The biased "Sound Advice" blogger... now with egg on his face!

[lztp6k]

Originally Posted by sj001

It would be nice to see more truly NEUTRAL journalism instead of all of this paid-off/biased crap.

I totally agree. Every article I've read seems to be spun one way or the other. I want something neutral with no BS.

[cawgijoe]

Originally Posted by lztp6k

I totally agree. Every article I've read seems to be spun one way or the other. I want something neutral with no BS.

Consumer Reports.

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by BBlue

"Blu-ray Discs have higher capacity." This is a nonissue, because HD DVD has enough to do the job.

If that's true than why didn't Transformer have HD sound? Oh, wait I know , they couldn't because they ran out of space.

[lutefisk69]

So, If "almost all Blu-ray players announced or existing are already obsolete" then how is "Almost all of the Blu-ray players sold so far are PlayStation 3 game consoles that happen to have a Blu-ray drive in them" that are updateable to 1.1?

[mgonzo2u]

Originally Posted by cawgijoe

Consumer Reports.

CR is no longer unbiased. They can be bought. They are no longer a voice to be trusted.

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by mgonzo2u

CR is no longer unbiased. They can be bought. They are no longer a voice to be trusted.

What evidence do you have to support this?

Their product evaluations are frequently outdated, though, and their evaluation criteria are average consumer oriented and probably not consistent with interests of high definition home theater enthusiasts. A few minutes of due diligence about any product they evaluate will earn you a more educated opinion.

[cawgijoe]

I've subscribed to CR for over twenty years now....they are as unbiased as they can be and they have not been bought. There is no advertising in their mag.

Having said that, their reviews are geared towards the "newbie" and not towards the audio/videophile. They combine their rankings based on several factors that they outline including price, meaning that if a product is priced too high...i.e. Pioneer Elite for example, it will be downgraded because of this.

You have to look at their reviews and decide what is important for you in their evaluations.

I like them.....but again they are a starting point.

[IvanDrago]

I hate fanboyism, doesn't matter if you are talking HD, BR, XBOX, PS3, Wii, Toyota, Honda, whatever!

I just wish people on ALL sides would just stick to the facts. I hear HD Fanboys saying "You don't NEED lossless audio, more than 30GB, or higher bitrate", I hear BR fanboys saying "No one watches special features or DRM is a good thing" and I want to cry. I can't stand Bill Hunt as much as I can't stand Amir. Both formats have their own issues, deal with them. I prefer Blu Ray to HD because the benefits of Blu ray outweigh the issues of Blu Ray relative to HD DVD, not because I think BR is perfect and completely flawless.

[lztp6k]

Originally Posted by IvanDrago

I hate fanboyism, doesn't matter if you are talking HD, BR, XBOX, PS3, Wii, Toyota, Honda, whatever!

I just wish people on ALL sides would just stick to the facts. I hear HD Fanboys saying "You don't NEED lossless audio, more than 30GB, or higher bitrate", I hear BR fanboys saying "No one watches special features or DRM is a good thing" and I want to cry. I can't stand Bill Hunt as much as I can't stand Amir. Both formats have their own issues, deal with them. I prefer Blu Ray to HD because the benefits of Blu ray outweigh the issues of Blu Ray relative to HD DVD, not because I think BR is perfect and completely flawless.

.

qft

[ClaytonMG]

Originally Posted by IvanDrago

I hate fanboyism, doesn't matter if you are talking HD, BR, XBOX, PS3, Wii, Toyota, Honda, whatever!

I just wish people on ALL sides would just stick to the facts. I hear HD Fanboys saying "You don't NEED lossless audio, more than 30GB, or higher bitrate", I hear BR fanboys saying "No one watches special features or DRM is a good thing" and I want to cry. I can't stand Bill Hunt as much as I can't stand Amir. Both formats have their own issues, deal with them. I prefer Blu Ray to HD because the benefits of Blu ray outweigh the issues of Blu Ray relative to HD DVD, not because I think BR is perfect and completely flawless.

