The HD News & Technology Thread!

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 29 Jun 2007, 20:02

Wii has been targeted at a mainstream audience, the same one which Singstar and the Eyetoy went after. So expect to mostly shitty party gimmicky party games for children and girls. Mainwhile us hardcore gamers are neglected:- what have we got now/coming? Zelda, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption and best version of Resident Evil 4 ever. Possibly Super Paper Mario, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros Brawl. A fucking drought for us mature gamers.

Wii is barely more powerful than the original Xbox and is only Standard Definition. It is riding upon it's gimmicky controller, granted it has a lot of potential, but none of which we've seen thus far. Wait for Mario Galaxy to see the true potential of the Wiinis unlocked.

Gamecube had a small library, but man what crackers they were. Eternal Darkness, RE4, REmake, RE0, Metroid Prime 1&2, the Zeldas, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Viewtiful Joe 1&2, Killer 7, Rogue Leader. The Wii has far less worthwhile titles on the horizon. Sure you have Virtual Console, but let's be honest, you're a fucking moron to pay for games you can easily download and play for free via emulation. "Boohoo, I don't to play with a keyboard" use a joyport to USB converter, tard.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 29 Jun 2007, 20:25

I'd love to try Killer 7 on Cube, I've heard its good but very hard to find.
I'd like to play all those "hardcore" Wii games too, Paper Mario: TTYD was superb and I'm tempted to get a Wii just for Super Paper Mario (well not quite), but its one reason.
The DS is similar in that it has attracted non gamers like Wii has.
I'm sure we'll see more proper Wii games eventually - eg early DS games were just gimmicky rubbish (Project Rub etc) now there are lots more games.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 04 Jul 2007, 20:50

The E.U is now trying to stop the war.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/europeblu070307.htm

HD DVD supporters have lobbied the European Commission to investigate the studios' relationship with Blu-ray.

I'm loving this.
Can Europe destroy Sony and save Microsoft ?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Jul 2007, 20:55

I heard about that, but no in answer to your question. I read they're looking into if Sony used under hand tactics to convince studios to opt BD.

I do find it funny how it always seems to be the EU causing trouble for American and in this case Japanese companies. Don't they have any bodies overseeing things in America? It seems not.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 05 Jul 2007, 09:23

That'd be the day. How can they force a studio to release something on a format they don't support? And how effective would it be... "sure, it's on our schedule... for 2020..."

This is crap. The EU should rather insist on the two competing formats to get with the game and settle. If this goes on they should get with the DVDA/SACD/CD program too... there's way too little product on DVDA/SACD!

This to me just sounds like Toshiba bribing a doofus in the committee. Note this will never end the war - just prolong it indefinitely. Worst case scenario - Fox/Sony/etal start releasing crappy versions on HD-DVD and Universal does the same for BRD. What have we solved then? Nothing...

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 05 Jul 2007, 16:21

just ordered sky hd to replace sky +,gonna install it myself.£170 off ebay.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Jul 2007, 18:45

Sweet. Surely it's identical to Sky+ so you can just switch the box/dish, no?

That's a very decent price. You'll need to call Sky so they can align the card to your box. Personally I think Sky HD is way, way to expensive.

gojensen wrote:That'd be the day. How can they force a studio to release something on a format they don't support? And how effective would it be... "sure, it's on our schedule... for 2020..."

I don't think anyone is saying that but I suspect they have the power to fine them or make life difficult.

Microsoft have several times backed down on plans to do something because the EU stepped in.

gojensen wrote:This is crap. The EU should rather insist on the two competing formats to get with the game and settle. If this goes on they should get with the DVDA/SACD/CD program too... there's way too little product on DVDA/SACD!

Agreed but the last part of your sentence has answered the first part.

gojensen wrote:ote this will never end the war - just prolong it indefinitely.

