Bill Hunt/The Digital Bits now PRO Hd Dvd! (1 Viewer)

[Steve Blair]

Wow, I must congratulate Bill Hunt on his turnaround per today's comments at the digital bits! He has now turned completely around to support hd dvd and I commend him as I know he'll get some "I told ya so's" from we hd dvd supporters. No "I told ya so" from me, just a great thanks for his great comments today and for supporting this format now!

With today's firmware upgrade to Dolby TrueHd the toshiba player has really come into its' own and the sound is spectacular even moreso than dolby digital plus. With each day I feel more and more confident in my decision to buy this player back on launch day. Thanks again to Bill and keep up the good job at the Bits!

 

[Alon Goldberg]

Here is Bill Hunt's posting:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

 

[Bob_L]

Props to Mr. Hunt for being able to reverse his opinion in public.

I had a similar epiphany in private. While I originally believed Blu-ray was The Answer, the reality of both systems has proven just the opposite, at least at the current time.

 

[Hayes Preston]

Ouch is right, that stings.

Is this true, the Samsung wont play dual layer discs????

 

[Bob_L]

I'm not sure that dual-layer issue has been authenticated for the Samsung player.

However, I do have it on very good authority (someone who authors Blu-ray disks for MAJOR clients) that there is a problem with the Java implementation on the Samsung machine. This might (MY speculation and MINE ALONE) create a problem for Samsung owners when trying to play advanced features in upcoming Blu-ray releases (or--again MY speculation--it could mean that Blu-ray developers can't execute certain features, or use certain programming strategies, because they aren't compatible with the Samsung).

 

[Tim Glover]

Great assessment and one that Bill wouldn't write if he didn't believe it. He's not one for knee jerk type comments. Good stuff.

 

[Ryan-G]

I dunno,

At this point, I'm wavering as well. BR's showing isn't good so far, DL discs are questionable, price differences is significant, and studios are sending mixed signals. Plus, I fully expect PS3 to fail.

Bill's words echo my own thoughts.

 

[Ken_F]

Blu-ray insiders on the AVS Forum already confirmed that the Samsung Blu-ray player does not support BD-Live, which is the term used to describe all the advanced interactive features on Blu-ray. However, they also said this shouldn't cause any problems. On a disk authored with such content -- like picture-in-picture commentary -- the user is presented with a message saying the feature is not supported. But users should have no problem accessing the movie, trailers, etc.

 

[Bob_L]

Thanks for filling me in, Ken. I read AVS but failed to see that. I appreciate it.

Gee, I think I'd be kind of an irritable Samsung owner if I had paid $1000 for the player and it failed to provide ALL the advanced media features of the format.

And, besides, anytime I pay $1000 for something, I EXPECT to get a BJ-Live with it.

:rolleyes

 

[Ronald Epstein]

...and with the reported problems with the upcoming Sony player
combined with the subpar 4th quarter studio releases on that format,
it looks like I will not be purchasing a Blu-Ray player anytime soon.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

It's funny, a year ago, I laughed at HD-DVDs fledgling support and awaited the coming of Sony's uber format.

Now, a year later, I'm a proud HD-DVD owner who waits for blu-ray dvd reviews, just so I can read how terrible the quality is on some of these discs. How odd life is.

I guess I shouldn't be that suprised. 2 years ago I laughed at the idea of only using a Mac. Now, I can't even look at a PC.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I'm with you, Paul. My only mistake was actually buying the Samsung player. Even with the surprise out of this world quality from HD DVD, I never dreamed that Blu-Ray would be as bad it is. I always thought it would be at least as good as HD DVD.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I am not declaring a winner of this format nor trying to take
sides. As co-owner of this forum I am trying to be very careful
not to take a stand exclusively for either format. I want Home
Theater Forum to be supportive of both formats, and for our
membership to be able to freely discuss their personal choices
without feeling they are going against the majority.

At the same time, I do feel that people like Bill I have to be
somewhat realistic with our of views what is going on at this point
and time within the format war.

Speaking for myself...

It's going to be very tough for Blu-Ray. First, there seems to
be a rash of posts across the Internet from rather unhappy
Samsung owners. There seems to be PQ problems with some
of the initial Blu-Ray releases. Now we hear that Sony is having
problems getting their highly anticipated player out to market.

Then there are the software titles themselves....

This is a format war! You would think this war would be
fought with software releases being the ammunition. The
studios have played it way too safe. However, that situation
is now changing in favor of HD-DVD. I think with some of
the new titles being rumored for HD-DVD release (King Kong,
Batman Returns, Waterworld) are going to make the rather
lackluster exclusive Blu-Ray titles look pale in comparison.
The moment I heard Disney pulled Cars and Pirates
from Blu-Ray release, I knew I wasn't investing in Blu-Ray this year.

It's a shame. Had Disney been more aggressive with their
releases they would have garnered huge support for the format
they are exclusive to.

Don't misunderstand this post as bashing Blu-Ray. I still
believe it possible that Blu-Ray can rise from the depths
to overshadow HD-DVD, though at this point and time, it's
hard to imagine that happening. Let's hope things improve.

This forum will continue to be supportive of both formats.

 

[Paul_Scott]

I think most reasonable people still expect it will be at some point or at least very close- but that point isn't here and now, and I don't see it being anytime soon (6 months or so in the future).
and by the time that actually happens, I'm just gonna shrug and think to myself "we're just that much closer to more studio support on the format I already have...why bother at this point"

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I'll let T.S. Eliot speak for me regarding the BD format:

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

- Steve (rockin' and rollin' to new firmware and Dolby True HD)

 

[Steve Blair]

LOL Steve, that quotes starts off my favorite miniseries, Stephen Kings' THE STAND. I think the blu's got the flu (if you saw the miniseries or read the book you'll get that part

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I wonder if the Blu Ray camp is in Las Vegas?

- Steve

 

[BrettGallman]

I was also a die-hard Blu-Ray supporter and I never thought I'd even consider picking up an HD-DVD player, let alone actually buy one. If Fox would jump on over to HD-DVD, that would be one large step closer to the end of the format war. At this point, the only thing keeping BD in the back of my mind is the fact that they'll have some nice titles; however, if the quality is bad, that's irrelevent I suppose.

 

[Tim Glover]

Fox & Disney are certainly big players for sure...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Even if one of those studios releases HD DVD product this format war is far from over. This latest format war is barely to first base now. The real action will take place in 2007 and 2008. The wind is currently blowing in HD DVD's direction, but that wind direction can change very quickly because the industry as a whole wants Blu-ray to win. Also, Toshiba needs to have more hardware manufacturers producing players. They need to make sure they have enough players out in the market place to meet customer demand, especially next year and the year after that.