Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by merrick97

As good as the news of the EE's of Lord of the Rings being made is, we were also given some very bad news on the At the Mountains of Madness adaption.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/197...o-s-mountains-

Apparently Universal felt the price tag was too high for an R-rated film and Del Toro basically said the film was dead.

I'd hate to say it, but I would rather him film an R-rated film, edit it down to PG-13 for theatrical release and then release an uncut dvd.

agreed.

i don't really watch movies in theaters much anymore (i think toy story 3 was the last). home theater is just such a better experience for us

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Uxi

It's not about can't, it's about not wanting to. My top priority after getting a BD burner was to put my standard def EE's on a single disc. SW trilogies (OT and PT) each on their own disc, as well.

Well dude guess what?

Everyday I have to wake up and do crap that I don't want to do. Welcome to that little thing called LIFE. People are always going to be doing stuff that they don't want to and even feel they shouldn't have to do.

The fact of the matter is Bluray has its limits.

A 3.5+ action dense movie cannot be out on a single disc without some compromise the visual quality. Ill take better quality each and every time. It just seems hypocritical to see people complaining about having a film spread over two discs and those same people being the ones complaining about bad image quality. Uxi that last statement was not aimed at you.

But hey, why take quality when that involves getting off your butt?

Might as well get one of these:

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

A 3.5+ action dense movie cannot be out on a single disc without some compromise the visual quality. Ill take better quality each and every time.

Generally, so will I. I want to see the evidence on how and where it suffers compressed to one disc and if removing extraneous crap like BD-Live and a bunch of audio tracks could alleviate that, though. It may well be that I'll have to wait until 3x or 4x BD or the next format, or at least until some with a BD burner and the appropriate software gets a crack at it. No pun intended.

But hey, why take quality when that involves getting off your butt?

heh, I often use that argument myself wrt IR on the PS3 and putting a disc in. In this case, I don't agree that the situation is as cut and dried as you're making out.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Uxi

heh, I often use that argument myself wrt IR on the PS3 and putting a disc in. Dumb ASSUmption on your part, though. In this case, I don't agree that the situation is as cut and dried as you're making out. Though it's neither here nor there, I'll bet you have NO CHANCE at keeping up with me on a PFT (Physical Fitness Test).

Maybe. Maybe not, but you can bet your ass that I would not back down from trying. I don't claim to be the worlds most fit guy, just someone who dropped their weight from 325 to 175. I had to get off the couch first.

[MerrickG]

Back to the original subject at hand:

I just heard from Bill and this is his current understanding:

"No, my understanding is that each film will be on a BD - so Discs 1 and 2 of the 4-disc DVDs will be converted to BD. And Discs 3 and 4 are essentially the same as they were in the 4-disc set - DVDs."

But he also stressed this:
"So 3 discs for each film - 1 BD and 2 DVDs. We'll know more for sure when Warner makes their official announcement in a few weeks."

The good news you wont have to get up and change the disc.

There goes my excitement. I will still buy this, but not at the currently listed $85.

ANyway, Ive ranted all I can about LotR. Ill just wait for official announcement.

[Uxi]

Funny because I was just navigating the Extras on the ROTK EE the other day. I remember being floored by the presentation from the fold out paper in the EE, but alot of it is stills. Still pretty neat stuff to let the slide show go and be entertained by the earlier concepts. The Witch King, in particular was a huge improvement at least on the helmet, though I would have liked him to have a mace instead of a flail/morning star, though. That possibly opens dangerous territory on some of the liberties PJ took with the material though (I don't disagree with all of them, though a few have me scratching my head.

I do almost wish there were chapter menus for the documentaries, though. Very happy they're all on one disc, though. I generally scorn extras, and definitely don't want them taking up space and detracting from the main feature by consuming valuable space and bandwidth, but having them on a second (or third!) disc is the way to go.

[svenge]

I don't know why anyone would think that the EE versions of the films would span 2 BDs each, this is a Warner release we're talking about. They'll just crank down the bitrate from their usual "way too low" to "abyssmal". I wouldn't be surprised if it averaged 9-10mbps for RotK...

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by svenge

I don't know why anyone would think that the EE versions of the films would span 2 BDs each, this is a Warner release we're talking about. They'll just crank down the bitrate from their usual "way too low" to "abyssmal". I wouldn't be surprised if it averaged 9-10mbps for RotK...

unfortunetly I would have to agree, but I guess we can always hope.

[FlipperWasIrish]

Originally Posted by Slim Jim

and the only difference is its in HD.

Yup, yup, yup that's enough for me.

[Jeff Kleist]

OK guys, enough comparing 24 inch pythons

Seriously. I think we can all agree that 2 discs means the best quality possible without compromise, and that it would be a real shame if WB followed the same philosophy they're doing with Gettysburg and Gods and Generals and compromise these great films by shoehorning them onto a BD50

[rubystone356]

you have check out the new panasonic 2011 models. it seems that the new models can do the DD+ on the netflix. I got the 210 model. it can also do vudu with DD+. it would never show up on my receiver when using the ps3.
I am using the onkyo 270 model.
Jacob

[Jeff Kleist]

Sorry, I have to pay for my Blu-ray players, and I just upgraded to the BDT-300 in October. I'd like the new interactive features, but have little desire to lay out for my third player in 3 years

[Uxi]

I won't buy another player until either 3x or 4x layer is necessary... or until PS4, whichever comes first.

