maTo - 16 January 2008 12:08 PM

are the CPU requirements high to play/decode HD content?  is it still mpeg2?

Good question.  I know on my last PC which was a higher end (albeit single core) Athlon, I had downloaded some HD po… er.. home video of two girls who were very very good friends, and it would not run smoothly..

So.. Who knows!

If you can do it decently on a little shuttle PC with a decent remote these days, that might be the way to go. I personally like my 360 for it, but it’s a bit of a pain in the arse to be forced to use WMP11.

maTo - 16 January 2008 12:08 PM

are the CPU requirements high to play/decode HD content?  is it still mpeg2?

Even before dual-core, PC’s had reached a point where most processing power was going to waste (this was the idea behind SETI@Home and similar attempts to build virtual supercomputing clusters out of PC owners’ unused computing capacity).  With modern dual- and quad-core components plus operating systems and applications designed with symmetric multi-processing in mind, any modern PC should be more than powerful enough to play HD media.

As far as codecs go, both Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD support MPEG-2 (mostly for backward compatibility with DVD) as well as the MPEG-4 derived H.264/AVC and VC-1 codecs.

Edit - I wanted to qualify my statement, “any modern PC should be more than powerful enough to play HD media.” It should read, “any modern PC NOT RUNNING WINDOWS VISTA should be more than powerful enough to play HD media.”

ok, my athlon (i think i clocked it to 2.2Ghz) should be able to handle it.  my Radeon 9800 does mpeg2 decoding.

i dont have that many DVD’s but it must suck having to upgrade a sizable library to HD.  lol

btw:  i downloaded some WMV HD clips from this site before, and having fastwrites enabled on my mobo made a difference in performance.  going from choppy to smooth.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

I posted that already, MD. Of course, I don’t know how to work the Innernette and thusly all you saw was random YouTube code, but the point is I POSTED IT FIRST, DAMMIT.

Johnny - 18 January 2008 09:48 AM

I posted that already, MD. Of course, I don’t know how to work the Innernette and thusly all you saw was random YouTube code, but the point is I POSTED IT FIRST, DAMMIT.

Sorry ‘bout that.  Arthur gets the credit, everyone.

Mad Dawg - 16 January 2008 12:00 PM

Joe,


If you’re doing 1:1 pixel mapping between your PC and the LCD and running digital audio between the PC and A/V receiver the Blu-ray performance should be just as good as a standalone unit for A/V quality.  Everything will be at 1080p60 coming from the PC, but I don’t think Sharp has released an Aquos that can accept and properly display a 1080p24 signal.  Even Sharp’s current 120Hz LCD’s still use a 3:2 pulldown to get to 60.

So far, the only Sharp TV that will accept 24fps is the 64U (serial starting with “712” and firmware starting with “S"). I do have a 46” 64u with the latest serial and firmware, but yeah since it’s 60Hz it can’t do 5:5 pulldown, only 3:2. And my HD-DVD player with its latest firmware upgrade does actually output 24fps.

j

The Blade Runner Final Cut HD-DVD knocks me off my arse.

So I think the next upgrade I ever do in home theater will be something like this:

constant area screen methodology

joesnuff - 18 January 2008 06:41 PM

The Blade Runner Final Cut HD-DVD knocks me off my arse.


So I think the next upgrade I ever do in home theater will be something like this:


constant area screen methodology

I don’t know if im dumb or what, but I don’t understand what the hell he’s talking about. can someone plain english it for me?

Mad Dawg - 16 January 2008 12:00 PM

the software can be more readily upgraded and once Microsoft, Netflix and Apple make all formats obsolete with quality HD downloads and/or streams you will be needing a PC anyhow.

The broadband infrastructure here is years (maybe a decade or more) away from reaching that status and with TWC about to engage in per-byte billing, it puts the question of the future viability of downloads in question.  I’ll be enjoying a dual format set top box for the foreseeable future.

joesnuff - 18 January 2008 06:33 PM

Mad Dawg - 16 January 2008 12:00 PM

Joe,


If you’re doing 1:1 pixel mapping between your PC and the LCD and running digital audio between the PC and A/V receiver the Blu-ray performance should be just as good as a standalone unit for A/V quality.  Everything will be at 1080p60 coming from the PC, but I don’t think Sharp has released an Aquos that can accept and properly display a 1080p24 signal.  Even Sharp’s current 120Hz LCD’s still use a 3:2 pulldown to get to 60.

So far, the only Sharp TV that will accept 24fps is the 64U (serial starting with “712” and firmware starting with “S"). I do have a 46” 64u with the latest serial and firmware, but yeah since it’s 60Hz it can’t do 5:5 pulldown, only 3:2. And my HD-DVD player with its latest firmware upgrade does actually output 24fps.

j

Didn’t know that about the 64u series.  Thought it was just a re-hash of the 62u series.  Good to hear they have a product that can take a 1080p24 signal now.  Is that on all HD inputs, or just digital ones?

Sounds like you’re stuck with either letting your TV do 3:2 or letting your PC do 3:2.  With some primo hardware, I’d probably let the PC do it.

