You see the reviews for that thing yet? Terrible. The best score I've seen is 6.6/10.AndyDursin wrote:The SPIDER-MAN 3 game was lame. I bought a used SPIDER-MAN 2 instead and even though it's "last gen" it plays better than current gen!!!
"Tech" Thread: Blu Ray, HD-DVD, Video Games, HDTV
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Paul MacLean
- Posts: 7537
- Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2004 10:26 pm
- Location: New York
Ok...fair enough (just not from Chello's!).AndyDursin wrote:LOL, sorry Paul, but we threw the subjects off-course so much it was no longer JUST about the HD-DVD/Blue Ray controversy.Paul MacLean wrote:Andy, what have you done to my clever, witty thread title?
I will buy you an ice cream to make up for it on your next visit!!
Eric W. wrote:http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=7325
^^ Price wars getting aggressive here!
Here's a heads up on a subject that I know has kept some people on the fence in regards to the PS3:
http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Netwo ... fault.html
^^ A handy link that PS3 owners should keep bookmarked.
Firmware 1.8 just came out and, among other things, it added the long awaited Upconversion/upscaling DVD capabilities and 1080p/24 for those folks who have the uber high end sets. It also upconverts/upscales PS2 and PS1 games and there's another nice feature to smooth out the jaggies in the older games. It's all explained there. You can only do so much with the older games, but I was VERY pleased with the refinements that these features did for my old games.
I've used these features and I couldn't be more pleased. For the once in a blue moon that I actually fire up a DVD anymore...this playback is about as good as any I've seen this side of my Onkyo DVSP1000.
Microsoft had planted lies and FUD for months that some people believed that the PS3 couldn't do these sorts of things. Yet again: They were wrong.
I've owned the PS3 since it came out in November and I'm pretty amazed at how far this machine has already come since then, thanks to robust firmware support and upgrades like these.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/05/25/sony ... index.html
^^ I think this is OLED basically. Pretty dang sweet!
More innovation from that "evil" company, Sony.
^^ I think this is OLED basically. Pretty dang sweet!
More innovation from that "evil" company, Sony.
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AndyDursin
- Posts: 35761
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
Toshiba's A2 HD-DVD player is the top selling player on Amazon and #13 in all Electronics!
Even better...$237 shipped!
Plus 5 free movies too (limited selection, but better than nothing).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/legacy-handle- ... 8-1&colid=
Even better...$237 shipped!
Plus 5 free movies too (limited selection, but better than nothing).http://www.amazon.com/gp/legacy-handle- ... 8-1&colid=
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AndyDursin
- Posts: 35761
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
Eric you would be doing cartwheels if a Blu Ray player was down to $237.Eric W. wrote:^^ Wow, you must really be excited to port that out to its own thread.
Personally I think it's a great deal. There are some great HD-DVD exclusives I think a lot of movie buffs would love to have. That kind of price is quite attractive for people who are on the fence, esp. when the most inexpensive Blu Ray machine is like $600 right now.
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AndyDursin
- Posts: 35761
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
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AndyDursin
- Posts: 35761
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
Doesn't sound like either format did so hot a week ago.
This is exactly why Toshiba dropping prices on the players is huge right now. It's still on the table for the taking, few are biting, and being aggressive in marketing the format is good to see (I noticed they also sponsored Stanley Cup coverage tonight, not that anyone was watching other than myself and TJ
More high-def sales, no breakout titles
Retailers promote catalog titles with store exclusives
By Susanne Ault and Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 5/25/2007
MAY 25 | A slew of elite high-definition titles landed at retail on May 22, pushing up weekly sales volume on Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD discs. Titles as high-profile as Buena Vista Home Entertainment’s Pirates of the Caribbean duo and Warner Home Video’s The Matrix Trilogy were not expected to set any sell-through records right out of the gate though, according to retailers who grappled with how to best merchandise and market the mostly catalog fare.
“This week is definitely stronger than your average week,” Hastings video buyer John Anderson said. “Time will tell, but we are expecting an increase of greater than 20%.”
