Toshiba Dumps HD-DVD

[Irishman]

Re: Paramount Dumps HD-DVD

"when"? sounds like an "if" to me, at worst.

Samsung is learning a bitter lesson about poorly supporting BDPs. They've had a class-action suit levelled against them for not supporting the BDP1200 specifically.

 

[Irishman]

How is releasing better quality video and audio in films "screwing us over"?

Because that's how I look at it. I don't care about interactive features, network capabilities, PiP. All I want is the BEST picture and sound.

Period.

I'm not the only one.

 

[Irishman]

My wife and I received a DVD player about 6 years ago that was a high-end model, but it was not progressive scan. It sold for $299.99 then. Now, you can get a Progressive Scan SD-DVD player for $40.00.

BDPs started at $999.99 18 months ago, and are now half that price. I'd say there's nothing amiss here about pricing.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Paramount Dumps HD-DVD

The God Thing said:
^ So what happens when a Profile 2.0 BD refuses to load on players that are not network-attached?

It won't.

Like I just said, profiles only matter if you're interested in extras. No matter how high the profiles get, every single last one of them will play THE MOVIE ITSELF on even the earliest player.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

Re: Paramount Dumps HD-DVD

Babaganoosh said:
No matter how high the profiles get, every single last one of them will play THE MOVIE ITSELF on even the earliest player.

Possibly, but my first DVD player - a Grundig purchased in early 1999 - became essentially useless for playing discs fabricated after 2000. Although the manufacturer replaced the unit for a later model under warranty, I would not be at all surprised if the cycle repeats itself in the near future hence my decision to purchase two PS3s (one from the US for Region A discs and the other from Europe for Region B) for my BD player needs. After all, with 'net access being as pervasive as it is the studios would be fools not to force upon us an online "product activation" mechanism for Profile 2.0 and later BD releases in an attempt to suppress piracy to say nothing of gathering data on household viewing habits for market research purposes.

TGT

 

[diankra]

USS KG5 said:
The biggest problem any next-gen format has is the industry's tiresome and paranoid obsession with DRM.

I confidently predict that one day every net-attached Blu-Ray player will receive a copy protection update that will render it unusable.

It really is time for the industry to wake up and smell the daisies on DRM - whatever they do it WILL get hacked.

Their best bet is to supply an excellent, usable product, publicly state their support for fair use (frak them telling me I cannot make a copy of a CD for my car) and allow honest record and film buyers to get the product they want to use when they want to.

The digital age does NOT mean another boom of people re-buying their old collections, it is only unbelievable industry greed that says it should, as they want more free money like in the early nineties CD boom and the early noughties DVD boom.

Sadly the question is when rather than if the copy protection starts to give serious black marks for blu-ray. At the end of the day HD film downloads will win, not a solid state format.

Ahh, standing ovation from here to that!

I have this nasty feeling that the business thinks it can keep going by getting us to rebuy on HD, but having replaced my VHSes with DVDs, I'm not ready to buy again (unless, just possibly, they throw in for free the laser-eye surgery that'll let me appreciate the HD standard - but probably not anyway, as a lot of the shows I love were made on 16mm or UK video, and there's limits to what can be done on that. I'l take I Claudius or Fawlty Towers in 625-line PAL over an HD copy of last year's flopbuster any day).

 

[TerriO]

Irishman said:
My wife and I received a DVD player about 6 years ago that was a high-end model, but it was not progressive scan. It sold for $299.99 then. Now, you can get a Progressive Scan SD-DVD player for $40.00.

BDPs started at $999.99 18 months ago, and are now half that price. I'd say there's nothing amiss here about pricing.

Irishman, please don't forget that posting three times in a row can be considered spamming.

Thank you.

 

[Chaos Descending]

TerriO said:
Irishman, please don't forget that posting three times in a row can be considered spamming.

Thank you.

Fortunately, we have good Moderators here that don't care about the unimportant minutiae of the rules and take into account the fact that all three posts contained actual content and were not just posts for the sake of posting.

Right?

 

[TerriO]

Chaos Descending said:

TerriO said:
Irishman, please don't forget that posting three times in a row can be considered spamming.

Thank you.

Fortunately, we have good Moderators here that don't care about the unimportant minutiae of the rules and take into account the fact that all three posts contained actual content and were not just posts for the sake of posting.

Right?

Oh, I understand that. Which is why I just reminded about it. Anyone who's been around here for a while knows I'm not the type to warn at the drop of a hat. I'm just saying that for the sake of noting that it is in the rules, that's all. :thumbsup:

 

[rgb1701]

USS KG5 said:
The biggest problem any next-gen format has is the industry's tiresome and paranoid obsession with DRM.

I confidently predict that one day every net-attached Blu-Ray player will receive a copy protection update that will render it unusable.

It really is time for the industry to wake up and smell the daisies on DRM - whatever they do it WILL get hacked.

Their best bet is to supply an excellent, usable product, publicly state their support for fair use (frak them telling me I cannot make a copy of a CD for my car) and allow honest record and film buyers to get the product they want to use when they want to.

The digital age does NOT mean another boom of people re-buying their old collections, it is only unbelievable industry greed that says it should, as they want more free money like in the early nineties CD boom and the early noughties DVD boom.

