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Hi-Def Media Lovefest: The war is over and we can all go home.

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VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
ChrisJames said:
...I have never heard that. Can anyone else confirm or deny if that's the general consensus?

I think that stems not from the formats per se, but the encoding used. In other words, MPEG (sharp/grainy) vs. VC-1 (soft/less grain). That's just a generalization, though, and you can have encodes that defy both of those stereotypes. Obviously if the same compression codec is used, then the results are identical on both formats.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
I'm not sure Intel had a choice. Not having native support for either format would've been a pretty big blunder. But yeah, I know they were always on the HD DVD side.
 
$44 for Superbad?!

Anyway, I wish there was some concrete news. I just went to AVSforum out of boredom. *shudder*


There was somethign on EngadgetHD about cheap recordable BluRay discs, but that's not that big a deal to me.
 

Oni Jazar

Member
Ignatz Mouse said:
$44 for Superbad?!

Anyway, I wish there was some concrete news. I just went to AVSforum out of boredom. *shudder*


There was somethign on EngadgetHD about cheap recordable BluRay discs, but that's not that big a deal to me.

Damn you're fast. :) I took out the prices because the guy who got the info thinks it might be incorrect:

thought that was a little odd myself. The msrp is listed as $43.95, but they list a retail price of about $27, which is usually the retail price for items with msrp of $39.99.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11666956#post11666956
 

Flo_Evans

Member
VanMardigan said:
I'm not sure Intel had a choice. Not having native support for either format would've been a pretty big blunder. But yeah, I know they were always on the HD DVD side.

What exactly does 'native support' for these formats mean though? Wow a pentium will decode MPEG4 just as easily as VC-1? :lol
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Flo_Evans said:
What exactly does 'native support' for these formats mean though? Wow a pentium will decode MPEG4 just as easily as VC-1? :lol

I'm assuming it means specific processor optimizations geared towards both HD movie formats. It may just be general optimizations that help in HD decoding period, or it may be something further and more specific to either format, but the release only states what I said, so..........

But knowing that the 360 add-on works on current technology does make you wonder what they mean exactly. Maybe optimizations for the PiP etc.? I don't know, it's their press release. :p
 

nubbe

Member
A 200gig disc would be pointless for the home movie market unless current generation players can support it, just as TL51 will be usless unless Toshiba can really get it to work. Unless they want to spend money on an exchange program.

Besides that the only real advantage a 200gig disc would offer would be to offer more audio language options. Something which is a diminishing return for the consumer considering you already can get multiple PCM, DTS-MA or TureHD on the disc..

and how can anyone expect them to release a 8 layer disc much less a 3 layer... Given the issue they seem to have with just pressing 2 layers.
 

mentho

Member
Petrarca said:
Good news for Blu-ray.

Intel originally was HD-DVD exclusive

This doesn't change anything, it's just about optimizations for decoding blu ray and hd-dvd audio and video codecs. Both Blu Ray and Hd-dvd require support for the same video codecs, VC-1, AVC and MPEG2.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Sony's got the jump because they are already manufacturing BD50's and working on improving yields by pushing out product on them. Toshiba has to figure out a lot of things (not the least of which is whether these discs work on current hardware) before they even begin production. That said, they can always take the Sony route and subsidize the discs for the first year in order to kick-start the process of improving yields.
 

jjasper

Member
Hooray!

In an unexpected move sure to please 'Lost' fans, Disney has announced a price drop for its December Blu-ray debut of 'Lost: The Complete Third Season - The Unexplored Experience.'

Due December 11, the extensive seven-disc box set was originally announced with a $124.99 price tag, but Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has now confirmed that they are reducing the MSRP to $96.99 -- nearly $30 less than the original price tag.
ADVERTISEMENT

The new SRP has already been updated by a number of online retailers, including Amazon.com. If you've already pre-ordered the set, make sure to check with your seller to ensure you get the new discounted price.

As always, you'll find disc details (with updated price) for 'Lost: The Complete Third Season' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it is indexed under December 11.

We've also set up a dedicated thread for Disney's latest in our Forums area -- click the following link to discuss the 'Lost: The Complete Third Season' Blu-ray release.

Amazon now down to $67.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Ignatz Mouse said:
Let's hope TV on HD across the board follows this trend.

The Star Trek set apparently got a price drop on Amazon as well.

btw, Who owns the rights to CSI?? I bought a few episodes on XBLM and I'm holding off on buying any more cause it's pretty much a waste (non-transferable), but they looked spectacular and I'd love to buy a season.
 

YYZ

Junior Member
I can't feel compelled to buy any TV shows in DVD or Hi-Def, especially after having seen the episodes already. Anyone else feel the same way? The most I'd do is rent them for the extras.
 
