darkside

Actually this is technically correct. I think Sony has sold through a million PS3s in the US at this point compared to 175,000 HD DVD add ons. Even adding in stand alone HD DVD players they are no where near a million.

We can certainly argue that not all million of those PS3 owners will be movie buyers, but at the rate PS3s are selling there will be a lot more "potential" Blu-ray buyers out there than HD DVD buyers.

RockStrongo

Yep...I think it will become the biggest BD seller so far.

Had Batman Begins been a new release at the time it came out on hd-dvd, it would have wiped the floor with Bond imo.

cultshock

Yep, CASINO ROYALE is perfect for the main demographic who own PS3s, so that will certainly help sell a lot of copies.

digitalfreaknyc

I hesitate to post this but...it's a genuine concern of mine.

I am NOT trying to start any sort of bashing. I just want to know if what I'm seeing is accurate.

OK...so everyone knows that I've been an HD DVD fan since day one. And I got a PS3 probably about a month and a half ago.

And I have to be honest: not a single BD title has blown me away visually. I will gladly admit that the sound is fantastic. I miss having that uncompressed sound that I used to savour on laserdisc. But the picture quality just ain't on par with HD DVD on any title that I've seen. I think the big problem is the encoding. I noticed that my Finding Neverland HD DVD is AVC and is noticeably softer or solid as any of my other HD DVD titles. Same thing with BD.

Could it possibly be the PS3? Is it just not as good a player as the HDA1?

Before anyone asks, I have the following movies on BD:
American Psycho
Young Guns
Speed
Flightplan
Black Hawk down
Courage Under Fire
Sentinel
Chicago
Planet of the Apes
...that's what I can remember right now.

Flightplan is the only one that even comes close to HD DVD and it's VC1.

For example, popped in Planet of the Apes last night and flipped around it. At one point, Mark Wahlberg's face isn't solid. It's almost pixelated. And that's par for the course.

It's not horrible. I don't think most people would recognize it. But having watched a ton of HD DVD's in the last year, it's disappointing. Part of me just wishes they could combine the picture quality and extras of HD DVD and the sound of BD to create one perfect product.

I've honestly been afraid to post my opinion because I figured I would just get bashed for it but...there it is.

Supermallet

Of all the ones you've listed, I've only seen Chicago, and I thought it looked excellent. Check out The Prestige (rent it if you're determined to buy the import). Looks as good as any HD DVD.

Edit: I also think AVC can look just as good as VC-1.

digitalfreaknyc

I've heard rumors that VC1 may have something in it that reduces grain. I'm wondering if that is true.

Chicago does have a good amount of grain. Some scenes have a crapload of it and others looked great. Mixed bag.

Mr. Cinema

I was able to compare titles on the PS3 and the Sammy 1000. There was a bit more detail on the PS3, so to me, it's better than the Sammy. Now comparing it to the A1, I'm not sure. I think it's the encodes on the discs and not the hardware. I know there's been plenty of posts at AVS comparing all the BD units, and the PS3 seems to hold its own on video quality compared to the Pioneer and Panasonic.

Enemy of the State was a big standout for me. I did compare it with the dvd counterpart and it blows that away. I've also been very impressed with Underworld: Evolution, Ice Age 2, World Trade Center, Black Hawk Down, and The Prestige.And they each have different encodes. The Descent, which is very low budget, looked great to me. It also used AVC.

I think it's hard to compare the PS3 and the A1, unless you're using a dual format title like The Departed or Superman Returns.

Both formats have had bad looking movies. For every Fifth Element, there's a Bone Collector, which I thought looked like shit.

Casino Royale should be a reference disc when it's released. Pirates 1 and 2, and Cars should also be the same way.

applesandrice

According to editor Dan Ramer over at www.dvdfile.com, "Ultraviolet" is actually the Blu-Ray title to beat. He says it's even got detail surpassing "King Kong" . . .

RockStrongo

digi, Im right there with ya. I thought the Departed looked great, but honestly, other titles have NOT blown me away like King Kong or Batman Begins.

I heard people rave about Monster House. I thought it looked ok.

I havent seen ANYTHING on the PS3 that rivals the best hd-dvd on my a2 in terms of pic quality.

digitalfreaknyc

Well...i'm not saying these movies don't look better than DVD for me. Clearly they do. But I'm saying that they do not look as good as HD DVD which IMHO, to date, has been the benchmark for what an HD format can do.

And of course there are some titles that are better than others. But I could say that I saw A Christmas Story and thought it had a more "solid" transfer than some of the titles that I saw on Blu-ray.

That's really the only word I can come up with to describe what I'm seeing: Solid.

Drexl

Maybe you're just getting a little jaded to where you no longer are blown away. Or have you compared titles recently?

digitalfreaknyc

I put in Chicago and Planet last night (because I received both yesterday). Chicago, I noticed the grain immediately. Planet i noticed the blocking immediately. It's just not sharp.

They are problems that I've only seen on BD. Maybe i'll watch some more HD DVD movies and see if i notice anything but they popped immediately.

The Cow

Black Hawk is the only one you listed that I'd say has a good transfer. I was pretty amazed with Flyboys. The movie itself is so-so, but worth the Netflix rental.

digitalfreaknyc

And that was the first disc I ever put in my machine. I definitely wasn't blown away.

This all is very disheartening.

The Cow

Not sure what you are going for. Blown away hasn't hit me with either format. I've made the switch from DVD with both HD-DVD and BD. They both look great, but it's not a world of difference. I'm probably more impressed with the sound.

digitalfreaknyc

Well, for you, maybe not.

I'm "going for" someone to tell me that what I'm seeing is possibly a sign of the equipment and that one day I'll get something that will play it better.

The Cow

Time is your friend and your enemy.

digitalfreaknyc

Not according to the other responses.

Unless you're suggesting that all of these titles will be re-released with better encodes, it seems like what I'm seeing is correct.

Doughboy

Titles that impressed me that you might wanna pick up include:

Pearl Harbor
The Prestige
Tears of the Sun
Stranger Than Fiction

I'm a big HD-DVD supporter, but I'd say I've seen just as many good-looking transfers on Blu-ray. Particularly those from Buena Vista and Sony(at least the recent ones).

digitalfreaknyc

Well, i guess that's my point. Some of the titles that others have thought were less-than-stellar on HD have impressed me more than BD.

Noonan

I've actually been more impressed with the BD titles I've watched than HD. The movie wasn't all that good but I'd check out Gridiron Gang. The picture quality was excellent.

What titles do you consider reference for HD? I thought Flyboys was as good as anything I've seen on HD but I've probably only watched about 10 movies from each format so far.

digitalfreaknyc

Honestly? from the aspect I'm talking about, all of them. I haven't seen any pixelization in any of them like I'm seeing on BD. The transfers have all been solid even if they haven't blown me away.

Burnt Thru

film grain is not an artifact. it's a shame that some encoding systems seem to be artificially removing this from their titles, and releasing a "cleaner" but also less accurate movie.

digitalfreaknyc

Did i say it was?

Giles

let's hope if and when the Columbia/TriStar releases 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' onto Bluray they don't remove the grain - the graininess and filmlike appearence of the Superbit edition gives the film a 1950's horror film look and texture.