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So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could - Page 2

post #31 of 43
8/30/06 at 8:50am
Thread Starter 

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Well UPS just delivered this huge a** box today! I think they could house about 20 small SD DVD players in this thing... Anyways, I will be hooking it up a little bit later. My buddy Netflixed Cinderella Man. So, we'll be doing a movie night with that later. I'll let you all know if it was well worth me jumping in as an early adopter.
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post #32 of 43
8/30/06 at 7:59pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Quote:
Personally, I feel those that think it's easy sitting this out just
haven't had the opportunity to see these players in action.

I've seen it demo'd...looked ok, but not such a huge leap (from SD)that I'd need to invest $500 plus double or triple dip movies I already have....and of course if I did drop coin, I'd not be able to watch any of the movies Blu offers ..unless of course I drop MORE coin to the tune of $1000 to watch THOSE movies..whcih in turn clogs up an already full entertainment center.....thanks but no thanks.

When some form of Hi Def DVD is the norm and ALL of my players die off, THEN I will buy the ONE format that survived this mess.

I'm not gonna jump JUST because it's something new....not a wise investment for me.
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post #33 of 43
8/30/06 at 8:07pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein
Really....

I think once someone actually owns one of these players and sees
the benefits, they'll wonder why it was so difficult to stay away in
the first place.

Realistically, most everyone that converts to HD-DVD never wants
to go back to S-DVD.

Personally, I feel those that think it's easy sitting this out just
haven't had the opportunity to see these players in action.

Yep. I could only take those HD-DVD demos of Batman Begins and King Kong at Best Buy so many times before I caved.

Quote:
Well UPS just delivered this huge a** box today! I think they could house about 20 small SD DVD players in this thing... Anyways, I will be hooking it up a little bit later. My buddy Netflixed Cinderella Man. So, we'll be doing a movie night with that later. I'll let you all know if it was well worth me jumping in as an early adopter.

Welcome to the dark side. Hope your first HD-DVD experience goes very well.

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post #34 of 43
8/30/06 at 10:53pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Let me add that most of those store demos ( at least at Best Buy) don't look very good...or at least they need to calibrate the TV. Getting it home and really taking the time to set it up properly will yield far better results for you. Once you see that...there really is NO going back to sd-dvd.
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post #35 of 43
8/31/06 at 11:18am
Thread Starter 

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Well, we watched Cinderella Man last night and it was night and day diffence when A/Bing the movie between a Panasonic RP-82 vs. the HD DVD player. However, when we stuck the SD DVD into the HD A1 the noticability wasn't nearly the same. Alone this player rocks for upconverting SD DVDs. I was more impressed by that than anything else. Don't get me wrong, the HD DVD looked beautiful and all, but I'd be extremely happy with just the upconversion on SD DVD discs. Price to performance ratio, I'm wondering if I didn't make a mistake not spending $200 on an Oppo vs the extra $240 I paid to get the HD A1. However, I'm not sure if Cinderella Man was a great comparison disc. Whenever my order arrives with Sahara and Last Samurai, I'm hoping there is more of a difference.

So, overall I'm still on the fence. Right now, I'm happy I bought the player. At least the upconversion factor is great and it plays HD DVD. I'm really more excited to have a new format and player to toy around with. Well, minus a few glitches. Once during HD Playback we had a lip sync issue, hitting pause and then resuming playback fixed it. There were also some audio glitches. Not sure if it was the actual Cinderella Man release or the fact that it was a scratched up Netflix title. Third, there was also a small pause that looked more like a layer change that happened about 15-25 minutes into the movie. I'm assuming it wasn't a layer change, 'cause that was way to early for that.

So, am I happy? At the moment I would say I am. Will I keep the player? I am leaning that way, mainly due to the excitement of having HD DVD. Not to mention a kick a** upconverting player. But, I tell you one thing... I will not buy into Blu Ray until they get their prices down and start selling VC1 encoded discs. I will upconvert every one of their releases until they drop their prices and roll out VC1.
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post #36 of 43
8/31/06 at 1:18pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Besse
Alone this player rocks for upconverting SD DVDs. I was more impressed by that than anything else..... Well, minus a few glitches. Once during HD Playback we had a lip sync issue, hitting pause and then resuming playback fixed it. There were also some audio glitches.

I recommend to check if your player already operates on the new 2.0 firmware. This will add Dolby True HD support on titles like POTO and Training Day, fixes some problems and makes the player rock even more.
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post #37 of 43
8/31/06 at 2:33pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Cinderella Man is one hd dvd where there's not a huge difference because of the way it was filmed. Gritty, depression era type movie. This is discussed over at AVS. The other hd dvd's you get will blow this one away...
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post #38 of 43
9/1/06 at 4:44pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Well its now official I now have gone to being an HD-DVD owner. I picked up my player today and will now set it up and update it to ver2.0.

Only time will tell if I invest in Blu-ray or put the money in other areas of my HT? It all depends on how good the Sony is, if it decodes newer surround and if the VC-1 encoded discs are available when I go to purchase a player.

But for now I will enjoy HD-DVD and plan my next upgrade to my HT
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post #39 of 43
9/1/06 at 5:50pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Congratulations, and enjoy, Dave!
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post #40 of 43
9/1/06 at 7:10pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Thanks Larry

I have it all configured and started to watch The Last Samurai and I am also trying to update the firmware from the file I downloaded. I have heard from people here that it works and is the same as what Toshiba will be sending out. I just have to creat the disc and that's my problem. I do not have nero and I just downloaded ISO Magic 4 trial version. It would be awsum to not have to wait to get the update disc from Toshiba since this file should be the same.

Any suggestions ???
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post #41 of 43
9/1/06 at 9:16pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

I just got everything hooked up today after my move and my new furniture arrived.

HD A1--->34 " XBR970.

Two friends and I compared the 1st 15 minutes of upconverted Goodfellas to the the same on the HD disc. Blown away.

Then we took in Sky Captain for awhile.

Hell, I think my buddy James would have been satisfied watching the HD Paramount logo coming up for the rest of the afternoon. His mouth was gaping.

Don't let anyone tell you that difference can't be seen on this size of a monitor or even a tube. Heavy beast. I almost was on the verge of sending it back and ordering the Westinghouse 42" LCD that was $1500 a yesterday at Crutchfield. I think I will be keeping the beast. I'm sitting about 5 feet from it.
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post #42 of 43
9/2/06 at 11:05am

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Moritz
Thanks Larry

I have it all configured and started to watch The Last Samurai and I am also trying to update the firmware from the file I downloaded. I have heard from people here that it works and is the same as what Toshiba will be sending out. I just have to creat the disc and that's my problem. I do not have nero and I just downloaded ISO Magic 4 trial version. It would be awsum to not have to wait to get the update disc from Toshiba since this file should be the same.

Any suggestions ???

Unfortunately, I'm semi-computer illiterate, and am waiting for Toshiba to send me the 2.0 disc.
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post #43 of 43
9/2/06 at 4:52pm

Re: So, I swore I was going to hold out as long as I could

Unfortunately I am to impatient because I want to get it updated now and do not want to wait for Toshiba to send me the disc. And its hooked up so I do not want to disconect it and bring it into another room with no monitor just to hook up an ethernet cable to update it from the internet.
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