HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Player

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Judging from what I saw in this article, the Average Joe consumer is pretty disgusted with the whole thing and more oft than not opting for neither one.

Regards,
Wayne

[AverageJoe]

Wayne A. Pflughaupt wrote:

Judging from what I saw in this article, the Average Joe consumer is pretty disgusted with the whole thing and more oft than not opting for neither one.

Hey... I resemble that remark.

Actually, I tend to agree. From conversations with friends and family who haven't jumped on board yet, some would like to get an HD player, but the cost of choosing the "loser" is stopping them. However, most of them are only vaguely aware that HD discs are available, and don't know there is a Blu-Ray/HD DVD battle going on.

For me, the "war" is something I read about, but it has no real impact on my purchases. I bought the HDA1 when the sale price was around $400, and have about a dozen HD DVD's so far. I'm not looking to replace all my DVD's with HD versions, but I buy the more "visually stunning" releases when they become available. I figure it'll take years for a "winner" to emerge victorious, and in the meantime I can buy and enjoy a lot of HD content. If the HD DVD format is not the winner, I can still watch what I have (I suppose the player may die, but I still see Betamax players for sale and how long ago did they lose that war?).

Mostly, I try to get friends on MY side. I figure if everyone waits for a winner, we'll never have one. So... for those leaning towards Blu-ray, I tell them they should wait - For the others, I may buy them all an HD DVD movie for Christmas. Maybe they'll get something to play it on .

[bobgpsr]

^^^ But hey, even though I have to use "backups" since I use a component video connection, the Toshiba HD DVD player does a super job of upconverting SD DVD's to 1080i.

Bob

[ACGREEN]

I'll wait for a high-capacity player (400 disc). Bt the time these come out, one format should be the dominate disc.

[wbassett]

I'm happy to say I'm officially format neutral now and have both!

[khellandros66]

Before I buy another player I will hold off for the 2nd gen Combo players at this point. Sony and BDA better get there act together with the BD-J1.1 and the spec for DD+, DTSMA/HR and Dolby TrueHD over HDMI 1.2 in PCM or HDMI 1.3.

~Bobby

[spyboy]

Is anyone interested in the Toshiba HD A2 for $299.99 with 3 free HD DVDs? If you look around some, you can find this deal. I may end up getting in on this deal myself. So far, it is the best deal I have found on a Toshiba HD A2.

All the Best

[mike c]

I don't like buying a format that doesn't have ALL the movies I want. so it's either I wait til both players become cheap, a dual format player (with all channels output) comes out, or one of them gets ALL the movies available.

[bsoko2]

The best HD DVD player is the Toshibia HD AX2. It is the newest and can be had for around $530 or so on Amazon. It has all the goodies and a new upconversion chip that makes regular DVD in some cases look like 1080. For the price it can't be beat and Home Theater mag in testing against Bluray and the new LP player rated it #1. Watching my old DVD is such a new experience and the HD movies are excellent in sound and picture.

[Steven Midkiff]

Currently, Toshiba HD-A2 is $250 at Costco here is Washington.....

[wbassett]

I have the A2 and a Bluray player, and we tend to use the A2 99% of the time.

My brother was up recently and he has an HD DVD player as well. He was very impressed with the A2's performance and PQ when mated to a Sony SXRD. Actually Casino Royal and the PS3 blew him away, but we both know that was a showcase BD movie and was going to have a top notch transfer. The Lake House was nothing really special and in fact the BD version really didn't look all that different from the SDVD version upconverted on the A2.

We also watched Madmax The Road Warrior in HD (as well as tons of others) and the transfer is the biggest factor in the end for either format, well in my opinion I can't comment on Bluray players and upconversion because the PS3 doesn't upconvert. I would love to see the XA2 in action. I am thoroughly pleased with the A2 and can't imagine what things would look like even better!

[bsoko2]

I bought the HD AX2 last month and it is a excellent player. Even the dvd upscale is near 1080 and it makes watching my dvd collection a must all over again!!

[wbassett]

bsoko2 wrote:

I bought the HD AX2 last month and it is a excellent player. Even the dvd upscale is near 1080 and it makes watching my dvd collection a must all over again!!

I totally agree, and like I said I don't even have the XA2, just the A2.

I actually have a note book and I take notes of every movie I watch, BD, HD DVD, or SDVD. I have been paying particular attention to Standard Definition DVDs and noting the PQ. Some are incredible, and a couple of times I actually forgot I was watching standard definition. If you have a copy of Walk in the Clouds, throw that in and check it out sometime. There are scenes that look 3D, and at the end when the vineyard is burning it looks stunning... and this is a standard definition disc! Of course there are other discs that don't look that good, but I have also seen BD and HD DVDs that look worse that others too.

I am also a big Cary Grant fan. Try putting in an old black and white flick that has a good transfer sometime and watch it upconverted.

I hope the prices keep dropping. Next year I will probably buy an XA2 or the next gen version and move my A2 to the bedroom.

[bsoko2]

Amazon.com has the AX2 sometimes as low as $529 (that's what I bought it at) and the price varies from day to day. Also, you get the HD DVD offer from Toshiba until the end of July 07.

