.

[varock]

I went against my better judgement (see earlier post) and pulled the trigger on it. I may regret this later, but I will enjoy my moment of HD-goodness for now. I compared the King Kong HD-DVD included to the standard DVD I have and the difference is staggering. Also, keep in mind I've been playing all my DVD's with an excellent Oppo upconverter...and still, there's no contest. Now it's time to double dip on some DVD's.

[guyver2077]

that would make sense, porn decided the war between VHS and Beta.

you guys are aware that theres already porn on hd dvd.... watch pirates!!

[LinkinPrime]

I already posted this in the HD/Blu-Ray deals thread and on Fidodo's Fry's thread but just in case anyone missed it:

If you're lucky enough to live near a Fry's check this out:

$14.99 each

HD-DVD:
Terminator 3
Aeon Flux
The Italian Job
Troy
Constantine
We Were Soldiers

Now through 11/21

[suffah]

I already posted this in the HD/Blu-Ray deals thread and on Fidodo's Fry's thread but just in case anyone missed it:

If you're lucky enough to live near a Fry's check this out:

$14.99 each

HD-DVD:
Terminator 3
Aeon Flux
The Italian Job
Troy
Constantine
We Were Soldiers

Now through 11/21


Awesome, what movies out of that list would you guys rec? I haven't seen any except Troy.

[LinkinPrime]

Awesome, what movies out of that list would you guys rec? I haven't seen any except Troy.

Out of the list I've only seen Constantine and The Italian Job and loved them, will definately make a stop there to pick those 2 up.

[darkrage]

AEON FLUX is crap, Terminator 3 isnt bad.

[Javery]

Bah, I bit the bullet and picked one up at lunch today. $171.XX after tax and coupon. Thanks for the $40 off! I can't wait to see how it looks on my TV. If the 720p FOX football broadcasts look amazing scaled to 1080i I'm sure this will look nice too. Plus, I've never seen King Kong - bonus!

[fieldkillah]

Just picked it up for 167.99. I already have the last samurai since i picked it up for 8 at a used clothing store.

[LinkinPrime]

Arg! Best Buy still doesn't have it instock. I have a $20 RZ certificate that expires tomorrow, that I want to use along with $25 worth of others and as well as a 12% off coupon I have for the Prefered Customers weekend thing that they are currently running.

[psychobrawler]

Arg! Best Buy still doesn't have it instock. I have a $20 RZ certificate that expires tomorrow, that I want to use along with $25 worth of others and as well as a 12% off coupon I have for the Prefered Customers weekend thing that they are currently running.

Use the RZ certs on a movie and pick it up this weekend. I've also just picked up an item with the RZ certs and not opened it and then returned it for credit when I wanted to pick up something a couple weeks down the road...

[Javery]

Sorry if this has been answered before but does King Kong come in a proper case? I guess I will know when I open it up after work but this is the internet dammit and I need answers now!!!

[KaneRobot]

Sorry if this has been answered before but does King Kong come in a proper case? I guess I will know when I open it up after work but this is the internet dammit and I need answers now!!!

Yes, it comes in a standard HD-DVD case. It may be different than the retail case but it is the same type of case. I know there is no barcode on the one bundled with the 360's HD-DVD player.

Awesome, what movies out of that list would you guys rec? I haven't seen any except Troy.
Terminator 3 is a fantastic "show-off" disc as well as an underrated action movie.

[LinkinPrime]

Sorry if this has been answered before but does King Kong come in a proper case? I guess I will know when I open it up after work but this is the internet dammit and I need answers now!!!
I could just answer it, but its the internet...I'll make you click ;):

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2351371&postcount=55

[varock]

I already posted this in the HD/Blu-Ray deals thread and on Fidodo's Fry's thread but just in case anyone missed it:

If you're lucky enough to live near a Fry's check this out:

$14.99 each

HD-DVD:
Terminator 3
Aeon Flux
The Italian Job
Troy
Constantine
We Were Soldiers

Now through 11/21Not a bad deal. I will probably pick up Troy. I thought about Italian Job but it's under Tier-3 according to AVS...meh.

[guyver2077]

i still didnt see this at bb when i went a few days ago....

im glad i got it last friday at cc... too bat though i couldnt use coupon...

i have a few movies to see this weekend..

fast and furious
fast and furious tokyo drift
mi 3
aeon flux (heard it sucks but looks great)

[Trakan]

Picked it up today without any problems. When the lady scanned the coupon, it wouldn't scan, so she had to type it in. The register made some weird sound that I assume was an error sound. She just looked at the screen and typed in something and I got it for $160. I think she just ended up taking $40 off the price and took my coupon.

[KaneRobot]

Picked it up today without any problems. When the lady scanned the coupon, it wouldn't scan, so she had to type it in. The register made some weird sound that I assume was an error sound. She just looked at the screen and typed in something and I got it for $160.

Ha, that is EXACTLY what happened to me. When I heard that strange sounding beep, I thought I was S.O.L. but nope, it was fine.



Updated OP with info regarding the drive's status as a memory device.

[Javery]

I can't hook mine up. I think there is something seriously wrong with my system. I can't connect to Live anymore, the camera won't come on and my controller no longer syncs up. WTF? Anyone know how to fix this?

[psychobrawler]

I can't hook mine up. I think there is something seriously wrong with my system. I can't connect to Live anymore, the camera won't come on and my controller no longer syncs up. WTF? Anyone know how to fix this?

Man, that sucks. What's really sad is that I love my 360, and I was honestly scared to hook up the drive cause it seems that every single "improvement" they've made (new accessories, patches, dash updates, even new games) have killed at least a few peoples systems. It's really dissapointing to have to stress out about every fucking thing that you put into your console.

I watched a couple of regular DVD's last night in my drive. The quality was just fine, but I was kind of hoping for a little let noise from the 360 during play back. The HD drive is quiet, and the 360 isn't as bad as when running a game, but there's still more noise from that thing than I really want when watching a movie. Sucks to have to turn the sound up to drown out the hum of the system.

[seanr1221]

VERY tempted to pick one up...but I really dont want a 160.00 paperweight if Blu-Ray nudges it out. :/

I'm really torn on what to do...

[cleaver]

VERY tempted to pick one up...but I really dont want a 160.00 paperweight if Blu-Ray nudges it out. :/

I'm really torn on what to do...
Everyone needs to stop sweating Blu-ray, if HD-DVD gets beat it will be by DVDs.

[seanr1221]

Everyone needs to stop sweating Blu-ray, if HD-DVD gets beat it will be by DVDs.

Well whatever could beat it, I just dont want to blow 160.00...in perspective it's not THAT much money (especially because I was willing to drop 90.00 on an upscaling dvd player over the summer, but then didn't) it's like I said, I dont want it to go the way of the UMD

[doubledown]

Well whatever could beat it, I just dont want to blow 160.00...in perspective it's not THAT much money (especially because I was willing to drop 90.00 on an upscaling dvd player over the summer, but then didn't) it's like I said, I dont want it to go the way of the UMD

UMD = Sony
Blu-Ray = Sony

Not that I'm implying anything ;)

[SteveMcQ]

UMD = Sony
Blu-Ray = Sony

Not that I'm implying anything ;)Add Betamax to that list.

[Javery]

Add Betamax to that list.

And mini-disc.
And Super Audio CDs.

[hiccupleftovers]

Yaeh, I'll do this now for an HDDVD player.

[hiccupleftovers]

Turns out all CCs in my area are selling out of the 360 HD DVD player and have started taking reservations again. I'm probalby not going to be able to use the coupon or get one for a good while.

[Ruined]

Add Betamax to that list.

http://www.reflectonreality.com/images/betamaxhd.gif

[Ruined]

HD DVD trumps Blu-Ray yet again: 1080p30 (NIN concert)

Blu-Ray specs do not support 1080p30 encoding/playback at all:
http://img140.imageshack.us/my.php?image=11182006154000gz6.png
Of course, HD DVD supports this resolution/framerate.

The new Nine Inch Nails concert disc which is being released on both HD DVD and Blu-Ray was shot at 1080p30. The HD DVD will be encoded at the original 1080p30 while the Blu-Ray disc will be encoded at 1080i60.

This has been confirmed by industry professionals:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8916888&&#post8916888

It is an interesting title and brings with it a bit of progressive irony.

The concert was shot at 1080p30. It will be encoded as true 1080p30 on HD DVD. It will be encoded as 1080i60 on BD. The reason is because BD does not support 1080p30 as an option.

It will be interesting to see what Fox does with Okalahoma on BD. Will they only release the 24p version or will they also release the 30p version encoded as 1080i60?

So yet again we have a case where HD DVD as a format trumps Blu-Ray. If you are an NIN fan like me, you will be picking up the HD DVD of this concert instead of the Blu-Ray :)

[guyver2077]

finally just saw mission impossible 3... movie is pretty damn good. hadnt seen it till now..

may consider getting that mi set someday

[doubledown]

finally just saw mission impossible 3... movie is pretty damn good. hadnt seen it till now..

may consider getting that mi set someday

Agreed, watched the HD-DVD last night. Looked Great!

[LinkinPrime]

Just plugged mine in and watched a bit of Constantine, played the DVD version at the same time on my upconverting DVD player.

At first I just started viewing the HD-DVD and thought it looked good, like HD tv shows, then I switched to my DVD player and wow...Never noticed how grainy DVD movies looked. I kept switching back and forth between certain scenes and I'm totally satisfied with my HD-DVD player purchase. I'm tempted to open Kong to see how it looks/sounds but then again, I don't plan on keeping it and I should probobly just sell it on eBay.

I'll be getting MI Collection soon, with the Paypal $20 rebate.

[Koggit]

I watched King Kong in my upconverting DVD player while the HD DVD was playing, switching between the same scenes... didn't notice too much of a difference. I watched six HD DVDs over the past few days, then just watched Girl Next Door. I couldn't stand the quality. I'm spoiled already.

I remember when DVD first came out, it was the same way. I didn't notice too much of a difference until I got used to it and tried to watch a VHS tape. The increase in quality is less noticeable than the decrease.

[Roufuss]

Shit... I want this, but I have somewhere between 200 - 300 DVD's and I'm really not looking forward to replacing them all (or any of them, for that matter), espically since most HD-DVD stuff is alot more expensive than regular DVD stuff.

I'm hoping I can give it a year, HD-DVD becomes standard and the HD-DVD's get a bit cheaper.

I mean, damn, MI 3 is $29.99 at Best Buy for the HD-DVD... the DVD is about $10 cheaper, and in 4 months will be 1/2 that when it's $14.99.

I just can't spend anything over $15 on a movie, no matter how good it is... DVD has spoiled me :(

[JDMxB]

Just saw Training Day on HD-DVD...looked amazing.

Can't wait to pick up MI:3 I hear its super action packed...a great showcase disc!

[doubledown]

Yeah, I think people will notice more of a difference on different TV's. I think my 55" RPTV Mitsubishi actually handles DVD pretty well. The HD-DVD looks better, but not the WOW, CRAZY better like some people are getting. Not really complaining, but just thoguht I would point it out. MI-3 looked better than my MI3 DVD copy. Training Day looked better also, but not as much as MI-3.

Still a nice deal for $160+tax (minus remote if I sell it)

[thrustbucket]

Shit... I want this, but I have somewhere between 200 - 300 DVD's and I'm really not looking forward to replacing them all (or any of them, for that matter), espically since most HD-DVD stuff is alot more expensive than regular DVD stuff.


Why would you?

I don't really understand this sort of logic. Why would you replace old DVD's with HD-DVD's? The way I see it, HD-DVD is mostly for buying movies released here on forward, since most movies from now on are given much better treatment (not to mention are now filmed in digital HD more and more).

Going back and purchasing older movies, even 2-3 year old movies in HD doesn't make a lot of sense to me. When I buy the HD-DVD player I'll only buy newer releases, rather than replace my collection. The only two exceptions to this are 1)LOTR and 2) bargain bins.

[Psykoboy2]

I may purchase some films I already own, Batman Begins being one of them, but for the most part, I'm getting films I never bought on DVD before. And yeah, I go the bargain route too if it's something I already have in most cases.

[doubledown]

I think we are starting to drift off topic with HD-DVD buying habits....altough, I just rent for now. I won't pay more than $12 for a HD-DVD at this point....Google Checkout deals have helped me buy the two I own now (plus Kong, so 3). Renting is fine, since I realize I rarely watch the DVD's I own.

So, back on topic now....

[thrustbucket]

Just used coupon last night and bought mine. Pretty nifty toy. I guess I can go on record bragging about probably being the only person here using one with a 480p display :)

I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the sound though. A visit to AVSforum shows that many people agree. It IS remixing the sound, and it sounds like it's doing a poor job of it, like there is no dynamic range or "oomph". Picture looks great though.

