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[Eggo]

I am now the proud owner of a PS3. Not sure if this has been mentioned earlier... the front page of this week's Best Buy printed circular (which can be viewed online at bestbuy.com) has the following bundle:

Sony LCD (KDL-40V2500) 1080p TV
PlayStation 3
Casino Royale (or Open Season or Underworld Evolution on Blu-Ray)
Motorstorm (or MLB 07)

for $2089.96

I had bought this TV last month, so I went in and price matched and paid the difference to get the PS3, the game, and the Blu-Ray movie. The receipt shows the PS3 ringing up for $200 and the TV for $1800. The game and movie are full-price ($60 and $30 respectively). I also bought the service plans for both the TV and console in the event something goes wrong. I am so stoked that I get to go on Netflix and click the option to view Blu-Ray movies as well as HD-DVD.

 

[VanMardigan]

Did MS do some sort of stealth firmware upgrade to my HD DVD player? It prompted me for a download when I started playing a movie.

 

[methane47]

I am now the proud owner of a PS3. Not sure if this has been mentioned earlier... the front page of this week's Best Buy printed circular (which can be viewed online at bestbuy.com) has the following bundle:

Sony LCD (KDL-40V2500) 1080p TV
PlayStation 3
Casino Royale (or Open Season or Underworld Evolution on Blu-Ray)
Motorstorm (or MLB 07)

for $2089.96

I had bought this TV last month, so I went in and price matched and paid the difference to get the PS3, the game, and the Blu-Ray movie. The receipt shows the PS3 ringing up for $200 and the TV for $1800. The game and movie are full-price ($60 and $30 respectively). I also bought the service plans for both the TV and console in the event something goes wrong. I am so stoked that I get to go on Netflix and click the option to view Blu-Ray movies as well as HD-DVD.

That deal is so fricking great its crazy...
If i had that kidn of disposable income i would do that right away.

 

[captive]

I am now the proud owner of a PS3. Not sure if this has been mentioned earlier... the front page of this week's Best Buy printed circular (which can be viewed online at bestbuy.com) has the following bundle:

Sony LCD (KDL-40V2500) 1080p TV
PlayStation 3
Casino Royale (or Open Season or Underworld Evolution on Blu-Ray)
Motorstorm (or MLB 07)

for $2089.96

I had bought this TV last month, so I went in and price matched and paid the difference to get the PS3, the game, and the Blu-Ray movie. The receipt shows the PS3 ringing up for $200 and the TV for $1800. The game and movie are full-price ($60 and $30 respectively). I also bought the service plans for both the TV and console in the event something goes wrong. I am so stoked that I get to go on Netflix and click the option to view Blu-Ray movies as well as HD-DVD.

Congrats on the price match.
My parents are doing the same only they are getting the SXRD 60A2020 with the PS3. The deal lasts all week, even though for some reason the website ad said 2 days only.

 

[Eggo]

The flyer says the sale is good from June 17-23 2007. If you're thinking about it, I suggest you hurry. I picked up the last copy of Casino Royale and Motorstorm at my local Best Buy, so I think a lot of people are jumping on this offer.

Edit: **** me. Didn't realize the PS3 doesn't come with HDMI cables, so I had to have Monoprice overnight some. It kills me that I'm going to be watching Blu-Ray movies on a 1080p TV with composite cables for the next 48 hours. That is just wrong.

 

[djkimothy]

BD+ is now done. Fox is now expected to make announcements tomorrow regarding titles. Happy 1st Birthday, Blu-ray!

How do you know this? Can we expect more movies now?

 

[jjasper]

The flyer says the sale is good from June 17-23 2007. If you're thinking about it, I suggest you hurry. I picked up the last copy of Casino Royale and Motorstorm at my local Best Buy, so I think a lot of people are jumping on this offer.

Edit: **** me. Didn't realize the PS3 doesn't come with HDMI cables, so I had to have Monoprice overnight some. It kills me that I'm going to be watching Blu-Ray movies on a 1080p TV with composite cables for the next 48 hours. That is just wrong.

Yeah I personally think the no HD cables was retarted on Sonys part if you are paying ****ing 600 dollars you can at least throw in a $3 cable. I don't know if you have any component cables from a PS2 but if you do you can use those and watch in 720p/1080i till the HDMI comes in.

How do you know this? Can we expect more movies now?

