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[Alcibiades]

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).

 

[golem]

Valueelectronics.com is doing a get 2 free Warner HD titles when u get a player... they need to announce some street dates for the real heavy hitters though, like Batman Begins or LOTR...

 

[Alcibiades]

Valueelectronics.com is doing a get 2 free Warner HD titles when u get a player... they need to announce some street dates for the real heavy hitters though, like Batman Begins or LOTR...

yeah, that's where I ordred my player... the dealer that owns that site posts on avsforum and he seemed like a reliable enough guy... the other option was looking for some 10% off coupon somewhere (which I was originally gonna use back in April to order with crutchfield.com, but it expired)...

The 2 Warner catalog movies seemed like a good enough deal... the only inconvenience was waiting for them to get some player in stock (barely shipped out this past Friday), but it has given me time to clean and work up some explanation to the family of why I'm spending so much on a DVD player (I'm sure the World Cup HD feeds were a good start)...

 

[Bloodwake]

Hey, whenever Superman Returns comes out, this thread will rejoice, because that movie is fricking beautiful.

 

[Alcibiades]

A few weeks ago, Microsoft's HD-DVD website put up a HUGE list of supposedly upcoming titles. It was shortly removed and now there is a much shorter, more immediate list, but not before I had time to copy and paste the list.

It's really a bit of a mystery though, because some of the titles I don't think are even in production yet (Sin City 2), while other titles on the list served as a good indicator of what was to be announced (Animal House, Army of Darkness, and other Universal films). That said, it is also missing some obvious stuff that was already announced at CES or since then.

Either way, I went through each title to explain it's presence and how seriously each one is possibily acting as an indicator to what will come later this year (for example, Universal had announced since I think January that Tokyo Drift would be their first movie to be released on both DVD and HD-DVD on the same day).


Keeping in mind the following of course:

-Universal is good about announcing their titles months in advance, and have released slated through then end of September, so the remaining titles on the list are probably October-December at the earliest
-Warner will announce about 2 weeks or so ahead usually.
-Paramount has yet to announce any new info.