[doubledown]

Just used coupon last night and bought mine. Pretty nifty toy. I guess I can go on record bragging about probably being the only person here using one with a 480p display :)

I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the sound though. A visit to AVSforum shows that many people agree. It IS remixing the sound, and it sounds like it's doing a poor job of it, like there is no dynamic range or "oomph". Picture looks great though.

Wow, hopefully you are getting a HDTV soon. This totally defeats the purpose of a HD-DVD player. I mean, you are getting the same picture via this and DVD...at least in defintion at least...480p.

The sound for me is FINE. I guess it depends how you have it setup. Not low at all.....I have mine hooked up via optical through my receiver.

[thrustbucket]

Wow, hopefully you are getting a HDTV soon. This totally defeats the purpose of a HD-DVD player. I mean, you are getting the same picture via this and DVD...at least in defintion at least...480p.

The sound for me is FINE. I guess it depends how you have it setup. Not low at all.....I have mine hooked up via optical through my receiver.

I plan to upgrade my projector to a 720p here shortly. But even so, my projector is quite fantastic, and I really question how much difference I'd notice. It is 854 x 480 with a faradouja processor, the image is gorgeous, and I notice a difference on HD sources. (higher horizontal resolution anyway).

I have a pretty high end speaker set up, and there is a noticeable difference just going from a dvd sound to HD-DVD. I skipped to scenes of Kong action, like the brontasaurus chase, and the sound just sounded so flat... I had to check to see if my sub was even on.

[LinkinPrime]

I plan to upgrade my projector to a 720p here shortly. But even so, my projector is quite fantastic, and I really question how much difference I'd notice. It is 854 x 480 with a faradouja processor, the image is gorgeous, and I notice a difference on HD sources. (higher horizontal resolution anyway).

I have a pretty high end speaker set up, and there is a noticeable difference just going from a dvd sound to HD-DVD. I skipped to scenes of Kong action, like the brontasaurus chase, and the sound just sounded so flat... I had to check to see if my sub was even on.

I thought I noticed that too on mine, but I thought it was just my imagination. I do have 5.1 Dolby receiver and use digital output with my X360, the sound did seem very low and with less umph...I was hoping maybe it was just the way Constantine was, since I haven't tested other movies yet. Bummer...sound is very important to me. Now i'm wondering whether to return it or not...

[doubledown]

Do you guys with sound issues imply that you have to crank up the sound on your receiver or does it sound fine, but like explosions and stuff are not as punchy. I usually leave my receiver around 45-50 which is the middle for all my DVD's and HD-DVD is the same. MI-3 on HD-DVD seemed fine, although, I guess some explosions did not seem as loud as a I thought...but I had my receiver a little lower with respect for the baby :)

[thrustbucket]

Yeah there are known sound issues, you can see if you head over to avsforum.com

It looks like, as we all know now, since they are taking the DD+ or TrueHD or DTS streams, transcoding it real time for a smaller bitrate, something is getting lost in the process. Hopefully they can fix it with a patch..... It will always be downsampling the audio from HD-DVD because of hardware limitations in the 360, but they can change how it's mixed upon output to sound better, or better yet - give us different options of how we want it mixed.

In addition to this - There are known issues with TrueHD tracks losing sync if you fastforward or rewind.

[LinkinPrime]

Do you guys with sound issues imply that you have to crank up the sound on your receiver or does it sound fine, but like explosions and stuff are not as punchy. I usually leave my receiver around 45-50 which is the middle for all my DVD's and HD-DVD is the same. MI-3 on HD-DVD seemed fine, although, I guess some explosions did not seem as loud as a I thought...but I had my receiver a little lower with respect for the baby :)

Yes, for instance on my X360 games and DVD's the sound is like at 40-50 on my receiver but with the HD-DVD i have to turn it up to 30-25 and the bass sound is not as strong. Is it possible that a future patch can fix this?

[doubledown]

Ok, but do you have to CRANK your receiver up to hear basic dialogue and stuff? I do not. I realize everything is decoded and cannot be passed as well through optical.

Just curious what the sound complaints really are.

*EDIT*
Ok, I guess you do have to crank your recevier....weird. Maybe something gets lost with your equipment also. I'm sure patches can eventually come for this, since it's like a million lines of code.

[thrustbucket]

Yes, for instance on my X360 games and DVD's the sound is like at 40-50 on my receiver but with the HD-DVD i have to turn it up to 30-25 and the bass sound is not as strong. Is it possible that a future patch can fix this?

I read that a number of the initial warner bros releases were mastered about -12db too low. But any other movie that seems to have sound problems, it's the 360. And yes I think a patch can and will fix this, just a question of when.

[LinkinPrime]

I read that a number of the initial warner bros releases were mastered about -12db too low. But any other movie that seems to have sound problems, it's the 360. And yes I think a patch can and will fix this, just a question of when.

Cool, guess I'll keep it and play the waiting game.

[guyver2077]

Yes, for instance on my X360 games and DVD's the sound is like at 40-50 on my receiver but with the HD-DVD i have to turn it up to 30-25 and the bass sound is not as strong. Is it possible that a future patch can fix this?

ive noticed this as well. games are super loud but movies have to be put on full blast..

I dont think its just the 360 player though.. i think this happens as well with regular movies using my regular upconverting dvd player (not 360)

[KaneRobot]

Take this for what it's worth (meaning NOTHING), but the HDMI rumor has surfaced again, this time to be announced on the 22nd (tomorrow) to go along with their big downloadable TV/movie release deal.

I'm not even getting my hopes up this time since it's probably bullshit. We'll see.

[blueboy]

Is there any word from Microsoft on whether the internal dvd-rom drive in the 360 will be replaced with the HD-DVD drive in future versions of the 360?

[GizmoGC]

Is there any word from Microsoft on whether the internal dvd-rom drive in the 360 will be replaced with the HD-DVD drive in future versions of the 360?

Not going to happen anytime soon, if ever. HD is for movies NOT games.

[thrustbucket]

Is there any word from Microsoft on whether the internal dvd-rom drive in the 360 will be replaced with the HD-DVD drive in future versions of the 360?

I seriously doubt you would ever see this. I think Microsoft knows it's in their best interest to drop the price as soon as they can. If they start throwing in more expensive mandatory components, they can't.

[LinkinPrime]

FYI:

HD DVD Auto Update http://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-left-on.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-right-on.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-left-on.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-right-on.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-left-on.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-right-on.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-left-on.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-right-on.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-left-off.gifhttp://www.majornelson.com/Themes/default/images/common/star-right-off.gif

If you have an Xbox 360 HD DVD player, you’ll be prompted for an auto update the next time you watch an HD DVD movie. This update has no new features in it, but contains title specific movie playback improvements and few fixes to some localized text (and I’d imagine a few more lines of code (http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/11/07/4-7-millions-lines-of-code-just-for-the-hd-dvd-player.aspx))
If you don’t have access to Xbox Live, you can download the free update from Xbox.com (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360hddvdplayer/download.htm).

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/11/21/hd-dvd-auto-update.aspx

[doubledown]

Interesting....new update eh? I'll have to check later today. Will it only update if you try to play a movie?

[guyver2077]

got the update...

[LinkinPrime]

Picked up the M:I Trilogy in HD @ Buy.com with $20 off $50 google checkout. Can't wait to get it.

[Ruined]

Here's a little article I wrote up that highlights the major problems with most of today's "1080p" HDTVs and HD disc players. Thought some in here might be interested to read why it might be worth waiting a year before upgrading to a 1080p set - wait for the 1080p72 sets.

http://reflectonreality.com/images/film1080p.gif

[RegalSin2020]

Listen to me. HD-DVD has nothing to do with enhanced qaulity of videogames or ehanced video play back. All HD-DVD is just a bigger meduim to store data on. Thus when encoding the RAW files or ( RGB filter film data ) you can encode data that less compressive then the previous encoded data.

In this case you can encode data that is near of it's original value and thus a bigger video display.

The question is now what codec are they using with the HD-DVD players and how do we exploit it for our own purpose and goals.

Right now you should not be searching for HD this and that but stocking up on what was expensive and that you wanted from before.

Personally the Amerika is like a backwards Japan when it comes to technology.

[KaneRobot]

Listen to me. HD-DVD has nothing to do with enhanced qaulity of videogames or ehanced video play back. All HD-DVD is just a bigger meduim to store data on. Thus when encoding the RAW files or ( RGB filter film data ) you can encode data that less compressive then the previous encoded data.

In this case you can encode data that is near of it's original value and thus a bigger video display.

The question is now what codec are they using with the HD-DVD players and how do we exploit it for our own purpose and goals.

Right now you should not be searching for HD this and that but stocking up on what was expensive and that you wanted from before.

Personally the Amerika is like a backwards Japan when it comes to technology.

Nice. I wasn't satisfied with my thread until the village idiot showed up, although lately our friend here has been sounding more and more like a gimmick account. "What codec are they using" seems like one of those lines you actually have to TRY to sound dumb with.

Get back on track immediately.

[guyver2077]

anyways..

just finished seeing nacho libre and noticed that the movie was in full screen the whole time.. no black bars.. looked nice

[RegalSin2020]

I am being very serious. They would have to be using a diffrent codec or compression method in order for the video display to be perfected. Then again they could be using the same compression method and codec only the video size is at a higher resolution.

[doubledown]

anyways..

just finished seeing nacho libre and noticed that the movie was in full screen the whole time.. no black bars.. looked nice

WHOA...that is NOT FULL SCREEN. That is just a 1.85:1 movie. FULL SCREEN is an entirely different animal.

[Trakan]

WHOA...that is NOT FULL SCREEN. That is just a 1.85:1 movie. FULL SCREEN is an entirely different animal.

He just meant it filled the whole screen; no black bars. From the few HD-DVD reviews I've read, they weren't 1:85:1. I prefer 1:85:1 over the 2:35:1. (Who doesnt?)

[doubledown]

He just meant it filled the whole screen; no black bars. From the few HD-DVD reviews I've read, they weren't 1:85:1. I prefer 1:85:1 over the 2:35:1. (Who doesnt?)

Agreed....I knew that, but that is still not full screen. That is just a different ratio. The general public still does not know the different between FS and WS. Anyways....move along, don't want to debate here.

[Psykoboy2]

This might be the wrong place to come asking, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any good DVD sites, mainly for HD-DVD, with reviews and news and things like that.

[GizmoGC]

This might be the wrong place to come asking, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any good DVD sites, mainly for HD-DVD, with reviews and news and things like that.

www.dvdtalk.com

[Ruined]

This might be the wrong place to come asking, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any good DVD sites, mainly for HD-DVD, with reviews and news and things like that.

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/

[Ender]

I have a quick question.

I ordered an HDTV, but it isn't here yet. In the meantime, if I buy the HD-DVD add on, will the HD-DVDs look any better on my regular television? Or is the improvement only noticeable on HDTVs?

Also, does this thing make regular DVDs look any better?

[pinoy530]

I have a quick question.

I ordered an HDTV, but it isn't here yet. In the meantime, if I buy the HD-DVD add on, will the HD-DVDs look any better on my regular television? Or is the improvement only noticeable on HDTVs?

Also, does this thing make regular DVDs look any better?

You won't notice much if anything on a standard definition television. If you use VGA cables with an HDTV or a monitor, the 360 will upscale DVDs to 720p/1080i(won't look like HD DVD though). Also, you don't necessarily need the HD DVD drive to do the upscaling as the 360 dvd player will do it as well.

[rly723]

so if i use the 360 dvd player on my HDTV will there be much of a difference if i get the 360 hd dvd and use it on my HDTV?

[Psykoboy2]

There will be 6x the difference. The 360's dvd player DOES NOT play HD-DVDs. It also doesn't upscale either so playing a DVD on the 360's player will look like any other dvd you play on any other player (given both are using the same type of cables).

[doubledown]

The 360 WILL upscale with VGA, correct?

Two posts above contradict each other.

Just get the HD-DVD if you have a HDTV....it is pointless without.

[Psykoboy2]

The 360 WILL upscale with VGA, correct?

Two posts above contradict each other.

Just get the HD-DVD if you have a HDTV....it is pointless without.

The 360's DVD player will NOT upscale regardless of cables.

The 360's HD-DVD player WILL upscale but only with VGA.

[guyver2077]

The 360's DVD player will NOT upscale regardless of cables.

The 360's HD-DVD player WILL upscale but only with VGA.

???

360's dvd player upscales for me with vga cables.

Havent tried the hd dvd player via the vga

[guyver2077]

Agreed....I knew that, but that is still not full screen. That is just a different ratio. The general public still does not know the different between FS and WS. Anyways....move along, don't want to debate here.

Yea excuse my noobish language from before. I know its not technically fs. I guess i used the wrong word.

Anyways yea its the only movie so far that ive seen that did not have the bars. i actually prefer not having the bars

[gsr]

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama2.html

[Psykoboy2]

???

360's dvd player upscales for me with vga cables.

