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saltysam
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Post by saltysam »

i'm after an lcd telly at least 37" in size.i have my eye on the toshiba wl58, 2 hdmi sockets,component etc but it needs to come down from the current £1500 first :D
working class blu-ray fan
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Post by tom2681 »

Just get a videoprojector.
My screen is 99" (250cm) and it cost me less than £1000.

What's the point of watching high-resolution DVDs if your telly's too small to show the difference in quality ?

IMHO:
You can begin to appreciate the quality of a DVD-Video at ~40 or 50".
HD will only be worth it if you watch it on a bigger screen.
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Post by saltysam »

Tom2681 wrote:Just get a videoprojector.
My screen is 99" (250cm) and it cost me less than £1000.

What's the point of watching high-resolution DVDs if your telly's too small to show the difference in quality ?

IMHO:
You can begin to appreciate the quality of a DVD-Video at ~40 or 50".
HD will only be worth it if you watch it on a bigger screen.
not all of us live in giant mansions like you tom 8) no way i'd get a screen that size into my terraced house :lol:
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Post by tom2681 »

I live in a very small bedroom (waiting for my new house to be finished).
The width of my screen is equal to the width of my bedroom. :D

All you need is 2 blank walls.
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Post by tom2681 »

Blu-ray titles taking shape on pricing.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060208-6136.html
you can expect to pay anywhere from $23 to $39 for a movie on Blu-ray disc, with the latter end of the spectrum being used for "hot" new releases.
So far I'm thinking "Screw this". :wink:
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Post by gojensen »

This is so wrong...
Tom2681 wrote:IMHO:
You can begin to appreciate the quality of a DVD-Video at ~40 or 50".
HD will only be worth it if you watch it on a bigger screen.
HD will give you SIGNIFICANTLY sharper, more detailed and "luscious" pictures even at 17" :D

That said, I sometimes wonder (when sitting in my basement enjoying med 106" fps system) why I would need HD aswell :D

The biggest no-no for me seems to be HDCP and the "Analog-hole" plugging... I have expensive analogue equipment and with the current state of affairs I would only get a 540p upscaled image out of a HD player... :-/

So guess I'm waiting for some one to;
1) release a region mod for a GOOD hd player
2) release a HDCP to Component converter (without rescaling)
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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Post by tom2681 »

HD will give you SIGNIFICANTLY sharper, more detailed and "luscious" pictures even at 17"
On a monitor, yes. But not on a TV or Projector.

The fact is:
A 32" regular TV doesn't even have enough pixels to properly display a DVD.
HD would be perfectly useless in that case.
with the current state of affairs I would only get a 540p upscaled image out of a HD player... :-/
I thought that the lack of HDCP limited the resolution to 720p in component, not 540p. :?:
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Post by tom2681 »

Here's yet another disc format for you: VMD, or Versatile Multilayer Disc. Based on current red laser technology, the format aims at 40 GB per disc (more than a dual layer HD DVD and 10 GB lower than a dual layer Blu-ray disc). VMD is based on stacking DVD like layers on top of each other, with each layer offering around 5 GB of space. Considering the problems the first DVD players had with dual layer discs, the high number of layers might turn out to be problematic though. The format will be launched at CeBit mid-month, players will start at $150 but so far there's no Hollywood content in sight.

Source: doom9.org
That sounds like a bad joke.
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Post by IronMonkey »

bradavon wrote:
IronMonkey wrote:I don't know about people actually using it, but I know all my customers do simply because it is the best system to use for home TV recording - edit out adverts, erase individual watched programs to recover used capacity, watch one program from the disc whilst recording another, etc...
Nope that would be a Hard disk recorder and then DVD-RAM for backing up :wink:
Er, no! You can do all that on a DVD-RAM disc as well as on an HDD. Check out every single Panasonic DVD recorder that has ever been made. Even the first one (the DMR-E20 if I remember correctly) could do that with DVD-RAM discs.
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Post by tom2681 »

I already posted this on DVDTimes, but I think it deserves to be in this thread.

To all those who want to go blu-ray/hd-dvd as soon as the players arrive:
--
Don't forget:

To properly play a blu-ray disc, you need:
-a blu-ray player (well...duh ! :D ).
-a Display device that is HDMI and HDCP compatible (the lack of HDCP means that you will only get a 960x540 picture instead of 1920x1080).
-a screen that is big enough to see the difference (42"+ recommended).
-a wallet full of cash. :lol:

Note: HDCP protection will only be used by the studios that demand it. There's a (slim) chance that most titles won't be protected.
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Post by gojensen »

Yeah, slim chance my @$$. Wanna bet how long it takes for some "unsavvy" corporation out of Asia or maybe Russia to make a de-HDCP dongle?

I mean, of all HD capable devices sold there's maybe 1% that are HDCP capable... this is just SO silly of them. Pirates will break the digital disc, they won't be "grabbing" analoge video to digitize...
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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Post by tom2681 »

of all HD capable devices sold there's maybe 1% that are HDCP capable...
+ All of these devices use HDMI 1.0 or 1.1 while blu-ray and hd-dvd players will use HDMI 1.3.
So there's a good chance that the HD-Ready TV you bought today won't be able to display HD tomorrow. :D

That's why we have to learn the meaning of:
PATIENCE. :lol:
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Post by Unrealnils »

I will continue to use dvds but i might dabble in a few hd def dvds.

My hd tv is only 19inch widescreen so not gonna be that great but i might pick up stuff like t2 and battlestar galactica (2003) on hi def.

