[Eug]

Originally Posted by Chongo 

That's the game commercial (BioShock) I was talking about. Brand new game coming out for the Wii, 360 and PS2, not the PS3

and just to whack the hornets nest more: I have a coworker who own as PS3 and an XBox 360 with the HD DVD add on. I asked him which he thought was better and he said "hands down , HD DVD". His opinion, not mine. I have not had the opportunity to view either on my set so I can only judge by what I see in the stores, and I don't see a spit worth of difference.

IMO, they look the same. Or on some setups there might be an edge to the PS3, if the 360 used is a component-model, but that's probably the problem of the TV, since the 360 over component looks stellar on my Toshiba Regza. (Some TVs don't deal that well with analogue inputs, regardless of how good quality the source is. A prime example of this is my el cheapo Dell TV. Looks great over DVI, but sucks over component... but I digress.)

In any case, they both should look awesome, if they are using the same source material. eg. 300 vs. 300.

OTOH, if he's playing The Fifth Element (the original one) vs. Hot Fuzz, the PS3 will look like crap.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by Chongo 

That's the game commercial (BioShock) I was talking about. Brand new game coming out for the Wii, 360 and PS2, not the PS3

Wha? Are you saying that you think BioShock is on the Wii and PS2? Or what?

and just to whack the hornets nest more: I have a coworker who own as PS3 and an XBox 360 with the HD DVD add on. I asked him which he thought was better and he said "hands down , HD DVD". His opinion, not mine. I have not had the opportunity to view either on my set so I can only judge by what I see in the stores, and I don't see a spit worth of difference.

Anyone who can say something like that doesn't know what he's talking about. Quality wise, the technologies are pretty much identical. Of course there are individual discs (e.g. some of the very early BR releases) where the quality wasn't as good, but I think we're beyond that by now.

[starman]

I'd really like to know how something could look better on HD-DVD than Blu-Ray. Even a fanboi would know that technologically, the codecs are more or less the same nowadays. Compare VC1 to VC1 and tell me if he still thinks the HD-DVD version is better, because I need to call someone a fool today.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by starman 

I'd really like to know how something could look better on HD-DVD than Blu-Ray. Even a fanboi would know that technologically, the codecs are more or less the same nowadays. Compare VC1 to VC1 and tell me if he still thinks the HD-DVD version is better, because I need to call someone a fool today.

From what I understand, some of the encodes are even the same. I've read that there are ways of taking an HD DVD encode and just running it through a non-destructive converter that adds the appropriate flags or whatever for Blu-ray. So essentially the content is identical.

Now there are in fact differences on the decode side I've been told, but for most viewers they are likely subtle enough to be ignored. Perhaps if he had an initial Samsung I could understand it, since there was an actual bug with those that apparently made things look much worse than they should be. I say "apparently" because I haven't seen those players.

That said, there are differences on some cross-platform titles. Not all of them use the same encode or even the same encoding method. Presumably part of the reason for this is HD DVD authoring software leans toward VC-1 (Microsoft software), while Blu-ray authoring software leans toward MPEG2 and H.264 (Sony and Panasonic software).

[Eug]

The $199.99 Venturer will not be sold at Wal-mart

“We have no plans to have Venturer in our stores this holiday,” Wal-Mart merchandise spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said. “We will continue to offer the best values on popular HD DVD and Blu-ray products from leading consumer brands like Sony, Samsung, Philips, Toshiba and RCA.”

Wal-Mart does sell some Venturer portable DVD players on its Web site.

Ultimate Electronics’ director of merchandising for video Matt Duda is considering stocking the Venturer HD DVD player, but he doesn’t expect a major swing in the format war until a better-known company, such as Toshiba or Sony, rolls out a sub-$200 player.

“I have never heard of Venturer,” admits Duda. “If the price [similarly drops] for a tier-one brand, that will be more compelling.”

Some retailers, such as Value Electronics, are already rallying around the Venturer player. Value president Robert Zohn said he is ordering 1,000 to 1,200 units, and he expects he could start selling them as early as October.

