General HD DVD news and discussion
 

This is a placeholder thread for general HD DVD news and discussion that don't individually warrant their own threads.

If you do not own, are not in the market for, and have no interest in acquiring an HD DVD player, don't post. Baiting and argumentative posts will be removed on sight.

I love my HD 360 addon....And my A1....

When should we expect to start seeing review on the European HD DVD discs? I'm specifically interested in The Fog, La Haine, and Le Pacte des Loups

Are they out yet?

There seems to be some confusion between the retail version of King Kong and the 360 promo copy, so here is some quick shots I took of the retail version/w extras listed. Sorry for them being blurry, I was in a hurry. Is the disc the same?

<a href="http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture178av3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/4097/picture178av3.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

<a href="http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture179uq1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5475/picture179uq1.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

Any word on a HD DVD pc drive yet?

BTW, in the battle of the big Nov 14th releases I have been watching the Amazon sales rankings. X-Men and KOH have dropped considerably out of the top 1000, while Kong and Batman have increased. I would figure it's due to the 360 player release. I'm going to keep an eye out all this week to see what happens with the PS3 launch.

One thing of interest is that Superman Returns has somehow jumped into first place for both formats all of a sudden.

I was under the impression both the retail and 360 version of Kong was the same.

Thanks for the pic, it looks pretty slick.

Shots of my promo copy that came with the 360 HD DVD drive are below. The extras seem the same it looks like I got the bilingual (English/French) cover art and the actual disc art looks different.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/6...discnq8.th.jpg
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/1815/kkbacktr9.th.jpg

What's up with NO extras. This is bullshit. It went from a "must have" to a BD-a-like.

Wow, my A1 is really starting to piss me off. It's been freezing and skipping a lot lately, when it rarely did that before. It seems that FW 1.2 has been the most stable...for me, anyway. I REALLY hope this can be fixed with firmware, assuming we ever get a new version.

I agree. When I had 1.2 it was very stable. 1.4 was pretty stable, but 2.0 is the only firmware where I've had multiple discs freeze, skip ahead with no sound, etc. I've watched MI3 and Out of Sight with no problems, so that's a good sign. I'm hoping 2.1 will finally clear this audio drop out bullshit.

I watched M:I3 on Friday, and had some problems in the beginning. The Interpreter played without a problem last night, but King Kong is having tons of problems today, even after cleaning the disc and giving the player some additional breathing room. I want to watch the movie like crazy, but these problems are making me VERY frustrated.

The King Kong HD-DVD that comes with the Xbox 360 HD-DVD has english/french writing on the packaging. It has no barcode. Seems to be a promo-type disc.

I flashed the firmware and that seems to have taken care of the skipping I was seeing...at least for now. I figured that if this thing is essentially a PC, then like a PC, it requires reformatting every now and then, to keep it running smoothly. Who knows how long it will hold, though?

I had a slight skipping problem with Tokoyo Drift, but pretty smooth otherwise. I too hope 2.1 fixes these problems.

I dont think it is the firmware because I havent had a single issue with my A1. The thing plays like a dream. It doesnt skip, freeze, drop audio or anything. I have literally watched at least 75 movies on this sucker with a single problem. Its the best DVD player Ithink I have ever owned. If it was the Firmware wouldnt there be issues with everyones player? Wouldnt only certain people having problems suggest that it is the individual player itself that is having problems? I did however skip all of the Firmware upgrades and went right from 1.0 to 2.0 when it became available. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it.

PS..

Which title are you talking about?

PS..

King Kong.

King Kong has no extras? I thought it had all the extras from the initial DVD set?

I did, too, but unfortunately that's not the case. And that's why I'm glad I managed to score a copy at Wal*Mart, for $19.95. Amazon's price of $27 is way too high for a damn near bare bones release, even with the 10% discount. Aside from it being a very high-profile release, there really isn't any reason it should be priced at more than what I paid, based on the prices of other HD DVDs out there.

It might not be the firmware, specifically; it might just be that the firmware and my A1 don't get along, kind of like how an installation of MS Windows gets "flukey" after a while (no Microsoft jokes), despite having a powerhorse PC. The software problems end up causing hardware problems. A refresh of the OS will usually take care of it. In this case, it could just be that my firmware install had become corrupt somehow, causing my player to suffer. Or, I could be totally clueless about the whole thing. I think I like my explanation more, though :).

Well, I hate to say this, but you are (totally clueless, that is ;)). The reason Windows gets "flukey" over the course of time has nothing to do with Windows somehow degrading on its own. It gets that way because new hardware gets added, old hardware gets replaced or upgraded, and software gets installed and uninstalled. All of these activities cause remnants of drivers to be left behind that are no longer used, as well as changes to some system files and settings that may not be completely compatible with existing hardware and software.

Fortunately, none of these situations can possibly occur with your A1. There are only two plausible explanations for some people experiencing moderate to severe problems with their players while others have no problems at all.

One is the differences in the equipment that the player is connected to, and specifically the type of connection used (HDMI, DVI, component, etc). There is ample evidence to suggest that different connections, and differing levels of compatibility with those connections within connected devices (TVs, receivers and such) are the cause of many of the problems people have experienced.

The other likely cause of some problems is slightly defective hardware in the player itself. Some hardware defects only manifest themselves intermittently, either when a certain combination of events occurs, or when the hardware is used for extended periods (usually due to the hardware becoming warmer, which can reveal areas where the hardware isn't within expected tolerances).

But, in either of these cases, refreshing the firmware with the same version will not have any real effect, or offer any real resolution to the problems. If you perceive a change in behavior after refreshing the firmware, it is most likely due to either coincidence or wishful (hopeful) thinking.

I thought I had a shining moment, and you had to come along and kill it. Damn you, Robo! :D

But, seriously, given the circumstances, I really have trouble chalking it up to coincidence. My skipping problems were absolutely terrible yesterday morning, and that was after multiple "reboots" of the machine. My skips with 1.4 were no where near that bad. Additionally, the problems seemed to come from out of no where; I got no real warning sign. Once the FW was flashed, though, there wasn't a single other issue for the remaining 2 hours and 45 minutes of the movie, when I counted 5 skips in the 12 minutes prior. That's just a little too fishy for me to think it's a coincidence, or wishful thinking.