[brassplayersrock²]

L.M.A.O.

[Eug]

I bought one for 50 bux months ago with a couple of free movies at my local Wal-Mart. Great deal. Upscales DVD reasonably well too. I use it in my home office. (It's a Toshiba HD-A3 rebadged.)

[Hawkeye_a]

Apparently Sony has blocked it's movies fro getting to the XBox360 via NetFlix. Apparently the 'broadcast' of Sony movies was abruptly stopped. And as Jobs mentioned Blu-Ray's licensing had some 'issues' (a competitor in the distribution of movie content).

So here we have a company that owns the means of producing the content (back catalog and studios), the medium(BR), the box(pc/ps3/etc...) and manufacturers TVs.

Now i can appreciate the 'vertical' company model as much as the next guy, but this is heading into monopoly territory, since there is no company which can compete with any of those segments.

Bad business imo.

[Dakar V]

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/...xbox-specific/

There’s been much speculation over movies by Sony Pictures losing the ability to stream via Netflix over Xbox 360.
Netflix revealed to MTV Multiplayer the issue was licensing-related and hoped the restriction was temporary.
We’ve now heard from Sony Pictures themselves, who have tried to squash rumors this was a secret power play.
“This issue is not specific to Xbox or any other individual platform,” said a Sony Pictures spokesperson in an e-mailed statement. “Sony Pictures is currently in discussions with the relevant parties to resolve certain licensing matters related to the distribution of its motion pictures. Given the ongoing nature of these discussions, we don’t think it is appropriate to comment further at this time.”
Sony Pictures’ statement suggests this remains a licensing issue, and it’s likely streaming will return to Xbox 360 sometime in the future.

[Eug]

Heh. Sony's PR department is working overtime on this one it seems.

[Dakar V]

Honestly, I'm more upset about Ninetndo preventing GoldenEye from coming to XBOX Live.

[sek929]

Yeah me too, of course you realize that we'll probably never play H3 or GoW2 again if GoldenEye is released for Xbox Live.

[Dakar V]

We'd have to go back to Halo, as my dominance would too much for the group to handle.

[sek929]

Someday, we will meet in glorious 64-bit battle...and it will be good.

[Dakar V]

You just know I'll be crying about how I can't set up the 360 controller to emulate the N64s correctly.

And everytime we don't play License to Kill.

[sek929]

License to Kill Grenade Launchers it is!

[Dakar V]

In the Temple.

[sek929]

With DK mode.

[Dakar V]

Ahem. I'll pretend to re-rail the thread by commenting that I hear Blu-Ray referred to in the news as "Blu-Ray DVD."

[Hawkeye_a]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Honestly, I'm more upset about Ninetndo preventing GoldenEye from coming to XBOX Live.

Yeah, same here. Im upset with Microsoft/Rare for keeping Golden Eye and Conquer from coming out on WiiWare. Just picture it, A rereleased grey N64 controller to go with the game. awesome....but alas M$ had to ruin that as well.

[Dakar V]

Yeah, how exactly is MS keeping GoldenEye from the Wii? The ball has been entirely on Nintendo's court. They won't sign-off on a dual-platform release.

Edit: Of course, its everyone's favorite Nintendo fanboy. I should have known.

[Hawkeye_a]

really ? got a link to that champ ?

edit>>i know ur bitter about choosing the loosing platforms, but already with the name calling ? grow up.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye_a 

really ? got a link to that champ?

edit>>already with the name calling eh ? grow up

Champ? Oh-ho-ho-ho! Who's name calling now?

MundoRare | One last Martini to GoldenEye

Edit: That's "losing", and last time I checked I got all the good third party titles, good online multi. and a non-gimmicky controller. But feel free to continue.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Champ? Oh-ho-ho-ho! Who's name calling now?

MundoRare | One last Martini to GoldenEye

Edit: That's "losing", and last time I checked I got all the good third party titles, good online multi. and a non-gimmicky controller. But feel free to continue.

But do you have this? (watch the whole thing)

[BasketofPuppies]

For heaven's sake, Goldeneye would be stuck in licensing hell if anyone made a serious effort to get it released on a currently produced game console.

