My Day 2 winners

[moepain4u]

Okay guys I have videos and pics but it might take me a day to load up on my server. I have video from blu-ray and HD-DVD booths.


The clear darlings of CES is Microsoft and their new products. Home Server, Microsoft IPTV (Hd-dvd and blu-ray are in trouble), Microsoft maps (you can zoom in on anything with no picture distortion) Office 2007, Microsoft Vista
Xbox 360, Microsoft Mail etc.

VOD, several companies are pushing it.

DLP and plasma had the best showings with Panasonic showing off their 103 inch plasma tv (have picture)


as far as blu-ray and hd dvd:

For the second day in a row I left both camps with no clear winner. The people in both booths couldn't answer most of my questions having to go try and find someone to answer them. Several people told me they were new and to ask someone else working there.

HD-DVD camp.

1. Went to to Toshiba and Universal booth and saw great demo. I then asked about price drop, movie releases but nobody had the answers and told me someone will email me. They swipe your ces card so information can be sent to you.

2. I asked about the HDMI Xbox 360 and the guy didn't know what I was talking about.

3. I asked about getting more studios to support hd-dvd and all I got was their are always behind the scenes talks going on. That's all they would say.

4. I asked about price drop on hd-dvd combo disk and this idiot said that it would probably be lower because they weren't going to do them anymore! Yes he said that and I just looked at him and said can you get me someone else. Next person said it is up to the retail stores to lower their price.

What I did get from their material was

1. ONLY on HD-DVD can you download music videos, HD Trailers and more for the movie you are watching.

2. ONLY HD-DVD can decode audio codecs (HDMI v1.3) IN the player

3. Every HD DVD disc stores film source material in its native format 1080p24

4. ONLY HD-DVD can zoom in up to 8x by pressing the A button on remote

5.ONLY HD-DVD is shipping movies with interactive features like bookmarks and picture in picture because it is the only format that guarantees the hardware support in every player.

6. HD-DVD has lossless audio.

Blu-ray camp


1. I asked several reps about how they are getting their up to 88% percent of the HD market by 2009? They said of course because every PS3 has a blu-ray player in it. I countered and said but how do you know how many PS3 owners are buying blu-ray movies? Nobody knew and said someone will send me the info by email.

2. I asked them about price drop on PS3 and their other players and they said their will be no price drop on PS3 anytime soon but there are cheaper blu-ray players now. I said how about as cheap as HD-DVD and the rep wasn't sure.

3. I asked about an blu-ray attachment for 360 and of course no one could answer that.

4. I watched the gaming interaction with blu-ray movie and got a good laugh.
think of the Sega zombie shooter (forgot name) a target comes on the screen and you move it around and shoot at characters on the screen and you see really bad blood graphics come on screen. But the characters are un-effected by this so it is a layer on top of movie not an interaction like they try and make it seem.

5. I asked them about interaction like hd-dvd and they just said well you can see something in the movie pause the screen and then go to a website and buy the item....okay.


There was a blu-ray booth and then there was a Sony booth way in the back near Toshiba. The weird thing is there was no sign of blu-ray at the Sony booth they had a PS3 setup and their other products at the Sony booth.


As far as PS3 goes it was not good. They had 4 games on display including the Grand Turismo HD and I was not impressed by it. Grand turismo looked nice but no wow factory. I played Resistance Fall of Man for the first time and it can't hold Gears of War or Rainbow Six's jock strap.

I had a few co-workers with me who don't have 360 or PS3 and they all said they would buy 360 first because of price and the other things Microsoft is doing with 360 (IPTV, better games and all the downloads).


Blu-ray movies look great and sound great and I think it has a very slight better look than HD-DVD. However the average person would not notice the difference.


Blu-ray - HD-DVD combo will retail at $1,200 dollars and it is a single drive.

I really liked the combo drives (I took pictures)


I think the combo drives are the way to go because the talk is the war will last up to 3 years but it can't go on past that.


I also think it is a war short lived because the VOD and Microsoft IPTV is where we are headed.


There will be no clear winner from CES as far as blu-ray and HD-DVD goes. This war is hurting both camps.

[StingerNLG]

5. I asked them about interaction like hd-dvd and they just said well you can see something in the movie pause the screen and then go to a website and buy the item....okay.

Sorry, but this stuck out at me. That is the funniest thing I have heard all week!

Interaction? Get your ass off the couch and go look it up!! ROFL!!

[Blurry]

Thanks moepain4u, thanks for the info. Looking forward to the pics, especially for the combo player. Do you know if it has an Ethernet port? This is supposedly required in order to be considered HD DVD. Do you know how much of the HD DVD interactive features it will support?

Thanks!

[moepain4u]

No studios like disney or any of the other studios backing blu-ray were there pushing their movies. The only studio I know that was there was Universal but they hired people who didn't know jack to talk about hd-dvd.

There were more companies like Samsung and others showing off their blu-ray players while HD-DVD players were shown exclusively in the Toshiba camp.

[moepain4u]

Originally Posted by Blurry

Thanks moepain4u, thanks for the info. Looking forward to the pics, especially for the combo player. Do you know if it has an Ethernet port? This is supposedly required in order to be considered HD DVD. Do you know how much of the HD DVD interactive features it will support?

Thanks!

That is a good question I have tons of material I will look through and see if I see anything. Otherwise I can ask tomorrow. I can only take one more day of CES

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by moepain4u

No studios like disney or any of the other studios backing blu-ray were there pushing their movies. The only studio I know that was there was Universal but they hired people who didn't know jack to talk about hd-dvd.

There were more companies like Samsung and others showing off their blu-ray players while HD-DVD players were shown exclusively in the Toshiba camp.