As the owner of a Panasonic 750 series plasma, I’m out on 1080p24.  I understand the new Panny (800 and 850 series) will be able to accept it and display it at either 48 (2:2) or 72 (3:3), similar to what Pioneer plasmas have been doing for a few generations now.  Sucks for me, guess I should have waited.

vin9 - 19 January 2008 10:37 PM

Mad Dawg - 16 January 2008 12:00 PM

the software can be more readily upgraded and once Microsoft, Netflix and Apple make all formats obsolete with quality HD downloads and/or streams you will be needing a PC anyhow.

The broadband infrastructure here is years (maybe a decade or more) away from reaching that status and with TWC about to engage in per-byte billing, it puts the question of the future viability of downloads in question.  I’ll be enjoying a dual format set top box for the foreseeable future.

TWC is probably the most clueless operator in the industry.  I wouldn’t worry about them and their bad business decisions.  While TWC tries to figure out ways to squeeze more money out of their shrinking customer base without having to invest any of it into improving their infrastructure, Verizon and AT&T are running fiber to your home or, in a lot of AT&T’s cases, as close as possible and then pushing the DSL envelope for the last few thousand feet.

I’d say that doing traffic shaping/throttling is worse then caps, or equally bad.  which pretty much all big ISP’s are doing now.

I say that in 3 or four years when memory sticks will have enough capacity to hold hd movies, they’ll just all get released on those. USB - no hardware required - end of story.

p.s this conclusion has been based on this much research: nil

or in 3 or 4 years people will get bored with watching movies and there wont be a need for that anymore...lol

From TVPredictions.com

Report: HD DVD Sales Gain; Still Trail Blu-ray
Toshiba recently slashed player prices.
By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (January 29, 2008)—For the week ending January 19, Blu-ray players outsold rival HD DVD even after the latter cut prices under $200.

That’s according to new figures from the NPD Group, as reported by the web site, Digital Bits.

Blu-ray and HD DVD are rival formats competing for the new high-def disc audience.

According to the report, there were 16,496 standalone Blu-ray players sold during the week ending January 19, compared to 8,639 for HD DVD. (The numbers do not include sales of the Play Station 3, which has a Blu-ray player inside, or the HD DVD add-on for the XBox 360.)

If accurate, Blu-ray players captured 65 percent of the market for the week, compared to roughly 35 percent for HD DVD’s.

While the margin is still impressive, it’s a drop from the previous week when Blu-ray players netted 93 percent of overall standalone player sales. The reduction in HD DVD player prices was the likely reason for the change.

On January 14, Toshiba cut the suggested retail price of its entry-level HD-A3 player to $149.99; its HD-A30 player, which has 1080p output, to $199; and its HD-A35 model to $299. The lowest suggested retail price for a Blu-ray player is $399.

Standalone HD DVD players enjoyed a small lead over standalone Blu-ray players in 2007. However, Warner Bros. this month endorsed Blu-ray exclusively in the format war, giving the Sony-backed format a 5-2 ‘major studio’ advantage over HD DVD. Both HD DVD player and disc sales have declined since the Warner decision.

dont know if someone posted this before:

Five reasons not to buy a Blu-ray player yet

Blu-Ray FTW. 

Netflix has chosen Blu Ray…
BestBuy officially supporting Blu-Ray as the preferred HD format…

All in the same week.

HDdvd is all but dead.

This is random and a reminder: Casey, did you ever see this post?

http://www.bt-network.org/board/viewthread/185/

Bye bye HD-DUD.

Yep… Official.

We knew the end was in sight when Warner switched.  I still hate to see Sony win.

Go forth, and safely invest your hard-earned dollars in Blu-ray players.

Mad Dawg - 19 February 2008 09:18 AM

Go forth, and safely invest your hard-earned dollars in Blu-ray players.

Which incidentally are retardedly expensive…

Racer X - 19 February 2008 02:25 PM

Mad Dawg - 19 February 2008 09:18 AM

Go forth, and safely invest your hard-earned dollars in Blu-ray players.

Which incidentally are retardedly expensive…

And will also have to be replaced each and every time a new Blu-ray profile is introduced that requires some feature your player either does not have (physical) or cannot be turned on with a firmware update (software).  Between ever-advancing technology and ever-more expensive health care I don’t know how we’ll be able to afford food and shelter in the year 2050.  Maybe the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be caretakers of us all.

Mad Dawg - 19 February 2008 03:07 PM

Racer X - 19 February 2008 02:25 PM

Mad Dawg - 19 February 2008 09:18 AM

Go forth, and safely invest your hard-earned dollars in Blu-ray players.

Which incidentally are retardedly expensive…

And will also have to be replaced each and every time a new Blu-ray profile is introduced that requires some feature your player either does not have (physical) or cannot be turned on with a firmware update (software).  Between ever-advancing technology and ever-more expensive health care I don’t know how we’ll be able to afford food and shelter in the year 2050.  Maybe the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be caretakers of us all.

Considering Melinda Gates was invited to the 2004 Bilderberg meeting I find that highly unlikely.