This is the same BS they pulled the last time before they finally trickled out a batch of discs.
Yeah it sounds familiar doesn't it. I see THE FLY is loaded with extras, so I just don't understand why that one is and ROBOCOP isn't...ugh.
Their HD "strategy" just makes no sense. At least Sony is ramping up the extras on the great majority of their BD discs, and they don't charge an arm and a leg like what Fox does either!
This is the same BS they pulled the last time before they finally trickled out a batch of discs.
Yeah it sounds familiar doesn't it. I see THE FLY is loaded with extras, so I just don't understand why that one is and ROBOCOP isn't...ugh.
Their HD "strategy" just makes no sense. At least Sony is ramping up the extras on the great majority of their BD discs, and they don't charge an arm and a leg like what Fox does either!
SPE and especially Disney are, IMO, the examples of how you're supposed to do it all right.
I'm not up on the exact technology, but what is issue with DTS-MA? Is it like SACD, where you need to have a set of analog 5-channel inputs on your receiver in order to take advantage?
The issue Ed is that there aren't any players in the market that can process the actual DTS-MA or DTS-HD tracks right now on either side -- and literally only a few receivers can too.
I think they're coming (I know the new Toshibas will via HDMI), so while you CAN hear a very outstanding soundtrack via HDMI (PCM for the DTS "core" as they call it) or even the optical out (downconverted to 5.1, but still better than DVD audio), it's not the actual, full DTS-MA or DTS-HD soundtrack.
As Eric says, it's still REALLY good, but the full power of it is something only a couple of receivers in the market can do, and none of the players in the marketplace can (though that will soon be changing).
Hence, when Fox only uses DTS-MA on Blu Ray discs, it's silly, because few if anyone can take full advantage of the track with the hardware in the marketplace.
It doesn't happen often, but even I had to agree with Josh Zyber on this one.
I'm not going to quote the whole lengthy article, but I am going to quote his conclusion which I've agreed and felt since day one.
Josh Z. wrote:
Quite simply, Combo discs are killing HD DVD. It's time to move past them.
They shouldn't have bothered to begin with.
Here's why:
Josh Z. wrote: Consumers don't need them and certainly don't want to pay extra for them, only to find the discs seizing up in their players when they try to watch their newly-purchased movies. I am hereby officially pleading to the studios to give up this foolish scheme and make all future HD DVDs, whether new releases or catalog titles, just HD DVDs, without the Combo burden. Everyone will truly be better off if you do.
I noticed THE LAST STARFIGHTER isn't a combo but the back packaging has a "Side B" listed with standard-definition specs, so perhaps at one point it was supposed to be combo (either that or it's just an error). Either way I think they're getting the picture in terms of combos, looks like most of the studios are slowing up on that. The only time I've been happy to have the standard-def version on the flip side was when there were extras on there like FAST TIMES or AMERICAN WEREWOLF that otherwise were left off the HD version. (BTW all of the Universal catalog discs have TrueHD tracks this week, so thumbs up on that).
The combos don't increase awareness about the HD-DVD format because there's already an SD version available, and the HD owners don't care about the SD version.
The only place I can see it being a benefit in terms of expanding awareness when there's only one version on the market -- like the upcoming STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES set -- which could possibly increase awareness for the HD-DVD set since anybody who buys the regular DVD is going to get the HD-DVD version as well and vice versa.
Two of the new Directv test channels are up from D10...National Geographic & Discovery HD...and both look tremendous. Nobody knows how long the test will last but I can confirm there's no "HD Lite" here.
If they all look like this we'll be in very good shape indeed.
AndyDursin wrote:Two of the new Directv test channels are up from D10...National Geographic & Discovery HD...and both look tremendous. Nobody knows how long the test will last but I can confirm there's no "HD Lite" here.
If they all look like this we'll be in very good shape indeed.
Good to know.
I'm basically not going to upgrade until I have to or there's some seriously positive incentive to do so.
first group of MPEG-4 channels have finally been added.
Obviously how much HD is on them depends on the station -- A&E HD shows 24 in stretch-o-vision 16:9 (lol), but the good news is the quality is all really strong on these.
* A&E (Channel 265)
* Animal Planet (Channel 282)
* Big Ten Network (Channel 220)
* CNN (Channel 202)
* The Discovery Channel (Channel 278)
* The History Channel (Channel 269)
* The Movie Channel East (Channel 544)
* NFL Network (Channel 212)
* Showtime West (Channel 540)
* Showtime too (Channel 538)
* The Smithsonian Channel (Channel 267)
* The Science Channel (Channel 284)
* Starz Comedy (Channel 519)
* Starz East (Channel 522)
* Starz West (Channel 540)
* Starz Edge (Channel 520)
* Starz Kids and Family (Channel 518)
* TBS (Channel 247)
* TLC (Channel 280)
* Versus / The Golf Channel (Channel 604)
* The Weather Channel (Channel 362)
Food Network, National Geographic, etc. are supposed to be up next week and more next month.
AndyDursin wrote:first group of MPEG-4 channels have finally been added.
Obviously how much HD is on them depends on the station -- A&E HD shows 24 in stretch-o-vision 16:9 (lol), but the good news is the quality is all really strong on these.
* A&E (Channel 265)
* Animal Planet (Channel 282)
* Big Ten Network (Channel 220)
* CNN (Channel 202)
* The Discovery Channel (Channel 278)
* The History Channel (Channel 269)
* The Movie Channel East (Channel 544)
* NFL Network (Channel 212)
* Showtime West (Channel 540)
* Showtime too (Channel 538)
* The Smithsonian Channel (Channel 267)
* The Science Channel (Channel 284)
* Starz Comedy (Channel 519)
* Starz East (Channel 522)
* Starz West (Channel 540)
* Starz Edge (Channel 520)
* Starz Kids and Family (Channel 518)
* TBS (Channel 247)
* TLC (Channel 280)
* Versus / The Golf Channel (Channel 604)
* The Weather Channel (Channel 362)
Food Network, National Geographic, etc. are supposed to be up next week and more next month.
I can tell the PQ is better across the board on all these...though sometimes it's hard because 99% of TBS' HD programming is 4:3 stretched to 16:9!! Still I like what I've seen out of them, History and Smithsonian look really good. Even better is they placed them at the same location in the grid as the regular versions so you can just turn off the SD channel and get the HD one in its place.
Note they didn't change ESPN or ESPN2 or any of the existing MPEG2 channels. Maybe they'll just wait to transfer those until they shut off the MPEG2 feeds? Who knows, at least they're better than they were last year at this time...?
Andy,
I remember when DVD was launched, there was talk about a slight pause due to layer change overs. Does the same thing apply with HD-DVD or Blue Ray? I'm not all that up to date when it comes to these formats. I haven't even decided which one I will be going with.
Any news on which format is going to be best?
John,
No layer change issues. When either format is clicking the results are extremely impressive on both sides.
We're a long way to determining which format is going to win out. I've written enough on the topic and my main feelings remain unchanged at this point -- but for those who really are unwilling to "take a chance" I'd just wait it out. Probably a year from now we'll have a better indication of what's shaking.
I have an Onkyo 605 receiver coming in tomorrow...so I'm trying to finish up my work today to get ready
Any ideas on what I need to have my Blu Ray and HD-DVD players set on for the best audio?
The XA2 is HDMI 1.3 and will eventually pass TrueHD and DTS-HD via bitstream, but until then I assume I still have it connected via "HDMI Bitstream" anyway?
My Philips isn't 1.3 but I believe I can get PCM out of it...I'm just wondering what I need it set up for.