How did you feel Universal's attitude seem? DId they still seem gung-ho for HD DVD?

[enigma]

Originally Posted by Blurry

How did you feel Universal's attitude seem? DId they still seem gung-ho for HD DVD?

The interesting news to me was that Warner, a neutral studio, is projecting BD sales to vastly exceed HD in 07. If Universall is internally looking at the same data as Warner and Fox then they may not be real happy right now.

Personally I am surprised they didn't make some kind of splash. From a marketing standpoint you never stay quiet if you have anything to talk about. They are going to be doing some releases in 07 so

[moepain4u]

Originally Posted by Blurry

How did you feel Universal's attitude seem? DId they still seem gung-ho for HD DVD?

It was weird because I wouldn't have known it was Universal until the rep said Universal was sponsoring this booth. They had Universal movies playing on the screen but no Universal sign and no one walking around with Universal shirts. They all had cool black HD-DVD t-shirts on. I asked for one and they said they normally give them out but couldn't at this time. That sucked.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by enigma

The interesting news to me was that Warner, a neutral studio, is projecting BD sales to vastly exceed HD in 07. If Universall is internally looking at the same data as Warner and Fox then they may not be real happy right now.

Those numbers were devices sold, which includes PS3s, I have to say the 6.2 million for the entire year fro PS3 is not that great of a number.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by moepain4u

It was weird because I wouldn't have known it was Universal until the rep said Universal was sponsoring this booth. They had Universal movies playing on the screen but no Universal sign and no one walking around with Universal shirts. They all had cool black HD-DVD t-shirts on. I asked for one and they said they normally give them out but couldn't at this time. That sucked.

Yeah, sounds like a cool t-shirt, bummer. Sounds like in effect they were sponsoring a booth which was pretty much dedicated to HD DVD. That does not sound like a studio about to switch allegiences.

[moepain4u]

The feeling I got was there is a lot of confusion for the mass public and this is what is going to hurt both camps. They seriously need to come to an agreement and stop letting egos get in the way of what consumers want and need.


Also why are both camps putting people at these booths who don't have answers to the consumers question??


I remember Bill Gates saying the way to go was HD movie downloads and I think that is why they didn't put a HD-DVD player in the 360.

They can go either way with attachment and their IPTV setup looked really good and EASY for the consumer to use.


If I had a choice right now I would buy the combo player and do the IPTV

[zombieflanders]

Originally Posted by moepain4u

ONLY HD-DVD can decode audio codecs (HDMI v1.3) IN the player

Sounds like you were getting fed some shoddy information. HDMI 1.3 is actually unnecessary if the players decode audio codecs in the player. HDMI 1.3 is needed for sending the undecoded bitstream to an external decoder (e.g., a reciever). And it's not just HD DVD players that do internal decoding. The Toshibas can currently do DD, DD+, Dolby TrueHD, and the DTS core, and send it out via PCM over HDMI or analog, as well as uncompressed LPCM. Ditto for the Playstation 3, via HDMI only. The Panasonic can do LPCM, DD, DD+, and the DTS core, with the ability for DTS:MA and TrueHD via firmware updates. The Sammy, Sony, and Pioneer can do DD, DTS, and LPCM.

Every HD DVD disc stores film source material in its native format 1080p24

The same applies to Blu-ray.

HD-DVD has lossless audio.

As does Blu-ray. As a matter of fact, they have more, since every disc with LPCM is uncompressed lossless.

There was a blu-ray booth and then there was a Sony booth way in the back near Toshiba. The weird thing is there was no sign of blu-ray at the Sony booth they had a PS3 setup and their other products at the Sony booth.

Huh. So where were these?
And these guys found some stuff on Sony's CES booth tour.

I also think it is a war short lived because the VOD and Microsoft IPTV is where we are headed.


There will be no clear winner from CES as far as blu-ray and HD-DVD goes. This war is hurting both camps.

That's not good news. Warner does make it sound better, tho.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by moepain4u

If I had a choice right now I would buy the combo player and do the IPTV

I have my eye on that, but I am waiting for the price to come down - and I want to make sure it is a full featured HD DVD player.

[HarakoMeshi]

Originally Posted by moepain4u

As far as PS3 goes it was not good. They had 4 games on display including the Grand Turismo HD and I was not impressed by it. Grand turismo looked nice but no wow factory.

I stopped here. Is there anything that makes you wow?? Everyone I've spoken to has been really impressed with GT's graphics and driving.

[moepain4u]

Originally Posted by zombieflanders

Sounds like you were getting fed some shoddy information. HDMI 1.3 is actually unnecessary if the players decode audio codecs in the player. HDMI 1.3 is needed for sending the undecoded bitstream to an external decoder (e.g., a reciever). And it's not just HD DVD players that do internal decoding. The Toshibas can currently do DD, DD+, Dolby TrueHD, and the DTS core, and send it out via PCM over HDMI or analog, as well as uncompressed LPCM. Ditto for the Playstation 3, via HDMI only. The Panasonic can do LPCM, DD, DD+, and the DTS core, with the ability for DTS:MA and TrueHD via firmware updates. The Sammy, Sony, and Pioneer can do DD, DTS, and LPCM.

The same applies to Blu-ray.

As does Blu-ray. As a matter of fact, they have more, since every disc with LPCM is uncompressed lossless.

Huh. So where were these?
And these guys found some stuff on Sony's CES booth tour.

That's not good news. Warner does make it sound better, tho.

What I stated was from the HD-DVD material and I didn't say blu-ray didn't do some of the things you pointed out. If blu-ray was at the Sony booth I missed it.