Hi-Def and Home Theater Thread 2

[Wes]

I went to my local Best Buy ONCE on a Black Friday. BF's are kinda nuts around here in general, but that was the worst. There were ZERO parking spaces maybe 10 minutes before they even opened, and by the time I worked my way back to the TV section, they were already sold out of what I wanted.

Transformers Blu-ray for $10 would almost motivate me to do it again. That is, if I didn't already own it.

People don't know how to do Black Friday anymore; the stores don't have many if any good deals and the customers will go to whichever they "think" will have the big deal, which is Best Buy for the $200 laptop only 6 people will get. And they'll stay in line long after they're gone, long after they were announced it's gone. Stores this year have been so desperate to get their numbers up they've done "Early BlackFridayese sales" and there have been a couple of decent deals. Have yet to hear something good for BF.

[sharky]

Here's another deal for the Memorex BD player.

http://www.buy.com/prod/memorex-blu-ray-pl.../208287862.html

[Uxi]

Supposedly lots of $10 Blu-ray gonna be out there. Time to catch up on some of the titles I've skipped!

[sharky]

A couple of Walmart Black Friday deals of interest

Polariod 42" 1080p LCD TV $598 (I got this last year on Black Friday. Not a bad TV. I paid $798 last year)

Magnavox Blu-ray player $128

http://www.blackfriday.info/sales/wal-mart...-friday-ad.html

[David Hingtgen]

The likelihood of damage to my car by parking at the mall on Black Friday overwhelms any sense of "it's on sale!".

[CoryHolmes]

The likelihood of damage to my car by parking at the mall on Black Friday overwhelms any sense of "it's on sale!".

As was explained to me about a Canadian shopping spree (Boxing Day): the internet is your friend

[Uxi]

The likelihood of damage to my car by parking at the mall on Black Friday overwhelms any sense of "it's on sale!".

I have a beater I can do for things like that. And a nice car for daily driving.

[VF-19]

I don't have that problem: No car. I do have city transportation though, and a very beat up bag to put things (aka expensive) in. That and I glare at anybody on the bus.

Also, Canada doesn't really have a black friday. We have boxing day... which pretty much sucked last year.

[Gaijin]

Lotta cheap Blu-rays at my Wal-Mart now. A whole wall of $15 ones. Sears had the Sony S350 for $179 too.

[mikeszekely]

Lotta cheap Blu-rays at my Wal-Mart now. A whole wall of $15 ones. Sears had the Sony S350 for $179 too.

Well, not a whole wall at my Wal-Mart. One side of a four-way in the middle of the isle in front of the electronics department. But it's still a welcome sight, and there's some decent stuff on it. I personally want to grab Predator and Swordfish (but I'm really broke right now). I might be tempted to pick up Kiss of the Dragon, too.

[Apollo Leader]

I finally took the Blu Ray plunge. Though it will be a few weeks before it's in my hands, I bought a Sony S350 yesterday for $229. Though not the $179 some of Friday's sales had it at and definitely not the $128 that Wal-mart had its one Magnavox model at, it looks like I am getting a good player. eBay bids for this player look to be past $230 at closing, so I'm happy.

My first DVD player, a Magnavox, I got in March 1999 for about $270. In today's dollar that would be close to $350.

I have one Blu Ray movie so far, The Incredible Hulk. Most of my future movie purchases will probably be Blu-Ray, though it might depend on what extra features either the Blu Ray or DVD versions have to offer. I also don't plan on replacing most of my DVD collection so I'm going to be extremely picky which movies I'll "upgrade" (Transformers is one that is a 100% definite).

BTW, since the US and Japan are the same Blu Ray region, did Macross DYRL ever get a Blu Ray release?

[Hoptimus]

BTW, since the US and Japan are the same Blu Ray region, did Macross DYRL ever get a Blu Ray release?

Thats what I am waiting for!

[Gaijin]

Well, not a whole wall at my Wal-Mart. One side of a four-way in the middle of the isle in front of the electronics department. But it's still a welcome sight, and there's some decent stuff on it. I personally want to grab Predator and Swordfish (but I'm really broke right now). I might be tempted to pick up Kiss of the Dragon, too.

Kiss of the Dragon BD had a really bad transfer I'm told, that was worse than the DVD.

[Uxi]

Welcome in, newbie BD'ers. Now get Band of Brothers, Wall-E, KungFu Panda, and Iron Man stat!

