Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems BR Is the King OF HD.

Hi Mark,

I thought all night about your kindness and I concluded one thing: I should not accept your offer. I was feeling badly about accepting and then I see we have hit this snag with the shipping. I would like it if you are still willing to make the same offer, that you transfer it to another more deserving. Logistically, when Pay Pay was a new service they made a horrible mistake with my account and that mistake caused a problem with my credit and took a long time to correct and they were not at all helpful in correcting it. I avoid them now.

Frankly, I just got excited about a new toy. I think I have been so fortunate in life that the right thing is for me to skip this opportunity so another can take advantage.

I should say that I have put my money where my mouth is re: the formats as I am in the process of loading up a full Kaleidescape system. This + a new projector and 2.40:1 screen are my holiday presents. The Kscape is incredible!

best regards,
Jerry

Jerry, you sure? You were one of the people I was hoping would bite if only because I trust you to give an honest report back here...

Mark

Well, how about this- in order to install all these new goodies I will need some time. I am loading the kscape up as we speak (I have 500 dvds in it so far- I have another 200 or so to go- and thats not including TV shows or music videos. I think I will hold off on these except for the really critical ones like Band of Brothers, which is one of the best things I've ever seen).

I dont get the screen until the end of December and the PJ will be built then but it wont get here until mid Jan. I have to reconfigure my front wall and that requires some paint work as well.

When this all gets setup, say by late January, I will go out and get a HD DVD player and a few movies and Ill give a report. Fair enough?

Btw- the PJ (runco VX22) is one of these ones modified to do 2.35:1 with a moving anamorphic lens for the 2.35:1 content and the PJ is 3 chip DLP 1920x1080. So if there is anyone who should want this to succeed its me.

The screen is a stuart cinecurve masking 2.40:1 as I have been advised that this will be fairly easy to support if you have a 2.35:1 setup.

If I fall in love with the format(s) I will then get an analog card for the processor. Given the relatively low cost of the players I see little risk to me to give it a test.

btw- does anyone want a MiniDisc recorder/Player or a Panasonic gen 1 HDTV STB with DVHS over firewire?

best regards,
Jerry

Ok - it's morning in the States;
Mark - your suggestion is not a problem for me; I'll gladly just order mine, and VK. PayPal works fine for me, i have an account already.... Jerry, how about I order yours at the same time, so the entire transaction is just one. Sounds like Mark would like your participation. I'm totally comfortable with the PayPal arrangement as have done this many times with our many UK friends - I've long forgiven them for that tea tax thing...

ken

Ken,
Thats AOK by me. I will send you my contact info to your email address. Btw- Mark, I was wondering why you favor HD DVD to BRD? Was I correct in thinking its VC-1 vs MPEG2 (many BRDs are this currently).

best regards,
Jerry

got it - glad to help; I'm on it....

The other advantage to your participation is a direct comparison with the Kscape system; This would be a rare comparison and one of interest to other I think.

Mark - thanks again for your incredible offer;

ke

Ken, if can you email me your paypal email address at mark at markharding dot net, I'll forward the funds direct to you for VK and Jerry's stuff. Let me know the total you need.

Jerry, my preference for HD-DVD right now is due to their use of VC-1. With current disc capacities it offers the best picture quality thus far. My only allegience is to image and sound quality on the main feature. Extras don't interest me (or if they do they should be included on a seperate disc). If Sony were to switch to VC-1 or prove they can outperform it with the other codecs then I'd be happy to jump ship.

Cheers,

Mark

And Jerry, kudos on the constant height setup! It's the only way to go

Mark

Just to confirm, Ken, your order has been placed without issues so you just need to sort out VK and Jerry.

Mark

Mark-
Got it: working on VK and Jerry...

To your point, the non-Sony Blu-Ray studios appear to be adopting the VC1 or AVC path; Sony seems the only one stuck on Mpeg2...

ken

That's not entirely true. Despite all their HD DVDs being VC1 (save for U2 Rattle & Hum which was MPEG4), all of Paramount's Bluray releases have been MPEG2. According to comparison reports, they look identical, so really much of it comes down to the competence of those doing the encoding I think, and not just the codec choice itself. That said, although the likes of Paramount appear to be able to get their MPEG2 encodes on par with those of their VC1 encodes, no studio has really proven MPEG2 can do anything better than VC1, so, to me at least, it would still appear a pointless waste of space to keep on using it.

The first handful of Warner Bluray releases had to be MPEG2 for a technical reason, but they are now all VC1 (they use the exact same encodes now for both formats). Fox and Disney meanwhile are inconsistent, siding with MPEG2 for some titles and MPEG4 for others. Quite what the two of them use to decide on using one codec over another on certain titles I am not entirely sure.

Weinstein Co titles on HD DVD are all MPEG4.

Makes sense on the VC-1.

I cant make a real informed comparison with the Kscape right now because I am importing the movies, and you can import 5 at once so I have 5 players stacked on top of the server so the import goes as quickly as possible.

I do have one hooked up to a plasma tv and my subjective impression is DVD never looked so good. This is in line with what Thomas J Norton said in his review a while ago:

http://ultimateavmag.com/mediaservers/805kal/index.html

I am running just 480P on component. I am particularly struck by the amount of detail the system resolves and the relative lack of ringing. In every regard I am expecting the image quality to exceed the 800.

Heres another review:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_4/kaleidescape-media-server-12-2004-part-1.html

My experience to date has been exactly as these reviews say and frankly its even better as I contacted their tech support before I bought it to ask a few questions and they were so informative and kind that this is what tipped me past the edge.

For me this is about the convenience. So far I am extremely impressed.

But as it pertains to this discussion, I would expect the image quality of HDDVD to far surpass it.

Btw- I just looked at the titles available in both formats and I am not really impressed. So far on the HD DVD side only Apollo 13 is something Id watch repeatedly (I am not repurchasing my DVD collection) and on the BRD side I see The Fugitive. One per side is not good IMHO.

best regards,
Jerry