Nevertheless, “the Pirates movies have been strong sellers, but the fact remains that they are still catalog titles,” said Anderson. “Casino Royale was a day-and-date release, and sales were much stronger. That title sold out many places on day one and took a couple weeks to get back in stock.”
Retailers did have their hands full, however, with more than a half-dozen releases in high-def. These included on Blu-ray, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Apocalypto; on HD DVD, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and two SKUs of The Matrix Trilogy; and on both formats, Letters From Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers.
Newbury Comics, for instance, on May 22 sold 87 units of Blu-ray and HD DVD titles combined. Its top high-def performers were Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man’s Chest, which each sold 15 copies and placed No. 9 and No. 11 among all 35 new May 22 DVD releases at the 27-store chain. Next came Apocalypto and the four-disc Ultimate Matrix Trilogy (13 copies sold each), three-disc Complete Matrix Trilogy (11), Flags on Blu-ray (seven), Virgin (seven) and Iwo Jima on HD DVD (six).
On its past best high-def day, March 13, the chain sold 23 copies of Casino Royale and six copies of Layer Cake on Blu-ray.
In an effort to maximize high-def disc sales, Best Buy, Circuit City and others merchandised the titles in a number of spots, making for a somewhat haphazard appearance at times.
At a Los Angeles Best Buy, copies of the Blu-ray Pirates films and HD DVD Matrix sets were sitting beside some of the week’s hot new standard-definition releases. A handful of Blu-ray copies of Apocalypto were placed with standard-definition copies of the title in a cardboard standee. All three formats of Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers were in one standee featuring the two films.
“If you own a Blu-ray player, you might not know if Apocalypto is on Blu-ray, so we have to call attention to that fact,” said Brian Lucas, Best Buy spokesman. “Consumers don’t know which studio is supporting which format. [Mixing high-def among standard-def copies] is a reflection of the fact that more and more titles are coming out—not that [high-def] is necessarily showing that it’s a mainstream excitement driver.”
Also, regardless of some big name titles, high-def is not carried uniformly at retail. Target stores in Los Angeles and Arizona were not offering Matrix on HD DVD—which has a hefty pricetag of $99.99 for the three-disc set and $119.99 for the four-disc set—on street date. Arizona-area Wal-Mart and Blockbuster stores weren’t carrying any Blu-ray or HD DVD movies.
One retail trend that seems to be emerging is that current high-def movies are selling quicker than even elite catalog titles. The first known high-def title to sell 100,000 units is The Departed, which Warner Home Video released on HD DVD, Blu-ray and standard-definition simultaneously on Feb. 13. Also, the $99.98-priced HD DVD Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series is the No. 1 release of all time in that format on a dollar basis, according to label BBC Video, and it was similarly released on all three formats on April 23.
“It’ll be hard to beat Casino Royale because that was a day-and-date title,” said Chris Anstey, Virgin senior product manager. Summer theatricals “Shrek 3, The Transformers, Pirates 3 will move very well once they hit Blu-ray and/or HD DVD.”
Store exclusives
Nevertheless, retailers are beginning to roll out store exclusives for high-profile high-def discs, even if they are catalog. At Best Buy, shoppers got $10 off their purchase of both Blu-ray Pirates titles. Circuit City offered an exclusive DVD-ROM gift card with purchase of both Pirates films.
Significantly, Circuit City chose Blu-ray Pirates as its first product to tie into this interactive card, which lets consumers download film-related material and earn $15 worth of store merchandise. The chain first offered a similar DVD-ROM card by itself, not attached to any particular campaign, during last year’s holidays.
“The timing worked great,” said Lisa York, manager of gift card marketing and operations at Circuit City. “It was great for gift giving for graduation, Father’s Day. The gift card was also based on the latest [Pirates] theatrical release” on May 25.
Both formats could claim wins during this big high-def week.
On The DVD Wars (www.eproductwars.com), which tracks sales of Blu-ray and HD DVD on Amazon.com, Blu-ray continued to lead HD DVD in sales throughout May, though on May 22, HD DVD made enough gains so that the sales rank of the Top 25 titles on the format topped the rank of the Top 25 Blu-ray titles.
