While we are qouting articles:

Yes, by you and me and others, unofficially. And we got that definition from the ATSC, btw.

"HD" is also being used to describe radio, TV antennas, stretched-XGA plasmas, speakers, HDDVD (as a short differentiation from BD), 16:10 PC monitors, and a number of other poor usages that severely cramp the original meaning. Hard to use if you don't know the person you are talking to, or without launching into a 5 minute discourse on what it really means.

I'm just saying, we really need a good term. And the TVs must be ATSC compatible, even if that term isn't so hot for the discs or players. (which is where this train started a few posts ago)

ATSC actually contains many TV standards, 18 in total with different resolutions, aspect ratios and Scan types.

By the way HD can be used to describe alot of different devices given that they have a resolution of at least 720 lines. So anything that has 720 lines or greater is properly termed HD. What the field needs is more terms to describe varying resolutions and such. Lumping every device that is 720 lines or more into one term can be very confusing to the average consumer.


PS..

While HD may encompass all of that, I hardly think if I say "I watched Batman Begins in HD last night," people will go, "Oh really? Was it on a 16:10 PC monitor, or a stretched-XGA plasma, or perhaps you heard a HD radio broadcast of it?" I think they would most likely ask "On HD DVD or cable?"

Why not use the term HDTV then? That'd eliminate radio, speakers, and PC monitors, since it's specifically about TV.

You guys are so far off topic it's not even funny.

All this on the eve of Blu-Ray's biggest software release day yet ....

I picked up Kiss of The Dragon at BB last night and it looked and sounded awesome. Finally a studio that lets you skip ALL the warnings and other crap. I will go back to pick up X3 today so I can save the $12. Can't wait!

Huge day for Blu-ray. UPS just delivered Black Hawk Down. I will certainly get X3 at BB after work and UPS is delivering Fantastic Four tomorrow. And of course Kingdom of Heaven is out, but I think I'll swing by Walmart later this week and see if they actually get it. They got Reds in last week, so there's hope yet.

Glad to hear Kiss of The Dragon is good. That and Wasabi are probably the only two Besson-produced films I liked. I should have that, Speed and The Omen today, hopefully (Million Dollar Baby delayed my order from going out on Friday )

I'd damn better have Nacho Libre and Black Hawk Down from DVDplanet today as well. They haven't changed much since the takeover.

I'd love to hear about the extras on those Fox discs. Was there ever an official list?

I think Fantastic Four only has the commentary track and some HD trailers. The 1-disc wasn't loaded to begin with, but they probably could've fit them on there. It's a BD-25 using MPEG2.

Kiss of The Dragon has a commentary track and trailers as well. Not that it mattered to me anyway.

I had an order with Best Prices (throught Google Checkout)for BHD and KoH, but canceled. I'm still waiting for the refund to go through (going to call the credit card company today if I don't see any refund). My replacement order was from DVD Empire (again through Google Checkout), but I have yet to be charged for that order. I sent them an email to try and find out when my order would ship.

Needless to say, I've had it with Google Checkout!

DVD Empire is apparently sold out of BHD, which is why I went to DVDPlanet who listed them as in stock. If you use the default settings at DVDEmpire your KOH order (in stock now) will wait for BHD to come in before shipping, so you won't be getting that. That's why I use the Partial Shipping option so I get them shipped as soon as they come in. They ship out in-stock order same day like clockwork.

All the Fox titles are 35.99 at every store I went to except Target, who didn't have any of the new titles.

I just checked their website, and it lists it as a pre-release title. Interesting. So I got someone on chat, and they said they were planning to receive them in a few days. I love those generic answers. I guess I'm just having one of those days. We'll see if my speakers ship out to put a smile on my face.

You're not the only one. Read my post in the software bargains thread. Thankfully I at least got my account working today.

Yeah, I just checked now and it says "On Order" again. I think they screwed up the release date since they were the only one who had it down for an 11/7 release till last week. Apparently DVDPlanet did get them last week, though my order got conveniently "lost", so I reordered again on Friday after they assured me on the phone it would go out that day. It better be waiting for me when I get home.

Yes, most of the extra's are missing from the standard DVD releases. It really is too bad, but I will still buy them. I buy my discs for the movie, not the extras. As long as the picture quality is a significant improvement over DVD and I love the movie, I'm going to pick it up. Just like I would (or will, depending on how the holiday season goes for the two formats) pick up Universal's King Kong even though it has none of the extras from any of the three DVD releases.

From High Def Digest:

Buena Vista Goes All BD-50 for January Blu-ray Slate
Wed Nov 15, 2006 at 12:33 AM ET
Tags: Disc Announcements, BD-50, Buena Vista (all tags)

Announcing their first line-up of all BD-50 dual-layer Blu-ray discs, Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release four titles in the new year, led by a day-and-date 'The Guardian.'

Joining that Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher action drama on January 23 are the 2002 Best Picture Oscar winner 'Chicago,' 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,' and rescheduled from its original November 21 release date, the Heath Ledger romantic comedy 'Casanova.'


"We continue to forge new frontiers with our Blu-ray discs and to further explore the seemingly limitless boundaries of creativity the format allows," said Buena Vista president Bob Chapek of the studio's first all-BD-50 slate. "We've just begun to cultivate the future growth of our industry with Blu-ray."

Though no video or audio specs have yet been confirmed, all four releases will pack in the extras. Among the supplements included are audio commentaries on all four releases, multiple making-of featurettes, deleted scenes and more.

'Casanova' will also include "Reflections of Venice," a Blu-scape short film created specifically for Blu-ray by noted cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg.

Buena Vista has set a $34.95 suggested list price for each release.

The latest details for all four titles have been added to our Blu-ray Release Schedule, and stay tuned for final specs as soon as they are officially announced.

Buena Vista Reveals Initial 2007 50GB Slate [Home Media Retailing]



It looks like any BD50 manufacturing problems are a thing of the past.

That makes sense. If something is still showing theatrically somewhere, I have no problem with them region coding it. In later pressings or editions it can be region free.

They ship regular dvds much faster than hd-dvds (and I assume BD).

They already shipped a couple of sd titles that are coming out next week to me.

This was my biggest blu-ray release week yet and I'm happier than a pig in poop! Got Black Hawk Down, X3, LXG, Speed and the Transporter (plus Kiss of The Dragon from earlier). Watched Balck Hawk yesterday and it was just amazing! I was a little worried at first when the movie first starts up with the captions and it's SUPER grainy, but I see that was supposed to be like that. After that, you can see the sweat reflecting every pore on the faces and you can read the writing on vehicles and weapons. Damn. Sound just knocked my socks off! The pop-up menu is pretty cool as well with the sound effects and the multiple windows. I'll have go back to try and figure out that Blu-Wizard thing, though I may not have time with all the watching coming up. Anyway, I can not wait to pop in X3 tonight!

Well, I did get my DVDPlanet order. So they did ship it out two-day on the same day as I requested. I'm so used to using DVDEmpire that offers USPS Priority so I get the extra delivery day on Saturday unlike UPS, so I'm assuming that was the one-day delay. It was just annoying that I had ordered it early in the week so I could get it before the weekend and then i find out my order didn't show up in the computer, even though I received an email confirmation from them, order # and all.

Not sure this is a national thing, but all the Fox titles I've bought don't have any security stickers on them. Just shrinkwrap only. That's a good thing but I'm surprised they don't slap them all over their BDs.