Are there 10 titles that would make you cave in (re: HD) (1 Viewer)

[Brent M]

Whoever puts out the 6-film Star Wars saga on a high definition disc gets my business. Simple as that.

 

[Paul McElligott]

A blu-ray edition of The Abyss might tempt me, too.

 

[BrettGallman]

An SD Anamorphic edition of The Abyss first would be nice.

 

[Paul McElligott]

True, but if that came out now, I might find myself waiting for Blu-ray anyway.

 

[Dave Moritz]

For myself I dont put content over quality of the format. I am choosing Blu-ray for the supperior quality of the format. So even if they came out with Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, James Bond, X-Men, The Matrix, Star Trek, Saving Private Ryan, Battlestar Galactica (SciFi), Jurrasic Park, Back To The Future and Terminator 1-3. I dont see myself getting all excited over HD-DVD and running out to buy that format. Just because the titles where released, it would not make me more interested in a inferior format. It may be better than SD-DVD but IMHO it does not hold a candle to Blu-ray.

I also dont like how Toshiba has screwed easly HD odopters by locking 720p and 1080i from being outputed via component video. My idea of owning a videophile quality format does not include spending money on a cheap Toshiba HD-DVD player.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Dave, this was corrected in another thread you posted in, but I'll put it here as well so others don't get misinformed. You're going by old/erroneous information.

Toshiba is not responsible for the resolution constraints over component outputs. This is something that was pushed by the studios (at least some of them) to be included in AACS.

The AACS copy protection being used by BOTH HD DVD and Blu-ray uses the ICT (image constraint token?) to down-res over component, IF THE STUDIO CHOOSES TO USE IT.

So this is NOT an HD DVD issue. It is an issue for both HD DVD and Blu-ray. And it will be up to the studio as to whether it is used or not.


My preference is Blu-ray. If I could only buy one format, that would be the one. If I could make a wish for one format to magically go away leaving the other as the sole option, it would be bye-bye HD DVD. But in reality both formats will likely be around for a while before one wins. And there is a real possibility that both will co-exist.

This being the case, studios that release titles on both formats are likely to use the same transfer and encodings for each format (as Warner Brothers stated they plan to do). Therefore, the actual quality of the movie image should be the same whether you are watching it on HD DVD or Blu-ray. Actually, until Blu-ray gets dual layer production to the point where it is going to be easily used, most BD titles will be using single layer BD25 (as opposed to HD-DVD's dual layer 30). But as I said, at least Warner plans on using the same transfer and encoding for both formats, so the movie should be of the same quality. And actually, they will have to do things with the BD25 capacity as the limiting factor leaving the extra 5 from dual layer HD DVD unused.

Of course, once dual layer Blu-ray gets going and can be done reliably and cheaply, then they'll have the BD50 discs. But then the only difference is that the limiting factor will be HD DVD's 30. So Warner Bros will produce a title with the 30 limit in mind, and 20 of the BD50 isn't used.

See what I'm getting at here? Yes, Blu-ray is the superior format and I wish it would be the only format (and I wish that would happen tomorrow). But the reality is that there are two formats and they will likely both co-exist for a while (if not indefinitely). This being the case, it is very likely that studios that release on both formats will not be doing one transfer/encoding that is appropriate for HD DVD 30 and another for BD25 (then later one for HD DVD 30 and another for BD50). Most likely when things are done, they will be done with the lowest capacity format in mind so one can be used for both. And of course I'm sure there would be some exceptions, but I believe the typical will be a "one for all" approach as long as there are two formats.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I dont see both formats co-existing for any real length of time IMHO. I dont see retailers using up alot of space to have dvd's, hd-dvd and blu-ray on shelves. What you might see is one retailer offering hd-dvd and others offering blu-ray. Even a retailer like Fry's Electronics would most likely not offer both formats. They allready cary dvd's, cd's, some dvd-a's and some SACD's. Where would they get the space for hd-dvd and blu-ray hd movies. Granted that the total amount of shelf space for the two formats would be small at first. But if both formats co-existed for 2-3 years then there could be at least 40 - 50 titles for each format fight for limited shelf space.

While I am not crazy about Toshiba's limit of 1080i I also dont care for the use of Microsoft menu technology vs the java technology used by Sony. Microsoft has a hard enough time making pc software that is stable and reasonable free of bugs. Why would I want to have issues with my hd player hoked up to my home theater system. Because MS can not or will not make software with issues or security holes. If a hd player was to have internet access what would stop a player from being hacked or infected with a virus? A vulnerability was just brought up regaurding IE and Media Media Player. While MS codex may be allright and the same for both formats. I dont think its a good idea for anyone to use anyother technology from MS for stand alone HD players. I am just really tired of two formats allready and have no intention of supporting two. I am not convinced that HD-DVD will or can offer a product good enough to invest money into at this point in time.

 

[Chuck Stephens]

I'll play this game.

10 titles in no particular order that would make me cave:

The Rocketeer
The Abyss
The Relic
Monster Squad
The Phantom
True Lies
X-Files: Fight the Future
The Crow
Deep Rising
Escape from LA

Maybe a little bit of a pattern there but those 10 would really make me have to consider buying in early.

 

[Elphaba]

I'd be quite pleased to see these on BD:

Pleasantville
The Shawshank Redemption
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Rocket Boys
Band of Brothers
Schindler's List
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Fist of Legend
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring
Various Pixar releases
Disney's modern classics

Heck, the first three and a Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring remastered set would be enough by themselves to get me to pop for a PS3.