By the BD+ official website:
http://www.bdplusllc.com/

BD+ Technologies LLC is pleased to announce the availability of the following information:

BD+ System Specifications, Including Key Management Rules and Test Specifications
BD+ System Adopter Agreement
BD+ System Content Participant Agreement
BD+ System Eligible Code Developer (ECD) Agreement
Key Issuing Center (KIC)
Test Centers for BD+ Player Verification
Interim Eligible Certification Entity (ECE) for BD+ Disc Certification
iDPTC (interim Disc Playability Test Center)
List of Test Tools
List of Adopters, Content Participants and Eligible Code Developers
FAQ
To register for this information, please visit the registration page.

BD+ Information

BD+ is a Virtual Machine-based technology dedicated to BD Format.

Please visit Blu-ray Disc License Web-site to check the relation between BD+ and BD Product Category:

http://www.blu-raydisc.info/content_protection/rom2.shtml#rom2
BD+ Technologies LLC is pleased to announce the availability of the following information:

BD+ System Specifications, Including Key Management Rules and Test Specifications
BD+ System Adopter Agreement
BD+ System Content Participant Agreement
BD+ System Eligible Code Developer (ECD) Agreement
Key Issuing Center (KIC)
Test Centers for BD+ Player Verification
Interim Eligible Certification Entity (ECE) for BD+ Disc Certification
iDPTC (interim Disc Playability Test Center)
List of Test Tools
List of Adopters, Content Participants and Eligible Code Developers
FAQ
To register for this information, please visit the registration page.

BD+ Information

BD+ is a Virtual Machine-based technology dedicated to BD Format.

Please visit Blu-ray Disc License Web-site to check the relation between BD+ and BD Product Category:

http://www.blu-raydisc.info/content_protection/rom2.shtml#rom2

My quess, ID-4 for 7/3, Commando, Dodgeball, From Hell, Predator, Silence of the lambs
, The Thomas Crown Affair, Platoon, I, Robot, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and The Fly all reannounced (not all tomorrow just those will probably be Fox and MGM's first titles now that BD+ is out)

Please give me a date for 24 season 1, I tried to watch it upscaled the other day and it just didn't look good

 

[Eggo]

Yeah I personally think the no HD cables was retarted on Sonys part if you are paying ****ing 600 dollars you can at least throw in a $3 cable. I don't know if you have any component cables from a PS2 but if you do you can use those and watch in 720p/1080i till the HDMI comes in.

Lucky for me, a friend had a spare set of HDMI cables which he let me borrow, along with PotC: Dead Man's Chest. Sweet!

 

[bigmakstudios]

I'd really like to get a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player, but I have a feeling that neither will truly become the standard. I think DVD will continue to be successful for a good amount of time, and something else will eventually come around (maybe some sort of HD digital distribution hard drive... thing? <_>). I really want one of them to become a break-out success, but I don't think they will. :/

 

[M3wThr33]

I'd really like to get a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player, but I have a feeling that neither will truly become the standard. I think DVD will continue to be successful for a good amount of time, and something else will eventually come around (maybe some sort of HD digital distribution hard drive... thing? <_>). I really want one of them to become a break-out success, but I don't think they will. :/

Broadband isn't cheap. FIOS isn't everywhere and won't be for many years. Downloadable movies is not going to happening for a long long time.

 

[Zombie James]

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hd-dvd-o...ajor-impact-on-hd-dvd-player-sales-270313.php

Blockbuster's decision to support Blu-ray in all of its 1,450 stores is having a bigger impact than it seems. A tipster at an unnamed retailer tells us they've had more HD DVD player orders canceled over the last few days than they've seen over the entire life cycle. The kicker? All of them were canceled because of the Blockbuster announcement.

Not only that, new sales of HD DVD players are nonexistent, with Blu-ray being the only things moving now.

The more tech savvy of us rent our stuff on Netflix or Blockbuster Online (which is still supporting both formats for now), but this announcement—covered in many mainstream media sources—had a big impact on people who actually rent at Blockbuster.

Anecdotal? Yes, but still :lol

 

[VanMardigan]

And right no cue, my HD DVD drive no longer works.

MS released a stealth firmware update last night and now my drive won't work. I'd suspect hardware errors if it wasn't for the fact that the issues happened AFTER I downloaded the update.

Anybody here with the add-on, I strongly suggest that you DO NOT download the update until more info becomes available on what it does and there is confirmation that it isn't crippling add-ons.

 

[jjasper]

MS and Toshiba steathily ruining systems so that they can increase sales

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

And right no cue, my HD DVD drive no longer works.

MS released a stealth firmware update last night and now my drive won't work. I'd suspect hardware errors if it wasn't for the fact that the issues happened AFTER I downloaded the update.

Anybody here with the add-on, I strongly suggest that you DO NOT download the update until more info becomes available on what it does and there is confirmation that it isn't crippling add-ons.

