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D.J.KRIME

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Andy Kerr:Big Aura:

The very notion of having to upgrade all of that is daunting and off-putting. Paying for Star Wars a third time?!?!

I heartily agree.although with me it'll be more like six times. VHS, original six-disc THX laserdisc box set, Dolby Digital laserdisc, remastered-version DVD, original-version DVD.all to be replaced one day by a Blu-ray set, hopefully.

I do have other films in my collection too, honest.

Now all 6 movies on BD in a Limited edition Death Star shaped box set would seriously tempt me to shell out again!
 
A

Anonymous

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Too right. And I want both versions of each of the original films to be included in the package (ie original and 'improved'), one on each BD50. That, plus a frame-by-frame digital restoration by Lowry Digital, and an all-new uncompressed 7.1 soundtrack re-engineered from the original masters at the Ranch by a tag-team of Ben Burtt and Gary Rydstrom.

And not a trace of a feature anywhere - put all that stuff on a seventh, final disc.ÿ

Come on George, not too much to ask, is it?ÿ
 
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Anonymous

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I would like to know how much extra if anything do BLURAY films cost over the price of a DVD?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Well I was going to start a separate thread about Blu-ray but I'll add it here instead.

The question I was going to ask is - If Blu-ray is so much better than DVD and most Blu-ray players can now play and upscale DVDs as well as DVD players, why hasn't DVD died a quick death?? You'd think it would be, as the Americans and slick corporate types say, a 'No Brainer'! Why would any manufacturer be bothering to design, make and market new DVD players at the moment and why haven't DVDs started disappearing off the shelves?

Though I'd also like to know why SACD hasn't made more of an impact - if it's supposed to be the audio equivalent of Blu-ray?
 
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Anonymous

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Quality is only one part of the equation. DVD-Video discs haven't died (and won't for some years to come) because of the massive installed base of DVD-Video players already out there on the market, and also because so many DVD-based platforms now exist. It'll take a long time for everyone to make the switchover to Blu-ray (and that's an assumption in itself), and besides, even if you do eventually replace your living room player, the chances are you'll still need DVD to support other players you own, like your DVD portable.

Sure, long-term, I'd imagine the industry would like to see every DVD deck in every application in every home supplanted by a Blu-ray player, but personally I'm not sure if that will happen any time soon. And that - together with price, of course - is a big reason why studios are still releasing new DVD discs.

New players, on the other hand? Well, I'm sure they're out there, possibly at the very cheap end of the market, but I haven't seen many standalone DVD decks in our listening rooms recently. Of course, there'll always be the odd exception, but in the main, I'd be very surprised if any mainstream brand presented us with a mid-price DVD player to test.ÿ
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi

Blu-ray will not take off untill the disc's are more affordable to all !

My question is when will Blu-ray recorders be available in the uk at a reasonable price ?

ÿ

Bc.ÿ
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi,

Thanks for the opportunity!

1) Slow load times - I wonder if there could be a fast load that let you get straight to a simple menu where you could do audio setup and play the movie. It seems as though a lot of the load time is in setting up hi tech menus and java based features that have no use or benefit for someone who just wants to play a movie.

In some ways I think the industry is getting a bit confused about where it's at and where it's going. I imagine that the corporate strategy meetings are determining that they are in the 'Entertainment' ÿbusiness and not the movies. So there is a big drive to include extra content such as games, and interactive material in order to broaden the market and, in theory, to improve replayability. My personal view is that this is a huge mistake and that they would be better off producing cheaper and simpler HD movies, rather than trying to develop an entire 'entertainment experience'. I believe that this is an attempt to head off alternative access to movie-like material via the internet. Unfortunately the technology required by both sides to deliver the vision is not actually there yet - so you end up with a frustrating consumer experience. I would be very surprised if many of the top management making these decisions actually use their own products in a consumer environment.

2) I know no-one wants any more changes to profiles, but it would be great if players, amps and tvs could neogotiate the best video and audio they can handle and just show it!

It seems silly that a BD player, amp and TV from Sony playing BD will default to Dolby unless a menu is manually changed. This is not going to happen for the vast majority of consumers who will miss out an important part of the revolution.

Further if you took all the posts out of the forum that relate to users being unable to get HD audio working between the player and amp there would only be about half as much content left.

Even improved diagnostics would be something - if you could get the player to say (in plain English (not bitstream, PCM or DTS)) what is was sending and the receiver to say what it was doing then that would help too.

3) All BD players afaik can play DVDs. Since the cat is entirely out of the bag on DVD regions, let's stop trying to enforce region coding on the BD player for DVDs. This is just nonsense.

In fact, I actually don't understand why anyone (including the studios) needs region codes on Blu Ray either? It would make life and releasing so much simpler just to go completely region free. Do they actually want to make things difficult for collectors and some of their best customers?

4) I have a nice Sony DVD player (region free), that will load up to 5 DVDs (quickly), remember where I'm up to on each one and swtich fairly quickly between them. My Sony BD player, loads one BD (very slowly), forgets where I'm up to as soon as it's switched off or after a certain time anyway, and takes forever to unload and load another disk. This is not spectaculor progress.

BUT after all this I love Blu Ray and only ever buy BDs now. It is a great format with huge potential, just some of the detail and usability needs to be worked on. ÿ

ÿ
 

Alec

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Oct 8, 2007
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Andy Kerr:Big Aura:

A limited time offer of allowing me to upgrade my DVDs to blu-ray for, say, a fiver a pop, would certainly encourage me to make the switch. I remember paying IRL£27 for Goodfellas on DVD (a flipper-disc) and now it can be bought on DVD for Stg£6 (or probably less). The prices are going to plummet, but if we could all update our libraries now, it would really take people off the fence and encourage DVD owners to dive into the new format.

