Uxi

Now where's the MP Megatron/Galvatron? I'd like to reiterate that Megatron should hopefully an artillery piece like the M155 and a "primitive" aka "modern" Galvatron. The whole Transformer sized Megatron gun was almost as silly as the human-sized one considering he was Prime-sized in bot mode.

When you bought a Plasma, you have bigger problems to worry about. But seriously, hooked up to my Denon and my SXRD, the PS3 will be one of the least expensive AV components I have.

There are at least 2 launch titles that have already reputedly topped 20GB, which would not be possible without Blu-ray. Memory capacity is like horsepower, RAM, and resolution in that there can NEVER be too much and it's instead just a question of diminishing returns, though there are ALWAYS returns. $100 for Blu-ray is alot cheaper than the 360's option for HD-DVD (which will be double). Anyone not wanting Blu-ray is, of course, not required to buy any BD movies, if even a PS3. Sony adding HDMI to their cheaper model should stifle most of these claims since this is not available at all for the 360 and won't be until they get a digital video board in there. Now that HDMI, a far higher percentile of people can now live without the higher end PS3 excepting only the niche needs of wifi/memory sticks/larger HD, etc. Now let's talk the play/charge kit (included in the PS3 ala USB cable), wifi ($100 for the 360). Comparing 'tard pack' to 'tard pack' the 360 guys save another hundred bucks but get stuck with a wired controller, no HD, no component cable, etc. Many Sony should come up with a true 'tard pack' that's $399 and includes a composite/stereo only?

Most stores have theirs set to "Vivid" which is the torch mode Sony has and I believe this is the default mode out of the box (though it's also possible it's set to "Standard"). I set mine to "Pro" which opens up the User Menu to full configuration (which is scary complex, since Sony included many features as part of their XBR suite that many manufactuers leave in the Service Menu, like RGB, white balance, etc). This was for the XBR1, which I have. The A2000 is a "lower end" SXRD that Sony came out with Spring/Summer 2006. Not being an XBR, it lacks features like TwinView/Picture-in-Picture, the 2nd tuner, Memory Stick reader, CableCARD, the more extreme User Menu tweakability, etc. The XBR2, which are now coming out now have a slightly different nomenclature. Instead of "Pro" it's "Custom." Many of the details of de-interlacing are different, as well. Then, I'd advise you hit up avsforum.com and go to the appropriate Owners and/or Tweaks thread. There are very large ones for the XBR1 and there are also individual ones for the A2000 and now XBR2, which has just recently (as in the last week) hit the streets. I used the THX setup in the Star Wars III disc to initially set mine up (matched near perfect out of the box in Pro mode, though I had very slight tweaks to contrast and brightness). The XBR1 has a very good de-interlacing system and processing, but is capable of doing the de-interlacing in one of four ways (bob, weave, and advanced motion-adaptive 8-bit or direct 10-bit), some of which are more appropriate to particular media (standard definition 480i TV versus 720p and/or 1080i HDTV versus sports versus 24fps DVD versus still pictures, etc). I have since moved on to Digital Video Essentials (DVE) and have been tweaking it when I don't get distracted by actually playing games or watching DVD's or HD-channels on it. Basically if and until you turn into a complete Home Theater geek like I've been, you'll be mostly happy with THX optimizer found on any of the DVD's featuring it and Pro/Custom mode.

Yeah, but the Ark made him imitate a real F-15...

That is a good paintjob. I would prefer flats instead of glosses, grey instead of silver, and a gold tint to the canopy, though.

SXRD is LCoS. I have the 60" and it is marvelous with the 360 set to output 1080i. I also have my PS2 connected via component in Game Mode (which eliminates the lag that would normally result from the upscaling and de-interlacing since the SXRD display all content at 1080p). Burn in concerns aren't my own most concern to plasma as are the comparitively extreme price for equivalent screen size and resolution. There are many fine plasmas out there. Unfortunately the bulk are still 768P.

Yup. Too bad I don't wait in lines or preorder, though. I already have a 360, but the release schedule has only been disapointing thus far. There have been a handful of titles that are worthy of the hardware and I have to scratch my head at that. As usual, PS3 should have a far better library. HDMI is not just an update and chip away, since the current 360 does not have a digital video board. I believe Toshiba spilled the beans that MS is going to release an HD-DVD internal drived 360 that could. Whether this will lead to a fracturing of the existing hardware base or whether there will be an "upgrade" plan or some such remains to be seen.

They don't look like they do on a 60" 16:9. Even the PS2 supported widescreen, so it's a good bet the PS3 is optimized for it, as is the 360. What model is this 4:3 HDTV? I've never heard of such an odd duck...

Yeah, does not computer. He said he has an "HDTV" but said it was "square." 4:3 != HD. HDTV = 16:9. Widescreen support is a must. If they don't have 4:3, I won't shed a bloody tear since even my bedroom HDTV is 16:9 (34" CRT which ways almost double my 60" SXRD ).

Hardware wise, the PS3 should have a huge edge, but it may not manifest for a couple years. By then the Xbox 720 may be out (or on the horizon). MS has huge gobs of money to throw away and they've done good in gaining technical parity, even if the audience still isn't quite there (especially in asia). Speaking of which, I've been using Vista RC1 for awhile and I must say it's pretty cool. The whole XP Media Center streaming to the 360 thing kinda sucks though. Hopefully the PS3 implements that much much better.

