Blu-ray, in General

[Darth Lavender]

Does anybody know why these things can't be shipped outside the U.S.?

I recall, when I was originally deciding on getting HD, I seriously considered buying a PS3, but was just so put off by the price discrepency between U.S. and Australia...

[TedW]

Gamers: what is the current status of sought-after games for the PS3? I thought a big part of the lower sales, besides price (and which apparently is being addressed) is the lack of PS3 must-have titles. Where is Sony and the game industry at this point?

["membrillo"]

Gamers: what is the current status of sought-after games for the PS3? I thought a big part of the lower sales, besides price (and which apparently is being addressed) is the lack of PS3 must-have titles. Where is Sony and the game industry at this point?

I'm not a gamer - BUT a lack of PS3 must have titles and the horrible marketing have caused its low sales. Most do not even know its a Blu-ray player. The A/V community really rescued PS3 from absolutely dismal sales.

I purchased a PS3 ONLY BECAUSE its a Blu-ray player and the best one currently available at that, with continual firmwire. 1080p/24 fed through my pre/pro untouched and out my projector is simply amazing. However, the lack of films on either format is still a MAJOR problem.

[TedW]

The PS3 might be the most advanced consumer electronics device yet invented. But Sony really should get around to enabling DTS-HD MA decoding. I think once they start releasing some sought-after games sales will increase... the price seems to be satisfactory now.

["membrillo"]

Right now, the average DVD buyer has no reason to invest in next-gen. They haven't been given a good enough reason to upgrade to the high-def discs let alone enough incentive to buy a player.

This "war" will not be over for a long time - most people, especially early adaptors keep forgetting that the "mass market consumer" still has not embraced HD. In the US, roughly 36% of households even have an HDTV capable set...notice I said capable as many of those that do, don't even suscribe to or obtain OTA HD Channel service nor do they care to. They THINK they already ARE watching HD because they have an HD set.

With respect to the average DVD buyer adopting an HD format, that will take even longer. Most do not buy from speciality distributors such as Criterion, they buy inexpensive DVD's. DVD became so popular because it did not require a new TV set to take advantage. There was a flood on to the market of ONE format along with ever cheapening players and that DROVE down prices, and profit margins...you can buy DVD's for less money that it takes to buy lunch $5.99 in some places.

Moreover, the decline in the US economy has all but sealed the deal that this XMAS season will do little in determining a winner either way (Sony or Toshiba) and I very much doubt the 08 season will help either. Not until the Mass Market Consumer dictates the winner and they are long away from meeting either. Lets not kid ourselves - the average US consumer does not know what Blu-ray or HD-DVD even means.

[Gigi M.]

300 comparison - SD vs. HDDVD vs. Blu Ray

[exte]

I can't believe the dvd looks so terrible! I'll have to see 300 in a 1080p store demo soon...

[starmanof51]

[quote=""membrillo""]With respect to the average DVD buyer adopting an HD format, that will take even longer. Most do not buy from speciality distributors such as Criterion, they buy inexpensive DVD's.[/quote]
Well I do buy expensive DVDs (criterion forum member, ergo...), and I really can't be bothered. Yes I've seen the discs, I even went to one of the prelauch HDDVD demos - four Toshiba reps in a demo theater putting on a show and holding Q&A for an audience of exactly 2. At this point, I can't even be moved to see the necessity of buying an HDTV, never mind the disc format. It's inevitable I suppose, I'll have few viable choices when either of my main CRT TVs goes out, but I'm not looking forward to it. I've got a history of being a semi-early adopter of video formats (first kid on the block with one o' them newfangled VHS decks back in the day), but this one has me bored silly.

[Ashirg]

Silent Hill SD vs HD-DVD

[Luke M]

Silent Hill SD vs HD-DVD

I just got that HD-DVD today! The comparisons of DVD vs. HD-DVD and Blu-ray are interesting but I'd assume you would find those kind of astonishing results with most of them.

["membrillo"]

[quote=""membrillo""]With respect to the average DVD buyer adopting an HD format, that will take even longer. Most do not buy from speciality distributors such as Criterion, they buy inexpensive DVD's.

Well I do buy expensive DVDs (criterion forum member, ergo...), and I really can't be bothered. Yes I've seen the discs, I even went to one of the prelauch HDDVD demos - four Toshiba reps in a demo theater putting on a show and holding Q&A for an audience of exactly 2. At this point, I can't even be moved to see the necessity of buying an HDTV, never mind the disc format. It's inevitable I suppose, I'll have few viable choices when either of my main CRT TVs goes out, but I'm not looking forward to it. I've got a history of being a semi-early adopter of video formats (first kid on the block with one o' them newfangled VHS decks back in the day), but this one has me bored silly.[/quote]
I can appreciate that - the only thing I can say in favor of an HDTV (irrespective of Blu-ray and HD DVD) as a lover of films is that an HDTV, will not only provide a better and more film like picture (on a good panel of cousre, i.e. Pioneer) you are also benefiting from a variety of aspect ratios that to me just aren't handled well by a 4:3 CRT. Just last night I was watching Naked and it looked so filmlike it was unbelievable. All you really need is a decent upscaling DVD player.

And you can forget about pan and scan. Option 2- you can get a projector with an anamorphic lens and really do it right by throwing a proper 2.35:1 image - Cinewide.

[denti alligator]

Apparently Blu-ray has not entirely stopped using MPEG-2. The new Edward Scissorhands is enocoded that way and apparently looks pretty bad.

[Luke M]

Looks bad? The DVD Beaver review of Edward Scissorhands is very positive. Where did you read that it's bad?

