Blue-Ray or HD DVD

[tomandshell]

I will say that your enjoyment of either high def format depends a great deal upon the size and quality of your TV. I don't think that some people will see a dramatic difference on displays that are in the low 40 inch range and lower.

 

[El Roranous]

I think that a $400 PS3 is your best bet for Blu-ray right now. Some of the stand alone players are having some problems playing recent titles and will continue to have problems with material resulting from the 1.1 spec. (It's still hard to believe that after a year, they are just now settling upon a universal tech spec that is going to leave early adopters in the dust.) However, the PS3 has had some pretty frequent firmware updates and mine has had no problems whatsoever playing movies. So good quality, good price and easy updates make it a very good bet.

Just one problem--the Blu-ray remote doesn't have an ON/OFF button. My biggest complaint!

It sure does have an on/off button. I am always surprised to hear people say this. All you have to do is hold the PS button for like 2 seconds and then press ok. Presto- your system is now turned off. So you want to to turn the PS3 on- just press the PS button. You can now thank me.

 

[EVILFACE]

It's fast reaching a point where it doesn't make much sense to pick one format or the other any more. I can understand people wanting to wait out the war (by not choosing EITHER side), but if you want hi-def movies, you really need both formats. Otherwise you are bound to miss out on some titles that you really want. And with player prices falling, by the end of the year you will be able to buy good players for both formats (and receive a bunch of free movies) for a bit less than the cost of ONE good player in either format a year ago.

Everyone wants a winner, as long as that winner is their side.

 

[tomandshell]

I will be playing the 360 or watching TV and my kids will bump either the remote or one of the PS3 controllers, and the thing will light up and turn itself on. I don't want to have to stop what I am doing and change the TV input over to the PS3 just to see the onscreen confirmation and turn it off, so I try to use your method when possible, but there have been times when that doesn't work and I still have to switch over to see what's happening on the screen.

I would still like a nice and easy power button like I have on my 360 remote. One click and it's off! The stupid thing is that after you: 1. Hold down the PS button and then 2. Select the shut off option, it gives you another screen that asks "Are you sure?" (As if the first two steps in the process were an accident.) I don't see why they had to make it a three step procedure.



But I do thank you for your advice!

 

[Natrix]

I will say that your enjoyment of either high def format depends a great deal upon the size and quality of your TV. I don't think that some people will see a dramatic difference on displays that are in the low 40 inch range and lower.

I don't know about that I have a 32" lcd in the bedroom and I can easily see a huge difference between HD DVD/Blu Ray and a regular DVD.

 

[El Roranous]

I will be playing the 360 or watching TV and my kids will bump either the remote or one of the PS3 controllers, and the thing will light up and turn itself on. I don't want to have to stop what I am doing and change the TV input over to the PS3 just to see the onscreen confirmation and turn it off, so I try to use your method when possible, but there have been times when that doesn't work and I still have to switch over to see what's happening on the screen.

I would still like a nice and easy power button like I have on my 360 remote. One click and it's off! The stupid thing is that after you: 1. Hold down the PS button and then 2. Select the shut off option, it gives you another screen that asks "Are you sure?" (As if the first two steps in the process were an accident.) I don't see why they had to make it a three step procedure.



But I do thank you for your advice!

That is true. A one step on/off button would be easier. I do however still think the PS button works fine for me. Maybe one day they will come out with another remote because I don''t think you are the only one annoyed by the lack of this button.

 

[KitFisto]

I was just over at Best Buy in the "Magnolia" dept and the guy pretty much talked me out of an HDMI 1.3 receiver. He said unless you go really high end then there isn't that much difference in the sound in True HD and regular DTS 5.1

I will do a little more research on this subject and see what I can find out.

 

[RoboDad]

I don't want to have to stop what I am doing and change the TV input over to the PS3 just to see the onscreen confirmation and turn it off, so I try to use your method when possible, but there have been times when that doesn't work and I still have to switch over to see what's happening on the screen.

I would still like a nice and easy power button like I have on my 360 remote. One click and it's off! The stupid thing is that after you: 1. Hold down the PS button and then 2. Select the shut off option, it gives you another screen that asks "Are you sure?" (As if the first two steps in the process were an accident.) I don't see why they had to make it a three step procedure.

I agree that a single-step on/off button would be nice, but you still shouldn't have to change inputs to turn off the PS3. Since about firmware 1.50, the power-down behavior defaults to "yes" for all of the confirmations, so technically you don't need to 'select' anything, it's already selected. All you should need to do is hold the PS button for 2 seconds, then press X twice, and it should turn off.

Of course, there are also other options. You could keep the PS3 remote and controllers out of harm's way when not in use , or you could use the on/off button on the console. It is a single-step button (although you do still need to hold it for 2 seconds).

