JB0

Actually, the only real hold-up is that at least one of the groups refuses to license dual-format players. One of the manufacturers stated this publicly. If I had to bet, I'd say both groups are refusing to license dual-format players.

I got Classic Mirage from one of my sisters. And Primus from the other.

Ooooooohhhhh... Ah. There's always a catch. As far as no one using the DVD side... they would if there wasn't a standalone DVD release. No choice in the matter. Makes sense. I haven't gotten any of the incoming generation yet. And my PC isn't really up to HD, so getting one that way(the 360 HD drive works, and it's reasonably priced) isn't an option.

The "still" in there is a bit out of place, as they were originally created explicitly FOR Star Wars.

Ooooh, PS3 has a bitrate indicator? That's awesome! Anyways... The one thing I really don't get is this. You can make a dual-mode HD-DVD/DVD disk. It seems to me that that would be the best way to sell an HD format fast, at least for the HD-DVD crowd. Start shipping everything you make as HD/DVD. Then come back a year later and say "Ya know, you own like 2 dozen HD-DVDs... isn't it time you bought the player?" It also has an advantage for format war considerations. If BluRay wins, the consumer's investment is only partially lost, since the HD/DVDs will still work in BluRay players(albeit only at standard-def). But almost no one does it. I think there's something like 6 HD/DVD releases. Personally, I'm waiting for a format to come out on top before I commit. I don't have any strong opinion either way, but HD-DVD has a slight edge due to durability. And the prettier box by far(BluRay boxes are UGLY). And yes, it is close enough in my eyes that packaging matters.

Single-layer. It was their last release with their old authoring house(who weren't equipped for dual-layer), presumably because they didn't want such a high-profile release to be used as a "test" for the new dual-layer guys.

And only part of the TV series at that. They skip something like half of the show.

Thank you. That was actually specifically mentioned in the review I saw earlier. They said it was still a problem scene, but it wasn't as nasty as the DVD release was. http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/5787.php for the whole review. Was the first review I found, actually.

Yeah. Problem is it needs to be administered orally, and Jetfire doesn't have a mouth while the helmet's on.

I finally found a Jetfire! Needs a bit of Viagra for one of his head lasers. It's floppy and doesn't like to stay up. Still a spiffy toy.

So why didn't they just represent everyone as stick figures? It would've been faster. The point to using a higher resolution for a theatrical release is that people can easily see every pixel if you render it in SD. Or film grain if you render it the old-fashioned way with ink and a camera. Not "Hey, we can see sweat glands now!11" BTW, the original Star Wars movies were "true HD" also. In fact, pertty much every movie released in the last 40 years has been. You might have a point with render times if A. you weren' pulling numbers out of your rectum(you're actually low, in this case), and B. this was a TV series on a tight schedule and not a movie. But we'll get to why you actually don't in just a minute. You're completely disagreeing with me, and claiming it as an agreement? And then pulling numbers out of your rectum to justify your stance? BTW, recent high-profile release... Haruhi was rendered in HD, and broadcast as such "where available." Yes, there is a significant difference between the HD and SD versions. No, the render times and added hardware costs for an HD release are not significant enough to deter even a weekly TV program from doing it. As far as (relatively) older animation releases... Disney's Fantasia 2000 was an IMAX movie. There was a significant amount of lost detail on the DVD release. It actually benefited Sorceror's Apprentice greatly. The original 1940 version was simply enlarged to fill the IMAX frame, and suffered from severe film grain issues in the theatrical presentation as a result. The grain isn't visible in the DVD release. Everything else suffers from the greatly reduced resolution, and this is one that I'm really looking forward to seeing come out in HD. (Not the issue at hand, but Fantasia 2k should also benefit from the improved audio of either HD disk format). Computers have come a long way from 1984's Last Starfighter, where the level of detail had to be dropped drastically to get the movie out at anything resembling on-time without introducing the "jaggies" that would've resulted from a lower-resolution render projected onto a theater screen(though the modern DVD release would've benefited from a reduced resolution at the same level of detail, since the DVD is so much lower-res). Reasonably detailed scenes can now be rendered in REAL-TIME at HD resolutions. Ask the PC gaming community if you don't believe me. Hell, ask the console gaming community, with the XBox 360 and PS3 both doing HD gaming. And you do realize that older animation was hand-drawn, right? They're initially rendered at effectively infinite resolution, and the major restricting factor is what quality film was used. Due to the need to avoid visible film grain, theatrical releases use larger film than TV releases, resulting in more of the original detail preserved. Most animated movies will show benefits from higher resolution for that reason alone. You don't think they'll do a new film transfer, like they did when they moved from Laserdisk to DVD? And if you're any indication, it was hashed out by people that had no clue what they were talking about. I close with an excerpt from a GitS2 BluRay review... "The detail that's visible throughout this, in addition to the much greater color depth, provides an amazingly superior picture to an already great looking DVD release. " That pretty much says it all.

