[goMac]

So I went through my DVD collection (which I buy with no regard to the format war) and figured out what percentage of my collection is made by each studio (with studios lumped into their parent studios). It broke down to:

New Line - 11%
20th Century Fox - 16%
Universal - 16%
Disney - 5%
Warner Brothers - 22%
Sony - 16%
Paramount - 11%

(This won't add to 100 due to rounding)

(To make things a little more fair I counted all TV series I own as one title, even if I have multiple seasons.)

This breaks down to:
33% of my collection is neutral
27% is HD-DVD exclusive
37% is Bluray exclusive

So obviously if Warner goes HD-DVD exclusive a majority of my collection sits in the HD-DVD camp (although right now neither camp controls a majority of my collection.)

If I trim it down to the movies I really honestly do care about, the breakdown becomes:

New Line - 15%
20th Century Fox - 15%
Universal - 23%
Disney - 7%
Sony - 7%
Warner Brothers - 23%
Paramount - 7%

Which turns into:
Neutral - 38%
HD-DVD - 30%
Bluray - 29%

Again, neither format controls a majority of my collection, and as far as titles go, for me the advantage would seem to go to whichever camp gets Warner.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

Ya well think back how you and everyone was commenting on how bad BSG looks on DVD. I sure as hell hope HD-DVD is a slight improvement.

Those screenshots you posted of the HD-DVD definitely look worse then when I saw it broadcasted on HDTV and I still have it saved as reference.

Originally Posted by Eug 

Nothing beats A/B comparisons... The guy also posted screengrabs from Universal's HDTV channel. The HD DVD clearly has much more detail. Maybe the reason you like the broadcast version is because they filtered out much of the intended grain for the broadcast version.

-- snip--

DVD vs HD DVD

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UHD vs HD DVD

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Viewed this way it's very, very easy to see just how much detail is filtered out of the broadcast HD version.

[ort888]

Well, the transfer on the new Bladerunner set is supposed to be absolutely amazing. I can't wait.

A movie I actually love is coming to hi-def! It's amazing!

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Why the hell are these stand alone players so damn slow. I rather pay more not to have to wait a minute for a disk to load:

"HD DVD has the most polished user experience when it comes to HD movies, but the one thing that is still a real drag is the startup and loading times. We've almost forgot how fast DVD can be. We're glad the A30 (and the latest firmware version of the A20) turns on when you hit the eject button, but what could possibly be going on in there for a minute and five seconds while we wait for the tray to come out? This seems like a lifetime while standing in front of the player and is way longer than the fifteen seconds the Samsung's BD-P1200 takes to do the same thing. The good news is that the disc is actually loaded in about half the time that the P1200 takes, as The Borne Identity took about 25 seconds to load on the A30, while the P1200 took 50 seconds to load Home of the Brave. The problem is no doubt related to boot times, as starting the players with a disc in yields similar results: the A30 finishes loading in about one minute and thirty seconds, while the P1200 takes one minute."

Toshiba HD-A30 review - Engadget HD

[ort888]

Yeah, it really is ridiculous.

My HD-A2 takes about 30-40 seconds to turn on. It feels like an eternity. Especially when you have a room full of people who want to watch something.

The disc eject doesn't even work during the startup cycle, which is also ridiculous.

[Eug]

Yeah, hi-def standalones are very slow too boot up. (This is true on both formats as I understand it.) The PS3 and Xbox 360 are the fastest players.

What some people do is just leave the standalones on all the time. It's not the disc loading per se, it's the machine bootup that takes the bulk of the time, so leaving the standalone on all the time cuts 30 s or whatever off the initial time to movie startup.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

I know the PS3 is totally overpowered for BR but its start up time is under 10 seconds and a BR disks takes only a few more seconds to fire up.

To me that is worth paying more for. I mean a MINUTE or more to play a disk?!!

[Eug]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

I know the PS3 is totally overpowered for BR but its start up time is under 10 seconds and a BR disks takes only a few more seconds to fire up.

To me that is worth paying more for. I mean a MINUTE or more to play a disk?!!

That's why people leave their standalones on, so they don't have to wait that long.

For instance, for my A2, the boot time is 27.5 seconds from power on until I get the first "HD DVD" logo on the screen, and then another 14 seconds before the disc starts to play, so total is 42 seconds.

If the machine is on with no disc, it takes over 20 seconds for playback to start from the time you press the close button. (This includes the few seconds for the tray door to close.)

If the disc is already loaded in the machine, with the machine on but stopped, it takes less than 5 seconds for playback to start.

[hyteckit]

The boot up and load times aren't that bad. It would be nice if it is faster.

My A3 takes about 30 secs to boot up and about 40 secs to load a disc. Depending on the disc. However, once I turn off the player, and turn it back on later, the disc loads up in seconds. Must be the persistent storage or something.

[hyteckit]

About Battlestar Galatica. Looks like they shot it with bad lighting.

The HD-DVD version should have went with the UHD route and apply some filters to it to get rid of the noise, even at the expense of losing some details. The noise becomes too much of a distraction for most viewers.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by hyteckit 

The boot up and load times aren't that bad. It would be nice if it is faster.

My A3 takes about 40 secs to boot up and about 30 secs to load a disc. Depending on the disc. However, once I turn off the player, and turn it back on later, the disc loads up in seconds. Must be the persistent storage or something.

Your times will probably get faster too. The A2 is significantly faster than the A3, but when the A2 first came out it was slower than it is now. The firmware updates have helped speed it up.

However, the point here is that both Blu-ray and HD DVD standalones are slow. If you want a fast player, you get a console. The problem is most people don't want a console as their primary disc player.

Originally Posted by hyteckit 

About Battlestar Galatica. Looks like they shot it with bad lighting.

The HD-DVD version should have went with the UHD route and apply some filters to it to get rid of the noise, even at the expense of losing some details. The noise becomes too much of a distraction for most viewers.

Actually, aside from the mini-series, BSG was shot on high-definition video. It was basically grainless, and then they added the grain afterwards in post-production.

[Eug]

Weird: Bourne and PotC 3 both outsell Harry Potter

On the HD DVD chart, "Bourne" outsold "Potter" by a margin of nearly 2-to-1. On the Blu-ray Disc chart, "Pirates" remained in the top sales spot for the second week, with newcomer "Potter" debuting at No. 2.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

I know the PS3 is totally overpowered for BR but its start up time is under 10 seconds and a BR disks takes only a few more seconds to fire up.

To me that is worth paying more for. I mean a MINUTE or more to play a disk?!!

You know, if you step back and think about it, this is the most ridiculous complaint ever. A minute is such a small amount of time, but when you're used to instant-on it feels like an eternity.

(I hate the load times too)

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

You know, if you step back and think about it, this is the most ridiculous complaint ever. A minute is such a small amount of time, but when you're used to instant-on it feels like an eternity.

I'm old enough to remember when TV's took what seemed like 5 minutes to 'warm up' and THAT really was an eternity because there were no VCRs back then and the show was actually starting and you were actually missing the beginning while staring at a black screen screaming at it to just come on already!

[Eug]

Interesting week. 61:39 BD:HD. (I had predicted 58:42.)

1) Bourne Ultimatum HD
2) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
3) Harry Potter BD
4) Harry Potter HD

Bourne vs PotC 3 - 1.5 : 1
Potter BD vs Potter HD - 1.2 : 1
Planet Earth BD vs HD - 1 : 1.8 <-- Planet Earth on HD tops 100000 units. Expected to top 100000 units on BD mid-January.

Record volumes on both formats.

[goMac]

Ahem

Originally Posted by Eug