[Jeff Kleist]

I won't buy another player until either 3x or 4x layer is necessary... or until PS4, whichever comes first.

There are no commercial discs beyond bd50 that are likely to ever be produced

I continue to recommend against the use of game machines for players.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

There are no commercial discs beyond bd50 that are likely to ever be produced

I continue to recommend against the use of game machines for players.

For the longest time the PS3 was head and shoulders the best bluray player on the market.

It wasn't until BD-Live became common and prices were regularly under $300 that standalones became worth it.

However its been 3 years since I used my PS3 as a bluray player. The Panasonic BD30 was my first standalone. It had Profile 1.1

[Uxi]

I still <3 my PS3 over any of the Sony or Panasonic standalones I've tried or my friends have. It is really a great player and while others have matched it for cheaper now, it only needs 3 things to reign supreme IMO:

1) Bring back the auto-play from standby that was removed in a firmware update
2) Second HDMI output so I can tune my video settings independent of the audio in the AVR
3) Integrated IR since all the workarounds add far more.

I dream of SCEI revisiting the PS-X with PS3 technology. That was premature before, but could be so much win, especially if they used a 3.5" drive in a regular home theater rectangular box with RCA/HDMI/coaxial inputs.

[MerrickG]

Jeff,

After being out for several months I figured it was time to try and get an honest opinion of the Kinect.

Are the games any good and has it lived up to its hype?

Its now apparently the fastest selling tech item of all time. Even faster than the ipad or iPhone which has to burn the insides of the Church of Jobs.

I know I have bashed it int the past, but it seems like I underestimated what it could do for the 360 crowd. With MS recently announcing that they planned to make more hardcore games using Kinect I am now officially intrigued.

[Jeff Kleist]

1) Bring back the auto-play from standby that was removed in a firmware update
2) Second HDMI output so I can tune my video settings independent of the audio in the AVR
3) Integrated IR since all the workarounds add far more.

I dream of SCEI revisiting the PS-X with PS3 technology. That was premature before, but could be so much win, especially if they used a 3.5" drive in a regular home theater rectangular box with RCA/HDMI/coaxial inputs.

They already did, there's a TV tuner box in Europe that will almost certainly never come here that turns it into a DVR

Game machines are meant to play games, and they are constructed as cheaply as possible because they're sold at a loss. They are not meant to be used for the rigors of a daily media box. The PS3 was "the best player" because it was drastically overpowered for the purpose. The first HD DVD players had Toshiba laptops inside them running Linux with way more horsepower than was required (and hundreds of dollars lost per player) The same thing went for the PS3.

I also think that if Sony could start over, the PS3 would be a very different box than what we got. They would have curtailed the media playback abilities and not pimped out the Blu-ray features quite so much, because it undercut the dedicated market for a long time while sucking SCE dry with loss leader consoles not being used to play games.

After being out for several months I figured it was time to try and get an honest opinion of the Kinect.

Are the games any good and has it lived up to its hype?

Yes and no. It's definately some very promising tech. They need to get the camera resolution up for more accuracy. Dance Central is amazing, and will be far more so in the sequel when they manage to do more than just make it work. Gunstringer looks great.

There will be hardcore games that use Kinect. There will be hardcore games that use it with a controller (Forza is going to use it for head tracking for the in-game camera), and there will be more "family" titles too

They need time to get the drivers tuned well, and for developers to take advantage of it. There's no question the potential is there, I just think we'll have to wait for the 720
to see something really hardcore and cool. I know MS is considering putting out a nunchuck for it in 2012 after the whole "hands free" hype dies down, that will help a lot.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I also think that if Sony could start over, the PS3 would be a very different box than what we got. They would have curtailed the media playback abilities and not pimped out the Blu-ray features quite so much, because it undercut the dedicated market for a long time while sucking SCE dry with loss leader consoles not being used to play games.

i am surprised to see you say this because it begs the question of how bluray could have won the format war without it. Sony basically knew they were going to sacrifice the huge lead they had built up from the last gen consoles to win the format war.

In 2007 this didn't seem even remotely possible but Id say Sony now has a good chance worldwide to get 2nd place in this console generation sales. Considering that the xbox 360 had a year head start and the PS3 didnt have crap as far as software that could compete with what the 360 had Id say its pretty damn amazing that the 360 and PS3 are pretty close to neck and neck in terms of worldwide sales.

Having said that, I am sure that there are those within Sony who question whether winning the format war was worth the cost of market share on the Playstation brand from the PS2 to PS3.

How do I feel? I am just damn glad that we have one format to watch great movies on and have two amazing video game consoles.

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Yes and no. It's definately some very promising tech. They need to get the camera resolution up for more accuracy. Dance Central is amazing, and will be far more so in the sequel when they manage to do more than just make it work. Gunstringer looks great.

There will be hardcore games that use Kinect. There will be hardcore games that use it with a controller (Forza is going to use it for head tracking for the in-game camera), and there will be more "family" titles too

They need time to get the drivers tuned well, and for developers to take advantage of it. There's no question the potential is there, I just think we'll have to wait for the 720
to see something really hardcore and cool. I know MS is considering putting out a nunchuck for it in 2012 after the whole "hands free" hype dies down, that will help a lot.

Are you suggesting they'll rev2 the Kinect camera accessory? I was pretty committed to getting Kinect when Child Of Eden drops, but I'd hold off for Rev2 if that's likely.