HOME About Buyers Guide Reviews Archives

Archives

April 2006

Do You Have to Be an Expert to Enjoy High-Def DVD?
The Man Room reviews the HD DVD version of Clint Eastwood"s "Million Dollar Baby":

Seeing this trio of stars perform their magic in 1080i on HD-DVD is certainly a step up from the already fantastic 480p DVD transfer, but not one an average consumer might immediately pick up on like say the difference between VHS and DVD. My wife poked her head in my ManRoom while “Million Dollar Baby” was playing and wasn’t even sure I was watching an HD-DVD. To give you an idea of the subtle increase in clarity, even after letting her in on the secret she still couldn’t pick out much of a difference.
April 24th, 2006

Newsbriefs
Engadget reports that Sony is "joining the club" with the news that its BDP-S1 high-definition DVD player will be available from August 15th, at an expected price of $1,000.

A senior executive at Matsushita has said there will be no further talks between Blu-ray and HD DVD backers on forming a unified standard.

Daily Tech reports that RCA will be next off the high-def DVD player block with the mid-May release of its HDV5000 HD DVD player.
April 22nd, 2006

Toshiba - Early Reviews
The DVD Town website has an enormous review of the new Toshiba HD-DVD player. Here's the bottom line:

It would be irresponsible of me right now to make a blanket recommendation for either HD-DVD or Blu-ray (or to recommend high definition in general, for that matter), given the format war going on and the hardware expense.

What I can say for sure, though, is that for the most part, the Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player works as advertised: It offers a superbly detailed picture; along with a two-hour-plus movie, it accommodates multiple audio tracks and bonus items on a single disc; and as of this writing, it is priced far less than the anticipated cost of its competition.

Now, if the machine weren't so slow and noisy and the remote so unfriendly, it might have been nearly perfect.

Don’t you just love new technology?

And the conclusion from CNET:

The Toshiba HD-A1 is an affordable first-generation HD-DVD player that produces a stunning high-def image--but only home-theater enthusiasts are likely to endure its long list of early-adopter caveats.

And the Los Angeles Times:

Should you care? Probably not. Because unless you already have a state-of-the-art high-definition television at least 40 inches in size, you won't notice much of a difference.

Here's my advice: If you've got a spare $500, use it toward an upgrade to a bigger set instead. In the time it takes to save up another $500, the price of HD disc players will probably drop and a pending format war may well be decided.

Engadget:

If there's a consensus opinion, it's that HD DVD may be great for early adopters and HD connoisseurs, but less discerning viewers may not see what the big deal is. As Ben Drawbaugh puts it on HDBeat: "Bottom line is that HD-DVD is great, but will you notice? If you can't tell the difference between DVD's and HBO HD than you might be just as well off with a upconverting DVD player. If you never noticed HBO-HD's cropped movies, non-dynamic sound and compression artifacts you may be better off sticking with HBO-HD. If you do notice these annoyances you won't be disappointed with HD-DVD or Blu-Ray."

Meanwhile, ABI Research forecasts that Blu-ray will have taken only 30% of the global high-def DVD market by the end of this year.
April 21st, 2006

"HD-DVD Will Beat Blu-Ray"
That's what some people are now saying.

Who?

Well, Microsoft, for example. And an HD Beat commentator. And ABI Research (though they think Blu-Ray may "turn the tables in the long-term").

Meanwhile, IGN.com presents an HD-DVD buying guide.
April 20th, 2006

Is the Toshiba HD-DVD Player a Hit?
Reports are coming in that stores are selling out of their modest allotments of the new Toshiba high-def DVD player.

The TechLiving website said:

Despite high prices and some worry over the format war, it seems as though the HD-A1 is already selling out in stores. (Not sure about the HD-XA1, which retails for an extra $300.)

...More should be coming soon, and if you can hold out (or maybe you are saving up), Toshiba plans to launch a few print and TV promotions to entice some of you that may still be on the fence.

CNET reported:

Those eager to get their hands on the first ever HD DVD players in the United States cleared shelves quickly at Best Buy stores in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

An employee at the Best Buy store in Midtown Manhattan said Tuesday that all 10 Toshiba HD DVD players were sold out on Monday, the day before the players' official launch.

Customers also bought up all the HD DVD movie titles, the employee said.

The Best Buy store in San Francisco sold out of six Toshiba HD-A1 models, which retails for $499, according to a store clerk. Best Buy's branch in Northridge, Calif., about 25 miles north of Los Angeles, also reported that it quickly ran out of the handful of HD DVD players it received.
April 19th, 2006

Still Too Early
PC World reviews the Toshiba HD-XA1:

In terms of picture quality, I'm pleased to report that the player delivered everything I've come to expect from high-definition.

