Re:Ultimate Fanboy Fighting League
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Image quality, to be honest. Both big sets look absolutely stunning, particularly if you're used to watching the original laserdiscs, or even old film prints. I've seen the BFI's battered old print of Raiders several times in recent years, and the DVD is far superior in terms of colour, grain, print damage and sound balance.
Mind you, I'd also agree that Lucasfilm's work on THX-1138 is just as impressive.
Re:I think he means expectation of sales
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Which really, really doesn't make any sense. Clerks X, thanks to its source material, doesn't come close to the Superbit release of The Fifth Element in either Sound or Video. Sure, it's got lots of interesting extras, but so does practically every other disc on the market these days.
Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?
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Conversely, I'd argue that buying a DVD because the packaging is nice, the extras are long or the image quality is impressive is just _so_ 1999.
DVDs are a way for me to watch good films. I wouldn't buy a disc of a crap film even if it came on a 4-disc set in a box designed by Philippe Starck.
Not to say that I don't appreciate my rather lovely Criterion box set of Brazil, or the amazing restoration job that they did for Spartacus.
Unfortunately, it won't become actually useable until version 3, and only stops being an almighty kludge at version 4. Presumably, they'll make it multi-user at 3.11, too.
I agree, there are very good comparisons to be made with the Dreamcast. Both are excellent systems with stunning games that I really enjoy playing, and both were absolute bargains. They are the two consoles with the best quality video signals, too, for what it's worth.
Having already bought my Gamecube during release week, and seeing how it still runs just fine, thanks (connected to the set of Donkey Konga bongos I got for Christmas), I haven't bought another in years.
Unlike certain other machines. Lousy Nintendo! How do they expect to carry on selling them at this rate? The least they could do is offer me another colour to collect, like they do with the SP every few months.
Also, CRTs give a better image for only certain measures of 'better'.
I'll completely agree with both article and many posters that the small LCD screens are a waste of money for most people. They look crap compared to a CRT of equivalent size.
That said, we aren't usually talking about those. Anything much over 28" in a direct-view CRT usually suffers from noticeable geometry issues - even the £2000 ($4000) fancypants 36" 16x9 Loewe sets I've looked at. Geometry problems obviously aren't even possible on a Plasma or LCD, because the pixels are physically stuck in place.
32" Direct-view CRTs weigh an absolute tonne (well, 50+kg, anyway) - we nearly did ourselves an injury carrying mine upstairs with two people. So I dread to think how we'd lift a 36" up to the living room, even if there wasn't the issue of how difficult it was to squeeze my 32" TV round the corner on the stairs. A 37" flat-panel would, however, be easy to move.
Finally, from a normal viewing distance, I can't even see the difference between SD and HD resolution on anything smaller than a 37". So when talking about how much better HD looks, I can't really see the point in even discussing CRTs.
Obviously it does in that particular example. But look at the sales and popularity of Doom Vs. Descent. Descent was vastly more impressive at the time, with its full 3D engine. The multiplayer mode was also stunning once you got the hang of it. But a huge, huge number of people were put off it because they kept getting lost, disorientated, or otherwise couldn't cope with the extra degrees of freedom.
In which case, I must be in a minority of a minority. I don't have any real problems with the XP activation at all, as it has been remarkably painless every single time I've used it, even when I've had to phone my code through rather than use the internet authentication.
But Steam really annoys me, because it gets in the way. Authenticating Steam takes a lot longer than even the five minute phonecall of XP, let alone the 30-second internet method, and what is more Steam requires that you keep doing it. Microsoft don't kill your XP machine if Windows Update doesn't like the look of your auth string, either, it just refuses to let you have the service pack. Finding someone has stolen (or generated) your Half-Life CD-Key can kill all your Valve games.
Particularly if you're a European, but do so anyway. Even ignoring the price of the rest of the hardware you'll need, I've not seen a PC TV-Out-capable card for less money than an entire XBox that looks as good.
Most graphics cards will only output S-Video at best; Europeans wanting to connect in RGB Scart are looking at £100+ VGA to Scart transcoders, or other specialist hardware.
