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

[Jeff Kleist]

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.

I didn't say leave Blu-ray out, I'm simply saying that I don't think they would have gone as far with it. It's a 20/20 hindsight thing.

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.

Not really. Hardcore gamers buy both eventually. Xbox is a non-factor in Japan, and Europe is more into PS than Xbox

[PaulGo]

Hey Jeff are you doing any more 3D Blu-ray reviews on The Digital Bits? You last review was back in December and I enjoy reading them. I find them to be fair and well written.

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

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

The Torne, I know. It's a big ugly dongle. I'm talking in one unit in a conventional home theater appliance shape. Like the PS-X was.

SCEI has been trying to for some time to make the Playstation more than just a "game machine," since the PS2, even though the reality was far short of where it needed to be. Even after the departure Kutaragi, they haven't publically slunk back from the ambition to be the media hub of the living room. If it needs to be scaled and priced accordingly, so be it, but many of us would argue they're already very close to the mark.

Making it a rectangular shape would remove the 'game machine' aura and make playing games a value-added feature instead of the main focus.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Uxi

Making it a rectangular shape would remove the 'game machine' aura and make playing games a value-added feature instead of the main focus.

Once I learned of its performance I have had absolutely no problem with adding a PS3 to my "official" home theater setup in 2006, and with its updates there's very little it doesn't do compared to the top-of-the-line standalones.

With the exception of better video GPU/more RAM/faster processor on the gaming side there seems to be little to add on the media side for a PS4.

[Jeff Kleist]

Hey Jeff are you doing any more 3D Blu-ray reviews on The Digital Bits? You last review was back in December and I enjoy reading them. I find them to be fair and well written

Yes, I just got a bunch of new material, but my day job has prevented me from doing a lot of them. Often times to takes forever to source the discs, for example I just got Resident Evil today.

Making it a rectangular shape would remove the 'game machine' aura and make playing games a value-added feature instead of the main focus.

They don't want to make game playing take a back seat. They also don't want people that want a blu-ray player/media box to buy a PS3 which costs 4-5x as much to manufacture with little to no or even negative profit built into it

The Torne, I know. It's a big ugly dongle. I'm talking in one unit in a conventional home theater appliance shape. Like the PS-X was

There's no market for it here. 95% of people who want DVR get it through their cable company. Americans by and large do not archive TV (though they will buy it on DVD) like Europeans or the Japanese do. They simply use it as a disposible location to temporarily store shows until they watch them

I don't expect people around here fit that mold, but that's the majority of people

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

There's no market for it here. 95% of people who want DVR get it through their cable company. Americans by and large do not archive TV (though they will buy it on DVD) like Europeans or the Japanese do. They simply use it as a disposible location to temporarily store shows until they watch them

I would import an JPN market one, though obviously would prefer it do ATSC and QAM, or at least have the option to hack/mod it, not that I would expect support on it... kinda winking to the enthusiasts over here who would import it. I know I'm dreaming, though.

Still, even here it could be a decent ES branded machine. Alas for the passing of Qualia.

[Jeff Kleist]

I would import an JPN market one, though obviously would prefer it do ATSC and QAM, or at least have the option to hack/mod it, not that I would expect support on it... kinda winking to the enthusiasts over here who would import it. I know I'm dreaming, though.

Won't work, Japan is on a different frequency spread, and you won't be able to get US guide data even if it did

Just buy a WinTV card for your computer. That's what I did and couldn't be happier Got their top end dual tuner for $100. Pair it with something like a WD Live Hub (terabyte drive inside, plays everything) and there you go. You can even add a Blu-ray burner for another $120 or so and you're good to go.

Create an ecosystem in your house. My computer tapes the shows, encodes to an iPod version and pushes that to my internet accessible NAS that I can then suck down easily and watch anywhere. So for the cost of a big drive PS3, I equipped my house to tape and watch my TV, or pretty much anything else anywhere in my house. if you want to go nuts, add a second card to cover any other taping opportunities, and the WD Live regular boxes wherever you need one at $80-90 each.

[Slim Jim]

Jeff do you know where I could find the full lists of fights that are going to be on The Best of UFC 2010 blu?

[DetroitSportsFan]

Bill/Jeff,

Any comment on the Ten Commandments screencaps that were recently posted online? Are we looking at another Gladiator situation?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...66&postcount=1

[4K display]

Jeff, do you have any idea when A/V Receivers are going to start shipping with HDBaseT connections, or is any current AVR with ethernet already equipped for this?

[fitprod]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Bill/Jeff,

Any comment on the Ten Commandments screencaps that were recently posted online? Are we looking at another Gladiator situation?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...66&postcount=1

Already confirmed it was the equipment used to capture the images... The reviewer is working on fixing his screen caps.

fitprod

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by fitprod

Already confirmed it was the equipment used to capture the images... The reviewer is working on fixing his screen caps.

fitprod

Whew! Those new caps are better.

[Azyiu]

Hey Jeff, not sure if you have flew to Japan or not. Either way, though I think the quake shouldn't affect your travel plan, stay safe and good luck!!

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by Azyiu

Hey Jeff, not sure if you have flew to Japan or not. Either way, though I think the quake shouldn't affect your travel plan, stay safe and good luck!!

US is currently recommending all residents to cancel non-essential travel to Japan. This seems to be the era of the earthquake. I wonder what could be causing them?

[Azyiu]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

US is currently recommending all residents to cancel non-essential travel to Japan. This seems to be the era of the earthquake. I wonder what could be causing them?

Geez... this quake is even a 180 times more powerful than the 1995 Kobe earthquake... I hope Jeff is ok if he is already there.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

US is currently recommending all residents to cancel non-essential travel to Japan. This seems to be the era of the earthquake. I wonder what could be causing them?

Plate tectonics. It's actually not unusual for these to occur when they are. They have happened before and will again in the same areas.

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Plate tectonics. It's actually not unusual for these to occur when they are. They have happened before and will again in the same areas.

I'm not just referring to Japan though. We've had a major earthquake in Haiti, 2 in Brazil, now Japan. I think there are larger issues here.

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

I'm not just referring to Japan though. We've had a major earthquake in Haiti, 2 in Brazil, now Japan. I think there are larger issues here.

Yeah, reporting. These things happened before, but no-one tweeted about it. If it can't be said within 140 characters, I guess it's not worth reporting.

[Paul H]

Originally Posted by Darth Anakin

Bon voyage Monsieur Kleist, we'll see you when you get back, this thread won't be the same without you.

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I'm not going away, I'm just saying that my ability to research issues or questions is going to be greatly reduced They have the internet in Japan you know

Jeff,

Are you and your family OK?

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Plate tectonics. It's actually not unusual for these to occur when they are. They have happened before and will again in the same areas.

Surprised noone tried to link "climate change" aka global warming to it yet.

Definitely wishing the best for everyone affected. Most of my favorite stuff comes from Japan, from cars to toys to games.