High Definition Media & Technology Thread

[eugimon]

Massive BOGO Free on Blu-ray discs from Sony/Colombia and Disney/Pixar/Touchstone/Buena Vista at Amazon.

Disney Blu-ray Buy 1 get 1 Free

Sony Blu-ray Buy 1 Get 1 Free

Picked up six discs for $51 with free shipping and my 10 percent off Hi Def items.

good deal, thanks!

[Gunbuster]

The Blu-Ray Group is attacking HD-DVD with two YouTube Spots ;;

I wished they just drop their prices on the players instead of doing this ;;

Edited November 23, 2007 by Gunbuster

[Gaijin]

The junk closet one is funny...especially with Beta...glad they poked fun at it.

[bandit29]

Some news

Warner Bros. New Title Solicitations (08:25 AM EST): The stage is set for the high definition release of this movie from Warner Bros., with the HD DVD version being a combo release with the DVD on one side and the HD DVD on the other:

# Appleseed Ex Machina - N/A minutes - $34.98 - 03/11/2008

http://animeondvd.com/

Edited November 26, 2007 by dejr8bud

[Oihan]

Currently leaning towards Sony 32S3000. It's 200 more than the 32M3000, but there's quite a few reports of issues with the M series, and it seems the black levels aren't as good, and simply has fewer shades of black/grey.

If not, second choice currently Panasonic's 32XC700 or whatever, not sure of the exact model name, but it's 700 I think.

Current biggest/issue worry: Humming/buzzing. Seems a LOT of sets do it this year, especially Sonys. But it's set by set. You can buy 5 and exchange 5, and every one makes a buzzing sound. Or you can luck out and get a dead-silent one.

I was thinking of replying to ya in the other thread, or even in PM, but I figured going through here would probably better.

So why are you thinking of going with a 720p set...or more specifically the Sony 32S3000? I looked at that set on Amazon.com and they're selling it for about $100 less than Sharp's 32" 1080p LC-32D62U on the same site. From the looks of things, it's going for $1,099 in the stores? The 1080p set can be found for about $200 more in stores.... I've read that it's going to be hard to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at 32" and less...but I figure if you're gonna be spending that much money...why not fork over a little more for a higher resolution?

[David Hingtgen]

I *hate* glossy piano black stuff. That's an instant deal-killer for a TV. Reflections and glare galore, constantly catches my eye.

But I haven't seen that particular TV--BestBuy says online only. (Really, that's one of the few places to get a TV around here). I'll check Sears and see if they have it, it may be better.

However, the 32S3000 was already about at my limit, I was really leaning more towards the M3000, which is 200 cheaper. Going 200 above the S3000 is now 50% more than a planned to spend. But if the Sharp's noticeably better, I'll splurge for it. (And not get any valks for a while--sigh, I want that new YF-21)

Question for people who know----on a PC monitor, if you go from say 1024 to 1280, all the text shrinks. If you go to 1600 on a 15in monitor, you've got very nice graphics with 1-pixel-high text. Does the same happen on a TV with game systems? How will text on a 360 look on a 720p vs 1080p TV? Tiny text is a problem, I play lots of RPG and hud-dependent games. Or is stuff the same size, just "smoother"? I don't think I've ever seen anyone comment on resolution vs actual display size on HD games and HDTV's.

[Penguin]

I *hate* glossy piano black stuff. That's an instant deal-killer for a TV. Reflections and glare galore, constantly catches my eye.

But I haven't seen that particular TV--BestBuy says online only. (Really, that's one of the few places to get a TV around here). I'll check Sears and see if they have it, it may be better.

However, the 32S3000 was already about at my limit, I was really leaning more towards the M3000, which is 200 cheaper. Going 200 above the S3000 is now 50% more than a planned to spend. But if the Sharp's noticeably better, I'll splurge for it. (And not get any valks for a while--sigh, I want that new YF-21)

Question for people who know----on a PC monitor, if you go from say 1024 to 1280, all the text shrinks. If you go to 1600 on a 15in monitor, you've got very nice graphics with 1-pixel-high text. Does the same happen on a TV with game systems? How will text on a 360 look on a 720p vs 1080p TV? Tiny text is a problem, I play lots of RPG and hud-dependent games. Or is stuff the same size, just "smoother"? I don't think I've ever seen anyone comment on resolution vs actual display size on HD games and HDTV's.

"Smoother" is the answer. I 'm not sure where the conversions happen... the console side or the TV side ... but the resolution adapts for the monitor without scaling the size of the text or graphics up or down.

