[centerchannel68]

Dolby surround is basically 2 channel though... with a fake 3rd channel. It is NOT a discrete 3 channel source, which means it kinda sucks ass.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker 

HD DVD and Blu-ray also offer better extras and interactivity features (especially on HD DVD at the moment).

For example, I was watching the picture-in-picture commentary on the HD DVD for Mission Impossible: III. The commentaries are in small window in the corner of the video, with the full video playing in the background. It got to a point where commentators wanted to discuss something else outside the scenes playing... so they stopped the movie. Yes, my player stopped playing back the movie and went to another video. After that video was over, it went back to the movie where it had stopped to continue with the rest of the commentary.

Other than the stopping the video and going to something else, I've got a DVD that does that. I believe it's the Criterion of Chasing Amy (but I could be wrong - it's definitely a Kevin Smith film though).

[ink]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker 

I agree with some of this, but note that MP3 and JPEG support aren't part of the DVD spec, and most DVD players don't play MP3 or JPEG CDs. VCD is also not part of the spec, and only some North American players support it.

It's difficult to find a DVD player that doesn't play MP3 CD/DVDs or VCDs now. In the early days you had to hunt for them, but it was never hard to find one.

My point was that a DVD player offered the ability for a consumer to download content and watch it on the family set. Such a task was possible with VHS transfer, or with TV-out cards and a bunch of cable -- but it was the DVD player that made it convenient. Neither BR or HD bring anything new to the table in this regard. They "only" make it prettier.

PVRs (for lack of a better term) are the devices that are currently brining new technology to the home set. If BR/HD take off, then they'll ultimately settle in as a simple optical drive on some other piece of technology that runs the show.

[ink]

Hacking NetFlix : Demo: Netflix "Watch Now" Movie Downloads

In my opinion, this is "something better than DVD" and HD/Blu-Ray. Watch any movie (eventually), at any time, all online. The quality goes up as your bandwidth and technology gets better; no need to invest in a specific technology that is tied to a particular medium.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally Posted by ink 

Hacking NetFlix : Demo: Netflix "Watch Now" Movie Downloads

In my opinion, this is "something better than DVD" and HD/Blu-Ray. Watch any movie (eventually), at any time, all online. The quality goes up as your bandwidth and technology gets better; no need to invest in a specific technology that is tied to a particular medium.

if (once) they partner up with a hardware company to make an tv-ish set-top box that can stream netflix directly to your TV, I think it will really catch on. For now, not a lot of people who are getting DVDs from netflix are going to want to be stuck in front of their computer watching movies in a web browser.


Also note that, for the time being, it's XP/IE6+ only, though supposedly they're planning on changing that eventually.

[brassplayersrock²]

as long as you have an alright tv with the right high end video cables and a decent speaker system; the quality is great for me. In other words, if you don't care about having the latest "bestest" thing, then what I said above should suffice.

Alex

[centerchannel68]

Woah. Hey dude, you're back.

[brassplayersrock²]

Woah. You to! hah. and with a good post count as well. Mods. giving you a break? PM me if you wish.

Alex

edit:
it's good to be back!

[eddiecatflap]

i have hd dvd via that crappy 360 into a sony w 40 incher and tbh dvd via rgb scaled up looks almost as good , ok not quite as sharp or 3d , but it's surprisingly good !

overall , not massively impressed with hd-dvd , plus the packaging is disgraceful , NO booklets and they're £10 more than the average DVD