High Definition/Bluray... Why I ask???

Okay, do we actually need HD TV/Movies, I've read a load about it, and other than the fact that it locks the content down with super duper encryption... Does it in fact change our way of watching TV/Movies as we know it? What happened to DVD, or Digital Broadcasting like Sky?

Or is this another reason for 'you own the plastic, we'll make sure we keep the contents' scenerio?

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Also, did anyone read about the Sony 'Rootkit' fiasco... I laughed my socks off when that blew back up in Sony's faces!!! :D
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It gives a better picture on 50" screens, and it lets them sell you star wars a third time.

vhs - dvd - hddvd

Being an owner of a 53" screen, yeah, HD is better.
Watching standard def. is OK, but watching old VHS tapes on a 50+" set looks like utter crap...

anyone that asks "why hdtv" has never seen a 1080i (or 1080p) broadcast on a good hd television. Pure and simple.

The copy protection they are proposing on the formats, however, is stupid.

its like playing a PC game at 640x480 and then switching to 1024x768 and seeing which is better.

A pretty big difference, particularly when everyones moving to LCD or whatever flat screen TV's.

It's a pretty big difference but only to people who really care. I got an HDTV and the people who aren't really into technology couldn't give two ----- about it.

Your right Kanati, I havent... love too though! :)

Anyway, when I eventually buy a 'HD Ready' TV, obviously, I'll need a player for HD media... Will these players allow you to run different formats? As in, DVD players nowadays allow you to play + and - versions. Or is the owner/supporter of a specified format going to nail you to their player(s)... e.g. Bluray = Sony etc?

Dabz

HDTV's are backwards compatible.
EDIT: I may have misinterpreted your comment.

Of course not, but you can expect the movie studios to be hyping the bejebus out of it none the less, whether its true or not. (remember how those intel Pentium chips make the internet go faster in the days on 28.8K modems? Same difference) since they are desperately trying to cram the cat back into the bag and lock their consumer base behind the super-duper double-plus enhanced encryption system.

From a consumer standpoint, there is very little to gain (as far as image/sound quality is concerned. To the vast majority of consumers, current DVD quality is more than adequate), and a lot to lose (the extra lock-in, the 'need' to buy yet another player, the upcoming file-format war between the non-compatible HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats, etc.

One little known 'feature' of the HD-DVD stuff is that you also need an 'approved' compatible DRM-capable monitor to be able to play the HD-DVD content under Windows Vista when it hits the markets.
The entire video signal remains encrypted all the way up to the display device, which will decode and show it. Meaning that you can't capture the video at a driver or videocard level. Unless you have a DRM monitor (tip: none of the current models on the market are), your brand spankin new HD-DVD disk will either render your hi-res movie in one glorious shade of black, or will automagically downsample it to a significantly lower resolution.

The high definition DVD formats won't look any better on a TV unless you have a high-definition television set as well. I can't find the source right now, but a few weeks back a report was issued stating that of the few people that actually have an HD-TV setup, about 1/3 of them were misconfigured by the user and weren't even displaying the high definition content in hi-def when available.

But as always, I'm sure that plenty of people will fall for "it will look even more amazing"-hype that the studios are bound to start cranking out when they hit the market.
But realistically, other than the prospect of 25-50GB optical media for computer backups, HD-DVD will have more downsides than 'must have' features compared to the current DVD's:

- With the current DVD's, I can make a backup copy for normal everyday use, protecting the original out-of-reach of the toddler, keeping it scratch-free.
- With the current DVD's, one can re-author a disk and remove the 10-minutes of non-fastforwardable trailers and menus and other garbage so a disc will just play the movie when you insert it in your player. I'd hate to give up that feature.
- The high definition players will have a new encryption system that the industry hopes will remain uncrackable -- Removing those options, even though they are completely legal under the fair-use provisions under copyright legislation. ("sure, you are allowed to make/modify a copy -- Good luck trying, it ain't gonna work!")
- The high definition disc specifications call for a player to pretty much 'self destruct' if it detects a 'tampered' non-authorized disc. As in: "oops, that wasn't an official disc, so now this player will not play any new content that was released after this date.