Havent tried the hd dvd player via the vga

Then my apologies. I was under the impression that the 360's DVD player was just that and nothing more and that the HD-DVD player did the upscale on regular DVD's, but only with the VGA cables.

[thrustbucket]

The HD-DVD player doesn't do any processing of anything. It's simply a drive like you'd buy and install in your computer. The 360 does all the work.

So yes, if you have a VGA cable, the 360 alone will upscale DVD.

[rly723]

The HD-DVD player doesn't do any processing of anything. It's simply a drive like you'd buy and install in your computer. The 360 does all the work.

So yes, if you have a VGA cable, the 360 alone will upscale DVD.


so if i get a VGA cable, it will upscale with the regular 360 dvd player and i dont need to buy the hd-dvd player?

[Immortal fWd]

I just picked this up today. I'm watching Batman Begins right now, looks great!

[anomynous]

so if i get a VGA cable, it will upscale with the regular 360 dvd player and i dont need to buy the hd-dvd player?
you need to HDDVD player to get HD movies, but to upscale you need just the 360 & the VGA cable

[gsr]

so if i get a VGA cable, it will upscale with the regular 360 dvd player and i dont need to buy the hd-dvd player?

hd-dvd and dvd are two different formats

HD-DVD discs contain movies at 1080p resolution, with lossless audio (whatever audio is on the studio master is what is on the disc).

DVD is standard definition with 480 lines of information on the disc. Even if you buy a VGA cable and upscale to 1080, you're not gaining anything because the source material itself is limited to 480 lines.

[thrustbucket]

HD-DVD discs contain movies at 1080p resolution, with lossless audio (whatever audio is on the studio master is what is on the disc).
Just one note here to be clear, with the 360 HD-DVD player, you can not get lossless audio, it transcodes all audio to dolby digital.


DVD is standard definition with 480 lines of information on the disc. Even if you buy a VGA cable and upscale to 1080, you're not gaining anything because the source material itself is limited to 480 lines.

I take exception to this. I can't speak for the 360's upconverting abilities, but I have an HTPC with theatertek and ffdshow upconverting standard dvd's and they look FAR better than non-upconverted DVD's. Upconverted DVD's, depending on how the upconversion is done, gains quite a bit in picture quality.

Saying dvd upconversion doesn't gain anything is kind of like saying a 128k mp3 piped into a $10,000 reciever/digital processor/speaker system won't gain anything.

[rly723]

so these question is...

VGA cable or is the $160 worth it to get the 360 hd -dvd drive? also how much would a vga cable cost?

[thrustbucket]

so these question is...

VGA cable or is the $160 worth it to get the 360 hd -dvd drive? also how much would a vga cable cost?

Third party VGA cables can be had under $25.

Your question is impossible to answer without knowing your intent.

Do you want to start buying your movies in slightly more expensive HD-DVD format and enjoy the absolute best picture available on your HDTV? If so, then buy the HD-DVD player.

Or do you have a huge DVD collection and prefer to keep buying movies on the cheaper DVD format so you can also take them to friends houses and enjoy wider compatibility? If so, buy the VGA cable.

[vincewy]

After the first price drop of XB 360, has MS considered

1. Discontinuing Core system and sell remaining until gone just like original Xbox?

and

2. Introduce delux XB 360 that has HD-DVD, large hard drive like 100GB for $400-$500 range, with current Pro (Premium) system selling between $250 and $350?

[thrustbucket]

After the first price drop of XB 360, has MS considered

1. Discontinuing Core system and sell remaining until gone just like original Xbox?

and

2. Introduce delux XB 360 that has HD-DVD, large hard drive like 100GB for $400-$500 range, with current Pro (Premium) system selling between $250 and $350?

I doubt anyone but a few at MS could answer this. I think you are not likely to see a souped up 360 for sale until they can still afford to offer it for $400 or less, which including an HD-DVD player will be a couple years away at least.

[Ruined]

Microsoft to improve HD DVD addon audio; patch to make it similar to HD-A1 optical

On AVSFORUM it has been confirmed that Microsoft's next firmware update for the HD DVD Addon will transcode the DD+/DDTHD sound to DTS (instead of DD), making the 360's digital output sound even better and just as good as the Toshiba HD-A1's coax/optical which no one had any complaints about. Way to make an awesome product even better!

[guyver2077]

great news

[thrustbucket]

Microsoft to improve HD DVD addon audio; patch to make it similar to HD-A1 optical

On AVSFORUM it has been confirmed that Microsoft's next firmware update for the HD DVD Addon will transcode the DD+/DDTHD sound to DTS (instead of DD), making the 360's digital output sound even better and just as good as the Toshiba HD-A1's coax/optical which no one had any complaints about. Way to make an awesome product even better!

I'm looking all over there and I can't find it. Link please?

[Ruined]

I'm looking all over there and I can't find it. Link please?

http://avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9001981&&#post9001981

(amirm on AVSFORUM is Amir Majidimehr, Corporate Vice President, Consumer Media Technology Group of Microsoft)

[LinkinPrime]

That's awesome news!

[Santurio]

Microsoft to improve HD DVD addon audio; patch to make it similar to HD-A1 optical

On AVSFORUM it has been confirmed that Microsoft's next firmware update for the HD DVD Addon will transcode the DD+/DDTHD sound to DTS (instead of DD), making the 360's digital output sound even better and just as good as the Toshiba HD-A1's coax/optical which no one had any complaints about. Way to make an awesome product even better!
Now that is music to my ears. I was getting to where I couldn't stand the sound that I was getting from the HD DVD player. Not only would I have to crank it up but everything sounded mildly muffled. I love the player, I just didn't like the sound output.

[stag8603]

Well that really was the only thing that was keeping me from buying one...so I guess I might have to bite as soon as I get the moeny saved up...I was also concerned with which format would win the "war", but I'm planning on getting a PS3 within the next year so I don't really need to worry about that...

[thrustbucket]

Just a quick FYI that we are looking at this problem. I don't have an update on it because I was on vacation for a while. But for now, wanted to let you know that we are finalizing our DTS encoder which once done, should produce the same experience as the Toshiba player which everyone was happy with....

Hmm, I take that to mean something entirely different. I take that to simply mean that with the next update the 360 will have the ability to output a DTS steream. That doesn't mean it will use dts instead of dd, and I will be skeptical that transcoding to dts will sound much better than it's transcoding to dd until I hear it.

[thrustbucket]

Browsing through that thread on AVS forum I came across this:

Start the 360.

Hit the Guide button to open the dashboard.

Select the Speaker icon that appears above the "Select Music" button in the dash.

Note the default volume setting is at approx. 30%.

Adjust it to 100% - full right.

Hit OK or A on the controller to commit the change.

Close the dash by pressing Guide again.

Insert HD-DVD disc.

Notice that the audio has expected dynamic range, you can crank your amp/receiver back to normal listening levels, etc.

I didn't break out a meter, but my ear says that with the dash music volume max'd, the HD player's audio level matches the SD audio level when playing a SD DVD directly on the 360.

I just tested this and it made a huge difference. I totally forgot that the in dash volume is by default like 30%. It's hard to say if the sound is at the same levels now as a reg dvd, but it's close. Watching the T-REX battle on kong now, and my reciever is set to where I would normally have it for a DD track and it's rumbling my whole house as I'd expect. :)

[LinkinPrime]

Browsing through that thread on AVS forum I came across this:



I just tested this and it made a huge difference. I totally forgot that the in dash volume is by default like 30%. It's hard to say if the sound is at the same levels now as a reg dvd, but it's close. Watching the T-REX battle on kong now, and my reciever is set to where I would normally have it for a DD track and it's rumbling my whole house as I'd expect. :)

No fucking way! That rules! Thank you so much thrustbucket :bow:

[thrustbucket]

No fucking way! That rules! Thank you so much thrustbucket :bow:

Don't get too excited. I'm not saying it's fixed, it just seemed to make a difference to me. My gut feeling tells me it might all be in my head, since I think that entire portion of the dash is greyed out during movie playback, so that doesn't make much sense.

Either way, someone else try it and get confirmation.

[porieux]

It would totally make sense, since a digital signal at 30% is like reducing the number of available bits for audio resolution by 70%. It's not the same as turning down an analog signal. MS should fix that default setting.

[Trakan]

If you set it to 100%, it goes back to 30% after you turn off the console, right?

[doubledown]

Thanks for the tip......yeah, I think it reverts back to 30%. I'll have to try that soon...but I have no sound issues prior to it with my HD-DVD

[Ruined]

Hmm, I take that to mean something entirely different. I take that to simply mean that with the next update the 360 will have the ability to output a DTS steream. That doesn't mean it will use dts instead of dd, and I will be skeptical that transcoding to dts will sound much better than it's transcoding to dd until I hear it.

If it was simply outputting a DTS stream it wouldn't be encoding anything (Amir mentions encoder) and it also wouldn't be setup like the HD-A1 which transcodes to DTS (which amir also mentions). The HD-A1 sounds great with DTS transcoding.

[Purkeynator]

Any word on a firmware update that will allow the 360 to display 1080P on Sony displays? I saw this problem on IGN and was thinking of buying the 60" Sony XBR2 but that really sucks.

[thrustbucket]

If it was simply outputting a DTS stream it wouldn't be encoding anything (Amir mentions encoder) and it also wouldn't be setup like the HD-A1 which transcodes to DTS (which amir also mentions). The HD-A1 sounds great with DTS transcoding.

Right, so I take Amir's statement to mean they are working on implementing the "option" of outputing dts. It would still be transcoding like it does with dd, but your receiver would just be getting a dts signal instead of dd.

[guyver2077]

just finished ordering the superman movies on amazon.. came out to about $20 each. plus wanted to take advantage of the 10% off in the future..

good news as superman returns on hd dvd jumped into the top 100 on the amazon charts..

now when will more movie companies start releasing hd dvd's.. they must notice that they are selling.

have there been any numbers released on sales for the 360 hd dvd drive.?

[doubledown]

Well, many companies seem to be waiting which will win. I mean, companies have sided with either BD or HDDVD, so it will be a matter of time before one format wins....we'll see.

[KaneRobot]

Any word on a firmware update that will allow the 360 to display 1080P on Sony displays? I saw this problem on IGN and was thinking of buying the 60" Sony XBR2 but that really sucks.

I agree it sucks, and there has been nothing said since the typical "we are aware" acknowledgement and a vague "we will work to ensure that we are compatible with more HD sets in the future" comment.

I'm actually HDTV-less right now and using my computer monitor with a VGA cable because I don't trust Microsoft to fix this in a timely manner. If at all.

[ryanbph]

good news as superman returns on hd dvd jumped into the top 100 on the amazon charts..

now when will more movie companies start releasing hd dvd's.. they must notice that they are selling.


It is early, so lets not get crazy. It was 79, and behind dvds that weren't major success movies in the theatre that came out 2 years ago. (I am looking at you The notebook)

[guyver2077]

lol but clearly if they release a movie now it will make some cash..

look at batman begins.. not taking anything away from the movie but it has been on the top charts everywhere i look..

its been out for a while now and continues to sell...

[KaneRobot]

Not picking up Superman Returns, I want that to be my guinea pig for the 360's HD download service.

Will definitely pick up the Donner cut of Superman II though. May eventually get Superman as well, but I already have the DVD and thus far I've avoided buying stuff I already have on DVD.

Grabbed Clerks 2 on DVD today, and god damn is it annoying that the HD-DVD version got pushed back to "TBA."


Side note - for those who did buy/are thinking of buying Terminator 3, keep in mind that although Terminator and T2 are both Blu-Ray exclusive for now, there IS a 1080p version of T2 that is readily available (for next to nothing...DDD has it for under 10 bucks). T2 Exreme Edition comes as a 2 disc set. The second disc has a Windows Media version of it on there that runs 1080p. Now that we can play WMV files through the 360 without having to have Windows Media Center...well, you can do the math.

[Ruined]

Right, so I take Amir's statement to mean they are working on implementing the "option" of outputing dts. It would still be transcoding like it does with dd, but your receiver would just be getting a dts signal instead of dd.

Right, but unlike the DD transcoding which yielded unsatisfying end results, transcoding DD+/DDTHD to DTS yielded excellent results in the past (i.e. on the HD-A1).

Also, a quick bit of advice to people. The first 3 HD DVDs ever released (Phantom of the Opera, The Last Samurai, Million Dollar Baby) have the sound mixed at an abnormally low volume level. Warner is actually releasing a small-sized downloadable patch for these three titles (yes, this can be done with HD DVD) that will fix the sound issues on these 3 titles, but that has not happened quite yet. So if you are getting low sound on one of those 3 titles, that is normal because they screwed up the authoring. On all other titles, though, sound should be fine. The patch to transcode to DTS should fix these audio issues people are experiencing.

[thrustbucket]

Just got my HD projector and am now watching MI3 and KK. Does anyone else have a problem with the xbox displaying the movie image in only the middle 2/3 of the screen? As far as I know these are 16:9 movies and should take up my entire screen.