I think the features thing is actually an issue for Blu-Ray. While I might not watch them and the rest of us might be too fanboyish to realize the issue, most consumers will see the lack of features and go "yeah no that's not ok." But at the same time, a lot of consumers will never use the interactive ones. As for Bill Hunt, you must not read much of what he says. He's even said both formats have their issues, which is pretty much exactly what you're saying. In fact, I believe his reason for supporting Blu-Ray is pretty much the same as yours, that and the support they bring to the table.

[PS34EVER]

Click HERE for my thread about this guy. His name is Don Lindich, and his website is soundadviceblog.com.

I've sent him plenty of comments and questions asking him why he always hated Sony and backed a clearly losing format and even went on to suggest in his blog that HD-DVD was "going to win." He stated many times that people should buy HD-DVD in confidence as they had a "completed product" and "lower prices."

Here is what he wrote:

If you missed the news, today Warner Bros. Home Video announced it would be supporting Blu-ray exclusively starting March 2008. This leaves only two studios, Paramount and Universal, supporting HD DVD, which means that barring any future changes (unlikely) there will not be enough studio support to keep the format going. I anticipate a gradual shift to Blu-ray over the coming year.

The news was a disappointment to me and surely to readers who purchased HD DVD upon my recommendation. I made the best call I could based on the information I had both from my own analysis of the market and insider sources. I strongly endorsed HD DVD and still believe it to be the better product and a better way to transition from DVD to high definition moves on a disc, and many others agreed. The product is fully developed (Blu-ray is still in development), the manufacturing infrastructure already exists to produce discs in mass-market quantities (few Blu-ray plants exist), discs can be made that play on HD DVD and regular DVD players, and HD DVD players cost little more than a good quality upscaling DVD player and included free movies. Had Warner Bros. picked HD DVD (and the decision was extremely close, from what I have been told) then things would likely be going in the other direction as Warner is the most prolific HD media studio. The HD DVD Promotional Group isn’t calling it quits yet and neither is Toshiba, but as I said before the Warner Bros. news does not bode well for the format. I am particularly concerned that Blu-ray player prices will not continue to drop in the face of competition or that manufacturers now have little incentive to improve them and add features HD DVD has had from the beginning. Time will tell.

If you own an HD DVD player, it will continue to play the HD DVD movies you own and do an outstanding job of upconverting regular DVDs. It is possible Toshiba will continue to support HD DVD owners via combo players should the format die out, and in any event you should be able to find working HD DVD players for many years to come. After all, there are still people who still own and enjoy laserdisc and even Betamax movies. If you don’t own a Blu-ray player yet, I suggest you purchase a Playstation 3 if you are interested in adopting Blu-ray as the PS3 is upgradeable to future profiles. If you prefer a standalone player, your best bet is to wait a while until Profile 2.0 Blu-ray players are available at affordable prices. I will be at CES next week and may have an idea of when they will be available.

http://www.soundadviceblog.com/?p=711"

---

I just thought it was funny. At least he finally (for the first time in a half of a year!) suggest that the war is over (or will be soon), and that he is suggesting that people go out and buy a PS3.

I have been waiting for this guy to look like an idiot, because you have no idea how much FUD this guy has been spreading not only on his blog, but the major newspaper in the Twin Cities area, The Star Tribune, was using this guy to provide information on the format war and he was ALWAYS saying that HD-DVD was going to win and suggested to everyone that they should buy into the format with confidence.

Idiot...

[Solidus]

Good man, he has seen the light

[Klaus]

I emailed him after the last article showed up in the Star Trib. He seemed like a decent guy but stopped short of admitting that BR could do everything HDDVD could do but had more storage. He seemed stuck on the "BR is not a finished format" argument. Good to see his is slowly changing his tune.

