Uxi

Eh, I never much cared for PiP on either my HDDVDs (Miami Vice, MI3) or my Blu-rays (Crank, Descent), and am not interested in the technical aspects of making a movie on blue/green screen anyway (the specials from teh Star Wars prequels and 300 webisodes gave me all the fix on that I'll ever need), so gladly chose the Blu-ray of 300 for the PCM track alone, which admittedly is a fault of the Xbox 360, as even the Elite can only put out 2Ch PCM over HDMI, and my older premium can only do 2CH PCM or DVD legacy audio via optical, and my PS3 has 8CH PCM via HDMI. It's the exact same VC1 encode, which is a bit sad, since it might have been able to be tweaked up some for Blu-ray's significantly higher video bitrate, though given the (intentionally added) grain, it might not have been noticible. My first high def double dip will probably be the new Director's Cut of Troy. I have the current HDDVD, but will probably get the new version on Blu-ray. One, to compare the two and three, enjoy the superior audio out of the PS3.

Yeah Blade Destro sounds right up my alley. I'd just as soon as we don't get Voltar if he's gonna be a lavender clad type, but sure hope we get the Iron Grenadier, as well. I was going over them all again, and Snake Eyes and Roadblock easily remain my favorites. Snake Eyes is just too damned cool and excellent in every regard. Can't think of any changes I'd make to Commando Snake-eyes. One thing making me raise my eyeball about Roadblock is that his off-hand is apparently meant to cradle the receiver of the M2. Unfortunately, where he has his hand is right where the ejection port is for the shells. I like Scarlett but she's a bit... cartoony, while the others all have a bit more realism... except maybe Gung-Ho, who has me as a Sergeant of Marines professionally embarrasses since he just screams Village People. I would have liked to see his cammies digitized and the appropriate cover (boonie or field) put on. Speaking of cover, WTF is that emblem on his cover... sure don't look like an EGA. and give him a decent M16A2 or M16A4 (would be best with the digi thing). And if he must keep that stache, make it regulation. So... ahem... back to Scarlett. I think the extra 1911 lookalike is for her, but neither she nor Roadblock have a holster. A more... tactical, looking outfit, if not a shred of uniformity amongst the GI Joe team would be nice, but I guess they are trying to emulate the comic.

Got the Joe pack today from Target. Snake Eyes and Roadblock are easily my favorites. Roadblock makes me miss the Ma Deuce on my Abrams more than anything, as it's gorgeously in scale. Too bad they couldn't have given it the combo colors like they did Snake eyes knife. I like the ammo belt and pack, too, as well as the helmet. Mostly that they actually used a sculpt and made Roadblock a big bad mofo. Weren't there supposedly legal issues around the Roadblock character or something like that? Anyways, Snake Eyes commando is great. I passed on the more traditional Snake Eyes visor with timber at Frank & Sons, today, but hopefully I'll catch it at retail. F&S had both the white wolf and dark wolf variants, as well as leopard print Destro and gold headed Destro. My favorite Destro today (that doesn't look like a 70s bare chested goon or the leopard print pimp is the Iron Grenadier gold-head Destro. Hopefully we get a 25th anniversary that does that character justice, so I can buy it with a straight face. ). They need to do a 5 pack of 5 Cobra troopers and 1 Cobra officer, though.

Right, for starting from scratch. I'm talking about making essentially decorations for an already safety rated helmet.

I would love one, but would want it for practical (motorcycle) use. I'm a bit surprised no Japanese company has done one. No to derail the thread, has anyone tried to do a kit-conversion on an existing snell helmet... maybe a dirt bike helmet with plastic visor, etc? That way, we get a Macross looking helmet and the Macross accouterments to go with it? I would certainly love to give GeneralMayhem some of my money to meet that end...

That totally brought me back to the original comic. The Hard Master was the blind black guy right? And the Soft Master was the guy we only saw in flashbacks?

Ah yes, the infamous "torch mode." Fortunately, there are pro/custom modes available on near every HDTV, but especially the Sony XBR's have an amazing (if near bewildering) gigantic array of options and various parameters to choose from. As far as no HD Feed, at least get an OTA antenna, Alpha OTS. It will make you appreciate your HDTV so much more.

