Dangard Ace

Just played the timed Demo for DMC4. Pretty fun.

Still like the original 1/60 nose and cockpit better but the rest of the new 1/60 = win!

I love my Wii, the control scheme is great. I hate patent sitters but this very interesting article came up on Kotaku. If it's true Nintendo may be cutting these guys a nice big check soon. http://kotaku.com/344800/motion-controller...o-over-wii+mote

To turn it around and win the war? They need content people want to buy. 1) HD DVD already had the price war won. The players are cheap enough but there isn't enough content people want to buy or want to re-buy in HD. Plus bring in more CE manufacturers. I hate having no choice but to buy from one CE-Toshiba. Unfortunately with their last price cuts I can't see how any new CE can price to match Toshiba players and still make a profit. Onyko bowed out because they weren't making any profit when they tried to make HD DVD players and I'm not even going to touch the bargain brand Venturer players since in essence they're just repackaged A3's. Toshiba's being the only game in town for HD DVD hardware means failure to me. 2) Price of their cheaper to produce media to be lower then Blurays. They harp and harp about how it's easier and cheaper to produce HD DVD's compared to Bluray but it's priced exactly the same or higher in stores. Make me feel like I'm not getting ripped off when buying your media and I'll support you. If I save $200 buying an HD DVD player instead of a Bluray player but I buy 100 movies at $2-3 more per disc meaning I lose $200-$300 I'm going for the more expensive player but cheaper media option. Especially when I handle the two physical media, Bluray just feels smoother and sturdier and less prone to the ailments of DVD's that HD DVD is. 3) Content. Content. Content. I don't care how cheap your players are or how big your perceived catalog is, if you're not releasing the content I want to buy I'm not buying your content. They have to release the A-list content that people will watch and enjoy over and over again. Releasing stuff like Blades of Glory or The Bee Movie/Shrek 3 to go up against Spiderman and Pixar... no way I'm choosing HD DVD. They have to release stuff like Schindlers List, Shakespeare in Love, Gladiator, ET, Jaws, etc and give it the star treatment that Disney does when they release their movies and I'll buy.

Toshiba is fighting back with new round of aggressive MSRP price cuts. http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story...NEM041/GIStory/

Who said it was? I used that as an example of irate customers. You're the one who's intentionally claiming a possible example I made as being a disastrous scenario for WB. I already replied to this in my second paragraph. You say WB made that choice. I say that customers made their choice for them by consumer spending during the holiday season. Non-media buying consumers made their choice by choosing not to buy until this format war is decided by the choosers/early adopters. That in itself is a choice. All consumers chose whether by their action or inactions. Anti-Sony bias. Got it. Neutral only works if everyone is neutral. Having ONE neutral company does not help end the format war and being as it's one with major titles, only extends it as the average consumer will not buy into any format for fear of being left with a lemon like the Betamax. They're going to sit and wait until it's over. Who wins with a delayed format winner announced? Not us hidef consumer since we have to buy two players to play two different formats. Bitter regarding Paramounts business decision? Damn right but I bought it eventually. Paramount a neutral company deciding on a side and making a choice for consumers? Unthinkable! WB is pushing their consumers to Bluray because that is what their collected data said that customers were buying. They were never going to remain neutral after Q4. Complaining about that isn't going to change it. Neutral worked for the BetaMax/VHS war. That was 30 years ago. Lines were drawn before day 1 of this format war. Different war different tactics.

Way to misread my post. Gold star. Won't because it makes no sense for them to do so. They're going Bluray, are under contract to support HD DVD until May 2007 and will do so but not in a way that will promote it. They no longer have a vested interest in HD DVD so will do the minimum allowed to complete their contract while promoting their day-and-date Bluray releases. Sure this screws over the current owners of HD DVD players but WB chose Bluray as the format that has the best chance to grow HDM into a mainstream product. ONE format can do this easier then two. Bluray was chosen as that format. I take it you have an HD DVD player and are pissed off at WB for choosing Bluray. Most HD DVD-pro fans argue that WB should remain neutral and let the consumers decide. Well guess what WB, the last major neutral studio, stated that that they would make a decision to go with one format at the end of 2007 Q4 or 2008 Q1 after the holidays. Well consumers voted with their wallets and the results were not in favor of HD DVD. I'm sure if the market said HD DVD would win they'd have gone HD DVD and we'd be hearing the exact same argument except from the BD side. Or we can argue that WB got paid out to go Blu. Not substantiated since the head of WB denies it and no outside source has yet to verify the payout. Paramount who went HD DVD though got paid out. There were links within days of that news from NYT or Businessweek quoting insider/high level management sources screaming about the payout(can't remember which but it'd be easy to google). Consumers didn't get a choice from Paramount at all. I'm still pissed I had to get an HD-D3 just to watch Transformers, which they pulled the BD HiDef version just days before release. I guess that payoff they received back then worked. How about a post from a HighDefDigest thread? They've got a better salesperson example then I did.