Plus there is an optical digital out on both the RGB Scart cable for Europeans, or the Component output for NTSC users.
Being able to play Halo when you're not watching films is just a bonus, really.
"This appears to me to be a rerelease of the previous edition which also had the DRM.
So no, they didn't get the message."
Actually, it just looks like someone took about two years to buy the thing and find out. Us Europeans have just recently been getting into HD-capable displays (we still don't have a mainstream HD broadcast service yet), so plenty of people have been importing this disc as the one and only example (other than paying a fortune for the frankly nasty DVHS thing) of a HD film.
When HD-DVD and BluRay turn up, I'll be buying whichever one I purchase in the US, then use here in the UK. I don't buy UK DVDs where I can help it, so I'll be sticking with US imports for high definition as well.
The reason the article's author had all these problems with DRM is that they are based in a different country to where they bought the disc. Returning the disc to the shop for a refund is pretty non-trivial.
In any case, since neither Artisan nor anyone else has ever tried this HD-WMP9-on-a-DVD thing, I wouldn't be surprised if they've already got the message about consumers not wanting it.
In this particular case, it won't work. Firstly, the author purchased the DVD from the US, and was in another country by the time they tried to view the disc. So good luck returning it for a refund. Secondly, I'm still not aware of a second film encoded this way being released after more than a year, so boycotting future titles isn't exactly relevant, either.
The system is a novel experiment, that doesn't even work very well, so it seems to have been shelved while we wait for proper high-definition DVDs to be launched.
Surely that misses the whole entire point of buying the super-duper High Definition version, if you're then going to wave goodbye to image quality by re-encoding it?
Since the article author already owned the previous DVD release, the whole point of the purchase was to watch it in HD.
If that were the case, then it should be specified on the back of the box explicitly. I have a Region 1 DVD player in my machine. I meet all the necessary requirements of the minimum specification. I am even running boring old Windows XP, and not 'oooh, scary' Linux.
Why should I expect this to do anything other than work, then?
" Why do people call short-screen formats wide-screen?"
Because cinema screens are (or at least used to be, before cheap-ass multiplexes ruined everything) fixed height, not fixed width. Therefore Widescreen is wider than Academy. The shape of your television is irrelevant.
So, what percentage of Counter-Strike players across the globe, discussing the best place to plant the bomb, should be expecting a visit Real Soon Now? The job is HUGE.
Wow, that's news to me. The 45" that has a full 1920x1080 resolution and still only weighs in at 31kg is great. If they improve the meagre 800:1 contrast ratio and do something about the horrendous £5k price tag (three times that of an SD 42" plasma) then I'd love one.
Of course, my wife would still kill me for buying a TV that size, but there you go.
Contrast (LCD basically doesn't have any contrast to start with, so the fact that Plasma eventually fades isn't an issue), and Size. LCDs only tend to go up to about 32", and at that point you can still get a good old fashioned CRT, that will urinate all over it in terms of picture quality.
Unless you're talking about rear (or indeed front) projection, at which point DLP and CRT (for the big bucks) win.
a) its a hell of a lot longer now - and its DEFINITELY a hell of a lot longer now, as I know several people in retail who have been running Panasonic series 6 machines virtually non-stop for the last two years without too much fade. Plus,
b) LCD looks RUBBISH. Really, really bad, like as bad as a faded plasma. The contrast ratios are tiny, many bleed, and there is still the problem of after-image on most models above PC monitor size.
Besides, if you only want an image as big as most LCD screens, then you can still get a CRT, which continues to beat all-comers in most areas of picture quality (very large sets can have slight geometry issues, but that is all).
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Image quality, to be honest. Both big sets look absolutely stunning, particularly if you're used to watching the original laserdiscs, or even old film prints. I've seen the BFI's battered old print of Raiders several times in recent years, and the DVD is far superior in terms of colour, grain, print damage and sound balance.
Mind you, I'd also agree that Lucasfilm's work on THX-1138 is just as impressive.
