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What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

post #1 of 20
12/30/07 at 8:25pm
Thread Starter 
I'm wondering what's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players? I've got a $100+ GC for Best Buy for my wife and I to use, and I'm low on sub-$1000 ideas right now. An HD player is a possibility, if there was really one worth getting. But I was just reading another thread about how there are BR discs out with features that Sony BR players can't use. So I'm partially thinking I should just say, "screw it", and forget about HD players for another 12 months.

But if there is good synopsis somewhere on the state of HD media, players, and whether one is distinctly better, I'd like to read it and consider whether HD is worth getting into.

Any links or pointers are appreciated.
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post #2 of 20
12/30/07 at 9:14pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

At least wait until CES in about 5-6 days where Warners will announce they are either going to stay purple, or go red or blu. If they go blu or red, it'll be much more interesting as to how the hardware side will be affected.
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post #3 of 20
12/30/07 at 10:42pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

They are still very much a work in progress. I have a 3rd generation, i.e., the latest, Toshiba A3. I am on my 3rd version of firmware already, and I've only had the player for 2 months. I haven't had any problems with it, maybe mostly because I'm trying to stay up to date with the f/w, but it's still extra effort on my part.
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post #4 of 20
12/30/07 at 10:49pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Sun
At least wait until CES in about 5-6 days where Warners will announce they are either going to stay purple, or go red or blu. If they go blu or red, it'll be much more interesting as to how the hardware side will be affected.
Yup, with new hardware being introduced too next week.





Crawdaddy
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post #5 of 20
12/31/07 at 7:48am
Thread Starter 

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

I'm in no hurry to use my GC, so I'll definitely see what comes of CES. (I'm also considering a Harmony Remote and a Tivo, so HD DVD is an option, but I'm not wed to it)

Is there any expectation of cheaper universal HD players? Having to choose which studios' movies I prefer to watch is bewildering.
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post #6 of 20
12/31/07 at 9:09am

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Ditto what the others said: wait after CES pending WB and new hardware. Especially if you want to go Blu, and don't want to be trapped with the PS3 and Panny as your only 1.1 alternatives. More 1.1 hardware is sure to be announced at CES, and debut in stores shortly thereafter.
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post #7 of 20
12/31/07 at 11:52am

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Yeah, you might as well wait the week or so at this point.

One thing. If you do decide to go Blue (or Purple), there's currently a $100-back deal for new Sony Visa Card members w/ first purchase of >=$300 at a Sony store (or at sonystyle.com) -- the deal also gives you 12-month interest free. So you can pick up a PS3 (or some other Sony player) that way, instead of using your GC at Best Buy. I jumped on the PS3/40GB just a few days ago w/ this deal mainly for the BD/DVD playback -- they even threw in an extra wireless game controller for free at the time though that part might've expired now.

FYI, updating the software on the PS3 was relatively painless (thanks in part to built-in WiFi connectivity) though very slow for whatever reason -- took something like an hour(!) or so it seemed. I did have some trouble setting up secured WiFi connection, and somethings took a little getting used to. Also, it apparently doesn't do 4x3 squeeze for 4x3 SD titles via component output (like my Denon can) -- no HDMI on my HD RPTV -- so that was a small bummer. But seems like a sweet machine overall, especially given all the other stuff it can do. Will probably go pick up an inexpensive off-brand remote to add IR remote capability to use w/ a uni remote -- the PS3 only supports Bluetooth natively for wireless control...

_Man_
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post #8 of 20
1/1/08 at 4:02pm
Thread Starter 

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

I'm curious what will be introduced at CES. If I buy an HD player, it will be in the sub-$300 range (which rules out the PS3).
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post #9 of 20
1/1/08 at 4:11pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF
I'm curious what will be introduced at CES. If I buy an HD player, it will be in the sub-$300 range (which rules out the PS3).
This time next week, we should know a lot more than we do now.
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post #10 of 20
1/1/08 at 6:28pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF
I'm curious what will be introduced at CES. If I buy an HD player, it will be in the sub-$300 range (which rules out the PS3).

