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[teiresias]

Wasn't sure whether to put this here or in OT, but there seemed to be a large number of BR topics that are here so I put it here, someone can move it if they feel otherwise. Besides, the PS3 is mentioned in the link.

The link takes you to the topic at the Home Theater Forum. At the 2004 HTF Meet they were able to get a first-hand demonstration of Blu-Ray and it's basically just cataloging their reactions. Sounds extremely enthusiastic - and surprisingly "D00MED-like" for HD-DVD contrary to what the trend was a few months ago about HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray, but I guess purchasing MGM can do that. Some mention of PS3 in a few of the posts too.

Home Theater Forum 2004 National Meet Blu-Ray Demo

 

[chinch]

did anyone think blu-ray or hd-dvd would look anything but stunning on the right equipment to the trained eye?

the only two questions remain if the studios will buy in offering affordably priced software AND if the public "joe-sixpack" cares.


ps - keep in mind Ron @ htf gave rave reviews to Batman & Robin. LOL.

 

[Fatghost]

I'm really starting to get excited about BluRay.

 

[kaching]

Similar demonstration as what they described in that thread (Lawrence of Arabia splitscreen SD/HD footage) can be seen at Sony stores in major cities, as klee referred to in a previous BRD thread. It's definitely available in NYC, because I went.

From the earlier thread... http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=13572

Anyone in the NYC area who wants to see a sneek preview of what 1080p BRD movies will look like should go here:

Sony Style
550 Madison Ave (at 55th Street)
New York City, NY 10022-3211
Phone: (212) 833-8800
Hours: 10am-7pm, Mon-Sat; noon-6pm, Sun
Neighborhood: Midtown
Nearest Subway Train: 4, 5 and 6 at 59th St; N and R at Lexington Ave.


Make sure you visit Sonys "One Vision of Future High-End" Exhibit....it's downstairs in the back left corner....there you will see a Sony Qualia 004 1080p LCOS projector on a 10 foot screen being fed by a Blu-Ray recorder....they usually play 1080p clips from Hellboy, Spiderman2 and others...they also have a jaw dropping demo of Lawrence of Arabia remastered in HD....this special demo has parts that are split screen so you can directly compare SD to HD side-by-side (in realtime) with Blu-ray on the left and DVD on the right...when you see it, note not only the increased resolution of BRD but how much more vivid and true the colors are (which is much more impressive, IMO)....it is nothing at all like the "HDTV" demos you see at Circuit City and the like...

My impressions:

Thanks for the tip, Klee. I was in NYC this weekend and got a chance to stop by the store and they had the setup just like you said. The attendant in charge of the demo wasn't particularly enthused about showing off the setup, so he only showed a clip of Spider-Man 2 at first. I had to ask him if there was anymore demo footage he could show, at which point he reluctantly showed the Lawrence of Arabia footage.

Sitting 8 feet away from a 10 foot screen I couldn't see anything which looked like a compression artifact of any sort in either piece of footage. I had to resist walking up to the screen to look more closely in order not to reveal myself as a complete geek in front of the other couple there for the demo and embarass my wife in the process If there's enough space on a BRD needed for a feature length movie to show this level of quality with MPEG-2 compression, then I'm not sure I really care anymore about the battles over compression scheme.

On the other hand, I didn't find the LoA demo all that "jawdropping". I could tell the difference but the other three people in the room didn't think it was as noticeable and I could see how the resolution and color detail that was lacking in the SD material would hardly be missed by many people, even having seen the side by side comparison. I'm not so sure that the LoA footage they chose is the best way to showcase the differences for the untrained eye. It was mostly long distance camera work of lots of small onscreen
cavalry moving across screen, against lightly textured desert landscapes. I'd tend to think that kind of footage wouldn't give the everyday viewer a clear focus for what's so different about the overall picture.