[mikeszekely]

Kiss of the Dragon BD had a really bad transfer I'm told, that was worse than the DVD.

Well, that sucks. But I do have it on DVD, and I was really more interested in Predator and Swordfish. Hear anything on those?

[Gaijin]

Well, that sucks. But I do have it on DVD, and I was really more interested in Predator and Swordfish. Hear anything on those?

I know Swordfish had some pretty good praise on the video quality..Predator was so so I think...I never heard anything great or really bad about it.

[Hoptimus]

Seems pretty good. Not a huge improvement though over the nicer DVD that came out a few years ago.

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/predatorbluray.php

[mikeszekely]

Good enough then. I'll skip Kiss of the Dragon, and go for Swordfish and Predator after the holiday.

[Uxi]

Band of Brothers for $45 at Amazon.

[David Hingtgen]

Sort of on-topic:

A lot of DVD's have still pic galleries where you use the "next" button on the remote to switch between pics. But they never seem to work when played on a PC--the PC never seems to recognize/realize there's another chapter/frame to "activate" and it either greys out the button, or clicking on the appropriate button does nothing. Anyone know of a DVD program on the PC that can work a "still image gallery"?

[Oihan]

As someone else mentioned earlier in this thread or the old thread...once you upgrade it's hard to stop upgrading. Ever since I got my HDTV I've been wanting to expand upon my HD experience. I soon wanted to watch actual HD content and so I bought a PS3 for Blu-ray. Now after watching these movies in Blu-ray...the TV speakers just aren't enough anymore. I've searched this thread and the old one and have come up empty handed with two dead links. My budget is pretty small but somewhat flexible. Would someone please be kind enough to point me in the right direction for a HTIB? It'd be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Oihan]

Sort of on-topic:

A lot of DVD's have still pic galleries where you use the "next" button on the remote to switch between pics. But they never seem to work when played on a PC--the PC never seems to recognize/realize there's another chapter/frame to "activate" and it either greys out the button, or clicking on the appropriate button does nothing. Anyone know of a DVD program on the PC that can work a "still image gallery"?

What programs have you used on your PC to watch DVDs? I've never had any problems with WinDVD before. You may want to try WinDVD if you haven't already.

[Apollo Leader]

Got my Sony Blu-Ray player last night. I watched the first part of the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk movie. Now I just need to get a 1080P flat screen to more fully enjoy it, but still a great picture even in just 720P. Definitely a new concept in needing to hook a movie video system up online for updates, but considering all the fluxes DVD technology went through throughout the years, it would have been nice if DVD players could have been updated in the same fashion.

I noticed that the main option screen is set up pretty much set up the same as on the PS3 and PSP. I'm guessing a lot of Sony's home entertainment products are using a similar operating system? (It appears my player is Java based).

Edited December 10, 2008 by Apollo Leader

[David Hingtgen]

DVD playing on PC---just about every freebie one. AVS, VLC, Zoom, Media Player. ::downloading trial of WinDVD, see how it does::

[Gaijin]

Got my Sony Blu-Ray player last night. I watched the first part of the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk movie. Now I just need to get a 1080P flat screen to more fully enjoy it, but still a great picture even in just 720P. Definitely a new concept in needing to hook a movie video system up online for updates, but considering all the fluxes DVD technology went through throughout the years, it would have been nice if DVD players could have been updated in the same fashion.

I noticed that the main option screen is set up pretty much set up the same as on the PS3 and PSP. I'm guessing a lot of Sony's home entertainment products are using a similar operating system? (It appears my player is Java based).

The Cross Media Bar started with the PSP/Sony TV's and they are pretty much using it across the board on all their products from cameras to TV's to DVD players. Idea is also that once you have a SOny products, it will be pretty much universal in regards to adjust things.

[bandit29]

Anyone pick up Sin City on Bluray? In Canada? Pretty cheap even with shipping.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B001ECDVZE...;pf_rd_i=915398

review

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?i...amp;show=review

Its been released in Japan and Canada. I wonder why not in the US.

[eugimon]

sin city was supposed to have come out towards the end of october, it's be been postponed, no idea why and no clue about a new release date. Maybe they decided to give it BD Live.

[Excillon]

I have a question about upcoverting. I know it's not true 1080p, but do you HAVE to buy a player as in it's different hardware, or could I get a program that I could just put on the tower running to my tv and get upconversion playing DVD's that way?

