Alcibiades
Member
I thought I'd do an update to the old thread I had with more recent information since that one was over 2 months old:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95490
First: Definitive Release List
Currently Available
16 Blocks (Warner) <- COMBO
Apollo 13 (Universal)
Assault on Precinct 13 (Universal)
Blazing Saddles (Warner)
Bourne Supremacy (Universal)
Cinderella Man (Universal)
Chronicles of Riddick (Universal)
Constantine (Warner)
Doom (Universal)
Firewall (Warner) <- COMBO
The Fugitive (Warner)
Full Metal Jacked (Warner)
Goodfellas (Warner)
Guitarscape Planet (Concert Hot Spot)
Happy Gilmore (Universal)
Jarhead (Universal)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Warner) <- COMBO
Last Samurai (Warner)
Lethal Weapon (Warner)
Million Dollar Baby (Warner)
Perfect Storm (Warner)
Phantom of the Opera (Warner)
Rumor Has It (Warner) <- COMBO
Rundown (Universal)
Serenity (Universal)
Swordfish (Warner)
Syriana (Warner)
Training Day (Warner)
U-571 (Universal)
Unforgiven (Warner)
Van Helsing (Universal)
View From Space With Heavenly Music (Concert Hot Spot)
7/11
Dukes of Hazzard (Warner)
Enter the Dragon (Warner)
Friday Night Lights (Universal)
Pitch Black (Universal)
8/8
Animal House, National Lampoon's (Universal) <- COMBO
Ray (Universal)
Unleashed (Universal) <- COMBO
8/15
Bone Collector (Universal)
Interpreter (Universal)
Spy Game (Universal)
9/12
Backdraft (Universal)
Red Dragon (Universal)
Seabiscuit (Universal)
Traffic (Universal)
9/26
Dazed and Confused (Universal) <- COMBO
End of Days (Universal)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Universal)
Land of the Dead, George A. Romero's (Universal) <- COMBO
10/3
Army of Darkness (Universal) <- COMBO
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Universal) <- COMBO
Pricing:
Universal - 34.99 List*
Warner - 28.99 Catalog, 34.99 New Release, 39.99 COMBO New Release
Concert Hot Spot - 29.98 List
*COMBO indicates the disc contains the HD-DVD version on one side and DVD on the other.
*starting August 8th, Universal will switch to the following price scheme: 29.99 Catalog, 34.99 COMBO Catalog
Second: Comments
Positives in comparison to Blu-Ray AT THE MOMENT
-All movies have been released on 30 GB discs, giving HD-DVD a 5 GB advantage over Blu-Ray (which will change once Blu-Ray starts production of 50 GB discs, around late summer according to Sony)
-In general, picture quality (for whatever reason) for the software so far seems to favor HD-DVD
-Warner and Universal are keeping all extras on the ported discs, and sometimes even offering HD-DVD exclusive bonuses over their DVD counterparts, while Sony and Lion's Gate are either cutting out bonus features or eliminating them completely
-some discs are available in COMBO format, which contains both the HD-DVD and DVD version of the movie to use in old DVD players as well
-price point
Negatives in comparison to Blu-Ray AT THE MOMENT
-With the right epuipment, currently the audio on most Blu-Ray discs is technically better (Until Warner/Universal start doing 100% Dolby Digital TrueHD and Toshiba upgrades their firmware to decode that in 5.1)
-less availability at major retailers according to reports (Circuit City not carrying them and Toshiba not making enough)
-seemingly non-existant marketing campaign from Toshiba compared to Sony (which is advertising Blu-Ray on TV now)
General Positives
-price on the discs isn't too outrageous if you buy online
-upgradable hardware means bug fixes and increasing the number of features in the future
General Negatives
-Batman Begins and King Kong still haven't been announced for release... apparantly The Goblet of Fire, Batman Begins, and some other Warner titles are ready to go but Warner has been delaying...