The top-selling high-def title on Amazon Wednesday and Thursday was the HD DVD release Planet Earth, ranking No. 8 on the site. Dead Man’s Chest was close behind at No. 9. Curse of the Black Pearl was the No. 2 seller on the Blu-ray format, ranking No. 11 overall on Amazon as of Thursday. Matrix was the second-top-selling HD DVD title, ranking 30 on Amazon charts.
“This is the kind of release week high-def was made for,” said Sean Sundwall, Amazon.com spokesman. “Not only are a number of big titles releasing, but they’re the kind of splashy, eye-candy movies that will really pop from the screen in high-definition. Not only are we starting to see the release of marquee titles (Pirates and Matrix), but we are also seeing a drop in player prices and aggressive promotions to entice new high-def customers.”.
This is exactly why Toshiba dropping prices on the players is huge right now. It's still on the table for the taking, few are biting, and being aggressive in marketing the format is good to see (I noticed they also sponsored Stanley Cup coverage tonight, not that anyone was watching other than myself and TJ
More high-def sales, no breakout titles
Retailers promote catalog titles with store exclusives
By Susanne Ault and Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 5/25/2007
MAY 25 | A slew of elite high-definition titles landed at retail on May 22, pushing up weekly sales volume on Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD discs. Titles as high-profile as Buena Vista Home Entertainment’s Pirates of the Caribbean duo and Warner Home Video’s The Matrix Trilogy were not expected to set any sell-through records right out of the gate though, according to retailers who grappled with how to best merchandise and market the mostly catalog fare.
“This week is definitely stronger than your average week,” Hastings video buyer John Anderson said. “Time will tell, but we are expecting an increase of greater than 20%.”
Nevertheless, “the Pirates movies have been strong sellers, but the fact remains that they are still catalog titles,” said Anderson. “Casino Royale was a day-and-date release, and sales were much stronger. That title sold out many places on day one and took a couple weeks to get back in stock.”
Retailers did have their hands full, however, with more than a half-dozen releases in high-def. These included on Blu-ray, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Apocalypto; on HD DVD, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and two SKUs of The Matrix Trilogy; and on both formats, Letters From Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers.
Newbury Comics, for instance, on May 22 sold 87 units of Blu-ray and HD DVD titles combined. Its top high-def performers were Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man’s Chest, which each sold 15 copies and placed No. 9 and No. 11 among all 35 new May 22 DVD releases at the 27-store chain. Next came Apocalypto and the four-disc Ultimate Matrix Trilogy (13 copies sold each), three-disc Complete Matrix Trilogy (11), Flags on Blu-ray (seven), Virgin (seven) and Iwo Jima on HD DVD (six).
On its past best high-def day, March 13, the chain sold 23 copies of Casino Royale and six copies of Layer Cake on Blu-ray.
In an effort to maximize high-def disc sales, Best Buy, Circuit City and others merchandised the titles in a number of spots, making for a somewhat haphazard appearance at times.
At a Los Angeles Best Buy, copies of the Blu-ray Pirates films and HD DVD Matrix sets were sitting beside some of the week’s hot new standard-definition releases. A handful of Blu-ray copies of Apocalypto were placed with standard-definition copies of the title in a cardboard standee. All three formats of Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers were in one standee featuring the two films.
“If you own a Blu-ray player, you might not know if Apocalypto is on Blu-ray, so we have to call attention to that fact,” said Brian Lucas, Best Buy spokesman. “Consumers don’t know which studio is supporting which format. [Mixing high-def among standard-def copies] is a reflection of the fact that more and more titles are coming out—not that [high-def] is necessarily showing that it’s a mainstream excitement driver.”
Also, regardless of some big name titles, high-def is not carried uniformly at retail. Target stores in Los Angeles and Arizona were not offering Matrix on HD DVD—which has a hefty pricetag of $99.99 for the three-disc set and $119.99 for the four-disc set—on street date. Arizona-area Wal-Mart and Blockbuster stores weren’t carrying any Blu-ray or HD DVD movies.