Which really, really doesn't make any sense. Clerks X, thanks to its source material, doesn't come close to the Superbit release of The Fifth Element in either Sound or Video. Sure, it's got lots of interesting extras, but so does practically every other disc on the market these days.
Conversely, I'd argue that buying a DVD because the packaging is nice, the extras are long or the image quality is impressive is just _so_ 1999.
DVDs are a way for me to watch good films. I wouldn't buy a disc of a crap film even if it came on a 4-disc set in a box designed by Philippe Starck.
Not to say that I don't appreciate my rather lovely Criterion box set of Brazil, or the amazing restoration job that they did for Spartacus.
No, it really is version 2.
Unfortunately, it won't become actually useable until version 3, and only stops being an almighty kludge at version 4. Presumably, they'll make it multi-user at 3.11, too.
Shall I just sit here and be smug about the OSF box on my desk, then?
I agree, there are very good comparisons to be made with the Dreamcast. Both are excellent systems with stunning games that I really enjoy playing, and both were absolute bargains. They are the two consoles with the best quality video signals, too, for what it's worth.
But that wasn't what you meant, was it?
Having already bought my Gamecube during release week, and seeing how it still runs just fine, thanks (connected to the set of Donkey Konga bongos I got for Christmas), I haven't bought another in years.
Unlike certain other machines. Lousy Nintendo! How do they expect to carry on selling them at this rate? The least they could do is offer me another colour to collect, like they do with the SP every few months.
"Think like the cleaner"
What, you mean "No women, no kids?"
Also, CRTs give a better image for only certain measures of 'better'.
I'll completely agree with both article and many posters that the small LCD screens are a waste of money for most people. They look crap compared to a CRT of equivalent size.
That said, we aren't usually talking about those. Anything much over 28" in a direct-view CRT usually suffers from noticeable geometry issues - even the £2000 ($4000) fancypants 36" 16x9 Loewe sets I've looked at. Geometry problems obviously aren't even possible on a Plasma or LCD, because the pixels are physically stuck in place.
32" Direct-view CRTs weigh an absolute tonne (well, 50+kg, anyway) - we nearly did ourselves an injury carrying mine upstairs with two people. So I dread to think how we'd lift a 36" up to the living room, even if there wasn't the issue of how difficult it was to squeeze my 32" TV round the corner on the stairs. A 37" flat-panel would, however, be easy to move.
Finally, from a normal viewing distance, I can't even see the difference between SD and HD resolution on anything smaller than a 37". So when talking about how much better HD looks, I can't really see the point in even discussing CRTs.
There was me trying to figure out: How do you revoke a BSD license? Surely someone can just take the code already?
BSD the OS, not BSD the license; it's a fairly oddly worded title...
Obviously it does in that particular example. But look at the sales and popularity of Doom Vs. Descent. Descent was vastly more impressive at the time, with its full 3D engine. The multiplayer mode was also stunning once you got the hang of it. But a huge, huge number of people were put off it because they kept getting lost, disorientated, or otherwise couldn't cope with the extra degrees of freedom.
In which case, I must be in a minority of a minority. I don't have any real problems with the XP activation at all, as it has been remarkably painless every single time I've used it, even when I've had to phone my code through rather than use the internet authentication.
But Steam really annoys me, because it gets in the way. Authenticating Steam takes a lot longer than even the five minute phonecall of XP, let alone the 30-second internet method, and what is more Steam requires that you keep doing it. Microsoft don't kill your XP machine if Windows Update doesn't like the look of your auth string, either, it just refuses to let you have the service pack. Finding someone has stolen (or generated) your Half-Life CD-Key can kill all your Valve games.
Particularly if you're a European, but do so anyway. Even ignoring the price of the rest of the hardware you'll need, I've not seen a PC TV-Out-capable card for less money than an entire XBox that looks as good.
Most graphics cards will only output S-Video at best; Europeans wanting to connect in RGB Scart are looking at £100+ VGA to Scart transcoders, or other specialist hardware.
Plus there is an optical digital out on both the RGB Scart cable for Europeans, or the Component output for NTSC users.
Being able to play Halo when you're not watching films is just a bonus, really.
