VT 1010

It could be how the PS3 decodes the compressed HD audio tracks. It could be how your receiver handles the signal. I'm not sure. I may have to do some more research. Have you tried a 7.1 LPCM track? Either way, it is a fact: The PS3 cannot currently Bitstream the HD audio tracks. If you select bitstream for HDMI, you will receive the 640kb Dolby Digital core for TrueHD; a transcoded DD stream from DD+; and the 1.5mb DTS core for DTS-HD MA and DTS-HD HRA. The converted LPCM tracks should sound identical to the original losslessly compressed tracks. There shouldn't be much of a difference for the lossy tracks either. Any real difference would be the conversion of 6.1/7.1 tracks to 5.1.

HDMI is digital (unlike component, s-video, composite, and RF, which are analog). Because of this, it is less susceptible to interference (less is the key word. interference can still be an issue). It can also send an audio signal with the video through one cable to the display or receiver. You can upscale commercial DVDs too, if you player supports it. Some HDTVs won't accept a 1080p signal, unless it's transmitted via HDMI, as well. Some HDTVs will accept and display a PAL signal. Some will not. It depends on the display.

There appears to be some misconceptions about the PS3's audio capabilities. The PS3 CANNOT currently pass "HD audio" via bitstream through HDMI. The only way to get HD audio is to have the PS3 internally decode TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus, then send the audio to the receiver as LPCM. DTS HD Master Audio and DTS HD High Resolution Audio cannot currently be decoded internally. You will instead get the lossy 1.5mb DTS core signal (of course this is better than what you get on most DVDs anyway). Supposedly, Sony is planning to release an update to allow proper internal decoding of the DTS HD formats soon. As for 7.1, the PS3 can transmit an LPCM signal in 7.1. I'm not sure about LPCM that comes from compressed HD audio though. Luckily, there aren't very many discs out there with a compressed 7.1 track. Also, you DO NOT need HDMI 1.3a to transmit multi-channel LPCM. HDMI 1.0 fully supports LPCM. Don't worry, there is no loss in quality when converting HD audio to LPCM. There is NO difference. TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio compress the audio tracks Losslessly (Dolby Digital Plus and DTS HD High Resolution Audio are both lossy). It is just like a .zip or .rar file. Some sounds are lost when the decoding is done in the reciever anyway (like menu effects and stuff), so internal decoding can have it's advantages. You are correct. As mentioned earlier, the PS3 does upscale DVDs. It does a pretty good job too, IMHO. It should downscale Blu-ray movies as well.

The power loader is easily one of the best Aliens toys ever made. It could have been the best, had they included Alienator missiles, just like in the movie. How could they miss a detail like that? A quick warning. The welder is a little fragile. It broke two days after I got mine. Hot Toys mentioned in an interview that they are considering making a 1/6 Queen. I'm having enough trouble figuring out where to put the power loader; I can't even imagine how big the queen will be...

I preordered the M+ boxset from amazon.co.jp and it arrived just fine. I also preordered the DYRL? boxset a couple of months ago.

LCD monitors (as well as LCD HDTVs) have one set resoultion. Any other resolution is either scaled or unsupported. Most LCD computer monitors that support 1080p, aren't true 1920x1080 displays. They often have a native resolution 1920x1200 (with an aspect ratio of 16:10 compared to HDTV's 16:9). This will often result in slight pillarboxing. What will be used with the monitor? Will it be a game console or HD player? Please keep in mind that just because a set will accept a 24p signal, doesn't mean it will properly display it. The TV needs to display the signal without any 2:3 pulldown at a framerate that's a multiple of 24 (usually 48, 72, 96 and 120). Doing this allows the movie to be viewed judder-free without any 2:3 pulldown. Some TVs will apply 2:3 pulldown to a 24p signal and display it at 60hz. So, instead of having the player do 2:3 pulldown, the HDTV does it. This also applies to 120hz displays as well. 120 is a multiple of 24 and 60. What most 120hz displays will do is apply 2:3 pulldown to a 24hz signal, converting it to 60hz. It will then convert 60hz, to 120hz by doubling the framerate. Only a few 120hz HDTVs will display a 24hz signal properly at 120hz, without first converting it to 60hz. That said, I have heard that 120hz displays give film a video look. Some have said it makes it look very unnatural. I, however, haven't personally seen one in action. I'd say Blu-ray. All of his movies that are currently released are on Blu-ray here in the US. All of his remaining movies are either from Fox or Disney, who are both Blu-ray exclusive studios. I'm not sure about Pirahna 2 though... A lot of AVS Forum members speak very highly of monoprice.com. I'll probably be ordering from them sometime this week (maybe today). The HDMI included with my 360 Elite is damaged, so I now have to get a new one.