 

[RoboDad]

I was just over at Best Buy in the "Magnolia" dept and the guy pretty much talked me out of an HDMI 1.3 receiver. He said unless you go really high end then there isn't that much difference in the sound in True HD and regular DTS 5.1

I will do a little more research on this subject and see what I can find out.

What he says may be true for him, but it's all subjective. The same argument could easily be made for eschewing HDTV altogether. For many people, the difference in image quality between DVD and HD DVD or Blu-ray may be barely noticeable. But for many, the difference, in both image and sound quality, is very noticeable, and worth the extra expense.

On the other hand, any HDMI-capable receiver can handle lossless audio, provided that the player connected to it can decode True HD or DTS-HD MA to PCM. HDMI 1.1 can accept multi-channel (up to 7.1 channels) PCM, so there may be no need to provide the decoding capability in the receiver anyway.

 

[Natrix]

I was just over at Best Buy in the "Magnolia" dept and the guy pretty much talked me out of an HDMI 1.3 receiver. He said unless you go really high end then there isn't that much difference in the sound in True HD and regular DTS 5.1

I will do a little more research on this subject and see what I can find out.

You don't need HDMI 1.3 as long as your player decodes True HD internally and either has HDMI or analog 5.1 outputs in case you don't have an HDMI port on your receiver.

 

[KitFisto]

What he says may be true for him, but it's all subjective. The same argument could easily be made for eschewing HDTV altogether. For many people, the difference in image quality between DVD and HD DVD or Blu-ray may be barely noticeable. But for many, the difference, in both image and sound quality, is very noticeable, and worth the extra expense.

On the other hand, any HDMI-capable receiver can handle lossless audio, provided that the player connected to it can decode True HD or DTS-HD MA to PCM. HDMI 1.1 can accept multi-channel (up to 7.1 channels) PCM, so there may be no need to provide the decoding capability in the receiver anyway.

Oh I agree and that' why I plan to research more and try to find a place to sample true HD sound before I decide.

 

[Darth Loki]

Is the PS3 still the cheapest option for blu-ray? I'm planning on going format neutral sometime before the end of this year.

if you don't plan on getting a lot of games or downloads, you can find a 20GB PS3 for under $400. That's the route I took and I don't regret my decision at all.

 

[Natrix]

Go to Circuit City!

Blu Ray are buy one get one free.

Also HD DVD rang up at 2 for 1 (which sounds like an error) but I got Transformers HD for $15 along with Blades of Glory $15, Troy DC $12.50 and Swordfish $12.50...AWESOME!!

Need to go back and get more!

 

[KitFisto]

Go to Circuit City!

Blu Ray are buy one get one free.

Also HD DVD rang up at 2 for 1 (which sounds like an error) but I got Transformers HD for $15 along with Blades of Glory $15, Troy DC $12.50 and Swordfish $12.50...AWESOME!!

Need to go back and get more!

Best Buy has some Blue Ray titles on Buy 1 Get One Free right now as well. I picked up a couple while I was there today getting Transformers on HD DVD.

 

[darthviper107]

Just got Transformers HD, really awesome. The Special features are really, really great, I'm so happy that they did them in HD.

And wow, Michael Bay doesn't know much about CG, Industrial Lights and Magic? And supposedly he thinks that complex lighting wasn't possible 2 years ago...

I do think Transformers should win the Visual Effects award, mainly because of just how complex it is, but I think it would have been possible a few years ago. The only reason I don't think Spider-Man 3 or Pirates of the Caribbean will win is because we've seen all that before and it's nothing new.

 

[Kabukiman]

The Blu Ray BOGO madness continues @ deep discount DVD https://www.deepdiscount.com/DVD---...476518VVviewcat.htm?promoCode=BUYONEGETONEDIS

 

[tomandshell]

That deal is going on at Amazon as well, and they are also including the 10% off deal that many of us signed up for last year. I got the Blu-rays of King Arthur and Finding Neverland together for $15.98 shipped. Eight bucks a disc.

 

[Natrix]

For anyone confused about the next generation audio on Blu Ray/HD DVD I found a pretty good article explaining it all.

https://www.highdefdigest.com/news/..._FAQ:_Blu-ray_and_HD_DVD_Audio_Explained/1064

 

[hairlesswookiee]

That deal is going on at Amazon as well, and they are also including the 10% off deal that many of us signed up for last year. I got the Blu-rays of King Arthur and Finding Neverland together for $15.98 shipped. Eight bucks a disc.

where do you find these deals?? im looking at amazon right now and i can't find anything cheap like this.
~~ and does anyone know the cheapest place to buy the spiderman collection on blu ray???

 

[tomandshell]

where do you find these deals?? im looking at amazon right now and i can't find anything cheap like this.
~~ and does anyone know the cheapest place to buy the spiderman collection on blu ray???

Here's a link:

BUY ONE GET ONE FREE AT AMAZON