Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out? - Page 31

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Hey on the plus side I just ran over and got my truck back and they did a first rate install. They had it finished in just shy of 2 hours.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

I noticed Best Buy has HD DVD demo running at stores now. I was just watching a demo they had at the Best Buy at 183/Mopaq and it was quite nice. The demo itself was kind of set away from the other HDTVs on a 1080p Westinghouse display. The demo was playing a bunch of clips and trailers. The Batman Begins clip looked great in HD. I can't wait to get into HD DVD and Blu-Ray, but I'm gonna have to wait for 2nd generation players as the 1st gen for both formats seem a little lackluster. PS3 maybe but $600 for the hdmi version.... but then again regular BD player is $1000...

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

A PlayStation 3 will likely be my first hi def capable disc player. The dual display option as well. Now if they'll just get a full HD version of Gran Turismo (GT5) going I'll be in nirvana. Sadly the rumors on that one are still pretty slim. Think I'm not about to go the HD-DVD route. I think it'll be the next BetaMax out there (and yes I have one of those gathering dust here).

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Except that in the case of Betamax it offered superior performance over VHS. The same cannot be said for HD DVD.

Considering the only advantage HD DVD has is price, and at $500 even that's no bargain. Add to that the high rate of returns that Toshiba is having due to problematic players, and that Toshiba has sold only 7,500 players (which can't even ouput in 1080p) I think HD DVD is a doomed ship.

• HD DVD is limited to 2 layers (their attempt at making a 3-layer disc failed and thus was removed from the final specs), and each layer has a maximum capacity of 15GB
  
  Blu-ray is capable of up to 8-layers (although only 4-layer discs have been demoed), and each layer has a maximum capacity of 25GB.
  
  
• Due to the different disc structure, Blu-ray is capable of 50% higher bit rates than HD DVD.
  
  
• Blu-ray also uses TDK's latest disc coating technology, DURABIS making it many times more resistant to scratches than HD DVD.
  
  
• Blu-ray has more than a 10:1 advantage in player manufacturing support, including exclusive support from five of the largest consumer electronic companies in the world.
  
  
• Blu-ray is supported by every major film studio with the sole exception of Universal, including exclusive support from 20th Century Fox (who also now controls 4,000 titles from MGM, United Artists, and Orion Pictures - Bond... James Bond), Lion's Gate, Columbia Tristar, Sony Pictures, and Disney (Buena Vista, Touchstone, Miramax, Dimension, Pixar, etc).
  
  The only studio exclusively supporting HD DVD is Universal (consistently voted worst studio of the year on HTF and other sites as well - not for the quality of their films but the lack of quality in many of their DVD releases, and their habit of re-releasing the same titles over and over again. So far they have released over nine different editions of "American Pie". They aren't called "Re-releasal" for nothing.) We can also thank them for the latest trend in using "funny" adjectives in their "special edition" labels.
  
  
• Finally, Blu-ray also has the majority of support from DVD producers, including some of the industry's best known and highly respected producers. Besides many of the well known advantages of Blu-ray, many producers have expressed their preference for it for its vast opportunity of multi-layer interactivity and programmability.

Despite the higher cost of the fully functioning PS3 (and some of you said I was nuts when I thought it would end up costing more than $400), I have little doubt Sony will not be able to keep up with demand, and that by this time next year over 3 million Blu-ray equipped PS3s will be in homes VS maybe a few hundred thousand HD DVD players including those sold as add-ons for the Xbox 360 , if Toshiba gets lucky.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

To all of the 2-channel gurus out there (Tubes, are you listening?)- a friend of a friend wants to know whether it would be worthwhile to add a processor between a "big ass CD changer" (i.e., relatively low end 300-400 disc changer) and his amp. His budget is $1000. Any advice?