The PS3/40GB would be ~$300 when factoring the current Sony credit card deal -- though you'd have to spend another ~$15 on top, if you want an IR remote option. Of course, if you do that, you won't be able to use your Best Buy GC for the purchase...

_Man_
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post #11 of 20
1/1/08 at 6:42pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

I just bought the HD-XA2 and the BD-P1200.

Unless you own a terrible SD DVD player, I would say wait until prices on HD players drop to the floor.

It is not worth the investment for the marginal video quality improvement. If you own a quality DVD player already like a Denon or Oppo, you are not going to gain much IMO.

I run a 100" screen and really can not tell a noticeable difference 99% of the time. Transfers are also inconsistent which makes the whole experience even less satisfying.
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post #12 of 20
1/1/08 at 7:33pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
Originally Posted by joseph westcott
I run a 100" screen and really can not tell a noticeable difference 99% of the time. Transfers are also inconsistent which makes the whole experience even less satisfying.

While I do suspect the quality of transfers to be very significant in impacting differences, I find it kinda hard to believe that the difference is not really noticeable even w/ a top quality HD transfer on a 100" screen. How far do you sit from that screen? What projector do you use?

Personally, while I agree that I probably won't need to replace my entire SD DVD collection w/ HD, it probably would be good to start collecting at least certain desired titles in HD instead of SD going forward, particularly certain new releases. Sure, you may end up spending an extra $100 or so on the player now (vs later), but you would probably save that $$$ back by not having to do the upgrade double-dip on the software side. I think concerns about the format war itself and considerations for player problems, reliability and such should matter much more than saving a few more bucks on a player, if one is gonna wait much longer before jumping in. Afterall, even w/ the SD format, it took a while for truly good quality players to become available at "through the floor" prices. To me, I think the $300 mark is good enough if I can get a good quality player, and that's pretty much what I did w/ both the SD format before and the BD format now...

_Man_
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post #13 of 20
1/2/08 at 6:39am
Thread Starter 

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Man-Fai Wong
[...] it probably would be good to start collecting at least certain desired titles in HD instead of SD going forward, ... Sure, you may end up spending an extra $100 or so on the player now (vs later), but you would probably save that $$$ back by not having to do the upgrade double-dip on the software side. _Man_
Unless you buy the losing format, and have to double-dip to replace with the dominant HD format

My current solution is to just buy fewer DVDs. And get most of those from the $5 bins.
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post #14 of 20
1/2/08 at 8:19am

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
It is not worth the investment for the marginal video quality improvement. If you own a quality DVD player already like a Denon or Oppo, you are not going to gain much IMO.
I totally disagree even on a 50" display. On a 1080P FPTV, the difference is staggering.
Quote:
If I buy an HD player, it will be in the sub-$300 range (which rules out the PS3)
Unless something changes it rules out most if not all BR players as well. The Samsung BDP1400 and the Sony S300/301 which are both clearance priced are about all you can get for that price on the BR side. The HD side is different of course.
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post #15 of 20
1/2/08 at 8:34am

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Unless you have or are planning on buying a new receiver with Dolby True HD and DTS-HD MA decoding. And if your main focus is a 1080p picture and you do not care about the picture in picture and the extra features. I would say the Sony BDP-S300 will do a great job. Now it is true that there will be new equipment coming out soon and you might want to wait if you want to be able to bitstream lossless to your receiver. And there should be a decent amount of ver1.1 Blu-ray players out that will take advantage of the new features. I currently own a 50" Sony HDTV and both Toshiba HD-A1 and Sony BDP-S300 and they both look great. Both players where only temperary until better players came out with more features enabled. My Sony BDP-S300 will be upgraded to a Denon DVD-2500 BT Blu-ray transport and I might pick up a Toshiba HD-A35 unless a better company comes out with an HD-DVD player around the end of 2008 or the begining of 2009?

If you where looking for higher end players, both Denon and Marantz are coming out with players this year. Who knows when we might see another brand making HD-DVD players?
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post #16 of 20
1/2/08 at 8:58am

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF
Unless you buy the losing format, and have to double-dip to replace with the dominant HD format
This isn't DIVX; players aren't going to brick themselves in that event. Odds are that the "wrong" player will still last plenty long enough that there will be no need for a lateral double-dip.
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post #17 of 20
1/2/08 at 11:27am

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Man-Fai Wong
While I do suspect the quality of transfers to be very significant in impacting differences, I find it kinda hard to believe that the difference is not really noticeable even w/ a top quality HD transfer on a 100" screen. How far do you sit from that screen? What projector do you use?