[CoryHolmes]

Question for people who know----on a PC monitor, if you go from say 1024 to 1280, all the text shrinks. If you go to 1600 on a 15in monitor, you've got very nice graphics with 1-pixel-high text. Does the same happen on a TV with game systems? How will text on a 360 look on a 720p vs 1080p TV? Tiny text is a problem, I play lots of RPG and hud-dependent games. Or is stuff the same size, just "smoother"? I don't think I've ever seen anyone comment on resolution vs actual display size on HD games and HDTV's.

I've been playing Mass Effect on a 46" 1080i LCD from 8-odd feet away and I could cleary read everything. All of the Codex material, all the achievement descriptors, everything. The only time text reading is a problem is when I use my TV for my PC monitor. I've got it set to 1920 resolution and and it makes reading the text on some webpages difficult (thank goodness for the zoom function).

[David Hingtgen]

Went to Sears today---they redid their setup again. Much better than BestBuy IMHO. Lighting, while flourescent, is the most "yellow" flourescent I've ever seen and is simple overhead lighting like the rest of the store. As opposed to BB, which uses back-lit blacklights in the TV section... So TV's look much more "normal". (All TV model names are "approximate" as I haven't memorized them all---but you should certainly be able to figure out what I mean) I'm dead set on 32in, so that's all I look at.

Anyways---Sears eventually rotated to a long BluRay promo for "Cars"---and we all know high-end CG animated films are among the best stuff you can get to evaluate a TV. Clearest image I've seen yet on a display around here. Even though checking around all the signals were RF/coax cables from 8-way splitters. (yup). Also, Sears leaves the remotes out, so you can check out how they feel, button placement, TV menus, etc.

The Samsung LN3253H had the blackest black by far. Surprised. Also, it was one of the "yellow" LCD screens, as opposed to the more common now blue/purple. But, it was just plain much blacker. Its yellow hue was VERY slight, as opposed to even the blackest of the blue ones being noticeably blue. (NO TV is black to my eye---shut off CRT's are not black IMHO---they all have a hue and/or shade) The last "yellow" LCD screen I saw was terrible in every way. But that was an old, cheap, PC monitor. Or maybe that Samsung was just so black and hue-less, the slight yellow tint was actually the store's lighting.

That Samsung also looked really good overall. It was next to the 1080p Sharp, so that was a good opportunity to compare. (All TV's were set to super-blue white and super-bright contrast, but I wasn't going to go through and adjust a half-dozen TV's to compare under more realistic settings--too much effort, and the all-important Sony S3000's remote wasn't there)

Anyways, I still can't see 1080p on a 32in at a distance of 5 feet or so being better 99% of the time. Again---only large, static text shows a difference. I watched like 5 mins straight of "Cars" and the only time I saw a difference was the logo---the edges of the lettering is less jaggy on the 1080p. The input was 1080i according to several TV's, and all the 720p's seemed to scale it flawlessly. Though maybe getting a decent connection like component or HDMI might reveal differences, both among TV's and 720p vs 1080p. Best Buy seems to use component, but through SO many splitters it looks like an antenna reception in a snowstorm... Sharp 1080p models are still around 300 more than the best 720p models. (Here at least, BB and Sears have nigh-identical prices)

Currently leaning towards Sony 32S3000 and Panasonic 32XC700 at the moment, as they have non-gloss bezels and seem pretty similar. (I hate glossy bezels). However, that Samsung did look overall about the best I think, and certainly had the best black. (Of that store that day that source). It did have a glossy bezel though. Maybe I can learn to ignore it. I hate having to compare TV's with such "not how it'll be at home" settings, but it's all you can do unless you can find every remote and can figure out what mode etc they should all be in. (Dynamic pic, motion control, noise, etc--some TV's have all that hidden and automatic, some have their own button on the remote--hard to get them truly all set to the same settings)

Honestly, all 3 of the ~1000 buck 32's seem VERY similar, with individual store/settings making the difference I think. Will have to check the Samsung at BestBuy again, see how they have it set up then. (BB changes around the main 3 or 4 I'm interested in EVERY time so I can never get a good comparison among them)

PS---as you might gather, I don't buy things on impulse. And as things increase in price, I spend exponentially more time analyzing. But hey, this'll be the most expensive thing I buy for a long time. (hopefully)

PPS--the Samsung has 3 HDMI and 2 component. Sony is typical at 2 of each. The Panasonic is only 2 HDMI and 1 component, which'll fill up quickly when I get a PS3 and likely HD-DVD player, in addition to my 360 and DVD player already . Don't they realize anyone buying an HDTV is probably going to have a LOT of stuff to plug in? You should see my pile of cables and splitters with my current setup. (And I leave my Dreamcast unplugged--it "shares" the connection with the DVD player as that's the easiest one to unplug)

[mikeszekely]