This is God's will. He wants you to support HD media properly!

And in His wisdom, he's decided the surest way to do so is by supporting the one format; the winning format.

 

[VanMardigan]

I'd laugh if it wasn't so brutally bad for me right now. I got Lost in Translation that I bought from Amazon, plus I got Troy, Meet the Parents, and Dreamgirls rentals. All received yesterday.

wtf? They didn't even make an announcement. Is there any way for me to revert to my previous firmware?

 

[jjasper]

Joking aside have you check AVS yet? They are usually on top of things when it comes to firmware updates and such.

 

[VanMardigan]

I glanced over there, but they don't seem to know what the update was for. I haven't seen them report problems either. It's still early, though.

 

[Chemo]

And right no cue, my HD DVD drive no longer works.

Shit. Good luck with that, man.

 

[Suikoguy]

Well, hopefully there is a fix, and you don't have to mail it in.

 

[jjasper]

sucks

Anyway
Sleeping Beauty this year?

Coming to theaters this fall, Disney will release Enchanted, a classic princess fairytale with a modern day twist, starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and Susan Sarandon. The entertainment will continue as Sleeping Beauty is planned for re-release on DVD in 2008 and will be available on Blue Ray for the first time. In 2009, the highly anticipated release of The Princess and the Frog will introduce Disney's newest princess

 

[djkimothy]

sucks

Anyway
Sleeping Beauty this year?

The world needs less of these. :/

Why do classics have to have modern day twists? Is the girl going to leave the the guy at the end of the movie for some other guy she met randomly and still expects to be friends? Is this the real world scenario they want to be played out!? I thought so...

 

[Kinan]

I glanced over there, but they don't seem to know what the update was for. I haven't seen them report problems either. It's still early, though.

I also looked there and here what is known about this update :

The HD-DVD add-on update should fix a lot of compatibility issues, as well as add an option to turn on/off Dynamic Range Compression for DD+, and the option to output hi-res audio as DTS rather than DD.

I guess, you are kinda incompatible with it man. :/ Call the support, I'd say.

 

[VanMardigan]

I also looked there and here what is known about this update :


I guess, you are kinda incompatible with it man. :/ Call the support, I'd say.

That's the May update. There was another one last night.

 

[kaching]

Van, nothing on MS's site about this update? Are you getting any errors when you try to use the drive or is it simply not responding?

 

[VanMardigan]

No announcement about the update has been made yet. There was no talk about it beforehand either, hence why I called it a stealth update.

About the errors, they vary. The movie either stutters badly as the title menu loads up, or it freezes up, or it gives me a "can't read disc error". DVD's or CD's won't play either. Those won't even load. I would honestly have suspected hardware error (laser) if it didn't happen after I downloaded the update.

Does anyone know if there's a separate number for the add-on support, or am I supposed to call the 8004myxbox number?

 

[gkryhewy]

No announcement about the update has been made yet. There was no talk about it beforehand either, hence why I called it a stealth update.

About the errors, they vary. The movie either stutters badly as the title menu loads up, or it freezes up, or it gives me a "can't read disc error". DVD's or CD's won't play either. Those won't even load. I would honestly have suspected hardware error (laser) if it didn't happen after I downloaded the update.

Does anyone know if there's a separate number for the add-on support, or am I supposed to call the 8004myxbox number?

I think it's just the regular number. What's the warranty length on the drive?

 

[captive]

Someone want to tell me what kind of freaking crack Paramount was smoking when they decided the specs for flags and letters?
I got them in yesterday Letters has Dolby True HD, but flags has dolby digital only?

Edit, interesting i didnt know Warner released Letters and Paramount released Flags which explains the audio discrepency.

Van, sorry to hear about that, that sucks i hope you get it working.

 

[StoOgE]

Also, why is Letters so expensive on HDDVD compared to flags?

 

[jjasper]

The world needs less of these. :/

Why do classics have to have modern day twists? Is the girl going to leave the the guy at the end of the movie for some other guy she met randomly and still expects to be friends? Is this the real world scenario they want to be played out!? I thought so...

Yeah I could care less about some stupid live action (although this one is supposed to switch between animation and live action). I was more interested in the news about Sleeping Beauty on Blu Ray. As far as I know it is the first Walt Disney Animated Classic announced.

Also, why is Letters so expensive on HDDVD compared to flags?

My guess because Letters is a combo from Warner and Flags is non combo from Paramount.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Van:

Anybody else with a 360 you can try it on? Just to rule out your box as a possible factor?

 

[Miktrebla]

Yeah, I got that small update too for some reason. Then my drive starting sounding real loud, so I turned it off and turned it back on and it was fine. Sorry to hear you are having problems.