-Paramount still hasn't announced titles, and other studios have yet to announce HD-DVD support
-some Warner movies (Perfect Storm and Full Metal Jacket so far) have used 1080i-to-1080p transfers instead of native 1080p so apparantly their quality drop is noticable compared the rest of the movies
Third: Personal take on the matter
well, my HD-DVD player should be here any day now (ordered 2 weeks ago and shipped last Friday), so I'm pretty excited to finally be able to get high definition movie content to use with my 32 in. Samsung, which I bought with employee discount mostly to take advantage of progressive scan Gamecube games and high-definition Nintendo Revolution games (oh wait
). On a good note, we have an old Sony receiver with audio analog inputs, so I'll be running that and using the Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks on the discs. I started finally watching HD content with TV Azteca in Nuevo Laredo (World Cup, a few nature/exploration shows, endless repeats of "Finding Forrester" in Spanish), and my family did notice a difference compared to regular TV. I'm sure on a 32 in. TV the difference won't be as stunning as if it was a large plasma or something, but compared to what we are used to (progressive scan DVD is as good as we've had), I'm hopeful that the'll be converted into wanting HD content (World Cup was only the beginning).
My Samsung has DVI, but I think I will stick to component at first, as I heard DVI conversion has some color issues of some sort. I'll need to connect through DVI as well eventually though, for upconversion. From the impressions I've heard, the HD-A1 works very well as an upconversion player even at the $500 price point, even if you just think of HD-DVD playing capabilities as a bonus. Unfortunately, it only upconverts through HDMI, so I'm gonna need to use the DVI input eventually.
As for movies, I currently own/have on order:
-Last Samurai
-Serenity
-Training Day
-Constantine
-Bourne Supremacy
I've never owned any of those on DVD anyway, so I have yet to rebuy any films (that will change when Batman Begins comes out). Other than that, I'm waiting for Universal's price drop on August 8th (or maybe some ridiculous amazon.com markdown's like happened for Serenity and Bournce Supremacy on HD-DVD and Terminator on Blu-Ray) before purchasing more of their films. If I'm having trouble deciding between movies, I'm gonna put HD-exclusive features as the first dealbreaker (if one movie has them and the other doesn't), and whether they are on COMBO or not as the second (if one of them is and the other isn't). Other than that, I plan to go probably for more reputable films like Unforgiven and Apollo 13, while definitely not purchasing random action stuff like Rundown and Van Helsing... Considering the low variety and higher price, I'm gonna try to choose stuff that's rewatchable.
Under normal circumstances I probably couldn't afford this little expenditure, but I've started selling some movies and games I don't want (got $70 for a new Zelda Collector's edition, YIKES!) online. In addition, I've stopped buying regular DVDs (even with ridiculous specials at Best Buy and Circuit City). If you are going to get the PS3 or HD-DVD add-on for 360, my advice is to reign in DVD purchases to only must-haves (last 3 major buys for me were Batman Begins, Batman 90's Collection, and Revenge of the Sith) and to sell stuff that you don't plan to watch anymore (maybe friends will buy stuff from you).
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95490
First: Definitive Release List
Currently Available
16 Blocks (Warner) <- COMBO
Apollo 13 (Universal)
Assault on Precinct 13 (Universal)
Blazing Saddles (Warner)
Bourne Supremacy (Universal)
Cinderella Man (Universal)
Chronicles of Riddick (Universal)
Constantine (Warner)
Doom (Universal)
Firewall (Warner) <- COMBO
The Fugitive (Warner)
Full Metal Jacked (Warner)
Goodfellas (Warner)
Guitarscape Planet (Concert Hot Spot)
Happy Gilmore (Universal)
Jarhead (Universal)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Warner) <- COMBO
Last Samurai (Warner)
Lethal Weapon (Warner)
Million Dollar Baby (Warner)
Perfect Storm (Warner)
Phantom of the Opera (Warner)
Rumor Has It (Warner) <- COMBO
Rundown (Universal)
Serenity (Universal)
Swordfish (Warner)
Syriana (Warner)
Training Day (Warner)
U-571 (Universal)
Unforgiven (Warner)
Van Helsing (Universal)
View From Space With Heavenly Music (Concert Hot Spot)
7/11
Dukes of Hazzard (Warner)
Enter the Dragon (Warner)
Friday Night Lights (Universal)
Pitch Black (Universal)
8/8
Animal House, National Lampoon's (Universal) <- COMBO
Ray (Universal)
Unleashed (Universal) <- COMBO
8/15
Bone Collector (Universal)
Interpreter (Universal)
Spy Game (Universal)
9/12
Backdraft (Universal)
Red Dragon (Universal)
Seabiscuit (Universal)
Traffic (Universal)
9/26
Dazed and Confused (Universal) <- COMBO
End of Days (Universal)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Universal)
Land of the Dead, George A. Romero's (Universal) <- COMBO
10/3
Army of Darkness (Universal) <- COMBO
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Universal) <- COMBO
Pricing:
Universal - 34.99 List*
Warner - 28.99 Catalog, 34.99 New Release, 39.99 COMBO New Release
Concert Hot Spot - 29.98 List
*COMBO indicates the disc contains the HD-DVD version on one side and DVD on the other.
