Cool News
Blu-Ray ROYALE Cracks Top Ten!! Herc’s HDTV Cellar!!
I am – Hercules!!
Blu-ray Cracks Amazon Top 10
The Blu-ray version of “Casino Royale”
is the first to crack the Amazon top-10 DVD chart, according to High-Def Digest.
It charted even higher than the full-screen standard-DVD version of the same title (though lower than the widescreen standard-DVD version of “Royale”).
Format War Victor Over! Again!
Sony execs last week claimed the Sony-backed Blu-ray format had emerged victorious over HD-DVD. Frank Simonis, European chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association, even went so far as to claim Blu-Ray will overtake standard DVDs over the next 36 months.
Toshiba execs, who make HD-DVD players, are saying, “not so fast.” An excerpt from a CrunchGear.com piece:
The Blu-Ray Disc Association stated last week that their format was outselling HD 3:1 in the US. [Toshiba Deputy General Manager of HD-DVD Olivier Van] Wynendaele argues that PS3 owners are to blame for this and it’s not because they’re purchasing discs. They’re simply redeeming vouchers for free Blu-Ray discs from Sony. He also states that Toshiba has sold 200,000 HD DVD players in the US compared to the 30,000 Blu-Ray players that have been sold. Wynendaele believes PS3 sales shouldn’t be counted in the tally because there is no guarantee that they are purchasing Blu-Ray discs for themselves or that they’re even going to watch Blu-Ray discs at all. In all fairness, neither format can claim victory because HD players don’t have enough market share, less than 1%, and Wynendaele agrees.
$600 Blu-ray For Summer
Sony announced in late February that its second stand-alone Blu-ray player, expected to sell for about $600, will hit shelves in early summer. The new BDP-S300 is way cheaper than last year’s $1,000 Sony BDP-S1, and a little cheaper than the $700 (60GB) version of Sony’s PlayStation 3, which also plays Blu-ray discs. The new machine’s price is less impressive, however, when compared to Toshiba’s new HD-A2 HD-DVD player, which can currently be bought new for as little as $366.
HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Discs Due In June
Warner Bros. will issue its first titles in Total HD, which can be played in both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives, this June, Dominick DallaVerde, Cinram’s senior director of HD operations, new technology and applications tells Home Media Retailing. The format was previously expected to be introduced this autumn.
100 HD Channels Coming To DirecTV in September
We knew DirecTV has been promising a bunch of new HD channels for 2007, and it appears now 100 of these channels – including HD versions of the SciFi Channel and MTV - will launch in September. (I was guessing it'd be more like Dec. 31.) Read more of DirecTV’s plans at TVWeek.com.
How is Cable Keeping Up? I note there are now 21 HD channels Time Warner Cable offers here in Studio City, Calif.:
402 KCBS
404 KNBC
407 KABC
409 KCAL (Independent)
411 KTTV (Fox)
412 KCET (PBS)
413 FSN (Fox Sports)
414 MHD (MTV/VH1/CMT)
415 TNT
416 DHD (Discovery)
419 UHD (Universal)
420 HDNet
421 HDNet Movies
422 INHD (In Demand)
424 ESPN
425 ESPN 2
427 HBO West
428 Showtime
429 Starz West
430 Cinemax West
431 HDMEV (PPV)
I didn’t know MHD was on there until just now. As I type this it’s repeating the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies.
INHD, according to a story in Tuesday morning’s Variety, will change its name to “Mojo” on May 1.
