CNET: 10 ways HD-DVD falls short (1 Viewer)

[EricRWem]

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-...=links;feature



There's some actual hyperlinks in the text body if you go to the Cnet link for further reading.

 

[Jerome Grate]

Thanks to C-NET, certainly some valid points here and the real reason I'm not jumping into this yet. Even with a nice fat tax check coming in, there is no way I'm stepping in to it this early.

 

[MarkHastings]

The one thing that I'm curious about is with #9...While I assumed that smaller TV's (i.e. 50" and under) wouldn't make a huge enough difference, I am curious about TV's over 50".

I have a 55" and when I watch my HD cable, while certain things like ESPN (and other sporting events) look MUCH better than my DVD's do, some of the other HD broadcasts (mainly the movie channels) don't seem like they offer much of a noticable difference with their HD content.

That leads me to believe that I might not be as "Wowed" with an HD player right now. Well, not that I wouldn't be wowed, but I don't think I'd be wowed enough.Yeah, as others have also mentioned, I'm still in the "DVD still looks fantastic" mode.

This will definitely be a must have in the future, but I don't think I'm ready for another "Early Adopter" phase of technology when the old is still pretty darn great.

 

[Peter Overduin]

yes...having the 60" Wega that WILL display 1080p...i'll be passing on this till the bugs are out....sound like a lot of the same ones that plagued the first dvd players as well.

 

[Ron-P]

The 1080p is the only real draw back on that list, everything else is just being picky.

I have no plans to upgrade my display for a least 2 years so 1080p is of no concern at this point and I did not want to wait that long to buy a player and miss out on the fantastic picture quality. By the time I upgrade my display it'll be time to upgrade my player. Besides, how much of an improvement will 1080p give over 1080i? Not much I'm guessing.

There are also 10 (or more) ways HD-DVD suceeds.

 

[Dave_P.]

Yep, I'll be passing, till some thing get ironed out. Especially the slowness, audio and 1080p issues.

 

[Shawn.F]

Would this guy like some cheese and crackers to go along with his whine?

Yeah, some of those are valid points, but they can and most likely will be ironed out. I haven't picked up a machine yet (took the 360 plunge this spring instead), but I have seen my friend's and we were both impressed (although we both thought the remote sucked).

I. for one, am curious to see an article like this on the debits of Blu-Ray when it arrives. In fact, I have the first gripe: $38 for titles like "Underworld: Evolution" and "Ultraviolet"? What type of glue is Sony huffing these days?

 

[MarkHastings]

But I would assume (especially a site like CNET) is geared more toward the average consumer. For them, his points are good points for the average consumer to wait. As far as the video/audiophile, those disadvantages aren't worthy enough of not getting into HD.

 

[Juan C]

So for the average consumer, the most sensible approach is wait for the problems to be solved and then - and only then - buy a player. Hopefully, points 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 will be history by next holidays.

 

[Ron-P]

First gen stuff like this is not for the average consumer, never has been. This roll out is for the enthusiast, the early adopters.

 

[Dave H]

I have the Toshiba and I think most of the points are nit-picking and minor in the grand scheme of things. The article (obviously) also fails to indicate the positives of the player (besides HD, it has excellent SD upscaling. How many players for $500 can perform great HD and great SD upscaling?).

 

[John Milton]

Agreed but early adopters still deserve better.

 

[Ron-P]

Agreed, but that never seems to happen.

 

[Brent M]

I'm usually an early adopter when it comes to this stuff, but I have no desire to get into HD-DVD right now. I'd at least like to see what happens when Blu-Ray finally comes to market and how things play out over the next few months. I certainly don't want to back the wrong format and be stuck with the inferior technology. Besides, there certainly aren't enough good HD-DVD titles out right now(or on the horizon for that matter) that make me feel like I need to rush right out and buy a player. I can stick it out with regular DVD for a few more months or even another year or so until the smoke clears and a clear winner in this stupid format war emerges.

 

[Matt Hough]

I wish Warners had chosen a blockbuster like BATMAN BEGINS or HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE to include among their initial releases (I realize they're coming soon). The enthusiasm for the format would have probably been quadrupled had there been a real "must have" among the first software offerings.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I'm really interested in seeing what Batman Begins looks like in HD DVD; it was an exceptional DVD transfer but with a ton of dark scenes, where HD DVD really excels.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I had not had time to read this article, and now having read it, I can only speculate as to the qualifications of David Carnoy as a reviewer of electronic technology. (All of my comments go to the article’s title, Ten ways HD-DVD falls short/ (sic))

1.Initial HD-DVDs are just rehashes of the existing DVDs This goes to the releases not using interactive features—a true geek complaint that has nothing to do with the quality of the releases and also has nothing to do with the supposed premise of the article.
2.Extra features not in high-def A semi-legitimate complaint, but once again it does not really have much to do with the premise of the article (and is nit-picking)
3.Player doesn't do enough OK, a real issue
4. No 1080p output Another real issue, but also one that is a subset of #3.
5. Component video can be flagged Very true, but this issue needs to be directed to the studios, not the hardware guys. And not mentioned is the point that so far the flag has not been implemented.
6. Wacky audio This might well be true, but it is not impressive for the reviewer to speculate: that isn't confusing enough, word is that Warner's initial HD-DVD offerings don't appear to have been mastered correctly.. Are they or are they not? You ought to find out before speculating—a quote from The Digital Bits implying there may be a problem is not sufficient.
7.HDMI hiccups As the author points out this is not an HD-DVD issue. So far the guys who have made comments on this forum have not reported similar problems.
8. Sluggish performance Valid point
9. The smaller the display, the smaller the differenceOne wonders where the author has been the last several years. How this is a problem of HD-DVD—or even a problem at all is the question..
10. A dearth of discsA minor problem that will disappear quickly, assuming the format survives.

Point 9 alone is proof enough to disqualify this author from serious consderation.

 

[Holadem]

He had me until the truly dumb points 7 (well don't disconnect the cable during the movie...), 9 & 10. But ya got to stretch things make a nice round top 10 so...

--
H

 

[MarkHastings]

Are HDMI cables hot-swappable? If so, #7 is a valid point. If not, then yes, DUH!

And again, I think 9 & 10 are important points for your average consumer (which the article is probably targeted at). Those people are probably hearing the buzz on HD and if they don't have large enough sets, you don't want them going into HD-DVD and not seeing a noticable difference. That would just be bad publicity, which the format doesn't need.

In fact, I kind of like that the author mentions the large TV - it's like saying "If you don't have the proper equipment, please stay away because you won't notice a difference and I don't want to hear you bitching that you spent a lot of money and aren't impressed"

 

[MarkHastings]

The new Matrix release should explain why.

After DVD worked out all of it's initial issues, they started re-releasing titles and people complained about these 're-releases'...then, as the DVD software advanced, people started wanting older titles (with sub-par video compression) to be re-released with better authoring.

So I'd be just fine with the studios holding off on "Blockbuster" releases until the format and technology "settles in". Do it right the first time so we don't have to double dip.