What are we rooting for?

What are you doing with a gun in space?

Blu Ray as I am getting a PS3.
[img]http://www.angelfire.com/al/metalalien/pictures/tom_alien_banner.jpg[/img]

Well... although either of them would be nicer than your regular DVD, I'm going with the HD-DVD because of it's durability.

Yeah, I know the Blu-Ray holds more data... yeah, I know the bigger studios and companies are backing Blu-Ray... yeah, the Blu-Ray's are going to be more expensive, but that's not because they are necessarily better...

The HD-DVD's use a 0.6 mm-thick surface layer (same as regular DVD), while Blu-Ray has a much smaller 0.1mm layer because otherwise it has a problem with the laser trying to focus with its 0.85 aperture on the tightly packed data. This means you had better not scratch it or you are buying a new one.

In fact, it's because of the special hard coating the Blu-Ray's are using to try and prevent this from happening that has driven the price higher than what HD-DVD's will be.

My loyalties are with the HD-DVD's... but unfortunately I would probably have to put my money on the Blu-Ray.

Yessir... it's the VHS vs. BETA wars all over again... and it looks like the better format will probably lose... again!
Rick "Ripstick"

[img]http://www.Route73.com/USCM/images/Ripstick_Aliens_Legacy_Banner_2006.jpg[/img]

I miss 8 tracks.

Blu-Ray?

*EDIT- never mind. I just read all about it.
Kevin

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgDnAloXyJBkYBZV7s*Kj9!1Bc8b0FJ!WEmX8BpHJk8yRyABH697OsLy1Bm1knQrHcDDdHqDnRAmyoDB6vy6w!ASmCM57J8W6cyCxY8Y84TWwwCw7UVNAA/Burton%20004.JPG[/img]

"I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it's won."

Edited by: [url=http://p220.ezboard.com/bthealienslegacy.showUserPublicProfile?gid=ssgtburton>SSgt Burton[/url]  at: 5/4/06 5:26 pm

yeah, I sure miss 3/4" tape too.

Russ



"Time has little to do with infinity and jelly doughnuts."

Uhm... they still sell 'em if you really miss them.

Totally! (er... not!)

Actually Kevin, thanks to your comment I just finished wasting about 45 minutes down in my basement trying to find my Alien soundtrack on 8-Track -- oh yes, on 8-TRACK! Unfortunately, it's gone MIA. I was however able to find my Star Wars soundtrack, and the Story of Star Wars on 8-Track.

As far as Aliens goes, this is the best I could do...

[img]http://www.route73.com/USCM/images/Aliens_on_Laserdisc.jpg[/img]

Now that was top quality stuff in its day. And actually, some of my movies on laserdiscs are actually better quality than some of their counterparts released on DVD's with bad compression ratios believe it or not.

One other upside to laserdiscs are the original unmessed with versions that you can no longer get in any format. I still have my original (non-Special Edition) Star Wars in CAV format on laserdisc -- still way way awesome!

I've also got the original E.T. on laserdisc with the FEMA agents and military busting into the house with guns and weapons pulled! None of this "flashlights & walkie-talkies" crap that Spielberg pulled with the DVD release.

It'll be quite some time before I give up my precious laserdiscs.
Rick "Ripstick"

[img]http://www.Route73.com/USCM/images/Ripstick_Aliens_Legacy_Banner_2006.jpg[/img]

That bastard!

Doesn't he realize I haven't seen E.T. since 1982 (when it was in the theaters)?!

Now I'll know he screwed with it!
Kevin

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgDnAloXyJBkYBZV7s*Kj9!1Bc8b0FJ!WEmX8BpHJk8yRyABH697OsLy1Bm1knQrHcDDdHqDnRAmyoDB6vy6w!ASmCM57J8W6cyCxY8Y84TWwwCw7UVNAA/Burton%20004.JPG[/img]

"I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it's won."

None of these new formats will matter if you don't have a HD or plasma tv to watch them on.
"How lucky are the few who know where they belong."

Actually, anyone with an LCD flat panel computer monitor will be able to reap the quality benefits, albiet on a slightly smaller scale depending on your screen-size.