 

[Oni Jazar]

That sucks Van I would call up their tech support and see what they say

 

[StoOgE]

I ordered 15 movies (preorders for the next 6 months) from MTV using a coupon code, and got the movies for 12 bucks a pop.

Not only did they cancel all of the orders, they sent me a nasty e-mail about abusing their system.
:lol

 

[Cosmic Bus]

I ordered two movies from that MTV thing and they cancelled both. No offense (well, some) but people like you who screwed around with the system, trying to get away with a mint, are probably why they backed out of the whole thing.

 

[Lord Error]

That busted HDDVD drive has got to be under warranty, right? It's been out for no more than six months, so even if it's day one purchase it must still be eligible for free replacement. I'd say wait a few days to see if another update comes that could fix your problem, but if not, call for replacement.

I'd really like to get a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player, but I have a feeling that neither will truly become the standard.

Every tech-thing you buy will eventually become obsolete. Also, when you get old and your eyes become crap, none of it will matter anymore anyways. So enjoy the good vision/hearing (and money) you have now and watch movies the way you really want, instead of thinking how you'll be watching them 5-10 years from now.

If you care about visual quality (and you seem to do since you say you want these players) and have an HDTV, you won't regret getting these HD movies for a second. Trust me, they look that damn good.

By the BD+ official website:
http://www.bdplusllc.com/

Am I crazy or does that BD+ thing sounds a bit like some kind of DRM nightmare? How is that protection supposed to work for an end user? Is the movie disc going to be tied to just one player, the one where it's first "activated"?

 

[StoOgE]

Am I crazy or does that BD+ thing sounds a bit like some kind of DRM nightmare? How is that protection supposed to work for an end user? Is the movie disc going to be tied to just one player, the one where it's first "activated"?

It potentially could be. Thats one of my beefs with BRD, is this draconian standard.. no one has used BD+ at this point, but some people think that is what Fox is waiting for before ramping up support (and is the key reason Fox and Disney are in the BRD camp). If BRD wins obviously I'll have to deal with it going forward, if BRJ support picks up I think I can live with BD+.. but I wont be happy about it.

 

[Crisis]

I ordered two movies from that MTV thing and they cancelled both. No offense (well, some) but people like you who screwed around with the system, trying to get away with a mint, are probably why they backed out of the whole thing.

If they didn't want people to actually use that coupon, they shouldn't have advertised it at the top of the store. The only reason you would do so would be to entice people to shop at your store. They got exactly what they wanted. They should honor those perfectly legitimate purchases.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

It potentially could be. Thats one of my beefs with BRD, is this draconian standard.. no one has used BD+ at this point, but some people think that is what Fox is waiting for before ramping up support (and is the key reason Fox and Disney are in the BRD camp). If BRD wins obviously I'll have to deal with it going forward, if BRJ support picks up I think I can live with BD+.. but I wont be happy about it.

It certainly seems draconian, but how could they use this to tie a disc to a single player? I can't fathom how that's possible unless the system does some sort of iTunes-like authentication before it can play. And since not all BluRay players have a network connection, that won't work either.

I think BD+ is primarily a panacea/placebo to convince the studios to come on board.

 

[jjasper]

It certainly seems draconian, but how could they use this to tie a disc to a single player? I can't fathom how that's possible unless the system does some sort of iTunes-like authentication before it can play. And since not all BluRay players have a network connection, that won't work either.

I think BD+ is primarily a panacea/placebo to convince the studios to come on board.

So far I haven't heard anything about tying to a single player. Most think the end result will be individual codes fo individual titles so that if someone were to hack in and pirate a single title no other title would be compromised, unlike AACS.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

Disney's Bridge to Terabithia - virtually flawless

 

[StoOgE]

If they didn't want people to actually use that coupon, they shouldn't have advertised it at the top of the store. The only reason you would do so would be to entice people to shop at your store. They got exactly what they wanted. They should honor those perfectly legitimate purchases.

I honestly think they did it with the intention of cancelling all orders... free advertising.. fake a killer sale, then cancel all the orders in it. Internet goes nuts with it, now everyone knows MTV sells movies and music.

Ignatz, I kinda think BR+ is vaporware that the BRD alliance used to entice Disney and Fox (who have long been wary of new formats and piracy) on board. I genuinely hope thats the case, because at this point its looking more and more like Im gonna have to go Blu in the next 6-8 months. Hopefully we get some more info on Samsungs new combo player.. that way I dont have to hear my GF bitching about not knowing what movie to put in what player.