Blu-ray Calendar
March 13
Casino Royale
The Holiday
Hoosiers
Layer Cake
March 20
Big Fish {BLU-RAY}
Chicken Little
Eragon
Finding Neverland
Rocky Balboa
March 27
Happy Feet
March of the Penguins
The Pursuit of Happyness
April 3
G.I. Jane
Identity
King Arthur (Director's Cut)
Me, Myself & Irene
Volver
Warriors of Heaven & Earth
April 10
Dog Day Afternoon
Payback: Straight Up (Director's Cut)
A Scanner Darkly
April 17
The Dirty Dozen
Enter The Dragon
April 24
Deja Vu
Night at the Museum
Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series
The Queen
Secret Window
May 1
Dreamgirls
Happily N'Ever After
May 8
Dirty Dancing
Donnie Brasco
Revenge
May 15
The Fountain
May 22
Closer
Flags of Our Fathers
Mission: Impossible II
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
May 29
Basic Instinct 2
Weeds 1.x
June 5
Coming To America
Trading Places
HD-DVD Calendar
March 27
Children of Men
Digital Video Essentials
Happy Feet
March of the Penguins
National Geographic: Relentless Enemies
April 3
The Good Shepherd
April 10
Dog Day Afternoon
Payback (Director's Cut)
A Scanner Darkly
April 17
Feast
The Game
The Jerk
School For Scoundrels
Smokin' Aces
April 24
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Nutty Professor
Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series
May 1
Alpha Dog
Dreamgirls
The Hitcher
May 8
Harsh Times
May 15
The Fountain
May 22
Flags of Our Fathers
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The Hurricane
Mission: Impossible II
The Skeleton Key
Smokey and the Bandits
May 29
The Big Lebowski
Dragonheart
The Frighteners
Lost in Translation
Midnight Run
The River
June 5
Coming To America
Trading Places
Already On Blu-Ray
Alien Vs. Predator * All The King's Men * American Psycho * Annapolis * The Ant Bully * The Architect * Babel {BLU-RAY} * Basic Instinct 2 * Behind Enemy Lines * Benchwarmers * The Big Hit * Black Hawk Down * Broken Arrow * The Brothers Grimm * Bubble * Casanova * Chain Reaction * Chicago * A Christmas Story * Christmas Vacation * Click * Commando * The Corpse Bride * Courage Under Fire * The Covenant * Crank * Crash * Dark Water * The Da Vinci Code * The Devil Wears Prada * Dinosaur * The Descent * Eight Below * Employee of the Month * Enemy of the State * Entrapment * Fantastic Four * The Fifth Element * First Blood * 50 First Dates * Flight of the Phoenix * Flightplan * Flyboys * Four Brothers * The Fugitive * Glory Road * Goal! The Dream Begins * Good Night and Good Luck (BLU-RAY) * Gone in 60 Seconds * Goodfellas * The Great Raid * Gridiron Gang * The Grudge 2 * The Guardian * Hart's War *
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all. That's like saying, "just b/c they have access to the net, doesn't mean they'll download porn." I think it's still too early to declare victory, but c'mon if you have a PS3 I'm pretty sure you're gonna get a Blu Ray disc if given the choice.
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merged their formats and be done with it. These out-of-touch fucktards seem to think that we (the consumers) have bottomless pockets. I for one will shun both of these formats until they come to their senses and pool their resources and produce one compatible format.
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I didn't think so.. Oh yeah, Debbie Does Dallas again comes out on Blu-Ray soon, so that means Blu-Ray isn't against barring Blu-Ray porn from coming out.
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My PS3 didn't have one of these vouchers so these guys are talking out their ases. The Euro PS3s which HAVEN'T BEEN RELEASED YET have vouchers for Casino Royale, but they haven't come out yet and therefore have not contributed to the movie's sales. Oh yeah, and you get not only one, but FIVE free HD-DVD movies when you buy an HD-DVD player, so those guys are FUCKING HYPOCRITES.
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That's why I'm waiting till Mac and PC merge before I buy a computer. And for X-Box and PlayStation to merge before I buy a gaming system.
BTW, you think I'll have to wait much longer?? I really want to buy a computer and a gaming system already!! -
Ever since the Sony Rootkit incident destroyed my computer I've sworn never to buy a Sony product again. Fuck Sony.
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Where the hell is Spider-Man 1&2? First of all, they are Sony Pictures, and second, the third is coming out in May. Pirates is getting Blu-Ray versions of the first two, why not Spider-Man? I just don't get it.
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Trust me. I predict by the end of the year, HD will blink and concede to the dominant format, which is Blue-Ray.
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just wanted to ready the source article...
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I couldn't give a flying flip about either cus I don't think my old CRT TV would look any different anyway. I'll upgrade when my movies are viewable in 3D and the porn felaciates me.
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Oh and Blu Ray rules, because Bill Gates supports HD-DVD. Of course, Bill could easily increase the number of HD-DVDs sold if he wanted to. "Mr Gates, where do you want these 50,000 copies of Basic Instinct 2 delivered?" Gates looks at camera and say: Sharon Stone gotta eat!
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wins. Period. Hmmm I wonder how much my DVD sets will go for on eBay...
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why can't we just stick to fuckin normal dvds
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that's a fucking great film, forgetaboutit.
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Everyone's biased. The $700 PS3? Keep it real Herc. It's only that much because Amazon don't have any of their own and these are outside sellers inflated prices. It's $499 or $599. Yes that's still too much but f'fuck's sake. Microsoft and/or Toshiba pay you for that one? It's not like you could have forgotten the PS3 prices with all the outcry over the last year. Geez... (that is a damn good price for the new HDDVD player though - is that price real?). Now back to watching the Pirates trailer in 1080p goodness (on my mac, not PS3 or HDdvd)...