One retail trend that seems to be emerging is that current high-def movies are selling quicker than even elite catalog titles. The first known high-def title to sell 100,000 units is The Departed, which Warner Home Video released on HD DVD, Blu-ray and standard-definition simultaneously on Feb. 13. Also, the $99.98-priced HD DVD Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series is the No. 1 release of all time in that format on a dollar basis, according to label BBC Video, and it was similarly released on all three formats on April 23.
“It’ll be hard to beat Casino Royale because that was a day-and-date title,” said Chris Anstey, Virgin senior product manager. Summer theatricals “Shrek 3, The Transformers, Pirates 3 will move very well once they hit Blu-ray and/or HD DVD.”
Store exclusives
Nevertheless, retailers are beginning to roll out store exclusives for high-profile high-def discs, even if they are catalog. At Best Buy, shoppers got $10 off their purchase of both Blu-ray Pirates titles. Circuit City offered an exclusive DVD-ROM gift card with purchase of both Pirates films.
Significantly, Circuit City chose Blu-ray Pirates as its first product to tie into this interactive card, which lets consumers download film-related material and earn $15 worth of store merchandise. The chain first offered a similar DVD-ROM card by itself, not attached to any particular campaign, during last year’s holidays.
“The timing worked great,” said Lisa York, manager of gift card marketing and operations at Circuit City. “It was great for gift giving for graduation, Father’s Day. The gift card was also based on the latest [Pirates] theatrical release” on May 25.
Both formats could claim wins during this big high-def week.
On The DVD Wars (www.eproductwars.com), which tracks sales of Blu-ray and HD DVD on Amazon.com, Blu-ray continued to lead HD DVD in sales throughout May, though on May 22, HD DVD made enough gains so that the sales rank of the Top 25 titles on the format topped the rank of the Top 25 Blu-ray titles.
The top-selling high-def title on Amazon Wednesday and Thursday was the HD DVD release Planet Earth, ranking No. 8 on the site. Dead Man’s Chest was close behind at No. 9. Curse of the Black Pearl was the No. 2 seller on the Blu-ray format, ranking No. 11 overall on Amazon as of Thursday. Matrix was the second-top-selling HD DVD title, ranking 30 on Amazon charts.
“This is the kind of release week high-def was made for,” said Sean Sundwall, Amazon.com spokesman. “Not only are a number of big titles releasing, but they’re the kind of splashy, eye-candy movies that will really pop from the screen in high-definition. Not only are we starting to see the release of marquee titles (Pirates and Matrix), but we are also seeing a drop in player prices and aggressive promotions to entice new high-def customers.”.
^^ Sounds about right.
This one's a gem, folks:
http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=7450
^^ This could have affected some of you and you may not even know it.
The concept here being: Best Buy (and who knows, maybe others stores) having fake websites that they use when they look up inventory there in the store to quote you a price and so on?
Hell, I've long since suspected something like this because I can distinctly recall a few times where I saw a certain price in the newspaper or some friend telling me something and then you go in there and you're standing next to the salesperson when they call up the item and it's a bit more expensive.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if this kind of chicanery is woefully common place in a number of retail establishments.
This one's a gem, folks:
http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=7450
^^ This could have affected some of you and you may not even know it.
The concept here being: Best Buy (and who knows, maybe others stores) having fake websites that they use when they look up inventory there in the store to quote you a price and so on?
Hell, I've long since suspected something like this because I can distinctly recall a few times where I saw a certain price in the newspaper or some friend telling me something and then you go in there and you're standing next to the salesperson when they call up the item and it's a bit more expensive.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if this kind of chicanery is woefully common place in a number of retail establishments.
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AndyDursin
- Posts: 35761
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
I hate Best Buy. It's fine to go in and look around at their TVs, but their prices are no longer attractive on DVD, and their sales people are just plain horrible. At least locally most of them are college kids, who really have no idea what they're even talking about.
I went in there over the winter into browse TV sets, then bought it somewhere else
(like Amazon! free ship, no tax, and a lower price, too!).
I went in there over the winter into browse TV sets, then bought it somewhere else
(like Amazon! free ship, no tax, and a lower price, too!).http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=7466
Super Hi-Vision makes 1080p HDTV appear as clear as a Vaseline smear.
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AndyDursin
- Posts: 35761
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI