Unless you are an anal video or audiophile the differences are negligible.Originally Posted by Diablito93
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Oh . . . gotcha. There are some cost differences associated with each format (blu-ray optics are a little more expensive), and the feature set on the basic lowest priced machines are different. (The A2 and A3 are limited to 1080i, for instance, which isn't permitted in the Blu-ray specs.) Clearly there has to be SOME issue with manufacturing for prices to be so high as it stands, and it also has to be pretty difficult to keep up-to-date with various changes in the formats with respect to firmware issues. In fact, combos had problems with BD+ that made it's debut eariler this month, despite all stand alones being able to handle things just fine.
Right now, for similar machines with similar specs, the difference between the two camps cost wise is only $100.
Couldn't pass-up an awesome deal on an HD A20 a few weeks ago, so I'm enjoying HD DVD too. Monoprice was great place for an extra cable and an HDMI splitter (my TV only has one HDMI slot) for under $25.
If you didn't know HD DVD disks are region free, so imports of US BR-only disks is possible for some movies.
Story:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1192...googlenews_wsj
So I've found one EXTREMELY annoying feature with this player on most of the discs I've sampled. If you hit STOP, that's it . . . there's no resume. If you want to stop a movie and pick it up at a later time, you have to remember where you were in the feature and then used the scene selector, or you have to leave the damned thing paused. Apparently this is only for HD DVD discs, not Standard DVDs, as is a limitation in the technical specs. This is rather annoying.
Another thing . . . for some reason the various remote buttons will work, and other times they won't. I have the audio indicator on, so the player is "hearing" the remote, it's just not doing anything to respond to it. Weird.
I give them a pass on both the startup boot time (~30 secs for me) and the annoying non-resume because each player is basically just a Linux box with a disk tray attached. My desktop computer doesn't even boot-up in 30 seconds.
As for your remote problems, it might be the remote, or how they programmed things on the disk. I have several disks where there is no main menu -- it starts auto-playing the movie and you just pull it up as the movie runs. Another disk has subtitles done differently, which is just weird.
Yes . . . and BR still stands head and shoulders above HD DVD in my experience.
Last night my wife took the player for a spin with Notting Hill (Hugh Grant + Julia Roberts = definition of chick flick) and the movie played fine for the first 90%, and then all of a sudden, the audio dropped out. Needless to say I was beckoned from my office to "fix the problem!", so I went back to the point, and it played a little longer, and it dropped at a different place. I paused, went back a whole chapter, started it again and it went through without a hitch.
So, of the four discs I have played in the player, 75% have has some sort of technical issue.
For the format that claims to be "final" and "complete", they still have a lot of work to do. There's going to be some pretty pissed off people this holiday season who will plop down $200 for a player that won't play 60% of the HD movies on the market, and could be a problem with the 40% they are supposed to play.
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