[Koggit]

The movies are 2.35:1 or 2.4:1, wider than 16:9 which is about 1.85:1. This is a big issue I have with HD DVDs - content wider than 16:9 is letterboxed, and the HD DVD player doesn't have a zoom. Unless your display has a letterbox zoom, you're stuck watching it at its original aspect ratio, which if you have a 720p display means you're stuck watching only 533 vertical pixels. 480p to 533p - worth the $200?

[Sarang01]

Yes, it comes in a standard HD-DVD case. It may be different than the retail case but it is the same type of case. I know there is no barcode on the one bundled with the 360's HD-DVD player.


Terminator 3 is a fantastic "show-off" disc as well as an underrated action movie.

COUGHShinobiCOUGH. Buy that instead of T3 since it sounds like Zhang Yimov Wuxia Fantasy inspired and if you've seen CTHD you can imagine how vibrant the colors would look.

[doubledown]

The movies are 2.35:1 or 2.4:1, wider than 16:9 which is about 1.85:1. This is a big issue I have with HD DVDs - content wider than 16:9 is letterboxed, and the HD DVD player doesn't have a zoom. Unless your display has a letterbox zoom, you're stuck watching it at its original aspect ratio, which if you have a 720p display means you're stuck watching only 533 vertical pixels. 480p to 533p - worth the $200?

Why would you want to ZOOM any movie? you would lose the correct aspect ratio. I'm perfectly fine with all the ratios (except Full Screen). Even with NORMAL DVD. A 2.35:1 DVD has black bars....they NEVER took up the full screen. And, if you ZOOM, you lose picture image.

[Ruined]

The movies are 2.35:1 or 2.4:1, wider than 16:9 which is about 1.85:1. This is a big issue I have with HD DVDs - content wider than 16:9 is letterboxed, and the HD DVD player doesn't have a zoom. Unless your display has a letterbox zoom, you're stuck watching it at its original aspect ratio, which if you have a 720p display means you're stuck watching only 533 vertical pixels. 480p to 533p - worth the $200?

WTF? Why the hell would you want to chop the sides off the picture? Christ, you can deal with 1" bars!

[thrustbucket]

WTF? Why the hell would you want to chop the sides off the picture? Christ, you can deal with 1" bars!

On my new projector, those bars are more like 3 feet below and above the image, and being a very bright projector, they are pretty noticeable. I guess I need to get some masking for my screen.

Still, it does suck that pretty much all 2.35 movies are a max of 533p.

[doubledown]

BLACK BAR are noticeable? Ummmmm....not sure what to say. Blacks should look BLACK not bright.

[Koggit]

Why would you want to ZOOM any movie? you would lose the correct aspect ratio. I'm perfectly fine with all the ratios (except Full Screen). Even with NORMAL DVD. A 2.35:1 DVD has black bars....they NEVER took up the full screen. And, if you ZOOM, you lose picture image.


WTF? Why the hell would you want to chop the sides off the picture? Christ, you can deal with 1" bars!

I understand why some people would rather watch OAR, but I'm perfectly fine with 16:9. The only films that really need a larger aspect ratio are epic movies like Lord of the Rings, etc. Of course that's my opinion - and I'm not saying you're wrong to prefer OAR, so please don't say I'm wrong for preferring more detail.

In a 2.4:1 HD DVD, vertically, you have 800 pixels of video and 280 pixels of letterboxing bars. Now when you put this on a 720p display, such as my 56" DLP, you still have 26% of the image being dedicated to displaying letterbox bars - meaning only 533 pixels of your screen are displaying the film, which is only a marginal gain from anamorphic 16:9 DVD. With a letterbox zoom, you would see 720 pixels, an additional 187 pixels, a substantial gain.

Basically, if Microsoft would give us a letterbox zoom (which they should have), the user would be given the option - original aspect ratio, or an increase in image detail. Personally, I'd rather deal with 16:9 cropping for the gain in quality.

BLACK BAR are noticeable? Ummmmm....not sure what to say. Blacks should look BLACK not bright.

This is fairly common with front projectors, which is why most people matte their screens to whatever aspect ratio they watch most often.

[thrustbucket]

BLACK BAR are noticeable? Ummmmm....not sure what to say. Blacks should look BLACK not bright.

On a projector, with my screen in front of a white wall, you can see a sort of halo, but it's hard to explain. Fire any projector at a white wall and try to display a black screen, same effect. It's hard to reproduce super dark black with a light cannon.

[guyver2077]

strange..
disney hd dvd title? or error?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8134636&st=hd+dvd&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1605970

[paddlefoot]

I understand why some people would rather watch OAR, but I'm perfectly fine with 16:9. The only films that really need a larger aspect ratio are epic movies like Lord of the Rings, etc. Of course that's my opinion - and I'm not saying you're wrong to prefer OAR, so please don't say I'm wrong for preferring more detail.

In a 2.4:1 HD DVD, vertically, you have 800 pixels of video and 280 pixels of letterboxing bars. Now when you put this on a 720p display, such as my 56" DLP, you still have 26% of the image being dedicated to displaying letterbox bars - meaning only 533 pixels of your screen are displaying the film, which is only a marginal gain from anamorphic 16:9 DVD. With a letterbox zoom, you would see 720 pixels, an additional 187 pixels, a substantial gain.

Basically, if Microsoft would give us a letterbox zoom (which they should have), the user would be given the option - original aspect ratio, or an increase in image detail. Personally, I'd rather deal with 16:9 cropping for the gain in quality.



This is fairly common with front projectors, which is why most people matte their screens to whatever aspect ratio they watch most often.

That's why I like the fact that my Panny does letterbox zoom.

[ryanbph]

As mentioned earlier, I wonder what the sales numbers are on this accessory. 2 out of the 3 circuit city's within 25 miles where I work are sold out, and they each have been restocked at least once if not more.

[paddlefoot]

Just got my Panny 50" 60U and going to get this in the next day or two. My only issue is that I don't have a VGA input on my display. I couldn't justify $500 more dollars for the 600U when the only extra things on it that I would use would be the nicer bezel and the VGA input (and I would only be using that for my 360). Hopefully it still looks great as a stopgap, at least until I get an HDDVD player with HDMI

[guyver2077]

im also hoping this thing is selling well....

i cant see why any 360 owner with an hd tv wouldnt want it.

Marketing as usual though kinda sucks. i havent even seen hd dvd microsoft commercials or anything.. i bet theres some 360 owners that dont even know it exists...

hd dvd in general needs to get their marketing shit together man.. thats what worrys me the most..

u go to fucking bb or cc and you see blu-ray.. you ask the noob workers which is better and they always say blu-ray

[KaneRobot]

I think HD-DVD is going to wind up "the loser" (if there is one between the two) since the marketing is complete SHIT.

For 160 bucks though I don't care - I'll get the movies that are available for it now, and by the time I'm "forced" to switch to Blu-Ray the players will be much more affordable.

[thrustbucket]

I think HD-DVD is going to wind up "the loser" (if there is one between the two) since the marketing is complete SHIT.

For 160 bucks though I don't care - I'll get the movies that are available for it now, and by the time I'm "forced" to switch to Blu-Ray the players will be much more affordable.

By the time you are forced to switch to bluray, I think dual format players will be common.

[guyver2077]

dont give up yet...

why would anyone want to support another "sony" format... cmon...

i tried to like umd... we all know how that turned out...

there is no reason hd dvd shold lose the war... but who knows...

they just need to fucking market.. they are already winning as it is...

it wll get interesting to see the war when ps3 is readily available though

im trying not to buy too many movies just in case..


i also dont expect this war to end anytime soon,.

[ryanbph]

besides the ps3, I haven't seen any blue ray commercials either

[guyver2077]

what i HATE the most is that average JOE already thinks blueray is better.. i hate the morons that know nothing and do no research and are already convinced ps3/bluray is the future...

Every person i can turn over will be a step closer lol


I think hd dvd has this in the bag. All they need to do is market and drop the whole "combo" disk thing. Those prices are outrageous.

If they just drop the instore prices as well (amazon is decent) then we're talking

[thrustbucket]

dont give up yet...

why would anyone want to support another "sony" format... cmon...

i tried to like umd... we all know how that turned out...

there is no reason hd dvd shold lose the war... but who knows...

they just need to fucking market.. they are already winning as it is...

it wll get interesting to see the war when ps3 is readily available though

im trying not to buy too many movies just in case..


i also dont expect this war to end anytime soon,.

Nobody with half a brain is buying bluray. Sony is banking on selling a PS3 to every other person with electricity on the planet, which would make bluray win by default.

If the PS3 sells as much as the PS2 did, bluray will win.

[guyver2077]

Nobody with half a brain is buying bluray. Sony is banking on selling a PS3 to every other person with electricity on the planet, which would make bluray win by default.

If the PS3 sells as much as the PS2 did, bluray will win.

Yes this worrys me as well.The system will sell regardless so people by default will already have blu-ray.

either way i see myself having a ps3 "eventually". when it is available normally at stores.. it will be the cheapes blu-ray player at 499..

hd dvd players need to keep getting lower...

THEY ALSO NEED TO PUSH IT WITH WINDOWS VISTA!!!! microsoft can play a big role in this

[darkrage]

PS3 games suck so far, so until some AAA games come out for it, Im not so sure its going to sell as many units as te PS2 at its current price point.

Its about education until then. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell anybody you overhear talking about it on the bus. HD-DVD is a better format, but like AIDS, Blu-Ray can only be stopped by educating people.

[thrustbucket]

Interesting article at Toms Hardware (http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/11/29/enderle_on_christmas_trends/)

exerpt:
Finally, Blu-ray and HD-DVD are in a fight to the death. Last year, when I learned that Blu-ray would ship with the Playstation 3, which had a market potential of over 30 million units, it was easy to call it the early winner. But as additional facts came in on price, availability, and technical problems, this situation changed. HD-DVD Xbox 360 accessories are selling very well and we may be able to call it the market winner shortly as a result.
Xbox 360 - What a difference a year makes

As we mentioned last week, the Xbox 360 is the most mature of the new generation of gaming platforms. This gives it a massive advantage in terms of available games and accessories. It also gave it a massive advantage in terms of available units. Early numbers (Black Friday, Cyber Monday) suggest that even though both the Nintendo and the PlayStation 3 could have outsold it, manufacturing limitations kept their true potential from being reached. In addition, parents who can't get either of the constrained systems are now apparently shifting their buying behavior to the system they can buy, the Xbox 360 - rather than giving their kids an IOU or paying excessively high Ebay prices.

This showcases the importance of actually having a hot product available in sufficient numbers when the buyers are ready to buy. Because of shortages of the Xbox 360 last year, both Sony and Nintendo got a little pop, while Microsoft could have sold more than four times the game systems it had in supply last year.

A year later, Microsoft has plenty of supply and the other guys are constrained. And, according to early information, Xbox 360 sales are ramping sharply, indicating that it will be the clear winner in terms of installed systems. This fact is critical as game developers are not religious about systems. Generally, they prioritize their efforts based on the number of potential customers in a given market. If Microsoft has several millions more of these potential users, they will get the cream of the games coming out from independent developers. And it is the games that make or break a system.

No matter how you look at it, this has all the earmarks of a solid win for Microsoft in the gaming space.
...
HD DVD wins, Blu-ray loses

Much like it is with game systems; competing formats for video are not about the best technology. They are about the most prevalent technology. It is expensive to publish movies and, at least for now, you can't put Blu-ray and HD DVD disks into the same box.

With the Xbox 360 moving so strongly into the market and the top accessory this year being the $200 HD-DVD drive the battle may be over by year end. There is every chance that there may be as many as ten times more HD DVD players than Blu-ray players in the market by the end of the year - even if you don't factor in that HP, the current leader in PC sales, started shipping desktop computers with a $100 HD DVD option. This, coupled with a much lower overall cost for the stand alone players as well as better support for legacy TVs and dual mode disks (that have both legacy DVD and HD-DVD content on a single disk), suggests that HD-DVD is now the format to beat.

HD-DVD wins because of the Xbox 360 - which is ironic, given Blu-ray should have won because of the Playstation 3. Instead, Blu-ray has delayed the Playstation 3 to a point where Sony may have to wait until the Playstation 4 to recover.

BetaMax, Mini-Disk, MemoryStick, and now Blu-ray. At least Sony is consistent. Also, if there is one company that is really looking forward to a better 2007 more than Sony I don't know of it. Boy, when you couple in root kits and battery/camera recalls, you are talking about a really nasty run of bad luck for Sony this year.

[Collectordragon]

Does the HD-DVD add-on still come with King Kong?

[Collectordragon]

Can you use an American HD-DVD add-on with a Japanese 360? Will there be any HD-DVD 360 games or is the add-on strictly for movies?

