Ok, so I went to check out the new HD DVD players and the Sony Blu-ray players... and saw that there are various types of discs for each....

here are my questions:

1) are they interchangeable? will an HD-DVD work in a blu-ray player, and will a blu-ray disc work in an hd-dvd player?

2) I have an xbox 360...will it play HD DVD Discs at maximum quality?

7/7/2006 2:56:03 PM

until someone posts a bunch of links and does a couple hours of research, here's what i think:

1. No. Two differently formatted discs, two differently built players.

2. If you mean the HD-DVD player that you have to buy to go with the X360, possibly, but I wouldn't count on it.

7/7/2006 3:02:47 PM

1)omgnoob
2)lolz

7/7/2006 3:31:22 PM

1) Blu-Ray and HD - DVD are two completely different formats and are not compatible. Its very gay.
2) The Xbox360 does not have an HD - DVD player. It has a normal DVD player. There may be an option in the future to implement this, but Microsoft hasn't confirmed or denied the rumor.

7/7/2006 3:50:42 PM

sandy read my post.


they're selling an external hd dvd player to go along with the 360

7/7/2006 3:59:27 PM

From the horses mouth:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/events/e32006/articles/20060507-hddvdexplained.htm

7/7/2006 4:01:29 PM

On that note... xbox MS has confirmed there will at least be an HD-DVD add on for the 360. Toshiba has said that MS will make the HD-DVD drive internal for a future 360, most likely before xmas. MS has denied the later.

As far as 360 (w/ external HD-DVD player)... it will be able to do HD (720p, 1080i, and possibly 1080p) over component cables for current gen HD-DVD discs. Future generations of the discs (assuming they make it that far) might require an HDMI cable (which has yet to be released for the 360) to display in HD resolution.

On a side note, i think it's iteresting that it's hard to find a dvd player the upconverts over component, while both blu ray and hd dvd both can do HD over component.

7/7/2006 4:02:20 PM

hey Spookyjon, I may be a "N00b"

....


but at least I am not a fat fuck who will never get laid, you worthless piece of shit

7/7/2006 5:05:36 PM

He can always lose weight, you can't get any smarter.

7/7/2006 5:24:51 PM

BIGU BRAIN ACADEMY SAYS OTHERWISE.

7/7/2006 5:33:03 PM

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/07/print_screen_hd_hack/

7/7/2006 5:41:48 PM

in all seriousness, do not buy any of these. the prices are steep and the prices of the dvds themselves are steep. i dont even know if you can burn/copy hd-dvd or blu-ray dvds. i have the samsung upconversion dvd player (connected with a hdmi cable) from best buy. the movies look damn good for not being hd so i recommend that instead. if you NEED to have hd-dvd, then wait until the microsoft releases the hd-dvd player on the 360. supposedly coming out this fall as a usb attachment and will be $100...

7/7/2006 5:57:40 PM

im satisfied with DVDs the way the are to be totally honest... quality's gonna get so strong you won't be able to tell the difference...

7/7/2006 6:14:19 PM

Uh, what?

7/7/2006 7:13:45 PM

Ahahahahahaha wtf, I don't think such an innocuous statement has ever pissed off somebody so fucking much.

7/7/2006 7:57:30 PM

Quote :

"im satisfied with DVDs the way the are to be totally honest"

shoot, i have an HD television in my apartment and when i visit my parents, i watch broadcast television and i don't even notice

it's retarded that people pay so much money for all this new technology...is watching an HD movie on my 52" widescreen worth all the extra cash? dvd's look JUST FINE

audio, on the other hand, is very important...i like my surround sound

7/7/2006 9:10:25 PM

Ummm, dude, HD looks a lot better than DVD quality. Now, I don't think it is quite nice enough to go out and buy up my entire collection again, but I am looking forward to some of my faves in HD glory.

7/7/2006 9:30:13 PM

i'm also one of those "fuck buying the new shit, dvd's do everything i need" type of people

7/7/2006 9:32:10 PM

Quote :

"HD looks a lot better than DVD quality"

7/7/2006 9:37:27 PM

^^^^

Law and order in HD on UHD or TNTHD at 720p with digital 5.1 surround>>>> law and order on digital cable or satellite with stereo and 420i resolution. if you can't tell the difference in the image and not just the sound, then you've got some shitty eyesight there. then again, anyone with anything a good deal off of 20/20 shouldn't really bother with HD anyways.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get HD picture anyways. Neither smoothcrim nor I have spent more than about 800 or so for either of our setups. What's dumb is spending a shit-ton of money on one of 2 competing overpriced standards before the dust settles and the dual-format players come out.

