Blue Ray, HD and HD VMD

Just an interesting tidbit on the BluRay VS HD-DVD front for you to ponder. All this week's ad flyers for the weekend sales came out today and several stores are suddenly offering deep discounts on HD-DVD players, but full price on BluRays. Even more telling is that the large chain stores that were regularly advertizing both HD-DVD and BluRay titles are only advertizing BluRay titles this week .... and their Web sites are only promoting the BluRay titles too. HD-DVD titles are still available, just not promoted on the main pages. Maybe this is just a coincidence here locally, but it does make me wonder.

With the recent big studio announcements lining up behind Blu-ray (Warner Bros was doing both, but just dropped HD-DVD) the response from Toshiba was to start discounting HD-DVD players.

I have two thoughts on this tactic:

1) Blow the players out into the market, even at a loss, to create demand for HD-DVD movies and try to steer the studios back their way.

2) Toshiba realizes their ass is about to be handed to them and they don't want to be stuck with a usless inventory of players nobody will want.

It's funny how this tactic serves Toshiba either way it goes.

I was thinking the same thing man, they win either way. I got an early HDA2 for a price I couldn't say no to (cheaper than the sale prices now!) due to my TV situation with CC over the summer last year. I was pretty blown away by the difference in picture quality....If nothing else, they are one hell of an upscaling player, and for these prices, might just be one of the cheapest available....

bunch of idiots....hd dvd is dead you guys, that's why they're being blown away...yeah go out and buy an hd dvd player wow!! don't any of you 'audio enthusiasts' realize you get far superior audio tracks with the blue ray format?! atta boy m-500 - yur the only one with brains!!

bunch of idiots....hd dvd is dead you guys, that's why they're being blown away...yeah go out and buy an hd dvd player wow!! don't any of you 'audio enthusiasts' realize you get far superior audio tracks with the blue ray format?! atta boy m-500 - yur the only one with brains!!

I was just trying to be delicate and diplomatic about it Chuck-K, but you put it into the very words I would have used if I weren't such a .......

Ya I think hd-dvd is dead, but wiat till sony screws everybody. This is the first time they have won, and what, prices are going to drop? Good luck, all hail DRM

Yeah, I was seriosly thinking of picking up a floor model of Sony's first BluRay player at a local store--it's marked down to about $160 (originally retailed for $999!!!) and then I fond out that this model (the BDP-S1) does NOT play audio CDs of ANY type. This thing is built like a tank though (copper plated chassis, solid metal casing, VERY solid coonectors fixed REALLY well to the backplane, etc), so I may get it anyway, as a dedicated video source.

The new Sony player (the BDP-S300) retails new for around $400, and the build-quality reflects the price difference. It's nowhere near as solidly made, and has a LOT more plastic in the case. But the new Sony DOES play audio CDs.

Oh, the choices...

--Richard

-quote;
-bunch of idiots....hd dvd is dead you guys, that's why they're being blown away...yeah go out and buy an hd dvd player wow!! don't any of you 'audio enthusiasts' realize you get far superior audio tracks with the blue ray format?! atta boy m-500 - yur the only one with brains!!





-***i trust mr k's opinion...especialy on 'theatre', no doubts

-oh, and great to see your 'around' again...apreciate your input !!!

-mr dreamer the 160.oo, blu-ray sony won't play cd's ?, thats weird no ?

-mr dreamer the 160.oo, blu-ray sony won't play cd's ?, thats weird no ?

What's especialy weird is this unit was $900 when it first came out, and no, it does not play audio CDs...

apparently, the BDP-S1E, which was the version they made for the European market, DOES play CDs, but the one they made for the American market does not. And the firmware upgrade they released in Dec.'07 does not remedy this...

However, it will push lossless Dolby digital signals from DVDs through it's digital coax outputs (PCM) so the sound on this unit for movies is FANTASTIC if you've got an AV pre/pro with digital inputs and a decent DAC set.

And since my video gear is all on the lefst side of the TV, and the audio gear is all on the right side, I suppose it doesn't matter in my setup if my BluRay player doesn't play audio CDs--I've got other players for that duty, and I'm looking for a used Wadia or Theta transport for dedicated CD playback anyway...

--Richard

the ps3 is without a doubt an excellent blue ray player. the new audio formats, uncompressed discrete 7 channel and the dolby hd formats are incredible.

soon i'm ugrading to hdmi 1.3 to take full advantage. don't worry about those little digital steps - i guarentee you won't hear them...

i thought i'd try to drop another turd in the punchbowl and stir up a big revolt with my rude 'i'm back' post - but you guys seem to nice...

..yo max..

Hey Chuck_K, glad to see you back in action!

You are spot on as well.