[denti alligator]

Where did you read that it's bad?

here

Ok, so I exaggerated their "neutral" review. Still, what's their excuse for using MPEG-2?

[Luke M]

Ok, so I exaggerated their "neutral" review. Still, what's their excuse for using MPEG-2?

They have no excuse other than they might have produced these Blu-rays awhile back and just hadn't gotten around to releasing them.

I watched Edward Scissorhands last night and that must have been the biggest jump in quality from DVD to High Definition. I wouldn't say it's demo quality but there are exterior scenes that look as good as some of the best transfers.

[denti alligator]

Wal-Mart is stocking the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player for only $198.

Pick that up along with the new Kubricks and you've practically already recouped your investment.

[patrick]

Someone mentioned this over in the Kubrick set thread (lifted from Engadget):

Warner Home Video to support Blu-ray exclusively?

Posted Oct 30th 2007 8:01AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Don't etch this one in stone just yet, but for those keeping a close eye on studios and which camp(s) they support, here's the latest. Reportedly, a so-called Blu-ray Festival has been raging in Hollywood, and aside from BD backers showing up in support of upcoming / existing films, there have also been a few interesting remarks uttered along the way. Most notably, Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, stated that "one thing that may be changing is [Warner's] strategy," and he continued by proclaiming that hardware prices had reached a point where consumers "no longer wanted to decide" which format reigned supreme. The speech actually got interesting when he mentioned that the "notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something the company was re-evaluating." Beyond that, egos were simply inflated even more as recent BD vs. HD DVD sales figures were trumpeted about, but we think the aforementioned commentary is far more interesting that hearing about numbers we're already familiar with.

And some info from Bill Hunt that alludes to the same thing:

Afternoon, folks. This is just a quick update to catch you up on a couple things, as there's a lot going up here at the Blu-ray Fest today.

The big news today is that Panasonic has announced its next generation Blu-ray Disc player, the DMP-BD30. Set to street on 11/12 for $499, the player features full BD-Java 1.1 compliance as well as HDMI 1.3, allowing Deep Color and HD audio codec bitstream output. We were shown a demonstration at Panasonic Hollywood Labs, and were impressed with the subtle but definite improvements in video quality over the already good BD10. Those of you who have the BD10 will be pleased to know that the "setup" button isn't under a lift-up flap anymore (the flap is gone altogether). You also have the ability to turn off the power light on the front - no small issue in a dark home theater.

Other things we've seen include the Blu-ray versions of Sunshine, I, Robot, Live Free and Die Hard and Master and Commander at the 20th Century Fox demonstration. Sunshine is tentatively due in January, and will be the studio's first title with Picture in Picture. BD-J 1.1 devices will be able to access PiP behind-the-scenes video during the film, as well as an audio mixing demonstration. However, the video portion of these extras are also available for viewing out of band, so those without 1.1 compatibility aren't going to be missing out on much.

Some other notes: We've learned that Sony's PlayStation 3 WILL be firmware updatable to BD-Java 1.1 compliance (expect news on this relatively soon) and likely (eventually) to 2.0 as well.

And in an interesting twist, when we spoke with him at the opening reception yesterday, Warner Home Video's VP of HD Media Development, Dan Silberberg, seemed to indicate that the studio was reconsidering its dual format support strategy and that they're going to be watching 4th quarter sales very closely: "We're not sure that two formats is what's going to take this to the next level."

We'll have a lot more on all this late tomorrow afternoon, after we return to the office.

So, in a short time WB has gone from being neutral (and leaning a little towards HD) to possibly jumping over to being exclusively Blu-Ray?

That new Panasonic BR player sounds pretty exciting, even at $500.

[Gigi M.]

More confusion:

Store chain Kmart drops Blu-ray in favor of HD DVD. They will only carry Toshiba HD DVD players from now on.

They said the lower prices of HD DVD was the key factor in their decision to drop stand alone blu-ray players. The chain will however continue to carry the blu-ray capable Playstation 3.

[jedgeco]

So, in a short time WB has gone from being neutral (and leaning a little towards HD) to possibly jumping over to being exclusively Blu-Ray?

From THR:

A Warner source said the studio is watching what happens now that Wal-Mart and other big retailers are selling entry-level Toshiba HD DVD players for less than $200, about half what the cheapest Blu-ray player costs. If there is a significant spike in HD DVD software sales, the studio may cast its lot with that format, whereas if there is no real impact, Warner may go Blu-ray only.

K Mart still exists?

[pauling]

Yup, in that little area between New York and Los Angeles.

[jedgeco]

Yup, in that little area between New York and Los Angeles.

Which is where I live, and they bulldozed ours.

[patrick]

The K-Mart here doesn't even seem to really have an electronics section, just a bunch of sub $4.99 DVD dump bins. It makes me feel like I'm in the mall from Dawn of the Dead, half the lights are burnt out or flickering and there's pools of dirty water everywhere.

[pauling]

That sounds like a mall I went to in Thunder Bay where the majority of the twelve shoppers that I saw were lurching around like zombies. Compared to that, our Kmart's are hotbeds of activity.

[Antoine Doinel]

But then again, you were in Thunder Bay. I spent a week there one night....

As for dump bins, they do have rare pockets of gold among the dreck. The question is whether one has the patience to sift through it.

[Gigi M.]

Wal-mart: A2 HD DVDplayer for $98.87!!!

On Friday 8AM they will launch their "Secret In-Store Specials" where you will be able to buy a Toshiba A2 HD DVD player for an amazing $98.87. They will also sell select movies for $14.87.