It's no longer in WB best interests to release their movies on two competing formats simultaneously. For example: average consumer, who knows nothing about HD or formats wars, goes into a store to buy an HD player and HDTV to play one of their newly released movies. By chance they encounter an HD DVD diehard employee who recommends an HD DVD player for that movie. The customer goes home and is happy with his purchase until June. When he goes back to XXX store he finds out that the next WB movie he wants is no longer available in the format he just invested in. He's now angry that WB was still releasing simultaneous formats when they knew they would be dropping one format. IMO this is why they don't release simultaneously anymore. The fact that they're willing to release the movies 3 weeks later is to appease their HD DVD invested fans for the next six months and to ease their transition over to Bluray.

Why actively promote HD DVD when they've already gone public in backing Bluray? IMO the only reason they're even slowly releasing HD DVDs now is so they won't get sued for any possible breach of contract they had(until end of May) with the HD DVD group. Thanks. I just spent another $100 at Amazon. (shakes fist).

Okay children. Stay on topic.

Funny I see all the opposite re:360vsPS3 fanboys over at both avsforum and highdefdigest.com. They're the ones proclaiming HD optical media doesn't matter anymore it's all digital downloads or that 720p downloads are good enough. WTF? How can you go from a 1080i/p fight to 720p is better then what Bluray offers? Okay point. POTC:DMC wasn't a beautiful transfer. As for the AVC vs VC-1 comparisons are you talking about the Doom9 thread or the afterdawn.com? I want to see if they've got comparison pictures, more info on if they're comparing similar region/distributer discs etc..etc..etc.. Combo HD-DVD/DVD.....good in theory, tons of problems. Below is a bunch of links I copied from an insider when asked what he thought about HD DVD and Combo discs. (actual post http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showpos...postcount=2399) From Josh Zyber - http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/894 HD DVD discs from Weinstein having playback issues http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/08...ayback-issues/ HD DVD experiences playback problems on Xbox 360 http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/hd-dvd...view-2201.html DVD/HD-DVD Version of 300 Experiencing Some Player Issues http://www.movieweb.com/dvd/news/44/21644.php HD DVD Playback Problems Due To Poor Testing Procedures? http://www.cdrlabs.com/news/byte/4826

Christ some of you guys are having sour grapes. HD DVD More affordable? Yes it was...at first. Toshiba ate up huge costs to be attractive to the masses. Hell I bought an HD-D3($99) because of the cheap price. The last few months the HD DVD players that apparently were hardware spec'd equivalent to the BD players were about $50 different. All reports from CES said that the higher price BD standalone players out sold the cheaper HD DVD players. Add that to all the high profile day-and-date releases that the BDA was releasing compared to what the HD group was releasing and you can guess what brand consumers bought into. Easier to manufacture? The optical media? That's what's been reported but so what? Why were they priced to match the BD discs or sometimes more expensive then the BD discs instead of being lower? Obviously the saving they were making on the cheaper discs weren't being passed onto us the consumers. Region free? Yes it is. Too bad in other countries Bluray is what's been dominating the HD market. Also I've read that BD region coding is left up to the studios to decide whether they wanted to use it on their discs or not. Can't remember who exactly but Fox or Disney were the ones who pushed for it. Spec finalized format? Definitely. HDi is better then Java. HD DVD wins this. Bluray doesn't have web interactivity yet. PiP has been implemented in profile 1.1, but saying newer discs won't play in older players? Not according to codec insiders on the AVS forums insiders thread(see below for link). You won't get to use PiP but you can still watch the movie and see the PiP information playing separately. Bloated out-dated codec releases? First six months of BD inception yes it used older crappier codec MPEG-2. They got called on it and they fixed it. MPEG-4 AVC is used on most BD discs now. 2 Disc releases? Some movies needed them and like Uxi said it's also a marketing gimmick. IIRC all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies clocked in at over 40Gb per movie....and you can't argue that Pirates doesn't benefit because the transfers beautiful. TL51 discs? From what I read from the insiders thread on AVS the likelyhood of these discs getting produced quickly enough in amounts that would affect the HD format war was very unlikely. Go here to read the insiders of both sides thrash it out. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=899842

Nevermind about Predator. http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Fox...or_Blu-ray/1355 Fox Preps 'Predator' Blu-ray Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 03:00 PM ET Tags: Disc Announcements, Fox (all tags) In an early announce to retailers, Fox has set an April Blu-ray debut for the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic 'Predator.' One of the "monster" franchises of the '80s (along with the 'Alien' series), the original 'Predator' has long been on the wishlish of early adopters for high-def release. Now Fox has heeded the call to hunt, setting an April 15 street date for the Blu-ray. With a full press announcement still due in the coming days, there are no supplemental details yet available, but we'll keep you posted. Tech specs are set to include 1080p video and audio flavors in DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround and Dolby Digital 4.0 Surround, plus a French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo dub. Retail for the Blu-ray is $39.98.

x2. + Predator.

Yes but I have TED, Engadget, Arstechnica, Gizmodo all on different tabs. I'm keeping up with industries latest.

