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Will you be rushing into the new Hi-Def formats in 2006? (1 Viewer)

Robert Franklin

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I want to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon, and I have been a strong supporter of the format since the announcement was first made. The problem that I have now, is not related to discs and prices of players; the problem I have is that there is speculation that the copy protection scheme is going to be so robust, that I won't even be able to watch my father's BD's on my player, because it would have some kind of code that would prevent me from watching it on my player.

Anyway, outside of this, I would gladly jump on getting a player this year. So, if there is anything solid in this regard, or any error that I have made, please someone let me know.

Still a strong supporter of Blu-Ray.

Rob
Baltimore, MD
 

Cees Alons

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Robert,

It's expected that you can play your father's discs without any problem, and vice versa.


Cees
 

Aaron_Brez

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Which the studios might not mind all that much, if it meant a better sell-through for them.

However, that's not the way it's going, as Cees and Paul pointed out. There will be no locking of media to a player.

There will likely be locking of a managed copy to a hard drive, however. But speculation, especially wrt managed copy, if premature at this phase.
 

Brent M

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Looks like I'm one of the 80% who will be waiting around for either one format win out or a universal player to be manufactured. I'd like to get on board, but I refuse to buy TWO new players or support either side in a ridiculous format war.
 

JeremyErwin

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Two different competing formats is kind of aggravating. I got DVD-Audio functionality with my OPPO-- a bonus, of sorts. However, I've since discovered that my local dealer stocks more SACDs than DVDAs in my favorite genres. It would be rather annoying to find out that ones favorite films are only available on the other format.

Yeah, yeah, I could research which studios are responsible for those favorite films, and correlate that with which player to buy, but...
 

DaViD Boulet

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Was this thread giving trouble the other day? I couldn't find/access it and the "BD - HD DVD war almost over" thread seems to have vanished.

?
 

Stan Rozenfeld

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There is virtually no chance of me getting a blu-ray player this year. If the money is available, reviews are good, and the street price is right, I will probably get the cheaper Toshiba hd player when it comes out, strictly for hd playback, and will keep my Sony 9100ES for dvd/cd/sacd playback. Whether netflix offers hd-dvd movies for rental will be one of the deciding factors.

I will get a blu-ray player when I can buy one that can do everything the 9100ES can do with the same level quality, plus play blu-ray discs, if/when the price is at all reasonable.
 

DaViD Boulet

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Stan,

why the double standard for when to buy and HD DVD player versus a Blu-ray player? Why is a feature-poor cheapo HD-DVD player ok to buy now but a BD player can only be bought when a full-fledged unit with top-quality is available at lower prices???

If you're so comfy with getting a cheap HD DVD player, why not the same logic to get a PS3 for BD movies as well?
 

Stan Rozenfeld

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David,

I am not a rabid pro-hd dvd fanatic. My opinion changes all the time as more information comes in. This is just the way I am thinking right now.

I'll go on record saying that if Sony or some other manufacturer comes out with the Blu-Ray equivalent of 9100ES and the price will be semi decent, I will be the first to buy it. By this I mean a player that will do excellent playback on sacd and cd, good dvd scaling/deinterlacing, and hd playback. But that's not what's happening in the blu-ray camp right now, at least as far as I know. So why should I buy an expensive player that will not play sacds, probably won't play cds, who knows how good the dvd playback will be, and who knows if they'll be able to implement all the codecs for this first generation.

The bottom line is that we aren't getting a great all-in-one player a la Denon 3910 anytime soon. This means that for high quality dvd/cd/sacd playback, I will have to keep my player. Since I won't be able to sell this player, I won't be able to afford an expensive blu-ray player, hence the cheapo route with Toshiba, which will allow me to keep my flagship Sony and have access to HD via Toshiba.

I confess that I don't play games at all, so I have an anti-game machine mentality when it comes to dvd players, so I didn't think much about Playstation 3, but as the details become more available I will take a look at that option.

If you have any other suggestions as to how to I could handle the situation, I'd love to hear it.

BTW, I am also not crazy about Blu-Ray's "price doesn't matter, let's milk the early adapter market", and I much prefer Toshiba's aggressive marketting/pricing going after the mass market.

What's interesting is that we're dealing with two very different economic models here, and not just two technologies. That's why I think that this year will be cruicial. If Toshiba scores a knockout or gains a decisivie lead, the war will be over, but if it doesn't, if sales are lackluster, then I think as time goes on, Blu-Ray will gain greater and greater advantage. Either way, I don't think that the format war will last years.