I absolutely love this idea. With just over 3000 DVDs to upgrade, it really appeals to me (can I include my 400 or so laserdiscs in the deal, too?). And I reckon it's not necessarily so far-fetched, either. I'll definitely be reading this one out to the BVA conference.

You want to upgrade 3000 disks at £5.00 a pop?
 

Sliced Bread

Well-known member
al7478:Andy Kerr:Big Aura:

A limited time offer of allowing me to upgrade my DVDs to blu-ray for, say, a fiver a pop, would certainly encourage me to make the switch. I remember paying IRL£27 for Goodfellas on DVD (a flipper-disc) and now it can be bought on DVD for Stg£6 (or probably less). The prices are going to plummet, but if we could all update our libraries now, it would really take people off the fence and encourage DVD owners to dive into the new format.

I absolutely love this idea. With just over 3000 DVDs to upgrade, it really appeals to me (can I include my 400 or so laserdiscs in the deal, too?). And I reckon it's not necessarily so far-fetched, either. I'll definitely be reading this one out to the BVA conference.

You want to upgrade 3000 disks at £5.00 a pop?

3000 disks!!!
I assume your joking...if not there must be some tat in there somewhere ;)
 

ElectroMan

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Nov 20, 2008
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johna11:
Hi,

Thanks for the opportunity!

1) Slow load times - I wonder if there could be a fast load that let you get straight to a simple menu where you could do audio setup and play the movie. It seems as though a lot of the load time is in setting up hi tech menus and java based features that have no use or benefit for someone who just wants to play a movie.

In some ways I think the industry is getting a bit confused about where it's at and where it's going. I imagine that the corporate strategy meetings are determining that they are in the 'Entertainment' business and not the movies. So there is a big drive to include extra content such as games, and interactive material in order to broaden the market and, in theory, to improve replayability. My personal view is that this is a huge mistake and that they would be better off producing cheaper and simpler HD movies, rather than trying to develop an entire 'entertainment experience'. I believe that this is an attempt to head off alternative access to movie-like material via the internet. Unfortunately the technology required by both sides to deliver the vision is not actually there yet - so you end up with a frustrating consumer experience. I would be very surprised if many of the top management making these decisions actually use their own products in a consumer environment.

2) I know no-one wants any more changes to profiles, but it would be great if players, amps and tvs could neogotiate the best video and audio they can handle and just show it!

It seems silly that a BD player, amp and TV from Sony playing BD will default to Dolby unless a menu is manually changed. This is not going to happen for the vast majority of consumers who will miss out an important part of the revolution.

Further if you took all the posts out of the forum that relate to users being unable to get HD audio working between the player and amp there would only be about half as much content left.

Even improved diagnostics would be something - if you could get the player to say (in plain English (not bitstream, PCM or DTS)) what is was sending and the receiver to say what it was doing then that would help too.

3) All BD players afaik can play DVDs. Since the cat is entirely out of the bag on DVD regions, let's stop trying to enforce region coding on the BD player for DVDs. This is just nonsense.

In fact, I actually don't understand why anyone (including the studios) needs region codes on Blu Ray either? It would make life and releasing so much simpler just to go completely region free. Do they actually want to make things difficult for collectors and some of their best customers?

4) I have a nice Sony DVD player (region free), that will load up to 5 DVDs (quickly), remember where I'm up to on each one and swtich fairly quickly between them. My Sony BD player, loads one BD (very slowly), forgets where I'm up to as soon as it's switched off or after a certain time anyway, and takes forever to unload and load another disk. This is not spectaculor progress.

BUT after all this I love Blu Ray and only ever buy BDs now. It is a great format with huge potential, just some of the detail and usability needs to be worked on.

Some excellent and well-made points there, which I wholeheartedly agree with.

I've just got a Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-ray player, and I can't believe how slow it is in operation. And that's not just with Blu-rays - it takes a couple of minutes or so when you switch it on before you can do anything with it at all. And it seems to take almost as long to load a DVD as it does a BD. My PS3 would be well into the film whilst the Pioneer's still loading!
 

Big Aura

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Oct 13, 2008
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Andy Kerr:

Evening all

This Thursday afternoon the British Video Association is hosting its annual research day, and I've been invited to chair a panel discussion at the event. We'll be debating the merits of Blu-ray and its future prospects, and there'll be about 80 key members of the BVA there, including senior representatives of all the key studios.

I thought it'd be a great opportunity for you to air some of your own views on Blu-ray, so if you've got any burning issues you'd like me to raise, fire away. Naturally, I'm going to be asking about loading times, disc pricing and Star Wars.

Hi Andy

This thread popped into my head the other day - did anything ever come of this, how did your points go down with the British Video Association?

Cheers

BA
 
A

Anonymous

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"When will a BD player play a disc immediately? I'm old. I don't eat my tea till 9 o'clock. There's only a limited window before I fall asleep in front of the telly...."

emotion-21.gif
 

proffski

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Dec 11, 2008
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Two hours was very nearly the time which it took a BluRay disc of the latest Bond film to get as far as the Menu.

At the menu it refused to action the 'Play' option, and I was obliged to select scene 3 then back space to scene 1, in order to get the film to run.

Bring back VHS!!

I'd be quite interested to find out if the same rigmarole ensues for other readers with the latest discs as ones I bought ages ago are just normal slow. Quantum of Solace has broken all records!

BluRay player is Pioneer BDP-LX70 (original version).
 

Big Aura

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Oct 13, 2008
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the new Sony players (due out in the next few weeks) promise a 6 second start up. I'm not sure if that's from cold to play, but I'm sure the review (if Sony send a sample to WHFS&V Towers) will clear that up...
 

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