Zohn believes that $199 will be the right carrot to dangle in front of hesitant customers. When Value slashed Toshiba’s entry-level model to $199 in a promotion, the chain sold 400 units within 30 hours and had to prematurely shut the sale down.

“When it gets to a certain price point, the thing takes off like a rocket,” said Zohn, who prefers the HD DVD format over Blu-ray. “That price point moves an enormous amount of HD players.”

[jokell82]

Seems there are some framing issues with Pirates on BD that aren't on the DVD:
Blu-ray's Pirates of the Caribbean release has framing issues - Engadget HD

I wonder if they'll do a re-encode or not.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

Seems there are some framing issues with Pirates on BD that aren't on the DVD:
Blu-ray's Pirates of the Caribbean release has framing issues - Engadget HD

I wonder if they'll do a re-encode or not.

I'd be pretty po'd if I got that. Actors heads are cut off. I was looking at some of the screengrabs yesterday and it's really bad. I'm surprised more people hadn't noticed it already.

[icruise]

Hmm. I haven't opened mine yet.

[Eug]

Well, IIRC, it's just a few scenes. But still, it's bad. Up to you if you want to open the package. If they do remaster it, I suspect it won't be until next year or later, and there's no guarantee you'll get your money back.

I remember back when One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest came out on DVD. There were a couple of screens that had the right video information... in the wrong aspect ratio. I believe they did eventually fix it... many years later.

And I still haven't heard back from Warner about the (slight but noticeable) lip sync issues with The Matrix. That's one of their flagship movies, and they %@#ed it up. (Reloaded and Revolutions are fine.)

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Well, IIRC, it's just a few scenes. But still, it's bad. Up to you if you want to open the package. If they do remaster it, I suspect it won't be until next year or later, and there's no guarantee you'll get your money back.

I remember back when One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest came out on DVD. There were a couple of screens that had the right video information... in the wrong aspect ratio. I believe they did eventually fix it... many years later.

If there's a big enough hubbub about it, they may do a recall a la the 5th Element, but I'm not sure this issue warrants anything like that...

Originally Posted by Eug 

And I still haven't heard back from Warner about the (slight but noticeable) lip sync issues with The Matrix. That's one of their flagship movies, and they %@#ed it up. (Reloaded and Revolutions are fine.)

I didn't notice anything when I watched it. But I netflixed it and only watched it once (since I have no need for the other two movies, I'm definitely not buying the set).

[Eug]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

I didn't notice anything when I watched it. But I netflixed it and only watched it once (since I have no need for the other two movies, I'm definitely not buying the set).

It's actually fairly mild, and many people don't notice it. However, this type of stuff drives me up the wall, and I noticed it immediately. I definitely wasn't the first though, as there were already several posts about it when I went to AVS to post about it.

It's sort of like the Xbox 360 lip sync issue that existed before the May update. A bunch of us complained about it over and over again, and others said we were nuts. Finally, after a while, a few Microsoft engineers agreed with us and promised an update. That update didn't come until many months later so it was pretty irritating, but better late than never. Now the lip sync is perfect with the vast majority of movies. Sadly, The Matrix isn't one of them. Microsoft says if there is an issue with it, it's a problem with the authoring.

[Eug]

Terminator 2 on HD DVD looks pretty frickin sweet. (YouTube)

[Super Mario]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Terminator 2 on HD DVD looks pretty frickin sweet. (YouTube)

I can't tell how good a high def video looks from YouTube. I can see at least three people walk out of the presentation.

[Chongo]

Originally Posted by Super Mario 

I can't tell how good a high def video looks from YouTube. I can see at least three people walk out of the presentation.

They left to cancel their BD orders

[Chongo]

Another sony proprietary technology bites the dust | Castellini on Computers Radio Show with Rick and Adam
For every Apple device that becomes a standard there is a Sony technology that becomes obsolete. Apple and Sony both got off to a great start in the early 80s. Apple introduced the Mac and Sony gave us the Walkman.

