Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems The one of MANY HD-DVD threads (No bashing Blu-Ray)

Don't push your luck :p

I'm going for the hat-trick.

You`ll be listening to Mansell`s score for weeks on end now.


I could imagine The Fountain will be high on my 'what to watch in HD first' list once I finally get the means to view such delights. Glad to hear they did a good mastering job on it. I`m going to a private screening of it with some of the effects team in attendance next week so that will calm my lust to have it in HD for a while longer at least.

Listening to it right now - check out my LastFM page

So how do you get invited to a private screening? One thing that used to always bug me during my time at IMDb was that we never got invited to such events :|

I think the VC-1 encode looks fantastic in as much as it captures the source, which generally looks very good - there is the odd soft shot here and there but overall nice and sharp, great detail, good colours and so on.

Mark

The space effects were incredible - even they had a melancholic majesty I did spot that Hugh Jackman was a model in one of the orb scenes though - perhaps HD is too revealing...

Mark

I think they just opened first come bookings of the best seats privately to start off in the case of The Fountain screening, as the event is now publicised on the website of the Everyman cinema in London where it`s taking place.

http://www.everymancinema.com/cinemas/timetable.asp?SessionID=A2A4DCBD4D9946F2B5ABB3A0A95F44FB&cn=1&ci=2&ln=1&fi=4448|466|0

That`s a surprise that the IMDB never opened up any kind of connections for getting yourself into private screenings though. I used to smuggle my way into a variety of private and press screenings in the past thanks to the good connections of one acquaintance or another. I`m going for the comfort, the q&a and the fact parts of the score are going to be played live on a harp during the booze and nibbles session.

PS: John Lewis just threw 8 more SXRD TVs in stock on the website. wonder if any will last until Thursday... �999 is really more than I should be spending on myself right now, but it's an incredible hulk of a TV for the price.

Well, of course we were too busy pioneering most of the time

Mark

I have to ask... None of you boffins there at the start could take responsibility for the forums that have emerged in recent years on IMDB though, could you? They're horrendous. You can`t switch them off if using imdb Pro either… Stuck with having to see the inane ramblings of twelve year olds on every blasted page. It's worse than Ain't it Cool News and that's a frightful place.

Er... so back to HD DVD...

Universal is releasing Elizabeth in August. I hope they do a good job of that.

The forums came after my time, but I agree they are pretty lame. Thing was, we pretty much did everything in-house as we couldn't afford to pay for third party software - it looks to me like that was the case with the forums.

Elizabeth is a great film and should look really good on HD...

Mark

I find that if I watch a movie with a friend or my wife I am also wondering what they will think of it and this is really a mistake on many levels. First you can never truly know everything someone else is thinking- so the rule on assumption surely applies here. Second it usually results in my not at all liking a film.

Im glad you enjoyed the Fountain. I think I did not even get all of it the first time through, but I got enough, and its stayed with me that I am more excited to watch this again than Reloaded or Revolutions for the first time in HD. I think its a beautiful movie in its aesthetic approach and also story. And I agree that the acting is very very good and I think its a shame so many people knock it. I think for many people they really want to be passively entertained. This movie asks you to think along with it. I like that. I would say this is a thoughtful and thought provoking movie made by people who are IMHO masters. Btw- I also loved the space effects- a whole new way of considering space for a mass market movie- much more personal and spiritual. Hugh Jackman is the man.

best regards,
Jerry

Out of stock again - I really hope you snagged one! If not, perhaps they have another batch lurking at the back of a store cupboard somewhere for when you are ready to purchase...

Mark

I didn't snag one no. If more show up on Thursday I might go nuts and do so as the money will be there in the bank by then. The truth is a flat panel is more practical for me, it's just that - as I said - at �999 the SXRD was such a beast of a TV for relatively little it would have been hard to resist.

8th Gen Pioneer plasmas interest me. Those begin shipping in June. Fujitsu's 58 series plasmas and the commercial Panasonic plasma displays are always decent, and in September the 2007 'X' series LCDs from Sony will be out. That's how my flat panel shortlist is looking, with slight favour going to the Pioneer if it lives up to the hype and if they've finally got their screen retention defences down as well as Panasonic have.

I just have to think very carefully what decision I make here as I am trying to rebuild my entire set up. An HDTV is the priority for this year. Then I'll look into making changes to speakers and amps in 2008. I'm torn whether to stay analogue or go DSP as DSPs bind me to an all Meridian set up and may also have lower resale value should I ever want to sell anything given the rather niche market of Meridian owners. I wouldn't mind so much being having an all Meridian digital set up, but to do so I`d need to feel safe about where they were going in future with HDMI support and the new audio codecs. I should be more trusting of dear old M, but I'm a former Tag Mclaren owner and have been burnt before.

Eventually whatever audio upgrades I make with speakers/amps…etc I`d ideally like to be good enough to move into a dedicated room with projection, so since I`ve a desire for that goal I`m more accepting of a good display that will work well for SD, HD and gaming rather than really needing the biggest display I can lay my hands on as I don`t expect it to be my primary display for movies after a while.

Must get the money to make my film so I can then be more financially free to buy such toys.

Sorry to keep nudging us off topic.

Daniel,
I think you have it right. I would wait to see where M goes and I think going all Meridian means if you sell it really does limit you. On the other hand, going all Meridian the odds are that you wont want/ need to upgrade for a long time and that cuts "upgradeitis" costs.

best regards,
Jerry