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

Daniel -
good point - they each seem to be making their own transition stradegies. I hope they can all migrate to one of the new codecs soon. A couple of Disney fellows told me it's a question of when the specific movie encoding efforts started - if they started with mpeg2 they go ahead and finish it out; otherwise new efforts tend start with one of the new ones... should be interesting to watch it play out..

ken

Initially, you'll get a slightly different perspective from me that that from Jerry and Ken.

At the moment, my projector is a "lowly" Panny AE900 which is a stop-gap between my old AE300 and a 1080p model. So I'll be able to report on how much the differences in resolution and artifacts are visible on a "budget" 720 line device.

From February though, barring unexpected financial ruin, it will be the real deal - a JVC HD1 (aka RS1 in the States) 1080p DiLA with CRT-like blacks and 15000:1 contrast without a digital iris. [understatement]I imagine the differences between upscaled SD and HD will be considerable.[/understatement]

I'm also strongly considering replacing my 598 w/SDI (>�1000) with an Oppo 970 (�140) as my main SD video transport. Which says a number of things...

Better get working on my HD-DVD Xmas list!

Edit: http://www.jvc.co.uk/site/d-ila/ (drool!!!)

That would make sense, yes. There have been rumours for a while that Disney might soon switch entirely to VC1. Perhaps we'll hear something on that front at CES.

I like Disney's fondness for lossless audio I must admit. It's a bit silly to use straight PCM rather than one of the new lossless compression codecs mind you, but at least they see lossless audio as being of importance. Same can be said for Sony, though like Disney they've been forced to fluctuate between providing 16bit and 24bit tracks if short on space.

Fox do well on that front too, with 24bit DTS HD Master Audio tracks on all their titles ready for the day we might actually be able to listen to them. If Disney and Sony used Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD MA they probably wouldn't ever have to resign themselves to using 16bit lossless tracks on some releases due to space restrictions. I'm still waiting for the day HD DVD starts providing some 24bit lossless tracks as bandwidth limitation seems to be forcing them to 16bit.

... and what it would be to have the option to hear such sonic delights on our Meridian gear. *sigh*

Jerry - Great to hear your positive comments re the Kscape. I will be getting mine just next month. Please keep us posted, this is IMO (from what I've read so far), one of the best products to ever come around. Great stuff.

Looks like I was fourth on the list so I am out 8-(.

Will probably get it anyway, I am keen to see the format succeed as well - and Band of Brothers is the title I most highly anticipate.

I've never seen Band of Brothers and, ironically, a large amount of it was actually filmed opposite my house on the old Hatfield Aerodrome...

A note was posted through our door informing us to expect "explosions" and the like for a couple of weeks!

Oh wow- Plasmatico, you are in for a treat. When you get it setup, make sure to let it sit with a live internet connection for a little while to get the movie guide up to date. I was wondering why the first few movies I imported were not really recognized (no cover art). It took about 45 minutes before the artwork came. You also need to know they supply no remote- you need to supply your own. What configuration did you order? I got the 5U server with 6 750gb drives. This is proving to be enough for about 500 DVDs. I am adding 2 more 750GB drives.

You may want to know of this website:

http://www.kscapeowners.com/forums/

Kind of like the Hitchhikers. Run by an enthusiast. The KScape people do read it though.

I see parallels to the M gear. With Meridian you pay a premium for their expertise in audio and the software to decode it. With K you pay for the interface expertise.

Virus and all, Band of Brothers is terrific entertainment and also education. Each episode starts off with a brief interview with the real soldiers who fought and then they proceed on to the dramatization. The production value is terrific, but what makes it stand out to me is its all based on real events. It can even be applied to events today because the catalyst of "we were attacked" has been used to fight enemies that didn't necessarily and/ or directly attack us. Sorry for light smattering of politics. Tried to keep it out. The music is also beautiful. From a production stand point its like a "Saving Private Ryan" mini series- but IMHO this is even better than SPR. Even in lowly MPEG-2!

best regards,
Jerry

I have a bit of bad news, and I know
"John Kotches was right about this" that BD and HD they both died in auto accident, the other car according to police that caused the accident was driven by SD DVD which survived the car crush.

And the sad news was no one noticed. LOL

best regards,
Jerry

For those following along; VK and Jerry's XA1s & disks ordered / transactions complete - Kudos to you Mark - The ultimate Milky-Bar Kid .

I'll put VKs on slow cruise across the pond because I'm jealous of his soon-to-be-had JVC projector

ken

that projector sounds like one hell of a machine!!! well done VK!

best regards,
Jerry

This is off topic, but the JVC projector upgrade will be reasonably cost neutral. I'm in the process of reshuffling everything and clearing out my redundant kit. It will be quite a change:

Probable in:

JVC RS1/HD1
Oppo 970
Toshiba HD-XA1
SkyHD

Possible out:

Meridian 598 w/SDI (pending Oppo evaluation)
Sky+ w/SDI
Crystalio VPS-2300
551 (sold)
556/24
562V.2 (possibly)
5KC
Panasonic AE900

I'm so glad the JVC has come along, and glad that I waited before making such a serious purchase... The technical spec is simply stunning and, for my requirements, I just cannot see a weakness.

VK,
The HD DVD player has gotten such a good write up regarding its scaling, maybe you dont even need the Oppo?

The tech/ unit of currency one can acquire today is really quite something. Btw- how far afield have we gone from the original topic here... sorry Just a Fan.

best regards,
Jerry