PPS--the Samsung has 3 HDMI and 2 component. Sony is typical at 2 of each. The Panasonic is only 2 HDMI and 1 component, which'll fill up quickly when I get a PS3 and likely HD-DVD player, in addition to my 360 and DVD player already . Don't they realize anyone buying an HDTV is probably going to have a LOT of stuff to plug in? You should see my pile of cables and splitters with my current setup. (And I leave my Dreamcast unplugged--it "shares" the connection with the DVD player as that's the easiest one to unplug)

I know you keep saying you don't care about audio, but trust me, after you have video where you want it, you'll start to realize that HD visuals are squat without good sound. When you buy a A/V receiver (and while I'm sure expensive, high-end speakers really are worth the money, I bought a Sony 1000w system with speakers on clearance for $350, down from $500), you'll find you can connect a lot more stuff to that. My PS3, Wii, DVD player, and 360 all go through the receiver first (which was convenient, as my TV has just one HDMI input), which leaves one component and several S-Video inputs on the TV itself free. For stuff like my PS2 that connects directly to one of the TV's S-Video inputs, I ran some RCA extension cables to one of the audio only inputs on the receiver.

[eugimon]

I have the 46" samsung LN-4665f, it's glossy but I love it. The blacks are nice and inky and you can adjust the crap out of the picture.

The 2007 samsung screens have been getting very good reviews and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

[David Hingtgen]

For audio, I currently have everything jury-rigged via several adapters from the switchbox into my 300W stereo via standard RCA cables. I don't use it often though, just "important" stuff. Nothing compared to a receiver, but it's better than simply a TV. (Everything outputs to the TV and stereo simultaneously, I just turn on the stereo when I want better sound--then I effectively have 4 speakers and quasi-surround due to the stereo's speaker placement---the TV always seems to "fill in" a certain range, I never use just the stereo for games/movies)

Hmmn, I never turned it on for Mass Effect, will have to see if it affects the "quiet NPC dialogue" issue.

[mikeszekely]

For audio, I currently have everything jury-rigged via several adapters from the switchbox into my 300W stereo via standard RCA cables. I don't use it often though, just "important" stuff. Nothing compared to a receiver, but it's better than simply a TV. (Everything outputs to the TV and stereo simultaneously, I just turn on the stereo when I want better sound--then I effectively have 4 speakers and quasi-surround due to the stereo's speaker placement---the TV always seems to "fill in" a certain range, I never use just the stereo for games/movies)

Hmmn, I never turned it on for Mass Effect, will have to see if it affects the "quiet NPC dialogue" issue.

Good sound is great for Mass Effect. When you've got your pistol zoomed, trying to take out a Geth Destroyer on the other end of a large room, and you hear a Husk shriek from one of your rears, you realize that directional sound has become an important part of gaming.

[CoryHolmes]

Hmmn, I never turned it on for Mass Effect, will have to see if it affects the "quiet NPC dialogue" issue.

I never noticed quiet NPC voices except during the elevator sequences.

[JsARCLIGHT]

The quiet voices in ME are a combination of issues having to do with their multichannel mixing. I'm playing ME with my system and it sound superb, with lots of nuance in the muscial inflections (even though they are simple "tron-ish" "blade runner-ish" synthesizer tracks)... But at times the game will choose odd channels to port dialog out of. It's almost as if it overcompensates for character position. Such as when you are in a "talky bit" and the character is fairly centered in the screen in a closeup shot the dialog comes out of the center channel as it should, but sometimes when the character is off center to the left (like when the game shows both Shepard and the person he is talking to) the dialog will come out of the left channel rather than the center channel and that will cause it to sound distant or "muted". I've noticed the same thing happen in the elevators. If you are looking at your characters from the front when your team starts gabbing their dialog comes out of the two respective rear channels and sounds very washed out. Even if you roll the camera around the dialog still emits from the rear channels... but if their little discussion started when you were looking from behind them then their dialog emits from the front channel speakers and is much louder and more distinct. I have no clue why it does that... it's almost as if it's "backwards".

[eugimon]

the philips outlet store has a sale going on and apparantly they're not discriminating against non-employees. the site has been linked by slickdeals.net so beware, the site is being hammered but there are some deals to be had:

http://www.shopping.philips.com/holidayoutlet/

[Roy Focker]

I want a super duper new TV but these are Factory-renewed - A factory-renewed product has been out of its original carton and may have cosmetic imperfections. Couldn't this mean I might get a tv with a small scatch on the side (no big deal) or a small scatch on the screen (a big deal).

[eugimon]

usually the business end of refurbs will be in factory fresh condition, but the shell may have cosmetic blemishes, like dings and scratches.

You can always try amazon or pricewatch.com. I bought my TV off of amazon, and at the time, I got it for nearly 30% off retail. Even after shipping/handling, I still saved about 500 bucks.

