I Predict HD DVD Players Will Be A Failure for the first 3 Years

[recoveryone]

EG- I didn't know you can get DD or DTS 5.1 through digital cable or satellite. I don't have dig cable so that why I probably didn't know. What programs are in 5.1? A lot? Does ESPN come in 5.1 without HDTV?

Part of what HDTV is, is the sound. True HD is suppose to be supported by 5.1 sound but many slide around that by just providing a digital sound format that could be anything from 5.1 to 1.0 most newer cable/sat boxes have either a toslink or coax output on the back but you need to find out if your provider is sending out a digital sound signal. ESPN by my provider (Aldelphia) comes HD/DD Stereo. Which is funny cuz that many of my normal SD channels are now being broadcast w/DD surround (L/R/SR). Go figure that one. Most of your primetime shows that are HD are 5.1. Most of all this comes down to what your provder is offering. Just about every Channel out there is being broadcast in either HD or Digital (EDTV) but your provider chooses to offer what they feel is best for your area. EG gets TNT in HD from his provider, but I do not. Mine offers the Discovery channel in HD, but not in my area?????? so its a mix bag of good and so so stuff you can get from any provider out there, even sat.

[EdwardGein]

TNT is a joke in HD because the older shows looked distorted as they're horribly stretched. I don't get UPN & WB in HD but apparently alot of people on Cable & Satellite don't get those as well. I'd double check with your cable or satellite company as to 5.1 sound, HD & other things, as half the people at these places don't have the right info and are hopelessly unaware. IE, the Scientific Atlanta 8000 DVR doesn not get 5.1 sound and does not let you make external DVD & VHS copies because Time Warner or someone never programmed them to do so but the 8300 model does. Unless you specifically demand the 8300 model they'll dump the 8000 model on you, etc. The point is don't take just one person's statement on services/features as gospal, and that includes mine too, but verify things with serveral people at these companies and/or who get the service.

[drseid]

TNT is a joke in HD because the older shows looked distorted as they're horribly stretched. I don't get UPN & WB in HD but apparently alot of people on Cable & Satellite don't get those as well. I'd double check with your cable or satellite company as to 5.1 sound, HD & other things, as half the people at these places don't have the right info and are hopelessly unaware. IE, the Scientific Atlanta 8000 DVR doesn not get 5.1 sound and does not let you make external DVD & VHS copies because Time Warner or someone never programmed them to do so but the 8300 model does. Unless you specifically demand the 8300 model they'll dump the 8000 model on you, etc. The point is don't take just one person's statement on services/features as gospal, and that includes mine too, but verify things with serveral people at these companies and/or who get the service.

This may be true in your area, but not in mine. The Scientific Atlanta 8000HD-DVR model absolutely has the capability to send out 5.1 DD signals (and mine does). It also can copy to a DVD-R (and mine also does). I use Cox Communications, BTW.

As for the price issue of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray with respect to your original post... I don't think there is a pricing problem at all... The first HD-DVD player was just announced at CES yesterday at a MSRP of $499. This seems hardly super-expensive for a 1st gen player in my book... Within a year or so, the next gen player could sell for half of that. In the case of Blu-Ray, the format will indeed be in the PS3, and that is indeed supposed to sell for $500 or less, so again, no problem in my book. The larger problem is the two competing formats are incompatible, not their respective prices IMO.

In my case, I plan on getting on the Blu-Ray bandwagon as soon as they come out on the PS3. Pretty good value for $500... I spent more than that on my first gen Toshiba DVD player when they came out (and even my current Denon player 3 years ago).

As for sound, the new DD++ HD lossless sound format for both new HD disc formats is interesting. I am eager to try it out, as my preamp already has the decoding ability for that particular signal on the new discs. I wonder if there will be a good music application for the format as well? Maybe that is why SACD is not on the Blu-Ray specs?

---Dave

[EdwardGein]

[QUOTE=drseid]This may be true in your area, but not in mine. The Scientific Atlanta 8000HD-DVR model absolutely has the capability to send out 5.1 DD signals (and mine does). It also can copy to a DVD-R (and mine also does). I use Cox Communications, BTW.

All I can say is Time Warner apparently did not program the Scientific Atlanta 8000 to do this for God knows what reason which they don't seem to know- I think the customer service people are alumni of Best Buy, lol. Good for you that you didn't have this problem. The most irritating thing about Time Warner in LA is 9 out of 10 customer service people don't know about this stuff when they should. Like finding out about sex in the schoolyard, I find out about Time Warner on this site, from my man in Hawai who is up on things. The good things about Time Warner here are the installation people are very good & if you schedule things with Time Warner my experience is they're very reliable and show up as scheduled. Their prices are reasonable as well.

In regards to $500 HD DVD players, I hope that's true. I still won't get one at that price but it is bizarre that a major newspaper (either LA Times or USA Today, I don't remember which) would state that these players would hit the market at over $1,000 each. I think alot of people based on price drops of things like VCR's, DVD players, Computers, etc., have kind of figured out a pattern now & won't rush into first line high priced products if they're not loaded & its something they can live without- i.e. like DVD-A's & SACD's. If I see an HD DVD and it really does look great, I'll probably get one in the $250 range, no higher.