Hi-Def and Home Theater Thread 2

[MacrossMan]

Rumored that on the home audio mix of TF, the bass was recorded mostly to the mains, and not the LFE...so no matter which one you had, DVD, HD DVD, BD, it wasn't the same as the theater. I know that scene is many times better on BD than the others but yes, it's still not as "punchy" as the theater.

My 10 year old Velodyne CT-120 makes your heart vibrate while watching TF and I'm only using DVD. My two fronts are 10 year old Polk Audio RT3000p's with with built-in powered subs and I get full range sound from them but my LFE channel is fed to the dedicated sub and I have no problem making the house shake with the TF soundstage.

OO

[eugimon]

My 10 year old Velodyne CT-120 makes your heart vibrate while watching TF and I'm only using DVD. My two fronts are 10 year old Polk Audio RT3000p's with with built-in powered subs and I get full range sound from them but my LFE channel is fed to the dedicated sub and I have no problem making the house shake with the TF soundstage.

OO

yeah. we're complaining specifically about the scene in the beginning when black out unleashes that first shockwave. In the theaters it rattled your brain but it hardly has any oomph on any of the releases. The rest of the movie will rattle the nails out of your walls.

[David Hingtgen]

Blu-Ray's library will be glaringly incomplete until we get LOTR. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get that until The Hobbit comes out on BR.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Something tells me Blu Ray's library is going to be glaringly incomplete for years. It took almost a decade for DVD to establish a decent library of releases, I'm expecting the same of Blu Ray... but that doesn't stop me from feeling bad when each week comes and goes and I look at the Tuesday releases and say "another week full of nothing... sigh".

[azrael]

Something tells me Blu Ray's library is going to be glaringly incomplete for years. It took almost a decade for DVD to establish a decent library of releases, I'm expecting the same of Blu Ray... but that doesn't stop me from feeling bad when each week comes and goes and I look at the Tuesday releases and say "another week full of nothing... sigh".

Until Blu-ray players become more affordable, expect more slow releases.

[mikeszekely]

Iron Man. End of the month.

The animated one just hit when Transformers did. Might not be as exciting to most of you, but I had the Ultimate Avengers and Dr. Strange DVDs, so I wanted Iron Man too. Marvel's animated films have been consistently excellent. Even Next Avengers, which I rented, turned out to be way better than I thought it would be. I might just pick it up now too.

[MacrossMan]

yeah. we're complaining specifically about the scene in the beginning when black out unleashes that first shockwave. In the theaters it rattled your brain but it hardly has any oomph on any of the releases. The rest of the movie will rattle the nails out of your walls.

We had a housefull at Thanksgiving last year and there was a gathering of people watching the movie. The opening scene when Lennox and crew are returning to Qatar pretty much made everyone in the house stop and wonder where the vibration was coming from; but Blackout's first fire blast brought the commotion in the house to stand still and there was immediately about 30 people packed into my man cave. I think it all depends on your set up. Please believe the frequency is there. The LFE channel is so intense on the DVD that I have to turn the volume down on the sub while watching the movie. It causes the amp the sub to overheat so that you can smell it when you walk near it.

OO

[MacrossMan]

Since this is the Hi-Def and Home Theater Thread I figured I'd add pics of my set up. Nothing too fancy as most of my components are at least 10 years old. Most patch cables are 10 year old Monster Cable Reference Series. All HDMI, Optical, LFE Digital Coax, and speaker cables are extended runs from Monoprice and fished through the walls to conceal them.