Rare, now a division of Microsoft, owns the game.
Activision Blizzard is the current holder of the James Bond video game license.
MGM, a Sony brand, owns the James Bond movies that the games are licensed from.
And does Nintendo still have a stake in Goldeneye? It owned 49% of Rare when Goldeneye was released for the Nintendo 64 and distributed it all other games published by Rare at the time.

Most, if not all, of these companies would have to come to an agreement for Goldeneye to be re-released. With so many companies (and so much money) involved, and many of them being direct competitors, it isn't likely to happen ever.

[Dakar V]

Read the link. Activision signed off on it, which should have been the biggest hurdle.

[BasketofPuppies]

Hey moderators, not only has Blu-ray won, making the original purpose of this thread obsolete, but now this thread is completely off-topic and has turned into a flame war.

There is nothing left to discuss. Would you please lock this thread now?

[goMac]

Nintendo should have gone for that as long as the Nintendo logo stayed in the XB360 version. As the original publishers they should still get some credit for making that game as big as they did...

[Stogieman]

I'm seriously thinking of picking up a Sony BDP-S350. Amazon selling it at $199 for today only. I've been waiting for a decent player to get below the $200 mark.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S350-...HP0KCDZSNJHJTS

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by BasketofPuppies 

Hey moderators, not only has Blu-ray won, making the original purpose of this thread obsolete, but now this thread is completely off-topic and has turned into a flame war.

There is nothing left to discuss. Would you please lock this thread now?

I disagree. While Blu-Ray has won, there is still a lot to discuss. Like how, now that BR is "the" High Def disc, why hasn't there been any benefit to customers? Like lower prices and more features?

Or how we can keep track of what upgrades are happening to the "standard" for BR. That's a biggie, because it looks like there is the same thing going on with BR that happened through the early years of DVDs, with some titles not playing on some players, and others not working right on other players...

But you're right, the title itself is obsolete. Maybe we should change it...

[mrtew]

I was super excited when I finally got a PS3 especially when I got BladeRunner but it's been a year since HDDVD died an there's still no StarTrek TOS and no BattlestarGalactica etc. Just all the crappy new movies that would be perfectly fine on DVD. In fact I just watched The Incredibles on DVD upscaled with the PS3 and it looked totally fine and almost indistinguishable from HDBlu-ray (puts on flame retardant suit in preparation for the obligatory "ARE YOU BLIND" rants). Plus the fact that 98% of movies totally suck and no movie is really worth $30 and there's my explanation for why Blu-ray is kinda going nowhere with me. I still have only about 10 disks after my first year.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

I was super excited when I finally got a PS3 especially when I got BladeRunner but it's been a year since HDDVD died an there's still no StarTrek TOS and no BattlestarGalactica etc. Just all the crappy new movies that would be perfectly fine on DVD. In fact I just watched The Incredibles on DVD upscaled with the PS3 and it looked totally fine and almost indistinguishable from HDBlu-ray (puts on flame retardant suit in preparation for the obligatory "ARE YOU BLIND" rants). Plus the fact that 98% of movies totally suck and no movie is really worth $30 and there's my explanation for why Blu-ray is kinda going nowhere with me. I still have only about 10 disks after my first year.

Computer animation upscales exceptionally well, but it also has to do with the quality of your upscaler, and the size of your TV.

If your TV isn't a huge one, and your upscaling is pretty good, then DVD is often OK for computer animation, and some hand-drawn animation too. I'm relatively happy with DVD upscaling on my 42" LCD (from 10' or so away), but the quality difference is significantly more noticeable on my 90" projector image.

I agree about the $30 though. I refuse to buy any Blu-ray discs for over $30 (and my $30 is worth less than US$25). I have put a couple on my Xmas wishlist though. If someone wants to buy me $35 Blu-ray discs for Xmas, I'm not gonna argue.

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

I'm seriously thinking of picking up a Sony BDP-S350. Amazon selling it at $199 for today only. I've been waiting for a decent player to get below the $200 mark.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S350-...HP0KCDZSNJHJTS

That's a good price.

However, I will point out that it's extremely slow at DVD navigation. I was a little disappointed. While it has a faster startup time than my older HD-A2 HD DVD player, it's actually much slower than the HD-A2 at DVD navigation, and I find the HD-A2 already slow at DVD navigation.