Quoth the AC:
"This appears to me to be a rerelease of the previous edition which also had the DRM.
So no, they didn't get the message."
Actually, it just looks like someone took about two years to buy the thing and find out. Us Europeans have just recently been getting into HD-capable displays (we still don't have a mainstream HD broadcast service yet), so plenty of people have been importing this disc as the one and only example (other than paying a fortune for the frankly nasty DVHS thing) of a HD film.
When HD-DVD and BluRay turn up, I'll be buying whichever one I purchase in the US, then use here in the UK. I don't buy UK DVDs where I can help it, so I'll be sticking with US imports for high definition as well.
The reason the article's author had all these problems with DRM is that they are based in a different country to where they bought the disc. Returning the disc to the shop for a refund is pretty non-trivial.
In any case, since neither Artisan nor anyone else has ever tried this HD-WMP9-on-a-DVD thing, I wouldn't be surprised if they've already got the message about consumers not wanting it.
In this particular case, it won't work. Firstly, the author purchased the DVD from the US, and was in another country by the time they tried to view the disc. So good luck returning it for a refund. Secondly, I'm still not aware of a second film encoded this way being released after more than a year, so boycotting future titles isn't exactly relevant, either.
The system is a novel experiment, that doesn't even work very well, so it seems to have been shelved while we wait for proper high-definition DVDs to be launched.
Surely that misses the whole entire point of buying the super-duper High Definition version, if you're then going to wave goodbye to image quality by re-encoding it?
Since the article author already owned the previous DVD release, the whole point of the purchase was to watch it in HD.
If that were the case, then it should be specified on the back of the box explicitly. I have a Region 1 DVD player in my machine. I meet all the necessary requirements of the minimum specification. I am even running boring old Windows XP, and not 'oooh, scary' Linux.
Why should I expect this to do anything other than work, then?
" Why do people call short-screen formats wide-screen?"
Because cinema screens are (or at least used to be, before cheap-ass multiplexes ruined everything) fixed height, not fixed width. Therefore Widescreen is wider than Academy. The shape of your television is irrelevant.
So, what percentage of Counter-Strike players across the globe, discussing the best place to plant the bomb, should be expecting a visit Real Soon Now? The job is HUGE.
Wow, that's news to me. The 45" that has a full 1920x1080 resolution and still only weighs in at 31kg is great. If they improve the meagre 800:1 contrast ratio and do something about the horrendous £5k price tag (three times that of an SD 42" plasma) then I'd love one.
Of course, my wife would still kill me for buying a TV that size, but there you go.
Contrast (LCD basically doesn't have any contrast to start with, so the fact that Plasma eventually fades isn't an issue), and Size. LCDs only tend to go up to about 32", and at that point you can still get a good old fashioned CRT, that will urinate all over it in terms of picture quality.
Unless you're talking about rear (or indeed front) projection, at which point DLP and CRT (for the big bucks) win.
Well,
a) its a hell of a lot longer now - and its DEFINITELY a hell of a lot longer now, as I know several people in retail who have been running Panasonic series 6 machines virtually non-stop for the last two years without too much fade. Plus,
b) LCD looks RUBBISH. Really, really bad, like as bad as a faded plasma. The contrast ratios are tiny, many bleed, and there is still the problem of after-image on most models above PC monitor size.
Besides, if you only want an image as big as most LCD screens, then you can still get a CRT, which continues to beat all-comers in most areas of picture quality (very large sets can have slight geometry issues, but that is all).
It's a no-brainer for me, certainly. Plasma looks like crap if your misuse it and cause burn-in. LCD looks like crap straight out of the box.
By the way, those complaining about Plasma fade ought to check out the lifetimes on the newest models - Panasonic Series 7 is very nice indeed.
Given that the eMac is aimed at educational establishments (what the 'e' stands for here), his criticisms are utterly groundless.
So your only option for off-machine backup is across the network. Good.
So you can't play the latest games on it. Good.
Its sturdy, and has a good enough spec for the job it is aimed at. He's just pissed off his Apple isn't Orangey enough.