12 Monkeys <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
2 Fast 2 Furious <-probably releases w/ Tokyo Drift, Q4
American Pie (Unrated) <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
An American Werewolf in London <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Animal House <-recently announced
Army of Darkness <- just announced for October
Awake <-very far off Weinstein release, Hayden Christensen stars
Backdraft <-recently announced
Batman Begins <-rumors that it's ready, come on Warner!
Battlestar Galactica (2004) Season 1 <-supposedly Christmas
Bikini Destinations (TV Series) <-waiting on Magnolia/HDNet
Black Dahlia possible Universal day-and-date Q4?
Blazing Saddles <-released
The Blues Brothers: Extended Edition <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
The Bone Collector <-recently announced
The Breakfast Club <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Braveheart <-waiting on Paramount
Breaking and Entering <-very far off Weinstein release
Bubble <-waiting on Magnolia/HDNet
Casino <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory <-rumors that it's ready, come on Warner!
Children of Men possible Universal day-and-date Q4?
Conan the Barbarian <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Constantine <-released
Dante's Peak <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Dawn of the Dead (Unrated) <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Dazed and Confused <-recently announced
Decameron <-think this is Weinstein TBA
The Deer Hunter <-Studio Canal title for Europe, owned by Universal in US
Derailed <-waiting on Weintstein Co.
Discovery’s Historic Mission <-waiting on Magnolia/HDNet
Dracula (1931) <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Dune Theatrical <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Elizabethtown <-Paramount hasn't mentioned this officially, probably Q4
End of Days <-recently announced
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room <-waiting on Magnolia/HDNet
Fast Times and Ridgemont High <- just announced for October
The Fast and the Furious <-probably releases w/ Tokyo Drift
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift <-Universal's first day-and-date
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas <-recently announced
Fearless Warner announcement anytime?
Field of Dreams <- Universal, probably Q4
Firewall <-released
Forest Gump <-Paramount hasn't mentioned this officially, probably Q4
Four Brothers <-waiting on Paramount
The Fugitive <-released
Frankenstein (1931) <- Universal, probably Q4
Friday Night Lights <-recently announced
Ghost <-Paramount hasn't mentioned this officially, probably Q4
Grease <-Paramount hasn't mentioned this officially, probably Q4
Grind House <-very far off (2007!) Weinstein release
Happy Gilmore <-released
Harry Potter <-ready or not, Warner likes to delay
How the Grinch Stole Christmas <-no doubt 'till Christmas
The Hulk <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
The Interpreter <-owned by Universal, expect Quarter 4
Italian Job <-waiting on Paramount
Killshot <-very far off Weinstein release
King Kong (Deluxe Edition) <- guessing November around extended SD release
La Cité des Enfants Perdus <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
La Grande Vadrouille <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
La Haine <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
Land of the Dead (Unrated) <-recently announced
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider <-waiting on Paramount
L'armée des Ombres <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
Last Legion <-very far off (2007!) Weinstein release
Le Cercle Rouge <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
Le Lauréat <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
Le Pacte des Loups <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
Le Pianiste <- Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
Les Trois Jours du Condor <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
The Libertine <-waiting on Weintstein Co.
Lucky Number Slevin <-very far off Weinstein release
The Matador <-waiting on Weintstein Co.
Matrix <-supposedly delayed a lot by Warner
Meet the Fockers <- Universal, probably Q4
Meet the Parents <- Universal, probably Q4
M:I:3 <- perhaps first day-and-date from Paramount?
Miami Vice <- Universal, probably Q4
Miami Vice Season 1 <- Universal, probably Q4
Mrs. Henderson Presents <-waiting on Weintstein Co.
The Mummy (1999) <-Universal probably waiting for bigger userbase
Ocean’s Twelve Warner announced long ago, probably not far off
Out of Sight <- Universal, probably Q4
Passion of the Clerks <-very far off Weinstein release
The Perfect Storm <-released
The Polar Express <-no doubt 'till Christmas
Pitch Black <-recently announced
Pulse <-very far off Weinstein release
Ray <-recently announced
Red Dragon <-recently announced
The Rundown <-released
Scary Movie 4 <-waiting on Weintstein Co.
School for Scoundrels <-very far off Weinstein release
School of Rock <-Paramount hasn't mentioned this officially, probably Q4
The Scorpian King <-Universal probably waiting for bigger userbase
Seabiscuit <-recently announced
Sin City 2 <-very far off Weinstein release
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow <-waiting on Paramount
Spartacus <- Universal, probably Q4
Spongebob Squarepants <-Paramount hasn't mentioned this officially, probably Q4
Spy Game <-recently announced
The Thing <- Universal, probably Q4
Traffic <-recently announced
TransAmerica <-waiting on Weintstein Co.
Two for the Money <- Universal, probably Q4
U2: Rattle & Hum <-waiting on Paramount
Unforgiven <-released
Unleashed <-recently announced
Voyage au Bout de l'Enfer <-Studio Canal title for Europe, Q4?
Waist Deep possible Universal/Focus Features day-and-date Q4?
The War Within <-waiting on Magnolia/HDNet
Waterworld <- Universal, probably Q4
Wolf Creek <-waiting on Weintstein Co.
Young Hannibal <-very far off (2007!) Weinstein release

Interesting to note that Microsoft may have just been using old lists from either press releases or knowledge in-house of what's coming up, or a combination of both. Some of these which weren't mentioned at all at CES are being announced, like the Universal titles for September. Others, like Warner new releases (Syriana & Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), aren't on the list... I wonder how much of that list we will see this Christmas, or if there is a chance there is stuff on there we won't ever see (Sin City 2, is it even in production yet?) Peculiar to say the least, but anybody wanna comment?

 

[demi]

I wonder if Shaun of the Dead will go BR or HDDVD. I would so buy it.

 

[TerryLee81]

Valueelectronics.com is doing a get 2 free Warner HD titles when u get a player... they need to announce some street dates for the real heavy hitters though, like Batman Begins or LOTR...

Absolutely, LOTR in HD on 1 Disc! Is this even possible?

 

[MadOdorMachine]

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)

Can you explain what you mean by this? Does HD-DVD support 5.1 surround at all?

 

[Alcibiades]

Can you explain what you mean by this? Does HD-DVD support 5.1 surround at all?

Yeah, HD-DVD supports I think up to 7.1 audio. In fact, the Toshiba player supports the next-generation version of Dolby Digital, called Dolby Digital Plus, with 5.1 surround channels.

That said, there is a super-Dolby audio format known as TrueHD, which is basically supposed to equal lossless. Right now, the Toshiba HD-A1 player only does TrueHD 2.0 (two channels). It's rumored that that will be improved through a firmware update, to TrueHD 5.1.

All HD-DVD movies contain audio in Dolby Digital Plus, and a few contain Dolby TrueHD (though it's hoped that it will become standard in the future). The only way to listen to these next-gen formats though, is through 5.1 RCA analog connections (if your receiver supports that), or through HDMI.