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Ken, at least it now looks more realistic that PD will be releasing an online version of GT4. They have already been releasing the beta version:

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Chad,

Can you give us any more details about your friend's friend's system? Am I reading that correctly that he has a two-channel system with a CD player connected directly to an amp? Or is it a receiver and he's connecting the cd player's analog outputs to an analog input on the receiver? Either way, it's possible that adding an outboard DAC or pre/pro MIGHT yield a sonic improvement, however proving such a thing would be very difficult. In most cases an ABX test would yield a negative result, however in a sighted A/B comparison almost all audiophiles would claim to hear a difference. Who's correct? Depends on who you ask. My opinion--he only has a chance of truly hearing a difference if he's using excellent speakers in a properly treated room. If the room isn't acoustically treated, then he's probably spending the money in the wrong area, as any micro improvements from a better DAC are going to be swamped by room aberations.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Yea, but an online version of GT4 is not a big deal to me. I have online play in other games but never do. From what I've read and inferred they are using this to debug the online version of Gran Turismo HD which naturally is based on all the previous versions of GT. There's many articles on GT HD. Google it. According to Polyphony GT HD is supposed to be available "shortly" after the new console is available on Nov 17. Now that could be a week or 6 months. it's not very clear. GT3 took a year and a half after the PS2 was released.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray

Both formats have their share of problems right now. Though I favor HD DVD currently, I don't plan on getting into either format until end of the year at the earliest (ps3 maybe), hopefully combo players will also be available then.

Sony has also removed the 2nd HDMI output from the PS3 (along with HDMI output altogether from the $500 version).

Nils,
Blu-Ray is capable of 200gb discs so far in test labs. However, Blu-Ray video specs only have support for 50gb dual layer discs. For movie use, Blu-Ray will be limited to 50gb, anything above will be for data/pc usage (else they will be incompatible with at least first gen units including ps3), that is, if production beyond 50gb ever becomes efficient enough.

AFAIK, 50gb blu-ray movies are nowhere near ready for production and we won't see any until October at the earliest.

30gb used by HD DVD is more than enough using advanced codecs. All US HD DVD titles now are using VC1 encodings which is 2 to 3 times more efficient that MPEG2. Current HD DVD movies out now are achieving transparency with their D5 masters at under 18mbps bitrates. See Robert Harris's HD DVD reviews in the HD Software area. With 30gb HD DVD can easily fit 3-4 hours of HD content. 50gb is wanted by Disney who wants to put more interactive content (and extra trailers) so kids can have an online tea party and games using a network connection to the internet, as an example (network connections will not be available on the first blu-ray players by Sony and Samsung by the way).

There are no Blu-Ray movies being released that is not using MPEG2 currently with their bitrates expected to be around 16-18mbps. Though VC1 is supported by BD, it is not available in BD tools, which is why we are seeing MPEG2 Warner BD releases despite them favoring VC1.

TDK's Durabis2 for Blu-ray sounds good. I must note that it's only being used on TDK's writable media, it is not going to be used regular BD ROM. BD spec requires a hardcoat, but the quality and type used depends on the replicator, and Durabis2 is too expensive for mass production BD ROM.

Toshiba just released a firmware update recently to fix playback problems for its HD DVD players, available using the player's network connection. It seems majority of the playback problems from users have been fixed with it.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

This is correct, I was not simply referring to BD ROM capacity as I suspect many are interested in using an HD format for more than just playback purposes.

Currently HD DVD does not even have any recorders available, while Blu-ray has released 1st gen recorders in Japan nearly two years ago, and a few manufacturers have already announced plans on releasing new BD recorders and discs in the coming weeks/months.

Those "reports" posted on AVS by a couple Microsoft employees have been exposed as mere speculation at this point. However, if they are released by October that is VERY near ready for production. Let's not forget that it took studios nearly a year to embrace dual-layer standard DVD.

The same was said by those who saw no need for dual-layer DVD. One thing we all know is that if there is space, and producers can fill it to make their product better and more appealing to their customers.. they will - maybe not right away, but eventually.

As for space, HD DVD does not have enough space for instance to put the extended versions of LOTR on one disc without lowering the bit rates and moving all the special features to another disc. In fact if Peter Jackson has his way, all the special features will be in HD, thus the HD DVD version will either be overly compressed, or will be on several discs.

???? Yes, I've read Robert's comments and have even had personal exchanges with him, and I also know while he is very knowledgeable about film preservation and restoration, he has many times openly admitted his lack of knowledge on video production and technology. You'll find when reading many of his comments on standard DVD releases he gives them the same glowing reviews. I wouldn't mistake unbridled enthusiasm for picture quality to mean that the picture is truly achieving transparency compared to the masters.