[wbassett]

Yeah that is a great price... problem is I just spent a boat load of money on a Sony 55" SXRD HDTV, a Bluray player, and the A2, not to mention the obligatory high def movies that I had to buy

I'm also remodeling our house, saving for a colorimeter or full spectrophotometer, and a new projector is in there somewhere too ... so the XA2 will have to wait just a little longer.

[planet10]

Like DVD-A vrs SACD the big manufactures are beating up the end-user with another format war. I'll either wait until the dust settles or until dual format players are common and the format becomes moot.

At this point, i have to get a widescreen TV before i could even consider a player -- and who knows, a 3rd contender is sneaking up behind these 2 -- HD over the internet. We have seen huge gains in bandwidth to the home in recent years and i don't see that slowing down anytime soon. If you look at cable & satelitte as internet delivery vehicles (my hi-speed comes in on the same cable as HD would from Shaw) it is happening already. A friend recently got an HD TV and the digital cable box, and commented that he might never use his DVD player again (and then i pointed out that he would still be borrowing from my large collection of DVDs)

dave

[Vader]

A friend recently got an HD TV and the digital cable box, and commented that he might never use his DVD player again (and then i pointed out that he would still be borrowing from my large collection of DVDs)

Remember that a lot of digital artifacting present in HD broadcasts are not present in the HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray) counterpart. I have read many times how comparisons between the two always favor the hardware by a wide margin. And this disparity will only increase as VOD enters the mainstream: look to the state of audio, and how the general public has become satisfied with quality in the name of the convenience of downloading. Case in point, the travisty known as the "iPod", with music so compressed, I sound better singing in the shower than a professional artist does in a hyper-compressed MP3 (to get the full impact of that statement, ask my wife how bad I sound). But, since you can hold how many thousand songs on this tiny little box with speakers you stick in your ear (and destroy your hearing with), the huge drop in quality is entirely secondary.

[planet10]

Vader wrote:

Case in point, the travisty known as the "iPod", with music so compressed

The iPod is only a travesty if the end user is an idiot or deaf, or just doesn't know enuff to use the iPod with lossless formats. Excepting that the smaller units aren't large enuff to support a physically large enuff cap to give really good bass response the sonics of an iPod are pretty good with lossless files (and a big iPod -- see below -- can produce sonics that rival the best hardware players)

The iPod -- with decent material stored on it -- is a WAY better portable player than a Sony walkman or discman ever was. And most importantly a whole new generation of kids are becoming music addicts. Only a small portion of those need to be turned from the dark side (ie MP3s) and onto higer rez files to ensure a continued supply of hifi aficiandos to fuel the higher end market.

Calling an iPod a travisty is just short-sighted and a failure to look at the evolution of an audio-phile. The iPod is simply the expression of this generations walkman or discman, and it is our responsibility to educate & expose the iPod user to its full capability. Anyone who doesn't embrace the possibilities is shooting himself in the foot.

Consider that a "big iPod" (best ememplified by a MacMini loaded with lossless files & connected to an external Firewire DAC0 can outperform a CD-player costing much more. Those same Firewire DACs often have a hiRez ADC and will become the prime source for higher rez files (either made directly by the artist or ripped from vinyl with a good TT with a good phono pre).

Full rez files are starting to become available for download (i was disipointed that Apple only upgraded their service to 256k AACs -- but that is extremely market & bandwidth driven), As end users we just have to keep voting with our dollars.

dave

[Vader]

The iPod is only a travesty if the end user is an idiot...

I agree completely, but the key phrase is "...if the end user is an idiot". Keep in mind that we live in a world where the clearasil crowd rules, with car subwoofers set 10-20dB above where they should be, yielding what are, essentiailly "one-note wonders", while at the same time are completely clueless about what constitutes audio (or video) quality. The travisty is in the open floodgates of hyper-compressed that is gaining a foothold as the new audio quality standard (shudder....)

...with decent material stored on it...

Precisely my point. The vast majority of music downloads are of the "-quality-subterranean-bit-rate" type. Given that double-digit AV IQs seem to be prevelant in the general populace, I don't have a whole lot of hope that will change, and will, in fact, get worse.

Consider that a "big iPod" (best ememplified by a MacMini loaded with lossless files & connected to an external Firewire DAC0 can outperform a CD-player costing much more. Those same Firewire DACs often have a hiRez ADC and will become the prime source for higher rez files (either made directly by the artist or ripped from vinyl with a good TT with a good phono pre)

Again, excellent point, but the thing is that only a tiny fraction of the general populace has an AV IQ in the triple digits. We are the exception, not the rule.... and are vastly outnumbered... For everybody like us out there who know what they are doing (to be fair, I am at the shallow end of the AV-savy pool), there are a couple of hundred people who are blissfully AV-ignorant. Remember, this is guided by the swings in the market, and a whole lot of villages somewhere are mourning the loss of their idiots (who also vote with their wallets).

That being said, I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong..

[johnathan]

I presently own a Toshiba XA2 and am going to buy a Blu Ray in the future. I love HD material.Especially on my new JVC RS1. I own 1000 SD DVD's also and 32 HD DVD's . I wish their was one format from the beginning but now it has driven down the prices.So it has been good and bad for the end user. Johnathan