[eugimon]

I have a question about upcoverting. I know it's not true 1080p, but do you HAVE to buy a player as in it's different hardware, or could I get a program that I could just put on the tower running to my tv and get upconversion playing DVD's that way?

a lot of HDTVs do some up converting on the their own nowadays. Granted, it's not as nice as a high end upconverting deck, but if you're saving up for a blu-ray player or something, it may not be worth going out and buying a new DVD player just for upconverstion.

[VT 1010]

All fixed pixel HDTVs (LCD, DLP, Plasma, LCOS, etc.) will scale (or "convert") the different signals to it's native resolution. They will not natively display a signal that isn't the same resolution as its own native resolution.

For example, say you want to watch a standard DVD on your new 1080P display. You decide to use your old 480I DVD player. Your HDTV has a native resolution of 1920x1080. The resolution output by your DVD player is 720x480. Obviously, there is quite the difference in the number of pixels. If the HDTV were to display the 720x480 signal natively, it would only take up a fraction of the screen (kind of like the little preview window, in the corner of the channel guide, on your cable or satellite box). To prevent this, the HDTV will upscale (or "upconvert") the 720x480 signal to 1920x1080 (it also has to deinterlace the image too, but that is a whole other topic). Some displays will even perform downscaling in addition to upscaling in order to make sure the signal will display properly.

Although all fixed pixel HDTVs will scale to their native resolution, some displays do a better job than others. The same can be said for DVD players as well. Some people also use dedicated video processors or HTPCs. The reason people often use special DVD players or video processors instead of their HDTVs, is because they can sometimes do better job at scaling, in addition to other image processing functions.

In the end, there is going to be scaling, whether it's the display or the source. An upscaling DVD player isn't necessarily better than the display. The quality of scaling can vary and is really dependent on the individual piece of equipment or software. Furthermore, scaling may not be the most important video processing feature you may want, but this will depend on your own personal preferences.

Don't forget that, no matter how good the scaling, it still cannot add information that doesn't exist. That is why "upconverting" is an inaccurate term. It doesn't really convert the image to HD per se; in actuality it is more like an advanced "zoom", so to speak (though, this may be over simplifying it). The picture quality is still limited by the source material. If the DVD looked like crap before, it will still look like crap upscaled.

There are better and more detailed articles out there, but this is just a quick and simple explanation. I hope I was able to clarify some things and not make them seem even more confusing.

[eugimon]

just shows how old I am, the first exposure I had to HD sets was an HD CRT TV.

[VT 1010]

just shows how old I am, the first exposure I had to HD sets was an HD CRT TV.

Don't feel so bad. When my then six year old CRT HDTV died out last year, I replaced it with another new CRT HDTV.

CRT's still have a lot of advantages over some of the newer technologies. Like scaling for example. Since CRT displays aren't fixed pixel based, they generally don't need any scaling. Some CRT HDTVs, however, do perform scaling despite this. Either way, I'm quite satisfied with my Sony 34XBR970 direct view CRT HDTV (I wouldn't mind a 960 though ).

[Excillon]

Hey thanks VT 1010, that was extrememly informative. So basically upconversion is a scam (for lack of a better term)? I was only considering one because I already have Blu-ray, but I just bought a 40" 1080p and I have like 300+ DVD's, and I didn't want to see my collection rendered obsolete, but I was worried they'd look like crap on the TV.

[eugimon]

Hey thanks VT 1010, that was extrememly informative. So basically upconversion is a scam (for lack of a better term)? I was only considering one because I already have Blu-ray, but I just bought a 40" 1080p and I have like 300+ DVD's, and I didn't want to see my collection rendered obsolete, but I was worried they'd look like crap on the TV.

It's not a scam but unless you spend the money for a really good upconverting deck, you might not see much difference from what your own TV can do.

[David Hingtgen]

Just a little side-point:

It's much easier/better to downscale, than upscale. (a small but notable reason I have a 720p TV rather than 1080p----you can downscale 1080p to 720p nigh-flawlessly, but the reverse is not true. Conversely, upscaling 480 to 720 is not as hard as 480 to 1080) Most programs etc have a much easier time "filling in" 50%, than trying to double.

Think about resizing a JPEG---if it's 600x600, you can shrink it down to 400x400 and it'll still look "perfect". But if you resize it to 1000x1000, even the best graphics program on a high-end PC will make it blurry/grainy/pixelated in areas even when given several secs of processing time for a single image--so don't expect greatness from a DVD player doing dozens per second .