Furthermore, it has now been confirmed that Warner has released at least two HD DVD titles that are not even encoded in 1080p, and were from 1080i masters with no way of deinterlacing them with proper 3:2 pulldown

Which doesn't help explain how Warner used up 25GB on their first releases with only 2hr films and few or no HD special features.

The Warner DVD production team members posting on AVS have a very different opinion. The latest version of BD tools which has been out for a while now does include support for VC1, and Warner is already working on VC1 encoded BD titles for their second wave of releases.

This would be substantial news if true. Where did you get the cost figures and the confirmation that no BD ROM discs will use this coating?

That’s great news… now if only they could figure out a way to output a 1080p signal and confirm whether or not it will even be possible to upgrade to HDMI 1.3 when it becomes available later this year.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Nils,
I hate to bring any more hd dvd vs blu-ray debate to this thread so I don't hope to post too much here after this post, as I usually spend most of my time on avs. You can pm me if you want to discuss anymore of this.

For me, I'm looking at HD DVD and Blu-ray as the HD movie watching medium. At the moment, for me at least, recordable for either of the formats doesn't mean much until they become affordable. BD recorders are way over $1000 last time I checked. Those BD recorders available in Japan will not work with the new generation of BD that is about to come out so it shouldn't mean much. The BD media for those writers worked fine because they were in a caddy where a hardcoat was not needed. BD started off as a recordable format so for recording, BD has it down pretty good, bundled with hardcoats like durabis2 and other similar ones, where the premium for these can be easily added, BD recordable should be fine. I think the big issue with BD is bringing it to mass production pressed media for movies (and ps3 games). The single layer BD replication numbers and yields that are floating around don't seem too good (whether it is to be believed or not) compared to DVD and HD DVD.

Is it not enough? It depends on how you want to look at it. The Last Samurai is the highest bitrate HD DVD currently at 18mbps and is considered transparent. Reports have stated that the movie and extras do indeed fill up most of the 30gb disc space. According to the MS people, this movie was encoded a year ago, and would be closer to 10-12mbps if done today and its extras was also just a transfer of its mpeg2 480i extras from the original dvd, so they weren't re-encoded in VC1 either.
LOTR:ROTK EE (I admit, I have this unopened on my dvd shelf) is 251 mins. So if we do the math, 12mpbs/8 = 1.5MBps x 251 x 60 = 22.6GB, with room for lossless audio track and other extras like 480p PiP. As for the full length HD documentaries, put it on another disc, I could care less about it being on the same disc, unfortunately, some people are a little too passionate about it all being on one disc.

Yes, I read this also. My only issue is we don't know when this 2nd wave is. I'm waiting to hear some official press on this (seeing how press happy BD usually is with their announcements).
If you read the press about Durabis2, it mostly mentions that TDK will use it on their BD recordable media. I haven't seen anything to say it is used on mass production BD media. Alex (amillians on AVS) also mentioned Durabis2 will not be used. TDK also has the original durabis for some of their dvdr media, technically it would work for HD DVD also but of course, no support for them from TDK.
I don't think 1080p and hdmi 1.3 will be upgradeable by firmware on the machine. The broadcom chip used by the Toshibas doesn't support 1080p output. Interesting thing though is that the Samsung BD player uses the exact same chip, but the player outputs 1080i to an additional chip to deinterlace to 1080p.

HD movies are here to own now on HD DVD and soon Blu-Ray and I'm excited about what's to come in the near future, with the format war or not.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

and yet you did post a good deal of speculative opinion and present it as fact... something that has unfortunately become common practice over on AVS and thanks to a few of the AVS offenders like rdjam, have carried over their behavior on AVS to HTF.

I understand that. Some however are looking at this format war with an eye on the future rather than simply what you get today.

The caddy system that Sony wanted was abandoned long ago as the majority of BDA partners voted against it. These recorders have been using standard BDR discs.

Considering the source, and having no substantiated evidence or documented comparisons, those "reports" are mere FUD.



So there is no confirmation that BD ROMs wont use DURABIS, nor is there any substantiated evidence as to the cost of using this coating. Of course anyone can speculate on this, and they may be true, but let' not suggest these are actual facts.

Which as long as the Samsung player is using one of the few chips that handles 1080i 3-2 deinterlacing, like the Gennum VXP, Realta HQV, the new NSC chips, and Sony's DRC chip, then it will precisely recreate the original single frame 1080/24p source from the two 1080i fields. Unfortunately, most deinterlacing chips used in displays only do bob & weave. And of course the Toshiba HD DVD player only outputs 1080i.