...So what about the usability of the Toshiba player?

My overwhelming impression of the HD-XA1 has been of slowness, and this is mainly down to the start-up. It takes about 35 seconds for the "Toshiba HD-DVD" logo to appear on-screen after hitting the "on" button, and the "Welcome" message remains on the player's display until 55 seconds after launch. There's a further 10 seconds elapse--meaning 65 seconds in all--before the first images from the disc appear on the screen.

What's more, you can't do anything while the player is booting up, so it takes about a minute just to eject a disc from the machine. That isn't very impressive.

Disc load times while the machine is running are also slow. It took 28 seconds for the "loading" display to change to "HD-DVD" when after slipping in a disc, and a further 10 seconds for the disc to start playing. Loading a DVD disc is slightly quicker, but only by about 5 seconds.

Toshiba realizes the player takes a long time to start and wants to improve this, according to a spokeswoman.

CNET reports on the launch of high-definition DVD in the US:

Bottom line: While Toshiba's HD DVD players are first to market and priced lower than those that will offer the Blu-ray format, it is still too early to tell which format will win over consumers. More movie studios currently back the Blu-ray format, and customers will be able to choose from a wider array of Blu-ray machines and brands once they hit the market.
April 19th, 2006

They're Here
Toshiba's high-def players are reportedly in the stores (some stores, anyway), ready to go on sale Tuesday morning. Says the Washington Post:

Sources say players were shipped out beginning Sunday and are scheduled to go on sale at all Best Buy stores and select Sears, Wal-Mart, Costco and Tweeters locations by week's end. Software also will be available at those retailers.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios Home Entertainment is rushing recent box office disappointment "Serenity" to stores so it will join the two Warner Home Video titles slated to be available for sale Tuesday, "The Last Samurai" and "The Phantom of the Opera."

Video Business Online reports that some 10,000 to 15,000 of the players should be in 3,000 stores by the end of the week.
April 18th, 2006

That Pesky Format War
The DVDActive website has scanned the covers of all the high-def titles it can find. (Warning: slow download.)

As HD Beat and others point out, all the HD-DVD movies posted state they are formatted in 1080p.

Comments Engadget:

No word yet if this is an across-the-board thing, or whether the early BD titles are also 1080p (DVDActive only has the fronts of the BD boxes). But this is sure to be good news for anyone planning to build a collection of discs; at least you won't have to toss them when you can finally buy a 1080p-capable player. Of course, that doesn't mean you won't still be chucking your discs before you have a chance to watch them in true 1080p glory. After all, there is that pesky format war going on ...
April 14th, 2006

The Future May Be Farther Off Than We Would Like
The X-Bit Laboratories website reports that the high production cost of high-definition DVD players means that the market for conventional DVD devices is likely to continue growing for some years.

Or, as the website says: "The future of this market though is all about high definition DVD players based on ‘blue laser’ technology; however, the future may be farther off than we would like."
April 6th, 2006

HD DVD - Going Cheap

Digital World Tokyo reports that Toshiba's new HD DVD player, introduced just three days ago, is already being discounted:

We spotted it for under ¥100,000 at a downtown branch of Bic Camera, which is ¥10,000 less than the list price....Incidentally, we heard from a source that the reason Toshiba rushed the player out on the last day of March was simply so that it could say it had met its promises to offer something within the first quarter of 2006.
April 4th, 2006

Samsung - "You'll Have to Wait Until June"
Samsung has announced that its BD-P1000 Blu-ray high-definition DVD player will be launched in the US on June 25th, a month later than previously planned. Reuters says the reason is to "complete testing."

The Samsung will likely be the first Blu-ray player on the market. And as Sony Home Entertainment has already said it will start selling the first Blu-ray-format movie titles on May 23rd, it means buyers will have to wait a month before being able to watch them.
April 4th, 2006

HD DVD - Now on Sale (in Japan)
Toshiba has begun sales in Japan of its initial HD DVD player, the HD-XA1, at 110,000 yen ($936). The first Japanese movies titles are due to be released on April 7th, with possibly 20 titles available by the end of the month, and 150 to 200 titles by the end of the year. Toshiba has said it expects initial sales of its new player of around 2,000 units per month, but that within a year it could sell as many as 600,000 to 700,000 units.
April 1st, 2006