HD-DVD Titles Announced for 4th Qtr Release- (1 Viewer)

[Dave Mack]

Unless they all start using some sense in regard to their connectability and other issues such as requiring a phone line or ethernet connection, this (these) formats will be DOA. DVD-A, SACD, DIVX, D-VHS and soon HDDVD. DOA....

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I don't even have a landline at my home. And the last thing I want is to have to have one put in and pay another $40 a month in phone fees just to watch movies that I'm paying to own.

 

[Paul.S]

Nils, I hope you don't mind my quoting your comments from elsewhere herein in response to the last two posts:



-p

 

[Ryan Peddle]

Just so I can get an update, why would you need to plug in a ethernet phone connection to you dvd player for?

AS well, what if you don't use high speed phone internet, what if you use cable?

VHS and Beta were only one tenth the problem that this is causing.

And the funny part is, it seems like manufacturers are really the ones that are truly desiring a HD format. Whit all this heartache I know that I am perfectly happy if not completely overly satisfied with SD dvd upconverted to 1080i with my LG player.

What we should be working on is getting these damn gas prices down so I can buy more SD DVDs.

 

[Adam Tyner]

What cable modem doesn't have an Ethernet jack?

 

[RobertR]

Which begs the question of why any consumer would want to use such an approach instead of getting it on an extra disc.

 

[Adam Tyner]

Oh, it's nuts, don't get me wrong. That's just what people seem to be pointing to most frequently. Perhaps there's some way that interactive layer can tie in with Internet connectivity too -- live commentaries? I dunno. Connectivity may also play a role in managed copies. As far as just putting in a disc and watching a movie, I don't think Internet connectivity will play any role at all.

 

[Aaron_Brez]

Adam has it right, both in what the studios are thinking, and (IMO) that they are nuts.

They want to sell a "single disk" experience, where you can watch the movie, then decide that you want to play the video game associated with the movie, and it's right there, all you have to do is click it... Or you want to watch it on your hand-held video player, so you click the "Download a low-rez copy to a memory stick" button, charge your credit card the $3 it takes to do so, and insert your memory stick.

I think people would just rather buy the second disk. But that's not their mindset. And who knows-- I'm no average consumer; my likes and dislikes are atypical. They may be right and I may be wrong.

 

[Aaron_Brez]

Nothing so far has suggested this will happen; in fact, everything has indicated against it. It's only FUD based on people seeing words like "internet connection" in spec documents-- in each case, it has been to access "premium" content, or (in the case of HDCP) it has been discussed in terms of software implementations of HDCP. In other words, if you are watching on a "Microsoft Media Server" with HD-DVD, you may have to have an internet connection in order to accept HDCP updates.

Solution: don't use or buy a software-HDCP system. Set-top boxes will have hardware implementations, and will not be subject to such requirements.

This is looking a lot less frightening, the more I look at it.

 

[Ryan Peddle]

Lets put it this way. Once I buy a dvd I expect to have access to all bonus info with the product, not downloadable.

I DO NOT WANT WHAT DIVX WAS!

 

[Aaron_Brez]

[shrug] I guess we'll have to disagree on that one. I could care less about games and low-rez downloads that may happen to be on the disk, as long as I have the movie in 1080p, great sound, and deleted scenes and commentary tracks. I'll be annoyed if I have to pay for those, but I've seen nothing to indicate that will be the case-- and since not all current DVDs include them anyway, I don't mind doing without.

I don't demand uncontrolled access to every nook and cranny of the disk. Just the movie.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Everything I have read so far over at AVS seems to indicate that only ONE of the two disc formats really allows for direct encoding of progressive video like 1080p. They are being very vague about which one it is.

Amir from MS seems to also keep bringing up the fact that most studios don't have great A/V quality in mind, mainly fee based managed content control and extras... and a few studios don't even have true 1080p masters to use as they're still stuck in 1080i/540p mode and did not make the switch to 1080p mastering (yet).

Also the bitrate numbers for video keep dropping. First they said 15-16 Megabits/sec on average (larger peaks for very complex sequences) is acceptable for MPEG-4 AVC HP (and VC-1) encoding at 1920x1080p/24 to gain transparent D-5 tape quality (the outdated and compressed D-5 format is still the standard for consumer masters it seems). Now some studios are trying for 8 or less. They may be more interested in cramming in as much as possible on single layered discs and A/V quality be damned.