Harmon Kardon AVR65 with high current amps producing 55 watts per channel x 5

Harmon Kardon 5 Disc CD Changer

DirecTV HD Satellite

Linksys DMA 2200 Media Center Extender with DVD Player (capable of streaming HD Content)

HP M9300T HT PC with Blu-Ray burner and PVR

Fronts: Polk Audio RT3000p

Center: Infinity Reference Series CC2

Rears: Infinity Reference Series 2000.2

Subwoofer: Velodyne CT-120 (12" front firing active sub)

OO

Edited September 7, 2008 by MacrossMan

[Gaijin]

We had a housefull at Thanksgiving last year and there was a gathering of people watching the movie. The opening scene when Lennox and crew are returning to Qatar pretty much made everyone in the house stop and wonder where the vibration was coming from; but Blackout's first fire blast brought the commotion in the house to stand still and there was immediately about 30 people packed into my man cave. I think it all depends on your set up. Please believe the frequency is there. The LFE channel is so intense on the DVD that I have to turn the volume down on the sub while watching the movie. It causes the amp the sub to overheat so that you can smell it when you walk near it.

OO

Not saying the LFE isn't there...but it isn't as strong as one would hope..this from pretty much everyone on AVS too with people in the industry saying the same thing. By all means, it isn't a bad sounding disc, nor iis it lacking, it just seems like that one scene isn't as strong as the original mix.

If the DVD gave you that much audio enjoyment, the BD will probably implode your house because it is much stronger than the DVD.

And am I alone in not buying a Blu Ray movie in months? Where are all the first tier catalog movies I've been waiting for? I constantly see movies I want to buy "in HD" on the HD satellite channels but their corresponding Blu Ray releases are nary to be found. I'm starting to become impatient and long for the days of the format war when both camps seemed to be in a mad panic to "win" and they seemed to be churning movies out like a puppy mill. Sure most of them were crap but when you had such heavy release cycles there were bound to be some gems in the mix. Nowadays the Blu Ray release chart reads like a "crap new movie of the month" or "what can we port over from HD DVD" list.

Where's my Aliens franchise? Where's my Indiana Jones already? I'd even be happy to see Escape from New York released at this point. Lord knows I've seen it enough on HDNet...

I dunno...I've been buying discs pretty much every other week. Transformers this week. Kill Bill next week. Iron Man. The Dark Knight etc...

Edited September 7, 2008 by Gaijin

[eugimon]

We had a housefull at Thanksgiving last year and there was a gathering of people watching the movie. The opening scene when Lennox and crew are returning to Qatar pretty much made everyone in the house stop and wonder where the vibration was coming from; but Blackout's first fire blast brought the commotion in the house to stand still and there was immediately about 30 people packed into my man cave. I think it all depends on your set up. Please believe the frequency is there. The LFE channel is so intense on the DVD that I have to turn the volume down on the sub while watching the movie. It causes the amp the sub to overheat so that you can smell it when you walk near it.

OO

Well, I'm looking at the specs for your sub and yours definitely has better frequency response.... guess this means I need to upgrade.

[CoryHolmes]

Well, I'm looking at the specs for your sub and yours definitely has better frequency response.... guess this means I need to upgrade.

You'll want to be careful with that. I find that AV equipment is worse than crack. All it takes is one hit of bettter stuff and then you'll need to have more and more and more.

Edited September 7, 2008 by CoryHolmes

[Uxi]

You'll want to be careful with that. I find that AV equipment is worse than crack. All it takes is one hit of bettter stuff and then you'll need to have more and more and more.

Brother,that is the truth! I could have been a decked out TRP from the Springfield Custom shop for what I spent on a receiver...

[Gaijin]

Brother,that is the truth! I could have been a decked out TRP from the Springfield Custom shop for what I spent on a receiver...

Have a TRP in Armory Kote...worth every penny. Have to get another in Stainless.

And I want a new receiver too.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I dunno...I've been buying discs pretty much every other week. Transformers this week. Kill Bill next week. Iron Man. The Dark Knight etc...

Those aren't first tier catalog titles though, they fall under "new movie of the month" to me. And to make matters worse the Kill Bill release isn't going to offer anything new (Whole Bloody Affair, anyone?). I was talking about all the glimmering golden titles these studios are sitting on like the Aliens franchise, Indy, etc. Who really wants PS I Love You on Blu Ray? Or 90% of the other crap new movies they have been dumping into the market? I'm not going to pay $35 for Dude Where's My Car, "digital copy included" or not. At least they are saying they are going to start to release Bond movies in a few months... too bad they are releasing them in a weird order so you can't just buy all the "good ones" now.

