What Have You Just Ordered or Received?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 01 Nov 2007, 10:39

From pacific:-
GITS:SAC Solid State Society 3-disc LE

Came in a nice steelbook, but the disc holder for the OST was broken.

Luckily the disc doesn't appear to have a scratch on it.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 01 Nov 2007, 11:46

Can you send it back or can't you be arsed?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 01 Nov 2007, 11:52

grim_tales wrote:Can you send it back or can't you be arsed?

Can't be arsed, plus I'll just be losing money. But I may just do, this is a limited ed. tin, not a simple amaray that I can replace.

On the plus side, the OST is fan-fucking-tastic.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 03 Nov 2007, 18:40

The Two Ronnies: S1 (Disc 2) from CD WOW rental

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 03 Nov 2007, 20:18

Paranoia Agent Vol. 1-4 (R1) (pacific and cduniverse)

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Nov 2007, 00:01

Just ordered 2 HDMI cables on Ibood.com as it's today big offer. Only 15 euro (10 euro plus 5 euro shipping).

I buy it so when I get my 360 and PS3, I will already have the best cables.

Also ordered Born to Fight from play.com

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Nov 2007, 00:05

Does your LCD TV have two HDMI sockets? My LCD TV only has one socket so I'm going to need a splitter cable or switch box. Don't either the PS3 or Xbox 360 offer HD over Component? I'm already using my Component socket too.

Why are they the best?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 04 Nov 2007, 02:48

Yi, the Elite comes with a HDMI cable. The new Arcade, Premium and Halo3 LE SKUs don't however. You'll also probably need the analogue/optical passthrough adapter (which comes bundled with the Elite, but not the other SKU) if you don't plan on having audio handled by HDMI as well.

bradavon wrote:Don't either the PS3 or Xbox 360 offer HD over Component? I'm already using my Component socket too.

Of course they can Brad. Both offer up to 1080p over component. But a lot of TV's don't support 1080p over component. because a licensing fee is required (probably has something to do with that HDCP bull-crap I bet.).

Yi, do note that 360 only upscales DVDs over VGA. Again due to licensing fees are required for upscaling over component, but not VGA. M$ probably haven't bother seeing as they figured most people will probably use their consoles exclusively for games.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Nov 2007, 03:43

I dont have an LCD yet, but when I buy one, I will make sure the TV will have at least 2 HDMI sockets.

Eva, does that upscaling also hold true when you play your dvd's through the external HDDVD drive!?
Fucking Microsoft, always messing up :N
Do LCD's also come with VGA ports, and does the Elite also come with a VGA cable!?

I'm just buying ahead, cause I know I will probably need these cables somewhere in the near future.
So for 15 euro, it's a good buy, and if for some reason I would NOT need them, I can always still sell them through without a loss.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 04 Nov 2007, 09:26

Yi-Long wrote:Eva, does that upscaling also hold true when you play your dvd's through the external HDDVD drive!?

I don't know, sorry. I don't own the HD-DVD addon yet.

Do LCD's also come with VGA ports,

Some do.

and does the Elite also come with a VGA cable!?

Nope, you have to buy the VGA cable separately. Be sure to buy an official MS first party cable or one made by Monster Cable, anything else is junk that'll give you crap PQ.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Nov 2007, 13:52

Forbidden Planet: 50 Anniversary SE from Play.

The extras disc was a rattler

But I tried it and it seems to play fine even after it got (mildly) scratched and fell on the floor.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Nov 2007, 14:22

How mildly? People get way to paranoid about rattlers, if the DVD is fine so what?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Nov 2007, 14:32

It sounds like if you have an Xbox 360 and HD-DVD Addon the best connection is VGA. It certainly sounds weird HDMI doesn't upscale for DVDs too.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Of course they can Brad. Both offer up to 1080p over component. But a lot of TV's don't support 1080p over component. because a licensing fee is required (probably has something to do with that HDCP bull-crap I bet.).

Thanks. That and many DVD Players don't upscale via Component :shock:

My DVD Player upscales only via HDMI, which is annoying. It's okay as I use my DVD Recorder via Component anyway but it's still annoying.

Yi-Long wrote:I dont have an LCD yet, but when I buy one, I will make sure the TV will have at least 2 HDMI sockets.

Definitely, it's a must. I bought my LCD TV way before HD was really known about and certainly before I knew how important it would become.

My old CRT TV completely died so I went for an LCD due to the size more than anything. I'm lucky it supports 720p/1080i at all. They're becoming less common but there are some LCDs out there with non-standard resolutions. I'm sure I've seen some Widescreen LCDs with 1024x768 resolutions which isn't even a widescreen resolution. I could've ended up with one of them, thankfully Samsung are decent so used the industry standard 1368x768 (for 720p/1080i TVs).

Yi-Long wrote:Do LCD's also come with VGA ports, and does the Elite also come with a VGA cable!?

I've never seen one that doesn't. Maybe they're less common in New Zealand.

Yi-Long wrote:I'm just buying ahead, cause I know I will probably need these cables somewhere in the near future.