[thrustbucket]

Does the HD-DVD add-on still come with King Kong?
Yes.
Can you use an American HD-DVD add-on with a Japanese 360? Will there be any HD-DVD 360 games or is the add-on strictly for movies?

I'm not sure about the Japanese 360.

If games ever do come out for the HD-DVD add-on, I'm sure you will also be able to buy multi-disk DVD versions as well. There will never be an HD-DVD only game made.

[PKRipp3r]

im also hoping this thing is selling well....

i cant see why any 360 owner with an hd tv wouldnt want it.


already have a great progressive scan player/surround sound system that scales to 1080i via HDMI, and that pumps out incredible sound when I play games

no muss, no fuss

i'm cool with that for the next couple of years

the hd-dvd add-on is cool, but i don't need to buy one

[Collectordragon]

If games ever do come out for the HD-DVD add-on, I'm sure you will also be able to buy multi-disk DVD versions as well. There will never be an HD-DVD only game made.

It'd be better not to do it the way Sega did with add-ons during the Genesis era. The Genesis and its two add-ons created four different formats for one console; Genesis, Sega CD, 32x, and 32x CD. It'd be smart for Microsoft to go the route with both formats on a single disc so people who will never get the add-on will still buy a certain game but people who do have the add-on can take advantage of additional content for that game. Any word of there ever being 360 HD-DVD games whether from unsubstantiated rumors or otherwise?

[Ruined]

Tom's Hardware: HD DVD wins, Blu-Ray loses!

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/11/29/enderle_on_christmas_trends/

HD DVD wins, Blu-ray loses
Much like it is with game systems; competing formats for video are not about the best technology. They are about the most prevalent technology. It is expensive to publish movies and, at least for now, you can't put Blu-ray and HD DVD disks into the same box.

With the Xbox 360 moving so strongly into the market and the top accessory this year being the $200 HD-DVD drive the battle may be over by year end. There is every chance that there may be as many as ten times more HD DVD players than Blu-ray players in the market by the end of the year - even if you don't factor in that HP, the current leader in PC sales, started shipping desktop computers with a $100 HD DVD option. This, coupled with a much lower overall cost for the stand alone players as well as better support for legacy TVs and dual mode disks (that have both legacy DVD and HD-DVD content on a single disk), suggests that HD-DVD is now the format to beat.

HD-DVD wins because of the Xbox 360 - which is ironic, given Blu-ray should have won because of the Playstation 3. Instead, Blu-ray has delayed the Playstation 3 to a point where Sony may have to wait until the Playstation 4 to recover.

BetaMax, Mini-Disk, MemoryStick, and now Blu-ray. At least Sony is consistent. Also, if there is one company that is really looking forward to a better 2007 more than Sony I don't know of it. Boy, when you couple in root kits and battery/camera recalls, you are talking about a really nasty run of bad luck for Sony this year.

[Psykoboy2]

While not as prominent, #417 beat you to it.

[PKRipp3r]

Tom's Hardware: HD DVD wins, Blu-Ray loses!

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/11/29/enderle_on_christmas_trends/

BetaMax, Mini-Disk, MemoryStick, and now Blu-ray


don't forget the UMD!!

[dafunkk12]

Side note - for those who did buy/are thinking of buying Terminator 3, keep in mind that although Terminator and T2 are both Blu-Ray exclusive for now, there IS a 1080p version of T2 that is readily available (for next to nothing...DDD has it for under 10 bucks). T2 Exreme Edition comes as a 2 disc set. The second disc has a Windows Media version of it on there that runs 1080p. Now that we can play WMV files through the 360 without having to have Windows Media Center...well, you can do the math.
After reading this, I gave it a shot. Unfortunately the 360 recognizes the disc as a DVD and won't let you check it for WMV's. After further investigation on the net, it seems that the WMV's are DRM'd and licenses can only be acquired using the damned Interactual software on the DVD. Then it turns out its version-checking script looks for WMP9 instead of WMP9+. So having WMP10, you need to download a patch to get it to work. After that, you can strip the DRM and burn it to a different disc to play or stream it via Media Center.

Mmm, hoop-jumping.

[Duo_Maxwell]

If games ever do come out for the HD-DVD add-on, I'm sure you will also be able to buy multi-disk DVD versions as well. There will never be an HD-DVD only game made.

I doubt they would do two versions like that ever either, at least never at the same time. Honestly I'd think we'd see an HD-DVD only game before someone creates two versions. Like you though I don't think that will happen though. If one thing has proven true over the years it's that game developers and publishers hate making games that require the use of an add-on (latest notable example, Final Fantasy XI on PS2). The use of an add-on has worked well for games on very, very few occasions in the over two decades where console gaming has become increasingly popular. There's just too much potential for a loss, even if they started to build the HD-DVD drives into the systems I don't think we'd see ever see more than maybe one HD-DVD format game for the 360. I think the first platform to have games on HD-DVD will be PCs, mainly because that gaming market has essentially resided to having to make after market upgrades yourself, something that has never caught on in the console gaming market.

[thrustbucket]

I doubt they would do two versions like that ever either, at least never at the same time. Honestly I'd think we'd see an HD-DVD only game before someone creates two versions. Like you though I don't think that will happen though. If one thing has proven true over the years it's that game developers and publishers hate making games that require the use of an add-on (latest notable example, Final Fantasy XI on PS2). The use of an add-on has worked well for games on very, very few occasions in the over two decades where console gaming has become increasingly popular. There's just too much potential for a loss, even if they started to build the HD-DVD drives into the systems I don't think we'd see ever see more than maybe one HD-DVD format game for the 360. I think the first platform to have games on HD-DVD will be PCs, mainly because that gaming market has essentially resided to having to make after market upgrades yourself, something that has never caught on in the console gaming market.

Well Blue Dragon is supposedly something like 2 or 3 DVD's. I can see if that game does really well, they could possibly do an HD-DVD version of it. I agree with you, there won't be anything special about an HD-DVD version other than it comes on one disk.

Furthermore, seeing as how you can't play games right now on the HD-DVD drive, there may be something more technical involved in streaming game content, that at least the current version of the dashboard can't do.

[DomLando]

The coupon for CC expires the 30th so can I use it today since it's the 30th or was the 29th the last day?

[guyver2077]

Got to check out the hd wmv versions of t2 yesterday.. looked pretty good and no black bars :)

also got to see hd porn for the first time... looked damn good...

[DomLando]

Damn no CC's in my area have this in stock. Is there any other deals for it?

[thrustbucket]

Got to check out the hd wmv versions of t2 yesterday.. looked pretty good and no black bars :)

also got to see hd porn for the first time... looked damn good...


Great, just what I want to see, body makeup smudges, 5 o'clock pubic shadow, and more detailed phalic veins.

[ryanbph]

The coupon for CC expires the 30th so can I use it today since it's the 30th or was the 29th the last day?

there is a post in another thread for the decembers version of the coupon. So you can use that coupon to get the hd dvd drive in dec. here is the link for the high res one

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2405572&postcount=249

[guyver2077]

Great, just what I want to see, body makeup smudges, 5 o'clock pubic shadow, and more detailed phalic veins.

lol yea check out island fever 3.. jesse jane is so fine..

ive never scene such nice scenery in a porn lol..

[DomLando]

there is a post in another thread for the decembers version of the coupon. So you can use that coupon to get the hd dvd drive in dec. here is the link for the high res one

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2405572&postcount=249
Thanks!

[doubledown]

Damn no CC's in my area have this in stock. Is there any other deals for it?

Ebay seems to be going below $200....

[Ruined]

CHRONOS HD DVD

The HD DVD's audio is great with 24bit/96khz DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack, 24bit/48khz Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack, and 24bit/48khz PCM stereo soundtrack. Personally I would have canned the DTS-HD and PCM soundtracks and instead offered lossless Dolby TrueHD5.1 24bit/48khz, but I can't complain as the audio is excellent :)

Video is MPEG2 but surprisingly sharp, likely due to the short 40 minute runtime of the film allowing for ample breathing room. I got up nice and close to the TV and did not detect any significant compression artifacting at 1080i. Colors are beautiful in this release! It may have been even better in VC-1, but with this type of flick I really can't complain either here.

This HD DVD completely destroys the prior standard DVD version I had. It literally is like the difference between VHS and DVD. I believe this is both due to superior mastering and superior encoding technologies.

Finally, interactivity makes the film even more cool on HD DVD. Don't forget to play around with the Locations and Annotations menu options while the film is running; they allow you to toggle locational information where each shot was taken as well as detailed information about the location and things being shown in the film, all in popup windows you can turn on/off at will.

Overall, for this type of film OUTSTANDING effort to the people who made the HD DVD. Often these type of movies get crap treatment but Chronos on HD DVD had some TLC put into it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of nature/landscape movies - or plain anyone who would like to see some gorgeous forces of nature put to Vangelis-style music! IMO, this is one of those films you should see at least once in your life - and what better way to do so than on HD DVD?!

http://www.amazon.com/Chronos-HD-DVD/dp/B000E5KUJ2/sr=8-2/qid=1164946404/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-3491212-5125608?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

[Santurio]

CHRONOS HD DVD


http://www.amazon.com/Chronos-HD-DVD/dp/B000E5KUJ2/sr=8-2/qid=1164946404/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-3491212-5125608?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
BestPrices.com has it listed for $13.99 and they should still accept GCO. I have had this pre-ordered for awhile now, since Oct 30. I can't wait to get it in.

[dafunkk12]

Got to check out the hd wmv versions of t2 yesterday.. looked pretty good and no black bars :)
Yeah, no bars, but everybody's stretched vertically. And incorrect aspect ratios bother me like none other.

[KaneRobot]

And incorrect aspect ratios bother me like none other.
I've got to think MS will fix some of this aspect ratio/native resolution stuff eventually....come on, no support for 1440x900 via VGA cable? There are a shitton of widescreen LCD monitors out there that are native at that resolution.

It's kind of sad that they clearly wanted to get this out in a timely manner (meaning before PS3 launch) so they shoved it out the door a tad early.

[Trakan]

I've got to think MS will fix some of this aspect ratio/native resolution stuff eventually....come on, no support for 1440x900 via VGA cable? There are a shitton of widescreen LCD monitors out there that are native at that resolution.

It's kind of sad that they clearly wanted to get this out in a timely manner (meaning before PS3 launch) so they shoved it out the door a tad early.

If we see 1440x900 in a future update, I hope we see 1680x1050 as well.

[SteveMcQ]

If we see 1440x900 in a future update, I hope we see 1680x1050 as well.Add me in for another user hoping for native resolution support for the WS LCD monitors. Mine's 1920x1200...a slightly stretched 1080p.

[Sarang01]

Some DVD's to go with your player:

Ashura-no go Hitomi:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ye-49-en-70-1hk7.html

Shinobi:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ye-49-en-70-1e0i.html

Volcano High:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ye-49-en-70-1kg1.html

Brave Story:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ye-49-en-70-1n24.html

Note that most of these will be good for showpieces so don't mind the price as much. Also "Brave Story" is the FIRST Anime to hit the HD disc formats so PLEASE pick it up. These are all region free discs btw.
Too bad the American HD-DVD player doesn't work with Sony TV's as I'm starting to get interested in it since most of these are the discs I'm interested in and they are or have become region free. :-/
Now if only some Korean Drama's would come on HD-DVD as well as K-Pop star concerts.
edit: I wonder when a BoA concert will hit either format. Seems pretty likely, only question is when and if it will, HOPEFULLY, be in Korean.
Looks like Blu-Ray has one extra Anime and Air is coming. Funny since I didn't think a game that started out as a PC Hentai game would end up big enough to hit a next gen. format.

[ryanbph]

i would like to see improved support for the vga as well, I picked it up when i got the player, and the image was about 1/2 the size of my tv. My resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. I would hope they will have an hdmi accessory soon, as I would rather that then the vga cable

[Sarang01]

i would like to see improved support for the vga as well, I picked it up when i got the player, and the image was about 1/2 the size of my tv. My resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. I would hope they will have an hdmi accessory soon, as I would rather that then the vga cable

What about the Sony problem? Personally I just find that petty.

[Duo_Maxwell]

Some DVD's to go with your player:

Ashura-no go Hitomi:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ye-49-en-70-1hk7.html

Shinobi:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ye-49-en-70-1e0i.html

Volcano High:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ye-49-en-70-1kg1.html

Brave Story:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ye-49-en-70-1n24.html

Note that most of these will be good for showpieces so don't mind the price as much. Also "Brave Story" is the FIRST Anime to hit the HD disc formats so PLEASE pick it up. These are all region free discs btw.
Too bad the American HD-DVD player doesn't work with Sony TV's as I'm starting to get interested in it since most of these are the discs I'm interested in and they are or have become region free. :-/
Now if only some Korean Drama's would come on HD-DVD as well as K-Pop star concerts.
edit: I wonder when a BoA concert will hit either format. Seems pretty likely, only question is when and if it will, HOPEFULLY, be in Korean.
Looks like Blu-Ray has one extra Anime and Air is coming. Funny since I didn't think a game that started out as a PC Hentai game would end up big enough to hit a next gen. format.