Like I said I don't believe anyone (except Tom

) has said this.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Jul 2007, 19:26

What does OTE/ote mean?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Jul 2007, 19:53

Read the post it came from

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Jul 2007, 20:35

Ahhh

*Lightbulb moment*

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 06 Jul 2007, 02:58

i agree sky hd is expensive but i don't see it dropping anytime soon and i figure i have a hd tv may as well get the best from it

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 06 Jul 2007, 20:59

I'd probably consider it if A: It had way more than it does, movies don't count to me as I like to buy them and sport I don't watch. It doesn't leave much. B: I watched way more TV than I do.

Fair enough though. Enjoy!

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 07 Jul 2007, 17:59

installed it earlier,just looking at the live earth concert on bbc hd-stunning.! i'm also a big football fan so the sports in hd interests me as well.i like to buy movies as well but there's a lot of movies shown that aren't out on hd disc yet, for example lost in space earlier (looked great but crap film) as my tv only has one hdmi port had to invest in a hdmi switcher, now have sky hd/ps3/hd dvd player all wired up through hdmi.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 07 Jul 2007, 23:06

I just watched The Prestige on blu-ray, the Warner UK release, and I am wondering if the American Buena Vista release has better picture quality, as I simply wasn't impressed yet have read great things about that one. The film was good, but I had it all figured out way before it was revealed

I wanted to be shocked.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 08 Jul 2007, 02:22

saltysam wrote:installed it earlier,just looking at the live earth concert on bbc hd-stunning.! i'm also a big football fan so the sports in hd interests me as well.i like to buy movies as well but there's a lot of movies shown that aren't out on hd disc yet, for example lost in space earlier (looked great but crap film) as my tv only has one hdmi port had to invest in a hdmi switcher, now have sky hd/ps3/hd dvd player all wired up through hdmi.

Planet Earth looked outstanding when I saw it in HD. And the footie looks superb too. The lettering on the players shirts, the detailing on the football itself is all crystal clear. Looks great

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Jul 2007, 13:30

saltysam wrote:i like to buy movies as well but there's a lot of movies shown that aren't out on hd disc yet

True, all 6 Star Wars films for example. There's enough on HD Disc to occupy me personally.

saltysam wrote:as my tv only has one hdmi port had to invest in a hdmi switcher, now have sky hd/ps3/hd dvd player all wired up through hdmi.

It depends if the Component outputs pass HD but Component also supports it, or I guess you've got your DVD Player plugged into that.

I'm going to need one too as my DVD Player is plugged into HDMI, which I can't plug into Component as my Hard Disk/DVD Recorder is plugged into that, which I can't plug into RGB Scart as my PVR is plugged into that

I did look into getting rid of one of them but each has a unique feature I want, my DVD Player can play DVD-A/SACD and my Hard Disk/DVD Recorder cannot Pause Live TV properly (no one can, not properly anyway).

Salty: Did you pick it up from eBay? How it auto-switch or do you need to press a button? Do you get two images appearing at once? I've tried Scart ones in the past and you always get either a mess or images or it not switching properly.

gasteropod wrote:I just watched The Prestige on blu-ray, the Warner UK release, and I am wondering if the American Buena Vista release has better picture quality

I didn't realise WB had released The Prestige on both HD-DVD and BD in the UK. I wonder if the Yank BD uses a different transfer.

As to the twists, so you got all of them? I saw it in the cinema and got one of them but my friend got the other. I thought it was cracking. I don't think many people got it all so you must be super clever

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 08 Jul 2007, 15:34

Hahaha, I guess so.