That said my native resolution is only 1280x768 but those wmp-hd shorts look really cool :D
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Post by tom2681 »

Sony, main proponent of the more restrictive Blu-ray format, has announced that they won't be making use of the forced downsizing of analogue outputs on Blu-ray players.
Better than nothing, I guess. :)
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Post by tom2681 »

Image
My thoughts exactly. :D
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Post by tom2681 »

Are you guys following the news on HD-DVD lately ?

Lots of interesting anecdotes to be found (Toshiba HD = Buggy player / Brand-new HD-DVDs = Stutter, jerky playback, macroblocking issues).
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Post by IronMonkey »

Blu-Ray all the way methinks!

I'm finally "HD Ready" now - got sick of all my customers buying HD LCD & plasma panels & I knew full well they'd never even use the full HD capabilities, so I treated myself to a nice Panasonic TH37PX60 plasma screen. :D
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Post by tom2681 »

Sounds yummy. :P
I'll still wait for January 2007 before making any HD-related decision (just to be on the safe side).
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Post by thelostdragon »

Whoa, IM! I'm proud of you, mate!

Personally, it will be ages before I'll be able to buy such a TV, lol!
Image
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Post by bradavon »

It will be ages before I get a HD STB as general TV viewing isn't something I do a huge amount of but HD Films interest me.

BUT I'm not considering anything until a Blu-ray/HD-DVD Dual Player is released. Is there any news on this front? When one finally is released I won't care less which format wins.

I went for a Pioneer DVD Player it's one of only a handful of manufactures who support both DVD-A and SACD. Two formats that were never given a chance to take off.
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Post by tom2681 »

until a Blu-ray/HD-DVD Dual Player is released.
LG's still working on it.
I'd say end of 2006.

I'm about to buy what will probably be my last SD-DVD player myself.
A brand new Pioneer DV-696 probably.
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Post by bradavon »

Any links?

Is your player broken?

I own a Pioneer DV-868AVi which was the top of Pioneer's range last summer when I bought it. It was £150 more than the next Pioneer below (£589 compared with £440 I think) so I thought sod it and went for the best.

I was buying a £880 Samsung 32" LCD at the time so I thought I'd really splash out. My old Panasonic only had RGB Scart and no SACD support, which bugged me since day one only being able to play DVD-A.

The DV-868AVi is now discontinued for the DV-989AVi which doesn't look that much different. The front looks a bit more stylish, it has two Firewire outputs (mine has one) but that's about it.

Annoyingly they remove DivX support from the high end players but I can live without this. It doesn't take long to convert DivX to a DVD.

http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dv868avi/

Pioneer players are really nice. Do you have any DVD-A/SACD discs? There are some really awesome ones out there. Unfortunately there aren't enough by some way.

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds SACD is a MUST buy. It's sounds nothing short of outstanding in Surround Sound.
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Post by gasteropod »

I too bought a Pioneer DVD player because of it supporting both DVD-A and SACD, Brad, but it turns out I haven't taken advantage of that. My receiver doesn't have analogue inputs, so it is impossible for me to play the 5.1 DVD-A/SACD sound, I'm afraid. I'd only really be interested in the Bjork releases on those formats anyway, they really haven't taken off at all, I agree.
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Post by tom2681 »

@Brad:
Any links?
http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/view ... t=29820045
The first post contains pictures and specs in english.
Is your player broken?
It's just tired. Skipping and stuttering on lots of DVDs (cleaning the lens doesn't help).
I own a Pioneer DV-868AVi which was the top of Pioneer's range
Hello, Mr Rockefeller Jr. :D
I'd never spend 800€ on a DVD-Player. 200-300€ (£150-£200) maximum.
I think it's better to save your money for the display device (TV or projector).
Do you have any DVD-A/SACD discs?
I've got the DVD-A of The Corr's In Blue album, but that's it.
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Post by bradavon »

gasteropod wrote:My receiver doesn't have analogue inputs, so it is impossible for me to play the 5.1 DVD-A/SACD sound, I'm afraid.
That's a shame. I'd like to take advantage of the Firewire to get True Digital HD Audio but I have no reason to upgrade my Receiver. Mine luckily has 5.1 analogue inputs so I use those.

I could use them period but compared to Optical or Coaxial for Movies they really sound pants.
gasteropod wrote:I'd only really be interested in the Bjork releases on those formats anyway, they really haven't taken off at all, I agree.
It's a shame as both formats have lots of potential. I think it's because the world is going elsewhere with music. MP3 for example.

That said neither were given a chance with virtually no marketing.
Tom2681 wrote:http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/view ... t=29820045
The first post contains pictures and specs in english.
LOL no any links on the Samsung Dual Blu-ray/HD-DVD Player? I know all about that Pioneer.
Tom2681 wrote:Hello, Mr Rockefeller Jr. :D
I'd never spend 800€ on a DVD-Player. 200-300€ (£150-£200) maximum.
I think it's better to save your money for the display device (TV or projector).
LOL Thanks.

I disagree spend equally on both (as in equally relatively speaking of course you're going to spend more on your TV). £150 DVD Players aren't up to much cop, decent enough but they're not high end.
I've got the DVD-A of The Corr's In Blue album, but that's it.
Man that's a shit album. I love The Corrs but they really cocked up big style with that. ALL there other albums are vastly better.

I considered getting that because it's The Corrs but the album is just so weak. Make sure you check out War of the Worlds it truely is THE best DVD-A/SACD out there.

The best DVD-A would be The Eagles, Hotel California, probably.
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