[GAD]

Sorry if this is disjointed or pointless - I'm one-handed and on percoset.

Eventually, combo players will be at Wallmart fo $50. Until then, well... I don't like to wait. I just ordered a Toshiba Xa2 HD-dvd player. I love my Sony XBR SXRD TV, and HD camcorder, but I dislike Sony as a company (rootkit anyone?). I do tend to buy what I feel is the best option regardless of company likes/dislikes if one is a clear winner to me.

There's a lot more to the hidef player market than many realize. The obvious two are Cost and title availability. There are precious few movies out there in either format and many things like "planet earth" are on both. Many titles like Hot Fuzz and 300 are combo discs (HD & DVD) and cost $30. No thanks - Netflix will be my friend.

Additional concerns re: highdef:

Audio out. Most highdef video discs come with either Dolby true-hd or DTS-HD Master Audio. Sadly many existing receivers don't have HDMI and the spdif interface desn't support enough bandwidth for this. This is my case - I have a nice Yamaha receiver, but it's pre-hdmi. Until I feel like spending an additional $1000 for a same-level HDMI receiver, I have two options:

1) Use Spdif - the dvd player will down-sample to a DTS or Dolby mode I can decode. This is like listening to on-the-fly mp3 encoding of lossless files. For some blue-ray players, this is the only option - even through HDMI.

2) get a player that supports discrete out. Of course these models are more expensive. At least with this option I can get lossless quality, but I am limited to 5.1 (I have 7.1 configured and enjoy 6.1 discs). This was the #1 reason I upgraded from the A20 to the XA2.

Decoding chips. I chose the Xa2 over the upcoming A35 because of the Silicon Optix Reon-VX chip in the xa2. The chip has not been announced in the a35 yet, and given the lower price, I'm betting its something cheaper.

1080p my TV has only 1080i input, but is 1080p internally, but I want the player to be forward compatible. Then I read this:

Quote:

Exclusive to the HD-XA2 (among toshibas - GAD) is the ability to output HD DVD video at 1080p resolution over HDMI. Previous HD DVD players maxed out at 1080i due to a limitation in their Broadcom decoder chips. In fact, the XA2 uses the same decoder chip. The video is decoded as 1080i and then run through the Reon processor downstream for deinterlacing to 1080p. Blu-ray players from Samsung and Panasonic work similarly. As such, you're not getting the original 1080p picture frames directly off the disc. They're interlaced and then deinterlaced after the fact. But is that necessarily a problem?

from here: http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/hreview_hdxa2030207.html

Don't know the extent of this, but wow!

All players still report issues like slow boot times, slow disc load times, loud fan speeds and the like. If this sort of thing tweaks you, keep waiting.

I feel that Toshiba will drive HD-DVD to victory. They're releasing the third-gen players next month with prices starting at $300. You can get the current 2nd gen A2 for about $200 today.

The cheapest blue-ray player I could find was the Samsung BD-p1200 and it doesn't support lossless audio formats. For $446 (Amazon) I expect more. I'm not a gamer (Lego star wars is my limit any more), so the PS3 is no bargain to me. For $538 I get everything I want out of a player from the Toshiba Xa2 except Fifth Element.

I'm sure I'll be selling it off in a year for $100, but at least I didn't buy it for the original retail of $999.

Of course I ordered it for Friday delivery so I could watch it while I recover, but no oine was home so have to wait until Tuesday. Today I am disliking UPS...

Man is my arm tired.

GAD

 

[Sir Nobax]

It could be my ignorant character, but IMO blueray has already won if you'd take a look at the sales of the media (2:1 blu-hd).

Remember, the masses will decide which of the two combatants to win, and most of them do not know sh!t about various DTS and DD versions.

 

[necropimp]

well see HD-DVD does still have a chance... in the end studios might take a direction of whichever is easier/cheaper to produce

from what i hear BD-Java is a nightmare and bluray costs more per disc to manufacture than HD-DVD

HD-DVD is cheaper to manufacture and easier to develop for

what many were waiting to see is which direction the adult film industry took... they turned bi on us so the war continues

I've backed HD-DVD first but my plans to eventually own a PS3 (provided sony can get some exclusives that will sell the system) will keep me covered for bluray

 

[GAD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir Nobax /img/forum/go_quote.gif It could be my ignorant character, but IMO blueray has already won if you'd take a look at the sales of the media (2:1 blu-hd). Remember, the masses will decide which of the two combatants to win, and most of them do not know sh!t about various DTS and DD versions.