I've decided that even if the S350 gets to CAD$199 (US$162), I'm not going to buy another one for my second player. I'd rather wait for the next gen model with faster disc navigation.

[brassplayersrock²]

[brag] got the first season of the sarah conner chronicles on blu-ray for $20[/brag]

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by Eug 

That's a good price.

However, I will point out that it's extremely slow at DVD navigation. I was a little disappointed. While it has a faster startup time than my older HD-A2 HD DVD player, it's actually much slower than the HD-A2 at DVD navigation, and I find the HD-A2 already slow at DVD navigation.

I've decided that even if the S350 gets to CAD$199 (US$162), I'm not going to buy another one for my second player. I'd rather wait for the next gen model with faster disc navigation.

Yeah, a few of the reviews on Amazon said the same thing so I decided to get a PS3 instead. I was cleaning out the drawers in my computer desk earlier today and found a $100 Best Buy gift card I forgot I had (birthday present). Best Buy was selling the PS3 with a Blu-Ray movie & game bundled (Indiana Jones 4 & Brothers in Arms) for $399.

[Eug]

The PS3 is fast at DVD navigation. It's supposedly the fastest Blu-ray player too.

I'm not buying a PS3 though. I don't want another console, it doesn't properly support IR, and I don't want to pay $400 for a Blu-ray player. The odd shape would make it problematic in my setup anyway cuz it's not stackable like most components. (I could solve that problem by building a new component cabinet or something though.)

[zro]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

I'm seriously thinking of picking up a Sony BDP-S350. Amazon selling it at $199 for today only. I've been waiting for a decent player to get below the $200 mark.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S350-...HP0KCDZSNJHJTS

MacMall has been selling it for that for at least a few weeks now, so I wouldn't expect that price to go up at all. That's what we have and it does boot pretty slow. There is a quick start option but I'm not enthused to use it. Navigation is bearable IMO.

For me there isn't quite enough value to Blu-Ray yet. Here we are paying premium prices and still have to sit through a raft of commercials before getting to what you paid for. Though I will say Wall-e looks ****in' gorgeous and was worth it to me. A couple of other live action flicks we've rented have looked great, but not enough to compete with the price of the same movie on DVD. I really hope they realize that's where the competition is, and soon.

[ghporter]

I recently saw an ad for an LG Blu-Ray/DVD-everything drive for $99. Except for the fact that I don't have any way of hooking this thing up to my TV, I seriously thought about buying it to have a Blu-Ray capability.

I still think $200 on sale is way too much for the lowest of low-end players, even if Blu-Ray was really "all that."

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I recently saw an ad for an LG Blu-Ray/DVD-everything drive for $99. Except for the fact that I don't have any way of hooking this thing up to my TV, I seriously thought about buying it to have a Blu-Ray capability.

Why? It's not as if you can do much with it on a Mac.

I still think $200 on sale is way too much for the lowest of low-end players, even if Blu-Ray was really "all that."

$199 is not the for the lowest of low-end players. You can get Profile 1.0 players for much cheaper. Personally I think they're crap, but those are the lowest of low-end, not the Sony S350.

[Brien]

Well FWIW, from what I saw yesterday I think there's certainly demand. $100 BD players will do something $100 HD players never did: sell.

Just look at the madhouse for the $128 Funai.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Why? It's not as if you can do much with it on a Mac.

There's always the old PC sitting in the closet. Or more realistically, the Firewire/USB 2.0 enclosure sitting on the shelf next to me...

Originally Posted by Eug 

$199 is not the for the lowest of low-end players. You can get Profile 1.0 players for much cheaper. Personally I think they're crap, but those are the lowest of low-end, not the Sony S350.

To me, "low-end" would encompass "usable on current movies" rather than "sketchy due to being Profile 1.0." I could have been a little more clear on that.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by zro 

...Though I will say Wall-e looks ****in' gorgeous and was worth it to me.....

I can't believe that the day after I typed that about no movie being worth $30 I went out and bought Wall*E myself!!! At least it came with an iPhone copy too.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Heh. Sony's PR department is working overtime on this one it seems.

Perhaps, but everything in my queue is now available for play on my xbox, save for a foreign film.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

There's always the old PC sitting in the closet. Or more realistically, the Firewire/USB 2.0 enclosure sitting on the shelf next to me...