You might want to check your "facts". The picture and sound quality of High Definition Media is largely dependant on the mastering. Some times a movie will be released on both formats, but look different. Often, this can be due to two different encodes (Like T2, for example). Both HD DVD and Blu-ray use the EXACT same codecs for video (MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC, and VC-1). The audio codecs are pretty much the same, as well. The main difference, in terms of overall quality is the bitrate. Blu-ray supports much higher bitrates than HD DVD. From a technical standpoint, Blu-ray can have far better picture and sound quality than HD DVD. Both formats can still look great, but Blu-ray does have the edge in specs. If you want to learn more about HDM, check out the HD DVD/Blu-ray thread. Looks like I'll be christmas shopping of Friday. Nothing to get you in the holiday spirit like the annual run with the wolves...

The unrated version is only available on DVD. If Blu-ray isn't of any signifigance to you, I'd get the DVD version. A Die Hard movie should not be PG-13.

If you know where to look, you can probably find a torrent of it.

Nice. What kind of kit is it? Did you build it yourself? Is it a hero or stunt version? I have to get a kit myself. I need to find a SPAS-12 "cage" as well.

Okay, I just finished AC6. I'm a little disappointed. The ending...wasn't very satifying. I'm glad I finally finished it though. If had I heard the phrase "dance with the angels" on more time, I was going to go nuts! Over all, the game was decent. It's not one of the strongest the series has to offer, but was still fun. Next up: online play. I actually enjoyed ACX more than AC6. Unfortunatley, my hands always cramp up playing a game on the PSP. If only there was a PSP emulator for the PC, so I could use a good controller (and maybe add some anti-aliasing).

The smartgun can be used in several different positions (there was also a pic of a smartgunner kneeling too). The M41 can mount optics. I can't remember if it is mentioned in the Tech. manual, but there is a picture of it in the M41 Pulse Rifle manual. Also, you don't need to have sights in order to shoot accurately. Sights are more important for longer ranges or pinpoint accuracy. In the cramped corridors of the colony, the aliens were at hissing distance. I can't stand it when a TV show or movie that takes place in the future has a soldier with a G36 (or P90 or everyother gun with polymer in it). I completely lose any suspension of disbelief. It sticks out like a sore thumb. At least with Aliens, there was an attempt at making something unique and the VP70 was (and to a degree, still is) somewhat obscure. Most of the ones I see in modern Sci-Fi are quite recognizable. You don't have to be a gun nut to recognize that the same props make an appearance every three minutes on a diffenent cable channel. I wish they would come out with an updated Tech. Manual. There were some really interesting articles by the author in Aliens Magazine that never made it into the book. I'm currently looking for a copy of the M41 Pulse Rifle manual. That's supposed to have some good stuff in it too. I heard a while back that the USMC were going to try to put Marines in space. It's kind of weird how reality is starting to resemble Aliens more and more. The Army's Stryker and Landwarrior/Future Force Warrior are reminiscant of the M577 APC and Colonial Marines. There are even several prototype powered exoskeletons as well. Just don't invest in any Weylan(d)-Yutani stock. Be careful. I can remember the first time I watched it. At five years old, I bacame a fan instantly. I've seen the first two movies so many times, I lost count. I wonder if my mom ever regretted renting it after all of those AvP cards. Nothing says "Happy Mother's Day" like an Alien fighting a Predator. Ah, nostalgia...I've got to dig those cards up one of these days.

I don't know about AVP, but Sega is working on a new Aliens FPS. Condemned was pretty good, which is giving me some hope for this game. I think it's supposed to come out sometime in 2009.

Ace Combat 3 wasn't that bad. I still play it every once in while. I never have finished it though (one of these days, when I have some spare time...). The Gamespot review said AC6 gets better towards the end. Has anybody finished the game yet? I'm on level 10 and I'm still somewhat disappointed by AC6's story and atmosphere. It just doesn't really compare to the other games. I hope the main creative team behind AC6 will "go dance with angels" for 7. Nobody talks about Ace Combat X much. Am I the only one who has played it? I enjoyed it a little more than AC6. I like how it's possible to upgrade some of the planes. Too bad that wasn't implemented in 6.

I finally picked up AC6 with the flightstick last night. I agree with many of the previous statements. It isn't quite as good as the previous games in the series. It by no means bad, it's just that the other games were a little better. You don't get that same immersion in the story during the missions. You also feel a little less like the uber-ace you normally were in the last games. That said, it's still a very fun game. I wouldn't be too surprised if we're nickel and dimed with more planes and paint schemes. I already broke down and bought the current ones. I wonder if they might release missions too. The flightstick is a little stiff and not very sensitive. Despite that, control is a little more precise. It's especially nice to have vibration in the stick. The faceplate included in the box has an F-15 being chased by (I think) Flankers on a blue sky backround. It would look great with a blue 360. BTW, my gamertag is ROU21. Has anybody played online yet?