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or just video tapes and 8-tracks and black & white square-ass TVs and Ataris??? Why o why? It's just not fair. Just. Not. Fair... 'Cause Mom and Dad told me life is always fair and I should get whatever I want, whenever I want it... for free.
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It's not even remotely the same thing. The step from VHs to DVD is a much, much wider margin than DVD to HDDVD/Blu-Ray.
The new formats are being pushed far too early. No one is interested when they can get 3-4 movies for £15 from Virgin Megastores or whatever. It's not as if as soon as HD came out we were all looking out our regular old Digital Versatile Discs and screaming in horror at the quality. You just show yourself up as a tool of the system these Sony and Toshiba execs are pushing on you. That said, HD-DVD will (eventually) win IMO because Joe Average knows what a DVD is, and it's not a difficult step up to comprehend a HDDVD. Blu Ray just sounds like some fucked up sequel to Free Willy. -
Many people are buying the PS3 because it is a better player for a cheaper price than a stand-alone. So, you get the player and a gaming system in one.
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You're making assumptions. I'm not buying a Highdef DVD player until there is a clear winner and the price drops considerably. Sure I think some of what's going on is bullshit, but if you don't like it (like me) than DO NOT FUCKING BUY IT. Simple as that. Complaining about the progress of technology and the attempt of companies like sony and toshiba to get you to buy overpriced unproven (in terms of longevity) technology is just a part of the business. And it IS how progress is made. I heard the exact same bitching when the switch to CDs and DVDs came about, so to say "it's not even remotely the same thing" is bullshit. I didn't go out and by a $600 CD player or a $1200 DVD player when they first came out either... if people don't like it and refuse to buy it will either go away (minidisk anyone?) or become more affordable. If Ibbster wants to stick to normal DVDs, that's fine by me, I'll be doing the same for quite some time. Just don't whine about it like a little girl. Or if you do, be prepared to take some shit for it.
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It's laughable to be expected to buy two machines if you don't want to worry about is this movie or that movie available. The PC/Mac comparison doesn't make any sense. True, some software is available on PC but not Mac and vice versa but no one is going to put up with that shit with movies.
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Perhaps if the studios backing hd-dvd actually released a few films in the next year it would give people an incentive to buy them. I went down the hd-dvd route months ago liking the early releases but lately the releases have been scarce to say the least, whilst the releases for blu ray have been ramping up at a mad rate. The fight will be over before it starts at this rate. The answer in the long run may be a combi player that plays both formats in my own case as I'm just a movie lover and have no interest in the political side of two warring formats, but a format without big releases is just doomed to failure :(
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Amazon shows The Road Warrior will be available on HD DVD in early May.
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Did they chose a format for Star Wars?
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I find it hard to believe many people will let one movie franchise be the deciding factor. I agree in the thinking that within the next couple of years they'll all either be 1.) double-sided HD/Bluray disks or 2.) all players will have duel-play or 3.) one of them will be dead in the water. This is one of the main factors to why I won't be going next-gen with my vidya game console. The other of course being the cost. I just got a used X-box (my first) and 10 games for around $120 bucks. Can't beat that shit with a stick.
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No way this is going to replace DVD in the common home. You can tell me all about high-def TV signal switchover allllll you want. This'll still be a nice item that'll never reach the market penetration that DVD has/will. We all just moved from VHS to DVD just right now. En masse, its not happening again. Now the post-Blu Ray/HD-DVD format, that's a bandwagon I'll jump on!
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People don't give a shit about format - they want convenience, and I think that combining the two formats is a great idea. Still not buying a HD player until they come down a few hundred dollars, though. Rent's more important than watching the pretty pictures...
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I am in the home theater biz, and I swore I wouldn't take sides until there was a clear winner. Then I got the PS3 and I decided I wanted just one Blu-Ray disc to evaluate. 9 movies later and I am hooked. I have installed many home theater systems for customer who have HD content via Cable/Sat and they always ask me why their DVD's don't look as good anymore. Once you get used to viewing HD content, everything less bothers you. I like Blu-Ray, not because I am a Sony fanboi, but because I think it has the best chance of coming out as the single HD disc format for the next 5 years.
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so, you just now switched fro VHS to DVD? Maybe I'm just crazy, but I've had a DVD player for nearly a decade.