Blu-ray is plenty durable now (thanks to a hard-coat applied to surface of each disc). I have never had a problem with my HDDVDs, but some folks have, and it could benefit from such a hardcoat, as well.

Your guess is correct (the HDMI with audio is primarily for DVI-HDMI conversions), as 2Ch has been with HDMI since the start (and 5.1-7.1 ch since HDMI 1.1).

Still nothing on multi-channel PCM from the 360 HDMI right? I know the Elite doesn't do it, and otherwise have no reason to get a new 360 (as long as my April 06 Premium doesn't give me the red wink of doom).

Really. The PS2 is the most successful game console ever. Granted, the intent to make it a multimedia hub were almost entirely ignored, much the same for the Xbox (officially anyways, the Xbox Media Center Mod gave quite a bit of life). The 360 did make some progress but failed to take on the full scope of the XMC. PS3 has been the most successful. Streaming via Twonky really makes it quite useful and rendered my plasn to clones my near full 60GB iPod direclty on the PS3 moot. I've spent many an hour in front using my 60" TV as a monitor while I browse various forums and web sites. Not quite as useful as Opera tweaked the way I like, but damned close. The Linux functionality is also great. As the PS3 game library grows & develops, we're in for quite a treat, though I don't think it's quite failure if PS3 doesn't sell as well as PS2 (which was quite freakish).

Skull 1 and Low-Viz would definitely be my top two choices.

Can't wait for this obviously, as the 1/72 YF-21 FP is one of my favorite valks, right with my Low-Viz. I haven't gotten a YF-19 yet (was actually hoping for a Ravens VF-19A actually). I hope we get the optional VF-22S face and cockpit like Graham had posted as a possibility for the 1/72. I will not likely be able to resist getting a Gulk YF-21FP but would be dreaming of a Ravens, if not a Max or Gamlin VF-22S. I really hope Yamato forges new ground and does a 1/60 VF-17, though, before the 11B and 11C!

This last week's numbers are in:

Yeah. http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/06/17/block...s-the-war-over/ 250 stores were the pilots for both HDDVD and Blu-ray. Blockbuster says they'll continue to stock HDDVD at those 250 stores, but when they expand for the remaining 1200 stores, it's only Blu-ray. Anyways, good idea JsARCLIGHT. I have a 60XBR1 SXRD; Denon AVR-4306; 7.1 Polk RM, PS3, 360/HDDVD add-on, and a plane jane 5-disc DVD carousel. I get HD Cable (Charter) via CableCARD so no STB it's decoded by the TV itself. I do upscaling/deinterlacing on the DVD carousel through the Denon. Here's a pic:

Anything new on XBL? I should probably just fire up and check

The Heavenly Sword Demo was great, but all too short. They mix in some of the cinematic scenes ala God of War and Spiderman 2/3 along with the usual hack and slash. I had some mean combos going, too.

Courtesy AVS member Grubert. Source: Nielsen/Videoscan Sales: Blu-ray/HDDVD Day Week YTD SI 01/07 63.3/36.7 63.3/36.7 41.2/58.8 01/14 68.2/31.8 65.7/34.3 43.2/56.8 01/21 67.8/32.2 66.4/33.6 45.1/54.9 01/28 68.8/31.2 67.0/33.0 46.7/53.3 02/04 69.0/31.0 67.4/32.6 48.1/51.9 02/11 69.6/30.4 67.7/32.3 49.3/50.7 02/18 65.0/35.0 67.4/32.6 50.3/49.7 02/25 68.5/31.5 67.4/32.6 51.5/48.5 03/04 65.7/34.3 67.2/32.8 52.2/47.8 03/11 68.7/31.3 67.9/32.1 52.8/47.2 03/18 81.7/18.3 69.2/30.8 54.3/45.7 03/25 n/a 70.4/29.6 55.6/44.4 04/01 n/a 69.9/30.1 56.2/43.8 04/08 62.4/37.6 69.4/30.6 56.4/43.6 04/15 61/39 69/31 57/43 04/22 52/48 68/32 57/43 04/29 71/29 68/32 58/42 05/06 60/40 68/32 57/43 05/13 62/38 68/32 57/43 05/20 58/42 67/33 57/43 05/27 69/31 67/33 58/42 06/03 61/39 67/33 59/41 06/10 66/34 67/33 59/41 06/17 64/36 67/33 59/41 06/24 70/30 67/33 59/41 07/01 65/35 67/33 60/40 07/08 66/34 67/33 60/40 07/15 61/39 67/33 60/40