You have to be joking, $50 shipped?!?! Listen I think we need to temporarily revoke your CAG membership and reeducate you on what constitutes "cheap". I mean are these even official releases (Region-free generally indicates that the studio and producers get nothing, ie a boot or semi-boot)?

[ryanbph]

What about the Sony problem? Personally I just find that petty.

I don't have a sony ps3, so it doesn't make a difference to me if they are having problems. I like my xbox 360 HD add on, but it would be nice to have either hdmi or better update on the vga.

[Duo_Maxwell]

i would like to see improved support for the vga as well, I picked it up when i got the player, and the image was about 1/2 the size of my tv. My resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. I would hope they will have an hdmi accessory soon, as I would rather that then the vga cable

Ever hear that Major Nelson pod cast interview with the guy talking about 1080p support. According to them every TV that does 1080p has VGA and supports it through VGA and some component. Turns out they were basically lying on both accounts, and for some TVs that do they somehow screwed things up.

[Duo_Maxwell]

I don't have a sony ps3, so it doesn't make a difference to me if they are having problems. I like my xbox 360 HD add on, but it would be nice to have either hdmi or better update on the vga.

I think he means the fact that with the 1080p update you actually can't get 1080p via VGA on some 1080p cabable Sony TVs even though the TV supports it through VGA.

[Sarang01]

You have to be joking, $50 shipped?!?! Listen I think we need to temporarily revoke your CAG membership and reeducate you on what constitutes "cheap". I mean are these even official releases (Region-free generally indicates that the studio and producers get nothing, ie a boot or semi-boot)?

Note the price and format. Do you REALLY think any HK companies have managed to pull this off yet? I mean shit I haven't heard about modchips yet. Also that HD-DVD of Shinobi has been around forever up at PA as Region Free.
Note I mention these games as eye candy since U.S. devs. won't get their head out of their asses to pick up the rights to these movies for the U.S. on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Have you actually SEEN "Volcano High" yet?! Also "Ashura-no go Hitomi" looks like a good test to see what CGI related product would look like on the next gen. HD formats, see it giving you an idea of what the FF7 movie would look like on Blu-Ray.
If you'd check these movies you'd also notice Volcano High has NO English sub support which leads credence to the idea it's more for the Japanese and Koreans who have an HD-DVD player and for people like me who like Martial Arts and Martial Arts Fantasy who've pretty much been ignored for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray over here. Same goes worldwide for both new formats with Anime until lately. I don't get why Studio Ghibli tiltles have hit either format yet.
Region Free IS sometimes, though usually rarely, official. My "History Of BoA" Region Free UMD is probably official considering it's UMD for crying out loud and how much UMD piracy have you heard of?
edit: Yeah that's more what I mean Duo but I thought the details were that the component wouldn't even work running through the HD-DVD for the Sony though I suppose I most have to worry if they release HDMI support and it doesn't work there.

I couldn't buy all that shit right now Duo. Too much on my plate with getting Tengai, Spectral Force 3, Blue Dragon and Tokyo Xtreme Racer X. Note that Blue Dragon Asian version or Tengai will be the first.

[Duo_Maxwell]

Note the price and format. Do you REALLY think any HK companies have managed to pull this off yet? I mean shit I haven't heard about modchips yet. Also that HD-DVD of Shinobi has been around forever up at PA as Region Free.
Note I mention these games as eye candy since U.S. devs. won't get their head out of their asses to pick up the rights to these movies for the U.S. on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Have you actually SEEN "Volcano High" yet?! Also "Ashura-no go Hitomi" looks like a good test to see what CGI related product would look like on the next gen. HD formats, see it giving you an idea of what the FF7 movie would look like on Blu-Ray.
If you'd check these movies you'd also notice Volcano High has NO English sub support which leads credence to the idea it's more for the Japanese and Koreans who have an HD-DVD player and for people like me who like Martial Arts and Martial Arts Fantasy who've pretty much been ignored for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray over here. Same goes worldwide for both new formats with Anime until lately. I don't get why Studio Ghibli tiltles have hit either format yet.
Region Free IS sometimes, though usually rarely, official. My "History Of BoA" Region Free UMD is probably official considering it's UMD for crying out loud and how much UMD piracy have you heard of?
edit: Yeah that's more what I mean Duo but I thought the details were that the component wouldn't even work running through the HD-DVD for the Sony though I suppose I most have to worry if they release HDMI support and it doesn't work there.

I couldn't buy all that shit right now Duo. Too much on my plate with getting Tengai, Spectral Force 3, Blue Dragon and Tokyo Xtreme Racer X. Note that Blue Dragon Asian version or Tengai will be the first.

Okay it maybe offical and look damn pretty (the only one I've seen is Volcano High), but never ever would I pay $50 for a single film. No collector's edition of just one film itself costs that much, usually they have random crap packed in at least, jeez man Criterion Collection editions usually don't even get that high.

Edit:
I don't get why Studio Ghibli tiltles have hit either format yet.

Dunno really, but I blame Disney, then again I blame them for a great many things only because it brings me joy for some reason...

[ryanbph]

Ever hear that Major Nelson pod cast interview with the guy talking about 1080p support. According to them every TV that does 1080p has VGA and supports it through VGA and some component. Turns out they were basically lying on both accounts, and for some TVs that do they somehow screwed things up.
yes I did, and yes they were

[ryanbph]

I think he means the fact that with the 1080p update you actually can't get 1080p via VGA on some 1080p cabable Sony TVs even though the TV supports it through VGA.

if that is what he meant, then yes that is some fucked up shit. But both of the complaints are horrible.

[Ruined]

I hope everyone realizes that 1080i = 1080p if your TV set supports inverse telecine or "3:2 pulldown". A 1080i signal contains all the information that a 1080p signal has, the 1080i signal just needs to be deinterlaced using inverse telecine and you get a perfect 1080p signal.

99% of HDTVs support inverse telecine/3:2 pulldown.

[Duo_Maxwell]

I hope everyone realizes that 1080i = 1080p if your TV set supports inverse telecine or "3:2 pulldown". A 1080i signal contains all the information that a 1080p signal has, the 1080i signal just needs to be deinterlaced using inverse telecine and you get a perfect 1080p signal.

99% of HDTVs support inverse telecine/3:2 pulldown.

Yes, but Hd-DVDs are encoded in 1080p and if somebody pays the extra premium for a 1080p TV they should be able to take advantage as such without having to rely on the TVs picture correction to do it. Plus there is no 1080i option for the VGA cables, so if that is the regular connection one is using on their TV is VGa they either have to switch back to component (which maybe occupied) or take the lumps. An unlikely situation, but an unfortunate and possible one. Personally I think 1080p is an overrated marketing tool, but the principle of the lies and just the fact that if a company says it'll work in real 1080p, then it ought to output to your capable TV in real 1080p, no hang ups involved.

Bottomline, they should've done more research and testing before they hurry it out. To me it seems as though they rushed it to get the word out before the competetion hit. I'm sure if this was a Sony or Nintendo console you'd have no problem agreeing with that feeing...

[Ruined]

Yes, but Hd-DVDs are encoded in 1080p and if somebody pays the extra premium for a 1080p TV they should be able to take advantage as such without having to rely on the TVs picture correction to do it. Plus there is no 1080i option for the VGA cables, so if that is the regular connection one is using on their TV is VGa they either have to switch back to component (which maybe occupied) or take the lumps. An unlikely situation, but an unfortunate and possible one. Personally I think 1080p is an overrated marketing tool, but the principle of the lies and just the fact that if a company says it'll work in real 1080p, then it ought to output to your capable TV in real 1080p, no hang ups involved.

Bottomline, they should've done more research and testing before they hurry it out. To me it seems as though they rushed it to get the word out before the competetion hit. I'm sure if this was a Sony or Nintendo console you'd have no problem agreeing with that feeing...

WTF are you going on about? "picture correction"? Deinterlacing is simply a way to change the way a picture is displayed with no signal loss. In fact, "1080i" actually contains data closer to the original 1080p24 source than most "1080p" outputs. Why? Because most 1080p is 1080p60, and 60 frames is not a multiple of 24 frames meaning you will be seeing judder/choppy motion from the 3:2 cadence in the signal. With 1080i60 (thats 60 fields, not frames) you can deinterlace to 1080p24, 1080p48, 1080p60, 1080p72, etc... You will see many more 1080p72 sets in 2007, and on those sets its likely 1080i60 will look better than 1080p60.

Further, the VGA output of the XBOX 360 allows for 1080p HD DVD with the dashboard update released a month ago, so I have no idea what you are talking about here either. For HD DVD 360 can output 720p/1080i over component (1080p component for games) and up to 1080p via VGA on all sources. Most digital sets these days have a VGA input in addition to HDMI/Component.

Finally, I have no idea what you are talking about "research and testing." Sony's idea to build Blu-Ray into the PS3 was a fucking stupid idea, as evidenced by their currently getting their asses kicked in the sales department. Microsoft by far made a better choice, launch with DVD and release an HD DVD addon for movies a year later. Because of this, they now have over 7 million consoles sold when Sony has been unable to break 500k. Hell, Wii is destroying PS3 as well. And now, with Blu-Ray getting killed in the format war by HD DVD, why would a gamer spend $200 more on a PS3 when 360 offers the same or better graphics and the ability to upgrade to HD DVD in the future? Blu-Ray may very well sink Sony's boat as it has failed them both in the movie (failure to beat HD DVD) and game (killing PS3 supply) departments... I think it's Sony who should have done their research :)

[SteveMcQ]

WTF are you going on about? "picture correction"? Deinterlacing is simply a way to change the way a picture is displayed with no signal loss. In fact, "1080i" actually contains data closer to the original 1080p24 source than most "1080p" outputs. Why? Because most 1080p is 1080p60, and 60 frames is not a multiple of 24 frames meaning you will be seeing judder/choppy motion from the 3:2 cadence in the signal. With 1080i60 (thats 60 fields, not frames) you can deinterlace to 1080p24, 1080p48, 1080p60, 1080p72, etc... You will see many more 1080p72 sets in 2007, and on those sets its likely 1080i60 will look better than 1080p60.

Further, the VGA output of the XBOX 360 allows for 1080p HD DVD with the dashboard update released a month ago, so I have no idea what you are talking about here either. For HD DVD 360 can output 720p/1080i over component (1080p component for games) and up to 1080p via VGA on all sources. Most digital sets these days have a VGA input in addition to HDMI/Component.

Finally, I have no idea what you are talking about "research and testing." Sony's idea to build Blu-Ray into the PS3 was a fucking stupid idea, as evidenced by their currently getting their asses kicked in the sales department. Microsoft by far made a better choice, launch with DVD and release an HD DVD addon for movies a year later. Because of this, they now have over 7 million consoles sold when Sony has been unable to break 500k. Hell, Wii is destroying PS3 as well. And now, with Blu-Ray getting killed in the format war by HD DVD, why would a gamer spend $200 more on a PS3 when 360 offers the same or better graphics and the ability to upgrade to HD DVD in the future? Blu-Ray may very well sink Sony's boat as it has failed them both in the movie (failure to beat HD DVD) and game (killing PS3 supply) departments... I think it's Sony who should have done their research :)You're like epobirs, only more focused in your knowledge. How the hell do you know all this stuff?

[Duo_Maxwell]

WTF are you going on about? "picture correction"? Deinterlacing is simply a way to change the way a picture is displayed with no signal loss. In fact, "1080i" actually contains data closer to the original 1080p24 source than most "1080p" outputs. Why? Because most 1080p is 1080p60, and 60 frames is not a multiple of 24 frames meaning you will be seeing judder/choppy motion from the 3:2 cadence in the signal. With 1080i60 (thats 60 fields, not frames) you can deinterlace to 1080p24, 1080p48, 1080p60, 1080p72, etc... You will see many more 1080p72 sets in 2007, and on those sets its likely 1080i60 will look better than 1080p60.

So changing the picture to better conform with the TV (singal loss is beside the point) is not correcting it an anyway? Funny, I always thought that if you take something and change it to work better for something else then you are in fct correcting it. IIRC 3:2 pulldown was designed for film/video correction in what is essentially DVDs (and other NTSC signals). That its basic purpose as shown here, (http://www.dvdfile.com/news/special_report/production_a_z/3_2_pulldown.htm)here, (http://www.projectorpeople.com/resources/pulldown-3.asp)and here (http://www.zerocut.com/tech/pulldown.html). Besides if somehting is changing the frames and fields of a film to conform with your TV more then it's correcting the signal being sent ot the TV. This is why 3:2 pulldown is often referred to as 3:2 correction or 3:2 film correction in some circles. It's a form of correcting the pciture signal sent to the TV, I don't see what else you'd call that if not some form of correction. Babble all you like but that is what 3:2 pulldown does, it's good thing that often does it job without notice. Like I said 1080p is more of a marketing gimmick, nonetheless saying you are giving real 1080p output via VGA only to have it not work and then have someone switch to 1080i via component is not a good thing. If you can tell me why 3:2 pulldown was created, if not to correct NTSC video signals for better use on TVs, then I'd love to hear it...