Really, I don't think it's a big deal long term, especially if Toshiba upgrades the HD-A1 through firmware, but it would be great if all the software starts supporting TrueHD.

I think though, that if you are using coaxial or optical to connect to a receiver, the sound should be comparable. Either way, HD-DVD sounds awesome, but one article mentioned a minor edge to Blu-Ray at the moment so I figure it was only fair to point that out.

 

[Alcibiades]

wow apparantly Toshiba released the 1.4 firmware just right now:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693294

maybe that will fix the color issues some people have been having with HDMI-to-DVI connections. I don't really know what the problem was, but if I read it's been resolved I'll just upgrade the firmware when I get the player and go buy a HDMI/DVI converter...

 

[Raistlin]

I've seen nothing to make me believe either format will have many 7.1 title. Obviously the capability is there, but the studios seem content with 5.1.

 

[Raistlin]

wow apparantly Toshiba released the 1.4 firmware just right now:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693294

maybe that will fix the color issues some people have been having with HDMI-to-DVI connections. I don't really know what the problem was, but if I read it's been resolved I'll just upgrade the firmware when I get the player and go buy a HDMI/DVI converter...

Do you know if it's related to upconverted DVDs?

 

[Alcibiades]

Do you know if it's related to upconverted DVDs?

well, the problem I'm talking about seems like it affects HD-DVDs for sure, something about the color conversion getting messed up...

since the firmware is supposed to address some HDMI/DVI problems, I was hoping this would be included among those, but it may just address other problems people were having (like some HDMI inputs on TV or projecters not working right)...

 

[Nerevar]

maybe that will fix the color issues some people have been having with HDMI-to-DVI connections. I don't really know what the problem was, but if I read it's been resolved I'll just upgrade the firmware when I get the player and go buy a HDMI/DVI converter...

Interesting. I have a color-negative issue occassionally with the DVI-to-HDMI connection on my cable box. My TV even has an "inverse color" option to specifically correct for this problem. I just assumed it was a problem with the HDMI / DVI spec being poorly implemented (like telecine flags on DVDs, I've learned CE companies are extremely poor about implementing their own standards).

Absolutely, LOTR in HD on 1 Disc! Is this even possible?

What do you mean, "is it even possible"? They can fit an HD version of Terminator 2 on a regular DVD using VC1 encoding, I'm certain fitting an even higher resolution version of LOTR on an HD-DVD using VC1 or MPEG4-AVC (or whatever it is) without any trouble at all.

 

[Guileless]

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Universal) <- COMBO

Topless Phoebe Cates in HD. Finally a reason to buy into all of this.

 

[Alcibiades]

Absolutely, LOTR in HD on 1 Disc! Is this even possible?

according to a compressionist that works on Warner HD titles, you can fit Return of the King on 1 dual-layer HD-DVD disc (assuming you drop extras and put them on another disc or something):

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7905327&&#post7905327

I've already calc'ed LOTR ROTK EE (04:03) on a single HD DL, but with all the (let's say 4) 5.1 languages using DD+ audio at 640k comes to about 14Mbps just for the video and still about 400Kbps for subtitles. Very possible with VC-1 and a good master.

 

[Mrbob]

Nice thread, keep me updated on your status with your HD DVD. I've stopped buying DVD movies too in anticipation of the hi def versions.

 

[chinch]

ok, thanks to continental rewards my HD-A1 has been ordered:

$363.86 + tax shipped

(no sense waiting for a combo player or 360 addon).

someone on ebay will pay a nice sum for my (long ago) retired Zenith DVB-318 w/ faradouja and upconvert over component to fund half of this.

 

[sportzhead]

ok, thanks to continental rewards my HD-A1 has been ordered:

$363.86 + tax shipped

(no sense waiting for a combo player or 360 addon).

someone on ebay will pay a nice sum for my (long ago) retired Zenith DVB-318 w/ faradouja and upconvert over component to fund half of this.

At that price, I might actually jump on this thing. Where did you order from? PM me if you want to keep it secret.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

I'll just get the attachment for my wife.

 

[ZeoVGM]

high-definition Nintendo Revolution games (oh wait

).

its been Wii for like 3 months now dude

but yeah when is the 360 HD-DVD addon set to come out?

and like i said in another thread, if people dont know yet, you can trade in HD-DVDs at EB now

 

[Alcibiades]

its been Wii for like 3 months now dude

but yeah when is the 360 HD-DVD addon set to come out?

and like i said in another thread, if people dont know yet, you can trade in HD-DVDs at EB now

yeah I know, but using the term Revolution was to reflect that that was what I was thinking at the time...

