David Hingtgen Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 That's just simply awesome. Coat hangers FTW.
mikeszekely Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 Monster Cable gets pwned!(gotta use that before it gets trademarked by that finnish company) on a yahoo site. Monster Cable or coat hangers, take your pick http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/13676 That's hilarious! I heard the markup on those cables is obscene, that's why stores like Best Buy push them so hard.
eugimon Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 I can't believe people are still having this debate. I thought the whole monster cable debate had been settled years ago?
David Hingtgen Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 Not enough for some people. But having coat hangers do just as well may finally sway some of the holdouts.
mikeszekely Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 I'm not sure that there's really a "debate" anymore or that there's a legion of hardcore audiophiles/videophiles swearing by Monster Cables, so much as Monster Cables are still being thrust upon the uninformed masses. I mean, we think in terms of what it costs us to buy something. To us, a $1000 LCD is more expensive and a bigger purchase than a $125 HDMI cable. But to Best Buy, that TV might cost them $800 to stock, and that cable might only cost them $25.
jwinges Posted March 6, 2008 Posted March 6, 2008 I'm not sure that there's really a "debate" anymore or that there's a legion of hardcore audiophiles/videophiles swearing by Monster Cables, so much as Monster Cables are still being thrust upon the uninformed masses. I mean, we think in terms of what it costs us to buy something. To us, a $1000 LCD is more expensive and a bigger purchase than a $125 HDMI cable. But to Best Buy, that TV might cost them $800 to stock, and that cable might only cost them $25. My sister worked for best buy corp when I purchased my HDMI cable (all the rest of mine came with something). Best buy wanted something like $79 for an 3' Acoustic Research brand HDMI. She got it for me for $16.50 or something like that. Its utterly rediculous how much mark up is on those things. I've paid them back though...I just bought a 32" LG 720p LCD and after the price match to circuit city plus 10% plus a 10% off my entire purchase coupon----Best buy lost $50 on the TV.
marimba Posted March 6, 2008 Posted March 6, 2008 (edited) Yeah, My current favorite is the 120 hz certified Monster Cable HDMI used for 120 hz LCD tv's. The TV's only accept 60 hz input signals and either double the frame rate or interpolate new frames to reach the 120 hz framerate. Any normal HDMI 1.3 cable will be more than adequate. My new Samsung LNT4065 looks great using $12 cables from Monoprice.com There is no way I would ever spend over $50 for any cables anymore. (and this is coming from a guy who used to use Kimber cables/Tara Labs/Nordost/audioquest cables to connect my turntable to my triode tube amps) System currently consists of: Samsung LNT4065f Onkyo 605 Sony PS3 80 gig 3 HDMI 1.3 cables from Monoprice.com Paradigm Millenia 200, Millenia 20, Cinema ADP and PS1000 (soon to be replaced by Servo15!) Phillips Pronto tsu2000 + usb IR remote dongle from Nyko BlueWave remote. Edited March 6, 2008 by marimba
JsARCLIGHT Posted March 6, 2008 Author Posted March 6, 2008 I know in the past (analog past) cable quality was a big deal and a higher quality cable could give you slightly better quality sound. But in today's digital domain its a digital signal... it either works or it doesn't. Paying tons of cake for a "superior" quality 3' cable compared to a "lesser quality" 3' cable is nonsense (unless the difference is spec, like 1.1 to 1.3... but even still the cost is negligible most of the time). The only time I buy "high quality" is when I need a run greater than 20'... which is pretty much never these days.
bandit29 Posted March 8, 2008 Posted March 8, 2008 (edited) Some info for those HDDVD owners. Dunno if its true. Circuit City is allowing customers to trade in their HD DVD players and apply the original sales price toward the purchase of new Blu-ray players. http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Ind...or_Blu-ray/1545 Edited March 8, 2008 by dejr8bud
JB0 Posted March 8, 2008 Posted March 8, 2008 Yeah, My current favorite is the 120 hz certified Monster Cable HDMI used for 120 hz LCD tv's. My favorite is"gold-plated connectors for superior signal quality" on OPTICAL audio cables. ... And Monster's short-lived PS2 controller extension cord that promised to get the signals from the gamepad to the console faster so that your games would be more responsive. But that's a bit outside the bounds of this thread.