Further, the VGA output of the XBOX 360 allows for 1080p HD DVD with the dashboard update released a month ago, so I have no idea what you are talking about here either. For HD DVD 360 can output 720p/1080i over component (1080p component for games) and up to 1080p via VGA on all sources. Most digital sets these days have a VGA input in addition to HDMI/Component.

Agian look at the context of the discussion. Nowhere did I mention it can't do it or the resolutions HD-DVD can do, I said it doesn't work on some displays that are 1920x1080 capable via a VGA input. If you could read I would've thought you could've grasped a concept like context, obviously I was wrong. And actually while the majority still have VGA inputs, some are dropping them. Very few plasmas have VGA inputs at all and Mitsuibishi (for some stupid reason) nixed VGA from every one of thier 2006 lineup. Also some 1080p capable sets with VGA actually have a "dumbed down" input that maxes out at a lower resolution. My other point was that accoriding to Major Nelson and his podcast buddy all 1080p sets have VGa and all of them run a 1920x1080, only that's flatout wrong. You should work for Major Nelson though, you sure can spin like he does.


Finally, I have no idea what you are talking about "research and testing." Sony's idea to build Blu-Ray into the PS3 was a fucking stupid idea, as evidenced by their currently getting their asses kicked in the sales department. Microsoft by far made a better choice, launch with DVD and release an HD DVD addon for movies a year later. Because of this, they now have over 7 million consoles sold when Sony has been unable to break 500k. Hell, Wii is destroying PS3 as well. And now, with Blu-Ray getting killed in the format war by HD DVD, why would a gamer spend $200 more on a PS3 when 360 offers the same or better graphics and the ability to upgrade to HD DVD in the future? Blu-Ray may very well sink Sony's boat as it has failed them both in the movie (failure to beat HD DVD) and game (killing PS3 supply) departments... I think it's Sony who should have done their research :)

Again you've proven all you jargon and BS amounts for nothing when you take someone out of context. This is like arguing with somebody on the VS. forum, totally devoid of reason. My "research and testing" comment had not so much to do with the HD-DVD drive or the 360 for God's sake. It was talking about the 1080p update. That was what was rushed IMO, I wasn't trying to dupe you into another one of your fanboyish tirades, simply pointing out the fact that maybe with some more time and testing they could've got the update working for ALL sets that use 1920x1080 resolutions on VGA. There's also that conspiracy theory (that I don't really buy) that they did it to only screw Sony TVs. Probably rubbish, but considering Sony's TVs are the highest selling 1080p cabable sets you'd think they would've tested it.

In short, if you want to prove a point, then fine, but don't act like an ass by basically ignoring the context of everything said prior, to just try and prove your point. The techno-speak may distract some, but if you're quoting me and least bother to read what I've said and respond to that, don't go into some rant over something else.

[MaskedPlague]

Just bought my HD-DVD player. I love this thing. Superman Returns looks so good.

[Collectordragon]

Okay it maybe offical and look damn pretty (the only one I've seen is Volcano High), but never ever would I pay $50 for a single film. No collector's edition of just one film itself costs that much, usually they have random crap packed in at least, jeez man Criterion Collection editions usually don't even get that high.

Buying movies in Japan has always been more expensive than in North America. It was like that even for VHS.

[thrustbucket]

For anyone that cares, Superman combo disk is $19.99 at walmart right now. I went to bb and cc and it was $35.

[doubledown]

For anyone that cares, Superman combo disk is $19.99 at walmart right now. I went to bb and cc and it was $35.

As always YMMV with WalMart. They price things different at each store. I could not even find a HD DVD at the one closest to my work....where are they located in the store?

[anomynous]

As always YMMV with WalMart. They price things different at each store. I could not even find a HD DVD at the one closest to my work....where are they located in the store?
at mine the HDDVDs are w/ the new release DVDs

[thrustbucket]

As always YMMV with WalMart. They price things different at each store. I could not even find a HD DVD at the one closest to my work....where are they located in the store?

True. I read about it online though, I am relatively sure it's nation wide, but not every walmart carries hd-dvd. I went to 3. One didn't carry, one was sold out.

[DomLando]

2 quick questions. When the CC closest to me receive more HD DVD add ons I plan on picking one up. Do they still come with King Kong? Also I want to take advantage of the deal amazon has. Can anyone recommend any good HD DVDs?

[SteveMcQ]

2 quick questions. When the CC closest to me receive more HD DVD add ons I plan on picking one up. Do they still come with King Kong? Also I want to take advantage of the deal amazon has. Can anyone recommend any good HD DVDs?They should, though I'm not sure on the production numbers on the batch that come with the disc. There's a sticker on the front that states the drives comes with the disc though, so at least you'll know.

[DomLando]

They should, though I'm not sure on the production numbers on the batch that come with the disc. There's a sticker on the front that states the drives comes with the disc though, so at least you'll know.
Ok Thanks

[Malik112099]

True. I read about it online though, I am relatively sure it's nation wide, but not every walmart carries hd-dvd. I went to 3. One didn't carry, one was sold out.

yeah..none of my walmarts carry HD DVDs...glad the targets do...

[LinkinPrime]

Interesting article on Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD and how consoles are affecting the sales:

Did Sony Kill Blu-ray?

This is more of a short update, but if you are watching PS3 sales http://www.technewsworld.com/images/new/icon-inline-shop.gif (http://www.technewsworld.com/story/54532.html), you know that the company will have a hard time hitting 600,000 units sold by year end, and there are already rumors that it may have to recall some of the initial systems for problems.
This follows battery and camera recalls that have many questioning Sony's ability to execute right now. Sony just experienced an executive shake-up that may put the company in better shape. When a company has as many problems as it had over the last 12 months, corporate should -- and generally does -- take the majority of the blame.
The interesting thing is that when Microsoft and Sony came down on opposite sides, many assumed that Microsoft wouldn't even get a vote. No one anticipated that simply by creating a low cost HD DVD accessory, it could change that dynamic dramatically. It shouldn't have been a surprise, given that those of us who thought Blu-ray would initially win believed it because of projected PS3 sales -- and PS3 should have created a decisive win for Sony and Blu-ray.
Unfortunately, there were massive production problems and cost overruns, and Sony could only get a fraction of the systems into the market channel. As a result, Microsoft is projected to have 10 million Xbox (http://www.microsoft.com/xbox/) http://www.technewsworld.com/images/new/icon-inline-search.gif (http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/search.pl?query=Xbox&scope=network) 360s by the end of this year, against Sony's 600,000 PS3s. If Microsoft has just a 20 percent attach rate for its US$200 drive -- which is selling out, by the way -- it will have nearly 4x the number of HD DVD drives in consumer hands.
If you think about it, Sony also ends the year behind Nintendo (http://www.nintendo.com/home) http://www.technewsworld.com/images/new/icon-inline-search.gif (http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/search.pl?query=Nintendo&scope=network), which is expected to sell around 1 million Wii game systems (http://www.technewsworld.com/story/54532.html#). This suggests that while the PS3 should have assured the success of Blu-ray, Blu-ray may have assured the failure of the PS3 -- at least for 2006. Now that is just weird.


http://www.technewsworld.com/story/54532.html

[shipwreck]

Damn it, I watched an HD-DVD on my friend's 360 last night and now I have to try and convince myself that it didn't look that much better than a DVD and that it won't be as big of a difference on my TV. This sucks, I don't want to buy any of my movies again. Who the hell snuck into my house last night and put all these artifacts into my DVD's? Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thrustbucket]

Damn it, I watched an HD-DVD on my friend's 360 last night and now I have to try and convince myself that it didn't look that much better than a DVD and that it won't be as big of a difference on my TV. This sucks, I don't want to buy any of my movies again. Who the hell snuck into my house last night and put all these artifacts into my DVD's? Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I managed to get through that problem by promising myself I won't re-buy any dvd's, only buy newly released HD.

I'm a firm believer that older material transfered to HD-DVD won't be a huge difference, compared to new releases.

[LinkinPrime]

Well, I managed to get through that problem by promising myself I won't re-buy any dvd's, only buy newly released HD.

I'm a firm believer that older material transfered to HD-DVD won't be a huge difference, compared to new releases.
That is not true. I got the Mission Impossible collection yesterday from Buy.com and MI2 didnt look quite as sharp as MI3 did but it still looked way better than the DVD, and it is my favorite MI movie so Im glad I re-bought it.

[munch]

Well, I managed to get through that problem by promising myself I won't re-buy any dvd's, only buy newly released HD.

I'm a firm believer that older material transfered to HD-DVD won't be a huge difference, compared to new releases.

Things can get better. Take, for example, Crierion's first release of Seven Samurai. It looked alright when it came out, but there are scratches and artifacts everywhere. The re-release is flawless. Night and Day. It could only get better on HD-DVD. This movie came out in 1954. Older releases will definitely benefit from HD-DVD.

[thrustbucket]

Damn it guys, shut up. I already convinced myself that there isn't a big difference. I can't afford to rebuy my dvd catelog!

hehe, actually I guess it just comes down to the individual movie. Best to read reviews of them and see how they fair. Some movies are authored well, others aren't.

[Purkeynator]

Yeah I am not sure what resolution old movies were shot at but I know it is higher resolution than the dvd standard.

[gsr]

I'm a firm believer that older material transfered to HD-DVD won't be a huge difference, compared to new releases.

Sorry but this is completely incorrect.

HDNet Movies plays classic movies (50s, 60s) in HD all the time and they SMOKE the current dvds.

Keep in mind that HDNet Movies' HD is lower bitrate and resolution than HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

Go look at "The Searchers", a John Wayne movie, from the 50s that was released for HD-DVD -- it looks pretty damn good, and probably better than Full Metal Jacket and Perfect Storm.

Newer movies are shot "stylistically" -- and just because they look "soft" doesn't mean they're bad. That's just the way the director intended it to be -- see Sky Captain and War of the Worlds for examples of an intentionally soft picture.

and ...Film (35 mm) has at least 4 x the resolution of 1080p HDTV, so anything that was shot on film originally can be transferred to HD.

[thrustbucket]

Sorry but this is completely incorrect.

HDNet Movies plays classic movies (50s, 60s) in HD all the time and they SMOKE the current dvds.

Keep in mind that HDNet Movies' HD is lower bitrate and resolution than HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

Go look at "The Searchers", a John Wayne movie, from the 50s that was released for HD-DVD -- it looks pretty damn good, and probably better than Full Metal Jacket and Perfect Storm.

Newer movies are shot "stylistically" -- and just because they look "soft" doesn't mean they're bad. That's just the way the director intended it to be -- see Sky Captain and War of the Worlds for examples of an intentionally soft picture.

and ...Film (35 mm) has at least 4 x the resolution of 1080p HDTV, so anything that was shot on film originally can be transferred to HD.

I fully agree with you. What I am saying is that I don't believe the studios, on average, spend as much time making old re-releases look as good as they do with new releases. Not to mentions extras, polish, and features.

There is far more to converting old films to HD-DVD than pushing a button and letting it go. It's taken scene by scene, frame by frame, and adjusted for it's format. I am saying this is most likely done to a greater degree of detail on new releases, that's all.

That being said, I'll be happy to rebuy my DVD's in HD-DVD when they start hitting bargain bins. I can think of no movie I already own on DVD that I'm willing to pay $30 for again for marginal to good image improvement.

[Ruined]

Optical HD Battle May Be Over: HD-DVD Wins

Nearly a year and a half ago I wrote a column saying that Blu-Ray wins or nothing does. This showcases the reality of doing predictions because while the analysis held up, events did not pan out as anticipated and by any current measure HD-DVD will end this year with a decisive win.

The basis for the prediction, which did accurately point out that Sony’s win here might actually cost them more than a loss, was the PS3 and the forecast volumes for that product. Back in August of 2005 we did know that HD-DVD, which used DVD production technology, would be easier to bring to market but it simply did not seem reasonable that Sony would put their PlayStation franchise at risk for anything but a technology they were absolutely certain they could bring to market on time.

That turned out to be incorrect. The problems with Blu-Ray have created extreme cost and execution problems for Sony and now their premier division (instead of being the profit center for Sony) is predicting they will take a $1.5B loss next year largely resulting from this decision. To put this in perspective, just think what would happen if Apple’s iPod group, instead of generating massive profit, suddenly dropped into massive loss. Now you can see why the Sony PlayStation division just changed out their top executives.

