US HDVD's - An early review.

[paulfoley]

Thought some of you might be interested in this early HDDVD Review. Its from an employee at Microsoft:

Hands on With Japanese Toshiba Player


Today was an exciting day at Microsoft. We saw our 3+ year journey in HD
DVD bear results in the form of the Japanese Toshiba player. And what an
incredible feeling that was. OK, enough with sentimental stuff .

We only had a couple of hours with it tonight. But here are some hopefully
useful tidbits.

1. The fan is very quiet. It was barely moving air in the sample unit and
putting just slightly warmed air. The case was cool even after 2 hours of
playback. So noise is a non-issue in this setting. The fan may run louder
though if you put it in a hotter space.

2. The VC-1 US titles have amazing, just amazing picture quality. OK, so I
am biased. But you will see this for yourself soon enough. Even pausing
action scenes does not reveal much if any artifacts, standing a few inches
from a 45” set. We watched a half a dozen movies (yes, some that are not
yet released ). And while some are more breathtaking than others, you never
mistook these for lite-HD or upsampled DVD.

We were watching these titles on (Japanese) Qualia 005 1080p Sony LCD
display. So I expect the experience to be even better on a proper projector
and something with nicer blacks.

The Japanese Cherry blossom sample DVD as reported is awful. What is not
reported is that the SD version is not even watchable. Clearly the master
had problems and the encoding just made it worse. The HD version is
watchable but does not do justice to the format. It is a hybrid title
though so you get to compare the two sides yourself as we did.

The other title, Resident Evil, was much better but still not in the same
league as the US titles. It is a bit softer than what we get with VC-1 and
has more artifacts if you pause it. Still, for average consumer, it will
pass the “HD test.”

My favorite movie of the bunch was Last Samurai. The resolution and quality
is just breathtaking. Given that this is one of my favorite movies, I am
super pleased to see it perform this well. The player clearly outperformed
the LCD which due to its slow response time, smeared on high motion
sequences (as I reported on my review of this set last year).

3. iHD interactivity is alive and well on US titles. The studios are not
pushing the limits here by any stretch. But the menus are elegant. And oh
yeh, the movie just plays when hit Play. You have to call the menus for
them to come up.

4. The configuration can be changed on the Japanese player to have English
menus. You can also set the default language for the disc to English. At
which point, the Resident Evil plays with English sound track! So we have
our first “BD title” in HD DVD if go through the process of ordering it
from Japan.

5. Not sure anyone cares but switching to 720p makes the picture softer.
And noticeably so. It is great to have a source that is so sharp that one
can see the difference so clearly. I feel bad for folks who have less than
1080 resolution sets . Of course, an external scalar may do better.

6. All of our testing was with HDMI which also carried the audio. Did not
have time to play with other settings.

For those of you who have this unit on order, you are in for a treat. I
know a number of MS employees ran off to order their own unit after seeing
what this box can do. And even jaded folks like us who see these movies in
professional setting from D-5 masters, were completely taken back by what
we were seeing. It is one thing to debate such things on the Internet, it
is an entirely different matter to really experience the unit!

Looking good, cant wait !

[JamesL]

Excellent. It's comforting to hear good reports about the Toshiba HD DVD player. What with the price, lack of region coding and US launch titles I think it's safe to say the majority of early adopters are looking carefully at this model: either from a US/Japanese import or from it's UK release in November. So far the reviews all seem positive.

Sound good but I am still going to wait to see the winner of the format war and/or universal players.

[Dutch]

Great news! Let's hope the two titles I've ordered, Batman Begins and Unforgiven are to the same quality as The Last Samurai - no reason they shouldn't be, I guess.

Steve

[JamesL]

Sound good but I am still going to wait to see the winner of the format war and/or universal players

You could be waiting awhile. I have no doubt that combi players will happen eventually - either as the norm or from the producers of the 'losing' camp. However I think it may be a couple of years before it does - and then choice may be somewhat limited.

