Have a look @ this post ... a lot of people in the UK take the advice on this website ... please have a look and comment on there to educate the blind ...
You can't educate Save_Me on there, he knows he's lying already, e.g. providing a link to a site about Blu-ray only studios releasing their movies on the other format abroad. One of the examples given is The Prestige as an example of how Disney are doing this, but The Prestige is on HD DVD here because it's a Warner release, not because Disney are releasing it on HD DVD! It's all a load of lies, and he knows it is, he's deliberately lying to get people to buy HD DVD.
You can't educate Save_Me on there, he knows he's lying already, e.g. providing a link to a site about Blu-ray only studios releasing their movies on the other format abroad. One of the examples given is The Prestige as an example of how Disney are doing this, but The Prestige is on HD DVD here because it's a Warner release, not because Disney are releasing it on HD DVD! It's all a load of lies, and he knows it is, he's deliberately lying to get people to buy HD DVD.
Its idiots like him that fuel this war ... I cant wait till Paramount switch
Trying to avoid a "Blu-Ray vs HD DVD" confrontation here, here's my piece on why this is a great deal:
For a small amount of £££ over a regular upscaler, this will do a superb job with your existing DVDs (I used to use a Panasonic S97 which is considered a VERY good upscaler). You also get 7 free HD DVDs with it. How can this not be considered a bargain? Yes, the player has a slower startup time compared to a "regular" DVD player, but remember that these are mini PCs, with hard discs, operating systems and the like.
As regards the format war, the situation is as follows. Blu-Ray has more studio support - currently. In the past, studios have gone backwards and forwards. Warner Bros recently went Blu-Ray exclusive, which was considered the death blow to HD DVD by many, but HD DVD still has unwavering support from Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks, plus many more smaller studios.
So it comes down to "what films do you like"? Blu-Ray's "gold" films are the Spiderman series, the Pirates films, Casino Royale, and the Pixars. HD DVD has the Bourne films, Batman Begins, Shrek, Star Trek, Mission Impossibles, etc. Both have much the same amount of discs out there, and due to global distribution, you can sometimes find an HD DVD version of a Blu-Ray exclusive (e.g. Fantastic 4 in Germany).
The war is definitely not over yet. Since Warner's announcement, Toshiba have slashed prices worldwide in an attempt to market their players as "upscalers plus". This "trojan horse" strategy seems to be working, they're shifting huge quantities of players over in the US.
These EP30 players are very good, I have the EP35 which is recommended if you have an old home cinema amp with the 5.1 analogue inputs (allows you to listen to lossless sound).
Blu-Ray players are not complete specification players, where as HD DVD players are "final". What this means is that Blu-Ray released a cut-down "profile" (1.0) for the initial wave of players, with less memory and unable to deal with certain extras. Profile 1.1 players are out in the US but are expensive. Profile 2.0 players are rare. While it's acknowledged that Profile 1.0 players WILL play all films, they won't show picture-in-picture type extras (and others?), but will have increasingly long load times with 1.1 (and above) discs - sometimes 3 - 4 minutes!
(Note that this does not apply to the Playstation 3. This was recently upgraded to Profile 1.1, and should be Profile 2.0. Because of the massive processor and generous memory, load times are much smaller).
My advice is to nab one of these cheap HD DVD players, enjoy the upscaling and enjoy your free films. If you want to buy more, then look at importing from the US (cheap exchange rate) as HD DVD is region-free (unlike Blu-Ray which has region coding on a percentage of its releases).
If you're buying Blu-Ray, either get a PS3 or wait for the players to reach a standard you're comfortable with, but be aware that the cheapest "standalone" players in the UK are Profile 1.0 and cannot be upgraded.
Why are SO many HD-DVD supporters intent on spreading misinformation and FUD, then have the nerve to label Blu-ray owners/sites as fanboys, do they live in some kind of alternate universe?
WTF do we look like over here in europe, a friggin gold mine
(apparently we are )
But it's just not right, these comapnies need shooting or summat to give us better prices & proper service, they constantly rip us off & give us second class service to the US when they make us pay 2x the RRP of the US
The EU should use some law & force the companies to give us same prices
Have a look @ this post ... a lot of people in the UK take the advice on this website ... please have a look and comment on there to educate the blind ...
I was in England (Manchester) during this past July, and Blu had a much greater presence in the major retail outlets (Virgin, HMV, etc.) than HD-DVD, probably about twice as much space devoted to BD software.
The UK was already 4:1 in favour of Blu before the Warner announcement. There really is nothing to worry about as far as the UK and European markets are concerned. (Not really anything to worry about anywhere now eh!)
The UK was already 4:1 in favour of Blu before the Warner announcement. There really is nothing to worry about as far as the UK and European markets are concerned. (Not really anything to worry about anywhere now eh!)
True, plus there's the fact that even if HDUD were winning over here in the UK it wouldn't matter, because its the Yankee Dollar that decides the future of technology anyway. Whoever is winning in the US is what matters.
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