High definition video

microdmitry · #1 02-05-2007, 01:10 AM

I've made an impulse purchase about 2 weeks ago - Samsung 50" 1080p DLP. Walked into a store and there it was in all its glory. Then I also bought a 60GB Playstation 3 to watch Blu Ray movies (since it happens to be the cheapest 1080p player on the market). Holy cr@p, man. Picture quality is out of this world. Before this I had an 8 year old CRT TV, and quite frankly the difference is shocking. It also turns out Netflix has a bunch of Blu Ray movies available for rent, so I've subscribed to that as well. As an added bonus, I also can receive high def programming over the air using $40 Terk amplified antenna I bought on eB@y. 1080i with Dolby Digital sound, for free (just 4 channels, tho, the rest is analog).

Moral of the story, if you're still watching your old CRT TV and/or standard definition DVDs, now is a good time to bite the bullet and upgrade. HD TVs won't get much better than this Samsung anytime soon, and the price, while still painful, is not prohibitive anymore. Just don't buy that $100 HDMI cable that sales guy trying to sell you. $5 cable from eB@y will do just as well. It's digital after all, and as such it either works or it does not - there's no middle ground.

I only wish Sony had more downloadable games in their online store. I'm a casual gamer, so Resistance is way too hard for me to control (I've downloaded the demo). So far I'm getting by on Lemmings.

**jemsite** · #2 02-05-2007, 01:21 AM

nice rig. HD is a huge upgrade from old CRT TV and Tube RPTVs... netflix is your friend for sure.

i'm a big fan of HD (had the Toshiba HD-A1 hd-dvd player since summer) everything but i'm not sure mainstream will find HD on discs that compelling anytime soon outside of television HDTV from cable/dish (with the bundled HD-DVR recorder). Due to the way they're filmed and such, alot of HD movies just won't have the visual bliss of a HDTV broadcast such as the superbowl or Lost or 24 and i'm not sure people are going to splurge for bluray/hd-dvd until prices dip much, much lower (under $199). Anyways i hope i'm wrong about that and DVDs disappear soon... glen

microdmitry · #3 02-05-2007, 01:39 AM

I wish studios realized that there's no real need to release turds like "Planet of the Apes" in HD. Just release the good stuff first if you want the disks to sell. I'd also appreciate if they simultaneously released DVD and HD versions of all newer movies. I don't care about the extras, just release movies and price them at $5 above the DVD. I'll buy them.

Can't wait for Casino Royale to come out in HD. It was awesome in the theater, and I think the image quality I'm getting now is better than in the theater.

**jemsite** · #4 02-05-2007, 01:48 AM

studios are a major problem... even sony/columbia (with vested interest in bluray not faultering). they don't soon release top-level catalog titles until there is a large installed base, so you're stuck with POTA w/ marky mark not the POTA classic with Heston. Some blame it on cost to advertise/market. Other than "new releases" you'll see alot of this unfortunately.

I've noticed alot of releases on BRD/HDDVD are movies recently airing on HD cable (max, hbo, sho, uhd, etc.) so there is a cost-consciousness happening. that is another problem if i just saw it in HDTV on cinemax, why would i want to buy the disc?

StarWars 1-6 just aired in HD in OAR and 5.1 sound... might take years to make it to bluray. That's pathetic.

Interestingly, it's rumored Universal is dipping into some Steven Spielberg classics like Jaws this year for HD-DVD but that is probably due to the format war and somewhat less studio support for that side that needs some ammo... glen

microdmitry · #5 02-05-2007, 02:07 AM

The only Spielberg's movie that I really like is "Saving Private Ryan" and then only the brutal first 10 minutes of it. If it comes out on Blu Ray, I'll buy it just for the battle sequence. Other than that, the guy is way overrated as a director, IMO.

shredmaster · #6 02-07-2007, 03:36 PM

very nice setup! if ever i have major cash to blow (won't happen) i'll be there as well.

steve

kennydoe · #7 02-07-2007, 04:37 PM

in the last month, i've bought a 42" Plasma and a 61" LCD.

I'm 3 grand in debt, but i am LOVIN' both TVs! i already had a 5.1 home theater system and plugged into the digital audio output of the DVD and cable box, the surround if just astounding.

A couple of times during the super bowl we switched over to see what the "peasants" were watching. YUK!!!

Definitely worth the upgrade. I just wish the TV content was more extensive. Patience, i guess.

