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

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Argyle

Member
Cosmic Bus said:
Do any current Blu-Rays have firmware updates on the discs themselves? A friend is having absolutely no luck getting Sunshine to play on his PS3, and doesn't have internet access to download the latest version. I tried grabbing the file from Sony's site and putting it onto a flash drive for him, following the directions to a tee, but the system won't recognize that there's any update file present. Suggestions?

No (because each standalone player will also have a different type of firmware - I don't think they will ride FW from every manufacturer on every movie disc)...

Make sure your flash drive is formatted for FAT32, and make sure the update is named PS3UPDAT.PUP in the /PS3/UPDATE directory (I typed that from memory, I hope that is right...:)
 
Sorry I just don't get digital downloads. I want a disc I can hold in my hands. Plus to get hd 1080p video it would take hours to download. Even in a converted format like divx, the files are 4-8 gigs...It is different with music, because for 99% of people you won't tell the difference in quality. Video quality is much much more noticeable...
 

Zaptruder

Banned
Warm Machine said:
16:9 was chosen because it more or less matches human vision aspect.

Does it? Your eyes are a decent distance from each other. I would've thought 2.35 was the closer match?

But that 16:9 was a safe compromise between 4:3 and the more cinematic 2.35.
 

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
Kintaro said:
Why do I keep going to this website?
They're not alone though. The DD message is strident at the moment, a particular favorite among tech pundits. And most tech sites still haven't turned the corner with Sony yet. Sony is still the company that ran over everyone's puppy with proprietary formats and high priced electronics, culminating with the entry price of the PS3. Since just about everyone associates BD with Sony alone, it's not a surprise that they'd back Comcast's pipe dreams rather than the reality of what BD has achieved so far.
 
What I don't understand about people spouting off digital downloads as the next big thing is that most of the people currently downloading media are doing so for free over peer to peer and torrents. All these digital download incentives may be more organized but they will all have one common requirement: money. It's like paying for online multiplayer on the PC when it's been free for how long (Windows Live, I see you).
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
kaching said:
They're not alone though. The DD message is strident at the moment, a particular favorite among tech pundits. And most tech sites still haven't turned the corner with Sony yet. Sony is still the company that ran over everyone's puppy with proprietary formats and high priced electronics, culminating with the entry price of the PS3. Since just about everyone associates BD with Sony alone, it's not a surprise that they'd back Comcast's pipe dreams rather than the reality of what BD has achieved so far.

So, I shouldn't bother with any sites then? =P

DD for movies/TV will be such a hard sale, it won't even compare to the troubles BR had (which could easily be chalked up to the format war plus, it's only ONE YEAR OLD). Seriously, the concept of ownership is so ingrained in the consumer mindset, it's just not going to happen.

One could bring up music and DD, but that will never get rid of the optical format for music either since *gasp* people still want to own physical copies.
 

maharg

idspispopd
Kintaro said:
So, I shouldn't bother with any sites then? =P

DD for movies/TV will be such a hard sale, it won't even compare to the troubles BR had (which could easily be chalked up to the format war plus, it's only ONE YEAR OLD). Seriously, the concept of ownership is so ingrained in the consumer mindset, it's just not going to happen.

One could bring up music and DD, but that will never get rid of the optical format for music either since *gasp* people still want to own physical copies.

Lord. Everyone in this thread always thinks something needs to happen instantaneously for it to happen at all. OMG HD WILL R NEVER TAKE OFF UNLESS IT R HAPPEN NOWZZ. OMG DD DOOMED CUZ CD SALES AREN'T GONE YET.

These things take time. A lot of nevers get spouted off here. For a forum where you can get away with making fun of an old Gates quote about 640k of ram, there sure are a lot of similar statements.
 

yacobod

Banned
finally sat down and watched my zodiac hd-dvd today

great movie, great disc, looks great, a nice send off for the dying format, most likely my last purchase
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
maharg said:
Lord. Everyone in this thread always thinks something needs to happen instantaneously for it to happen at all. OMG HD WILL R NEVER TAKE OFF UNLESS IT R HAPPEN NOWZZ. OMG DD DOOMED CUZ CD SALES AREN'T GONE YET.

You mean like the little blurb I posted? =) "BR IS ALREADY OBSOLEET!"

These things take time. A lot of nevers get spouted off here. For a forum where you can get away with making fun of an old Gates quote about 640k of ram, there sure are a lot of similar statements.

