Comments on: HD DVD: End of Week 1 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/ ...so google can organize my head. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:34:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: ARTISTIC FRAMER 99 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-187742 ARTISTIC FRAMER 99 Fri, 30 May 2008 08:49:46 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-187742 I'll get excited about HD movies when I can buy that BR/HD-DVD combo drive from Newegg.com for $100 instead of $1,000. If the only advantage of DVD had been a better picture, it would never have caught on. Never rewinding, instant access to any scene, never having the machine "eat" a tape, not having the quality degrade, taking up less space on the shelf - all that mattered too. That's why DVD was slower to catch on in Asia, where VCDs already provided most of those benefits. My guess is that starting this Christmas we might see a HD-DVD player under $199. This will be close enough to the up converting DVD players that companies will drop those models in favor of HD ones. Probably in a year you will see retail stores keeping DVD player shelf space for store brand players and HD players taking up where the name brands are forcing people with a broken player to pick in the HD format war. As for people not buying discs, ignorance definitely plays a large role. Many people probably have no idea how much better a BD/HD-DVD looks and sounds than a standard DVD or even a broadcast HD signal. I was amazed by how much better my BD was than my Comcast HD. I’ll get excited about HD movies when I can buy that BR/HD-DVD combo drive from Newegg.com for $100 instead of $1,000.

If the only advantage of DVD had been a better picture, it would never have caught on. Never rewinding, instant access to any scene, never having the machine “eat” a tape, not having the quality degrade, taking up less space on the shelf - all that mattered too.

That’s why DVD was slower to catch on in Asia, where VCDs already provided most of those benefits.

My guess is that starting this Christmas we might see a HD-DVD player under $199. This will be close enough to the up converting DVD players that companies will drop those models in favor of HD ones. Probably in a year you will see retail stores keeping DVD player shelf space for store brand players and HD players taking up where the name brands are forcing people with a broken player to pick in the HD format war.
As for people not buying discs, ignorance definitely plays a large role. Many people probably have no idea how much better a BD/HD-DVD looks and sounds than a standard DVD or even a broadcast HD signal. I was amazed by how much better my BD was than my Comcast HD.

]]> By: bbum’s weblog-o-mat » Blog Archive » HD-DVD Month Three: New Levels Of Suck Achieved. http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-185333 bbum’s weblog-o-mat » Blog Archive » HD-DVD Month Three: New Levels Of Suck Achieved. Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:01:15 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-185333 [...] I have written before, I picked up an HD DVD player as it was the cheapest way to vie the BBC’s The Planet Earth [...] [...] I have written before, I picked up an HD DVD player as it was the cheapest way to vie the BBC’s The Planet Earth [...]

]]> By: DG http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-185224 DG Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:31:48 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-185224 Hello, I have a PS3 and a Toshiba HD-A3. At first the HD-A3 didnt look as good as the PS3. Then I messed with PS3 setting and My TV settings and now both HD-A3 and PS3 look exactly the same. I tested it with star wars THX thing that they have. My only complaint about HD DVD is that with the stand alone player I have trouble watching a movies because they freeze 33% of the time after an hour of playing the movie. They Even skip and freeze if they are perfectly clean with no dust or scratches. I heard Toshiba HD DVD players do that a lot. That kind of suck because they are the only company that make HD DVD players. I use to have the Xbox 360 with the HD DVD drive and it never froze, even on dirty scratched discs. I gave up on the Xbox 360 because it kept on breaking down on me. I have never had problems with my PS3. I also have a blu-ray burner in my Laptop and never had problems. I was thinking of abandoning HD DVD but I have over 50 HD DVDs and I dont want to get rid of Transformers on HD DVD and the Matrix and The Jason Bourne trilogy and more. I could get a $800 multi player but I dont think its worth it just for HD DVD which I believe will die. Hello, I have a PS3 and a Toshiba HD-A3. At first the HD-A3 didnt look as good as the PS3. Then I messed with PS3 setting and My TV settings and now both HD-A3 and PS3 look exactly the same. I tested it with star wars THX thing that they have. My only complaint about HD DVD is that with the stand alone player I have trouble watching a movies because they freeze 33% of the time after an hour of playing the movie. They Even skip and freeze if they are perfectly clean with no dust or scratches. I heard Toshiba HD DVD players do that a lot. That kind of suck because they are the only company that make HD DVD players. I use to have the Xbox 360 with the HD DVD drive and it never froze, even on dirty scratched discs. I gave up on the Xbox 360 because it kept on breaking down on me. I have never had problems with my PS3. I also have a blu-ray burner in my Laptop and never had problems. I was thinking of abandoning HD DVD but I have over 50 HD DVDs and I dont want to get rid of Transformers on HD DVD and the Matrix and The Jason Bourne trilogy and more. I could get a $800 multi player but I dont think its worth it just for HD DVD which I believe will die.

]]> By: HD Format War: Warner Goes Blu-Ray » Webomatica - Technology and Entertainment Digest http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184442 HD Format War: Warner Goes Blu-Ray » Webomatica - Technology and Entertainment Digest Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:57:21 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184442 [...] So if Apple announces something Blu-Ray related come MacWorld in a few weeks - say a Blu-Ray equipped Apple TV - a shopping trip may be in order. Even if the end experience is less perfect than I’m currently imagining. [...] [...] So if Apple announces something Blu-Ray related come MacWorld in a few weeks - say a Blu-Ray equipped Apple TV - a shopping trip may be in order. Even if the end experience is less perfect than I’m currently imagining. [...]