Whatever format wins (a combo-format seems reasonable) all I know is that with movies like Casino Royale, Monster House, eventually 300 - stuff like that needs to be seen in HD and no matter how much I love those movies I've tried to put off buying normal DVD's until there is a clear or clearer winner. -
The longer that the war continues, the more enticing Total HD becomes. Now those with HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, X360s and PS3's can rejoice that one disc will rule them all.
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...and for that reason, any claims of victory sound like George Bush and his "Mission Accomplished" speech, which is tad premature. Sell ratios and such are only relevant when the numbers are high. When is comes to HD, saying that Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD 2 to 1 is not saying much considering that the total sales for HD formats still pale in comparison to DVDs.
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...and for that reason, any claims of victory sound like George Bush and his "Mission Accomplished" speech, which is tad premature. Sell ratios and such are only relevant when the numbers are high. When is comes to HD, saying that Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD 2 to 1 is not saying much considering that the total sales for HD formats still pale in comparison to DVDs.
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People buy into anything they hear first. So, if they hear that BR is winning, they will accept it. Most people never research claims.
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the pS3 is going to push blu-ray over the top.
also with css hacked i think the MPAA is going to push for DVDs to be phased out so they can keep them DRM to death. i know the new DRM has been hacked but it is not fully inforced yet, this was just a test to see what the weakest links were in the system.
the new HD disks are selling almost as fast as DVD did when it started, and that is with far fewer pople who can use them. only people with HDTVs have any reason to convert now, and still its selling fast. -
The names are changed! VHS - clear and easy to John Q. DVD - clear and easy to John Q. Three letters, quickly said. But... "aitch dee-dee vee dee" sounds like a sexual disease, and "Blu(e) Ray" said aloud sounds like "Battlefield Earth II" - that won't work. Change it to something snazzy, like VX (which doesn't have to mean anything) - there's the winner.
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I got a PS3 not too long after it came out, and I will not buy another standard definition DVD. Whenever given the chance, I'll only rent BR DVDs. Unlike what some shmoe is posting, there IS a big difference! Blue Ray looks friggin incredible. My wife was really skeptical, until she watched a Blue Ray movie with me. She normally doesn't care all that much about resolution (she used to prefer watching movies upstairs in our living room than go downstairs to watch on the big screen). But now that she's seen a movie on Blue Ray, she loves it. I can't wait until they take over the HD market - looks like it's starting to happen already. I figured it would take a couple years before one of them really started pulling ahead. Yay for me.
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"The step from VHs to DVD is a much, much wider margin than DVD to HDDVD/Blu-Ray."
VHS and DVD both utlize the standard-def 720x480 pixel format that's been around since the 1940s.
HD utlilzes FOUR TIMES as many pixels. If you watching an HD signal on an HD set, there's NO FUCKING WAY you can mistake it for SD!! It's the difference between watching a movie and watching a movie on TV.
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...that plagued Sony on the Blue Ray (something about the rarity of components used in the laser) or the issues folks were having formatting for the medium? Has that all been resolved?
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I think that he meant the medium itself is vastly different between VHS and DVD. DVD to HD DVD is a matter of resolution and storage space. And the case of most people, they don't even have the HD to take advantage. It's only been a couple years that DVD replaced VHS completly. HD will have a market but it's not going to be very big for a while. By then there could be a new medium. The current situation reminds me of Laserdisc.
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For still buying Full Screen ANYTHING!!!
Seriously, and punched twice for idiots who own Widescreen HDTV and buy full screen.
I mean. Start punching. -
Just stop making them. Don't tell anyone, don't explain - just dump the damn things. The only people who buy those DVDs obviously have no clue what the difference is, anyway, so will they really miss it? It's not like they go into a store to intentionally buy a full-screen formatted movie.
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By the time people are ready to move on from DVD, downloadable content will be the method chosen by most. The Age of Physical Media is almost over.
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Think about that, dude. In this day and age, DVD having been around for a decade is an eternity for the lifespan of a technology, so being updated after all this time is certainly nothing less than reasonable, whether your average hick just got around to it or not.
The other part of the argument is that HD TVs being firmly established as a format (you think it'll fail and we'll bounce back to standard def at this point?), why should there be some sort of artificial lag for the equivalent recorded/recordable format? Even if you argue they're early adopters, why have a high-def format without a library of stuff to play on it? It's like saying we should wait to come up with recipes and actual food until after we've invented an oven and find there's nothing to cook on it. Or more to the point, "let's make a new game console (but only after the sales from the previous console are completely dead), launch it and a year later make something to play on it".
Also, as I always say, no-one ever really talks about its use as a storage medium. You just can't convince me that computer users actually don't want 50 gigs of storage per disc (this is where it's harder to justify hddvd's 30). The more the better for storage - watch even that be gobbled up over the next year, and much higher capacity versions take hold.
