Hi Everyone, http://www.techconsumer.com/2007/12...ng-price-war-vs-blu-ray-player-10-movies-219/ Apparently at Amazon you can get an HD-DVD player new for $125 dollars (Shipping included) and you get 7 free HD-DVD movies. I'm thinking at those prices, I can junk my old DVD player, use the HD-DVD player to upscale all my current DVDs, use the 7 free HD-DVD movies as pay-off for the cost of the player, then coast on regular DVD purchases until one format or another wins out. Seems like the price is cheap enough to make this strategy work. Anyone else think this is something worth while to do? EDIT: If you add the product to your cart, Amazon actually charges you only $125 for the player, including shipping!!!
$128 with SEVEN movies? Gee, today I was genuinely interested by that 150e (that'swhat, $200?) "offer" for a HD-EP10 player with five movies... and I don't even own a HDTV. Goddamn euro prices sometimes!
Yep! Prices are getting rediculusly cheap for HD-DVD. Even though Warner has changed sides to blu-ray, I'm thinking there is still loads of HD-DVDs out in the wild, and not even holding that into account, its still a pretty damn cheap HD upscalling DVD player. Coupled with the fact that its a brand name (Not someting cheap like "Durabrand"), and the fact that it comes with 7 free movies, there isn't much to loose. At worst, you just upgraded to an upscalling DVD player from a brand name for cheap. At best, HD-DVD wins out due to price and you have both an upscalling DVD player and HD-DVD player.
You'll be good for movies for at least another 6 months plus you'll get classics for minute prices if/when the format dies. Go for it, it'll save you buying them for rip-off Blu-Ray prices.
I misread "More resolution than regular DVD" for "More explosion than regular DVD" :lol: THAT would be a real selling argument
Speaking of resolution... Is that deal for the Toshiba HD-A3? That only supports up to 1080i even on HD-DVDs. Granted that unless you have a 1080p HDTV it doesn't much matter but an HD-DVD player that doesn't output 1080p sounds a little weak (isn't that the whole point of high-def discs?), heck you can get regular DVD players that upscale/output 1080p for like $40. I think you have to spend around $50 more for the Toshiba HD-A30 to get 1080p. At least that's the one linked in that TechConsumer article. ~Krelian
1080i/1080p Can anyone genuinely say that they can tell the difference between the two? I know I can`t..............just a selling tool I think
Yes, I think under the right conditions anyone can. -1080p is up to ~60fps, 1080i is always ~30 which means less flicker for sensitive people. -Fast moving scenes look better in progressive scan since motion is more fluid; an interlaced camera could capture one instant in one field then an entirely different instant the next causing picture tearing as your brain merges them. Put any DVD on slow motion to see what I mean. -Film is progressive so movies can be telecined with *far* better accuracy; they could be nearly lossless when played back at 1080p24 depending on the film's fidelity. Right now every few frames are duplicated to bump 24 fps up to ~30fps for 1080i30 systems, and 24fps films are sped up to 25fps for 1080i25 systems--very crappy!
Wel, a lot of people say some people can't even tell 780p (I think thats the resolution) vs 1080i/p. Let alone i/p for 1080. But I never experienced any HD yet, so perhaps all those people are off their rockers on this one. As for the i/p issue, don't most new tvs offer some kind of progressive scan/de-interlacers built in that could convert the 1080i to 1080p? Perhaps the chip won't be the best in weaving the two fields together, but I guess its better than nothing.
Surely the point of high-def discs to be higher than regular discs (which are i anyway)? Slightly wrong - 1080p is 30fps (running between 30Hz and 120Hz dependent on the quality of your TV), 1080i is also 30fps (running between 60Hz and 120Hz dependent on your TV). Unless you're in the UK, then it's 50 and 50-100Hz respectively. LCD and Plasma HDTVs are always progressive scan. CRT HDTVs are either interlaced or progressive. Thus, if you're watching 1080i on a LCD TV, there is *potentially* no difference (it relies purely on whether the chips in your TV are any good at their job, some cheap n nasty (and some expensive n nasty) have a tendency to suck at interlaced.
720p and 1080p would be hard to tell apart but 720p and 1080i is quite distinguishable from my experience. I am not a HDTV owner either, but I have experienced numerous people's horrifically calibrated HDTV sets and I can pretty safely say that your average guy has no business judging picture quality. All recent TVs are natively progressive so they always need to deinterlace the picture from ~60 fields per second to ~30 frames per second or stretch the field as if it were an entire frame. It would actually be better if interlaced video wasn't deinterlaced at all because when two vastly different fields are merged and displayed at a noticeable ~30 fps instead of alternating 60 fields per second, it's even easier to see the tearing. The only reason interlaced video is still around is the same as it was when it was invented, bandwidth constraints.
I'd get 1080p if your TV supports it, worth the extra. Yes, you should be able to tell the difference between progressive and interlaced. Interlaced was the old CRT method of displaying the odd lines in the first pass, then the even lines in the second pass. Progressive scan gives all lines in one pass. This gives a clearer picture. That said, the difference is very minimal, so if you only have a 1080i TV, or if you're on a budget, then 1080i will be fine. That said, if you're on a budget, stick to DVD! ;-) That said, the upscaling isn't bad. If the free disc deal is anything like it is here, it's a bit of a con. They give you several sections. The first section will contain a few premium movies - lets say they may be Transformers, Die Hard 4 and Superbad. You may choose ONE of those titles. Then you can choose two from a mediocre set of titles. The rest are chosen from a budget range.
In my book, it's worth picking up. For slightly more than you'd spend on a standalone upconverting DVD player, you get arguably better upscaling and the ability to play HD-DVD's with the standalones. With all the extra movies it's truly a no-brainer purchase.
I'm another that definitely prefers 720p to 1080i (on a good HDTV with a good source). The tearing is very noticeable to me on an interlaced signal often even when there isn't fast action on the screen. Unfortunately for me my HDTV is kinda cheap and it doesn't upconvert very well so I get particularly frequent tearing... = ( I can only imagine that I would even more prefer 1080p to 1080i on good equipment in a quality shootout. ~Krelian
HD DVD is really cool and at that price, you get quite a polished and neat product I bought a Toshiba HD-EP10 full price for my dad at Christmas full price and I don't regret it even after the Warner shift. We watched Batman Begins on his Full HD LCD and the picture is so amazing, surreal, when you look at Spiderman 3 on Blu-ray on the same set up you feel very bad for people who invested in Blu-Ray... hopefully we had the opportunity to do like for like comparison in the store where we bought it and even the sales guys confessed to us that Blu-Ray was inferior compared to HD DVD in terms of picture quality, menus and loading time only the PS3 manages quite well the task or so they said. So after that we indeed settled for HD DVD. You may think of them now as upscaled DVD players now but just pop an HD DVD and you'll see how much value you get for so little. I'm sure there will be again movements from movie studios in favour of HD DVD in the near future or so the rumours say... ;-)