If you're willing to suffer a few days with 480i order your new AV cables through www.monoprice.com. Cheap price, great quality cables. Ever since I've found these guys I've been shilling them to everyone I know.

Tomorrow Knights.

There would be a giant robot, nubile magical girls, hockey, and beer.

That's a personal preference and I won't argue with you there David but I will standby my statement that I see more movies that I would rebuy on Hi Def on Bluray, top on that list is Aliens(1986) and I'm of the PS3/360 age group too. About Paramount's exclusive contract to HD-DVD. I see Blu-Ray sales taking off with the general public now and HD-DVD sales will start lagging. I would bet that Paramount has some "out" clauses in their contract that lets them terminate it if certain performance expectations aren't met by them being HD-DVD exclusive. Remember I'm purple so I can watch both formats but I've had a PS3 for a year and HD-DVD for a week. For obvious reasons I do lean Blu.

Time Warner confirmed it themselves on their own website. http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/0,20697,,00.html I disagree. I find that there are more Must-Buy releases on Blu-Ray then there are on HD-DVD. Last years exclusive big hitters for HD-DVD were Heroes Season 1, Shrek 3, Transformers and Bourne Ultimatum. Bluray had Casion Royale, Surfs Up, Ratatouille, Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean:AWE, Cars, Fantastic Four:ROTSS, Live Free or Die Hard, and Lost Season 3(I think).

Update: WARNER is going BLU_RAY! http://www.cnbc.com/id/22507036 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008...s-blu-ray_N.htm http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsume...444635420080104

I had already stated media in one storage space/media server was a preference. It was in the post re:fanboyism. I'll try to make it more blindingly obvious in the future. Why don't you admit that you saw a chance to throw out the Xbox360 name when we were talking about valid reasons for upgrading the PS3 HD and storing DivX files was one of them? This wasn't an Xbox360 vs PS3 question. It was a PS3 HD: Bigger or smaller is better? question. Nothing to do with other electronic entertainment products and their media. See? It works both ways. I currently own the Wii, DS lite, PS3 and PSP. One of my best friends owns the 360 and I enjoy playing on it but not enough to own. The games that I would want to play are also available on or coming soon to PC so for me, personally, owning that console doesn't make any sense(Achievements don't interest me). Would I call my best friend an Xbox fanboy because he has a 360? No because he doesn't find a reason to say Xbox360 in discussions that aren't related to it. Love of games, not loyalty to brands. Agreed - Sony did a top-notch job with the PS3, I'd even say incredible especially for what it does for that price. Building an HTPC that does what the PS3 does around the same price will be very hard. Granted that the money would be spent mainly on getting the BD/HD-DVD player(I don't see why anyone wouldn't go with the combo drive on an HTPC), getting a CPU to run it (on a Quad-core HD-DVD playback was 6% cpu usage. BD was %10) and compatible graphics card. Full props to Uxi for the great reminder. Backups of any product with a hard drive is a must.

Lol! That's hilarious. Let's go back. We're in the PS3 thread and your reply to my post which argued that a PS3 HD upgrade was a good thing was "So does my Xbox 360 and both of my DVD players. Which is why I put all my Divx files on DVDs." Where in that post, nay one sentence does it elaborate anything like your new post does except state that your Xbox360 and DVD players plays both? It doesn't. Are we supposed to know what your thought processes are? It just states that your 360 and DVD players also play DivX on DVD's. I haven't tried it but I'm pretty sure that the PS3 can play DivX on DVD's as well. Pulling in your video game console ownage, big deal. As Shania said, "it don't impress me much." I've either played with or owned every video game system since the original Colecovision/Atari 2600 days. That's a good ~15yrs before the Dreamcast came out. I'm sure others here have just as much or more video game experience then I do. Does this history mean anything? No. Win the argument with arguments not with boasting. Using DVD's instead of upgrading the HD? Let's say we hate the clutter of having tons of loose DVD's around. I do and I store my divx movie files on an ext 250GB USB laptop HD. No burning need, less mess. Easier to carry, no need to worry about scratches or burning coasters. Faster and easier way to trade large files with friends. Storing files on the PS3 instead of streaming or smaller media? You're localizing all your files for ease of access. Turn on PS3, all your files are there instead of having to turn on other systems and/or creating more physical media.

Your fanboyism is showing. Your reply has no relevance to why a 300Gb upgrade to the PS3 HD is good or not. Can't argue with that since I've been frustrated with the organizational setup of the folders within PS3. But it's been easier to teach my parents, both technophobes - the 12:00 flashing-type, how to insert a memory card, copy images and watch slideshows through the PS3 then it is to login the PC, upload their images, turn on the PS3 connect via Eyeconnect (or twonky or whatever you're using to stream) navigate to the correct folder and then slideshow.

No it's not. Divx movies can now be played on the PS3. So using the PS3 as the mediahub it's intended to be, MP3's, pictures, and movies will fill up that space pretty fast nevermind the downloadable games, movie trailers, and game demos.