Comments on: HD DVD Player Buying Guide

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:03:18 +0000

Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema have left the HD-DVD camp and will be officially Blu-ray exclusive around Q2 2008.

#59 DVD players do not have the advanced laser diode needed to even read the data on the HD discs.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:02:17 +0000

Can somebody answer a question I have?

I have a regular PowerDVD program and was wondering if I could watch the HD Star Trek Remastered on that, or would I have to just buy the PowerDVD Ultra?

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:19:38 +0000

Don’t invest too much in HD-DVD.

Michael Bay talks about why Paramount is temporarily holding back on Blu-ray:

“What you don’t understand is corporate politics. Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads. That is the dirty secret no one is talking about. That is why Microsoft is handing out $100 million dollar checks to studios just embrace the HD DVD and not the leading, and superior Blu Ray. They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads. Time will tell and you will see the truth.”

- Michael Bay (shootfortheedit.com)

By: Dr. Image

Dr. Image — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:51:25 +0000

Just bought an A3. I have an older, JVC rear projection AV-48WP30.
I find that the upconverting and HD playback is outstanding for under 200 bucks. I never thought this “antique” 2002 TV would have been capable of this kind of output! Plus, with Bourne and 300, and the other free dvds, how can you go wrong? I’ve been watching Transformers and just got 2001, which I’m looking forward to seeing in all its glory. Our Angel and other dvds never looked better, and oh, yeah, I’ll now be picking up Season One for sure.
Seeing is believing. Just buy one.

By: Sean4000

Sean4000 — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 19:59:34 +0000

The ferjuda (sp) chip is a phenominal upscaler. I have it on my home theater DVD player and it works well with my projector too.

By: Tony Lalande

Tony Lalande — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:28:23 +0000

I’m currently awaiting the Samsung bh up5000 that plays both and at more of a reasonable price, I currently own 800 dvd’s will the upconverter give about the same quality of the hd dvd player or blu ray and if so what is one of the best upconverter I can Purchase?

By: Matt Wright

Matt Wright — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:53:33 +0000

Thanks guys, I’m glad this resonated with you all. Far too often do people fall back on what is essentially baseless rehetoric from one side of the format war or the other, when the reality is far more gray, and far more complex (and actually the formats are quite similar in more then a few ways).

By: Sean4000

Sean4000 — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:45:55 +0000

Great article Matt. What is boils down to is hire the right compressionist.

By: R.C. Williams

R.C. Williams — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:11:05 +0000

Matt-

Excellent post. I am glad you took to time to explain this. Also, the consensus in the industry seems to be that both AVC & VC-1 render excellent results. Cost, support and other factors are what make a studio decide to go with a specific codec not some dubious superiority. I for one am getting tired of all of this damn bickering over which format is better. I have extensive experience with both and feel they both offer a great experience. Many of the nitpicks people have with both formats are mostly studio choices. For example, Paramounts shunning of Lossless audio. Is this because HD-DVD is a bad format when other HD-DVD studios clearly do use lossless on their releases? What about Blu-ray coming out the gate those first several months with Mpeg-2 encoded titles? This eventually changed. These formats are new and will continue to evolve over time, so those of you who have chosen a side (or both) just rest easy in your decision and enjoy the films.

By: Mazzer

Mazzer — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:12:06 +0000

Matt — thanks for the comprehensive response.