I don't know a thing about HD-DVD's, but I know for a fact that Blu Rays have some new coating on them that will make them far more resistant to damage than dvd's. Then again, I've been receiving some discs from netflix that are cracked straight through, so the answer to your question is no, there is no current technology that can survive the Postal Service, but it will be an improvement.
I don't know what version of Star Wars you're currently watching, but I think the new remastered dvd's are some of the best looking ones I own. I seem to remember something about them cleaning it frame by frame by hand or something. Lucas has some of the finest equipment in the business, and I am certain that when Star Wars comes out in Blu Ray it will look as good as it did in the theater 20 some odd years ago. The only problem I see Star Wars running into is that Episode I Jar Jar is going to look even more polygonal in HD. It would really bother me if I was ever planning to subject myself to that movie again. But Lucas might just re render him or something.
Anyway this idea that HD is going to show all the imperfections in the original film is probably not an issue for most films. I have a copy of Kurosawa's Ran where they show what the film looks like before and after they cleaned it up, and after. Displays are not the only technology progressing, and the encoding process is important as well. Sure there will be crummy transfers, but chances are that important movies will get the royal treatment and look amazing.
Hey did anyone else notice how the article at notebook review says that House of Flying Daggers wasn't filmed in HD?
"and according to Sony, it is even more apparent on movies shot in HD (which HoFD apparently wasn't)."
I was pretty certain that every movie made in modern times was shot in resolutions far higher than HD so that they would look good on a giant movie screen. I can't believe a technology writer would not question this assertion. Maybe I'm missing something, but did the writer misunderstand Sony? Did Sony explain it incorrectly? Did something get lost in translation?
What seems most likely to me is that they meant that the film had not yet been transferred to Blu Ray and that the player was just upconverting it. The upconversion would certainly explain the lack of Blu-Ray disks in the demo. If this is true, it is possible that Sony could be showing off their actual Blu Ray drive's upconverting capabilities with two of the same burned DVD's.
I don't know for certain any more than these people do, but it seems like this is more of a case of miscommunication than anyone lying.
I can't believe how many people are complaining about this thing being overpriced when it's being sold at a loss of between 100 and 200 dollars depending on who you ask. Yes it is expensive for a game console, but come on, there are graphics cards that cost that much. Some people want to buy a gaming platform that will be functional for more than two years. When you're talking about something I'm going to be using for the next couple of years, 100 dollars sure isn't that much money. The other thing people don't really seem to consider is that Sony has a track record for supporting their consoles. They are still going to be releasing exclusive games for the PS2 when the PS3 is being released. There hasn't been a noteworthy xbox game out since like Halo 2. Oh yeah, and it will play all PS1 and PS2 games, not that crappy emulation the 360 has. And online doesn't cost anything, and might even be decent this time around. By the time you add everything up, the ps3 seems like a steal. Sure there are people who don't understand all this, but i think most people who are spending this much money will do a little research .
I never thought I'd see so much hatred for a linux box on/. People who are going on and on about how Blu-ray isn't going to win and they don't want to commit don't seem to be taking into account that by 2007 there are going to be 4 million blu ray players all over the world. Who wants a High Def video format? People with HDTV's who tend to be more price insensitive than the general populace and also tend to buy the most advanced technology. People are saying that there's no way a game is ever going to run over 1 DVD? I will bet anyone any amount of money that the new Final Fantasy game will. How many minutes of HD cutscenes can you fit on a dvd? It might even require a dual layer disk. Microsoft can back HDDVD all they want, they can give out their expansion drives for free and it won't matter. The PS3 is steep, but it will be useful for far longer than the 360. I'm going to preorder now so that I can get one by 2k7.
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I don't know a thing about HD-DVD's, but I know for a fact that Blu Rays have some new coating on them that will make them far more resistant to damage than dvd's. Then again, I've been receiving some discs from netflix that are cracked straight through, so the answer to your question is no, there is no current technology that can survive the Postal Service, but it will be an improvement.
I don't know what version of Star Wars you're currently watching, but I think the new remastered dvd's are some of the best looking ones I own. I seem to remember something about them cleaning it frame by frame by hand or something. Lucas has some of the finest equipment in the business, and I am certain that when Star Wars comes out in Blu Ray it will look as good as it did in the theater 20 some odd years ago. The only problem I see Star Wars running into is that Episode I Jar Jar is going to look even more polygonal in HD. It would really bother me if I was ever planning to subject myself to that movie again. But Lucas might just re render him or something. Anyway this idea that HD is going to show all the imperfections in the original film is probably not an issue for most films. I have a copy of Kurosawa's Ran where they show what the film looks like before and after they cleaned it up, and after. Displays are not the only technology progressing, and the encoding process is important as well. Sure there will be crummy transfers, but chances are that important movies will get the royal treatment and look amazing.
Hey did anyone else notice how the article at notebook review says that House of Flying Daggers wasn't filmed in HD? "and according to Sony, it is even more apparent on movies shot in HD (which HoFD apparently wasn't)." I was pretty certain that every movie made in modern times was shot in resolutions far higher than HD so that they would look good on a giant movie screen. I can't believe a technology writer would not question this assertion. Maybe I'm missing something, but did the writer misunderstand Sony? Did Sony explain it incorrectly? Did something get lost in translation? What seems most likely to me is that they meant that the film had not yet been transferred to Blu Ray and that the player was just upconverting it. The upconversion would certainly explain the lack of Blu-Ray disks in the demo. If this is true, it is possible that Sony could be showing off their actual Blu Ray drive's upconverting capabilities with two of the same burned DVD's. I don't know for certain any more than these people do, but it seems like this is more of a case of miscommunication than anyone lying.
I can't believe how many people are complaining about this thing being overpriced when it's being sold at a loss of between 100 and 200 dollars depending on who you ask. Yes it is expensive for a game console, but come on, there are graphics cards that cost that much. Some people want to buy a gaming platform that will be functional for more than two years. When you're talking about something I'm going to be using for the next couple of years, 100 dollars sure isn't that much money. The other thing people don't really seem to consider is that Sony has a track record for supporting their consoles. They are still going to be releasing exclusive games for the PS2 when the PS3 is being released. There hasn't been a noteworthy xbox game out since like Halo 2. Oh yeah, and it will play all PS1 and PS2 games, not that crappy emulation the 360 has. And online doesn't cost anything, and might even be decent this time around. By the time you add everything up, the ps3 seems like a steal. Sure there are people who don't understand all this, but i think most people who are spending this much money will do a little research . I never thought I'd see so much hatred for a linux box on /. People who are going on and on about how Blu-ray isn't going to win and they don't want to commit don't seem to be taking into account that by 2007 there are going to be 4 million blu ray players all over the world. Who wants a High Def video format? People with HDTV's who tend to be more price insensitive than the general populace and also tend to buy the most advanced technology. People are saying that there's no way a game is ever going to run over 1 DVD? I will bet anyone any amount of money that the new Final Fantasy game will. How many minutes of HD cutscenes can you fit on a dvd? It might even require a dual layer disk. Microsoft can back HDDVD all they want, they can give out their expansion drives for free and it won't matter. The PS3 is steep, but it will be useful for far longer than the 360. I'm going to preorder now so that I can get one by 2k7.