[Amped]

Watch out on Philips Outlet, the refurbed stuff sounds iffy:

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Phili...ctronics_Outlet

[eugimon]

wow, ouch. thanks for the link!

[Roy Focker]

Ditto I had reviewed review of the sets themselves and was planning to try to see them in person at other stores. I'll be skipping on this deal.

[bandit29]

Afro Samurai movie (theatrical cut) on Blu-ray and HD DVD in Japan. Director's cut on DVD only. It about 20minutes longer. No details on language or subs yet. Sure this will hit in the US eventually.

here

[JsARCLIGHT]

My Xbox 360 5 free HD DVD's finally arrived today with no substitutions. About freaking time...

[Alpha OTS]

My Xbox 360 5 free HD DVD's finally arrived today with no substitutions. About freaking time...

I was about to ask you about that. I knew they supposedly shipped on the 25th, but didn't really believe that they would. They did a pretty good job of making me apathetic about it now.

[David Hingtgen]

I'm going to go to Sears and BestBuy again this weekend, take another look. While I do like how that Samsung looks, it seems like the xxxx53 series STILL suffers from tearing on progressive inputs despite numerous firmware updates---which is 90% of what I'll have it hooked up to. Now if someone posts at the AVS forum in the next few weeks that there's another update which totally fixes the tearing, it's pretty much a no-brainer. But after 6 months of Samsung trying to fix it and not eliminating it, I doubt it.

Sony S3000: still have never seen it "set up well", but have seen the 40in version and love it. But I know the 40in has a slightly different screen. Also, 2007 Sonys often have clouding, though the S3000, especially the smaller ones, have less of it, and some people get perfect ones. Then there's the buzzing issue. Again--variable, and some people have perfect TV's. If I could luck out and get a cloudless, buzz-free S3000, I'd love it. But if I don't... Going to shut off every other TV around it at Sears and see if theirs buzzes. (Can't do that at BestBuy)

Panasonic---seems to have no problems. Bezel is matte. Highest refresh rate and least motion blur. But only 1 component input. Need to check it out more, but there's only one place in town with it.

Sharp---1080p version only 100 bucks more this week at Sears, but I won't have the money for a TV for another couple of weeks at least, probably at least a month, maybe 2. Also--BANDING. Seems to be a fairly common problem, especially as the one I saw at Sears had it, I noticed it in the first 2 secs. Faint banding, but banding nonetheless.

At this rate, I may end up with the Panasonic not due to looking good or image quality, but simply because there's no reports of problems that I can find. No tearing, no buzzing, no clouding, no uneven backlighting. Again---if I find a "perfect" Sony S3000 that'd be great, but that could be difficult. I like Samsung overall the best, but if it tears when hooked up to a 360, then that's a deal-killer, as that's mainly what I'll be using it for. Gah---I finally find a TV that "just plain looks good" to my eye, but there's a zillion reports of it tearing with the 360--the one condition I plan to use it in, that's not apparent in the store.

[myk]

I can't wait 'till you go HD, Dave. It's gonna' blow your damn mind...

[eugimon]

I can't wait 'till you go HD, Dave. It's gonna' blow your damn mind...

Are we putting bets down on how long after he upgrades his set he starts upgrading his audio?

[David Hingtgen]

My next purchase after a TV is a PS3, and maybe a HD-DVD player. (or reverse that order). THEN I might have money for audio. But the new YF-21 takes priority...

[Warmaker]

The YF-21 takes priority? You're an exemplary MW'er!

[myk]

Are we putting bets down on how long after he upgrades his set he starts upgrading his audio?

Oh no, I hadn't even thought about that-can you imagine how detailed of an investment that's going to be?

[eugimon]

Oh no, I hadn't even thought about that-can you imagine how detailed of an investment that's going to be?

I know, the high quality cables, the speakers, powered subs, high end receiver... my god.

[David Hingtgen]

Ah, but since "I don't care" about audio, I plan to just snag a home theater in a box.

[eugimon]

Ah, but since "I don't care" about audio, I plan to just snag a home theater in a box.

haha, so you say now...

[Uxi]

Heh. It's like crack... first hit is free (or at least cheap). What's the saying? Buy cheap, buy twice?

There are some decent HTiB's that will probably fulfill a bedroom setup.

[mikeszekely]

Heh. It's like crack... first hit is free (or at least cheap). What's the saying? Buy cheap, buy twice?

There are some decent HTiB's that will probably fulfill a bedroom setup.

Sony HTiB.

This one's a little different than the one I got, but pretty close. My audiophile buddy really liked it. It's definitely not as good as a nice set of Paradigms and a high-end receiver, but it's probably already over the limit for what I'd want for my apartment. I'm surprised the neighbors haven't complained yet.