Of course, with the general public still being blissfully unaware of all these 'great' new plans that are lurking just around the corner, I'm sure the masses will run out and buy the next latest & greatest gadgets, not realizing what they're getting themselves into until it's too late.

I know I won't be buying into these new formats any time soon... the current generation DVD's is more than good enough for me, without the plethora of downsides that the new media carries. Of course, the MPAA can't wait to kill of the current DVD format in exchange for the massively 'improved' lock-in of the new formats.

//Cynical? Me?

Well I know I don't need a HD-whatever TV - other than 'SBS world news' on occasion there's not much on that catches my attention, and I doubt I really need to see the murder, mayhem & corruption that goes on in the world in glorious high definition - oh and the weather report of course.

Then again there is the fact that my vision isn't too great so there is a limit on just how clear a picture can get....

A friend of mine has downloaded some HDTV demos off the net and says you can really tell the difference. I think it will be great for use with DVD (or Bluray whatever), but satellite/cable suffers enough from compression already - I'm not sure highly compressed high definition will look that great.

I can see the point of Bluray (an actual step forward), but I fail to see the point of HDDVD (the same as right now except with a small extra fluffy hat), except of course for the money involved.

If it's got Sony involved I'm not buying it, and that goes for whatever it is that's discussed at the time; not since that root kit business and a few other things.

I used to buy Sony almost exclusively, but then the product was good. About ten or fifteen years ago the product stopped being as quite so good, and by now it's become positively mundane.

Also some five to ten years back, Sony said in a press announcement that they would go after anyone copying software content of any kind and that might include hacking the users computer via the internet if they had to. In more recent times we have seen a (and until then secret) root kit they have deployed exposed for all to see. I'd stress the point that we have seen A rootkit exposed, who can say if there are more than one in existence now (or not)?

I no longer perceive Sony as a company I can have any faith in now, or one I would be prepared to risk trusting again, because now, you just never know for sure what sort of a deal you might be getting into. Their recent track record suggests it'd quite possibly be a poor deal with an unpleasant after taste. I mean, the Sony Root Kit allowed others to hide stuff on your system, yes malware of all kinds. Messing with a users Kernal in this way is utterly contemptible. Sony need to learn to respect facts, like who actually owned the computers they deliberately messed up, for a start. Of course it follows that BMG pruducts are in the same bag, since they are in bed with Sony on this one.

Bluray - Schmuuuray.

It is worth noting here that Sony didn't actually write the rootkit or copy protection software. A small UK-based company did that.

Much like some of the earlier protections which froze Macintosh PCs, could be defeated with CD markers and didn't work in some high-end audio equipment, I get the impression that the music companies did not understand the inherent limits of the technology.

I was surprised how poor a product music companies were prepared to sell when I last brought a CD though (Dido's Life for Rent). The CD did not work with Windows Media Player, or iTunes (and the supplied custom player was absolutely awful). The quality of the digital audio was perceptibly poorer than that of the CD audio. The thing that really irritated me though was how unclear the labelling on the CD case was. A tiny little logo which implied that support for car audio players , PCs , Macs etc. was "<100%". I wonder if I could have raised the issue with the Trading Standards Agency?

The upshot of this was that I went to iTunes Music Store for my next purchase and found it cheaper and more convenient than buying CDs.

...Which was ran by a former Sony executive.

The convenient thing of using a 'small external company' to try little stunts like this is that you can deflect part of the blame should it blow up in your face.

Here in CA at least, HDTV is a lot more common, with 30" TV prices starting at about $700 400 pounds. Everyone is crazy about TV's here :)

I don't know anyone with a TV less than 32" and allthough lot of them are not hdtv 4 out of 7 of my closer friends have HDTV's between 32" and 56"

Having watched more than a few HD (1080i, converted to 1080p) films myself, I can honestly say that the difference in quality is more than noticable.