Blu-ray has really been pulling away: Lifted from AVS forum beatboy77: Over the past 72 hours we have heard the following from the Blu-ray camp: - Close Encounters of the Third Kind Announced Exclusively on Blu-ray!! http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=351 - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Announced Exclusively on Blu-ray!! http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=353 - Target to Sell Blu-ray Players Exclusively http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=349 - Denon enters HD optical with Exclsuive Blu-ray support with the DVD-3800BDCI. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=340 - BJ's Wholesale Club Stores To Carry Blu-ray Exclusively http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6463556.html - Woolworths go Blu-ray exclusive. Drop HD-DVD. http://www.playthree.net/2007/07/wo...ve-drop-hd.html - Razor Digital announces Blu-ray Exclusivity with four IMAX titles for Blu-ray on November 13th. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=337 - Questar announces Blu-ray Exclusivity with three titles which include 'Rudy Maxa's Europe to the Max', 'The Enchanted Pacific to the Max' and a yet to be announced PBS nature series title. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=338 - Tartan Video confirms Blu-ray Exclusivity and announces three titles, 'Black Book', 'The Seventh Seal', and 'Oldboy' on October 23rd. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=336 - 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' announced for Exclusive release on Blu-ray for October 2nd. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=339 - 'Rein Over Me' announced for Exclusive release on Blu-ray forOctober 9th. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=334

It is excellent. ESPECIALLY if you have an HDMI receiver that can take 5.1 PCM (if not 7.1). The uncompressed PCM track set with PLIIx through my Denon-4306 is INCREDIBLE. Walls are shuddering and shaking while gunfire is all around you. Another great track is the Pearl Harbor.

This game looks great, just in stretching the high definition envelope if nothing else. Course, I've always liked Jedi/Sith and think they're fundamental to the game? Star Destroyer? "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force." Some of the novels had Luke's Jedi Academy pushing out multiple Star Destroyers beyond their system IIRC... I never took it that The Emperor and Vader didn't have such power, but that they were more discrete with it's use, at least for the more grandiose stuff. Or those that saw such things "forgot" it (or died soon after witnessing it), or they somewhat in the know anyway (the Emperor's stooges/advisors, Royal Guard, Hands, etc).

No signs of anything yet. A great many of us on AVS Forum are using the PS3 as our primary Blu-ray players, given that it's the cheapest and one of the best (fastest of either HD format, 1080p24 capability, BTB/WTW, 8CH LPCM, Dolby TrueHD decoding etc). I have 30 Blu-rays and have probably watched each one 2 or 3 times not counting when I'm doing my demo show off. I've also watched the entire Star Wars sextet and LOTR EE trilogy on DVD (if/when I get a Blu-ray burner, I intend to compile the SD versions onto a single BD-RE: probably Prequel Star Wars trilogy, Original Star Wars Trilogy, and LOTR EE trilogy ), if not SD series / anime to a single disc or two since that's one of the best features of Blu-ray IMO.

Looks awesome on my TV (60" 16:9) and the jet engine noise in the intro scared the hell out of me (guess I had the volume up too high). Been awhile since I played any Ace Combat and took me some getting used to the control. I finished the first part and after the intro for the 2nd quit out to watch all the E3 trailers I downloaded on PSN and XBL.

Downloading the AC6 demo, a trailer, and probably 4 or 5 trailers on PSN as we speak. AS soon as that's done, I won't be on the boards for awhile.

Any hearing loss is far more likely to have been from hearing all the 120mm rounds going off from my wingman Abrams, if not my own.