-quote;
-i thought i'd try to drop another turd in the punchbowl and stir up a big revolt with my rude 'i'm back' post - but you guys seem to nice...

..yo max..


-gotta thankyou for 'keepin me/us up to date[know i goota rob, yeti another bank

-glad to see/hear from you again[bigtime 're-welcome back', man]

Here is a video illutrating the most practical use for the BluRay laser in a PS3:

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/11/hac ... -ps3-.html


Sure it plays BluRay DVDs, but you have to control it with a game controller (using 2 hands) which is kludgey at best, and it doesn't have multi-channel analogue outs so you need a pre/pro that can handle the linear PCM digital output (coax) or HDMI 1.3 if you want to get true 7.1 sound out of it. And the PS3 does not have a 1080p/24 mode--requiring you to play all HD movies in 1080p/60 mode, which can cause some blurring and digital artifacts on slow pans and sudden motion.

Sony is trying to sell the PS3 as some sort of "universal entertainment center", and for the average gamer they may be acceptable, but for anyone who is serious about getting the best out of BlueRay discs, and having their whole DVD library look it's best, the PS3 sort of falls flat.

Game machines excel at games, but they are NOT anywhere near the same quality for video playback as a dedicated player--for video, sound, ease of use, or integration into a real HT setup.

There is a reason the PS3 is half the price of a high-end standalone BR player--in the high-performance video world you DEFINITELY get what you pay for. And with the 1st generation of BluRay players now reaching "clearance" pricing through major retailers, you can get killer deals on them, and they kick the PS3's butt as far as sound and video output.

But by the time you buy an HDMI cable (NOT included!) and the optional video remote control (so you don't have to juggle a game controller to play your videos), you're into the $600+ range with a PS3--for that kind of scratch you can get a first-gen BluRay from Sony or Samsung that will do a better job with BluRay discs, upscale your old DVDs (which the older PS3s don't do), have 1080p/24 cabaility for films, and has a remote that non-gamers in your family can actually understand.

--Richard

they offer i dvd remote so that you don't have to use the game controller. you should have a scaler in your projector/pre-pro/av system so it's not really necessary in the player. otherwise your cable, dvd player, blue ray, game console player all need their own scalers? that's dumb. your analog outputs you can stick where the sun don't shine. your 'blurring' acusation with higher frame rate is also bullshit. i'm not even going to bother explaining 2-3 pulldown or cadence to you because you have obviously allready made up your mind to bash this unit without understanding the facts.

sorry you payed to much for yours...i feel sorry for you and many others.

also note the quote of older ps3's won't upscale, that's bull because I have one of the first 20gb out and it's has the upscaling via internet update!!! that is a place the ps3 shines is everytime you go online with it if there is a update in the software it loads it!!!I'm sure at sometime they will update frame rate as well!!

the ps3 does FULL 1080P res. with ease and shines at it,it sure in hell does a better job then the current broadcast/movies of all hd channels
either cable or satellite their only 720p!!

if you like to game and watch crystal clear movies or listen to all formats of cd's why buy 3 different units when the ps3 will do all of them at a reasonable price,hell it will even double as a home computer if you load a linux yellow dog OS into it,and is a great web browser as well,will import/copy a cd
in a lossless format,has 4 usb ports that you can add all sorts of stuff to it,
the hard drive can be removed and a larger one put in if needed,just get one for a notebook and your in like flynn(mine has a 160gb in it now),let alone store all your music,pictures,videos,ect.

I do recommend ps3 owners add a usb keyboard and mouse to it.
these thing have 9 yes nine processors,cell core, one main and 8 peers running at 3.2gb thats power.

they offer i dvd remote so that you don't have to use the game controller. you should have a scaler in your projectro/pre-pro so it's not really necessary in the player. otherwise your cable, dvd player, blue ray player all need their own scalers? that's dumb. your analog outputs you can stick where the sun don't shine. your 'blurring' acusation with higher frame rate is also bullshit.

The fact that you even consider the PS3 to be a REAL HD video source is testament to your gross ignorance of what high-def video is really all about. I'm sure it is an excellent game machine, but as a Blu-Ray player, it leaves a lot to be desired.

I feel sorry for you, dear boy, in that your life is so devoid of meaning and REAL joy that you must justify the purchase of what amounts to a $600 digital masturbatory device used to play out your fantasy life to compensate for your ability to interact with other humans in a meaningful, thoughtful, and socially acceptable manner. The tone of your post is a perfect example of your gross social retardation.

Obviously, your knowledge and understanding of film to video conversions, frame rate ratios, and video technology in general is limited to your expertise at playing HALO with your pants around your ankles on your daddy's plasma in your parents basement (where you probably live), so I see no need for further discussion with you on this topic. Get a life, child...

--Richard