As for internet connections... the possibility is for allowing a per-usage fee for creating a managed copy for a home network. How often you have to pay and how often you have to "phone home" is being debated. Also, it will be a way to keep tabs on consumer usage (like Tivo-- ugh!) and the ability to "fix" your player or computer if it's on the list of hacked and/or cracked devices under the AACS and other agencies' jurisdiction. Let's say Philips snuck in a code for region free playback. They get found out and so their players are "fixed" behind your back so that you can't play other region's discs. Or a hacker overseas is using a specific player to make illegal copies, and that player is being targeted for firmware "correction." They can also revoke discs and/or players and/or computers' licenses to play AT ALL either singularly or en masse. Stuff like that.

DIVX in disguise.

 

[Ryan Peddle]

Well ya. The most important thing is the movie to me as well. A lot of the time I don't hve any realy problem if the dvd is a movie only as long as the picture quality is superb and the audio has a DD and DTS option.

But I don't know if I really like the fact that I may have to download extra features to view them every time I would want to view them. Especially since I would at least have to pay for a specific type of internet connection.

I don't mind having to have the connection if it is for firmware update like a lot of the satelite services.

 

[Aaron_Brez]

Nah, the whole point would be that the content would be on your disk and "locked" unless your player got the okay from a website somewhere to unlock it for you. The ethernet/phone connection would be to perform this check, not to download the content.

I sooooo don't want a connection for a firmware update. That way lies hacker-induced madness. I don't mind a "we'll mail you a disk" firmware upgrade, because I have the option to not put it in. If they require a connection because they "may" want to upgrade your firmware at some point, I won't buy. I don't trust them that much.

 

[Aaron_Brez]

Dan,

Blu-ray is the one which can do 1080p. I believe this was confirmed by someone at a trade show or something, and the HD-DVD folks were vague about it.



Well, of course. 1080p requires them to do actual work and spend actual money with real skilled experts at telecining and compression. "Why go through all that expense when we have a 'good enough' 1080i master we made three years ago for HBO? Instead, throw on a bunch of useless extras that most people won't use, but, hell, it's just disk space! We've got 25GB. We don't need to use full bitrate, do we? Who'll notice if we shave a little bit off here and there so there's room for the video-game? There's bound to be a few suckers customers who will pay some cash for that... Plus, we can remaster it in a couple years and double dip. "

See also the first couple years of DVD, with non-anamorphic LD masters showing up everywhere.

In terms of internet connection, if it's required for watching the movie, monitoring behavior, no sale. But the general consensus of those in the know is that it doesn't appear to be required.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Agree.
People that just pick up titles by thinking HD is better than DVD are going to be in for a big disappointment.
HD 1080p quality releases are going to be few and far between. And will continue to be, if people are just buying titles indiscriminately.

 

[Aaron_Brez]

Well, 1080i ain't a kick in the teeth, and I'll still buy it because it beats the hell out of the 480i I'm watching now, just as re-tooled LD masters were better than VHS, so I bought those (didn't have a 16x9 set at the time, anyway).

But, yes, optimally 1080p would be nice so we wouldn't feel compelled to double-dip later when we had displays to support it.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Both current 1080P projectors (qualia and JVC) will be updated with firmware to accept 1080P input...

I'm hopefull that this will apply to Sony's soon-to-market lower-cost SXRD 1080P RP televisions.

I have a suspician that sony may have a high-end BluRay player that outputs 1080P from the start via HDMI.

Folks...did you forget that Sony's bragging rights about the PS3 were largely built around the full-1080P format for games? Chances are that the PS3 will have 1080P thru-put.

-dave

 

[RaymondSteiner]

The only thing i don't like is that this format becomes something like the WMV DVD Versions, where you need to be connected to see the film.

I'm not 100% sure, but somewhere i read that they only play in the US, i'm sure that Studios will loooove it, but it's not good for the customers.

I respect the studios and the copyright laws, but as you can see in my signature, i love to purchase film from other countries, better editions, so if they put a protection of this kind, i'm going to wait until our friendly chinese hackers start to sell their "Optimized" players.

 

[Paul.S]

If the "HDMI hysteria" and HDCP speculation must spill over into this thread from that other one (we all know which it is: almost all of us are participants), then I gotta 'counter' with what I hope(d) will/would remain the focus here: HD DVD title speculation!

The latest thing I'm needlessly curious about is U's announcing a micro issue ('we're gonna release 12 titles instead of 16') when there are such release timetable-determinative macro issues outstanding (um, finalization of the AACS spec).

So I'm wondering if the 4 titles that are now less likely to get an HD DVD release sooner (this fall) rather than later (next summer) overlap with the three titles of U's announced 16 which have seen standard def re-release in the past 10 months: The Thing, 12 Monkeys and Apollo 13.

I also have to say that I'm disappointed I now obviously won't get even a HD/SD flipper come October 18 of one of my fave pics of the year, Batman Begins. Shoulda known better.

-p