Then again the transfer quality could be totally balls on the Bond films, like it's been on a LOT of Blu Ray releases. It's hard to sell people on this technology being the best around when a portion of the releases don't look or sound much better than an upscaled DVD. This Christmas better be spectacular release wise...

[marimba]

I'll recommend a few subwoofers...I started with a Paradigm PS1000, then upped to the Seismic 12...and last weekend brought home a Servo 15...all are great at their pricepoint, but the Servo 15 is the one to have. Find an audio retailer in your area that allows for in-home auditions and try a few out to see what really works for you before buying.

[MacrossMan]

You'll want to be careful with that. I find that AV equipment is worse than crack. All it takes is one hit of bettter stuff and then you'll need to have more and more and more.

Depending on how deep your pockets are, the sky is the limit when it comes to spending on AV equipment. I used to work in home audio at Circuit City some years ago. That's when they still carried all the high-end components you normally find in a home theater store. They carry garbage for the most part today. They had an awesome program called "accommodations" where we could buy stuff for well below whole sale. The thought was for vendors to offer their products to us sales guys for next to nothing so we could test them out at home and come back to the store and sale them. All my stuff was on the lower end of the high end in terms of what was available at the time.

You do not have to spend a whole lot of money to get a nice sounding system. You just have to know how to choose the right components. My next door neighbor actually has a dedicated theater room that resembles a small movie theater: curtains, low lighting, stadium seating, dark painted celing, projector, silver screen, etc., etc. The builder chose cheesy components and cheap cabling (yes, cables do make a difference!). My open man cave with 10 year old components dances circles around his dedicated theater sound wise.

As far as the HT hobby being addictive for me? Meh, it's too expensive and too much is available. Until something is released that totally changes the game I'll be sticking with my current set up. I've not been impressed with what's out there today.

[CoryHolmes]

I've been debating whether or not I should upgrade. I started off, and still use, a dinky little $900 Yamaha HTiaB. I've added that to a 46" XBR2 and a converted denspace into a Media Room. But I live in a condo, so the room is mostly filled up as it is. It's 10' by 10' more or less, and I wonder how much extra value some better equipment would do me.

... that doesn't stop me from drooling over it, though

[eugimon]

It's worth it. There's stuff you're just not hearing. It's not just a question of loud, it's a question of resolution.

[MacrossMan]

It's worth it. There's stuff you're just not hearing. It's not just a question of loud, it's a question of resolution.

Indeed! "Oomph" may be a problem in a condo as it was for me when I lived in a townhouse. But there still isn't anything like a sound system with good imaging and natural sounding tones. Take Diana Krall's "Love Scenes" CD. Listening to her on that album, my huge speakers seem to disappear if that makes sense. The sound is so natural and her voice becomes "centered" and the soundstage transparent if you will. To the untrained ear one would think her voice is coming from the center channel while the other instruments are seperated across a stage from left to right just like a live performance. You can hear fingers plucking off the guitar strings.

Yani's "Live At The Metropolis" is another good reference CD to check sound or the "Sessions at West 54th St." DVD.

So yes, I agree; it's not about just being loud, but also being able to reproduce the sound the way it's intended to be.

OO

Edited September 9, 2008 by MacrossMan

[bandit29]

Geneon has announced that they will bring 'Sin City' to Blu-ray on December 5th. As Geneon owns distribution rights for this film only in Japan, don't expect it to be released in any other country at this time. No technical specs or special features have been announced at this time, but as a Region A title, it is an easy import for anyone in North America.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1789

Hell yeah.. must resist the import...unless the exchange rate improves..