 

[chinch]

the deal courtesy of this thread & fatwallet:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693291

For those who have 100 Continental Airlines miles:

Got to www.continental.com
Log on to your OnePass account.
Select the Frequent Flyer tab.
Select Use Miles->non-travel rewards
Click on Miles for Merchandise

After you create your Miles for Merchandise account go to electronics --> dvd players.

 

[Alcibiades]

just finished watching Constantine and saw a little bit of Training day before that:

-I guess I was fearing something ultra-huge, but it's no bigger than average laserdisc players (which I've used), and the box was obviously way bigger than the small $30 DVD players at Wal-Mart, but it didn't really hit me in a negative way.

first the bad things:

-on a couple of occasions, I think I saw like the movie clipped a bit; that sucked to be sure as I convinced my brother to watch a movie with me to break-in the player; I paused the movie and did a quick rewind and it fixed itself... I'm pretty sure it's got the 1.2/1.3 firmware which I heard fixed just about any issues, but just case I think I'm gonna install the 1.4 sometime over the weekend; wasn't really a big issue, but certainly I'd would have like the experience to be free of any negative...

-load times (now those did hit me)... I guess that's the price to pay for 1st-gen hardware

*as an aside, one of the reasons I could never really handle non-Nintendo systems in recent years was loading times... I never owned a Playstation or Saturn so when I go to a friends house the loading times are really, really annoying... whenever a GCN game loads I hate it (luckily Nintendo games were fine, but I hated waiting to start matchups in 3rd party sports games).

-extras not in HD

the positive:

-clarity, colors, detail were just beautiful, and there was a much sharper image... other than that clip problem, there was nothing wrong with the image itself... compared to over-the-air HD feeds I've seen on TV Azteca, there was no pixilation, drop in image, or other ugly distractions that are there during antenna feed... You could notice a lot more detail in people's faces and things like water, pavement, dirt, hair looked very clear... my brother says he didn't notice much of a difference, but then again I'm using a small TV (32 in. CRT 4:3). That said, he's not the type to look for detail (heck, he didn't make a big deal when I showed him the DS Lite, and went right back to playing his brick...)

-the menu interface is awesome, something my brother commented on... the movie just continues playing and you are free to adjust languages, subtitles, or enter the special features menu

-the sound was AMAZING... even my sister commented on for the few minutes she watched of training day, saying how she could hear the different vehicles in the background on the rear speakers... also in Constantine one cool part was when all the phones start going off on the chick, some rings sounded awesome coming isolated on one or two channels... I decided to stick with Dolby Digitial Plus since I wanted 5 distinct channels (compared to the 2-channel Dolby TrueHD which is the limit on the player right now)...

-the movie Constantine was awesome in it's own right (hadn't seen it), but I'm sure watching it in hi-def made it better... the visual and sound aspects really took me into the movie (heck I was getting scared in some parts and that was with the volume not that loud)...

-saw a little bit of the IME ("In Movie Experience") in Constantine and I like it WAY better than audio commentary... maybe I'm just more of a visual person in general, but I like to see the person talking and examples of how things were shot, etc... I might consider actually sitting through one whereas I never really make time for documentaries and featurettes... I might have listened to 5 or so commentaries AT MOST throughout the reign of DVD, but now that might change...


on an ugly note:

-I can't find my Last Samurai and Serenity due to my messiness and forgetfulness of where I put them ... oh well, at least it'll give me timet to catch up on Firefly...



Hopefully soon I'll be getting a DVI converter to see if make any difference between that and component...

 

[sportzhead]

Has anyone on this forum had any hands on experience with the RCA HD-DVD player?

 

[chinch]

Has anyone on this forum had any hands on experience with the RCA HD-DVD player?

it's a rebadged Toshiba HD-A1

 

[Alcibiades]

just watched Constantine again (friends chose it) and it was even more beautiful the 2nd time around... almost feel weird using that word since it was a dark film, but I the detail and visual quality were great... I used the Sound and Vision DVD to set up the picture settings (I hear it's primitive compared to other calibration discs, and probably nowhere near a professional setting, but it's all I have for now)... that may have been part of the reason I really noticed how good some of it looked this time around... one of my friends didn't see difference, and another said he noticed it looked better, especially the clarity...

as for recent new, BCI has announced 3 films for release:

http://dvd.themanroom.com/dvd-newsview.php?id=0175

8/29
That’s the Way of the World (BCI)

9/12
Galaxina (BCI)
Golgo 13 (BCI)

 

[Alcibiades]