[Edited on July 7, 2006 at 9:53 PM. Reason : ]

7/7/2006 9:53:23 PM

Quote :

"Ummm, dude, HD looks a lot better than DVD quality."

i guess...not worth any money on my part, though

^ i suppose...it's really subjective as i get JUST as much enjoyment out of watching it on my standard cheap cable as i do on my girlfriend's HD setup...i can still follow the story and when i turn off the television, i'm quite sure my memory recall isn't in 720p

now, the difference between "old" projectors and digital projectors at the movie theater - THAT is a huge difference and makes a difference in the quality of my moviegoing experience

7/7/2006 10:16:46 PM

Yes, digital projectors are of significantly lesser quality.

7/7/2006 10:22:25 PM

of course...i've missed the lines running through my films...and how i've mourned the loss of random dots

7/7/2006 11:03:07 PM

if you guys have the chance to go to best buy and watch some of the blu-ray dvd shit, its insane

they just have some random HD scenery and shit and it is un-fucking-real

7/7/2006 11:04:25 PM

What theaters around here have digital projectors? What resolution are they usually?

7/8/2006 1:33:54 AM

As far as I know, no theater in North Carolina has a 2k or 4k projector. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I've heard that the 4k (as in 4096 pixels horizontally) are really hot, but I haven't had a chance to see one yet. The simple fact of the matter is that, at the moment, the push for digital cinema is coming from the fact that it's WAY cheaper than film for the distributors and Technicolor/Deluxe. Prints are expensive, and the bandwidth to transmit even a very large file is nothing comparatively.

A fair amount of theaters in the area have projectors of various types that can do somewhere in the general area of the upper ranges of HD content, 1080i/p. They can be pretty decent, especially when compared to consumer projection equipment, but they pale in comparison to properly presented 35mm film.

7/8/2006 2:14:27 AM

Jon, you obviously haven't read the news lately or seen the movie section in the newspaper..

All first-run Carmikes went to 2k digital projection.

[Edited on July 8, 2006 at 4:23 AM. Reason : ]

7/8/2006 4:22:45 AM

HD-DVD may be worth it over DVD just for the amazing remastering of Blazing Saddles.. That shit looks like it was just filmed this year.

7/8/2006 4:26:12 AM

^^ Ah. They're not listed with Technicolor. And yeah, I don't really pay attention to anything with mainstream theaters in the area.

7/8/2006 9:09:06 AM

Then why make statements like these

Quote :

"As far as I know, no theater in North Carolina has a 2k or 4k projector. "

7/8/2006 11:10:09 AM

because he has some knowledge of the industry, and felt his personal experience was worth the comment, notice the disclaimer with the statement.

7/8/2006 12:10:39 PM

Quote :

"I don't really pay attention to anything with mainstream theaters in the area"

!=

Quote :

"knowledge of the industry"

Now, reply, because you know you will. We'll have a 5 post pissing contest, and I still don't give a fuck about you.

7/8/2006 2:43:56 PM

Being that I know Jon, and so I know he has worked at theatres for quite a while now, and has some industry knowledge in that regard.

Quote :

"I don't really pay attention to anything with mainstream theaters in the area"

Notice that? For someone who doesn't give a fuck about me, you sure spend enough time to suggest the opposite

7/8/2006 6:15:20 PM

Now the real question is:

Is there a thread where 1CYPHER doesn't get pwned?

7/8/2006 6:55:09 PM

let me get my tww notes out and check...

7/8/2006 7:00:28 PM

How did I get pwned, please show me. Noen, you look like a real fucking idiot in this one. This is my last post to explain it to you, I won't even read your reply, but I'm 100% sure you'll make one.

Quote :

"As far as I know, no theater in North Carolina has a 2k or 4k projector. "

Quote :

"All first-run Carmikes went to 2k digital projection."

Quote :

"And yeah, I don't really pay attention to anything with mainstream theaters in the area."

Quote :

"because he has some knowledge of the industry, and felt his personal experience was worth the comment, notice the disclaimer with the statement."

Who gives a shit if he is experienced in the industry, he just basically said that he doesn't follow the mainstream, so his "as far as I know" statement was completely and utterly irrelevant. I might as well have made that statement, it would carry the same weight as his once it was revealed he doesn't pay attention.