Sadly the question is when rather than if the copy protection starts to give serious black marks for blu-ray. At the end of the day HD film downloads will win, not a solid state format.

Infinity+1

Though I disagree with wanting downloads to replace DVD's (for collectors, at least), the rest of your sentiment is right on target.

You can't play a BD in a car.

You can't play a BD in a battery operated portable player (not counting expensive BD equipped massive notebook computers).

Even if mobile BD players become available and affordable, the extra resolution would make ZERO difference or be imperceivable in these use cases.

My mom/$YOURMOM/$JOESIXPACK can't tell the difference between BD 's and upscaled DVD's on their HDTV at average living room viewing distances and screen sizes (720p/768p/1080p/$WHATEVERp)

You can't easily/economically make fair use BD backups for travel, damage replacement or prevention, your kids, etc

You can't easily format shift BD video to another device.

With all these functional "can'ts" and take-aways from consumers, why would a rational person choose to buy a BD over a DVD?

Then add in the uncertainty of *requiring* a net connection on any BD set top in order to get firmware updates whenever a disc is cracked, so you can play new releases moving forward after a compromised key or BD+ revision, then needing software updates for new BD+ incarnations, and the uncertainty *really* starts to climb.

BD+ establishes a new, dangerous precedent- it effectively attempts to turn video data into executable software code. This is an invitation to invasion of your privacy, malware, your right of first sale, and other issues.

Never before has a video format been more than that- a container for raw A/V data only.

BD is the culmination of the videogame-ization of video media and the HT hobby.

 

[Chaos Descending]

TerriO said:
Oh, I understand that. Which is why I just reminded about it. Anyone who's been around here for a while knows I'm not the type to warn at the drop of a hat. I'm just saying that for the sake of noting that it is in the rules, that's all. :thumbsup:

I know. I was just being a grouse earlier. :thumbsup:

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

rgb1701 said:
You can't play a BD in a car.

Why would you WANT to? DVDs shouldn't be played in cars. They're a distraction and they're dangerous.

My mom/$YOURMOM/$JOESIXPACK can't tell the difference between BD 's and upscaled DVD's on their HDTV at average living room viewing distances and screen sizes (720p/768p/1080p/$WHATEVERp)

Good for them.

But just because the masses don't care, doesn't mean I can't.

Then add in the uncertainty of *requiring* a net connection on any BD set top in order to get firmware updates whenever a disc is cracked, so you can play new releases moving forward after a compromised key or BD+ revision, then needing software updates for new BD+ incarnations, and the uncertainty *really* starts to climb.

You don't have to have a bloody Net connection for firmware updates! Just download the sumbitch and burn it to CD.

BD is the culmination of the videogame-ization of video media and the HT hobby.

And the tinfoilhat-ization, it would appear.

 

[TerriO]

Babaganoosh said:

rgb1701 said:
You can't play a BD in a car.

Why would you WANT to? DVDs shouldn't be played in cars. They're a distraction and they're dangerous.

I'm guessing here, but I suspect the reference was to the DVD players that are built into the backs of minivans these days. Or, as some people I know call them, the "child pacifiers."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I'd be surprised if the same kind of people who buy minivans also bought Blu-Ray.

 

[Russ]

I believe the point being made was with the combos.

I supported HD DVD from the beginning, so I'm a little disappointed that Blu-ray came on top, but it's not that big a deal really.

There was a moment right after it went down that I wanted to sell everything, but then I rightly thought to myself, why? The discs work fine, they blend in with my current DVD collection just fine, and they look and sound terrific (and forever will). Plus prices have really come down. There are nearly 400 movies on HD DVD. Why not buy the ones I like, and then just get the new ones on Blu-ray?

The format may be no more, but the discs aren't going anywhere.

Now bring on a $200-250 Blu-ray Profile 2.0 player so I can enjoy the newer releases!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Russ said:
Now bring on a $200-250 Blu-ray Profile 2.0 player so I can enjoy the newer releases!

You already can enjoy the newer releases. Haven't you been reading my earlier posts? Profiles mean nothing for the actual movie itself.

 

[Russ]

No, no, no. Extras are VERY, VERY, VERY important to me. I'm not buying anything except a Profile 2.0 player (with on-board memory, not just the support for access to 1GB, which is actually all that's required).

I'm well aware of what I can and can't do with the different profiles.

And no, I'm not interested in the PS3, despite it still being the best Blu-ray player available.

What I meant to by new releases was upcoming movies not available on HD DVD.

I absolutely LOVE the PiP tracks on my HD DVD's, and really hope Universal, Paramount and Warner continue (and approve upon) that practice on Blu-ray as well.

 

[TerriO]

Babaganoosh said:
^ I'd be surprised if the same kind of people who buy minivans also bought Blu-Ray.

You don't know many geeks with kids, do you?

 

[BCI]

I don't see why there should not be several formats. HD-DVD could very well live on, if only to sell DVD players with good image upscaling to HD. The Chinese, one of the biggest potential markets, do have their own standards for discs anyways. Helps them save on patents, for example.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

BCI said:HD-DVD could very well live on, if only to sell DVD players with good image upscaling to HD.

Blu-Ray players can upscale too, you know.