One thing i learned from a thread i started last week...make sure your DVD player is set for 16:9 ratio.

~K

**jemsite** · #8 02-07-2007, 05:15 PM

kenny, you do you have a HD cable box? right?

i know you mentioned VCR in the other thread but you need a HD box going to component/dvi/hdmi input on your HDTV for full 720p/1080i HD resolution... glen

Distantshore · #9 02-07-2007, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennydoe

I just wish the TV content was more extensive. Patience, i guess.

~K

I find myself watching stuff on the HD channels that I wouldn't normally watch....but the picture is just so much better, its tough watching SD channels.

dex · #10 02-08-2007, 07:06 AM

I've said this several times in different threads we've had about HD-DVD, BluRay and PS3 but I for one can't wait and will be picking up a PS3 as soon as they become available here.

Makro have a 42" Sharp Aquos 1080p LCD screen for £999 - a bargain considering 12 months ago 32" 1366x768 screens were £1000.

I've got a stupid* number of DVDs (over 600) so I'm not going to be replacing them with BluRay releases or anything but I will replace the 40-50 films I really like.

Also going forward I'll be getting new BluRay releases for everything but old TV series which were never encoded well enough for DVD, never mind hi-def.

*Several months ago I looked through them and there were many DVDs I couldn't see myself watch again. Not in the near future anyways and I even ended up sticking some on evilbay.
Also found 12 DVD's where I had the first realeases and then the 2/3 DVD special editions as well...

kennydoe · #11 02-08-2007, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jemsite

kenny, you do you have a HD cable box? right?

i know you mentioned VCR in the other thread but you need a HD box going to component/dvi/hdmi input on your HDTV for full 720p/1080i HD resolution... glen

absolutely...have an HDMI cable and everything

Does anybody have any input on component output vs HDMI output? or S-Video vs. component output?

I'm curious.
~K

bammbamm · #12 02-08-2007, 08:07 AM

I was going to get the same set that Micro was, but whenI got to Best buy, the only one they had left was an open box item. I asked to see it, it wouldn't even turn on. Next thing I know I'm getting the Panasonic TH-50PX600U which seems to be the darling of all the consumer rags.

I was lucky enough to have our cable company give us an HD digital box (last summer) when we upgraded our service to include a DVR, they didn't have the standard DVR's so they said we won't charge you for the upgrade. Watching the playoffs was fantastic, the Superbowl aside from the obvious beating we took, was dismally represented, but it was raining. Perfect irony, drop 2G's on a high def plasma, watch XLI in complete fog.

Anyone have a pref on up-converting DVD players?

I'll wait for the format wars to die off before plunking down the cash on a Blu-rape or High Dollar-DVD player.

Distantshore · #13 02-08-2007, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bammbamm

I was going to get the same set that Micro was, but whenI got to Best buy, the only one they had left was an open box item. I asked to see it, it wouldn't even turn on. Next thing I know I'm getting the Panasonic TH-50PX600U which seems to be the darling of all the consumer rags.

I was lucky enough to have our cable company give us an HD digital box (last summer) when we upgraded our service to include a DVR, they didn't have the standard DVR's so they said we won't charge you for the upgrade. Watching the playoffs was fantastic, the Superbowl aside from the obvious beating we took, was dismally represented, but it was raining. Perfect irony, drop 2G's on a high def plasma, watch XLI in complete fog.

Anyone have a pref on up-converting DVD players?

I'll wait for the format wars to die off before plunking down the cash on a Blu-rape or High Dollar-DVD player.

I have a Samsung Home Theater System that I really like the upconversion of. It has HDMI out as well as Input(for running signal through) I can see a big difference vs no upconversion component output.

**jemsite** · #14 02-08-2007, 09:37 AM

[quote=kennydoe;607835Does anybody have any input on component output vs HDMI output? or S-Video vs. component output?[/QUOTE]
for a cablebox component vs HDMI is probably moot after calibration since you're only outputting 1080i or 720p

for bluray/hddvd where you have 1080p native set and hdmi then that is theoretically better - might not notice depending on calibration and the set.

component >>>>>> s-video.

avoid video (yellow) and s-video like the plague whenever possible... glen

kennydoe · #15 02-08-2007, 10:04 AM

Well, my DVD doesn't have an HDMI out...so you suggest using component cables rather than S-Video? To my eye, S-video looks great! I'm surprised to hear component looks better.

~K