jiggawhat

It's better to find out now rather than later at least.

Hammer99

I gave up on getting it at Amazon, so I paid thru the nose & got the BD thru BestBuy.com. It finally arrived on Saturday, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

QuePaso

Supermallet

wewantflair

Awesome.

flashburn

I just want to know when the PS3 is going to decode DTS-HD MA. Stupid Fox needs to just switch to DD True-HD.

darkside

I've heard the DTS MA sounds amazing so I'm not sure I want them to switch. I just want that ability added to the freaking PS3.

Mr. Cinema

I can bitstream DTS MA, but too bad I don't have a receiver that decodes it...yet. I was planning on getting the Onkyo 705 due to the 3 HDMI inputs, but I may opt for the cheaper 605 with 2 inputs, especially since BD is on the way to victory. I would just use the Panny and PS3 for HDMI.

bunkaroo

Apparently Sony has just given a BD-Live presentation:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...ractivity/1344

Nice to see Men In Black mentioned - BD-Live or not I would love this on Blu-Ray.

matome

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/ne...-blu-ray.phtml

CES 2008: Samsung put "emphasis" on Blu-ray moving forward
Continue to support HD DVD but not main focus
by Amy-Mae Elliott

7 January 2008 18:43 GMT - Samsung has further added to Toshiba's woes at CES in Las Vegas by confirming to Pocket-lint its plans for HD DVD.

Anthony Marbella, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung has told us that Samsung "Will support all formats, but with the news from Warner Bros. we will put an emphasis on Blu-ray. We will make what consumers want."

The news could mean the end of the line for the company's Duo player that allows users to watch both HD DVD and Blu-ray movies from the same unit.

When asked whether consumers wanted the Blu-ray over HD DVD, Marbella simply responded:

"Yes, especially with the shift in content to come."

Samsung has just announced its latest, and possible now last Duo player at this year's Show.

The new player, the BD-U5500 was announced on Sunday promises to play Blu-ray and HD DVD discs and offers HDMI 1.3 connection, latest BD-Java and HD DVD interactivity available, and an ethernet connection for firmware upgrades later down the line.

The BD-UP5500 also offers support for the latest audio decoding with 7.1-Ch PCM, DTS-HD High Resolution and Master audio, and Dolby TrueHD Bistream and unlike the first HD DVD and Blu-ray player from LG, the Samsung model is also a fully-functioning DVD and CD player.

We will keep you posted.

Yavin

It's that last part that gets me.

Drexl

Oh, not the "this lossless codec sounds better than this other lossless codec" again! It's just like in Spinal Tap where an amp is automatically better because its top number is 11.

However, DTS-HD MA may be the best overall choice, since it gives those without HDMI receivers full-bitrate DTS instead of DD, and of course it doesn't have to be selected from the menu.

Supermallet

Wait, are you saying DTS-HD MA goes to 11?! It really IS a better codec!

darkside

I don't think I said that or have ever said that, but thanks for assuming it and bringing me into your rant.

The problem isn't that DTS MA sounds better it is the fact Fox and maybe even New Line seem committed to support it. The easiest solution is getting the decoding added to the most commonly owned BD player. I would also love it if they tossed on a TrueHD track, but Fox has not been a company to do anything consumer friendly.

I would love to test it out though if I ever can decode it and there is a movie like Close Encounters with multiple tracks. I'm not assuming too much about it without hearing it. People that can decode it seem to rave about it. Especially the 7.1 tracks.

Mr. Cinema

I believe the BDA press conference is in 1 hour. Hopefully we'll hear some good title announcements.

Drexl

I'm sorry I assumed that's what you meant. I just saw a thread on AVS where they were going on about it, and I can't help but feel they're being persuaded by the DTS name, which they've associated with great tracks in the past. I wish more players (especially the PS3) could decode it though.

Deftones

no kidding. It should read "we make what Sony has paid others to support."

Deftones

Nice. I'm excited to see what they do, since most of the stuff through March has been lackluster, at best.

jiggawhat

It'll be a long time before we get a true apples to apples comparison if ever between the two.

While I don't agree about one lossless codec being better than the other, however, I do think that each codec works differently leading to different results.

darkside

No biggie, I wasn't exactly clear on it. I really don't understand the quick rush to it by Fox and New Line when no players decode it and most can't bitstream it. The whole DTS MA strategy has made no sense to me, but I think decoding getting added is the only hope for most of us as Fox definitely seems set on only using it for their lossless sound.

jiggawhat

I thought it was pretty good. I didn't experience any problems with it at all like some have.

Gizmo

Heres the Q&A from the BDA conference. I'll let other pick over their answers as some are just lies.


Q. The problem is the price of the machine, who can afford the price of the machines, what are you going to do to reduce the price?
A. Andy reminds us that pricing is up to individuals, not up to the BDA. He says we dont't do coupons, in fact we try to sneak up on everyone else.

Q. Bill from the Digital Bits asks Does Warners decision decision carry over to new line and HBO, and does the switch have anything to do with BD+.
A. No, not really, it was the consumer choice.

Q. Any chance there will be a HD DVD trade in program for Blu-ray.
A. David Bishop, said not at this time.

Q. How will you try to educate consumers that early adopters don't can't take advantage of new features.
A. Andy says bonus view is new, but prefers not to call it profile 1.1. He goes on to explain that in the DVD world the same thing happened, and people are accustomed to technology developing and the functionality of their players doesn't change. The name bonus view is to help them know its a new feature so people can check the disc before they bring it home.

How will you educate smaller markets?
We will as soon as we can, but we are starting with the larger market.

Q. Can we start talking about the Blu-ray recorders.
A. Again, Andy says it's up to the manufacturers, and the DVR is very popular.

A. He says to see Universal now and if we all asked they might change their mind.

Q. What if Toshiba, Universal and Paramount don't go blu. How do you convince consumers the war is over?
A. The market will decide.

Q. Was there a Warner pay off.
A. Ron says "I wish". He says any pay off woudl've been a drop in the bucket so the decision was not related to any payoffs.

How about a DVD/Blu-ray combo disc?
Danny says not to sacrifice space or technology so if you really have to, they could bundle a DVD.

With Blu-ray the aparent winner, are we going to see more catalogue titles?
Bob says song of the south won't be covered here today, but one of the pinnacle moments was when we decided to take out Snow white, which signaled it was mass market, sing this was a most cherished title. This time they are releasing Snow while this October. "And what's the price point Bob?" "Wow" -- and as a result we know where this is going. David Bishop says most of lived through DVD and just like it we look at the core and try to release products that are valuable to them.

Will region coding be made any clearer on the packages, given that it isn't clear, there is the risk that if someone is traveling they could buy the wrong title. Andy says he's waiting for the question. What do the lawyers say abou this? Using this to prevent trading freely internationally?
Andy "Ron you what to handle this?" Ron says, "no" "Does anyone want to take it or take it offline, "that's what happened last year, "David says, "ok we'll solve it next year."

Any chance of Direct stream digital,
Andy says the spec is already created and they don't want to break it. But we wonder how this is different then adding BD Live now?


DBStalk.com Tom Robertson, is it a global exclusivity? Ron says "yes"

That's it no more question, Andy thanks us for coming

RockStrongo

It was a crappy press conference with no new information.

Gizmo

Any movie announcements at all?

Everyone seems to pick apart the Paramount quote, but I didn't hear anything out of the BDA group that was new releases at all.

RockStrongo

I was just reading about it on engadget...if there were any announcements, I didnt see them.