Keep in mind that a lot of stores still aren't actually feeding their HD displays HD sources. Take a look at the back of the TVs and you'll find that quite a few Best Buys are still feeding a good portion of their HD displays via RF feeds. Sure, the nice showcase displays are being fed from HD sources, and many of the larger screens, too. But not all of them are getting HD sources--a lot are getting bottom of the barrel SD feeds.
I was wondering when this was going to make it to the front page. I've had an HD DVD player for the past few months, along with about 20 movies for it (half are HD DVD exclusives). I've been perfectly pleased with it, and I'm not particularly bitter about being on the "losing" side of things. Eventually I'll pick up a BD player, once the prices come down a bit more, and hopefully once they sort out their profile issues (c'mon, the ability to do PIP was only recently added, 1-1/2 years after the format came out). And I'm still hopeful that dual-format players will be available for a while to come, especially since there aren't too many hardware differences between the two formats. I think the most sensible thing for the HD DVD consortium to do would be to drop their licensing fees before too long, specifically to allow hardware manufacturers to add HD DVD capabilities to their players for little extra cost. Of course, there are still two studios that are HD DVD exclusive at the moment, and I'm sure Toshiba/MS/et al are going to try to fight it out till the bitter end. Oh well, c'est la vie.
Well, he apparently has a demo video up on YouTube (hey, videos are better than nothing). Unfortunately, PCWorld would much rather give me links to searches on their own site instead of a USEFUL link to the actual video...
I'm curious to know what happens when he lets the WMV authentication program do its thing. I wonder if he'll simply need to re-enter his Amazon ID to reauthenticate his UnBox purchases. If that's the case then this whole thing is incredibly overblown. Of course we'll never see a followup, so we'll never know (at least not in this guys case).
Okay, I won't buy from Netflix, especially since they don't "sell" digital downloads. What they do offer is an online-viewing service that's included "free" (currently) with their standard by-mail service. A service which, I might add, happens to work beautifully if you're running XP. It looks like this guy's problems stem from the fact that he's running Vista and has decided to change his hardware (even if it is only the monitor). We were given plenty of warning that Vista would do this, so we shouldn't be surprised when it happens.
Sadly I used to work with a guy who thought this way. It's almost like he used the number of servers he managed as a way to measure the size of his peni...intelligence.
I looked over that site and also dug up the original study. Based on what I read, it seems that a 1080p image would only have a 540 L/PH resolution, since they are looking for distinguishable line pairs (also note that the image on that webpage is nothing like the image used in the test). The 750 L/PH resolution (as well as the 875 L/PH max) are considerably higher than the 540 L/PH theoretical figure of a 1080p source (assuming I understand their methods correctly). It would be interesting to perform that same study using a 1080p image to see how it fares.
I've got a P4 2.6ghz/533fsb w/1gig of RAM and it chokes on 720p h.264:(
Try digging up a copy of the CoreAVC codec (assuming you're running Windows). My 2GHz AthlonXP went from stuttering on 720p H.264 files to playing them perfectly smoothly (~80-85% proc) with CoreAVC.
Most disc boxes will tell you the resolution information (usually 1080p), but they don't give you information regarding the video codec used. For that (and more) information, your best bets are the HD DVD Stats and Blu-ray Stats sites.
My educated guess is that they include 720p sets in that figure (720p sets are regularly sold with "HDTV" labelling). In the case of a 720p set, I believe that a standard-def DVD player with an HDMI cable will provide the same output quality as a hi-def player.
Yes, 720p is considered HD, and it has about 4x the resolution of a standard 480i signal. Either BD or HD DVD material (which are almost always 1080p sources) looks stunning on a mid-sized 720p set, and definitely outperforms even upconverted SD DVD. Here's a nice chart that shows you screen size vs viewing distance for the various resolutions. Basically, for most home living room configurations, a 720p set is more than adequate. 1080p becomes a bigger factor if you happen to have a very good-sized viewing room, or you plan on setting up a proper home theater.
Or you can just buy one of the myriad dual-format players that will be available. Even if one format becomes the standard, there are enough discs of both types out there that dual-format players will be easy to come by for a long time to come. Not to mention that many of the internal components used are identical for the two formats.
If you want to see what HD sources look like, try hooking a UHF antenna up to the set. Sure it's "only" 1080i (or 720p), but the clarity will stun you. It's easily the cheapest/easiest way to explore HD material, and yet hardly anyone ever thinks of doing it.
I have a friend who's an architect and he uses Sketchup all the time to throw together quick models/diagrams for clients. Of course, he still uses AutoCAD for the actual plans and everything, but he swears by Sketchup for quick 'n dirty stuff.
Yup. I have one with nothing but DSL plugged into it. When my phone service was set up, it was either spend $30/mo on DSL with ~$8/mo for a landline for it to ride on, or spend $60/mo for the same level of service from Speakeasy without a landline.
Slashdot Mirror
From now on? "Now" as in "May"?
You missed Taco's story about the perfection of the time machine? Oh wait, that's still posted in "the mysterious future".
Keep in mind that a lot of stores still aren't actually feeding their HD displays HD sources. Take a look at the back of the TVs and you'll find that quite a few Best Buys are still feeding a good portion of their HD displays via RF feeds. Sure, the nice showcase displays are being fed from HD sources, and many of the larger screens, too. But not all of them are getting HD sources--a lot are getting bottom of the barrel SD feeds.