[bandit29]

No Iron Man for u!! Blu-ray being recalled

the forums are lit up this morning with news that the upcoming Blu-ray release of 'Iron Man' has been recalled. A few weeks back, some of those receiving review copies reported trouble playing the disc in their Blu-ray players. Apparently, there is an authoring problem with the disc, and distributors have been issued direction to send back all product.

According to those distributors, Paramount is doing everything possible to get enough replacement discs to retailers in time for its September 30th release date, but it may not be able to meet the demand. If Paramount can't get enough titles onto retail shelves, they may delay the title until October 7th.

Online retailers like Amazon are likely to ship first-come, first-serve, so make sure you have your pre-order in now if you haven't done so already.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1815

[eugimon]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[Dangard Ace]

To repeat what I saw on HighDefDigest regarding the Bluray Iron Man release.

1)Yes it was recalled since there was some trouble with a few non-PS3 players.

2)At most the BD would be a few days behind the DVD release date.

Really, even though I use the PS3 as my BD I'd rather Paramount release a non-problematic Disc then a problematic one if it's only a few days late.

[F360]

Amazon up to 55% Off Blu-ray Sale

List of Blu-ray on sale

Buy Three Warner Blu-ray Discs, Get a PS3 Remote Free

Free Ps3 remote

[bandit29]

The Dark Knight: December 9th

Posted September 26, 2008 07:14 PM by Josh Dreuth

Warner Bros. Warner Home Video has announced that they will bring the summer blockbuster hit 'The Dark Knight' to Blu-ray on December 9th, day-and-date with the DVD release. This two-disc special edition will be Warner's first BD-Live Blu-ray title, as well as come with a digital copy of the film. Video will be presented as 1080p VC-1 accompanied by a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack.

Extras for this release include:

* Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene

* Batman Tech - The Incredible Gadgets and Tools (HD)

* Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of The Dark Knight (HD)

* Gotham Tonight - 6 Episodes of Gotham Cable's Premier News Program

* The Galleries - The Joker Cards, Concept Art, Poster Art, Production Stills, Trailers & TV Spots

The disc will also come as part of a collector's set with a replica of the Bat Bike.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1831

Edited September 29, 2008 by dejr8bud

[sharky]

What do you guys think of the Insignia Blu-ray Player? It's listed for $229. That's the cheapest I've seen a stand alone BD player. I am really anticipating the Black Friday sales. I suspect we could see BD players below the $200 mark! That would be my cue to finally get one.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1204332499513

Does anyone know if these Insignia players have region code hacks?

[Hoptimus]

The Walmart by me had a SONY and Samsung BR player for $299 last week.

[Uxi]

The only reason not to get the PS3 as your blu-ray player is: not enough money. and I'd argue one should stay away from Blu-ray, if that's the excuse cause the PS3 just isn't that expensive anymore.

everything else, there are multiple good solutions for (from IR/bluetooth on).

[sharky]

The only reason not to get the PS3 as your blu-ray player is: not enough money. and I'd argue one should stay away from Blu-ray, if that's the excuse cause the PS3 just isn't that expensive anymore.

everything else, there are multiple good solutions for (from IR/bluetooth on).

I'm not quite sure I understand. I thought the PS3 was priced around $300 at the extreme low end(more like $400 on average). I have read reviews that put the PS3 as a very good Blu-ray player. One of the reasons because you can update the firmware making it just about future proof. The Insignia I mentioned is going for $229, and I don't even think it's a sale price. While it's not in the same league as the PS3, that's a huge price difference in my book.

The thing is, I'm not really into games anymore (my last system was a PS1). I can't see myself spending extra money to get the ability to play games when all I want is to watch hi-def movies. I've been keeping my eye on Blu-ray since I got my 1080p television last year. Getting below the $200 mark is simply my own personal feeling on when I would feel OK to get one. I'm also waiting to see which players are easily hackable with respect to region code. For me, it's not that I couldn't just go out and get a high end player, but I am simply the type of person that doesn't like to blow all kinds of money. A penny saved is a penny earned in my book(that sounds corny, I know). Why spend more than you really have to? It just means that I'll have more money to spend on other things that I want or need. Hey, I'm a cheap bastard I'll admit it.