However, considering all the issues with any of these 1st gen players and discs... just like with standard DVD, patience will be duly rewarded. Let's not forget that the first progressive scan DVD players didn't arrive until late 1999.. really 2000 due to delays and like the Panasonic, were priced near $3,000. Today, most $100 players would put them to shame. In fact nowadays, you can get an upconverting 720p/1080i DVD player for under $60.

For many, I suspect their first HD player will be a PS3. I don't see Xbox selling many HD DVD player add-ons for $200 a pop on top of the $300-$700 they already spent when there is no announced game support for it, only movie playback, and no HDMI or HDCP compliance... Thus if and when the studios chose to use ICT, Xbox users will only get 1/4 HD resolution from the HD DVD player.

At an estimated build cost of $900 - the PS3 would be priced at $1,800 (minimum retail) if it were sold as anything other than a game console. Thanks to the console pricing model, the premium PS3 will only be $600. $600 may be a lot for just a game console, but I suspect sales will reflect that many see it as a significant bargain with multiple uses.

Now, if you really want to continue this discussion, by all means, feel free to PM Me.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Thanks for pointing this out to me. To tell you the truth, I try to be careful as to not post speculation as fact. So I apologize if I did so. I'm sure you do try to do the same and that was something I wanted to point out in my first response to you with Durabis2 and Blu-Ray.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

No need to apologize, and I'm sure no one had any ill intentions, its just that there is so much FUD getting tossed around, especially on AVS, it's heightened my sensitivity to it, as it is tiresome always having to filter it out.


Perhaps a better indicator on how the format war is playing out is the recent news leaked from Best Buy, HD DVD's largest retail partner and primary host of their HD DVD demos.

After only a few weeks Best Buy appears to be already having second thoughts on HD DVD.

So far Toshiba has not met their estimated production quota, and as of two weeks ago had only shipped a total of 6,500 players to the US since its release over a month ago, well short of expectations. Many Best Buy locations have reported that they were only given four players and have yet to receive any further shipments. On top of that, several HD DVD owners have said that they returned their units, some replacing their initial unit, leaving Best Buy to have to lose their existing inventory as replacements.

Here are some comments from HTF members who owned/own HD DVD players or attempted to buy a player at Best Buy, or just wanted to look at the demo:

















As if all this wasn't bad enough news for Toshiba, the following internal memo went out to all Best Buy locations carrying HD DVD:



The most alarming point was #1, saying that the end-cap demo will transition from the HD DVD to Blu-Ray in mid June. It also says that they should not take any back orders or rain checks for HD DVD players. Now it also says that they are not to sell the HD DVD display model, so presumably they will still have it available somewhere in the stores to look at.

Anyway you look at it, it doesn't look good for Toshiba not meeting manufacturing quotas, having so many returns, relying on Best Buy as your primary marketing tool to consumers, and now find out that your largest retail supporter is going to transition out their HD DVD demo displays with Blu-ray displays.

With so few players and titles sold at this point, even without any direct competition from Blu-ray and BD's delayed launch, it appears this format war may not last as long as many have feared it would.

I just can’t see how Toshiba can recover from such a lackluster launch and very little manufacturing, software, and commercial support.

Currently their only real ace is their deal with Universal, but with all the other studios supporting Blu-ray, most of whom are doing so exclusively, I just can’t imagine HD DVD being able to last very long once Blu-ray gets established in the marketplace.

It’ll be like VHS & Beta with one format offering significantly more capacity, more players, and more content then the other. Only in this case, the one with the most support has the edge in performance as well.

If this is the case, then any discussion over speculation on Blu-ray products and how they will compare with HD DVD products is probably not going to matter all that much.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

i think it's pronounced universuck

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Re-releasal.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

What is the GigaBit Ethernet port on the back of the PS3 coming out Nov 17th then? OK, Sony might have a different player out before then, but the PS3 will likely be the 'monster app" that gets everyone into BluRay. I know it will for me.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

It's CEDIA time again...