 

[Bebpo]

Disney's Bridge to Terabithia - virtually flawless

Yeah, I heard good things about it when it was in the theater. Will probably pick this up and watch it this weekend.

 

[Eggo]

Question for you guys... if a movie is released on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, is one better than the other in terms of picture quality or are they comparable? My Netflix queue defaults to HD-DVD, because I would rather use the 360 HD-DVD drive for the bulk of my hi-def movie viewing, keeping the wear and tear minimal on my PS3. But if Blu-Ray movies look better than equivalent HD-DVD for the same title, I'm inclined to opt for the Blu-Ray release. Does it vary depending on the title? Is there a place I can go to see which is better? AVS seems to only have the segregated Blu-Ray and HD-DVD forums. There's not a common ground for discussion of multi-platform releases.

 

[jjasper]

Question for you guys... if a movie is released on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, is one better than the other in terms of picture quality or are they comparable? My Netflix queue defaults to HD-DVD, because I would rather use the 360 HD-DVD drive for the bulk of my hi-def movie viewing, keeping the wear and tear minimal on my PS3. But if Blu-Ray movies look better than equivalent HD-DVD for the same title, I'm inclined to opt for the Blu-Ray release. Does it vary depending on the title? Is there a place I can go to see which is better? AVS seems to only have the segregated Blu-Ray and HD-DVD forums. There's not a common ground for discussion of multi-platform releases.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/

Is a good place to look. They ususally review each version's audio and visual qualities separately, and often compare them in the reviews.

 

[StoOgE]

Eggo.. 99.99999% of the time they are the same encode, meaning they look the same.

With WB movies, HDDVD has better audio usually, but you use the add on so that doesnt matter... if you have an HDMI capable reciever, you'll get lossless audio out of the PS3.. but if you dont, the audio with be DD5.1 either way.

Paramount uses different encodes for BRD and HDDVD, but with 1 exception, they look almost identical, and that exception is Trading Places.. so for your early 80's Eddie Murphy action, HDDVD is the way to go.

 

[Bebpo]

Question for you guys... if a movie is released on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, is one better than the other in terms of picture quality or are they comparable? My Netflix queue defaults to HD-DVD, because I would rather use the 360 HD-DVD drive for the bulk of my hi-def movie viewing, keeping the wear and tear minimal on my PS3. But if Blu-Ray movies look better than equivalent HD-DVD for the same title, I'm inclined to opt for the Blu-Ray release. Does it vary depending on the title? Is there a place I can go to see which is better? AVS seems to only have the segregated Blu-Ray and HD-DVD forums. There's not a common ground for discussion of multi-platform releases.

Picture quality = Identical
Sound quality = It's usually better on HD-DVD for the dual-format companies (DD+ 1.5mps vs. DD 648mps), but sometimes they're identical. Maybe 60/40% of the time.

I just get the Blu-ray version to support the ending of the format wars.

 

[Chemo]

Question for you guys... if a movie is released on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, is one better than the other in terms of picture quality or are they comparable? My Netflix queue defaults to HD-DVD, because I would rather use the 360 HD-DVD drive for the bulk of my hi-def movie viewing, keeping the wear and tear minimal on my PS3. But if Blu-Ray movies look better than equivalent HD-DVD for the same title, I'm inclined to opt for the Blu-Ray release. Does it vary depending on the title? Is there a place I can go to see which is better? AVS seems to only have the segregated Blu-Ray and HD-DVD forums. There's not a common ground for discussion of multi-platform releases.

Taking all format preferences out of the discussion for this one response, I think you might want to rethink which console you are more worried about putting wear and tear on.

 

[djkimothy]

Taking all format preferences out of the discussion for this one response, I think you might want to rethink which console you are more worried about putting wear and tear on.

Was about to say the same thing.

 

[gkryhewy]

Taking all format preferences out of the discussion for this one response, I think you might want to rethink which console you are more worried about putting wear and tear on.

Inflammatory and completely unnecessary post in the blu-ray thread!

Spoiler

Just kidding

 

[VanMardigan]

An update:

-I'm not the only one who has reported issues after installing the new firmware

-Not even Amir know what the update did. He says he's going to find out and get back to us.

-Apparently some of my discs do work (Planet Earth) lending credence to my theory that it was definitely the stealth update that killed my drive's compatibility

-I called xbox support and they were terrible (not in their demeanor, but in their knowledge of the matter). The last thing they told me to try before I had to come back to work was to put in the original installation disc in an attempt to revert my firmware to the original version. Didn't work.

I'm pretty frustrated. I had a perfectly working and compatible player, then MS screws it up with an update that nobody knows what it does.