Personally HD DVD has sold me on it's launch lineup and cheap initial price so I will buy the Toshiba HD-XA1 when it's released in the UK. But I will also buy BluRay when some worthwhile UK titles come along (importing is a no-no due to regional coding) and a solid player arrives - maybe next year? And then a couple more years down the line I will buy a third/fourth generation dual format player.

Originally Posted by JamesL

You could be waiting awhile. I have no doubt that combi players will happen eventually - either as the norm or from the producers of the 'losing' camp. However I think it may be a couple of years before it does - and then choice may be somewhat limited.

Personally HD DVD has sold me on it's launch lineup and cheap initial price so I will buy the Toshiba HD-XA1 when it's released in the UK. But I will also buy BluRay when some worthwhile UK titles come along (importing is a no-no due to regional coding) and a solid player arrives - maybe next year? And then a couple more years down the line I will buy a third/fourth generation dual format player.

As the ipod was the winner of the SACD/DVD A format war, I would not be so sure that Movie downloads are not the winner of this contest. I have always been an early adopter, but in this case I will not. I think the whole thing is that the leading Japanese makers (and Korean) realising that they cannot compete with Chinese DVD manufacturers and are trying quite cynically to gain a foothold back. Early adopters like you have been convinced as to the value, but I cannot see the majority buying into - and that is exactly what is needed for either format to last.

[JamesL]

I would not be so sure that Movie downloads are not the winner of this contest

You may be right - although I doubt video downloads, even High Def ones, will reach the high bitrates offered by HD DVD or BluRay. Ergo I think the optical disc formats will remain the choice for the home cinema fan whilst video downloads become the standard for many 'average' users. That said I'm am more than confident there are enough 'home cinema' users to ensure the survival of the new formats - especially as they will, over time, work their way into an increasing number of homes. Time will tell I guess.

I think the whole thing is that the leading Japanese makers (and Korean) realising that they cannot compete with Chinese DVD manufacturers and are trying quite cynically to gain a foothold back

Yes I entirely agree. Some of the core companies - such as Pioneer - have really struggled with the rapid drop in profit margins in DVD. BluRay will give them a 'technical edge' which means premium prices for awhile. I think the pricing of Toshiba's HD DVD player has come as a nasty surprise - much as Philips aggressive pricing did in the DVD recorder market.

Originally Posted by JamesL

You may be right - although I doubt video downloads, even High Def ones, will reach the high bitrates offered by HD DVD or BluRay. Ergo I think the optical disc formats will remain the choice for the home cinema fan whilst video downloads become the standard for many 'average' users. That said I'm am more than confident there are enough 'home cinema' users to ensure the survival of the new formats - especially as they will, over time, work their way into an increasing number of homes. Time will tell I guess.


Yes I entirely agree. Some of the core companies - such as Pioneer - have really struggled with the rapid drop in profit margins in DVD. BluRay will give them a 'technical edge' which means premium prices for awhile. I think the pricing of Toshiba's HD DVD player has come as a nasty surprise - much as Philips aggressive pricing did in the DVD recorder market.

I understand the blue ray camp were speachless after the Toshiba pricing announcement. I think the pricing is far from unreasonable - if HD DVD prevails long term (looks like the stronger contender at the mo) I will have no problems buying in.

[Retronana]

Originally Posted by paulfoley

Thought some of you might be interested in this early HDDVD Review. Its from an employee at Microsoft:

Hands on With Japanese Toshiba Player


Today was an exciting day at Microsoft. We saw our 3+ year journey in HD
DVD bear results in the form of the Japanese Toshiba player. And what an
incredible feeling that was. OK, enough with sentimental stuff .

We only had a couple of hours with it tonight. But here are some hopefully
useful tidbits.

1. The fan is very quiet. It was barely moving air in the sample unit and
putting just slightly warmed air. The case was cool even after 2 hours of
playback. So noise is a non-issue in this setting. The fan may run louder
though if you put it in a hotter space.

