Planet Earth - BR or HD-DVD for dual format owners?

jsgreen89

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I have a Jap PS3 and a UK Xbox 360... so I'm stuck as to which format to buy!
Both are identical in price..

They'll both have the same encode I'm guessing. I guess the only thing is that the HD-DVD version will be region free. But I can't think about anything else.

So without making a guess as to who's going to win the war, I guess I'm going to have to toss a coin! :D
 
I have a Jap PS3 and a UK Xbox 360... so I'm stuck as to which format to buy!
Both are identical in price..

They'll both have the same encode I'm guessing.

Really?

I thought BD uses mpeg2 and HD uses the superior VC-1?
 
No.. both formats can use MPEG2, VC-1 or AVC.

As far as I know, HD-DVD has used VC-1 all the time, where as BR initially used MPEG2 a fair amount. Now most Blu-Rays are VC-1 or AVC.

It wouldn't make sense to encode the same video twice for separate formats!
 
Gonna wait for the reviews at hd digest, be suprised if one turns out to be better than the other though.
 
No.. both formats can use MPEG2, VC-1 or AVC.

As far as I know, HD-DVD has used VC-1 all the time, where as BR initially used MPEG2 a fair amount. Now most Blu-Rays are VC-1 or AVC.

Small correction... I have a number of HD-DVD's that are AVC, such as The Matador, Derailed etc.
 
not dual format anymore, but when I was, I had a general rule of thumb:

Does one have a noticably better picture quality? If so, buy that one (don't care about price/audio/extras) - eg early blurays lost out to HDDVD. These days they are often as good as each other.

If equal or close, does one have noticably better audio quality? If so, buy that one. Warner for instance usually has better audio on HDDVD.

If equal or close, is one cheaper than the other? If so, buy that one. eg i'd avoid a combo due to price and not caring about the DVD. If you are likely to watch on DVD, then check if hte HDDVD is a combo and bear that in mind.

Also need to take into account the regions for bluray in all that.

In the case of Planet Earth, you might also need to take into account that the US release may have Sigourney Weaver narrating as she does the TV series over there, not Sir David.
 
I've heard that the US bluray will have dual commentary from Ms. Weaver and Sir Dave! I've just borrowed my parents DVD version and will deffo get it for myself, just wondering if the bluray version will be worth the outlay as I've only watched one bluray so far (PS3 via 1080i/720p on my projector) and it wasn't up to much!
 
No.. both formats can use MPEG2, VC-1 or AVC.

As far as I know, HD-DVD has used VC-1 all the time, where as BR initially used MPEG2 a fair amount. Now most Blu-Rays are VC-1 or AVC.

It wouldn't make sense to encode the same video twice for separate formats!

I'm sorry but that ain't true the vast majority of films I have are MPEG 2. The number of AVC releases is still a trickle rather than a flood.
 
I think I'll also wait for the reviews before buying. I don't imagine there'll be too much difference between the two though.
 
anyone know whether the hd-dvd version will be full screen or will it be the same as other hd movies...black bars?
 
anyone know whether the hd-dvd version will be full screen or will it be the same as other hd movies...black bars?

:confused:

That just about sums up the mindset of this whole new wave of 'black bars' threads we're getting lately :rolleyes:

I think it's a lot worse this time around though.
I'm beginning to wish that Microsoft never brought out the HD-Drive add-on!
 
:confused:

That just about sums up the mindset of this whole new wave of 'black bars' threads we're getting lately :rolleyes:

I think it's a lot worse this time around though.
I'm beginning to wish that Microsoft never brought out the HD-Drive add-onn!

Hotstepper was having a laugh, surely!.....Wasn't he?
 
Hotstepper was having a laugh, surely!.....Wasn't he?

Yeah, I think you're right, silly of me.

Hotstepper, can you in future please use the appropriate smliey icon to denote that you're 'having a laugh'
 
I'll start cryin' if he wasn't having a laugh.
 
I'll start cryin' if he wasn't having a laugh.

Its a valid point i'd be annoyed if there were black bars as non were on the bbc hd broadcast, i dont care if thats how the director intended it, i'd rather not see any black bars, thats not to say i stretch the screen and start messsing about with zome modes if there are any, its just that i prefer the full screen 1:85 anamporphic experience.
 
Its a valid point i'd be annoyed if there were black bars as non were on the bbc hd broadcast, i dont care if thats how the director intended it, i'd rather not see any black bars, thats not to say i stretch the screen and start messsing about with zome modes if there are any, its just that i prefer the full screen 1:85 anamporphic experience.

Why would you think there would be black bars on HD disc edition? Where has this black bars idea come from?
 
Not all HD discs have black bars top-and-bottom in the same way that not all DVDs have them. Their presence is purely down to the widescreen format the director chose to shoot in. In the case of Planet Earth, it was shot to accommodate 16:9 TVs and therefore will be full-screen.
 
I can't see why a production made for TV would be shot in anything wider than 16:9. (arty farty pop videos being the exception as they seem to have a rule onto themselves)
 
Not black bars AGAIN, surely?

This is borderline :spam: surely?

If I hadn't already had too many :beer: :beer: and started to feel a bit :zonked: :zonked: , I think I very well might have shook something loose with unbridled :mad: :mad: after reading the ongoing masterpiece Black Bars thread further down and being redirected here!

STOP IT NOW :lesson:

dr_m
 
Thats correct , apparently there is no EU release for this scheduled , yet anyways.


Isn't is rather strange that good old Blighty BBC is releasing this first outside the EU and UK. Why do we have to wait.

Will the HD DVD have dual commentary as well, if so I might just get the US version.
 
Yep, the HD DVD version will have dual commentary too.
 
I think it's great that this has the dual commentary.
As i only watched one episode of this on BBC HD , wanted to wait for the dvd release , after i've watched it for the first time (with attenborough of course) i can go back and watch it further on down the line with sigourney.:thumbsup:
Make it alittle different , and then go the loo and put bogroll allover the seat.:D(sigourney joke)
 
If anyone still wants to know and has not ordered the US release, I spoke to the distributors (2Entertain - a JV between Woolworths and the BBC) and the UK release is currently Sept this year. This was in a conversation back in late Feb.
 
Yep, the HD DVD version will have dual commentary too.

Thats good, but can anyone confirm that the US version will have dual commentary or just weaver ( I would much prefer dickie's voice to go with it :smashin: )
 

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