HTF Members Attending CEDIA in Denver this September

Should be a great expo what with all the HD developments, new DLP chips, LED projection, new LCoS products, 1080p processing chips, etc.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Nils, why all the effort in posting all the verbage negative to Toshiba? Did you have a bad experience with a Toshiba product? I've had several Toshiba TV's and DVD players and have recommended to friends over the past 10 years such that a dozen large CRT TV's and an equal amount of DVD players were purchased, with not one failure or defect. Yes, Blue-Ray would appeal to the extreme equipment fans such as you (I know, I've got my own high-tech equipment favorites :-)), but HDDVD is less expensive, it's here and it works.
Honestly, I don't care which one "wins", or if neither wins and holographic comes along and displaces them both. I think the switch from DVD's to HDDVD or Blue Ray will be much slower than the switch from VHS to DVD.

And that's all I have to say about that, because you have more words in your backpack than I.

BTW, I just returned from INFOCOMM in Orlando. It was decent - a bit less attendance than last year in Vegas, but good. Our products were the buzz - Super Close Projection tm is about to take off.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Nothing negative about Toshiba, just pointing out actual facts and addressing some of the FUD about both HD video formats and the response HD DVD it is getting in the marketplace... which is of course going to be the final deciding factor on how well either format will do in the long run.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Okay, we're on the same page, bro'. :-)

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Okay, I continue to futily attempt to get my Austin HT friends to attend my Austin Symphonic Band (http://www.asband.org) concerts, so please consider our Fathers Day concert at Zilker Park Hillside Theater this Sunday evening at 7:30. The admission price is spot on for this group: FREE! And, honestly, we are one of the best symphonic bands in the nation.
Thanks.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Hey Hank. I'm thinking of trying to build some power cords. Any recomendations on what I should get cable and connector wise.
Oh the DIY speakers got pushed back. I got a smoking deal on some Martin Logans. Got to save up again.

Greg

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Hank,
FYI. I tried the asband.com link you provided. It appears that domain is for sale.

Jay

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Greg: Yes I do - no numbers in front of me now, but I'll get 'em to you. Belden silver-plated copper with teflon insulation per conductor and overall teflon. Marinco female and Hubbell male are good enough in my book. Maybe Tubes could tell the difference between a Hubbell and a $100 gold-plated male plug, but I can't.
Glad you got a good deal on the speakers, but when you're ready to sell them and have me do the dipoles, let me know and we'll pick some cool "different" veneer for them.

Jay: Sorry, I'm so used to using .com - it's .org (we're a non-profit):
http://www.asband.org

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Heads-Up:

Ronald Epstein, co-owner of HTF has started a thread for people to request three titles they would like to see made available in HD from each of the major studios. HTF will compile these requests and submit them directly to the heads of each studio's home video department. In the past, HTF has helped influence some of their decision making, so if you have any requests this is a good time to make them. Keep in mind, no requests for Star Wars is allowed, considering Fox has absolutely no control over its release, and simply distributes whatever Lucasfilm gives them.

Here is the thread:

VOTE! Let the studios know what YOU want released on HD-DVD/BLU-RAY in the next year



Here were my top picks:


HD DVD

Universal

• Amelie
• Jurassic Park
• Schindler's List

HD DVD & Blu-ray

Warner

• Blade Runner
• Hamlet (1996)
• V for Vendetta

New Line

• Lord of the Rings
• Se7en
• Dark City

Paramount

• The Godfather Trilogy
• Once Upon a Time in the West
• Braveheart

DreamWorks

• Gladiator
• Saving Private Ryan
• AI: Artificial Intelligence

Blu-ray

Sony

• Lawrence of Arabia
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Gandhi

Fox

• Moulin Rouge!
• Fight Club
• Edward Scissorhands

MGM

• The Terminator
• Jean De Florette/ Manon Of The Spring
• The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Lion's Gate

• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• The Red Violin
• The Lord of War

Disney

• Lion King
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Fantasia

Buena Vista

• Spirited Away
• Unbreakable
• Tombstone

Touchstone

• Hildalgo
• Reign of Fire
• The Nightmare Before Christmas

Miramax

• Kill Bill
• Sin City
• Pulp Fiction

Pixar

• Toy Story
• The Incredibles
• Finding Nemo

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Hello?! Do I know you people? I seem to recall this place.

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Jonathan...Jonathan who? What city do you live in? Are you interested in building speakers?

Re: Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

Build speakers? Pshaw!! Who'd want to do such a thing? Only really, really strange people, obviously.