Currently Available
16 Blocks (Warner) <- COMBO
Apollo 13 (Universal)
Assault on Precinct 13 (Universal)
Best of Get Out! Vol. 1 (HDNet)
Best of Get Out! Vol. 2 (HDNet)
Best of HDNet World Report Vol. 1 (HDNet)
Best of HDNet World Report Vol. 2 (HDNet)
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 Jacket (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
Classical Touch: Beethoven - Famous Symphonies (Brentwood)
Classical Touch: Chopin - Nocturnes Romantic Piano (Brentwood)
Classical Touch: Mozart - Symphonies Operas (Brentwood)
Classical Touch: Tchaikovsky - Sleeping Beauty (Brentwood)
Dukes of Hazzard (Warner)
Enter the Dragon (Warner)
Friday Night Lights (Universal)
Pitch Black (Universal)

8/15
Animal House (Universal) <- COMBO
Ray (Universal)
Unleashed (Universal) <- COMBO

8/22
Bone Collector (Universal)
Interpreter (Universal)
Spy Game (Universal)

8/29
That’s the Way of the World (BCI)

9/12
Galaxina (BCI)
Golgo 13 (BCI)
Red Dragon (Universal)
Seabiscuit (Universal)
Traffic (Universal)

9/19
Backdraft (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

10/10
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
BCI - 24.98 List
Brentwood - 6.98 List
HDNet - 14.95 List (only available on hd.net)


*starting August 8th, Universal will switch to the following price scheme: 29.99 Catalog, 34.99 COMBO Catalog




on a separate note, I only got to enjoy to full HD viewings (Constantine x2) and a little of Training Day before I had to pack up and head out of town for college again. I didn't even plan on brining a TV, much less the Toshiba player, but since I wanted to give it use to make sure it's a good unit and wanted to finish watching the movies I had, I brought my 27 in. Westinghouse with me as well as a Yamaha/JBL 5.1 set. Haven't had time to hook anything up yet, but hopefully this weekend I will. I also found Last Samurai and Serenity (which I had lost), so now I have all 5 movies I had bought. I've never taken a summer session at my college before, hopefully I can handle it ok AND have time to explore my player. I also brought my DS Lite and Brain Training...

 

[chinch]

wiki has a good summary of HD-DVD titles too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HD_DVD_releases


my HD-A1 player arrived and Netflix subscription reinstated... unfortunately i don't have access to HD-DVDs yet but a few are in transit. I rented a few to compare to existing DVDs and some 1080i HD caps i have (ie. million dollar baby for example)

Quick HD-A1 first impressions in no specific order:

* i've always felt "upconversion" of DVD is overhyped... until now. This thing dramatically outperforms my HTPC and actually makes some DVDs look "too crisp". VERY impressive.

* worst remote control i have ever used... worse than the original 3DO controllers. You could break a thumb trying to get the Up/down/rt/left keys to operate (trained my remote so this is packed away). I'd wager alot of "glitches" reported are from teh remote (i couldn't get the arrow to move LT<-->RT for a while.

* boot times are not an issue (faster than my XPMC htpc that is for sure).

* firmware upgrade to 1.4 (came with 1.3) was simplistic (display shows the % progress) and the machine even shut itself down when completed (i let it run after powering down my PJ)

* i hope Netflix arrives Sat (not Mon)

 

[bud]

how's hd-dvd doing anyway?

how are the players and discs selling?

 

[chinch]

great reviews and selling pretty good...
http://www.thedvdwars.com/index.cfm

 

[Alcibiades]

yeah, reports on AVS say that this is one of the best upconverting players there are, comparable to other DVD players in that price range, with the added bonus of playing HD-DVDs as well...

unfortunately I've been running everything on component, so only my HD-DVD's are running in high-resolution... Not sure if that's gonna change soon, I was looking at HDMI->DVI cables/converters, but they are pretty expensive, so I'm gonna wait a few days before deciding if I'm gonna order one...

 

[Nerevar]

yeah, reports on AVS say that this is one of the best upconverting players there are, comparable to other DVD players in that price range, with the added bonus of playing HD-DVDs as well...

unfortunately I've been running everything on component, so only my HD-DVD's are running in high-resolution... Not sure if that's gonna change soon, I was looking at HDMI->DVI cables/converters, but they are pretty expensive, so I'm gonna wait a few days before deciding if I'm gonna order one...

please, just stop people ... stop listening to people in brick and mortar stores when it comes to cables. An HDMI-DVI cable shouldn't run you much more than $10 or so, unless you need it to be REALLY long.

