My 46 inch 1080P LCD got delivered today and it is beautiful. Now the next step is to take advantage of everything it has to offer and get either an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player. I have a 360, so the HD-DVD add on would be the cheapest route, but I won't have HDMI with that option so thats a drawback. Component can only display up to 1080i on the Xbox HD DVD, but supposedly VGA will get you the full 1080P. So that's the most likely option for me at this point. I'm just not sure of the quality over VGA. I'd really like to go Blu-Ray since it sounds like they are starting to win the format war. Also, a buddy of mine has both and his says that Blu-Ray looks much better than HD-DVD. The problem with Blu-Ray is that the stand alone players are so damn expensive. So what do you guys suggest? Get the 360 HD-DVD player, or hold off until I can afford a Blu-Ray player?
1080i HD DVD looks great dude, plus u get like 7 free movies. quality is based on the movie not the format. its best to compare the exact same movie like 300. Its really almost impossible to tell the difference. here's a good site reviewing the movies for both formats http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/main.html but if you like the Blu-ray studios (Sony/Disney) then you should wait til they go cheaper. Also, have you downloaded the HD movies off Xbox live? they look awesome.
Get your cabling and other accessories at www.monoprice.com. My professional home theater friend turne me on to it. Awesome prices, quality stuff.
forgot to congratulate you for being one of the better people in this world today. you are making humanity move forward!
I bought a 47" 1080P LCD this weekend. Does this mean I too am now one of the better people in the world today?
yes, if everyone was watching HDTV, there wouldn't be war or crime or hate or air pollution. Save the world, buy a HDTV.
Is that the best place for HDMI switchers? http://www.monoprice.com/products/s...VI+Switch+and+Converter&keyword=hdmi splitter
Since I am one of the new utopians also, let me hijack the thread for a second. Could I wirelessly send a signal from my computer to my 42" Westinghouse 1080P LCD and if I could would the picture be worth a dam. (the computer and the TV are 20' apart and I really can't run a wire)
I may be wrong, but I don't think wireless G can handle 1080p bandwidth. You can get 50' cat4 wire for ~15 bucks at a local electronics store.
Actually, at this point it seems to be a bit of a stalemate. HD-DVD now was 3 studios exclusive to it with Universal continuing to anchor the format with some great titles. Warner Bros. is close to picking a side to support exclusively and it seems that they are going to choose Blu-ray but even then I don't see that pushing the war toward any kind of conclusion. There are more blu-ray players out there because of the PS3 but more HD-DVD players are being sold than Blu-Ray players. Not really easy to tell how many of the PS3 owners are buying Blu-ray titles. Just don't pick a format because you think one side is about to win. I would look at the studios and see whose films you are more likely to want. There is not a lot of content out there that truly makes use of 1080 progressive but when you do see it, there is a big difference compared to 1080i. Really, with the xbox already I would think that spending 300-400 on a blu-ray player just would not be worth the money. I think you can live with 1080i for a while. It does seem like a big drawback considering the huge price difference with the TVs are concerned. After all, if there is virtually no noticeable difference in 1080i and p then why the hell would you get a 1080p tv in the first place? Just to say you have one? HD through cable tv isn't that great either so you really do get your best content from high def discs.
I guess it depends on what you look at, but I'm not quite sure I'd call the war a stalemate at this point. Blu-ray tends to hold a ~2:1 advantage in weekly movie sales. The week that Transformers was released (and practically nothing was released on Blu-ray IIRC), the two formats were close, although more Blu-ray movies were still sold. During big Blu-ray weeks, it is usually closer to 75%-80% Blu-ray. And that's with Warner supporting both formats. If Warner went Blu-ray only, it would probably be closer to 70%-80% every week. If they went HD DVD only, it would probably be around 50-50 though. It may still be a while before one format is the "winner" though...not sure how much Toshiba has left (they've been getting kind of desperate recently, although it has helped delay things I guess).
With Paramont and Dreamworks siding with HD-Dvd, I'm just not sure there are any moves left to make that could lead to a conclusion. Even as blu-ray titles sell more and more, HD-dvd units are going to pick up more and more with the cheap units so the hardware is going to be faily settled into the market. I also wouldn't put a lot of stock into the sales numbers right now. It hasn't been too long since the last couple studios went to HD-DVD and so I don't think people have really felt it. Nickelodeon, MTV Films, DreamWorks Pictures and DreamWorks Animation, The Weinstein Company, Dimension Films and the parent Paramount all have a lot of good titles they produce. Aside from their animation and the Pirates, Disney has been awful in the last 5 years. Not sure how their live-action films are shaping up for the next few.
The thing is that people have seemed to respond to the recent HD DVD moves...and it hasn't really done much at this point. A good amount of HD DVD players were sold at Wal-mart and other retailers during that one unbelievable deal, and yet that didn't really show up in the weekly sales figures for some reason IIRC. When the PS3 dropped to $500, BR movies dominated the top 10-15 spots IIRC, most of which were filled with older movies indicating new users (maybe that just tells you how insignificant the standalone player sales are?). Paramount has already released 2 of their biggest hits (during this same time period too), and that hasn't really affected things too much. Their Star Trek release this week will probably help HD DVD win the week, although only because there is no DVD version (Star Trek fans will be forced to buy combo discs, even if they don't have a HD DVD player). Several months ago, before the price drops and studios exclusivity, Blu-ray was selling ~2:1. Since then, HD DVD players have dropped drastically in price, and one major studio has gone HD DVD only (releasing 2 of the biggest hits in their library during that time). Blu-ray movie sales are still up ~2:1. It seemed like Toshiba has been making some last-ditch efforts lately to try and change things, but Blu-ray has still had a strong lead. I'll give it some more time for sure, but I'd wonder if maybe they are thinking about giving up soon (especially if they continue to lose money on this project). I'm not even sure if HD DVD can even be the "winner" at this point; which companies would put out HD DVD players to compete with $100-$200 HD DVD players that sell for a loss?
"We need pictures of your LCD before we help you out, man." "This thread is useless without pictures of your LCD." "I'd hit [your LCD]." "not Hispanic?" et. al.
