Posted on 06/02/2008 2:40:19 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
Powerful computers are dirt cheap...and come in all sizes anymore.
Dave,
For us, upconverting is the way to go. We have an extensive collection of DVD movies and select TV series on DVD, such as Combat, Poirot, Robin Hood and Columbo, 2,000+ at last count, most commercially available, but about 20% burned by ourselves from various sources, as they are not commercially available on DVD at this time. We do replace our ‘homemade’ DVDs as they become commercially available, as the extras and the quality of the print usually make it a good buy.
That said, let me further say that the vast bulk of our movie DVDs span the period from the 1930s to the 1950s. They are from native analog prints, in various states of quality. Some have been restored and digitized, but the source material is still acetate/analog. A Blu-ray version of these titles would offer us nothing over a a regular DVD of the same, upconverted.
Thank you for this tidbit of news. Perhaps it could be titled”Toshiba’s Revenge’?
God bless. Sursum Corda
Put me on the list. JUst got HDTV. I am a newbie and dumb. What kind of cable do I need to hook up? See I know nothing.
HDMI cable works. But do not buy Monster cable, Waaaaay overpriced.
What you’re looking for is a “Universal”player..
I think Denon has one or two, they are certainly coming out with them.
Very expensive however.
I have a Denon 5910, which in addition to playing all music formats and standard DVDs is a Stereophile Class A component.
Expect to pay what you would expect to pay for class A stuff.
But the audio and video are both incredible, and I only need one player for everything.
I know they are coming out with a similar model at the end of the year that also plays Blu-Ray, but it better be equally good at other stuff as well before I blow another wad on it.
Meanwhile their current blurays don’t do SACD—not sure aboutDVD-A.
My PS3 plays Blu-Ray perfectly and my Denon ci-3808 up- converts regular DVD’s from my PS3 to 1080p just as fine ...Wait until you a**wipes have to buy a 1440p display...get a grip, technology will shift like the wind. And if you have to have the best you will pay for it. Like me. I love having the best...The good news is that all of this madness will end when I’m dead.:-)
Or when you have two kids in college costing you 50 thou per year.
Check out the Oppo line of upscaling DVD players. They play most formats and the players can even be programmed to play DVD's from multiple regions. These players are very highly rated on AVSForm.
What’s the big deal about Blu Ray? DVDs work just as fine without all of the other crap loaded onto the disc. I don’t care about stopping a movie and bringing up details about a scene as it is in Blu-Ray, I don’t care what type of clothes the actor is wearing, CAN’T I JUST SEE THE DAMN MOVIE?
I have a ton of DVDs, too, most of them classic films from the silent era through the mid-sixties. I don’t see what the point would be of Blu-Ray on these films. I get a great picture on these films with a progressive scan Sony player on a Toshiba HDTV. Of course, I have quite a few post-1965 films as well, and a bunch of Asian cinema from all eras, but standard DVD is fine by me across the board.
Search Ebay for HDMI cables. I wound up buying three HDMI cables for about $5 each. The stores will rip you off, and don’t even consider Monster cables...the price is absurd.
I’m one of the suck, er enthusiasts that got one of the $99 Toshiba HD-DVDs when they had a big sale a ways back. I use it to watch standard DVDs and it looks great.. the up-verting is much, much better than I expected.
An aside, I went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie.. it was digital.. and, other than it being a very big picture, I was not all that impressed with the video quality. I felt like I was watching a big standard def DVD.
I love how a PC can stream video and music wirelessly to the PS3.
Playstation can play Divx and other video formats which is cool.
Being able to stream them from across the house from my PC to the PS3 is even cooler.
How is the Iron Man game?
PINGING THE LIST-VOOM vs DISH update.
Voom: Dish Exit Will Cost Us $1 Billion
The high-def programmer amends its complaint against the satcaster.
By Swanni
Washington, D.C. (June 3, 2008) — Voom is now claiming that it will suffer $1 billion in damages due to Dish Network’s decision to pull its 15 high-def channels from its lineup.
That’s according to an article by Multichannel News.
Dish Network last month decided to drop Voom’s 15 high-def channels after it claimed that the programmer had failed to live up to its carriage agreement. The satcaster said Voom has not make the financial investment in the 15 channels as promised in the agreement.
However, Voom denied the charge and decided last January to file suit against Dish seeking “substantial” damages. Without Dish, Cablevision is the only TV provider that now carries Voom, which leaves the programmer’s future in jeopardy.
In an amended complaint, Voom charges that Dish purposely made “baseless” charges against it so it could violate the carriage agreement, according to Multichannel News. Dish was paying Voom $3.25 per month for each subscriber.
“EchoStar had no right to terminate the affiliation agreement on the basis of a trumped-up and pretextual claim of breach simply because it no longer liked the deal it struck,” Voom stated in the new complaint, Multichannel News reports. “Unable to prevent EchoStar from ‘pulling the plug’ on Voom, Voom HD now has been forced to bring this suit for breach of contract to recover well in excess of $1 billion of damages that it will suffer as a result of EchoStar’s wrongful and improper termination.”
Voom said that Dish had 1.3 million HD subscribers at the end of 2007 and that the satcaster’s high-def audience is expected to reach more than 11 million by the end of the carriage agreement. With those numbers, Voom said it would turn a profit by next year and “generate billions of dollars in revenue over the life of the affiliation agreement.”
Multichannel News reports that Dish Network declined to comment on Voom’s new complaint filing.
Voom’s 15-channel lineup includes special niche networks such as Monsters HD (horror films), Rush HD (music) and Equator HD (nature programs).
I wonder if DirecTV will pick up VOOM.
Thanks for the update on the Voom kerfluffle. I’m waiting for another month or two to see if Dish decides to restore Voom; if not, I’m switching to Direct, if for no other reason than the manner in which Dish stripped some of my favorite HD channels without notice and without commensurately reducing my bill for the reduced service.
I watched The Longest Day on Blu-ray last night and it looked terrific, much better than the DVD.
People forget Blu-ray players also up convert DVD’s and do a good job, so going Blu-ray doesn’t mean you have to choose one over the other; you can keep your DVD’s and get new stuff you want to on Blu-ray if you choose. Great idea if your DVD player is getting old, or you want the added capabilities.
Then there’s Blu-ray rentals, if a person is into them.
cheers
Jim
I loved the “Monster Channel” especially when they played the old black & white movies.
n 1987, Toshiba Machine, the subsidiary of Toshiba, was accused of illegally selling CNC milling machines used to produce very quiet submarine propellers to the Soviet Union in violation of the CoCom agreement, an international embargo on Western exports to East Bloc countries. The Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Norwegian company Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The incident strained relations between the United States and Japan, and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the imposition of sanctions on the company by both countries.[1] The US had always relied on the fact that the Soviets had noisy boats, so technology that would make the USSR's submarines harder to detect created a significant threat to America's security. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania said "What Toshiba and Kongsberg did was ransom the security of the United States for $517 million."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba
I may do likewise. I am missing VOOM as well. Just before pulling the plug, DiSH offer a VOOM channel called VOOM Movies that they had been holding out on. I had several movies set to record when DiSH pulled the plug. Half of what they have now provided as "new" HD channels are crap like Bravo and a lot of stretched stuff.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.