 

[chinch]

yeah, reports on AVS say that this is one of the best upconverting players there are, comparable to other DVD players in that price range, with the added bonus of playing HD-DVDs as well...

unfortunately I've been running everything on component, so only my HD-DVD's are running in high-resolution... Not sure if that's gonna change soon, I was looking at HDMI->DVI cables/converters, but they are pretty expensive, so I'm gonna wait a few days before deciding if I'm gonna order one...

HDMI > DVI dongle is $5 at monoprice... click here

FWIW for component only users, if you reauthor the discs (ie rip then reburn w/o reencoding), this will allow upconvert over component. Would work on 80% of the titles (dvds that the movie fits on dvd-5). probably not even worth the hassle as 480p out looks VERY nice (almost too nice on a large screen with some dvds given the limited resolution of the source DVD to start).

 

[Sallokin]

Can anyone tell me what this new format means for Anime in general? I have a decent sized collection and I'm basically just wondering how much Anime can benefit from these higher resolutions, and if it will be worth it to repurchase some of my favorite titles should they be released.

A friend of mine told me that traditional anime won't benefit from it, but computer generated titles like appleseed and advent children will definitely be better in HD.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[jett]

Can anyone tell me what this new format means for Anime in general? I have a decent sized collection and I'm basically just wondering how much Anime can benefit from these higher resolutions, and if it will be worth it to repurchase some of my favorite titles should they be released.

A friend of mine told me that traditional anime won't benefit from it, but computer generated titles like appleseed and advent children will definitely be better in HD.

Thanks for any help you can give.

I'm guessing anime and low-budget TV cartoons in general won't look too pretty on a big-ass HD display.

 

[Alcibiades]

Can anyone tell me what this new format means for Anime in general? I have a decent sized collection and I'm basically just wondering how much Anime can benefit from these higher resolutions, and if it will be worth it to repurchase some of my favorite titles should they be released.

A friend of mine told me that traditional anime won't benefit from it, but computer generated titles like appleseed and advent children will definitely be better in HD.

Thanks for any help you can give.

well, as far as upconverting goes, apparantly anime doesn't look as good as live-action and CG stuff...

as far as HD DVD and Blu-Ray with regards to anime releases, a frequent poster on avsforum.com, Chris Beveridge (an avid Blu-Ray supporter), runs the site animeondvd.com and mostly for the purposes of reviewing anime has bought into both next-gen formats, since apparantly Sony and Toshiba own a lot of the anime licenses...

you can look through his post history here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/search.php?searchid=9749539

here is some of what he has said lately

The folks from Toshiba Entertainment held a panel at this past weekends Anime Expo in Anaheim, CA. Lots of Japanese guests and visitors. Not that the IMDB link only covers their live action material and not all the shows that they're part of the committee on for animation releases in Japan.

One of my staffers questioned them on their HD plans for anime (it being an anime convention and all) and they had nothing to say about Japanese releases and indicated that there might be one HD DVD anime release of their properties (Karas) sometime in 2007 via Manga Entertainment (who is currently owned by Anchor Bay).

Throughout the rest of the convention, domestic industry representatives are all ignoring the HD world for the time being until one format is determined to succeed. That said, many ARE making sure they're getting HD masters whenever available for newer shows.

See, I *HAVE* to have the Toshiba around because there will be releases that I have to review on it. Toshiba owns the rights to a number of anime series in Japan and they are dictating in US licenses for HD DVD only, not BD. So if I want to provide my readers with reviews of titles in HD that are coming out in the next year or two, I HAVE to have both players.

I have my own preferences within it, but I have to look at everything objectively. It's why I bought launch players, so I can provide a look at it for my readers. And I can pick up Japanese releases as they come out. Most folks can pick a side and stick with it. I can pick a side that I prefer for whatever reasons, but I'll still cover both of them. And I try to do it as balanced as possible.

It's true, the Toshiba is moved. It'll go back when I get in an HD DVD rental from Netflix. I'm not buying a single HD DVD.

See, the thing with upconversion is, it's great and all, but with anime, which is what I watch and review a lot of, it's not great. It has issues that are specific to the medium in how its made both in Japan and when brought over here and adapted. So I tend to not use upconversion on anime releases because regardless of the player (Toshiba included), they don't come out looking good. The Toshiba has a lot of de-interlacing issues with the upconversion so I stopped using it for the most part. I have not done a wide sample with the Samsung yet, hence "first impressions" but so far it looks good on the five minutes of one disc I checked. But the same was said by me with the Toshiba. I doubt I'll be using the upconversion for long on the Samsung either.

