linkage

Guess what I am going to be doing tonight … I’ll let you know what improvement this makes and hopefully it will speed up the boot times!

Yesterday was a tragic day for my beloved format. Best Buy announced that it would support Blu-ray as its preferred HD Movie technology and Netflix, the online DVD rental giant, announced that it would phase out its HD DVD rentals. If its any consolation, Netflix HD DVD and BD rentals represented a fraction on their rentals. So February 11, 2008 was a tough day for the format - where does this leave HD DVD owners. A close friend of mine and HD DVD owner decided yesterday to bail and buy a Samsung Blu-ray player. He does not know what format (update, it is a 2.0) and was unaware of the class action suit against Samsung for building defective Blu-ray players. He recently emailed me, I thought I would share his question and my response, because it is a question alot of bloggers and fanboyz are asking.

Friend: I will never understand why you are so loyal to a large corp just because you bought their product.

ILHDDVD: What do you mean?

Friend: oooh, blu-ray sucks … HD DVD is the only way to go …. blah blah blah …. fact - mainstream movies won’t be available on HDDVD in a few months.

ILHDDVD:  Ultimately, its a personal preference. And since you ask, I’ll give you mine

I think Blu-ray sucks because it is an overpriced incomplete format. I don’t want to spend money on a product that has a history of failure and will likely be obsolete and not able to take advantage of all features of future releases. Accordingly, if a movie that I really want to watch - like 3:10 to Yuma - is not available on HD DVD, I’ll watch it on VOD, PPV or download it through Xbox live. Alternatively, I’ll get the SD DVD and upconvert it. The point being that there are so many places to get movies from other than HD DVD or BD that I am comfortable with my abhorrance of BD, and the acceptance of HD DVD.

As I have watched countless HD DVDs and unconverted DVDs, one thing I have come to realize is that there are very few movies out there that really have the ability to look impressive enough in HD for me to want to get the HD DVD version and not upconvert. Nerd movies with lots of special effects, or Sci-fi movies can be impressive in HD. But there are instances, like with Dune, where the HD image blows ass. Most movies don’t need to be in HD, like Clockwork Orange, The Rundown, or Blades of Glory. I just don’t think the HD really adds anything to the movie that you would otherwise miss in an unconverted SD DVD. Sure it looks good, but there is not “WOW” factor. Movies like,  Transformers, however, and Miami Vice or Batman, I would not watch in any other format because the image is so impressive. Most movies look fine to me, and probably most consumers, in unconverted SD. caveat: obviously, if the HD DVD is the same price as a regular DVD, I’ll take the HD DVD. But as it is, Blu-ray discs are much more expensive than HD DVD discs and SD disc - by about $10 a disc (yes, the price fluxuates). One important thing, though, I really love the interactive menus and miss being able to access the menu and set bookmarks when I watch an SD DVD.

Also, BD is region coded, like DVD. BD also has an oppressive DRM scheme making copying the disc very very difficult. Someone will ultimately do it, but at that point, Sony is likely going to change their DRM scheme to address that crack. There has also been some discussion of Blu-rays use of Hard-coating - a technology used to protect the disc from scratches. See the Blu-ray media layer is closer to the surface of the disc which makes it more susceptible to scratches. Sony, TDK and I think 3M (but I could be wrong) have been developing a coating on an ongoing process to address this issue. Regardless of their work, BDs by their nature are more susceptible to damage than regular DVDs and HD DVD.

I like HD movies a lot, and I love my HD DVD player - I wish there were more titles available. But it comes down to value. I don’t think BD present a good enough value (unless you are a PS3 gamer) for the BD player or the BD movies to justify dealing with its short comings. HD DVD is complete and its price point and the price point of its movies are right where I want them to be. Do I think I own a paperweight? no. the HD DVD player can do so much more than play HD DVDs. It is our default DVD player. As far as studio support and titles available, if I want to watch a movie that is not in the HD DVD format, Ill VOD it, PPV it, buy it on Xbox Live or upconvert it - no need for me to get a BD player.

I was never really a fan of The Rock. I thought he did a fine job when he hosted SNL, but other than that, I could care less. That is until I saw this movie - The Rundown. Holy crap this movie is funny. Having never heard of this movie before, I was surprised. It has some Solid acting and fine cinematography … for an action film  

The Rock teams with Sean Michael Scott, Rosario Dawson (her awesome body) and …Christopher Walken. Yes, Christopher Walken in this adventure oriented romp. Rock plays a bounty hunter who is sent to Brazil to track the son of his wealthy employer. From the opening fight to the end of the movie, the adventure, fights, dialogue are engaging. The working title was Helldorado (it is seen in the extra features) and I am glad they did not keep that serious sounding title because this movie does not take itself seriously at all. In the end, The Rock shines as an action star.

Picture quality (PQ) in this flick is not the greatest. Update: What I mean is, the picture is granier than most HD DVDs. It looks good, especially the scenic shots in Brazil, but its just not the greatest HD picture I have seen; its not the crisp picture I have come to expect from the format. to compare another action film, Smokin’ Aces looks better. Regardless, its an action movie and was shot in a very cool way. there are some Tarantinoish/Matrixy fight shots and quick movement shots that are crisp and very exciting - especially the Spinning Flying Monkey Ju Jitsu scene. Ultimately, It is a movie that translates well to HD, and would look probably  pretty crappy on an SD DVD.

Audio quality (AQ) wise, this movie scores. The highlight being a scene in an underground ancient burial structure. With its brick walls, and creeky support poles sounding awesome and in 5.1 the AQ really adds to the environment. It was very reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. During the fight/action scenes the audio is awesome. The AQ in the rest of the movie is clear and sharp even with just a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Unlike Transformers I don’t think the audio was important enough to add a TrueHD track.

The extra features are pathetic. This kind of movie would have been perfect for a U-control menu which could show the filming of the fight scenes with PiP and the GPS feature as used in Miami Vice. I was surprised not to see it here. There is, however, a horrible featurette about The Rock’s relationship with some baboons. The features with in typical 4:3 SD … whatever.

If you haven’t seen it, get it in HD, I don’t think it would be as good in SD.

ILHDDVD Rating: 3/5 (A fun movie that misses with the video quality)
Video/Image: 3/5 (Ok)
Audio: 4/5 (awesome for the genre)
Recommended

Did you see this HD DVD? Rankit: (4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)

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Punchjump is reporting that Best Buy is offering a free A3 with the purchase of a Yamaha/Kplisch audio system. I have not seen the circular so I cannot confirm, let me know in the comments if you have taken advantage of this offer.

Source

NPD sales for the week ending February 3 are in courtesy of Bill Hunt. Remember, these numers do not include Amazon.com sales where the A3 and A30 are some of the biggest selling electronics on all of Amazon.com - Blu-ray SAPs and the PS3 do not even crack the top 100. I am interested to see Toshiba’s numbers.

On to the numers ..

For the week ended February 3, 2008: HD DVD had 26% of the hardware marketshare to Blu-ray’s 74%:

This is an increase of 8% over prior week ended January 27.

So what conclusions can we draw?

1) the sale is working

2) the “war” as some affectionately call it, is not over.

What needs to be fleshed out is the effect of the PS3 on the market. I wonder how many PS3 owners actually use the PS3 to watch Blu-ray discs.

Images courtesy of Bill Hunt