[The Guardian]

Originally Posted by PS34EVER

I have been waiting for this guy to look like an idiot, because you have no idea how much FUD this guy has been spreading not only on his blog, but the major newspaper in the Twin Cities area, The Star Tribune, was using this guy to provide information on the format war and he was ALWAYS saying that HD-DVD was going to win and suggested to everyone that they should buy into the format with confidence.

We can see how much FUD he spreads, he's still spreading it even in his "concession"... Stuff like "Blu-ray still under development" and such.

Anyway it's hard to see how HD DVD could even try to survive with all their press support going away...

[sj001]

Good that he's conceding and all, but that article he wrote is full of so much FUD that it pretty much counters what he was trying to get across.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by The Guardian

We can see how much FUD he spreads, he's still spreading it even in his "concession"... Stuff like "Blu-ray still under development" and such.

that is waht I was thinking...his ship is sinking and he's still taking cheap shots.

[TruBlu2]

Yes, this guy was very out-of-touch with just about everything.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by sj001

It would be nice to see more truly NEUTRAL journalism instead of all of this paid-off/biased crap.

Independant journalism is largely dead. What we have now are bloggers.

Some are knowledgable and respectable, others are seen to be that.

Journalism exists pretty much only in the big media organizations now, with the end-outlets [newspapers, stations, etc], being in the business of packaging it for consumption.

[jopemoro]

Originally Posted by BluStar88

I'll bet he got one of those $1,500 USD bribes HDDVD has been giving out. Once they ran out of studios to bribe (Parmount) and ran out of players to give away for free (1080i clearance crap) they have now resorted to bribing morons... you never know I could be wrong.... but then again I could be right.....

Naah, he just got fed the 'information' by his friendly Microsoft contact and got burned...

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by BBlue

Q Do you have a preference between HD DVD and Blu-ray?

A I enthusiastically recommend HD DVD. Signs are showing it is going to trounce Blu-ray -- and soon.

HD DVD is a better thought-out, more solid product than Blu-ray; it is half the price, and picture and sound quality are identical. At under $200, including seven or more movies, HD DVD players are a stunning value. Why pay twice the money when Blu-ray has serious issues and the movies look and sound the same?

[...]

HD DVD's growing momentum is showing signs of turning into a tidal wave this holiday season. Consumers are smart enough to see which way to go. Nice to get the best for half the price, isn't it?

Sorry for the relative necrobump, but this is too funny...

From the same "Sound Advice" column:

Q. I have a 34-inch HDTV and own more than 600 DVDs. I didn't want to get into Blu-ray just yet as I do not want a PlayStation 3, but unfortunately I need a new DVD player right now. How much difference will I see between Blu-ray and upconverted DVD on my 34 inch set, and on a set 42 inches or bigger when I upgrade next year?

A. You won't see much difference on your 34 inch screen, but you will definitely hear the difference if you have a sound system. At 42 inches and up the difference in picture will blow you away. Recently there have been some positive developments on the Blu-ray front that may make you want to consider diving in now, even with the smaller TV.

For a long time the $399 PlayStation 3 (PS3) was the only Blu-ray player worth considering because comparably priced standalone players were slow, glitchy, unreliable, and not nearly as capable. We are finally seeing standalone players that can be justified when compared to the PS3.

I recently tested the Philips BDP 7200, a new Profile 1.1 (picture in picture, aka "Bonus View") player and found it to be well worth recommending.

[...]

My hat is off to Philips for such an impressive performance with their new player. I'll be reporting on some other promising new players in future columns.


The second development regards the movie studios. Most studios have announced that all new releases will be available on both Blu-ray and DVD when launched. If you go with Blu-ray now instead of waiting, you can get movies in the best possible presentation sooner rather than later. I for one would not accept a blockbuster like "Iron Man" any other way, and lots of great old movies like "Ben-Hur" and "Patton" will be coming to Blu-ray soon. The Blu-ray/DVD price difference for new releases is only about $5 at retail and if you go to amazon.com you will save significantly, so the additional cost of the movies isn't a factor if you shop smart.

http://www.centredaily.com/business/...ry/609242.html