F.Y.I. I'm currently running a 19 inch LCD, so when I'm seated at arms length away, it's like I'm watching a 52 inch HDTV from 10 feet away.
Rick "Ripstick"

[img]http://www.Route73.com/USCM/images/Ripstick_Aliens_Legacy_Banner_2006.jpg[/img]

Weird... I just read an article in EGM, saying that Blu-Ray can handle scratches better than HD-DVDs. They even made the example of scratching a Blu-Ray disk with steel wool and it still plays. Is this incorrect?

-Alex
"The M41-A. When you absolutely, positively have to kill every mofo in the room. Accept no substitutes."

Not really incorrect -- just a different understanding of what is meant by 'handling scratches'.

The special coating on the Blu-Ray discs are harder and more durable than the surface on your typical DVD or HD-DVD disc. This coating was a necessity to prevent scratching the super thin layer protecting the data. The operative word here is prevent. If a true scratch were to penetrate this protective coating, it would destroy that portion of the disc making it irrepairable.

On the other hand, your regular DVD's and even HD-DVD's are still rather scratch prone... but they can be repaired. If you take an abused and scratched up DVD or HD-DVD and rub out the scratches with polishing compound, you have about a 95-99% chance of completely fixing it to play like new.

I believe that what they failed to mention in their little steel wool 'scratch' test was that the steel wool failed to actually scratch the disk, which is why it still played. No real damage done thanks to the protective coating. But accidentally take a piece of light grit sandpaper across a Blu-Ray and it is toast. Do that very same thing to a regular DVD or HD-DVD and it can be rubbed out and fixed to play again.

Of course there will be extreme situations where even a DVD or HD-DVD won't be repairable... like after skidding across one with your car after realizing it fell out of the case and onto your driveway.
Rick "Ripstick"

[img]http://www.Route73.com/USCM/images/Ripstick_Aliens_Legacy_Banner_2006.jpg[/img]

Well ez-boad and my browser managed to eat a nice long posting I was working on so here's the short version......

Blu-Ray: Why? From a slashdot article: "Apparently the folks who designed the Advanced Access Content System (AACS)for the new HD DVD formats have decided to stick it to the early HDTV adopters. If your set used the older component video, expect to watch your new HD DVD at a quarter of the resolutions. To thwart piracy of course. From the article: AACS says the new players won't output a full-HD signal from their component-video connections, since those jacks are analog instead of digital and thus have no copy protection. The 'down-rezzed' signals will be limited to a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels -- exactly one-quarter the 1,920 x 1,080 pixels that you'll get through the copy-protected digital connectors on the players. "

This is the source article on SciFi

Sony has come out and sid that Blu-Ray won't do this. I can't stnd dealing with companies that insist I'm going to try to steal from them.

The second new item is that after swearing tht the original theatrical version of StarWars would never be re-released, Lucas has relented in the face of another several million in profits from another box set. They are going to release a limited run of DVD box sets that have both the 2004 remastered version and the 1977 version (along with both versions of peisode 5 and 6). At long last we can see Han shoot first in the bar again.

Here is the link

LRRP

Do you really think he "gave in".

The man is a marketing genius. He is the richest man in Hollywood with over 3 Billion dollars to his name (beating out Spielberg and Oprah).

Obviously next on the list is the release of the Ultra-Six-Movie-Uber-Box-Set (might even have the deleted scene of Biggs saying goodbye to Luke on Tatooine).

After that is the tv series slated for 2008. His franchise will never die.

In fact Blu-Ray will probably be obsolete first.
Kevin

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgDnAloXyJBkYBZV7s*Kj9!1Bc8b0FJ!WEmX8BpHJk8yRyABH697OsLy1Bm1knQrHcDDdHqDnRAmyoDB6vy6w!ASmCM57J8W6cyCxY8Y84TWwwCw7UVNAA/Burton%20004.JPG[/img]

"I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it's won."

you guys know that all the original star wars are coming to DVD this september? Completelty unenhanced.

Original opening to starwars that doesn't say episode IV, Han shoots first and so on.... pro logic sound.... ...hmmmmm
[img]http://www.angelfire.com/al/metalalien/pictures/tom_alien_banner.jpg[/img]

SSB --

I think he gave into the dark side of his bank account. In previous interviews (where he was pushing how much better he felt the "updated" versions were) he had indicated that he would never let the origianl theatrical version out again.