Of course it takes time. However, I don't see consumers wanting to give up the ability to own physical copies of their media for a very long time. Will DD be big? Sure. Will it completely take over? As in, every single movie or piece of music I own is on this here hard drive/etc? I honestly don't see it until I'm an old man.
 

mr stroke

Member
The Main Event said:
Both DVD and HD DVD versions are being delayed until March 4th.

Could be related to the Oscars, which will be held on February 24th.

whats the point of delaying them??
you would think they would want people to buy them before people start to abandon ship right?
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
mr stroke said:
whats the point of delaying them??
you would think they would want people to buy them before people start to abandon ship right?

If there's any chance they could win some awards ... they like to release them afterwards, with text all over the box stating what they won.

The stores than typically do an Oscar sale ... and bunch them all together.
 

Matrix

LeBron loves his girlfriend. There is no other woman in the world he’d rather have. The problem is, Dwyane’s not a woman.
Onix said:
Only one I can think of was R&C ... though that was a few revisions old. You may want to see if others are having issues with Sunshine, I'm not sure many have found it yet. Maybe all PS3's are having problems?


No problems playing Sunshine on my 20gb with the latest firmware.
 

mr stroke

Member
any Gafers brave enough to give HD VMD a shot?-199$ and comes with 2 movies..FULL 1080p!!!!!

nme-vmdbox.jpg


http://www.nmeinc.com/

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/hd_vmd_shipping_for_199/C157


ML_777S_Player.jpg
 
yacobod said:
finally sat down and watched my zodiac hd-dvd today

great movie, great disc, looks great, a nice send off for the dying format, most likely my last purchase

no american gangster?


I just ordered sunshine from amazon today. Recently picked up and watched 3:10 to yuma on BR, what a great film. I also picked up Rescue Dawn awhile back and that was also a great film and a great BR.

I find myself spending more money on movies nowadays, just because of how good they look on BR and HD DVD
 

NekoFever

Member
The Spider-Man trilogy seems to have been reduced here too. Most online retailers have it for around £25, compared to about £40 that it cost in the shops at release.

I actually came to ask a question about it: I got it at the new price and was watching Spider-Man 2, which the PS3 takes an inordinate amount of time to recognise. You can hear the drive trying to read it, and when it gets it its fine until a bit over an hour into the movie (
when Peter is losing his powers and falls into the alley
) it starts struggling to read it again and skips about ten minutes forward, from which point it plays without a problem. I don't have immediate access to another player to try it, but my PS3 plays all other films - including the other Spider-Man movies - without a problem.

Bum disc or known issue?
 

LunaticPuma

dresses business casual
Does anybody know when they will release Spiderman 1 & 2 individually?

I got Spidey 3 with my PS3 so I would rather not re-buy it. It is still sealed so I guess I could ebay it.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
VanMardigan said:
Very very tempting, despite how much I disliked the third one.

just think about it as buying the first two movies for 22 bucks, and then throw the third one away.
 
Did we get Nielsen numbers this week? It would be the last numbers before the WB announcement, and might be interesting.

I'm really interested in seeing next week's numbers.
 
Zaptruder said:
Does it? Your eyes are a decent distance from each other. I would've thought 2.35 was the closer match?

But that 16:9 was a safe compromise between 4:3 and the more cinematic 2.35.
2.35 was chosen for film because it was wider than a TV and they wanted something tv couldn't do to keep people coming to the cinema. before tv took off most movies were 4:3 or there abouts too.
 

SteveMeister

Hang out with Steve.
BoboBrazil said:
Sorry I just don't get digital downloads. I want a disc I can hold in my hands. Plus to get hd 1080p video it would take hours to download. Even in a converted format like divx, the files are 4-8 gigs...It is different with music, because for 99% of people you won't tell the difference in quality. Video quality is much much more noticeable...

It's actually not digital downloads that some of us feel will actually win out in the end -- it's digital distribution. The combination of downloads, streaming, using your PC or a set-top box, on-demand programming from cable, satellite, fiber optic, or other transport. Basically the conglomeration of all the ways consumers can select what they want to watch & when. Downloading is only one part of that.

And yes, some people want the physical disk. But not everyone wants to pay $20 or whatever and then have to have a place to store that disk, especially since not everyone is going to want to watch those movies over & over again. If it's cheap, convenient and easy enough to use, digital distribution could be very compelling to consumers.
 
