[Lateralus]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

By the time some new format war gets underway consumers won't care anymore.

Other way around me thinks. They don't care *now*. The high-def wheel is still just beginning to roll. So if Toshiba actually gets the format to market sometime this year, it just might catch a wave.

And I say 'the format' with hesitation. Because it sounds like Toshiba wants this to be a silent upgrade that will matter to people who care and make no difference to those who don't. One disc, varying capability, marketed under the most established name in home entertainment history; 'DVD'

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

What makes you think the Trek sets are going to be released on Blu-ray?....

Because they just spend several years and probably many millions of dollars remastering them into HD. You think that's all going to be for nothing? You think that Paramont will never release any more HD material because they were so in love with Toshiba. What makes think they won't?

[Lateralus]

Negative. The episodes were simply remastered. That is all. They don't look that great in HD. (I have the set myself)

They only appeared on HD DVD because Toshiba paid Paramount to do an HD release. If you need any evidence to that fact, feel free to take into consideration the fact that Paramount was neutral during the majority of the format war, including during the time that work on the Season One release was actually being done.

There are only so many times you can release the same content. And with both Season 2 and now Season 3 looking to be DVD only, I have every reason to believe that The Original Series *may* see further HD releases, but they wont be for quite a while and probably not until Blu-ray has solidified its position or until the next format comes along.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Negative. The episodes were simply remastered. That is all. They don't look that great. (I have the set myself)

The Star Trek HD DVD set looks quite good in HD, and way better than the DVD version.

No, it's not like Transformers great, but quite good nonetheless, and good enough that I will wait for the hi-def version.

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

I personally think it'll be an extension to the DVD format that will provide a richer experience in conjunction with the upconverting hardware that has already been on the market for quite some time. Take Superbit as an example of what to expect.

Superbit is standard DVD technology. Absolutely nothing changed in the spec for Superbit. Basically all they did was strip out extras and increased the bitrate... but within the confines of the existing DVD standard.

[mrtew]

Negative? What? You don't think they are actually HD? Please explain.

[Lateralus]

Originally Posted by Eug 

The Star Trek HD DVD set looks quite good in HD, and way better than the DVD version.

No, it doesn't. And I'm not the only person with this opinion.

The set gets generally decent marks on image quality but nothing more. An HD release was hardly warranted.

Superbit is standard DVD technology. Absolutely nothing changed for Superbit.

The disc itself is, but the way in which data was stored onto it was not standard.

I offered Superbit as an example. I made my thoughts on what I'm actually expecting quite clear in the rest of my post.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

No, it doesn't. And I'm not the only person with this opinion.

What size is your image? Cuz the image difference is quite substantial to my eye on my projector.

But then again, I also think Casablanca looks awesome in HD.

The set gets generally decent marks on image quality but nothing more.

Yes. The HD version is decent, and the DVD version pales in comparison.

An HD release was highly warranted.

Fixed that for ya.

The disc itself is, but the way in which data was stored onto it was not standard.

Yes it is. The bitrate on Superbit is well within the original 1.0 DVD spec. It is for this reason that Superbit works perfectly on 1st generation DVD players.

[Lateralus]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

Negative? What? You don't think they are actually HD? Please explain.

Remastered. Remastered and put on an HD disc. Remastered in HD.

Three different things.

The truth is probably somewhere between options two and three. You can only do so much with 40 year old footage and Paramount knows that, otherwise they would not have needed a push from Toshiba for a Season 1 HD release and would be continuing with Seasons 2 and 3 on Blu-ray.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Remastered. Remastered and put on an HD disc. Remastered in HD..

It was remastered in HD. And obviously all the ship and planet special effects were re-done from scratch in HD. I think you don't know what you're talking about.

[Lateralus]

Okay.

[starman]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Negative. The episodes were simply remastered. That is all. They don't look that great in HD. (I have the set myself)

Negative. They were remastered in HD. I have the set too and it looks AMAZING in HD. I also have some episodes in 16mm and have seen some in 35mm and these HD masters look awesome.

STARTREK.COM : Article

The remastered episodes have been converted from the original film into a High-Definition format, which gives viewers a clearer, crisper, more vibrant picture than before, even when viewed in standard definition. Once stations upgrade and start broadcasting HD signals, the episodes will be all ready for viewers to enjoy in HD.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

You can only do so much with 40 year old footage

While current films tend to have a better color range than some older films, as long as it was shot on film (which Star Trek was) you'll get a better and more accurate picture in HD then you will with SD. Even HD doesn't approach the amount of resolution* that 35mm film has.

*film doesn't have a resolution per se, as it can vary depending on the equipment used.

Originally Posted by Lateralus

The disc itself is, but the way in which data was stored onto it was not standard.

Simply incorrect. All they did was take out the fluff and bump up the bit rates. Hence the name, SuperBIT. It was still just a standard dvd.

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Other way around me thinks. They don't care *now*. The high-def wheel is still just beginning to roll. So if Toshiba actually gets the format to market sometime this year, it just might catch a wave.

And I say 'the format' with hesitation. Because it sounds like Toshiba wants this to be a silent upgrade that will matter to people who care and make no difference to those who don't. One disc, varying capability, marketed under the most established name in home entertainment history; 'DVD'

Whatever this would be called, it wouldn't be called DVD.

[Eug]

So, some of you may think I'm crazy, but I just spent ~$200 on HD DVD yesterday.

Wal-Mart is selling those Venturer HD DVD players (Toshiba HD-A3 rebadge) off for $48 in some stores in Canada. Perfect, as I wanted an upscaling player for one of my other TVs anyway, and now I'll be able to play HD DVDs on it too. It also came with 2 free movies, although I already had one (Perfect Storm), and I hear the other one isn't very good (Rumor Has It).

I bought another 15 movies for $120 plus shipping.

An American Werewolf in London
Being John Malkovich
Breach
Brokeback Mountain
Eastern Promises
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Jarhead
Out of Sight
Pan's Labyrinth
Ray
Spartacus
The Last Starfighter
The Sting
Timecop
Wolf Creek (Unrated)

Originally Posted by voodoo 

Whatever this would be called, it wouldn't be called DVD.

Any news on this?

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by Eug 

So, some of you may think I'm crazy, but I just spent ~$200 on HD DVD yesterday....Venturer HD DVD player for $48... another 15 movies for $120 plus shipping.

You're crazy. Let us know if you ever watch any of those.

P.S. I'm reminded of when the crew of the Minnow found the Japanese guy on Gilligan's Island that didn't know the war had ended.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

You're crazy. Let us know if you ever watch any of those.

Why wouldn't I?

I probably won't watch Rumor Has it though. That's one of the free movies I got.

P.S. I just picked up Flags Of Our Fathers and Balls of Fury too. I just watched the latter. It's stupid, but exactly as stupid as I was expecting. But hey, it had Maggie Q in it.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

P.S. I'm reminded of when the crew of the Minnow found the Japanese guy on Gilligan's Island that didn't know the war had ended.

True.