Alpha OTS Posted March 10, 2008 Posted March 10, 2008 Stopped by Best Buy today. This time instead of select titles, all HD-DVDs were on sale for 30% off. The selection seems to be smaller than last I was there. I'd wager by the time it gets to 50%+, like some of us are waiting for, most of the good stuff will already be gone.
eugimon Posted March 10, 2008 Posted March 10, 2008 mmm, my def tech 1000s came today... such a HUGE difference compared to POS speakers I was running before.
eugimon Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 discovery channel online store is having an HD-DVD sale. Planet Earth boxset for 30 bucks and free shipping. This is the sigourney weaver narrated version and not the BBC version.
Gaijin Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 discovery channel online store is having an HD-DVD sale. Planet Earth boxset for 30 bucks and free shipping. This is the sigourney weaver narrated version and not the BBC version. David > Sigourney on this one...but for $30 it's still a deal.
eugimon Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 David > Sigourney on this one...but for $30 it's still a deal. I did some reading on the two versions and apparantly the bigger issue would be, discovery =1080i encode, BBC = 1080p encode. Apparantly there are some issues with the blacks in the discovery version.
bandit29 Posted March 14, 2008 Posted March 14, 2008 Some good news..if you are a Batman fan. Batman Begins Dated for Blu-ray Posted March 14, 2008 08:05 AM by Josh Warner Bros. Warner Home Video has revealed that they will release blockbuster film 'Batman Begins' for Blu-ray on July 8th, day-and-date with the DVD re-release. No specs or extra features have been announced at this time, but we do know that the film will be offered either as a single disc release, or as part of a limited-edition box set. Both the single disc and gift set editions will include an exclusive comic book prologue to the upcoming sequel 'The Dark Knight', which is set to hit theaters July 18th. The box set will also include a Batman Begins motion art lenticular, script pages, exclusive photos, storyboards, five collectible Batman Begins postcards, and $7.50 in movie cash toward a Dark Knight ticket. The HD DVD release of 'Batman Begins' was one of the formats top sellers, and has remained exclusive to that format until now. Along with 'The Matrix', this is one of the most highly anticipated Warner HD DVD titles to be brought to Blu-ray http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1116
mikeszekely Posted March 14, 2008 Posted March 14, 2008 Some good news..if you are a Batman fan. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1116 All well and good, but when's Serenity and Transformers coming to Blu-ray?
eugimon Posted March 14, 2008 Posted March 14, 2008 it's about time, those Blu-ray kiosks have been advertising batman begins for like a half a year now... cripes, I hope that isn't how long I have to wait for finding nemo.
CoryHolmes Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 (edited) My Batman Beyond HD-DVD has a "button audio" checkbox in the audio menu. What does it do? EDIT: nevermind, I figured it out. Cue Homer-esque "D'oh!" Edited March 18, 2008 by CoryHolmes
CoryHolmes Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 All well and good, but when's Serenity and Transformers coming to Blu-ray? More importantly, when is Star Wars?
JB0 Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 More importantly, when is Star Wars? Moremore importantly, when is the original cut that Lucas has promised we'll never see again?
CoryHolmes Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 Moremore importantly, when is the original cut that Lucas has promised we'll never see again? Moremoremore importanlty, when are we going to see all of the deleted scenes from all of the movies?
eugimon Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 More importantly, when is Star Wars? serenity > star wars.
