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

Ive been watching that develop and hoping for some 'burning' tips as I've already downloaded it . Good to hear there's not too many problems being found by users . Makes the player an easier sell in Europe and Australia where it is more the norm ( and NOT illegal ) to make players Region Free in order to expand movie collections .

Happy viewing !

~M~

Just watched 2001.

Disappointed with the picture quality after the raving and drooling on various sites. It's definitely the best version yet and while there are moments of astonishing detail, particularly in the close ups, it's not that great overall. The overall level of detail in many shots is average; dirt is visible in a number of scenes and colour banding is visible in many scenes, particularly the stargate sequence.

I enjoyed the film this time around - each time I see it I get closer to fully understanding it. But my main emotional response to the film is still one of boredom. You get the feeling that Kubrick was showing off and every sequence is painfully drawn out just so we can be sure to see how very clever he is. Sometimes it works beautifully but other times you kind of wish he'd just get on with it!

Still, Kubrick manages to pack more iconic moments into one film than most directors do in their life time.

Daniel, I give you 2 1/2 out of 3 - it's the best I can offer

Mark

No kidding! I walk past my cabinet of HDDVDs and BluRays discs every day with this sinking feeling that at least one group of them will eventually be the 21st century version of DiVX (aka, useless).

Greedy behavior on the part of 'the powers that be' has translated into bad behavior on the part of many enthisiasts (the term 'fanboy' is now part of my vocabulary - sigh!). AVSForum has actually closed their HDM forums to new posts. what a mess!

I should be getting my HD EP35 soon (well relatively soon). One of things I want to do first is have a go at comparing the analog vs optical options for feeding the audio into my G68. What's the best HD-DVD release sound quality wise?

Cliff

I would suggest the Cream Reunion Concert in HD-DVD. It has a very believable live sound and it's a more than enjoyalbe show ...
(I do not mean to imply that it's the best out there, but it sure is great)

I suppose it will have to do. Since you`re now a proud parent my next task is to get you to watch the 3rd, 4th and 5th films in the Harry Potter series and admit that they`re actually rather good family romps (the first two are another matter however).

You'll be glad to hear then that I have already ordered the box set :p

Mark

On the whole I agree with you about the first two films (Chris Columbus) which are IMO nice visualizations of the book but not much more. Having said that, I watched the first film last week and it was much more enjoyable than I remember. The 3rd film (Alfonso Cuarón) is still my favourite. The 4th (Mike Newell) is growing on me. I've only seen the 5th (David Yates) once. Both films after the 3rd have had problems cutting down a large book to a reasonable screen time.

Incidentally, does anyone know if the dialogue was altered for the first film to match the title "Sorcerer's Stone". i.e. In the US release, is "Philosopher's Stone" used throughout?

They shot the library scene twice where the kids are discussing the stone so they say “Philosopher” in all versions outside of America, and “Sorcerer” in the US edit. The Canadian version, like the UK release, retains the original title and dialogue and although I could get the UK discs which came out today, I`d rather get the five of them from overseas as they will be cheaper - but it`ll mean getting 2, 3, 4 and 5 from the US, and 1 from Canada.

The box set looks nice, but with its custom design it`s a bit pointless with another two films to come… Of course it`s anyone`s guess as to which of the two formats will even get the final two Potter films in the years to come as it`s most certainly not going to be both of them.

Daniel, I couldn't agree more. The box set is completely pointless until the other two films come out. From Movietype the individual HD DVDs are �18 a piece making a total of �90. The box set is �70 but there's no way that's going to escape VAT (�11) and the customs handling charge (�10?).

And I refuse point blank to buy the "sorcerer" version. Dumbing down makes me soooo

Thanks for the info BTW!

Movietype or did you mean Movietyme? I don`t see the individual HD DVD versions available there for some reason, but they have the Blu versions individually and they are all �13.99 - except for Order of the Phoenix which is �17.99.

The Phoenix disc between formats is quite interesting as Warner are playing to the technical advantages of both by providing the ‘in movie experience` on the HD DVD, whereas on the Blu-ray thanks to the extra space and bandwidth they are presenting most of the supplements (plus all the behind the scenes footage from the HD DVD`s IME content presented independently) in hi-def alongside an additional hour long documentary. They`re also playing to Blu`s space/bandwidth advantages iin another way by putting masses of multiple language and subtitle tracks on each disc, but more on that below.

I`m going to get 3, 4 and 5 from Movietyme as with their tendency to break street dates it`s the best assurance I can get of receiving them before Christmas. I don`t mind when Philosopher`s Stone and Chamber of Secrets show up. I`ll get the former from Amazon Canada, and the latter from Amazon US I expect.

All the movies have TrueHD on HD DVD and PCM on Blu-ray if anyone is interested (not that we M owners can enjoy such delights at this point in time of course).


Back when the first film came out on DVD I was relieved that I could get it from Canada with its original title as I'm particular enough to let things like that irritate me as well. If you go to Amazon Canada you will see they are listing it as 'Philosopher's Stone' for the hi def formats, and Warner have clearly done two disc masters with one just being for the US market. The back covers for the US discs for films 2, 3, 4 and 5 clearly show the Blu-ray versions to be tailored for all global markets as each disc has about eleven or twelve 5.1 tracks and just as many subtitle streams in various languages, and the UK disc of Philosopher`s Stone that came out today is no exception - however the back cover for the US disc of the first movie clearly shows it to be a disc master tailored just for the US market as it boasts only English and Spanish, so it`s further indication that Canada will get the exact same pressing that is being used for the UK and everywhere else in the world.

I meant Movietyme . I must admit that I had assumed that all discs would be �18, but �14 for the BD versions seems very good value IMO. I guess I would prefer the HD DVD IME to the extras (I rarely watch them), but if the BD versions are cheaper then I guess that's what I'll go for. It is such a huge irony that TrueHD is basically MLP but we can't play it digitally (yet) in a Meridian system!

BTW Daniel, have you actually got an HD spinner yet? I can't quite remember! And do you do anything else apart from study the HD disc market?!!!