I can't believe they're still selling BD's at that price. Does Bandai really make any money off of them? I couldn't imagine them being hot sellers for $70

I have an Elite and the audio dongle works fine. The dongle is included with Elites, but not with HDMI Premiums or Arcades. In order for you to get it seperately, you have to buy the $50 HDMI cable. I heard of some people trying third party AV cables, but I'm not sure if they worked.

You might be able to redownload purchased items via the Download Section of Account Management in the Marketplace blade. I'm quite curious about paint schemes and the like though. I plan to migrate most of my saves over to my replacement Elite. I don't want to repurchase all of the extra content. Valkyrie, how is the game itself? Is it as good as the last one?

That's not entirely true. The 360 doesn't render in just 720p. It is entirely dependant on the game. Some games render in 1080p, although those are quite few in number; some render in 480p, which was the case for many early releases; and some render in non-HDTV standard resolutions, such as Halo 3 in 1152x640p. Many games are going to require scaling one way or the other. At least with 1080p, you can better enjoy HD movies.

The Xbox 360 will upscale to the maximum resolution it is set to display. The upscaling is automatically enabled when connected via HDMI or VGA. Also, you may need to change the color space. When connected via VGA, many HDTV look treat it as a PC input. Because of this, the picture will often look "washed out". There should be a setting in the 360 menu to change this to one of three options. The PS3 has a couple of upscaling options that can be enabled or disabled (this can even be done during playback). The color space can be changed as well. The upscaling on the PS3 is great, BTW. It's much better than the 360's.

It's time to address upscaling... The DVD Forum will only allow copy protected DVDs to be upscaled over an HDCP compliant connection (some DVI and most HDMI) or VGA (I'm not sure about SCART or other RGB connections though). Some players will, however, upscale non-protected DVDs over a component connection. This means a commercial DVD will not be upscaled over component, but a DVD-R might. It is usually dependant on the player. They also have some sort of similar resolution cap for the new HD formats, but I can't quite remember much about it (Luckily it hasn't yet been implimented). I'll have to look it up. Don't forget that your HDTV will often be doing some sort of upscaling (or downscaling) for video signals that aren't in it's native resolution. Also, different players have differing results in general picture quality and upscaling. If the players are on different inputs, the setting may be different for both as well.

For gaming, there should be no 2:3 pulldown. The framerate should be around 30hz or 60hz for video games. 120hz will probably be a little more laggy because it's duplicating frames in the video signal. Unless your primary movie player can send a 24hz signal, I wouldn't worry about 120hz (the 360 can't, but the PS3 can). Plus, you will get to see HD movies in their full resolution. I would rather have jitter than jaggies. To answer your question, yes; it would probably be better in your case to go with a HDTV that doesn't have 120hz.

AVS has a lot of good information, if you can find it. Sorting through everything on there is quite difficult. This is especially true concerning the new HD formats. Some areas of the board are starting to lose the "Science" part of AVS, but I digress... I have to admit, I'm not too terribly familiar with LCD HDTVs. I've never been interested in them. LCD displays usually don't have the best picture quality. At least in comparison to the better display technologies out there, IMHO. 120hz isn't too bad when it is being converted from a 24hz source. If the set cannot accept a 24hz signal, than 120hz is pointless. More often than not, viewing the film in it's native framerate (usually 24hz) will give the best results. Most video games consoles are designed to display around 30hz or 60hz (or 25hz or 50hz). There should not be any inverse telecine applied to the signal when playing games. 120hz could be bad for gaming since it not only performs some sort of IVTC, but also "adds" extra frames. Also keep in mind the 360 will scale games to the maximum resolution of you set. This can often be different than the resolution at which the game render. Some games don't even render at standard HDTV resolutions. And if the 360 doesn't scale it, the TV will. This simple processing can add lag to the signal. In most cases, it's best to let the 360 do the scaling though. Oihan, out of the three choices you have, I'd choose the 1080p60. If possible, I'd choose an HDTV that also displays a pure 1080p signal untouched at 24hz. Keep in mind that most HDTVs will be a comprimise for gaming. I hope I've been able to answer most of you questions. If you want to know anymore, feel free to ask.

Unfortunatley, the PS3 is only region free in relation to PS3 games. PS1 and PS2 games are still region restricted (I have personally verified this with VFX2 and SDFM). I'm hoping Sony will eventually change this in a future firmware update.

I've had my 360 since early December '05 and it is still running fine. I did get a good scare when the AC cable wasn't fully plugged in to the power supply. I got a little scared when I saw the three rings. My launch day Elite's DVD drive is currently making weird scratching noises though. This didn't start until a few weeks ago. Luckily I had my Premium on standby for Halo 3.