Re: Confessions of an ex-HDDVD addict

I still find it silly to buy a standalone over the game console. Atleast if bluray goes the way of UMD,SACD,MD,BETA....you will still have a badass game console to keep you busy. Are you people afraid of picking up a Dualshock and having a hella of a good time? Do you Nongamers realize just how much fun you are missing out on? Not to mention "Reference"quality Picture and sound on these games. "Call of Duty 4" has rocked my living room harder than ANY movie soundtrack. Think "Private Ryan" and you kind of get the idea....But it hits harder,and you are in control. 3D? Blah....This is virtual reality baby.

bladerunner,

I appreciate your enthusiasm, but has it occurred to you that some of us are a little old to get excited about playing games, that we have perfectly good computers for such things in any case, or that we have other things to do with our lives?

John

On top of what John said there seems to be some questions as to the picture quality on the PS3 for bluray playback.

Playstation 3: Not the best Blu-ray player you can buy

However, many say that the picture quality of the unit is not at par with its stand-alone competition. Being a Playstation 3 owner, my eye caught the following headline in the latest edition of Home Cinema Choice Magazine. "Sony's PS3 is the best Blu-ray player you can buy." The headline was in a "Fact or Fiction" section of the magazine. Guess what: the magazine gave the notion a "Fiction" seal.

The reason they gave: "Increasingly, the Blu-ray performance of the PS3 doesn't really stand up to videophile scrutiny. While its excellent clarity and fine detail reproduction is without question, motion is not the console's strongest point. Fast panning shots in Sony's own flagship 'Casino Royale,' are prone to stutter, whereas the company's own dedicated players render the same scenes perfectly. It is also prone to visual artifacts not seen on the latest dedicated players."

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/playstation-3-not-the-best-blu-ray-player-you-can-buy/5380

Now you see why we want standalone bluray players?

I have an XBOX 360 for gaming, definately do not need another gaming console int the house. On top of the orig XBOX, N 64, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Nintendo, oh oh wait I still see the Sega Master Sytem... No more gaming systems. I think if I rumage through the closet I might find the Atari 2600...

I'll wait for the Panasonic 50.

Falcon, it seems that the PS3 will always have some faults when it comes to people looking for a reason not to buy it, heck, I even find some faults. The update process risk should be eliminated. No analogs out but I have the Onkyo for that fix. IR remote is a $10 purchase and can be programmed into a unversal remote. As far as PQ goes, I beleived Henning used the words

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...videophile scrutiny.....

. I myself am no videophile by hobbie or profession so unless the PQ is SDDVD or obviously poor I can't tell any difference.

But what makes the PS3 better than any Blu-ray player to me is.....

1. It's profile 2.0
2. Decode all HD codecs as of Tuesday
3. Media server connectable.
4. WiFi
5. All for $400 bucks, no stand alone can deliver what the PS3 brings in options to the table for $500.

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[Post edited by tony1569 on Apr 13, 2008]

Tony...You and I ...Same page. John...I realize this. But it is ALOT different playing games on a big screen with a full blown surround suite. The computer cannot hang with this expierience. You also mentioned something about "some of us have better things..." and my reply to that is "what,watch movies!?" Is that the precious time you are refereing too? I stand by what I wrote. I am not in no way trying to push the Playstation. I am just a little bit leary of bluray as a format,thats all. Sony doesn't have the best track record when it comes to pushing formats...) It does however have an excellent record when it comes to game consoles. The ps3 is just getting started.

I am going thru some serious PS3 withdrawl.

"some of us have better things..." and my reply to that is "what,watch movies!?" --bladerunner

Sorry. I didn't mean to sound contentious. But besides some people having to work for a living, I was thinking more along the lines of a social life. You know: wife or husband, family, friends, visiting, conversing. Things that seem to have gone out of fashion lately in favor of sitting in front of screens.

John

YO Falcon,

I agree with you 100 percent. That's the reason why I would want to go and get a stand alone player. As of right now, The stand alone players aren't that appealing to me because of update issues, or disk issues that i'm hearing from everyone. The PS3 so far is the best bang for the buck for what I can see right now. I don't really care for the gaming part of it. I just want to watch movies. Becaues it's a gaming machine, it will lack what dedicated players have. But for now I don't mind until a stand alone comes along that can update with no problem and all that good stuff.

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As of right now, The stand alone players aren't that appealing to me because of update issues, or disk issues that i'm hearing from everyone.

The first thing I did this morning was to download the 1.6 firmware to update my new BD30. It was a no brainer and was actually easier to do then the downloaded updates for the Toshiba A-35. The update program was a simple self extracting .exe file burned directly to a cd-r and installed in the machine. The directions on the web page were clear and the whole process went off without a hitch. After that I set the speaker distances, delays, etc. Piece-O-Cake.

I watched The F4 Silver Surfer this afternoon and I was VERY impressed with the PQ. The picture was clear and crisp, perhaps on of the best HD disks I have seen to date. The sound was excellent played through the analogue connections to my Denon receiver, mixed down to whatever it was mixed down to. I can only imagine how the DTS HD will sound. But that's for another time.

So far so good. I really do like this machine. Steve

Edit: I also sampled a part of the SD side of the HD DVD I am Legend in the Panasonic BD player (ironic, isn't it?) and I have to agree with John (I think it was in his article), the upconversion capibility of the Panasonic is not as good as the A-35.

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[Post edited by StevePro on Apr 13, 2008]