From that point on, Apple has had only a handful of market failures and Sony has had nothing but. Sony announced their latest casualty this week by discontinuing their proprietary ATRAC audio compression file format.

While the rest of the world committed to MP3 and WMA or Apple's music format for iTunes, Sony made up their own format only supported by their devices. Sony saw Apple succeeding with their own format and device and figured they could do the same.

There were only a few problems with this line of thinking. Sony's devices were clunky at best and the obscure conversion format meant that users had to use included software to convert their CDs into the ATRAC format.

Sony tried to make their devices and format more popular by releasing new players every few months for a while surprisingly that didn't work.

The ATRAC format is only the latest proprietary Sony technology to fade into obsolescence.

It all began with BetaMax and it continues with Blu-Ray and the digital book. Sony has a long history of creating their own standards and unsuccessfully trying to get the rest of the world to adopt them.

I believe it's all about the money. With each new Sony format comes licensing issues.

Companies must pay Sony to utilize their technology. Typically the Sony proprietary standard is not any better than the existing standard.

Let's take a quick look back at the long line of Sony proprietary technology...


BetaMax
Sony's standard in the video tape war. Most people agree that the standard was superior, but much more expensive. Whether the costs were due to high licensing fees by Sony or something else, VHS won the war.

MemoryStick
Sony's special memory for their digital cameras. While the MemoryStick format has been around for a while, it has gone through many generations. Does your Sony digital camera take the MemoryStick, MemoryStick DUO or MemoryStick Pro DUO? Get it right or it might not work in your camera.

ATRAC devices
Sony refused to adopt the MP3 and/or WMA standard insisting that people wouldn't mind ripping their CD collection into a format that was incompatible with all other digital audio devices.

Digital8
While the rest of the camcorder industry evolved from analog 8mm to digital MiniDV video tape, Sony gave us Digita8. If your grandkids ever want to watch those old Digital8 videos, they may have to pay a small fortune for an old Sony Handycam on eBay.

Digital Reader
For $299 you can own a device that is a little bigger than a book that will allow you to download and read books on a hard to see screen. Each book you download costs roughly the same as buying the book in the bookstore. In addition to books, you can also read magazines and other book-type files that can only be purchased through Sony's online CONNECT store. By the way, the CONNECT service has been discontinued. Why hasn't this caught on?

Blu-Ray
The HD video format that has so many advantages over HD-DVD. The only problem is that it is Sony's standard and everyone how has spent years competing with Sony is getting behind HD-DVD which is backed by Toshiba and Microsoft.

Clie
The Clie was a beautiful device. It combined a Palm, digital camera and MP3 player better than any device prior to the Treo. It was so cool that Sony had to quit making it.

Connect
Sony's online audio service - think iTunes without ease, compatability, and selection.
MiniDisc
A tiny audio disk that held as much as a CD but it was recordable and as easy to use as a cassette tape. No other company adopted it for wide release. Why? It was good, but it was cursed.

UMD
Ultra MiniDisc - the next generation of the MiniDisc. It plays both audio and video but it only works in a PlayStation Portable (PSP) video game system. It is also not recordable.

DAT
Digital Audio Tape recorders were huge for 15 minutes before DVD recorders became affordable. MiniDiscs had a greater advantage as they were not made of flemsy tape. Sony kind of killed themselves partially on this one.

AIBO
The robotic dog that sold for $2000 or more. You could program it, teach it tricks and it would do stuff that only robotic dogs could do. Buyers guilt killed off the AIBO.

Someone is sure to point out that I left out the PlayStation and the PSP. These are Sony's only successful proprietary techologies. However, their popularity is fast declining as competitors become more innovative and less expensive.

[TETENAL]

Apple III, Newton, eMate, Pippin, QuickTake, Copland, Taligent, eWorld, PowerTalk, QuickDraw GX...

One could compile a similarly long list of Apple flops. Every innovative company has them. And ATRAC is way older than Apple's ventures in the digital music market. The article is completely wrong there.