What's music to my ears is that in the early part of 2008 Panasonic and Sony seem to have been in a price war and started to drop their prices on Blu-ray players. Blu-ray sales have actually decreased since they beat out HD as the format of the future. This has been attributed to the slow economy and the fact that Blu-ray discs and players are still priced out of the range of the average consumer who seems to still be content with their standard def DVDs and players. Blu-ray needs to lower prices to entice the average consumer to switch IMHO. Some consumer experts even feel players need to get closer to the $100 price range before sales really take off. This seems to have been the trend all year, and I predict will come to a head on Black Friday 2008.

[Uxi]

Right. The PS3 is going to be far faster, has far more storage space, and is the most common denominator for studios to test against for at least the next year. That will translate to less glitches, etc. I would rather go another year and stay on normal DVD and save up another two hundred bucks than get that Insignia. I just don't believe Blu-ray is in the position for the penny pincher, especially at this stage of the adoption game. YMMV, obviously.

You don't need to play games and can easily ignore that aspect of the PS3, if you want.

I doubt you'll see $100 this year (even on BF), though maybe for Black Friday 2009 for something like the Insignia or Funai, etc.

[eugimon]

I wouldn't pinch pennies over a hundred bucks not when, as Uxi said, you can get the current benchmark Blu-ray player (PS3).

[mikeszekely]

I gotta agree with Uxi and eugimon. Don't pass on the PS3 just because it can play videogames you might never be interested in (although you might... even if you're not into hardcore disc-based games like Call of Duty or Metal Gear Solid, you may find something you like in the PlayStation store). If you heard that Sony had a $400 stand alone Blu-ray player that was head and shoulders the best Blu-ray player on the market, would you still be thinking about cheaping out on a mediocre Insignia brand? The PS3 doesn't just provide future-proofing through firmware updates, it also provides solid audio decoding, excellent DVD upscaling, MPEG-3 audio and MPEG-4 video support, and DivX video support, making it an excellent media hub (even if I do archive my video files on DVD data discs instead of storing them on the PS3's hard drive, which I am too cheap and lazy to upgrade when I'd rather replace both hard drives in my desktop PC). You can even get videos from the PlayStation store directly from the PS3. Especially if you've invested in a good HDTV and audio equipment that can really take advantage of what Blu-ray has to offer, there's no compelling reason to cheap out now on the actual Blu-ray player.

[sharky]

You all make some good points with respect to performance. I just haven't reached my comfort level with prices of the PS3 or any stand alone Blu-ray player. That's why even after 1 year of owning a 1080p TV I still haven't taken the plunge into Blu-ray. It's kind of silly when you think about the fact that I will spend that kind of money to buy Yamato toys and SOC Gunbusters, but I hesitate on the Blu-ray.

I suppose I will just continue to wait and see as I have been. There's always Christmas and birthdays to justify splurging on a luxury item.

[eugimon]

You all make some good points with respect to performance. I just haven't reached my comfort level with prices of the PS3 or any stand alone Blu-ray player. That's why even after 1 year of owning a 1080p TV I still haven't taken the plunge into Blu-ray. It's kind of silly when you think about the fact that I will spend that kind of money to buy Yamato toys and SOC Gunbusters, but I hesitate on the Blu-ray.

I suppose I will just continue to wait and see as I have been. There's always Christmas and birthdays to justify splurging on a luxury item.

Just one last thing to consider, the insignia can't decode HD codecs, it downmixes DD, DD+ and DDHD to DD and DTS HD to DTS. This means you need to bitstream the audio to a receiver that can do the heavy lifting for you.

[Hoptimus]

Whats the best cheap Blu-Ray movie to buy?

I dont have any yet.