Actually, GITS2 was rendered to be printed out to film and projected on movie screens. You know, those bigass 50-foot things? Believe me, it was rendered with shitloads more detail than a DVD can display. Whether HD is worth anything for anime depends greatly on the source. On material intended for viewing in a theater or on an HDTV, there ARE advantages. On material intended for viewing on a standard NTSC TV, there aren't. To take a Macross example: I'd buy an HD copy of DYRL. And I'd laugh maniacally at anyone buying an HD copy of SDF.

Oh, please... It's a sequel to an overhyped pile of steaming crap that was based on a pretty decent license. Go watch SAC instead. At least Shirow's involved in that one.

On the upside... if Hot Rod gets Skeleprime killed, no one will mind.

You missed my point. Just because Transformers = alien robots that turn into cars and junk does not mean that alien robots that turn into cars and junk = Transformers. I thought the GoBots crack made that clear enough. The Transformers name carries with it a significant amount of built-in expectations beyond transforming robots. But this movie doesn't exactly look like it cares a lot for tradition. On the other hand, it's the sort of stunt that appeals to Bay. So who knows?

Maybe it's a world with fully-functional 1/1 Vf-1J Millias... The dream will never die! And if it is, and Kyon changes it back, I'm gonna shoot him.

Heh. Looks like they pulled the escape program prompt straight out of the novel. And double-heh at the "xterm" title for the popup. I hereby say w00t.

Because the game is based on DYRL, which has a diffrent version of events than the TV show. That clip is supposed to be from before the movie starts. And yes, that is the Prometheus.

"Yo momma" jokes aren't fit for teenagers? I'll be sure to tell them the next time I hear one. Hell, I know college kids that make yo momma jokes regularly. And the muttered "Idiot" was what made that scene.

Well, yeah. Only a fool would say that, especially with Transformers porn floating around out there... But that doesn't really make it a good thing to happen. It would be okay if it wasn't a Transformers movie. Possibly even good. Bay can turn out some good work when he's not busy looking for an excuse to blow something up. But it this ISN'T just a movie about cars and trucks and things that go turning into robots smashing stuff. It's a Transformers movie. And in that context it fails miserably. Maybe I'll wait for someone to do a fandub that replaces all the names with GoBots. Prime's transformation was lame. All those sliding panels are just annoying. Someone should've stopped them somewhere and said "Look, this has crossed out of cool and into distracting. Can we scale this back a little?" It's a neat idea, just... excessively elaborate. ... I wonder if they're gonna do that thing where they jump the car into the air and transform at any point...

Does this mean Kyoto's giving us a Christmas gift I hope I hope I hope?

Whooops.

Yeah... So who wins when the Rocketeer and Genesic Gaogaigar get mad at each other?

There's no indication that the protoculture city was portable either. It could easily have been a permanently tethered island, with no means of mobility.