But like I said, 10 years has been a fantastic time at bat (and of course it's got plenty of steam left yet) for a format. Why not let the rich guys get started on the next lot now so it becomes more affordable for everyone else? I don't understand this head-in-the-sand approach. -
Those manufacturing problems with the blue laser diode are gone, the weird encoding format thingie (probably because Sony's encoding software was based on mpeg 2) is over for the most part and just like every computer chip ever, the higher plant set-up expenses will be a thing of the plast now the lines are rolling. The hd-dvd advantage there was only ever a short term one, but boy did Toshiba and MS pull the wool over everyone's eyes with that little marketing nugget. Not to mention combo discs negated the saving anyway.
I know that all sounds very pro-Blu-ray, but I'm just saying Tosh/MS have been every bit as despicable as Sony. THEY (MS/Tosh) were the ones that called off the talks for a united format. No-one remebers THAT, either. -
It's been quite a while since I paid attention to the format wars, but I suspected that SOny would work its way around those early troubles prior to or around the time the PS3 saw widespread availability.For the record, I tend to agree with chrth that the consistent upgrading of home entertainment pathways (cable and sattelite) to enable higher-quality downloadable media is goijng to render this argument moot for about 90 percent of consumers.The remaining 10 percent, like me, are going to collect their movies in whatever format is available and will likely end up with multiple players (my wife got me the 360's HDDVD component for my birthday, so that's one down).I really have no interest in rebuilding my entire movie collection in a different format for a second time. The jump from tape (a very fragile medium with too many moving parts for my tastes) to DVD was expensive enough.There will be select movies which, I believe, will warrant upgrading to either HDDVD or Blu-Ray (and I suspect not all titles will be available in both formats for quite some time) and there are certain titles I will want to buy in an HD format, but there are also movies I will be just fine with owning in regular DVD resolution.I'm easy that way.
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Awesome mooby.
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Frickin' cycling technology.
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My first 'record player' had settings for 78 rpm and 16 rpm discs along with 45s and 33 1/3rd. My "Doors Greatest Hits" vinyl LP is Quadrophonic. I have one reel of reel-to-reel recording tape in the attic somewhere. I was once accidentally shipped a Beta videotape but they accepted the return. I have a few cassette tapes from the early '70s that still play, and 100 8-track tapes with nothing to play them on. *** A friend who upgraded gave me his old DVD player but it won't play anything that's copyguarded properly. And the DVD player on my computer stopped working after about three days. Even so, somehow my DVD collection has grown from 2 to over a dozen in the last couple years. I simply refuse to care until they actually invent something that works to play them on. *** and I still have an Atari 2600 and a hundred game cartridges, but my dad wore out all of my joysticks playing checkers.
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No lie! The problem is that my old wooden RCA tv is having some problem though...
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"Must re-buy all my discs in HD/BluRay/what/the/fuck/ever." NOT !!! I've still got VHS tapes I haven't upgraded. Do these people think I'm fucking MADE of money ?
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On day of release, "Casino Royale" was $30 on Blu Ray, $15 on DVD at Best Buy. That is the problem. I'm not going to be real excited to jump on board and pay an extra $15 so that I can see the pattern in Bond's jacket in crystal clarity. Drop the prices on the discs and I'll buy. Incidentally, "Slither" on HD-DVD was going for a ridiculous $35 at Best Buy. Yes, I see the difference between HD and Standard Def, but at the price and the slight uncertainty of the formats, it's just not worth it. Drop the price of the discs to match DVD and I'll buy a Blu Ray player tomorrow.
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Oh, DAMN YOU MICHAEL BAY!
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I'm not jumping on the HD bandwagon until the prices and formats line out. To hell with it, DVD isn't like VHS was, I can stomach DVD for a while longer. Direct TV going HD with SciFi Channel is exciting news though. I wonder what Dish Networks response will be to DTV going HD on 100 channels.
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Might as well... and apparently the future looks bright for the blu-group. Even Microsoft apparently when answering why the black Xbox 360 with the larger hard drive and HDMI doesn't have a standard HD-DVD drive apparently stated that HD-DVD is not a proven format so they didn't want to stick the customer with it. Methinks you'll soon see a blu-ray add-on for 360 later down the road... and begrudgingly put out... can't wait to see that announcement and see Universal eat shit!
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But the early adopters that bought into that format 11 months ago fail to see the blu light at the end of the tunnel.