In terms of Japanese releases, I haven't seen any firm plans (yet) of what's to come. There were a number of titles tossed around as coming during CES timeframe but nothing's been formally announced yet.

Toshiba controls a number of anime properties in Japan (as does Sony) so there are bound to be titles but I'm really surprised that none have hit yet. Toshiba got anime on DVD out very quickly during the DVD launch to be first to market with "the first anime DVD ever" but so far the anime side - hell, Japan in general for both formats - is very quiet.

sounds to me like Sony and Toshiba own properties and will have them released on only one of the formats, which will probably be a pain... one thing to note is that it took anime a long time to take off on DVD here in the States (like the past 2-3 years when it got really popular and cheap enough for mainstream). Since it was one of the last genres to be popular, I think it may be a while till we get tons of releases... One hope might be Bandai, which I think holds positions in both HD DVD and Blu-Ray organizations and are probably waiting for things to clear up a bit before they announce support for either format.

As far as looking better, I wish I knew... I just assumed everything would look better, but it would make sense for computer anime to look better I guess... either way I can't wait for the first anime release...

 

[chinch]

Can anyone tell me what this new format means for Anime in general? I have a decent sized collection and I'm basically just wondering how much Anime can benefit from these higher resolutions, and if it will be worth it to repurchase some of my favorite titles should they be released.

A friend of mine told me that traditional anime won't benefit from it, but computer generated titles like appleseed and advent children will definitely be better in HD.

Thanks for any help you can give.

your friend is probably more right than wrong.... at least now... newer stuff would benefit, older stuff not so muchl maybe someone more familiar with this can post specifics.

garbage in, garbage out never rang more true than in HD.

sure, everything *can* benefit from 1920x1080 resolution but that requires a high def or film source material to really notice the extra resolution of HD.

 

[Ryck]

Two questions


1. How much will the 360 add on cost?

2. How will it work over component? ( same way as HD cable boxes I'd imagine)

 

[Alcibiades]

Two questions


1. How much will the 360 add on cost?

2. How will it work over component? ( same way as HD cable boxes I'd imagine)

1. they won't say, other than "very reasonable" or something like that... my guess is $149.99 would be an aggressive move, $199.99 would be ok and I don't think they'd lose money on that, and $249.99 would be most profitable ($99.99 would be crazy and very unlikely IMO, considering the estimated cost of the drive itself are anywhere from $100-$200 alone)

2. Over component, it would display 720p/1080i it seems, at least for the set of movies to be coming out in the coming years. So far, studios haven't implemented the copyright tool to limit component signals to 540p (i think that's what it is), but who knows when or if they might. My guess it's on the backburner until signs of trouble with regards to piracy show up.

 

[Ryck]

Hey thanks for the info, If it drops for 200 or less I'll most likely have no choice but to buy one.

 

[Alcibiades]

Finally saw Training Day completely. I really enjoyed the movie, although I had a few problems with it here and there when it came to plot, mostly at the end.

This is also the first HD DVD I watch on my 27 in. Westinghouse. I saw some of Constantine just to mess around and see if the video was fine, and I do have to say that from up close it didn't look as good as the CRT Samsung (of course it did look better than DVD in most parts, and never looked worse). I noticed grain or something of some sort in some areas. I heard that some 720p TV's downscale the 1080i to 540p and then upscale back to 720p. That may have been the reason it didn't look as great as the Samsung I have back home.

That said, I didn't notice any problems with Training Day, and in fact was VERY impressed throughout the whole movie. Especially the huge, wide shots of skylines and streets, the detail was very noticable. I heard it was one of the better looking movies and now I see why. I would definitely place it above Constantine in video quality, although of course Constantine is no slouch either (especially in the hell scenes and whenever something is CG and fast-moving things look amazing).

Only thing that sucked is that I have only stereo RCA cables hooked up for audio, as I can't really see a reasonable way to hook up my 5.1 system in my dorm room (have a roommate which I don't want to impose on).

I warp/clip or whatever problem I had the first time I saw Constantine, I wonder if that may have been cause the disc had a lint piece or something (though I think it happened once with a home video DVD once too). Everything ran fine this time, and I'm wondering if the fact that the room back home is very hot and I placed the HD-DVD in a place with no ventilation (bad idea but I figured that would only be a problem long-term). I'm gonna order a HDMI->DVI cable and finish watching Firefly (so I can watch Serenity) and watch the rest of my movies hopefully within the next 2 weeks. I'll also mail in the registration card so I can start getting firmware updates by mail...

 

[ZeoVGM]

any word on the first HD-DVD TV season sets that will come out?