If history is any guide, the release pattern will go like this (seperated by 6-12 months):

1. Limited time boxed set, in 4:3
2. Limited time boxed set, in theatrical wide screen
3. Limited time boxed set, from a restored but unaltered set of prints
4. Special edition boxed set with the TV Xmas special
5. Super-duper special edition (with five different sets of box art -- collect them all you must) with theatrical, re-imagined, and DVD release versions all together.

Then repeat all cycles for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray (or maybe both).

The limited time run seems to be something that they picked up from Dinsney to create additional artificial demand. "We're going to only sell 'Princesses Eat Lunch' for six months and then lock it away for three years." Meaning that if you have a kid who wants it and fail to buy it, you will not hear the end of it for three years.

We will know for sure that Lucas has given in to Darth Accountant fully when the Xmas Special comes out in DVD. Man that was bad, but it was also the introduction for Boba Fett (as a cartoon).

Still, it will be nice to see Han as a pre-emptive shooting bad boy, and old man Skywalker looking like a middle aged man ghost rather than a backstreet boy ghost at the end of RTOJ.

LRRP

God damn it, I just noticed I posted the SW thing like 2 posts too late....
[img]http://www.angelfire.com/al/metalalien/pictures/tom_alien_banner.jpg[/img]

Are you serious about them releasing the Star Wars Xmas Holiday Special?!

I once read an interview with George, in which he said it was the worst piece of garbage he had ever allowed to happen, and if he had the time and a sledgehammer, he would track down every bootleg tape that existed and smash them to pieces.

Now he's officially releasing it? Well don't that beat all!
Kevin

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgDnAloXyJBkYBZV7s*Kj9!1Bc8b0FJ!WEmX8BpHJk8yRyABH697OsLy1Bm1knQrHcDDdHqDnRAmyoDB6vy6w!ASmCM57J8W6cyCxY8Y84TWwwCw7UVNAA/Burton%20004.JPG[/img]

"I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it's won."

I was joking about the holiday special. It is so bad it kills brain cells when you watch it.... kind of like the Ring, but without a chance of dodging it.

Then again, Lucas had also said he wouldn't re-release the original theatrical version of episode 4. Nah, releasing the holiday special will never happen. I think it's outlawed by the SALT-II accords.

I'd seen it as a young'n and was dissapointed then. Musical numbers and Harvy Coreman in StarWars, WTF? Saw a bootleg VHS a couple years back and could feel my brain cells imploding.

Wookie Cookies for everyone!

LRRP

I went surfing for any info about the release of the Holiday Special after you mentioned it LRRP, and came across this:

DVD Review of The Star Wars Holiday Special (Platinum Edition)

I bought it hook-line-and-sinker...


Until I saw the date.

For anyone interested- you can watch a condensed QT version of the Special here:

www.looptvandfilm.com/blog/lifeday.mov

And yes- this thread has officially been hijacked. Sorry Joe.
Kevin

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgDnAloXyJBkYBZV7s*Kj9!1Bc8b0FJ!WEmX8BpHJk8yRyABH697OsLy1Bm1knQrHcDDdHqDnRAmyoDB6vy6w!ASmCM57J8W6cyCxY8Y84TWwwCw7UVNAA/Burton%20004.JPG[/img]

"I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it's won."

Blue Ray for me. I'll be getting a PS3 probably next year, and since lots of other people will have one, I expect that will have a big effect on the sales of BD format discs.

The cost of stand-alone players is very high, so people will get a PS3 even if it's only as a BD player, as they did with the PS2.

They'll be able to put on all the extras that they didn't have room for with the DVD release.
Paul.

The Colony - My collection and current prop projects.Edited by: [url=http://p220.ezboard.com/bthealienslegacy.showUserPublicProfile?gid=paulkitching>paul kitching[/url] at: 5/10/06 10:11 am

They just annouced the price for the PS3.

600 bucks
HDMI
60gig HD
host of various memory card slots.
Wifi built in

500bucks
No HDMI
20 gig HD
No carb slots
No wifi
[img]http://www.angelfire.com/al/metalalien/pictures/tom_alien_banner.jpg[/img]

Who will win? Easy... the cheaper format. That happens to be HD-DVD.
"I have defied gods and demons. I am your shield, I am your sword. I know you, your past, your future."