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As HD-DVD's only exclusive studio is Universal, they'll be doing their damndest to put out as many big new and classic Uni titles as possible (they've actually been doing pretty well with this already), to stave off the mounting advantage of Blu-ray's more complete studio backing. With so many big exclusives from Universal, the HD-DVD camp hope this will buy them crucial support in the upcoming months both from retailers and studios to sway the balance back.
It'll be an interesting game of chicken over the next 6 months, and don't be surprised if Blu-ray keep Spidey and more Pixar exclusives up their sleeves for the make-or-break Christmas period. My speculation is that they think they've got summer releases covered already. We'll see. -
play a very small number of films, most of which I don't care about? AND it will look good on a TV I don't have, all with the promise that this particular format MIGHT be the one that will still be around in three years??? WHAT A GREAT FUCKING DEAL!
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A little before Spidey 3 is out in theaters, number 1 & 2 will come out on BD.
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The consumer loses. Jackasses who have to own the latest toys have ruined everything. Why do you think they don't make computers or videogame systems that last more than 3-5 years? Because retards keep buying the latest stuff, that's why! If people would stop buying this shit, manufacturers would be forced to make the systems even better, and build them to last. Sure, the price would go up, but you'd spend less money in the long run. Until people quit buying the latest systems like crack-addicted whores, we all will continue to get screwed.
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Actually, I watch a lot of Divx films on my computer and I never lament about the video quality. The story and acting is what is most important, not totally perfect picture quality. DVD is good enough for me until the next step up is dirt cheap.
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I have no intention of spending that much money in the middle of a format war. With $600, I could buy a shit load of movies and television seasons that look just fine on standard DVD.
But, if Blu Ray has more studio backing it'll probably gain more momentum in the end. People will go where the movies are, regardless of slight variances in the picture quality. I know I would. -
If it's a hybred disk that can be used for reg players if you have a upconversion or progressive player you would get the best possible picture? Als depends on cables I hear.
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I cant wait for "Layer Cakes"
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And if you don't realize it, try watching a Blu-Ray movie on an HDTV then.. DVDs will look like complete crap to you from then on.
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$350 at Walmart. Some HD DVD titles are sold with both HD & SD DVD one one disc but they cost about $10 more than the single format disc. All of my old SD DVDs look better now on my HD TV so the $ was worth it ( Not worth $700 ? ). Both formats could use some better titles as the pickings are slim at most stores for HD or BluRay. I was waiting for the players to hit $199 but I broke down when I saw the RCA for $350 lol
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I'm not sure where some of you get the impression everyone cares about image quality, or the idea that people haven't, at the very least been in any electronics/department store in the country and haven't seen the difference. We get it, there are a few bad movies out on some HD players, and if we spend a ton of money we can watch them over and over. Wake us up when there is an affordable and standardized format that offers a wide range of titles. We aren't interested in buying the hot new betamax, even if it comes with a poorly received video game system.
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I'm really sick of morons posting out of their ass on online forums and trying to dissuade people from taking the HD plunge by asserting that DVD is good enough. No it is not. First of all, the resolution margin between VHS and DVD was not really that dramatic. VHS was approximately 240 lines of resolution, whereas DVD in NTSC format is 480 lines. Now compare that with Blu-Ray (or HD DVD) and we're talking 1080 lines of resolution. You do the math. That's a difference of 600 lines of resolution. As for HD DVD, the only company that actively supports it is Toshiba with Microsoft funny money backing. Sony has the rest of the consumer electronics industry - and most of the computer industry too - supporting Blu-Ray. The only studio exclusively supporting HD DVD is Universal, and only because they want to be king of the wicker people. At this point, the only argument in favor of backing HD DVD is the Chewbacca Defense. Good luck with that one.
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Possibly the most underated film in history. Kicks. Ass.
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Look, polyh3dron has a point. As televisions advance, there will come a time when most of us are unsatisfied with the quality of DVD. I currently own a CRT 51" HDTV, it can do 1080i. I will admit, I have never seen a true HD source on my TV, so I honestly don't really know how much better than DVD it would be. Even with a upgraded HDMI source from my DVD player, I can easily see the shortcomings of DVD, which are no where near the shortcomings of VHS mind you. Point is, I think most of people who have already plunked down tons of money on DVD like I have don't want to see HD. We don't want to know how much better it is because we KNOW we will only, from then forward, be disappointed Then we will be forced to surrender many more dollars from our back pockets moving to the HD format. That will of course be just about the time a new revolutionary media will be coming out to replace Blue Ray, HD-DVD and whatever the hell else. DVD isn't so bad that I feel the need to replace it as soon a possible. So yea, when HD finally starts getting in the same price line as DVD. Then maybe it will be time to upgrade. Until then, screw it.