2. The VC-1 US titles have amazing, just amazing picture quality. OK, so I
am biased. But you will see this for yourself soon enough. Even pausing
action scenes does not reveal much if any artifacts, standing a few inches
from a 45” set. We watched a half a dozen movies (yes, some that are not
yet released ). And while some are more breathtaking than others, you never
mistook these for lite-HD or upsampled DVD.

We were watching these titles on (Japanese) Qualia 005 1080p Sony LCD
display. So I expect the experience to be even better on a proper projector
and something with nicer blacks.

The Japanese Cherry blossom sample DVD as reported is awful. What is not
reported is that the SD version is not even watchable. Clearly the master
had problems and the encoding just made it worse. The HD version is
watchable but does not do justice to the format. It is a hybrid title
though so you get to compare the two sides yourself as we did.

The other title, Resident Evil, was much better but still not in the same
league as the US titles. It is a bit softer than what we get with VC-1 and
has more artifacts if you pause it. Still, for average consumer, it will
pass the “HD test.”

My favorite movie of the bunch was Last Samurai. The resolution and quality
is just breathtaking. Given that this is one of my favorite movies, I am
super pleased to see it perform this well. The player clearly outperformed
the LCD which due to its slow response time, smeared on high motion
sequences (as I reported on my review of this set last year).

3. iHD interactivity is alive and well on US titles. The studios are not
pushing the limits here by any stretch. But the menus are elegant. And oh
yeh, the movie just plays when hit Play. You have to call the menus for
them to come up.

4. The configuration can be changed on the Japanese player to have English
menus. You can also set the default language for the disc to English. At
which point, the Resident Evil plays with English sound track! So we have
our first “BD title” in HD DVD if go through the process of ordering it
from Japan.

5. Not sure anyone cares but switching to 720p makes the picture softer.
And noticeably so. It is great to have a source that is so sharp that one
can see the difference so clearly. I feel bad for folks who have less than
1080 resolution sets . Of course, an external scalar may do better.

6. All of our testing was with HDMI which also carried the audio. Did not
have time to play with other settings.

For those of you who have this unit on order, you are in for a treat. I
know a number of MS employees ran off to order their own unit after seeing
what this box can do. And even jaded folks like us who see these movies in
professional setting from D-5 masters, were completely taken back by what
we were seeing. It is one thing to debate such things on the Internet, it
is an entirely different matter to really experience the unit!

Looking good, cant wait !

I think it would have been nice to link to the original post on the AVS forums, Its a little norty to copy and paste the whole post and not offer a link....

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=666326

[paulfoley]

I would have posted the link straight away if anybody had requested it. I dont think the HDDVD Camp would have objected to a good review being shared across the pond?

[BenchyUK]

Great news as i also intend to buy this unit when it's released over here.

The only thing that i find worrying is the fact that they were using a 1080P TV and said that those with 720p sets are not getting as good as picture.

If i have a panasonic TX-32LXD500 then i can output 1080i instead couldn't i?

It's just cos he said it was quite noticable when using 720p

[NackNack]

Originally Posted by jakal

[/b]

I understand the blue ray camp were speachless after the Toshiba pricing announcement. I think the pricing is far from unreasonable - if HD DVD prevails long term (looks like the stronger contender at the mo) I will have no problems buying in.

Any more info on this? Speechless as it was so low? Is it $500?

[Retronana]

Originally Posted by paulfoley

I would have posted the link straight away if anybody had requested it. I dont think the HDDVD Camp would have objected to a good review being shared across the pond?

Agreed, the comments for the poster over on the AVS forums are welcome

Originally Posted by NackNack

Any more info on this? Speechless as it was so low? Is it $500?

Yes, $500 for the 'base' unit, $800 for the 'premium' unit.

[Drew2]

Originally Posted by jakal

Yes, $500 for the 'base' unit, $800 for the 'premium' unit.

... and that is still cheap, it's just fallen to around 450GBP here and IT IS NOT multiregion - it WILL not play PAL discs. Japan only model!!!