BoboBrazil said:
Sorry I just don't get digital downloads. I want a disc I can hold in my hands. Plus to get hd 1080p video it would take hours to download. Even in a converted format like divx, the files are 4-8 gigs...It is different with music, because for 99% of people you won't tell the difference in quality. Video quality is much much more noticeable...

A system like Vudu starts playing the movie immediately. It still has to put the whole thing onto the HDD but though its peer to peer setup they can get the movie to the user faster than the Xbox Live version. They also have a good pricing strategy and you can buy movies outright as well.

I agree with you though, I'd rather have the disc in my hand as well.
 

Mrbob

Member
Kintaro said:
Ten Trends from CES 2008 (Wired)



Why do I keep going to this website?

Awesome news about Comcast downloads.

Oh wait, I'm not in comcasts market.

And there is the rub. The whole DD future is hilarious. Not only due to download speeds, but not every company is up to speed on technology. Not only this, there is still about a quarter of the country which still can't get broadband.
 

KZObsessed

Member
I dont think this has been posted;

Week 65/35
YTD 65/35
SI 62/38

Top 10 Blu-rays for Week ending Jan.6 Source: Nielsen Videoscan:

1. Resident Evil: Extinction, Sony
2. War, Lionsgate
3. Pirates: At World's End, Disney
4. Resident Evil 1-3, Sony
5. Shoot 'em Up, New Line-WB
6. Harry Potter: Phoenix, Warner
7. Ratatouille, Disney
8. Spider-Man 3, Sony
9. 300, Warner
10. Casino Royale, Sony

Top 10 HD DVD for Week ending Jan.6 Source: Nielsen Videoscan:

1. Bourne Ultimatum, Universal
2. The Kingdom, Universal
3. Harry Potter: Goblet, Warner
4. Harry Potter: Prisoner, Warner
5. Harry Potter: Chamber, Warner
6. Harry Potter: Sorcerer's, Warner
7. Transformers, DreamWorks-Par
8. Blade Runner, Warner
9. Harry Potter: Phoenix, Warner
10. Serenity, Universal

EDIT: Added numbers.
 

Mrbob

Member
SteveMeister said:
It's actually not digital downloads that some of us feel will actually win out in the end -- it's digital distribution. The combination of downloads, streaming, using your PC or a set-top box, on-demand programming from cable, satellite, fiber optic, or other transport. Basically the conglomeration of all the ways consumers can select what they want to watch & when. Downloading is only one part of that.

And yes, some people want the physical disk. But not everyone wants to pay $20 or whatever and then have to have a place to store that disk, especially since not everyone is going to want to watch those movies over & over again. If it's cheap, convenient and easy enough to use, digital distribution could be very compelling to consumers.

We have already been given a glimpse about DD prices though. Companies still want to charge standard retail price.

Not only this, but Best Buy and Wal Mart are going to want a huge say as well. And they sure won't want a DD future.
 

Patrick Klepek

furiously molesting tim burton
Xisiqomelir said:
Enderle, Robby, baby, blithering idiot fucktard: UP-DVD IS NOT HD

It isn't, but PS3 is a fantastic upscaler, and more than enough for the majority of flicks I'd like to watch. I think most HD enthusiasts overestimate the mainstream's potential to appreciate HD -- I don't think they'll care too much, not enough to completely switch over from DVD, in any case.
 

border

Member
SteveMeister said:
If it's cheap, convenient and easy enough to use, digital distribution could be very compelling to consumers.
Here's the problem -- it seems like digital stuff is always priced the same as the storebought products, and rarely if ever goes on sale. Look at how ridiculous XBLM is....just renting an HD movie costs 1/4-1/3 the price of buying it. Not to mention that it's one of the premier sources for digital content, but they are stuck on some kind of retarded points system that is only going to confuse and turn off customers.
 

Zaptruder

Banned
eXxy said:
It isn't, but PS3 is a fantastic upscaler, and more than enough for the majority of flicks I'd like to watch. I think most HD enthusiasts overestimate the mainstream's potential to appreciate HD -- I don't think they'll care too much, not enough to completely switch over from DVD, in any case.

The split between BD and DVD is going to be like broadband.

Everyone that's been using broadband for a while thinks that dialup doesn't exist anymore.