YYZ said:
I can't feel compelled to buy any TV shows in DVD or Hi-Def, especially after having seen the episodes already. Anyone else feel the same way? The most I'd do is rent them for the extras.

depends on the show for me. i enjoy 24 quite a bit so if/when that comes to blu-ray i'll pick that up for sure. i bought heroes on hd-dvd without ever having seen the show based on word of mouth, and thankfully i didn't regret my purchase; luckily i like it as much as 24. other shows i watch though, like nip/tuck or smallville, i don't see the need to own on high-def.
 

drohne

hyperbolically metafictive
i wish these hi-def tv sets would start from season 1. though from what i've heard about later seasons, maybe i shouldn't get into lost
 

Oni Jazar

Member
Looks like no one toppled 300 last week. According to Home Media Magazine, "On the high-def disc charts, Warner’s 300 remained at No. 1 on both the Blu-ray Disc and the HD DVD sales chart."

The final numbers should come out later today.
 
Oni Jazar said:
Looks like no one toppled 300 last week. According to Home Media Magazine, "On the high-def disc charts, Warners 300 remained at No. 1 on both the Blu-ray Disc and the HD DVD sales chart."

The final numbers should come out later today.

Not surprising, since new releases on both formats have been sucking for quite a while. As a non-300 enthusiast, I've been starving for new content. I assume it's all hold-back for the 4Q glory releases.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
I bought one of those star trek HD episodes on XBLM last night. It looked pretty good, and thats on that weak 720p super compressed VC1 encode..

Im pretty sure Im going to have to buy season 1..
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
I downloaded the Heroes pilot from XBLM and to my surprise, my wife liked it. So I put season one on my Netflix queue and got the first three discs.

The surprising result is that my wife absolutely loves it...........but I don't. :(

I don't care for tv shows for the most part, but I just never connected with any of the characters, so I stopped watching after like the first few episodes, but my wife blew through the three discs in about two days and can't wait for the next 3 discs to arrive. It's like bizarro world, I'd never think she'd like that type of show, and I really thought I'd actually love it.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
I did the pilot plus the first two episodes. That means I saw most of the main characters, and none of them seemed interesting to me. I've seen bits and pieces of the other episodes, and my wife kinda fills me in on what's going on. I don't know if its the writing or the acting, but I'm just not engaged by what's going on. I think stuff just happens too quickly, so I don't really care about what happens to any of them.
 
Heroes is a mixed bag. It has a cool concept and an interesting build-up to some payoff events, but the characters *are* mostly bland and the ideas are highly derivative. That said, if you can hang on up to where the Cop/serial killer subplot gets going, it's more engaging.

Or you could go read Watchmen.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
I do like how they set up the HDi, in that you can just set it to "on" and the special features stuff just pops in and out without having to press anything on the remote. And I like how it resizes the picture rather than laying out the information over the show. Then when its done it just resizes everything back.
 

jjasper

Member
get the Oceans gift pack (11,12,13) from WHV's site with that code I posted earlier or JLBM for $44. If you buy something else (Blade Runner, Kubrick stuff, etc) and the order goes over $50 you get free shipping.
 

Oni Jazar

Member
Code:
Top 10 by SKU:

1.  300 BR				100
2.  300 HD				61.10
3.  Planet Earth BR			37.24
4.  Black Hawk Down			32.36
5.  Casino Royale			31.99
6.  Planet Earth HD			28.97
7.  Heroes: Season 1			25.31
8.  Blades of Glory			24.79
9.  Batman Begins			24.77
10. Wild Hogs				24.16


OOOPS I was bamboozled, here are the real numbers.
 

mollipen

Member
drohne said:
though from what i've heard about later seasons, maybe i shouldn't get into lost

Whatever you've heard is wrong then, because after the initial six episodes which dragged a bit, the third season of Lost was pure awesomeness.

Do we have a thread / website / whatever that lists out what each week will be like for both sides for the rest of the year? I know Transformers week is already being called for HD-DVD, but I'm curious as to how the balance is for the rest of the weeks.

It's getting harder and harder for me to stop myself from picking up a Blu-ray or two now that I've got my PS3. I just want this damn thing decided either way already.
 

Oni Jazar

Member
The last chart for the individual title numbers I posted were incorrect. here are the new ones:

Code:
1.  300 BR				100
2.  300 HD				61.10
3.  Planet Earth BR			37.24
4.  Black Hawk Down			32.36
5.  Casino Royale			31.99
6.  Planet Earth HD			28.97
7.  Heroes: Season 1			25.31
8.  Blades of Glory			24.79
9.  Batman Begins			24.77
10. Wild Hogs				24.16
 

Oni Jazar

Member
shidoshi said:
Do we have a thread / website / whatever that lists out what each week will be like for both sides for the rest of the year? I know Transformers week is already being called for HD-DVD, but I'm curious as to how the balance is for the rest of the weeks.

It's getting harder and harder for me to stop myself from picking up a Blu-ray or two now that I've got my PS3. I just want this damn thing decided either way already.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=766588
 
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