Eh, the way I see it the only real benefit to Plasma is the small footprint. It is more than offset by the crushed primaries, loud fan noise, huge power consumption and enormous cost for equivalent sized screens. Way too many of them are still 768P, too. But maybe that's just me. Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE a Pioneer Elite 61" but I ain't gonna pay $10k for it when I got my SXRD for 40% of that.

I would find a buy one get one free single Maul hard to resist. But barring that, I'm satisfied with the Mace, Luke RotJ, and Anakin Ep 3 I have.

I don't really think the war in the Pacific has been as overdone as the Nazi's (excepting maybe Pearl and Midway, both of which were aviation and/or naval in focus). The only one that comes to mind other than the craptastic Thin Red Line is the John Wayne movies. Speaking of which, I should be most amused to hear an in story reference to Sgt Striker. As a US Marine and combat vet (OIF I), I have always held the Devil Dogs of Iwo Jima in the highest respects (along with the Frozen Chosin, Khe Sahn, etc), so will be most interested in this. Old school Clint I would have much more faith in than the new sappy Clint (Bridges of Madison County and the chic boxer one amongst a few others). The carnage and pure tenacious fighting at Iwo Jima make it stand out from any other...

This could be very good or very bad, but I doubt it will end up in between... This other POV Jap movie could be interesting, especially in a "Whole Bloody Afair" type thing.

The sculpt looks pretty cool, if a bit small. The colors are way wacked. Depends on the price, but I'll probably wait for the US version.

I play my 360 output 1080i to my 60" SXRD and it is incredible. One important considering for most devices that output 1080p is that they're not actually passing 1080p natively. Most simply have a de-interlacing chip that does it's mojo just before being output and there are some that upscale at that time. There are a few that pass 1080p natively, but far more rare. My set does both upscaling and de-interlacing anyway and does so in ways I can adjust for the best content - I can select de-interlacing to be done as a bob, weave, or motion adaptive with inverse telecine, some of which are more appropriate for certain content than others (stills versus moving pictures versus 24 fps film-based content, for example). I really don't expect native 1080p to be common for a few more years. Broadcast wise, cable/satellite providers are struggling to get out quality 1080i/720p. 1080p is drastically more bandwidth intensive so will not likely be broadcast for 15-20 years, if even then. Plus for film-based content (read: DVD movies), 1080p24 (24 progressive frames per second of 1080 lines of vertical resolution) is indistinguishable from 1080i60 (60 frames per second of interlaced 1080 lines of vertical resolution), which is what most HDTV's up to this year were capable of. The one arena where 1080p could make it's mark is games, of course, but expect to see most games in 720p60, though many 360 games are only displayed at 30fps...

I never really had complaints about the DS2 until I played my 360 for awhile. Having gone back to San Andreas in between Oblivion and Lego SW2 on the 360, I noticed my hand cramping quite a bit more. I don't have huge hands and I just think it's ergonomics are a bit too Japanese small... I didn't like the GC or N64 pads one bit. The 360's controllers are definitely superior to the original Xbox controller. I like the triggers and shoulder buttons of the 360 pad, too, though I used to forget the shoulders were there when I first got it and they are a tad bit high. The Batarang looks like it would be perfect with just slightly smaller handles... I do like the triggers on the PS3 and think their position slightly improved compared to the 360. I just think the general shape of the Batarang will make my hands less prone to cramping. l

Based on the "head"/bridge/conning tower I always figured they were roughly SDF-sized rather than using actual Zent cruisers as guns. It makes sense that humans would meld/emulate the more advanced Zentraedi technology in their future designs...

I"ve been enjoying Lego SW2 on my 360... Before that it was dust city once Oblivion got old about half way through.

Can't wait. I won't preorder or stand in line, so will probably get one a month or two after release, but definitely going to be getting a 60GB. I hope they offer the batarang controller as an option. I don't like the ergonomics of the DS2, especially compared to the 360 controller, but the batarang looks like it'd be at least as comfy as the 360 controller (maybe with some shorter handles).

I always thought WEG's D6 would do great with Macross. Palladium's system is sucker than suck, though. I have the MII RPG (after seeing the OVA based on my memories of Robotech, I got the RPG and from there got into Macross in general).

That review was hilarious.

Those look pretty cool, Chowser. I have the Mace Ep3, Luke RotJ (2nd), and Anakin Ep3 FX but haven't modded them at all. I passed on the DVD's as I'm sated by the first 6 releases for now. I did get Lego Star Wars II, though, and have been laughing my ass off.

Meh. The SE widescreen set I got 04 is enough to hold me over until an ueber Blu-ray set comes out. In the meantime, I've had some fun with editing my own "cut." I hope there's a future set with all the deleted scenes integrated in (if not a full Expanded Edition... Lucas has made many cuts for time and for home theater those concerns just aren't as relevent IMO). The Prequels need a revisit, too. Replace the EP1 and Ep2 Yodas with the Ep3 CGI Yoda for consistency. I toss back and forth whether Ep 5 and 6 Yoda's ... mostly out of nostalgia's sake, I'm thinking don't, but it could certainly be enhanced and made less obviously a puppet. Same for the space slug. Get rid of Greedo shooting at all, though.