But there are still plenty of new and existing dialup users, that's for sure.
 

avaya

Member
FFObsessed said:
Numbers are up:

Week 65/35
YTD 65/35
SI 62/38

Next week will be the most interesting.

Apparently we won't get next week since Home Media Magazine will only publish results on the 18th. We have to work back to get it.
 

Kolgar

Member
FFObsessed said:
Next week will be the most interesting.

If by "most interesting" you mean "apocalyptically lopsided" then yes, it will probably be that.

I think Warner's announcement reverberated like the starting gun to a race--or the pop of a champagne bottle--for a lot of high-def fans, both new and existing.

I myself have picked up about five BDs in the past week.
 
Zaptruder said:
The split between BD and DVD is going to be like broadband.

Everyone that's been using broadband for a while thinks that dialup doesn't exist anymore.

But there are still plenty of new and existing dialup users, that's for sure.

The other problem is the very definition of "broadband". I meet plenty of people who refer to their Verizon DSL as "broadband"... at a whopping 768kbps.
 

Zaptruder

Banned
MassiveAttack said:
The other problem is the very definition of "broadband". I meet plenty of people who refer to their Verizon DSL as "broadband"... at a whopping 768kbps.

That's broadband. Stop been an elistist asshole about it. :p
 

Jim

Member
Cosmic Bus said:
Do any current Blu-Rays have firmware updates on the discs themselves? A friend is having absolutely no luck getting Sunshine to play on his PS3, and doesn't have internet access to download the latest version. I tried grabbing the file from Sony's site and putting it onto a flash drive for him, following the directions to a tee, but the system won't recognize that there's any update file present. Suggestions?

I watched Sunshine on my PS3 a few nights ago (thanks Netflix! please buy more damn Blu-rays soon plz thx) on my 60GB launch PS3. Worked great, along with the 1.1 features. Enjoyable flick.

Games DO have firmware updates on them. R&C was the most notable since it had an off numbered released that pretty much only added Dual Shock 3 support.
 

SteveMeister

Hang out with Steve.
border said:
Here's the problem -- it seems like digital stuff is always priced the same as the storebought products, and rarely if ever goes on sale. Look at how ridiculous XBLM is....just renting an HD movie costs 1/4-1/3 the price of buying it. Not to mention that it's one of the premier sources for digital content, but they are stuck on some kind of retarded points system that is only going to confuse and turn off customers.

On the other hand, there's NetFlix and Hulu. But personally I think that on-demand services from cable & satellite are where most consumers are going to turn.
 

belvedere

Junior Butler
Jim said:
I watched Sunshine on my PS3 a few nights ago (thanks Netflix! please buy more damn Blu-rays soon plz thx) on my 60GB launch PS3. Worked great, along with the 1.1 features. Enjoyable flick.

Games DO have firmware updates on them. R&C was the most notable since it had an off numbered released that pretty much only added Dual Shock 3 support.

So is Sunshine worth a purchase? The visuals look like they may be worth the price of admission alone, but I really enjoyed Trainspotting as well.
 

avaya

Member
SteveMeister said:
On the other hand, there's NetFlix and Hulu. But personally I think that on-demand services from cable & satellite are where most consumers are going to turn.

On Demand will not replace disc sales. They will dominate rental options. To replace physical ownership you will have to design a system where you can share your movies between friends and family. Those network effects are what won it for VHS over Beta and what played a part in the rise of DVD.
 

Jim

Member
belvedere said:
So is Sunshine worth a purchase? The visuals look like they may be worth the price of admission alone, but I really enjoyed Trainspotting as well.

I'm not a repeat movie watcher, so I never buy unless the movie is like one of my all time favs, or my kids have any interest in it.
Even though a lot of people complain about the ending, I was thoroughly entertained all the way through.

Also, looks like the Warner delay window is ~3 weeks for new releases (stolen from AVS). Doesn't seem to apply for catalog releases.

The Invasion - (Blu-ray): January 29, (HD DVD): February 19
The Assassination of Jesse James - (Blu-ray): February 26, (HD DVD): March 18
The Brave One - (Blu-ray): February 5, (HD DVD): February 26
No Reservations - (Blu-ray): February 12, (HD DVD): March 4
In the Valley of Elah - (Blu-ray): February 19, (HD DVD): March 11
Michael Clayton - (Blu-ray): February 19, (HD DVD): March 11
Appleseed: Ex Machina - (Blu-ray): March 11, (HD DVD): April 1
 
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