Even walking into a local Dixons where they had a 42" LCD HDTV demo running, you could see from a long way away that there was something special about the picture. It was more vibrant, more stable, more appealing. Closer inspection yielded images you felt you could touch and interact with.

This was only a 720p unit. I have only viewed 1080 content on a 19" display (so far). Going back to DVD quality on the same display just shows you what you are missing out on.

High quality DVD video is sourced from HDTV recordings (Band of Brothers).

Lastly, viewing HDTV recordings on a normal TV does yield an image quality increase. Obviously not in resolution (which is fairly fixed for a standard telly) but in colour definition, which is greatly improved (pixel perfect!) compared to DVD (DVD colour resolution is somewhere around 320x240 pixels).

I personally cannot wait for my 45" Sharp Aquos (a 1080 capable display) to arrive. Shame I can't order one because I'm poor ;)

Many years ago I played Geoff Crammonds Formula One Grand Prix for the Amiga using one of the Sony Diamondvision screens at Arsenal football stadium at a lowly 320x256 resolution, and I was dead happy :) Who needs high resolutions?

If I had acess to todays graphics back then, would I now be happy to play such a low resolution game on such a big screen? I can't see why not.

It would still look much better to have been playing with a modern PC, but I had fun all the same.

The moral here? Sure high resolutions are better on a big screen, but there's nothing wrong with low resolutions. It's all a matter of what standard of quality you'll accept. Right now with my lowly 17" CRT monitor I would accept any upgrade...

I played all my games at low res untill recently as I only had a Geforce 3. Since I got a 6600GT I have started enjoying my games MUCH more.

I was a great fan of all of Jeff Crammonds games on the Amiga, having played them recently via an emulator, I can say that most of those old games are better left where they belong, in nostalgic memory. They just don't live up to what I remember.

Yes. I was reading up on this root kit fiasco ..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4406178.stm

The 'copy protection' only affects the Windows O/S so Linux and Mac users can copy the disc without problems. Doh!

There are far too many ways for software to knacker up Windows. Not only that, but with Sony's rootkit installation, you are expected to jump through hoops trying to remove the thing.

I have a similar issue with Starforce drivers. Another lousy protection system which beds itself into the O/S.

These companies continously harm legitimate owners of their so-called 'protected' software. I'm starting to refuse to purchase any software which secretly installs stuff without my knowledge.

Does anyone know of the name of that utility which monitors your registry so you can see what changes were made after installing a piece of software?

I have problems with starforce too, and try to boycot it as best as I can. Splinter Cell 3 and X3:reunion are the two games I own that use it.

I just bought X3 as well just because I'm such a huge fan of elite... but I try my damndest not to buy anything with starforce either.

Go over to Best Buy and have a look at an HDTV on display. Anyone who says it doesn't make a difference is blind.

There's a program distributed with Spybot S&D called TeaTimer that detects changes to the registry, and asks you to confirm them.

There's "root kit revealer", that's the best I know of at present.

I also have a text file on my desktop (you know, just right click and make a new text file. It's called $sys$canary.txt

Anytime the Sony Rootkit or it's decendants get loose on your machine, this file will vanish.

Any file starting with $sys$ will do that once the Sony stuff has been at work on your kernal - it uses the canary.txt bit on the end so it is like when miners took caged canaries down the mine with them to reveal a dangerous environmet before it harmed humans. I got this tip from another, but it's a good one!

Hope it helps someone. If you try and make that file and it goes away immediately, you got that Sony thing going on.

To double check make one called canary.txt and if that stays then try adding the $sys$ to the start of the filename, if it then vanishes on being renamed, you got it!

AND... find out if it's a true Hi Def picture you are looking at. A lot of times places like best buy and circuit city just play dvd's on the hd televisions. That's going to look good, but it's still just 480p. 1080i/p will knock your socks off. :)

You'd find www.allofmp3.com even cheaper =]

It won't even affect Windows either, if you turn off the autoplay feature (which anyone who is half security-conscious would have done already anyway)