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I can tell that just by watching the handful of HD channels we get through Time Warner. But the HD screen also makes regular DVDs look a bit better than they did on the lower resolution screen. Not dramatically, but noticeably. I've played the HD-DVD that came with the 360 drive my wife got me (King Kong...meh) and the picture quality is phenomenal when I sit up close. But, wihtout my glasses on (which is the way I usually watch movies), I honestly don't think it's so much better than a regular DVD in that drive, especially sitting where I usually sit (a ways back from the 42-inch screen). I could see popping for the HD-DVD version of a real visual spectacle of a film that I know I'll rewatch (Empire Strikes Back, say, or SE7EN), but if I'm going to be watching Grosse Point Blank or This is Spinal Tap for the umpteenth time, those extra lines of resolution really aren't worth wearing my glasses to enjoy the movie a little bit more (plus, I highly doubt we'll see an HD version of Grosse Point Blank any time soon, so what does it matter what kind of drive I watch my standard DVD in?) much less the added expense of the disc.Point being, I can't help but wonder if folks who are saying regular DVD is an obsolete or dead format and we'd best all upgrade to Blu-Ray (or HD DVD) right away are really just trying to make themselves feel more comfortable with their recent expenditures and hoping that additional consumer support for their preferred format will speed up the releases of more titles. Maybe it would, but I don't see that happening as quickly as some would prefer.
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What is interesting is that both formats are about equal in terms of quality. It is also true that the release calendar doesn't look good for HDDVD. However, you just can't beat the HD add on for the Xbox 360 at $200.00. Right now, this is the best bang for the buck. I suspect that when the format war ends, BluRay will end up on top, but there will be HDDVD players available, either alone or combo players, for a long time to come. In the meantime, for $200.00 and the cost of a movie I get HD. I know lots of people who have been waiting and waiting for the cost of HD TVs to come down. And from their perspective, they weren't wrong, the prices have indeed come down. But I've had an HD TV for more than 3 years, and that's three years of HD goodness. The cost of my television has come down about 900 dollars, which means I have paid less than a dollar a day for HD. When the time comes that HDDVDS can no longer be played, either because there are no players or due to compatibility issues, I am quite sure that there will be some new technology anyway, and as an early adopter I will have long since begun replacing my perfectly good HDDVDs with whatever new comes out.
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Also, did anyone mention the difference between true HD discs and upscaled DVDs on a good player. I have a player that upscales and sends out over an HDMI and though they don't look as good as either Bluray or HDDVD, they look much better than standard dvd playback.
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I think the best thing right now about HDDVD is that they are releasing the Kubrick films in their original aspect ratio. Yea, I know Kubrick didn't want this for some of his films, but that is because they didn't have widescreen televisions and he hated letterboxing. Let me tell you, to see Full Metal Jacket, even with a less than stellar transfer, the way it was supposed to be seen, was worth the cost of the player alone. If you get a chance, watch the HDDVD and you will see why the full screen edition just completely fucks up the geometric aspect of the cinematography. I can't wait to see Eyes Wide Shut in widescreen, and hopefully it will be the European edition.
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You will need an HD player... Because I'm poppiong in some of my old DVD titles and I can notice all sorts of shit... newer DVD titles are better but c'mon... And don't even get me started on VHS. An HD disc is needed for good resolution on your HDTVs. SDTVs are outta style and all you have now are flat screen wonders in LCD and plasma. and in some cases rear projection, but ugh... You still have a regular SDTV? Fine stick with DVDs/VHS. And you don't havce to replace your whole collection dumbasses... Nobody's forcing you to.. keep your old TV and watch it on that. If you get an HDTV, then pick up a HD player when the prices come down and play all the new films on there... or pop in your old DVDs and have them upscaled on the HD players... use your heads!
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"It's not like they go into a store to intentionally buy a full-screen formatted movie."
Oh yes the do unfortunately. They think because the movie doesn't fill up the screen on their regular TV they are not getting their money's worth. Plus they don't like the "small picture". My mom is in that group sadly. -
Porn will not be a deciting factor in this war. In fact the porn industry is getting out of the DVD business all together. They sell far more stuff online than they ever do in the stores so who needs to spend all that dough on discs when suckers can download it straight from them and cut out the middle man.
Oh and that Layer Cake cover is the worst photoshop job I've seen in a long time. Look at his GIANT head. Fuckasses think that if they can emulate a Bond look on their cover people will buy it. They are probably right though. -
Read it over at kotaku.com (I think) that the HD DVD add on is dropping in price.