Not ignorant at all!

My interpretation of the blue-ray sales would be explained by the PS3. If there wore better family games I'd already have one. I'd be willing to speculate that had MS included an HDDVD drive in the XBOX 360 the first time, there would be more HDDVD discs sold - pure speculation on my part though.

You're right about joe sixpack not caring about lossless audio. Thats why cheap players are key.


GAD

 

[GAD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by necropimp /img/forum/go_quote.gif what many were waiting to see is which direction the adult film industry took... they turned bi on us so the war continues I've backed HD-DVD first but my plans to eventually own a PS3 (provided sony can get some exclusives that will sell the system) will keep me covered for bluray

I was following the **** industry too, and the "bi" comment is spot on (and chuckle-worthy).

GAD

 

[wanderman]

my decision was based entirely on which format I acquired first. Now I have a blu-ray writer in my box. I just want this dual format war thing to stop and just so I get my cheap combo players.

 

[James63]

You do not need a reciever with HDMI to have True-HD or DTS-HD. Just run our anolog outs to your receiver/per-amp and use the direct/Multi channel mode. This way the HD-DVD player decodes the audio (which it has to anyway because of the new DRM). I have an HD-A1 with anolog outs and it sound very good!

Also try it as a CD player.....you will be amazed at the sound! (again use the direct mode and let the player decode the CD).

As for Sony I hate them.....But my 46 inch Bravia XBR 1080p LCD looks very good.

As for root kits it gests worse; read this artical.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=900769

 

[James63]

Here is an HD-DVD player under $150... it will be out in the next few weeks.


http://www.audioholics.com/news/indu...e-horizon.html

 

[James63]

The WAR will go on for awhile with Paramont and DreamWorks animation anouncing to suport HD-DVD ONLY!

That is Shrek 1-3, Transformers, SpiderMan (think) and countless other. And of corse the biggest hitter of them all Universal is HD-DVD only. It think they still hate sony for the whole PSP movies....they lost millions.

 

[Homeless]

Spider Man is from Sony Pictures...

And I too take the sales with a grain of salt. I know that myself and many of my friends who own an xbox 360 and an HDTV, but lack an hd player would buy HDDVD titles if the 360 had a reader built in...

 

[GAD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by James63 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You do not need a reciever with HDMI to have True-HD or DTS-HD. Just run our anolog outs to your receiver/per-amp and use the direct/Multi channel mode. This way the HD-DVD player decodes the audio (which it has to anyway because of the new DRM). I have an HD-A1 with anolog outs and it sound very good!

That's what I wrote, but not all players have analog outs.

GAD

 

[virometal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GAD /img/forum/go_quote.gif Audio out.[/B] Most highdef video discs come with either Dolby true-hd

Good post, it is a confusing mess.

Let me just add that many BR's and recently released HD-DVD's (iirc) have LPCM tracks that may be sent via HDMI without the need for DTHD or DTSMA decoding in the player or receiver.

 

[GAD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by virometal /img/forum/go_quote.gif Let me just add that many BR's and recently released HD-DVD's (iirc) have LPCM tracks that may be sent via HDMI without the need for DTHD or DTSMA decoding in the player or receiver.

Except that many existing high-end receivers don't have HDMI which puts me right back to needing discrete out.

GAD

 

[James63]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GAD /img/forum/go_quote.gif Except that many existing high-end receivers don't have HDMI which puts me right back to needing discrete out. GAD

this is very ture. You can use a good anolog switcher and forget about HDMI for audio altogether.


http://www.zektor.com/mas71/index.html

 

[virometal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GAD /img/forum/go_quote.gif Except that many existing high-end receivers don't have HDMI which puts me right back to needing discrete out.

Sorry, you made your decision so I felt the thread was more conversational.

The existence of a LPCM track was important info for people like me who have a HDMI receiver but no DTHD or DTSMA decoding in player or receiver, and you failed to mention that in the post. It's another way to hear lossless soundtracks.

Well, my XA1 does decode DTHD two channel for analog out. It's funky.