Another way High-Def Digest is biased towards HD DUD: Delayed reviews for bad HD DUDs

[unreal1080p]

Battlestar Galactica on HD DUD just received a HORRIFIC review (or should I say wonderful review if your a spiteful Blu-Ray fan )

Link to review:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/682/b...actica_s1.html

Releasing this horrific review a full week after the release of the set seems somewhat suspect to me:

I know it's a box set and it takes time to watch but Prison Break Season 1's review came out on the Friday of the week of it's release (3 days later) and that is a 24 episode season. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 is only 13 episodes and the review comes out the following Tuesday... a FULL week after it's release? Star Trek TOS Season 1 was also one week late but that one is 30 episodes so it's understandable. Draw your own conclusions.

Mine is this: with a review this bad, my guess is more then half the people that were considering purchasing this release would have decided otherwise if they had been given the chance to read this review first... therefore, in order not to hurt the sales of this HD DUD release, High Def Digest witheld the review a WHOLE week.

Maybe i'm reading more into this then there trully is but, somehow, I don't think so.

[kowhite]

You might be reading more into that than there is. They still havne't put up reviews for some of the 12/4 Blu-Ray releases, and there's been a ton of content rolling in lately (not to mention BSG ain't exactly a 2 hour movie).

Why not at least wait to see how long it takes Lost review to show up.

[spicynacho]

I don't know if anything sinister is going on. Sometimes reviewers get advance copies, sometimes they don't. That could be one explanation, the other issue is that this is an awesome show. It is one of the best on TV with great writing, great acting, and it is a departure from the standard ST/SW sci-fi fare.

[unreal1080p]

Originally Posted by spicynacho

Sometimes reviewers get advance copies, sometimes they don't.

Ya... This is one release Universal would definetely NOT want in the hands of reviewers in advance. The longer it takes for the reviewers to get their hands on it, the longer the public is unaware of the horrible release. Perhaps the Studio is the one responsible for the late review after all (by not making an early copy readily availabe to the reviewer). And in this instance, perhaps it's the fact that many of the sets are damaged that also delayed the full review of the box set (the need to get a 2nd or 3rd set in order to be able to review all the discs).

[Grisle]

His review of Prison Break is pretty good...he recommended it. If he were trying to not hinder the sales of Battlestar wouldn't he also want to hold off on a good review so people wouldn't pick it up on BD. I think the guy has a bias, but he does seem to be more open minded as of late and I don't really mind his reviews...it makes it more special when he gives a BD release a glowing review.

[mattym]

ouch thats not a good review at all.

[jorg]

lol atleast they reviewed it lmao like with natures journy the blu-ray verison kick teh shit out of hd dvd they dident even review the blu-ray version on the hd dvd one!!!! lmao

[WickyWoo]

Releasing this horrific review a full week after the release of the set seems somewhat suspect to me:

The review copies arrived late to everyone

[RickD]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

The review copies arrived late to everyone

After reading that review, I can see why they would want to send them late.

Rick

[Branden]

comparing release date to review date doesn't indicate any kind of conspiracy. just like this site, they review it when they get around to it.

but what i did find telling was it got 2.5/5 for PQ that was described as:

video quality doesn't look much better than it does on standard DVD.

which means that to them 2.5=DVD, therefore they've allowed the possibility, or should i say expectancy, to have HD-DVD discs with less than DVD quality. call me nuts, but when reviewing HD content shouldn't pitifully low SD-comparible quality be considered 1 at most?

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

The review copies arrived late to everyone

Yes, Bill Hunt received his on Friday.

The set contains a three hour miniseries, 13 episodes, several documentaries, and interactive stuff. I'm not a reviewer, but that's quite a bit of effort compared to a 2 hour movie (plus extras) in that timeframe.

~Alan

[richard lichtenfelt]

Josh Zyber articles on highdefdigest.com always reek of hd dvd fud.
His latest tries to belittle the uncompressed audio advantage of blu-ray.
One of his articles in the past was about blu-rays' software sales lead meaning nothing as overall hd sales were so low as to be insignificant.
Just about all of the hd dvd fud spin has been spun by Josh Zyber in a long winded, boring dissertation.

[Bullseye]

I don't normally go to that site but i checked out their forum and there is one thread where they are completely misquoating Bill Hunt. Maybe someone should notify Bill.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by richard lichtenfelt

Josh Zyber articles on highdefdigest.com always reek of hd dvd fud.
His latest tries to belittle the uncompressed audio advantage of blu-ray.
One of his articles in the past was about blu-rays' software sales lead meaning nothing as overall hd sales were so low as to be insignificant.
Just about all of the hd dvd fud spin has been spun by Josh Zyber in a long winded, boring dissertation.

Actually, his latest column on uncompressed audio was his LEAST biased column I've read from him. It explained the differences between PCM, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD MA, and I don't remember any HD DVD "spin" or belittling of "Blu-ray" even though I was looking hard for it given the writer.

~Alan

[hc666]

There is no way they are biased there.

Great site and reviews all around.

[Seretur]

Josh Zyber lost too much credibility over this year for me to care about him anymore. His sendoff to our own member, Pro-Bassoonist, over at DVD Talk was one of the most concentrated pieces of passive-aggressive HD DVD fanboyism I've ever seen come from a "professional" reviewer.

That said, the Galactica review is appropriate, and its delayed timing is probably due to the late arrival of copies. Universal just messed this release up in every way they could.

It's actually making me worried about the eventual Blu-ray release. BSG deserves better. So say we all.

[sj001]

Notice it was a bad review, and it wasn't Peter Bracke... maybe if it was our buddy Mr. Bracke, he would have given it higher?

[Neo65]

When a release is horriffic, (as opposed to just average or occasional glitching), it's usually the master. IMHO.

[richard lichtenfelt]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

Actually, his latest column on uncompressed audio was his LEAST biased column I've read from him. It explained the differences between PCM, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD MA, and I don't remember any HD DVD "spin" or belittling of "Blu-ray" even though I was looking hard for it given the writer.

~Alan

From his article "That's not a knock against Master Audio, but rather a limitation imposed by the playback hardware."
It was subtle, but isn't all sabotage done with labored sneakiness.
He is addressing the recent news of 60% of blu-rays having uncompressed audio to 20% of hd dvds, and the whole article is meant to say that it is a non-issue. The theme is the same as his "the blu-ray movie sales advantage doesn't matter because the overall sales #'s are insignificant" article.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by richard lichtenfelt

From his article "That's not a knock against Master Audio, but rather a limitation imposed by the playback hardware."
It was subtle, but isn't all sabotage done with labored sneakiness.
He is addressing the recent news of 60% of blu-rays having uncompressed audio to 20% of hd dvds, and the whole article is meant to say that it is a non-issue. The theme is the same as his "the blu-ray movie sales advantage doesn't matter because the overall sales #'s are insignificant" article.

I've said it before, but I like DTS-HD MA as it allows me, a PS3 owner without a HDMI receiver, to hear a less lossy soundtrack, and upgrade to a lossless experience later when I upgrade my equipment. The best of both worlds...

That being said, no internal decoding, and a lack of bitstreaming support on some players, shows a limitation imposed by the playback hardware... but if you think that's a shot at Blu-ray, how many HD DVD players have DTS-HD MA decoding... and what does "Pan's Labrynth" have on the HD DVD as well as the Blu-ray?

I guess it's a good thing New Line is going Blu-ray exclusive, or HD DVD owners would be complaining about the "limitation imposed by the playback hardware."!

~Alan