I'd be really careful about an 'old' PC and Blu-ray performance, depending on the specs of the PC.

You actually need a pretty hefty, modern system to handle outputting Blu-ray at 1080p without glitches and skips, and without using 100% of the CPU. (Intel C2D anything is good, or AMD X2 or better). You also need a fairly hefty (and most certainly HDCP-compliant) video card, and the software. (What comes with the drive usually suuuucks.)

So dirt cheap Blu-Ray drive, sure. Dirt cheap PC to output it? Not really.

[goMac]

My parents just got a 1080p plasma : jealous : and they were talking to me about getting a Bluray player.

They said they wanted to wait until next year because they still had a lot of DVD's... apparently they were unaware that a Bluray player could play DVD's.

They also were not aware of the existence of upscaling DVD players. They were planning on keeping their old SD DVD player for a while. Fortunately I found out that it has component output so I got it running in EDTV. The Panasonics have great upscalers so it actually looks pretty decent. Not great, but watchable.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE 

I'd be really careful about an 'old' PC and Blu-ray performance, depending on the specs of the PC.

You actually need a pretty hefty, modern system to handle outputting Blu-ray at 1080p without glitches and skips, and without using 100% of the CPU. (Intel C2D anything is good, or AMD X2 or better). You also need a fairly hefty (and most certainly HDCP-compliant) video card, and the software. (What comes with the drive usually suuuucks.)

So dirt cheap Blu-Ray drive, sure. Dirt cheap PC to output it? Not really.

A original Core Duo should be able to cut it. If you're not running anything in the background, a single core should be able to cut it.

Of course most GPU's these days have onboard Bluray decoders, so a good CPU isn't really worthwhile in a dedicated Bluray PC.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by sek929

Yeah me too, of course you realize that we'll probably never play H3 or GoW2 again if GoldenEye is released for Xbox Live.

Originally Posted by Dakar V

We'd have to go back to Halo, as my dominance would too much for the group to handle.

Originally Posted by sek929

Someday, we will meet in glorious 64-bit battle...and it will be good.

Sorry, I don't mean to derail this thread again but I'm totally getting you guys this t-shirt for Christmas.

http://www.bustedtees.com/mostdeadly

[brassplayersrock²]

I think you might have meant this one:

http://www.bustedtees.com/rollininmy64

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

Sorry, I don't mean to derail this thread again but I'm totally getting you guys this t-shirt for Christmas.

http://www.bustedtees.com/mostdeadly

I've had that for a few months now.

[Eug]

The Sony S350 (Profile 2.0) is now CAD$200 (US$160) at Superstore, and the Insignia Profile 1.1 model is only $100 (US$80) on clearout at Future Shop if you can find it.

Impressive pricing for BR players.

There still seems to be stock on the Insignia player in the west, but it's rare now here in eastern Canada. Too bad I missed out. However, it's still available at FS online for CAD$150 (US$120).

Anyways, I'm off now to go watch Eastern Promises on HD DVD.

[brassplayersrock²]

see? only the crap titles got onto HD.

kidding of course

[Eug]

So the HD DVD for Eastern Promises had a good picture... and then very little else on the disc. I guess I can't complain too much though since it was cheap as Ukrainian borscht. It also happens to be a combo disc so I can throw a copy of it into iTunes too if I wish.

Not a bad movie, pretty much on par with A History of Violence, although some may think the latter was more accessible.

BTW, I couldn't log into the web server for the web-enabled content. I guess Universal has already killed web support for this title. The web content as implemented wasn't a good idea though anyway cuz it was just a couple of minutes worth of featurettes that should have been on the disc already... and they did indeed put those extra pieces on the subsequent Blu-ray version.

[Brien]

$80 USD. Wow. Another few months and they should really come down in price. $99 price point at last?

[Eug]

Found a Insignia NS-BRDVD (Profile 1.1) Blu-ray player at a local Future Shop. It was priced at $150, but I just asked for the CAD$99.97 price and they agreed, cuz they're clearing them out and it was the last one. I didn't get the 3 free movies they're offering for non-clearance BR player prices, but at this price I can't complain.

With today's exchange rate, that's US$80.21.

[Eug]

Blu-ray releases first combo BD/DVD disc

[brassplayersrock²]

YES!! finally