I use a 100" screen and a Panasonic AE700u (720p). I sit 16 feet from the screen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Man-Fai Wong
Personally, while I agree that I probably won't need to replace my entire SD DVD collection w/ HD, it probably would be good to start collecting at least certain desired titles in HD instead of SD going forward, particularly certain new releases. Sure, you may end up spending an extra $100 or so on the player now (vs later), but you would probably save that $$$ back by not having to do the upgrade double-dip on the software side. I think concerns about the format war itself and considerations for player problems, reliability and such should matter much more than saving a few more bucks on a player, if one is gonna wait much longer before jumping in. Afterall, even w/ the SD format, it took a while for truly good quality players to become available at "through the floor" prices. To me, I think the $300 mark is good enough if I can get a good quality player, and that's pretty much what I did w/ both the SD format before and the BD format now...

_Man_

I personally will not invest in any HD DVDs or Blu-Ray discs. I rent them ALL from Netflix. The HD-XA2 and BD-P1200 both use the Silicon Optix Reon video processors and both are excellent as standard definition players, should either technology disappear, so I do not feel that I have made a bad investment in buying either of these players. Secrets of Home Theater rates both of them up there with the best players available on the market today for SD playback. I paid less than half of what they retailed for when they first came out.

HD video looks spectacular (like Planet Earth series or National Geographic) but film transfers really are no better than my SD Denon player. I was really expecting a more dramatic difference.
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post #18 of 20
1/2/08 at 11:37am

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shane Martin
I totally disagree even on a 50" display. On a 1080P FPTV, the difference is staggering..

What DVD player were you using before? Was it a Denon or Oppo Digital?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Shane Martin
Unless something changes it rules out most if not all BR players as well. The Samsung BDP1400 and the Sony S300/301 which are both clearance priced are about all you can get for that price on the BR side. The HD side is different of course.

Sony has never made any DVD player that could compare to the other brands mentioned above so I would have a hard time recommending them. The BD-P1400 is a step backwards from the 1200 because it no longer uses the Silicon Optix Reon solution (considered one of the best affordable solutions at this time). They are fine for HD playback but would not be optimal for both standard definition and HD discs.
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post #19 of 20
1/2/08 at 12:24pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

Quote:
What DVD player were you using before? Was it a Denon or Oppo Digital?
On my display at home, I used a Sony 5 disc which had a very nice upscaler. On the 1080P FPTV, we used an oppo and a Panasonic RP82.

In any of the 3 cases, we thought film based HD was vastly superior.

My eyes have become so accustomed to HD, I can't go back to SD even upscaled. Then again I never felt upscaled DVD was remotely as good as people made it out to be.
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post #20 of 20
1/2/08 at 3:22pm

Re: What's the "State of the Nation" regarding HD players?

I own both Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD and Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray as well as a Denon DVD-2200 DVD player, Sony DVP-S9000 ES DVD player, Pioneer DV-525 DVD player. I have never been big on Sony DVD players but the DVP-S9000 ES kicks out a very nice picture. As far as upconvering DVD's go, it can look much better than no upconverting players. But they definantly do not look better than HD played back on a good HD player.

And I would have to say I am not a big fan of Koran made electronics. So regardless of the opinions of Samsung here, I have a hard time getting myself to buy it. I am hoping that this year will see some of the best HD players ever produced. And that all the features and performance will be incorporated into these players. I would like to see all the players this year end up with profile 1.1 and be able to bitstream Dolby True HD and DTS-HD MA via HDMI 1.3. I am also hoping that a company will anounce a HD-DVD player at CES this year.

And I also am so used to HD that I do not buy a DVD unless I really have to have it because there is no HD version planned. Other wise I put it off and buy the new HD releases as well as the older movies released in HD. HD has become the center point of my HT and I do not see it changing anytime soon.
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