Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Bob Stuart Slams HD-DVD & Bluray

Do you think we'll get that many, John? I know Sony is cramming uncompressed PCM onto those 25gb MPEG2 based Bluray launch titles, but Warner seem to be quite selective for adding True HD and Universal's HD DVD titles appear to be strictly Dolby Digital Plus (incidentally it's truly bizarre what the Toshiba launch players appear to do with Dolby Digital Plus when output over bitsream. Lots of talk about that at AVS).

I'd like to hope we'll see frequent use of True HD and DTS HD in future, but then of course, as a 568.2 owner I'd have to hope the smart folks at Meridian might find some HDMI to MHR compatibility if owners like myself are ever to be able to take advantage, but that might be expecting a little too much. Not to say that I wouldn't encourage a surprise in future.

Daniel:

I think you'll find that as support for full capability TrueHD and DTS increases in the players, so will the titles that have that as a soundtrack option.

Cheers,

Hi John,

Do you think Meridian will support TrueHD and DTS via smartlink in there new HD players when or if they become available? Just curious if us folks with 568.2's will be able to enjoy True HD someday?

For now I could care less about HD-DVD. I'll wait and see how the war plays out. I'm completely happy with DVD for movies. VHS and Laserdisc was noisy soft looking video so there was a convenience with DVD and it was a big step up. I just don't see it with HD-DVD. Yes I have HD now and it is very nice but I don't complain when I'm watching a DVD. All we gain with HD-DVD is a sharper image and eventally better sound. I'm just not excited about it. Although if it takes off I'll make the jump when Meridan comes out with a player. I think it would have a better chance if this war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD wasn't going to happen.

Ron

You may not care that we gain six times real detail (no need to upscale or hopefully deinterlace); we gain cleaner images (no compression artefacts, assuming the transfers aren't bit-starved); we gain wider color gamut than DVD; we get lossless soundtracks; we take a huge leap towards, and in some ways, past the theatrical experience. But I do! :p

These formats *need* to be supported - we don't want them going the same way as DVD-A/SACD.

Meridian will wait and see what happens like they always do and when the time is right they will no doubt deliver a stunning product/update. But in the meantime many of their customers will be enjoying the new format on their competitors' players.

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Mark,

Yea, I know the details and maybe I'm just used to watching bit starved HD channels and haven't seen the real HD yet. I do know that shows on PBS in the states sometimes look incredible...like a picture fame with no window on my 120" screen. But I know most people will not care about the extra detail. Just like DVD-A although there is a much bigger market for video. I don't care for the copy protection. There are a lot of people that like to copy onto there HTPC's. So I just see that the people that would early adopt will probably not and that may kill both formats. Time will tell. I'm just upset about DVD-A and I want to wait this one out. But if it looks like its taking off and I see a major improvements when I audition it in a store then I may change my mind sooner than later.

Ron

Problem with DVD-A/SACD is that the average consumer heard no real benefit with these discs and saw no reason to buy the new format. And as you note, copy protection meant they couldn't rip their own albums - a huge turn off in the MP3/iPod audio world we now live in.

With HD video there is an immediately obvious upgrade from SD images and there is already a demand for HD material. I remain hopeful that HD video won't go the same way as HD audio...

Mark

When did anyone see an ad for the DVD-A or SACD format on TV or radio? Or anywhere outside the specialist hifi press? 'Nuff said.

Indeed. Are you jumping on a first gen player yourself, Mark (either format)?

I agree. I've said this before, but I think the DVDA/SACD fears being repeated here only stretch so far. Given how aware consumers are of Hi Definition their knowledge of the benefits, and that such pre-recorded HD formats even exist, should be fairly healthy.

Precisely my dream scenario (there are other things I'd far sooner upgrade before buying a new pre-amp). Some kind of box of tricks that accepts HDMI 1.3 from a player (that boasts on board decoding for DD+, multi-channel True HD and DTS HD obviously), then offers two outputs; HDMI for video, then smartlink for audio. I still think it'll be something I'll always be left dreaming about though. Is it even possible?