Uxi Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 serenity > star wars. Ok, put down the crack pipe, please.
eugimon Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 Ok, put down the crack pipe, please. better writing, better acting, better directing, no whining farm boys talking about killing rats. Yeah, I'll stick with Serenity.
the white drew carey Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 better writing, better acting, better directing, no whining farm boys talking about killing rats. Yeah, I'll stick with Serenity. Don't get me wrong, I like Firefly, a lot. But Serenity just seemed to be a 2-hour episode with better special effects in the space scenes... an average episode, at that. There were episodes from the TV series that, IMO, were much better than the movie.
eugimon Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 oh, I agree... some of the episodes were amazing. I won't argue that Serenity/Firefly has more of an impact than star wars, I just think it's a better movie.
CoryHolmes Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 I like how Firefly was inspired by Han Solo from Star Wars. That leads to a very interesting idea of 'what if?' for me. But I agree with WDC, Serenity was overall rather average.
jenius Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 I'll take Serenity, any day, over the new SW trilogy. The old SW trilogy I prefer to Serenity though. Serenity is average? You guys must have caught a bunch of truly excellent scifi in the last couple years that I managed to miss.
the white drew carey Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 I'll take Serenity, any day, over the new SW trilogy. The old SW trilogy I prefer to Serenity though. Serenity is average? You guys must have caught a bunch of truly excellent scifi in the last couple years that I managed to miss. BSG. Word.
JsARCLIGHT Posted March 19, 2008 Author Posted March 19, 2008 [Peter Griffin] Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet. [/Peter Griffin] Best Buy to send $50 Gift Cards to People Who Bought HD DVD Players I bought my Xbox HD DVD drive at Best Buy. Used my Reward Zone card too so they should have a record of me. Time to start checking my mailbox for a gift card... that I will probably use to buy Blu Rays. The irony is delicious.
EXO Posted March 20, 2008 Posted March 20, 2008 I'll take Serenity, any day, over the new SW trilogy. The old SW trilogy I prefer to Serenity though. Serenity is average? You guys must have caught a bunch of truly excellent scifi in the last couple years that I managed to miss. BSG. Word. Word, word... Aliens should have been the perfect series, but what a miss after Ridley Scott and Cameron.
Dangard Ace Posted March 20, 2008 Posted March 20, 2008 http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/03/20/...bd-live-to-ps3/ PS3 goes BD Live....in March. Firmware v2.20 bringing BD-Live to PS3 + Posted by Eric Lempel // Director, PlayStation Network Operations Hi again everyone. Here’s a quick preview of the next PLAYSTATION 3 system software update coming up in the next few days. Firmware v2.20, introduces a number of features to further enhance your PLAYSTATION 3 as the hub of your entertainment center. Most notably, the update enables the PS3 to support Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, also known as BD-Live. You can connect now to the Internet while playing discs that support BD-Live to obtain additional content and special features. These features vary from disc to disc, and will keep your BD discs fresh with new content and in some cases exclusive content only accessible to owners of BD-Live enabled discs. On April 8th Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release The 6th Day and Walk Hard on Blu-ray; these titles will be among the first to take advantage of BD-Live. With this update, the PLAYSTATION 3 becomes the first Blu-ray player on the market with BD-Live functionality. Here are some of the other new features/enhancements that will be included in Firmware v2.20: The ability to copy PS3 Music and Photo playlists to a PSP system. We introduced the ability to create Music and Photo playlists on the PS3 in firmware update v2.0. Now you can easily export your playlists to your PSP. You can now play DivX and WMV format files that are over 2 GB. In addition, you can now display subtitles when viewing DivX files. Resume Play - begin playing a DVD or BD disc from the point where you previously stopped it, even if you eject the disc and insert a different movie or game. Use your PSP as a remote control to play back your music files on your PS3 without turning on your TV. The Internet browser now displays some web pages faster. In addition [save Target] has been added as an option under file. This option lets you save a file that is linked to a web page to your PS3 hard drive or storage media. There are a few other tweaks and upgrades included in v2.20 - we’ll provide more specifics as the update is about to go live.
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