]]> By: Various and Sundry: DVDs, Tech, HDTV, and More » Blog Archive » Link Dump for a Brand New Year http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184382 Various and Sundry: DVDs, Tech, HDTV, and More » Blog Archive » Link Dump for a Brand New Year Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:12:30 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184382 [...] heard plenty about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Here’s an interesting blog post on the problems with the HD-DVD player and the overall experience. It’s slow and prone to damage, basically. But I still want to [...] [...] heard plenty about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Here’s an interesting blog post on the problems with the HD-DVD player and the overall experience. It’s slow and prone to damage, basically. But I still want to [...]

]]> By: Horacio http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184345 Horacio Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:05:31 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184345 I wonder if there is a little more at stake than just a "format" issue here: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/08/27/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-in-next-generation-game-consoles/ I wonder if there is a little more at stake than just a “format” issue here:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/08/27/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-in-next-generation-game-consoles/

]]> By: Alderete http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184344 Alderete Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:20:01 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184344 I have a similar TV to bbum's (40" instead of 46"), and a Sony standalone Blu-ray player I picked up at Costco. My experience with it is pretty similar to Bill's, the boot time and time to load a disc are just way, way longer than the DVD player I replaced. I have had a few Blu-ray discs (from Netflix) that were scratched enough to cause a skip or stutter. But I get those with standard DVDs already, it doesn't seem worse or better, and I can almost always fix the issue with a lens cleaning cloth. My biggest aggravation is the content that comes out for HD-DVD only, instead of for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray (I'm sure Bill experiences this in reverse). It sucked to have to watch The Bourne Ultimatum on a standard DVD instead of in 1080p, even though the upscaling on my player is quite good. There are enough titles that are exclusive to one or the other format that it has to be am irritation to virtually everyone who has purchased one of the new format players. Way to put the customer first. In all, I'd say that while I don't really regret getting the Blu-ray player, it would have been better to wait a year or two, for the two formats to shake out more, the player hardware to improve and get faster via Moore's Law, etc. But with 30+ Blu-ray titles in my Netflix queue, I wouldn't consider returning the player. In the end, the picture is very noticeably better, and that's the killer app of either format. I have a similar TV to bbum’s (40″ instead of 46″), and a Sony standalone Blu-ray player I picked up at Costco. My experience with it is pretty similar to Bill’s, the boot time and time to load a disc are just way, way longer than the DVD player I replaced. I have had a few Blu-ray discs (from Netflix) that were scratched enough to cause a skip or stutter. But I get those with standard DVDs already, it doesn’t seem worse or better, and I can almost always fix the issue with a lens cleaning cloth.

My biggest aggravation is the content that comes out for HD-DVD only, instead of for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray (I’m sure Bill experiences this in reverse). It sucked to have to watch The Bourne Ultimatum on a standard DVD instead of in 1080p, even though the upscaling on my player is quite good. There are enough titles that are exclusive to one or the other format that it has to be am irritation to virtually everyone who has purchased one of the new format players. Way to put the customer first.

In all, I’d say that while I don’t really regret getting the Blu-ray player, it would have been better to wait a year or two, for the two formats to shake out more, the player hardware to improve and get faster via Moore’s Law, etc.

But with 30+ Blu-ray titles in my Netflix queue, I wouldn’t consider returning the player. In the end, the picture is very noticeably better, and that’s the killer app of either format.

]]> By: LKM http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184340 LKM Tue, 01 Jan 2008 23:18:30 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184340 I have a PS3, 360 and a Wii hooked up to a HDMI switcher, which is in turn hooked up to a 1080i/720p projector. Getting all the components to work together nicely is a constant struggle. In fact, even though I could play Bluray movies, I have only bought one additional Bluray movie (Paprika), and I've never watched the James Bond movie I got with the PS3. The technology is not mature, and the DRM and general ineptitude of the UI designers are killing the experience for me. The better quality of the picture is quite simply not worth the hassle of actually getting it to work. @Kevin Marks: Can't tell you about 1080p, but to 1080i, it looks great. I have a PS3, 360 and a Wii hooked up to a HDMI switcher, which is in turn hooked up to a 1080i/720p projector. Getting all the components to work together nicely is a constant struggle. In fact, even though I could play Bluray movies, I have only bought one additional Bluray movie (Paprika), and I’ve never watched the James Bond movie I got with the PS3. The technology is not mature, and the DRM and general ineptitude of the UI designers are killing the experience for me.

The better quality of the picture is quite simply not worth the hassle of actually getting it to work.

@Kevin Marks: Can’t tell you about 1080p, but to 1080i, it looks great.

]]> By: psu http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184328 psu Tue, 01 Jan 2008 01:14:03 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184328 The software scaler in the DVD player in MacOS is not likely to be better than the hardware scaler in your better DVD players (e.g. Oppo, or whatever). The software scaler in the DVD player in MacOS is not likely to be better than the hardware scaler in your better DVD players (e.g. Oppo, or whatever).

]]> By: Richard Stacpoole http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184311 Richard Stacpoole Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:46:52 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2007/12/30/hd-dvd-end-of-week-1/#comment-184311 Link didn't copy, here it is http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/06/unconscionable-movie-ticket-gouging.html Link didn’t copy, here it is http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/06/unconscionable-movie-ticket-gouging.html

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