*starting August 8th, Universal will switch to the following price scheme: 29.99 Catalog, 34.99 COMBO Catalog
Second: Comments
Positives in comparison to Blu-Ray AT THE MOMENT
-All movies have been released on 30 GB discs, giving HD-DVD a 5 GB advantage over Blu-Ray (which will change once Blu-Ray starts production of 50 GB discs, around late summer according to Sony)
-In general, picture quality (for whatever reason) for the software so far seems to favor HD-DVD
-Warner and Universal are keeping all extras on the ported discs, and sometimes even offering HD-DVD exclusive bonuses over their DVD counterparts, while Sony and Lion's Gate are either cutting out bonus features or eliminating them completely
-some discs are available in COMBO format, which contains both the HD-DVD and DVD version of the movie to use in old DVD players as well
-price point
Negatives in comparison to Blu-Ray AT THE MOMENT
-With the right epuipment, currently the audio on most Blu-Ray discs is technically better (Until Warner/Universal start doing 100% Dolby Digital TrueHD and Toshiba upgrades their firmware to decode that in 5.1)
-less availability at major retailers according to reports (Circuit City not carrying them and Toshiba not making enough)
-seemingly non-existant marketing campaign from Toshiba compared to Sony (which is advertising Blu-Ray on TV now)
General Positives
-price on the discs isn't too outrageous if you buy online
-upgradable hardware means bug fixes and increasing the number of features in the future
General Negatives
-Batman Begins and King Kong still haven't been announced for release... apparantly The Goblet of Fire, Batman Begins, and some other Warner titles are ready to go but Warner has been delaying...
-Paramount still hasn't announced titles, and other studios have yet to announce HD-DVD support
-some Warner movies (Perfect Storm and Full Metal Jacket so far) have used 1080i-to-1080p transfers instead of native 1080p so apparantly their quality drop is noticable compared the rest of the movies
Third: Personal take on the matter
well, my HD-DVD player should be here any day now (ordered 2 weeks ago and shipped last Friday), so I'm pretty excited to finally be able to get high definition movie content to use with my 32 in. Samsung, which I bought with employee discount mostly to take advantage of progressive scan Gamecube games and high-definition Nintendo Revolution games (oh wait
My Samsung has DVI, but I think I will stick to component at first, as I heard DVI conversion has some color issues of some sort. I'll need to connect through DVI as well eventually though, for upconversion. From the impressions I've heard, the HD-A1 works very well as an upconversion player even at the $500 price point, even if you just think of HD-DVD playing capabilities as a bonus. Unfortunately, it only upconverts through HDMI, so I'm gonna need to use the DVI input eventually.
As for movies, I currently own/have on order:
-Last Samurai
-Serenity
-Training Day
-Constantine
-Bourne Supremacy
I've never owned any of those on DVD anyway, so I have yet to rebuy any films (that will change when Batman Begins comes out). Other than that, I'm waiting for Universal's price drop on August 8th (or maybe some ridiculous amazon.com markdown's like happened for Serenity and Bournce Supremacy on HD-DVD and Terminator on Blu-Ray) before purchasing more of their films. If I'm having trouble deciding between movies, I'm gonna put HD-exclusive features as the first dealbreaker (if one movie has them and the other doesn't), and whether they are on COMBO or not as the second (if one of them is and the other isn't). Other than that, I plan to go probably for more reputable films like Unforgiven and Apollo 13, while definitely not purchasing random action stuff like Rundown and Van Helsing... Considering the low variety and higher price, I'm gonna try to choose stuff that's rewatchable.
Under normal circumstances I probably couldn't afford this little expenditure, but I've started selling some movies and games I don't want (got $70 for a new Zelda Collector's edition, YIKES!) online. In addition, I've stopped buying regular DVDs (even with ridiculous specials at Best Buy and Circuit City). If you are going to get the PS3 or HD-DVD add-on for 360, my advice is to reign in DVD purchases to only must-haves (last 3 major buys for me were Batman Begins, Batman 90's Collection, and Revenge of the Sith) and to sell stuff that you don't plan to watch anymore (maybe friends will buy stuff from you).