And you anticipate them suddenly disappearing?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 05 Nov 2007, 14:37

Just bought Casino Royale 2 disc SE for 5 euro at the local Media Markt.

I know it's the cut version, sadly, but I still have the R3 bootleg, so untill I get an uncut version on Blu-Ray, I'll be ok.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 05 Nov 2007, 14:41

Yi-Long wrote:I know it's the cut version, sadly, but I still have the R3 bootleg, so untill I get an uncut version on Blu-Ray, I'll be ok.

What? So CD-Wow had been selling bootlegs? I hope not.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 05 Nov 2007, 14:55

bradavon wrote:It sounds like if you have an Xbox 360 and HD-DVD Addon the best connection is VGA. It certainly sounds weird HDMI doesn't upscale for DVDs too.

360 can upscale DVDs over HDMI. I was only thinking of component and VGA when I had made that post.

And no, VGA is not the best option. It only officially supports up to 1080i.

You don't even need a 360 to use the HD-DVD addon (it's a USB device). It should work out of the box with Vista (provided that you have HDCP compliant vid card + screen, or AnyDVD HD), or XP with a driver (+ AnyDVD HD, I guess).

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 05 Nov 2007, 15:14

I downloaded and burned the R3 bootleg (which works on my Xbox).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Nov 2007, 15:21

Ah thanks.

Plus a decent enough PC to be able to play HD-DVD back.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 05 Nov 2007, 15:30

bradavon wrote:Ah thanks.

Plus a decent enough PC to be able to play HD-DVD back.

A DX10 card especially helps. Partial offloading to GPU for Nvidia 8x00 cards, total offloading for ATI 2x00 cards.

But I wouldn't buy an ATI card, unless you like crap unoptimised drivers (for games) with broken fixed aspected ratio scaling (for legacy support). A 2600 should be fine for a HTPC.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 05 Nov 2007, 15:34

Thanks guys.

So 360 CAN upscale DVDs through HDMI!? That's comforting to hear.

I'm not planning on picking up a HDDVD add-on just yet. I feel they are still too expensive and I want some free movies with it, like they get in America.
For Europe they are now also offering a few free movies, but the selection from which to choose is still very limited.

Also, I dont have a HDTV yet, so there still isnt really a need to move on to the next HD level.

When I do pick up a HDTV, I will most likely be a FULL HD screen, instead of HD-ready.
I'm a bit sceptical about the quality when it comes to analogue programming though. Here in Holland, we arent really advanced yet, so we barely have any HD channels. At my home, we receive everything analogue still (tv-wise)

I hear good things about Samsung, but Toshiba is also getting very positive reviews and seems a bit cheaper as well.
Ah well, I will probably wait til early next year before I buy a HDscreen, so by then there will be new prices and new models...

I MIGHT even wait till early next year before I buy a 360.
I still feel the Elite is too expensive (450 EURO) and it comes without games (In America, you get 2 free games with it).

PS3 still lacks good games. So I'm not buying that yet either.

Yeah... I'm skimpy.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 05 Nov 2007, 15:50

Yi-Long wrote: I still feel the Elite is too expensive (450 EURO) and it comes without games (In America, you get 2 free games with it).

Arcade SKU + 120GB HDD = cheaper than the Elite. You'd only be missing out on the black colour, a bundled black headset and HDMI cable + adapters.

PS3 still lacks good games.

Folklore and Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction are out now. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is out at the end of the month. On a lesser note there's also Eye of Judgement, which is genuine innovation, unlike Wii's faggotry.

What's that? A quality that you're all too familiar with Yi... FAILURE.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Nov 2007, 15:54

bradavon wrote:How mildly? People get way to paranoid about rattlers, if the DVD is fine so what?

Few scratches on the disc playing surface. But it plays fine so as you say so what?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Nov 2007, 16:00

Yi-Long wrote:I feel they are still too expensive and I want some free movies with it.

You reckon it's expensive? Over here it's about £130 I think (I've not really looked). Granted that's a lot on top of the Xbox 360 but if you're going to get that anyway it's decent.

Yi-Long wrote:I'm a bit sceptical about the quality when it comes to analogue programming though. Here in Holland, we arent really advanced yet, so we barely have any HD channels. At my home, we receive everything analogue still (tv-wise).

Really? So there is no Digital TV in Holland? That's way behind the UK then. Analogue sucks!

HD over here is virtually non-existent. Bar Sky HD which in reality doesn't offer much either. You do get the Movie channels and sport in HD though (I believe it to be 1080i). Sky HD costs are fortune too.

Yi-Long wrote:I hear good things about Samsung, but Toshiba is also getting very positive reviews and seems a bit cheaper as well.

Samsung are very good at meaking reasonably price LCD TVs. I don't hear much about Toshiba TVs over here.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Nov 2007, 16:00

Re: Casino Royale:

Which cut did Holland get? The same one as the UK. For what it's worth it says no cuts here:

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/f ... ?fid=10650

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 05 Nov 2007, 16:07

Isn't it still bundled with King Kong over there?