 

[gimz]

i'm gonna wait and get one for a cheap universal code HD-DVD player which made in china

 

[Sallokin]

Thanks for answering my questions ^_^

 

[Alcibiades]

no prob, here is a link to a thread I just saw where they are discussing how regular DVD anime looks upconverted; it's not discussing actual HD anime, but I'm wondering if some of the same issues won't come when trying to do transfers and authoring to HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=695478

the poster "sspears" is quite adept to knowledge on this stuff, and IIRC, works on HD DVD and VC-1 stuff with Microsoft.

 

[golem]

Paramount titles announced
http://www.dvdreview.com/news/

Paramount Home Entertainment has finally taken the plunge into high definition with ten HD-DVD titles coming in the next few months.
On July 25th, Sahara, Tomb Raider, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow and Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow will arrive. August 1st will include Four Brothers, We Were Soldiers and The Manchurian Candidate. Then on August 8th, expect U2: Rattle and Hum, Aeon Flux and The Italian Job.
An odd cross-mix of titles, but Paramount is welcome to the fold.

 

[Error Macro]

Holy crap... People have been waiting for the official announcement for what seems like forever!

Wow, and more titles than just the original three... SLEEPY HOLLOW! YES! YES! YES!! SKY CAPTAIN!

wtf @ no extras... Oh well, I already have the SD versions of the movies I want in HD anyway.

 

[Alcibiades]

Also: thedigitalbits.com is reporting Poseidon will release on both DVD and HD DVD on August 22nd.

On the Paramount thing: NO EXTRA pisses me off to be honest.

I purposely returned We Were Soldiers which I got in a 3-for-20 or 3-for-30 deal earlier this year or late last year. I thought, naw, I've got to stick with my "no new movies unless must have" mantra.

I doubt I'll be buying any of these unless they are really cheap. I wonder if they are single or dual-layer. My guess is they could probably fit some of these in single-layer, but since the encodes were done a while back, they probably need dual-layer.

I confess I'm not all that crazy about extras in general, but I love to see deleted scenes, multiple endings, trailers, the ocassional music video, etc...

In addition, I'm actually liking the idea of picture-in-picture commentary.

Oh well, I'm disappointed, but at least they've announced dates. Hopefully Braveheart will get a full treatment. Warner and Universal have gone out of their way and one some releases it's amazing the value you are getting, and then Paramount just limps in.

 

[Alcibiades]

Since they are working with Studio Canal in a partnership to author VC-1 and iHD content like they are with Universal and Warner, these titles are from that distributor I would guess. Hopefully the matter of being able to play imported titles is clarified soon. There are a few titles here that are from studios in the US that have yet to announce support for HD DVD, but if Warner and Universal's VC-1 titles are anything to go by, I'd wager it would be worth the cost to import some of these like Terminator 2.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hddvd/movies.aspx#all

Coming Soon to United Kingdom

* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups)
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Mulholland Drive
* The Pianist
* Terminator 2

Coming Soon to Belgium

* Ali
* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups)
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Don't Look Now, We've Being Shot At (La Grande Vadrouille)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* Million Dollar Baby
* Mulholland Drive
* The Pianist
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* Serpico
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Terminator 2
* Three Days Of The Condor
* Traffic

Coming Soon to Denmark

* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* The Pianist
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Three Days Of The Condor

Coming Soon to Finland

* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* The Pianist
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Three Days Of The Condor

Coming Soon to France

* Ali
* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups)
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Don't Look Now, We've Being Shot At (La Grande Vadrouille)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* Million Dollar Baby
* Mulholland Drive
* The Pianist
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* Serpico
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Terminator 2
* Three Days Of The Condor
* Traffic

Coming Soon to Germany

* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* Serpico
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Terminator 2
* Three Days Of The Condor

Coming Soon to Netherlands

* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Terminator 2
* Three Days Of The Condor

Coming Soon to Norway

* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* The Pianist
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Three Days Of The Condor

Coming Soon to Sweden

* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* The Pianist
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Three Days Of The Condor

Coming Soon to Switzerland

* Ali
* Arizona Dream
* Basic Instinct
* Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups)
* The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
* Don't Look Now, We've Being Shot At (La Grande Vadrouille)
* Elephant Man
* The Fog
* Hate (La Haine)
* Million Dollar Baby
* Mulholland Drive
* The Pianist
* The Red Circle (Le Cercle Rouge)
* Serpico
* The Shadow Army (L'armée Des Ombres)
* Terminator 2
* Three Days Of The Condor
* Traffic