Why HD-DVD is Wining

When you talk to either the HD-DVD or the Blu-Ray camp you get the sense that neither actually watches movies much. Both cite features as the reason why folks will pick one or the other. Yes there is a lame shooting game in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Blu-Ray) and there are a ton of things you can do interactively in HD-DVD (including changing car colors in one scene in The Fast and Furious III: Tokyo Drift). But the movie market moves on quality of movie, price of player, and price and availability of media.

At launch HD-DVD players were about half the price of Blu-Ray players and the movie price for HD-DVD is generally running about $5 less. In addition, many of the new HD-DVD movies also have regular DVD side which means that buyers, most of which will have both HD-DVD and DVD decks, will get better value with HD-DVD than with Blu-Ray – that’s the theory anyways.

All that being said, the killing blow may have been done by Microsoft who decided to bring to market a $200 HD-DVD option for their Xbox 360 which has been in market a year longer than Sony and is projected to have a near 20x installed base advantage by year end (10M Xbox 360 to 600K PS3). Note that both projections are aggressive but Sony was supposed to originally ship 2M PS3s into the market during the 4th quarter and actual numbers (given they had under 200K at launch) may be closer to 400K. And with a recall possible there is a chance they might not even make that. Add to this that the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive is for movies only, so each one counts for movie viewing while PS3s may not be used to watch movies and you have a situation where the active movie player advantage by year-end should be between 4x and 6x better for HD-DVD over Blu-Ray.

Finally, HP who had been a big Blu-Ray supporter and dominates the Media Center PC market, introduced a $100 HD-DVD upgrade for their PCs (Sony’s Blu-Ray VIAO solution was just dropped to $749). The impact of this last move is still too early to measure but there is no comparably priced (not even close) solution using Blu-Ray.

If you go to Amazon and look you can see HD-DVDs are solidly ahead and this is before the impact of either the Microsoft or the HP moves, many of which won’t be opened until Christmas or haven’t yet been shipped (HP).

Now Sony will stick with a technology for years after the market has decided on another path and they do have some very strong supporters which include Dell, Apple, and Disney. Dell traditionally has been the PC bellwether company, Apple has the most loyal customer base, and Disney is the only Studio that people ask for by name. So these folks, particularly Sony, could drag this on for years. But if that is the case not only will many in the industry not make money, Sony will probably lose the most because they are still the ones doing the heavy lifting (In addition, after the battery problems, neither Dell nor Apple is as close to Sony as they had been).

Right now it appears impossible for Blu-Ray to gain a substantial lead on HD-DVD, even after massive investment, they likely could only close the gap. If the HD market depends on the emergence of one as a standard and Blu-Ray no longer has a chance to be that standard, how long will it be before the Blu-Ray supporters follow HP and switch sides?

Do You Want One Standard?

Now you can evidently help drive this if you are so inclined. There is a petition that has been set up for you to voice your support if you believe that there should be only one and HD-DVD is that one. You can find the petition here . Evidently they had collected 2,300 signatures at the time of this writing.

The petition was put together by HD NOW where the folks have collected a rather interesting list of supporting material which goes far farther than I have on supporting the conclusion that we’ve prematurely crossed over to the point where HD-DVD has won the High Definition DVD competition.

Does Blu-Ray Die?

Blu-Ray has substantial storage capacity advantages for data and could survive as a high capacity personal computer storage medium. While expensive, one non-Sony vendor’s upcoming Blu-Ray laptop solution costs around $800 on top of a $3000 notebook but it gives that product an unmatched removable media capability. But this is a vastly better storage solution for a high-end PC it isn’t a high volume high definition movie watching solution.

So BluRay could indeed survive but probably not for movies only for PS3 games and high-end optical backup. The real question is does the PS3 survive or whether there will ever be a PS4. Some are saying that the PS3 is in deep trouble and some are saying the PS4 will never arrive with massive game defections from PS3 to Xbox.

Wrapping Up

The market wants one solution for High Definition video and we are already starting to see high definition downloads through services like Xbox live. Apple’s iTV is expected to go even further when it launches early next year. It may actually be too late for either of these platforms to move; if folks move aggressively to downloads for high definition content and if High Definition pay per view cable offerings continue to improve, even if I’m correct and HD-DVD has won, it may have actually prevailed too late in the process to survive for long.

Be that as it may, with a 4x to 6x advantage by year end, you’d have to conclude that HD-DVD has reached a point where it can’t lose and Blu-Ray is only now in a position to ensure both platforms lose. That last option still appears most likely if the market doesn’t move aggressively to one HD platform.

http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback158.html

The author believes that Blu-Ray has no hope of "winning" and at best can make both formats lose. Gotta love Sony.

[Santurio]

Optical HD Battle May Be Over: HD-DVD Wins



http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback158.html

The author believes that Blu-Ray has no hope of "winning" and at best can make both formats lose. Gotta love Sony.
I hope he's right as far as saying Blu-ray has no hope. But he is definitely wrong in stating that it may be too late for either to survive. The majority of consumers, myself included, want a physical media. Downloading is a great option but I still like having my original manufactured DVD's. I can DL a song but if I like the artist I don't DL the album I go and buy the actual cd. I've only had my Hd player for what... maybe a month and my HD library has already grown to about 17 movies. Sony and its Blu-ray can suck a nut, I won't support that format until I decide to finally get a PS3 or a dual-format player is introduced.

[Psykoboy2]

That's all well and good, and I want HD-DVD to come out on top of this....HOWEVER, I can't stand these HD-DVD/DVD combo releases. They cost WAY too much compared to just an HD-DVD release.

[RedvsBlue]

That's all well and good, and I want HD-DVD to come out on top of this....HOWEVER, I can't stand these HD-DVD/DVD combo releases. They cost WAY too much compared to just an HD-DVD release.

That's kind of the way I feel too but for a movie like Miami Vice where the uncut version is on one side in HD-DVD and the theatrical version is on the DVD side, it isn't really as bad. Now for movies like The Break Up where its the same movie on both sides, its a bit of a waste.

[gunm]

Well, I managed to get through that problem by promising myself I won't re-buy any dvd's, only buy newly released HD.


Same here, the only thing stopping me from jumping in the HD-DVD bandwagon is the knowledge it will drop in price. The question for me is how long can I wait?

[RedvsBlue]

Same here, the only thing stopping me from jumping in the HD-DVD bandwagon is the knowledge it will drop in price. The question for me is how long can I wait?

The standalone players will but the 360 add on won't be dropping for at least a year and even then it will only be $50 at most (its already seen as such a cheap alternative that it doesn't need to drop). At that point you won't be getting a pack in movie either...

[gunm]

The standalone players will but the 360 add on won't be dropping for at least a year and even then it will only be $50 at most (its already seen as such a cheap alternative that it doesn't need to drop). At that point you won't be getting a pack in movie either...

If that's what it takes, so be it. I don't know if I agree that it would only drop $50, though. As an add-on, there's enough missing that it could drop more than that.

[thrustbucket]

That's all well and good, and I want HD-DVD to come out on top of this....HOWEVER, I can't stand these HD-DVD/DVD combo releases. They cost WAY too much compared to just an HD-DVD release.

You can find them for $20 if you look.

I am actually hoping that studios start just releasing one SKU for each movie, double sided with both DVD and HD-DVD.... That way when people are ready to upgrade, they will be more inclined to go with HD-DVD.

[Malik112099]

yeah..everytime i go into target all the HD-DVDs are $20

[doubledown]

yeah..everytime i go into target all the HD-DVDs are $20

Even the COMBO discs? My target never has much of a selection.

[thrustbucket]

Even the COMBO discs? My target never has much of a selection.

I know walmart has/had superman combo for $20, I got it last week. I believe I have seen others there for $20.

[KaneRobot]

I don't really understand waiting for a possible $50 price drop a year or more down the road when you can get $40 off NOW and get a free pack-in movie, but to each their own.

Has anyone been able to find Superman II (Richard Donner Cut) at B&M stores? I've seen Superman Returns but I've yet to see that or the first Superman on the shelves in the HD-DVD section.

[thrustbucket]

I don't really understand waiting for a possible $50 price drop a year or more down the road when you can get $40 off NOW and get a free pack-in movie, but to each their own.

And why wait for a $50 price drop when you can use that $40 off coupon which is good in december right now?

Has anyone been able to find Superman II (Richard Donner Cut) at B&M stores? I've seen Superman Returns but I've yet to see that or the first Superman on the shelves in the HD-DVD section.

I could swear I saw it in Walmart, but don't recall the price.

[ryanbph]

i saw the 2 superman hd dvd at best buy last week...i am going there 2night, do you want me to pick it up for you if they have it in stock?

[KaneRobot]

Via highdefdigest.com

'Clerks II' with six hours of bonus materials, so much of it in fact that it will take two discs to hold it all, making the release a bit of a rarity for HD DVD.

Yow.

This one is going to make me break my "no rebuying" rule...which sucks, since clerks II JUST CAME OUT on DVD. Sounds awesome though. Release is a vague "sometime in January."

i saw the 2 superman hd dvd at best buy last week...i am going there 2night, do you want me to pick it up for you if they have it in stock?
Ah, thanks, but it's ok. It might be something I throw on an X-mas list and I just wanted to make sure it was out there before I did so.

[guyver2077]

ironically superman 2 is the only hd dvd that has shipped from my buy.com order.. fucking part 1 and returns are "on order". im scared of cancelling because dont know how the refund process works with g checkout

[gunm]

I don't really understand waiting for a possible $50 price drop a year or more down the road when you can get $40 off NOW and get a free pack-in movie, but to each their own.

Has anyone been able to find Superman II (Richard Donner Cut) at B&M stores? I've seen Superman Returns but I've yet to see that or the first Superman on the shelves in the HD-DVD section.

Yeah, that too. I did contemplate that, but I'm just wondering when it could go down even lower than that.

[Ruined]

Study: Consumers Prefer HD DVD Over Blu-Ray

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=19223

An analysis of online discussions on next generation DVD formats HD DVD and Blu-Ray gives the early edge to HD DVD. Cited as reasons are the lack of consumer trust in Sony, as well as gamer displeasure with selling Blu-ray in association with PlayStation 3.

Cymfony, a market influence analytics company, issued a Consumer Opinion and Trends report, "A Blue Christmas for Blu-ray," examining consumer market perception of next-generation high-definition video platforms HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

According to the study, positive discussions about HD DVD are 46% higher than Blu-ray, with over twice as many post authors stating being "impressed with HD DVD" versus "impressed with Blu-ray". Negative Blu-ray conversation indicates lack of consumer trust in Sony, as well as gamer displeasure with selling Blu-ray in association with PlayStation 3, according to the research.

[LinkinPrime]

Via highdefdigest.com



Yow.

This one is going to make me break my "no rebuying" rule...which sucks, since clerks II JUST CAME OUT on DVD. Sounds awesome though. Release is a vague "sometime in January."


Ah, thanks, but it's ok. It might be something I throw on an X-mas list and I just wanted to make sure it was out there before I did so.
Awesome news on Clerks II, I'm so glad I missed the "sales" last week. $17.99 was the cheapest I could find, now I'll just use that $17.99 towards the HD-DVD version. I wonder if they would consider the re-release Clerks on HD-DVD as well.

[JDMxB]

ironically superman 2 is the only hd dvd that has shipped from my buy.com order.. fucking part 1 and returns are "on order". im scared of cancelling because dont know how the refund process works with g checkout


Join the club!

I've been waiting TWELVE business days for my Riddick. Just received an email from customer service saying they are giving me the option of them sending a replacement or canceling. I want my disc, so I said just send it again, but lets try to do it in a timely manner.

Also "on order" for Smallville S5...even though the website shows "IN STOCK" and ships in 1-2 business days. BS! I emailed them about this as well.

After these deals come through i'm done with buy.com.

[Purkeynator]

Anyone hear about when the Lord of the Rings Trilogy will show up on Hd-dvd? Link is here http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Trilogy-HD-DVD/dp/B000E1MTX6/sr=8-1/qid=1165590532/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4489067-0865544?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

[LinkinPrime]

Anyone hear about when the Lord of the Rings Trilogy will show up on Hd-dvd? Link is here http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Trilogy-HD-DVD/dp/B000E1MTX6/sr=8-1/qid=1165590532/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4489067-0865544?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

No, nothing on LOTR, The Matrix, or Harry Potter. All we know is that they have been announced to come out on HD-DVD.

[KaneRobot]

Awesome news on Clerks II, I'm so glad I missed the "sales" last week. $17.99 was the cheapest I could find, now I'll just use that $17.99 towards the HD-DVD version. I wonder if they would consider the re-release Clerks on HD-DVD as well.

As much as I enjoyed Clerks...HD-DVD for the first one would be overkill. I don't know how much more they could "clean up" that quality-limited source material.


I keep thinking Superman Returns HD will show up on XBL marketplace, but nothing yet. Sigh. What, they can put up Poseidon (for which the HD-DVD release got indefinitely postponed), but they can't get up Superman Returns? Booo.