What part of this don't you understand Neon? You suck me off so hard that you'll make yourself look like a total fool trying to get me when you aren't paying attention to what you are typing.

7/8/2006 7:36:20 PM

hahahahaha awesome dude, AWESOME

7/8/2006 7:53:54 PM

Hmm...

Here's another question. Starwars was shot in HD, does that mean that the max resolution that the could transfer to the film was 1080, or do they use special cameras that can do the 4k digital, and just downsample or something for the HD broadcasts/disks/whatever?

7/8/2006 11:33:51 PM

I was wrong about the digital projectors in the area. I didn't know of any 2k projectors around, so I looked at Technicolor's list of digital cinema exhibitors (which can be found at http://www.technicolor.com/Cultures/En-Us/Locations/North+America/USA/CABurbank/BurbankDigitalCinema/TheatreDirectory.htm ) and nobody in North Carolina showed up. I know some Carmikes are showing concerts and stuff, but a projector dealer I'd been working with said they were on shitty projectors (of course, this guy was basically of the mindset that any projector not made by his company was a shitty projector, but I assumed they were less than 2k). What it comes down to is that I don't work with mainstream theaters so I'm not really up on things with them.

Wolfrules, do you work at a Carmike? What's your experience been with the 2k?

7/9/2006 3:23:08 PM

And back to the HD-DVD/blu-ray question...

Wait for this to appear in devices:

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=190300953

Looks like multi-format drives will be on the way in a few years.

7/9/2006 6:25:53 PM

eh

if i wanted real life imaging, id walk outside, not pay top dollar for it.

but i guess i dont really know how much better it can really look, DVDs are fine by me

7/9/2006 6:41:47 PM

DVDs are low resolution and have problems with the preservation of motion and color, but if you're watching on a TV about 30" or smaller, most people won't really care enough to pay the difference.

7/9/2006 7:04:19 PM

haha I don't work for Carmike.. haven't even seen their 2k setup yet..

7/9/2006 7:05:54 PM

^^ i watch on a 52" screen and don't notice ENOUGH of a difference to matter...i daresay that the average consumer really couldn't care less (but there will always be those who like to be snobs about it...the majority of tech talk posters, for example)

7/10/2006 6:57:06 PM

I'm not trying to be a snob about it, but there are definitely problems in scenes with loss of fast motion, color blocks in broad gradients, or more monotone colors (think about a darkroom scene where everything is bathed in red light) that are totally distorted. It's not something that necessarily ruins it for me, but it's definitely noticeable and that simple things that basically come down to the file size will eventually fix.

7/10/2006 7:52:44 PM

actually there is arguable more compression in HD DVD than there was in DVD. You quadruple the resolution, yet the bitrate only goes up 50%

7/10/2006 9:00:07 PM

Quote :

"they're selling an external hd dvd player to go along with the 360"

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want to buy an external HD-DVD player that will only work for an Xbox 360. Isn't it the same, if not more limiting, than just buying a regular HD-DVD player? I'm assuming there is some substantial price/size difference?

Quote :

"i daresay that the average consumer really couldn't care less"

That's me. I won't buy the HD stuff until DVDs become unavailable. There simply isn't enough difference to get me to invest in:
1) A new TV that will even show that small difference
2) A new media player
3) New media that they charge $10 more per copy than a regular DVD (probably the biggest reason)

No thanks.

[Edited on July 11, 2006 at 7:36 AM. Reason : -]

7/11/2006 7:30:03 AM

it was funny when somebody questioned spookyjon's knowledge of the one thing he's probably about as much up on as anything right now, seeing as the theater he runs just bought a digital projector.

7/12/2006 4:36:03 AM

On the topic of theaters with the digital projectors, I could swear that MV showed Star Wars (EP 2?) on one. Was there opening night and during the little song and dance thing at the beginning, the guy said it was the first movie to be filmed digitally, and mentioned something about a new digital projector. The picture looked amazing. But that might not be the same thing that you're talking about, or I could be wrong all together..just going off what I remember so go easy on me

[Edited on July 12, 2006 at 4:11 PM. Reason : bleh]

7/12/2006 4:10:07 PM

in other news, some of the star wars digital footage looked awful. artifacts in one of the highest-budget feature films of all time is unacceptable.

it was either ep 2 or 3 in one of the dark fight scenes, i don't remember which.

7/12/2006 4:17:29 PM