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What we need is a combo player. Then we wouldn't have to worry about which format to pick.
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Most of our moms are in that group (despite the numerous talks with graphs to illustrate the cropped image (and this applies to the thousands and thousands of customers I have in the 15 years of video store work I did.) Nothing drove me crazier and yet I am still talking about it in civilian life and trying to get soccer moms in Target to put the full frame dvd back when I should just mind my own business.
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If you want to encourage people about wide over full, get the DVD of 'The Interpreter' and in the special features there's the director explaining exactly why he hates full screen including video to illustrate what everyone's missing. Funnily enough I rented that movie and it was the full screen version... fucking video stores...
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LOVE THEM ALL! The more Hi-def content the better! All my sony stuff works perfectly! Eventually ps3 will be tops! Right now the only thing going for xbox360 is the year jump on ps3! In the end ps3 will win. Xbox360 will do fine. It's about time Direct tv got their asses in gear and launch more satilites in orbit for the sake of all things hidef!
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I love that some people treat this as some kind of serious matter. Like it's life or fucking death that someone upgrade one clear and watchable medium to another clear and watchable medium. Don't get me wrong - I'm a film studies major and I'll shoot a project in HD and try to get it as top quality as it can be whenever I can, but at the end of the day being able to see Bill Murray in HD doesn't change how much I love Ghostbusters or change the content of the film. That's what I love. DVD is fine for now. People can upgrade when it becomes affordable and when its not risky. There's no problem with that.
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Don't waste your breath Johnno, those fuckwits just don't get that no-one, even the moneygrubbing studios, aren't MAKING them. Pop the old disc in, press play. Viola! Why can people not grasp that no matter what you're playing it on, the old discs still play - you don't have to chuck them. Why can people not grasp keeping your old collection and just buying new releases in high-def? Because they're fuckwits. Although they generally do seem to be intelligent enough to know that original aspect ratio id best, no matter how the moronic Disney mums scream (and won't they be upset when they all have widescreen sets and discover all their 4:3 programs don't take up the 'full screen'!!!).
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Bourne is a good one for seeing noses on the 4:3 screen too, but my all time fave to show the shortcomings of cropping and even pan and scan is Close Encounters. It's hilarious before it becomes unwatchable. I think there was even some promotional thing Martin Scorsese did with some hardware manufacturer about widescreen. Never seen it, but maybe it's on youtube.
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Those fucks are exactly WHY discs and players become affordable, you stupid, ignorant tools. DVD wouldn't have happened at all without laserdiscs, as that's essentially (bar animated menus) what laser was, and DVD wouldn't have become affordable if early adopters/rich fucks didn't enable ecomomy of scale. Same for HD.
"Why are they pushing their stupid expensive shit when we don't WANT it?" says Joe Fuckwit. They're targeting the early adopters (and training Joe average that there's greener grass, true) who will buy their early stuff, pay for the development process and give them high enough sales to bring things down and into the mainstream. You should be THANKING those rich fuckers, you troglodyte pricks. -
call us troglodyte pricks. Do you kiss your rubber dolly with that mouth of yours? Ten years ago, i would've retorted by saying something disparaging about your mother, but thank goodness i've matured since then. Take a chill pill my son.
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ok maybe troglodyte was the wrong word.. Luddite is more like it.
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"Why do you think they don't make computers or videogame systems that last more than 3-5 years? Because retards keep buying the latest stuff, that's why!"
No it isn't. You're reducing a very complex market situation to a limited variable set. -
360 hd dvd, blue ray blah blah cd, dvd blah. Dance monkey boy dance.
sony and tosh are both a couple of cunts. simple as... now where is my radiogram.... -
Ha, you demonstrated with your post exactly why you're NOT a trog. I'm talking about the morons that keep spouting the same end is nigh garbage in every HD threadand paying no attention to the cold facts. Can you really blame me for getting a bit worked up? I'm defending the rich fuckers because they're the ones who actually make it affordable for the rest of us but I guess that's a bit hard to grasp for the blue collar snobs. I'd probably go out and get every new bit of kit too if I had that kinda money. I just don't begrudge them their foibles as it pays off for the rest of us. And just for the record, I think you're right about HD-dvd blinking, but it might take an extra 6 months.They won't go down without a helluva lot of chest beating though, and plenty of financial assistance from uncle Bill. Notice how they just dropped the player and 360 add-on prices again. It's gonna get more ugly yet. And pointless.
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Roses are red, violets are blue
Pancakes are awsome, and so are you -
to test, or not to test
to test, or not to test
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to test, or not to test
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