I was wondering when this was going to make it to the front page. I've had an HD DVD player for the past few months, along with about 20 movies for it (half are HD DVD exclusives). I've been perfectly pleased with it, and I'm not particularly bitter about being on the "losing" side of things. Eventually I'll pick up a BD player, once the prices come down a bit more, and hopefully once they sort out their profile issues (c'mon, the ability to do PIP was only recently added, 1-1/2 years after the format came out). And I'm still hopeful that dual-format players will be available for a while to come, especially since there aren't too many hardware differences between the two formats. I think the most sensible thing for the HD DVD consortium to do would be to drop their licensing fees before too long, specifically to allow hardware manufacturers to add HD DVD capabilities to their players for little extra cost. Of course, there are still two studios that are HD DVD exclusive at the moment, and I'm sure Toshiba/MS/et al are going to try to fight it out till the bitter end. Oh well, c'est la vie.
Oooh! I can't wait to go to the Linux Store!
Customer: Excuse me. Can you show me where I might find a word processor?
Employee: Hahaha, noob! Look at the fucking shelf!
In the Mac vs. Windows Commercials that apple Runs....who do you think would be a good person to represent the Linux OS?
RMS? : p
Why brute force your way through when simply typing "admin" works far more often than it should?
Someone should tell kailoran that a "mom" is never a he or a him.
Well, he apparently has a demo video up on YouTube (hey, videos are better than nothing). Unfortunately, PCWorld would much rather give me links to searches on their own site instead of a USEFUL link to the actual video...
I'm curious to know what happens when he lets the WMV authentication program do its thing. I wonder if he'll simply need to re-enter his Amazon ID to reauthenticate his UnBox purchases. If that's the case then this whole thing is incredibly overblown. Of course we'll never see a followup, so we'll never know (at least not in this guys case).
Okay, I won't buy from Netflix, especially since they don't "sell" digital downloads. What they do offer is an online-viewing service that's included "free" (currently) with their standard by-mail service. A service which, I might add, happens to work beautifully if you're running XP. It looks like this guy's problems stem from the fact that he's running Vista and has decided to change his hardware (even if it is only the monitor). We were given plenty of warning that Vista would do this, so we shouldn't be surprised when it happens.
Please don't try to recall anything else, because your memory is clearly very faulty.
Sadly I used to work with a guy who thought this way. It's almost like he used the number of servers he managed as a way to measure the size of his peni...intelligence.
While an ellipses would undoubtedly have been less confusing then the comma there, I suspect it isn't random as you suggest.
Ellipses, then a comma? Don't you think that might look a little..., awkward?
It would also behoove him to learn the correct spelling of ogle.
I looked over that site and also dug up the original study. Based on what I read, it seems that a 1080p image would only have a 540 L/PH resolution, since they are looking for distinguishable line pairs (also note that the image on that webpage is nothing like the image used in the test). The 750 L/PH resolution (as well as the 875 L/PH max) are considerably higher than the 540 L/PH theoretical figure of a 1080p source (assuming I understand their methods correctly). It would be interesting to perform that same study using a 1080p image to see how it fares.
I've got a P4 2.6ghz/533fsb w/1gig of RAM and it chokes on 720p h.264 :(
Try digging up a copy of the CoreAVC codec (assuming you're running Windows). My 2GHz AthlonXP went from stuttering on 720p H.264 files to playing them perfectly smoothly (~80-85% proc) with CoreAVC.
Most disc boxes will tell you the resolution information (usually 1080p), but they don't give you information regarding the video codec used. For that (and more) information, your best bets are the HD DVD Stats and Blu-ray Stats sites.
My educated guess is that they include 720p sets in that figure (720p sets are regularly sold with "HDTV" labelling). In the case of a 720p set, I believe that a standard-def DVD player with an HDMI cable will provide the same output quality as a hi-def player.
Yes, 720p is considered HD, and it has about 4x the resolution of a standard 480i signal. Either BD or HD DVD material (which are almost always 1080p sources) looks stunning on a mid-sized 720p set, and definitely outperforms even upconverted SD DVD. Here's a nice chart that shows you screen size vs viewing distance for the various resolutions. Basically, for most home living room configurations, a 720p set is more than adequate. 1080p becomes a bigger factor if you happen to have a very good-sized viewing room, or you plan on setting up a proper home theater.
Or you can just buy one of the myriad dual-format players that will be available. Even if one format becomes the standard, there are enough discs of both types out there that dual-format players will be easy to come by for a long time to come. Not to mention that many of the internal components used are identical for the two formats.
If you want to see what HD sources look like, try hooking a UHF antenna up to the set. Sure it's "only" 1080i (or 720p), but the clarity will stun you. It's easily the cheapest/easiest way to explore HD material, and yet hardly anyone ever thinks of doing it.
I have a friend who's an architect and he uses Sketchup all the time to throw together quick models/diagrams for clients. Of course, he still uses AutoCAD for the actual plans and everything, but he swears by Sketchup for quick 'n dirty stuff.
Why would anyone voluntarily let a Sony product near their computer after the rootkit fiasco? Burn me once...
Burn me twice...Hey cool! This thing's rewritable!
I kind of assumed that the link from his name directly to the computerworld site was enough of a clue...
So, we have a guy who not only is enough of a dork to master the game, but then he goes to Best Buy to show off to strangers? That's kinda sad.
Yup. I have one with nothing but DSL plugged into it. When my phone service was set up, it was either spend $30/mo on DSL with ~$8/mo for a landline for it to ride on, or spend $60/mo for the same level of service from Speakeasy without a landline.