Thanks,
Stan
 

Edwin-S

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Taken from:

E3 2005: PS3: FULL SPEC SHEET

Sound
Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-base processing)

Screen size
480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMIHDMI out x 2
AnalogAV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audioDIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

Disc media
CD: PlayStationCD-ROM
PlayStation 2 CD-ROM
CD-DACD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD

DualDisc: DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)

DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM
PLAYSTATION 3 DVD-ROM
DVD-Video DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW

Blu-ray Disc: PLAYSTATION3 BD-ROM
BD-Video: D-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE


Full specs at
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...(que)id=118783

Notably missing the ability to play DVD-A. :laugh:
 

DaViD Boulet

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Stan,

what I meant was that if you're happy to buy a *cheap no-frills HD-DVD player*, then why aren't you also willing to by a *cheap no-frills Blu-ray player*? Why does the Blu-ray player have to be full-featured and top-draw to warrant your purchase but not so with HD-DVD? I'm not suggesting you buy a $$$ Blu-ray player that lacks all your key features. Never did.

The PS3 might easily fit that "affordable and decent without being high-end" category in not too long a time, and I'm sure by this time next year there will be more stand-alone BD players competing more closely with Toshiba's low-ball-priced HD players.
 

Neil Joseph

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I voted to wait. I am not particularly happy about the downconversion to component and imagine that many others are not.
 

Brent M

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It will be interesting to see how many of us 80% stick to our guns and continue to wait once we get that first glimpse of The Matrix in HD-DVD or Terminator 2 in Blu-Ray. Personally, I know it's going to be tough to keep myself from buying in, but I've vowed not to do it and hopefully my willpower will hold up. ;)
 

JeremyErwin

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And how exactly are we going to get our first glimpse? Imagine, if you will, the average electronics shop demonstrating HDVD. It might be on a miscalibrated display-- if any surround sound is available, it will either use less than perfect speakers, and the subtleties available with DTS-HD or Dolby Digital Lossless will be lost.

I wandered through a magnolia the other day-- they had an absolutely huge screen showing DiscoveryHD (monster garage, or some such, not really my cup of tea), and my first reaction was not

Remember. They're not selling this to people who only have had experience with VHS. They're going to have to sell this to people who have had the benefit of running upscaling DVD players to calibrated screens.
 

DaViD Boulet

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Lucky for me, I can indulge in Blu-ray without having to change my position on the matter...

:D ;)

p.s. hopefully the downconvesion issue won't affect me running HDTI->DVI into my PJ. On AVS someone said that my BenQ was comlpiant with the necessary copy protection...we'll see...

Jeremy,

If I can figure out how to get a hold of a player (in debt right now and can't afford a BD unit right-out-of-the-gate) *I'll* help you get your first glimpse of the new format. I plan to do some very extensive and comprehensive reviews at a variety of resolution levels comparing the BD to the DVD. Hopefully my friend's 1080P projector can handle the 1080P 60Hz output for full-res!
 

JeremyErwin

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Thanks. A picture quality comparison between, say, an Oppo, and HDDVD/BluRay, would be nice.

I guess I'm a bit disillusioned with the whole DVD-Audio fiasco. Limited software and all to often, hires means 48/20, rather than 192/24.
 

ChristopherDAC

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Well, in principle, you can get significantly better quality mixing down to 24-96, even if your source is 16-44.1, because you're folding down from (typically) 24 tracks to somewhere between 2 and 6. That is, however, neither here nor there.

In any case, I'll buy Blu-Ray when the title announcements are there. Disney has the Ghibli catalogue, and Sony has quite a library of anime (most of which, for reasons obscure to me, have been licensed out for US release rather than handled by a house label). I don't know what to expect from Geneon, which isn't Pioneer Entertainment anymore, or Bandai, which is starting a joint venture with Image Entertainment -- on the other hand, Image is reported to have had MUSE LDs made at one time, in anticipation of suitable players showing up in the US market, so one can't be sure that's entirely a bad thing.
 

Cees Alons

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Several posts violating Parker's guideline (post #420) were removed.

Consider this a warning: this is a poll; no more discussions about the formats here: plenty opportunities for that elsewhere.



Cees
 

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