What bothers me is, I was at a Best Buy here in the states and they had a hi-def plasma screen at over 50 inches playing a marketing video showing the differences between HD and SD and it really didn't look any different. I know they are and it should have looked better than that but on a screen that large I was surprised it just didn't look that good. That will turn people off. There was noise in the video as well that just didn't look good. The noise looked like deinterlacing artifacts. Line flicker! Around the corner was a 60 inch Samsung Plasm playing King Kong on DVD and it blew away the HD feed on the other wall around the corner. Unless HD is setup right it will not impress the average consumer. Most people don't care about HD. I only know a few people that have it. Some have upgraded there TV's to HD displays and still watch SD. Consumers just don't understand it. My Fiances son is a computer whiz and he would watch a show on my Setup without selecting the HD channel. He would be watching the SD channel. To tell you the truth...he doesn't care! He listens to his iPod and could care less about my Meridian system even though he does know it sounds better. He is the same with video. I really think there are a lot of people out there like this.

That Hi-def setup at Best Buy was void of people. Know one was looking at it. More people were in the small flat panel area where DVD's look just as good as HD in most cases.

I am usually an early adopter and I'm not in this case. I just don't see the average person being interested in it enough. Plus the copy protection just turns me off.

Maybe I'll be wrong but the way I see it I don't think it will take off like DVD. Maybe if the studios force it on the consumer and make it as cheap as DVD, including new players then eventually it will catch on. But no where near as fast as DVD took hold. I know some people that have HD displays and are too cheap to pay the extra $10 a month for HD programming on cable or satellite.

Ron

My Toshiba HD-DVD player is set to be delivered this week. I plan on hooking it up through my IA-45 analog input like my DVD-A and SACD players. Hopefully an elegant HDMI solution will present itself before too long. Check out the thousands of posts on AVS forum on how screwed up this first gen player is with the new audio codecs! The SPDIF output is a DD+ track starting out as PCM and being converted to DTS for decoding by the receiver's DTS decoder!? Thank God that I have analog inputs on my 861. Besides, for $500, I will take a chance and play with the player for now.

Rafael

Hi Ron, Welcome to the world of "Joe Sixpack"

It sounds as if you know him well.

Personaly I think you are right to hang back on all the HD Hype, lets see what happens in the real world.

The average Joe on an 'Essex sink estate' will be happy to show of his "HD ready" Logo as a status symbol and who is gonna bother about the actual Image?
Only the the educated and somewhat well healed enthusiast are really bothered IMHO. Sorry guys but apart from on here we are in a Minority.

The large companies have got to capture the Masses to recoup investment, and the Masses are happy with MP3 and mobile in car or on phone DVD.

They like gagets, new ones often updated. Throw away disposable status.
Look at the speed of mobile phone churn.

Much is promised and I am sure it will look good, but History shows that a confused or un-confidant public will not embrace this brave new world, but we do like stickers and Logo's!

Cheers, Chris

Chris,

Your comments reminded me how much of a pain in the butt selecting DVD-Audio tracks are on a DVD-Audio when you don't have a display turned on. LOL It was a pain for me and that sort of thing comes easy for me. Like navigating my Hometheater remote. Easy for me but confuses the wife. Even macros confuse the average Joe. With all the selections like resolution and deinterlacing and scaling on a HD display. Think about it...I still to this day walk into someones house and the contrast, brightness tint/hue and color saturation are all over the map. Most people don't have a clue how to set it...or do they care. They just don't have interest in this stuff. So if the HD display is set wrong or the kid got to the controls. HD isn't going to look any better than SD. The HD display in the Best Buy store was a joke. HD on one side an SD on the other. I had to laugh...they looked the same. No difference at all. LOL Pathetic really! People walk by and see that and tell there friends how it isn't worth it. Most people don't see the resolution differences. My wife can hardly tell. And when she does, she just says...so what...it looks good on DVD too. At least with DVD the change was very noticable. 220-240 lines of noisy video (VHS) to 480-525 lines of low signal to noise video (DVD). That stood out big time...plus it doesn't wear out.

That's why I think HD DVD will not make it. If I'm wrong then I will eventually get one but I'm waiting this one out. If it does work out I think it will be many years before it over comes DVD. Unless the studios force the change and just stop selling DVD's

Ron