Ron's HD DVD Review (1 Viewer)

[Glen C]

some people complain water is too wet.

serious film watcher was saying they just want the movie to start.

pressing a button upon boot is a non-issue. it's not like you can't change audio until after the credits roll.

 

[John H Ross]

Taking your eyes off the screen, looking for the remote, fumbling round to put the audio onto, say, DTS and then (presumably) suffering a slight dropout while the audio changes, and putting the remote back down could potentially distract you from the start of movie for a good 5 seconds or more. And yes, again, the logos and credits ARE part of the movie.

Are you suggesting that the opening credits aren't an important part of the movie and, as such, can be interrupted without concern? I do hope not...

This is one of those instances rare where Universal seem to have things spot on whereas Warner has screwed the pooch (along with their, apparently, rather low volume levels).

John

 

[Glen C]

again i'm saying this is done long before the opening credits role.

we all have remotes which we have memorized the "menu" button... we understand it's a pet peeve of yours but it's an authoring issue chosen by the studio.

i really like it.

 

[John H Ross]

At what point exactly? Maybe I'm being stupid but surely you can only engage DTS tracks, commentary tracks or whatever after the actual movie has started if there's no Main Menu to select them from? You can't, for example, engage them during the copyright warning because those alternate audio tracks don't exist at that point on the disc?

John

 

[John H Ross]

Pet peeve? Hardly! I just posted a question and nobody's given me a final, definitive answer yet so I'm trying to get more info.

And who's this "we" business?

John

 

[Hayes Preston]

I am quite happy with Tosiba's commitment to HD DVD especially with the firmware upgrades.

I do think they could make it more user friendly (I have been getting the CD's in the mail)

My previous DVD player was from Oppo, they just post the firmware upgrades to their websight with download, burning to CD and installation intstructions. Very nice indeed, maybe Tosh will start doing this (it saves them the cost of shipping and the blank CD)

Regarding changing audio options, there is no reason why one can't pause the movie upon startup then choose your preferred audio selection, then start the movie from the beginning.

I actually prefer the WB titles that just start the movie to the Uni titles with the "old fashion" DVD style menu

 

[John H Ross]

Isn't this a case of technology overtaking art, not to mention common sense? There's absolutely nothing wrong with "old style" DVD menus, they certainly provide a more modern and sophisticated way of watching a movie than having to start it twice!!! Main Menus serve a very basic and logical purpose unlike, say, endless forced trailers, anti-piracy messages, copyright warnings, etc etc. To mess around with something that works just because something more glitzy comes along strikes me as a case of "Just because you CAN do a thing doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD do that thing!"

Warner's early DVDs (and I think also Paramount's?) went straight to the movie and they eventually realised their mistakes, so hopefully history will repeat itself. Until then this is a serious NO SALE issue for me.

John

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Then perhaps you won't mind my suggesting that you steer your posts away from this part of the forum which is supposed to be for HD DVD owners.

- Steve

 

[John H Ross]

I thought it was an area for asking HD-DVD owners practical questions about hardware functionality and performance, etc (as per the forum description)? And that's precisely what I'm doing, specifically in response to Ron's review. Okay, forget the "no sale" bit, I don't want that to cloud the important questions I was trying to ask with regards to menu screens and audio switching.

John

 

[Scott Calvert]

John, I'm with you. I haven't figured out a way to set up these WB discs before the main feature actually starts. It's not just audio, but if you want to watch any special features you have to choose them while the main feature is playing. Really dumb authoring decision, and it pisses me off too. Not enough to throw in the towel on HD-DVD, though...pic quality is just too great to ignore

 

[Robert Crawford]

John,
If you don't own a HD DVD player and don't have any further questions about the format then you shouldn't be posting any more comments in this particular area of the forum. It's one thing for HD DVD player owners to gripe about the format shortcomings and suggest improvements, but we don't want this area's discussion being muddy with comments from people that don't have a player and don't intend to buy one any time soon.





Crawdaddy

 

[John H Ross]

Thanks for a definitive reply, Scott. Not good news. It'll be interesting to see how the other studios deal with it. I suspect most will favour Universal's approach of using a menu. And we can only hope that Warner finally comes to its senses (do people at these studios actually watch and try to navigate the stuff they put out there?)

John

 

[John H Ross]

Ok Robert. Thanks.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

John,
Only the Warner discs start this way. Warner movies always start with that panning shot of an overhead view of the old studio lot. At this time one can press pause, bring up the menu, make one's selections, and then continue.
The actual movie or it's opening credits have not started at this point, just that studio logo.

I fail to understand what the big deal is--you don't have to miss a damn thing except a second or two of an aerial shot of the old Warner studios, the same shot that is in the beginning of every Warner film released on dvd in the last couple of years that you've seen a hundred times.

If seeing that shot in it's entirety is vital, you can always hit the chapter back button after making your menu selections and enjoy it in all it's glory.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Steve,
I already answered John's questions in this thread so we can get back on topic in this thread.





Crawdaddy

 

[Glen C]

glad it just wasn't me

 

[Steve Schaffer]

My sincerest apologies.

 

[Paul Arnette]

Well, I had the good fortune to come into some money unexpectedly, and, as a result, I will be joining the HD DVD party a lot sooner than I originally intended. My Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player isn't expected to ship until early August though.

In the meantime, I look forward to continuing to learn more about this format via this forum and Ron's thread, and I am excited to share my feedback with you all once I receive mine.

 

[AaronSCH]

A strange thing happens when you open that box... You start to get excited about your home theater all over again... like it is a wondrous, new experience. Last night I popped in the Superbit Edition of Spiderman 2. I used to think that disc looked awesome. Well, it's still good but it appears very flat in comparison to all 10, yes 10, HD-DVD discs I have purchased. Thankfully I am not married or I would surely be sleeping on the sofa. Wait a minute... I DID sleep on the sofa watching movies all night. I was not even a fence sitter a couple of months ago. I was sure that the differences would NEVER motivate me to switch from DVD to another format. I even argued the point on other fan sites. Boy, was I dead wrong. I think the HD-DVD camp needs to get reps out on the ground to educate the sales force at places like Best Buy, Fry's Electronics and Circuit City. They just don't know their ass from their elbows in those places. It is obvious that Blu-Ray has a superior ground war going on. Shelf display and positioning has been superior in every store I visit. C'mon Toshiba, hire me I'll make 'em believers.

 

[Gerrard Daniels]

Hey There, first post, be gentle with me.

I'm not a classic early adopter so any review of those who go before me is well appreciated.

One thing I haven't found an answer for is which format will the PS3 go for?

The PS2 was my first DVD player and flawed as it is, could see potentially, if formats allow, that a PS3 could be my first foray into HD.