Oh, and last night I read somewhere that someone compared the US blu-ray of The Prestige with the UK HD-DVD and that they are identical picture quality wise. Still, I think the quality is overrated on the reviews I have read, it seemed a bit flat most of the time to me.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 08 Jul 2007, 19:44

Brad,this is the switcher i got- the picture makes it look big but it;s not,it's pretty small,switching can be done via the switcher itself or with the supplied remote control. I'm not getting 2 images so far,seems to be working well.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-Port-HDMI-Switc ... dZViewItem

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 10 Jul 2007, 18:32

I watched A Scanner Darkly blu-ray today, the picture was gooooood. I'm annoyed at the American blu-ray case though, they're thinner than ours, and don't have the same symbol thing at the top. Ours are better.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 Jul 2007, 20:43

Toshiba HD-DVD Player for $99 soon:

http://www.dvddossier.com/2007/07/a2-toshiba-hd-d.html

The synic in me says this is a last attempt to bring people over to the side of HD-DVD. It's a bargain but not one I'd take.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 15 Jul 2007, 21:18

And that's bundled with 3 HD-DVDs. That price is mental.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 Jul 2007, 00:28

Pass. I'm getting a 360 around September anyway (Since there'll highly likely be a price drop at that time.), may as well get the addon.

At this point it's highly unlikely that they'll activate HDCP for HD-DVDs, so it probably won't matter if I get the much more expensive 360 Elite with the HDMI port and 120GB HDD (vs. 20GB HDD on the existing one) or not.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Jul 2007, 13:35

EvaUnit02 wrote:At this point it's highly unlikely that they'll activate HDCP for HD-DVDs, so it probably won't matter if I get the much more expensive 360 Elite with the HDMI port and 120GB HDD (vs. 20GB HDD on the existing one) or not.

I'd say so, especially considering their initial backtrack on HDCP in the States, what with all the people who have Component Projectors over there. Surely legally it would be hard to fill 120Gb?

That said you may need the HDMI port, unless your TV has more than 1 Component input?

Personally I think the add-on despite it's price is a risky purchase, at least in the PS3 it's built in so no money is lost if the format goes belly up.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 Jul 2007, 14:04

bradavon wrote:Surely legally it would be hard to fill 120Gb?

Where have you been living for the past two years, the moon? Downloadable micro-transactions (new game content smaller than a full-blown expansion) for console games is seriously booming. There are thousands of people spending several hundreds of dollars upon stuff like ports/remakes of classic console/arcade games, extra song packs for Guitar Hero (which you probably wouldn't have of heard of. It's a rhythm game where you play a guitar controller. I never saw the appeal of crap like that.), more tracks and cars for some racing game, etc etc.

Console gamers no longer miss out on expansion packs, eg the 1GB+ expansion for Oblivion, The Shiving Isles is available for 360 owners to buy and download to their HDDs.

This downloadable content is getting bigger and bigger, thus the 120GB HDD for 360 and the new 80GB model of PS3. Downloadable content has opened a window for developers that wasn't there before. In the past they'd have to rush to get a game out by a certain deadline. Now they can provide gamers which would've otherwise remaied on the cutting room floor due to time constraints.

Of course there are greedy publishers who will and do exploit the new revelation. Eg you having to pay for features that may've been already on the game disc but just locked; or making you through the nose for some worthless content, like some extra armour that might just be shinier rather than have any real value.

Personally I think the add-on despite it's price is a risky purchase, at least in the PS3 it's built in so no money is lost if the format goes belly up.

Oh get real, it's not a risk at all. Not like any HD-DVD movies I buy will become unplayable if the format fails. The 360 addon is so cheap too, only $250NZD. Less than equivalent of two brand new PS3/360 games or equal to 5 fullprice BDs, I wouldn't lose sleep over that.

I'll stick with PS3 and 360 addon, which will be cheaper than the Samsung dual format players. I have no such "space for stuff" paranoia like you do. "Oh fuck, can't have a desktop PC or a TV larger than 32" in a tiny flat, since space is premium!" Your thinking is such bullshit. You can comfortably fit a 40"+ TV, a desktop computer and many many set-top players into a tiny 2-bedroom flat and still have heaps of room.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 18 Jul 2007, 17:12

Your points make no sense when you've not even seen the size of my 1 bedroom flat anyway, 2 bedroom costs too much where I'm moving to.

Ah fuck it I can't be bothered to reply, moving on.