Markgway wrote:If you a buy a film you haven't seen because it looks like it could be interesting that's buying on spec. You NEVER do that when ibrowsing thru an HMV sale for example?
Spec to me specifically mean AV and extras. I don't buy DVDs in shops. I've done it maybe 2-3 in 3-4 years, price always suck compared to online. You see an HMV bargain and it's always cheaper online.
I do buy DVDs based purely on forum opinion though, especially Martial Arts films. I doubt I'd buy any if not for this forum
Markgway wrote:Yeah, but if they don't code, it might not be too big an issue. I'm sure by the time I get an HD player the goalposts will have changed anyways...
They may do.
New Line have only "just" got into HD and are releasing their Blu-ray titles with it's anticipated regional coding but are specifically delaying the HD-DVD version until it's been released more worldwide. Thankfully no other studio is using this sneaky tactic. No New Line title is out yet to confirm BDs regional coding.
For example:
Pan's Labyrinth BD and HD-DVD at the same time, because the UK HD-DVD/BD by Optimum was being released at the same time. No reason to wait but Shoot 'Em Up according to DVD Active will be BD but HD-DVD later on in the year. I wonder why.
BTW I mentioned New Line above. Fox are still the only studio I'm concerned about, but mostly because I plan to import my HD Combo Player. So it's Region A out of the box and gives me North America + Asia (to be on the safe side).
Panasonic.
That explains it. I think they invented DVD-Ram, regardless they've always been big supporters. DVD-Ram is rare on a DVD Recorder. Good find and good work in actually using it. I doubt most people who have a Panasonic DVD Recorder do.
Seriously, nothing last more than a week on our RAM discs. It's watched and then wiped.
Well that's because due to the number of discs you have you have to wipe them. There's much less need with hard disk based systems. Because I too record so little I have stuff going back to when I first got my Hard Disk Recorder 2 years ago, some cracking documentaries that one day I may want to re-watch but sadly have never been put out on DVD.
Besides like I said for me that's less of a reason to get one.
Markgway wrote:I took a look at some discs in HMV and the HD titles run NTSC speed whilst the blu-ray equivilents run PAL speed.
That is observant of you. I'd say a cock up. It's certainly not a case of them being encoded in PAL/NTSC for sure, whatever the reason. As Gasteropod says it's more a case of studios still getting used to the HD world and relying on DVD cover art too much. I wouldn't rely on HD cover art to give you a 100% accurate running time.
To give you another example. I saw today EIV's "The Crow" BD and it specifically said on the back:
"Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)"
There is no concept of Anamorphic on High Definition. Anamorphic is an SD concept to increase the quality in a 4:3 frame (if you consider all DVDs are 4:3 then the player stretches them sideways to 16:9). With non-anamorphic/letterboxing the black is part of the image, the player is more than capable of creating this so that extra space can be used for the picture. That's a crude explanation but you get the idea. 720x576 (PAL) and 720x480 (NTSC) are the two DVD resolutions, both are 4:3 aspect ratios.
I'm sure you know this much anyway.
HDs resolutions:
1280x720p
1920x1080i
1920x1080p
Are all 16:9 resolutions. Anamorphic is completely redundant. DVD has to also account for 4:3 TVs and letterboxing, this is simply not the case with HD. There is no such thing as a HD Ready 4:3 TV. Forget whether a HD Disc is anamorphic or not, it's not relevant and if it is stated it's incorrect.
Personally I wish they'd created a 4:3 HD aspect ratio (something by 1080p would be about right) to account for 4:3 content but instead they've opted to pillarbox 4:3 content into one of the 16:9 aspect ratios above. That sucks IMO. I know I'm alone in this thinking, at least on this forum anyway.
It did remind me of an early EIV DVD I bought that said VHS on the sleeve
